Cultural Shorthand in the Bible

Good afternoon, everyone! Good to be here with you. I could tell today who lived on the east side of town and who didn't, based on the traffic and when people got here, but better late than never, right?

Well, Mr. Thomas already referred to the fact that today is 9-11, and though that's not the topic of my sermon, I did want to just mention it briefly to start, and it's interesting. We have this way of communicating in sort of cultural shorthand these days, don't we? And all you need is those three individual numbers to bring a whole lot of memories, thoughts, points of view to mind, to make another cultural illusion. It's like our generation's JFK moment. And so sometimes all we have to do is say a few letters, a few words, a few numbers, and it brings a whole ton of different thoughts, emotions, context to mind. If I tell you, for example, that I've had repeated conversations with my neighbor about some sort of problem, and every time it's like Groundhog Day, you'd probably know what I was talking about, right? The same thing over and over again, just like in the movie.

Or if a person came up to you after an important meeting, and you ask how it went, and they said, it was a home run. Say no more. You know exactly what that means, don't you? So cultural context, things that we've experienced together really come heavily into play. It's funny, I was thinking about my message, and basically finished my notes, and went out for my regular walk on Sabbath morning, and I was actually just thinking about this topic when I started to approach somebody else on the sidewalk, and it was an older Asian man. And I moved to my right, and he moved to his left.

I'm facing him, and so we both moved the other way, and then finally kind of went around each other. And it reminded me of times I've traveled. I've been to Tokyo several times, and I always end up running into people in Tokyo. The streets get crowded, and when you move towards someone, as Westerners, we move to the right. They, because they're used to driving on the other side of the road, for example, would move to the left. And so it strikes you that even though you do common things like walk down the sidewalk, there are different conventions and ways of doing things that come along with it. I went ahead and looked at a few things on the internet just to see if I could find a few humorous examples of cultural differences in common types of settings. One relates to weddings, and according to this article, there's a Greek tradition of actually spitting on the bride and the groom at the wedding. And for those who saw the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which came out back in the early 2000s, that actually includes a depiction of that. Our family was actually on a safari once in Kenya, and one of the young men at the place where we were staying was getting married, and so all the people who were staying there were invited to come and watch the wedding.

And we went to the wife's village, the bride's village, and one of the customs that they have for the bride as she leaves her village to go to the other village is to spit milk on her.

And it's unusual, and you see that and you say, what in the world is happening? But to them, it has rich cultural meaning, there's tradition behind it, and there are reasons why they do it.

I might get in trouble with one of my friends for this, but in looking at an article, it also explained the fact that in Nicaragua, there's a unique way of pointing directions instead of using a finger or thumb to point directions. Again, according to this article, which I've not independently verified, they say that using your lips to point direction is a cultural norm in Nicaragua. Now, I might get in trouble with my friend for mentioning that, but they talk about the fact that if people are talking and they want to point something out, they might purse their lips and point in a certain direction rather than pointing at someone or a person. And then lastly, and I've experienced this one as well in traveling, which hand do you use to do things? We wouldn't really think much about it if we're going to hand something to someone, a pencil or a piece of paper if we use the left hand or the right hand, but in certain parts of the world, for example, the Middle East, India, parts of Africa, the left hand is associated with personal hygiene in the bathroom, and so it's therefore considered not clean. And so if you're to go to someone in a culture like that, and for example, hand them something with the right hand or a basket or left hand or a basket of bread gets passed along at a dinner table and you reach your left hand in there and sort of rumble around for the roll that you want, people will look at you and it will be considered very impolite.

Now, to make one last cultural reference, you're probably wondering how my sermon could go out in left field this way, but I promise to pull it back in by noting that the Bible uses cultural shorthand as well. And one of the things I'd like to do today is look at one of those areas of cultural shorthand and just dive a little bit deeper into it and see what else we might be able to learn from it. If you want to turn with me to Revelation 19, we'll read verses 6 through 9 of Revelation 19. And the cultural shorthand or analogy that's used here is one that's used, and I haven't counted, but it's one of the most used analogies in the Bible.

Revelation 19 verse 6, of course we associate this with the time period in these fall holy days that we're in right now. And I heard, as it were, in verse 6, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah for the Lord God, omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, Right, blessed are they or those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. So this analogy we see actually played out in a lot of different ways in the Bible, where the church, those called out, are talked about as the bride of Christ. And Jesus Christ is often talked about as the bridegroom. We won't turn there, but in Ephesians 5 verses 22 through 27 talk a lot about the relationship between husbands and wives, and again analogizes it to the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church. So it's something very basic that's used within the Bible. And I would suggest that, yes, we all have weddings, but culturally the way that we do weddings can be very different from culture to culture.

And there's actually a lot that's written in the Bible that relates to how weddings were done within Judean society at the time of Jesus Christ, the time the Bible was written. So what I'd like to do today is just spend a bit of time during this message doing two things. First of all, I'll ramble. Most of you think that's what I do all the time anyways. But for the first half or so, let me just kind of go through some of the phases of a Jewish wedding ceremony, as it would have existed at that point in time, and call attention to some Bible verses that address those very same things. I think a lot of those verses in the end will be familiar to many of us. And then secondly, I'd like to draw home some points that we can take, especially as we think of Jesus Christ as the bridegroom, as the church, as his bride, and how it informs the way that we should be acting.

And again, in terms of timeliness, I think it has a lot to do with this time of year, because when we read here in Revelation 19, these events that we think about, this proverbial wedding feast, the marriage of the bride, the church, to Jesus Christ is what happens during this time period, in trumpets and atonement. So let's start and just, again, take a bit of a random walk through what the phases and the parts of the ceremony were in a wedding that would have taken place at that time.

And essentially, if you look and read articles about it, you'll find articles that divide it down into all kinds of different steps. Some people say there's four phases to it. I think one says 19. But in general, I think you can break it down to three different phases, one of which is everything that happens through the time of betrothal. There's a second phase of the wedding period, which is from the time that the couple are betrothed, as it was called. It wasn't called an engagement through the time of the marriage. And then lastly, the marriage ceremony itself.

And so we'll look at it in the course of those three kind of general areas of organization.

And I won't ask you to turn up to all these scriptures. I'm going to be reading off quite a number of scriptures. If you feel like taking notes and looking back at those later, please do. And hopefully it'll be at least somewhat informative and change the way that we look at some of these scriptures a bit and maybe how we understand some of it.

So to summarize, the first portion of when a bride and groom were to, or a couple, were to become betrothed, as it was called. There are a number of different things that would happen. At that point in time, probably not surprising for us to hear, weddings were generally arranged. You wouldn't have a situation like we're used to in our world today, where a man and woman would meet and decide together to get married, but rather the father would be responsible for picking out a bride for a husband. And I guess I should make one comment before we move into all of this, and that is, I'm not endorsing or saying that the way that marriage was handled at this point in time is a godly ideal. It's the way that things were done culturally at that time. In many ways, it is based on cultural norms as they existed in that time. And the Bible is written referring to that, and that's why I think it's helpful. So don't take this as me saying this is the way that that we should conduct ourselves today necessarily. But the father would select the bride.

And then after that, there would be a bride price negotiated. This is different from a dowry, because a dowry would usually be something that a bride's family would give to her.

In a way, in some cultures, it actually has security, so that if something were to happen to the husband, or if the husband were to mistreat the wife, the wife would have something, some sort of substance that she could still live on. The bride price, though, was something different. This was something that was paid by the family of the groom to the family or the father of the bride.

After that, the couple would usually drink a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been spoken. And this cup of wine sealed the marriage covenant. And at that point in time, very different from an engagement in our culture, a marriage covenant was actually a legal binding arrangement. They didn't put a lot of these things in writing at that time, but certainly societally, the way it was approached. At the point that the man and woman were betrothed, it carried with it the legal arrangement that they were husband and wife. And in fact, if they wanted to split up, if they decided before the point of marriage that they were not going to be married, they'd actually have to pursue a legal divorce at that point in time. A couple biblical examples that we won't turn to. One is Isaac. If you recall, when Abraham wanted Isaac to get married, actually I've got the scripture here for those who want to look at it, is Genesis 24. So if you look at Genesis 24, it lays out this situation in the first few verses of that chapter. Abraham is getting pretty old.

He wants his son to marry someone of his own people, and he sends his servant back, basically as his proxy, and says, go and pick out a bride for Isaac, and we want them to come from our people. And he made him promise that. And then finally, if we look in that section, verse 10, there were 10 of Abraham's camels that were loaded down with all kinds of expensive gifts from Abraham. And then he traveled with all of those gifts to find a wife. So you can find this exact thing playing out. Abraham, in this case, didn't go personally. He sent his servant. Maybe he wasn't up to traveling due to age. But his servant went with Isaac and went loaded down with gifts, because that was one of the expectations. At the point in time that they would find a young lady, they would secure a marriage contract. It would be sealed in part by the giving of those gifts.

So the father selects the bride, and the groom then travels to make the marriage offer. A few scriptures that we can think about that lay this out. If we take this analogy, people would have been used to it for wedding customs at that time, and compared to things we see in the Bible, John 644 would be one section. And Jesus Christ says in John 644, no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. And he says I will raise him up at the last day. And so what he was referring to, again when we see this analogy, was the fact that just as a father would pick the bride for the son, likewise God has called us out. Specifically called people out, that he wants to be part of that church that's viewed in analogy as the bride of Christ. In John 15 verse 16, as well as Jesus Christ is talking with his disciples before the time of his crucifixion, he lays out the same thought. He says, you did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the father in my name, he might give it to you. So again, laying out the fact, as they would have been used to in this ceremony, that the bride did not select who it was that she wanted to marry, but what was called was selected by the husband of the groom.

Now the bride, notwithstanding the fact that the groom's father made the selection, the bride was normally given the opportunity to accept the offer or not. And that's similar as well to our calling, as Christians. God calls us, and we read in places like the parable of the sower, that things can arise after we're called, that get in the way of the calling, and some people turn away from it.

Another place we could look and see that concept is Revelation 3 and verse 20.

Revelation 3 and verse 20, talking figuratively, Jesus Christ is saying, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he was me. It's the same concept laid out, that is that, yes, there's a calling, there's a selection, but as in most of the time in this culture, it wasn't automatic. The bride would have the opportunity to turn down that match if she wanted to. I think probably the pressure was fairly heavy to take that match, but it wasn't always a done deal. She had to agree. Next, as we talked about, the groom pays the bride price. And if we think about, again, an analogy to our calling and what happened, what is that price that was paid for us? And it's talked about very specifically in these types of terms. If we look in 1 Corinthians 7, for example, 1 Corinthians 7, verse 23, Paul lays out very clearly, talking to the Corinthians, You were bought at a price, and says, Don't become slaves to men, because you were bought at a price.

And again, as these types of references would have been made at this point in time, it would have called attention back to this type of thing, a marriage ceremony and the mechanisms by which that would happen. Another place this is referred to, and of course we know the price, is the blood of Jesus Christ and his life that he laid down is in Revelation 5. And there in verses 8 through 10, we read that when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, which said, You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests our God, and we shall reign on the earth.

So again, pointing out this fact that not only were God's people called out, but there was a gift given, in this case a purchase price, like a bride price, and that was the blood of Jesus Christ that was paid to redeem us. Lastly, we see it in Acts 20 in verse 28. And here, Luke, writing the book of Acts, records, Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

The talks here about Jesus Christ, where he grew, purchasing the church in this ceiling of a contract with them.

Next, we talk briefly about the fact that the marriage covenant is sealed with a cup of wine, and that wine is shared by the man of the woman after a blessing is asked over it, so that it seals that marriage covenant. In Matthew 26, we see the same type of thing playing out associated, of course, with the Passover and the cup that's shared there. Matthew 26 verse 27. And here it's described that Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And I say to you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And so, there are two things going on here. One of which is that blood of the covenant, which they would have associated as well with a marriage covenant, is the way that contract was sealed. In addition, there was a second cup of wine that was typically shared at the point of the wedding. And so, there were two points in time where the bride and groom would share a cup of wine that had to do with sealing the marriage covenant. The first, at this point in time, when the betrothal happened, and then the second point when the wedding actually had taken place, and they were fully joined as husband and wife. And so, you can see that same analogy playing into the way that Jesus Christ talks here about the Passover and drinking of that cup and the fact that he would not drink of that cup of wine again until the time, figuratively, that we're married to Jesus Christ at his return. And similarly, Luke 22 verse 20 records the same type of saying, saying, the cup is the new covenant in my blood that is shed for you. In many of the wedding ceremonies as well, in addition to a bride price being paid to the family of the bride, there would be gifts given to the bride. So, the groom would bring different types of gifts, whether they be expensive gifts or things that might have been of sentimental value, but things of value would be then given to the bride. And that's similar, again, to the way that God handles us and Jesus Christ, if we look in John 14. I think of gifts of the Holy Spirit. When we're called, when we're baptized and we're given the Holy Spirit, the Bible quite clearly says that gifts are given to us as a result. In John 14 verse 16, Jesus is talking of the Holy Spirit in general and how it's going to be given to us. In verse 16, he says, I'll pray the Father and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

So talking about that first gift, that fundamental gift of the Holy Spirit that's given to us at that point, that we seal our covenant with God through baptism. And then in Romans 12 verses 6 through 8, Paul talks about the fact that gifts are given to all of us differing according to the grace that is given to us. So unique gifts given to all of us individually by the Holy Spirit as Christians.

And we're told to use them and then goes through examples of some of the different types of gifts that are given. If we look next then at the idea of betrothal. So I mentioned earlier that they didn't call it engagement. It was called betrothal. And the difference between it was that there was actual legal standing. Today, if we get engaged, it's a promise to become married, and it's a plan to be married. But when you look at it from whatever legal standpoint, an engaged couple don't present themselves as husband and wife. If you go to the basics of legality and you look at things like community property, you look at things like filing an income tax return, they don't do that as a husband and wife because they're not in the eyes of our society and legally seen as married.

Betrothal was different in that way because when it took place, a legal marriage state existed.

2 Corinthians 11 verse 2 uses this very specifically for our situation with Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2, here it says, Paul speaking to the Corinthians, says, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. So we see very clearly in this case, this very language of betrothal is being used for our state as Christians with Jesus Christ, and that we're supposed to be pure before him. In Matthew 1, we see the example of Jesus Christ when he was conceived, and we've probably seen this before in Joseph when he found out that Mary was pregnant, of course, after they were betrothed, but before they were married, was of a mind to put her away, as the King James said. Other versions will say divorce her, because again, it wasn't a situation where they were engaged, and they would just call off the engagement and move on. It was a situation where if he wanted to end that relationship, it had to be a legal and at least somewhat public divorce. Apparently, there were ways to do this that were not as, you know, you could make a big noise about it, and you know, proclaim to everyone I'm divorcing her because we're breaking this betrothal, or you could do it in a more quiet way, but in Matthew 1 verse 19, it talks about that being a just man, Joseph did not want to make her a public example, but he had to put her away if he was going to sever that betrothal relationship. He was just determined if he did that to do it quietly.

So that's kind of a walk through some of the things that would be involved in the point through betrothal in the way that a wedding worked at that point in time. The second part, in terms of how things happen between the point of betrothal and the wedding itself, we'll save for later and go through that in the second part of the sermon. So let's look at the third element, then, of wedding customs at that time, and that is the wedding itself. So one of the keys, unlike the way things happen today, is that the bride would not know when the wedding was going to happen.

Now that seems pretty unusual by our circumstances today. I think most women would say, what do you mean if I don't know when my wedding is? I can't plan it. But it worked incredibly differently at that time. And in fact, the groom didn't know when the wedding was going to happen, believe it or not.

So whose decision was it when the wedding was going to happen? It was actually the decision of the father of the groom. So what would happen would be after the point of betrothal, in some situations these people might have lived in, you know, some distance from each other. Perhaps there was a family relationship or something. How many people, by the way, know anyone who's been in an arranged marriage? Okay, a few people. I've worked with a number of people in India, primarily, who've been in arranged marriages. And I've asked them a number of... it's been interesting to ask some questions. I'd say really all the people I've talked to have been in arranged marriages, have at least told me that they thought it worked out very well. But those situations have been ones where the families knew each other. There's actually a lady that I work with here, and her distant relatives were from the same village back in India. They thought their children might be compatible. They introduced them. And so there is that element. Usually there's some sort of a longer-standing family connection, at least with the people that I've known who are in arranged marriages. And in this situation, it might often be the case that perhaps they were in a different place, perhaps they were in the same village, but the groom would return to his father's home after the betrothal. So all the things that we talked about at the ceremony, the things that would happen for them to be betrothed, the bride would stay at her home, the groom would return to his father's home, and at that point in time, then he would have to make preparations. Typically, that would involve building on to the family home, building additional quarters, building additional space, so that there was room for the new wife and eventually the new family.

And I've seen this played out even in the Middle East in more modern times. When we were in Syria and Jordan a dozen years ago or so, you would drive down the street and you would see houses, and they would typically build their houses out of a concrete framework, fill it in with cinder blocks, put in the doors and the windows, put in the plumbing and so forth.

And so when you put the concrete frame up, you could actually finish a portion of a house, but not all of it. And it would be really common to go down a road and see a fairly large house that was maybe half finished. You'd see basically a skeleton, a concrete skeleton on the second floor, and on the first floor you might see one completed dwelling, and you might see a second one attached to it or perhaps not. And I remember asking people, well, why is it that this happens?

They said, well, when a family builds a home, they plan on their children and their children's families, at least their sons in that society, living with them. And so they'll build out the framework of a larger house, and then as the sons might get married and then have their bride move in with them, they'll finish the next section of the house and they'll have quarters for them to live in. And so you're seeing a similar thing like that that played out back at that point in time, and that could take some time. That's why it was up to the father at the end to decide when everything was prepared and ready, when were the rooms built out, when was everything properly arranged, that the wedding could take place, and that the bride and groom could move in then to that property. If the groom was asked about the date of the wedding, according to some of the things that I read, he would answer with something along the lines of, no one knows except my father.

Familiar saying, I think. When the time was right and the father would give approval, then the groom and his wedding party would run through the streets shouting, blowing a shofar, and yelling that the bride groom comes, and the bride would be brought to the groom's home for the wedding ceremony. And the wedding feast that happened after that would last for seven days.

Seven days long, they'd be partying and feasting to celebrate the wedding. So you're probably already thinking of some of the scriptural tie-ins and where we see this motif play itself out in the scriptures, but let's just again briefly read through a few of these.

Most directly, it would be in Matthew 25 verses 1 through 13. We're not going to read the entire parable of the wise and the foolish virgins, but immediately in the first verse, Jesus Christ lays out, the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And that's exactly what they would have seen play out from time to time in the towns and the villages that they lived in. And in verse 6 it talks about at midnight a cry being heard. And at the end of this passage in verse 13, watch therefore for you don't know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. And that would have been a very normal comparison to make in terms of the unpredictability of not knowing exactly when Jesus Christ is coming, because for every one of them they would have been used to that being part of the wedding, and you don't know exactly when the groom was going to come. Matthew 24 verse 36 through 42 again refers to the similar thing. In verse 36, of that day and hour no one knows not even the angel of heaven but my Father only. So Jesus Christ laying out this same thing. Only my Father knows when it's going to happen, when those rooms are ready, when all the arrangements have been made.

But as the days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Before the flood they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. And he goes on and says, talks about the fact that normal life was going on in so many ways. And then in verse 42, watch therefore for you don't know what hour your Lord is coming. We'll go into this a little deeper, but the other pressure that came along with that was the bride would have to make sure she was getting herself ready. Because if you don't know exactly when the groom is coming, it's going to put some level of urgency to make sure that you're being ready. And likely there were signs that would happen maybe as it came close, that people would start to know that the time was coming closer.

Revelation 19 verse 6, talking about how this wedding party would come charging into town, blowing the shofar and shouting, similar to what we heard in the Sermon on the Feast of Trumpets, with the word chorua, shouting and blowing trumpets. Revelation 19 verse 6, I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. Again, reading these things and knowing the ceremonies at that time would have immediately brought the idea of the young men charging into town, yelling and screaming, blowing the ram's horn in order to establish the fact that the wedding was about to take place. Last scripture we'll turn to or talk about related to this. Also, probably a familiar one for many of us in 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 15 and 16.

And here, writing in Thessalonians, we read, For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will by no means proceed those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

So the very same things that are associated with the wedding feast, the trumpet, the shouting, coming to announce the coming of Jesus Christ. So with that kind of foundation and background, hopefully it's at least a little bit interesting. Looks like some people are awake out there, so that's a good thing. Let's turn to how this affects our lives and rewind a bit to what the bride and groom were doing. But between that point of betrothal and the point of the wedding itself, because again, if we think figuratively, we think of where we are as ones who've been called out by Jesus Christ selected to be part of the church, the bride of Christ, we're in that waiting period, that period between the betrothal and the wedding itself. Paul talks about the idea that God calls things that are not as though they were. He read some scriptures in the sermonette as well, talking about the fact we are now the children of God. He views us as being part of his family, despite the fact that not everything has been finished. So let's look at the duties of the groom and the duties of the bride. And I'll just spend a few minutes on the duties of the groom. This is a lesson, really, of the confidence that we should have in God and in Jesus Christ. And last time I spoke, I talked about the faithfulness of God, so I don't want to reiterate myself on too much, but let's just look at a couple of things related to this point. We talked about the fact that the groom would return to his father's house for an undetermined period of time. He would usually build onto the family home and build those separate living quarters. So you'd have to put all of that together. You've probably already thought of the Scripture, but 1 John 14, John 14, verses 1 through 3 refers directly to this. And Jesus Christ used this terminology, again, this view of preparing for a wedding when he was talking with the disciples. John 14 verse 1, Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe in me. In my father's house are many mansions, and if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may go also. So he was talking directly in the terms of what they would have seen play out all the time. And I think the one thing that I would just want to underline here is the level of confidence and expectation that it would give to the people being talked to.

Because when you think about it, anyone that he would have been speaking to where he said these words would have thought of what? Probably would have thought of their parents' wedding, maybe their own. And you can imagine growing up at that point in time, you grew up with the stories of mom and dad. Dad, how did you know when it was time? What did your father say?

How many months was it, mom, that you were waiting for the wedding to take place? And what was it like, you know, who was there shouting and blowing the trumpet when your wedding time came? And they would have seen this in their own lives, they would talk with their parents about it, they would have seen it playing itself out in the towns that they lived in.

And what they would have seen happen every time is even though the time is not determined, even though we don't know exactly when it comes, what we do know is after that patrol took place, the groom is going to come. And they would have seen it played out time and time and time again, that at some point after that patrol, the groom came into town with all this groomsmen shouting and blowing the trumpet, and the wedding took place.

There's a level of expectation, just understanding, this is wired, this is going to happen, that would have come with that knowing the way that the ceremonies worked at that time. And that's why Jesus Christ is using this language. Because what he's saying essentially, just like a groom goes back and he's got to kind of disappear and get things prepared and ready until the Father says it's done, and then he comes back, same thing I'm doing.

So don't worry about what's happening when I'm gone for that period of time in between. Know that I'm taking care of things just like a groom takes care of what he has to, to prepare for the wedding, and know that just as he comes back to get his bride, I'm going to do the same thing. And that level of understanding, that certainty, that faithfulness that Jesus Christ would return, putting it in this context, I think, puts it in a different way that we might not have the same sort of, again, cultural shortcuts to think about and talk about that they had.

But that's really what was being talked about here. Let's go into the second part, and we'll leave the rest of the sermon to this element of it, and that's the preparation of the bride, the preparation of the bride. And that reflects directly on us in terms of what it is that we're supposed to be about during that time period between the betrothal and the wedding that takes place at the coming of Jesus Christ. So there were three elements usually involved in the bride preparing herself during the wedding period.

Those three were, number one, the bride was observed for her purity. Secondly, the bride consecrated herself. And then thirdly, the bride made her wedding garments. So those three things were happening during that period of time. And those all relate to how we act on the things that we should be doing as figuratively parts of the bride of Christ. Let's look at the first one, the bride being observed for her purity.

And the things that I've read, the custom was to allow at least nine months of time to pass after the betrothal and before the wedding would take place. And this was done in order to prove the purity of the woman, which was considered the very important thing before the wedding. And so the time would be allowed to pass to make sure that there had been no fraud committed or other things going on that would be untoward.

Likewise, purity is required of us as Christians. And we've probably seen plenty of passages that we can think of where we think spiritually about how adultery is compared to being unfaithful to God in the way that we live our lives. But purity is required of us as Christians.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1 in that context. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1. Here Paul writes to the Corinthians, "...having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." So the idea that we need to be about the idea of purifying ourselves, cleansing ourselves. Similarly, in 1 John 3, we read part of this passage in the sermon at 1 John 3 verses 2 and 3. Here we read, "...beloved, now we are the children of God, and it's not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed we'll be like him, for we shall see him as he is." And in verse 3, "...everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure." So one of the things that we're clearly supposed to be about, just as a bride would be observed for purity, is we are supposed to be in the act of purifying ourselves, which brings a really important point along with it, or question, which is, how in the world do we do that? What is it that we're supposed to do, and how do we purify ourselves? There's two ways I'd like to put forward today for advancing in spiritual purity, and the first is in Ephesians 5, and this is, of course, a passage again that talks about the analogy of husbands and wives with Jesus Christ and the church.

Ephesians 5, verse 25 and 26, husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. The washing of water by the word is how we're told that we're cleansed. So a key way for us to purify ourselves to be cleansed is to take in that washing water by the word.

So if we want to be continually purifying ourselves as we're preparing for that return of Jesus Christ, taking in actively of the word of God, pulling it within us, understanding it, digging deeper into it, talking about it, meditating on it, thinking about it, and then most importantly, acting on it, is the key to purifying ourselves. Let's look further at this in James 4 verses 7 through 10. James 4 verses 7 through 10.

Here James writes, Therefore submit to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. And so we see here as well that submission to God is another part of purifying ourselves and purifying our hearts. And so when we put those two things together, taking in of God's word, washing the water by the word, and then submitting ourselves to God, taking those words that we've read, and then submitting ourselves to God, taking those words that we've read, and heard, and studied, and thought about, and doing the most difficult thing, which is actually putting it to action in our lives. I think we can all agree that the theory of God's way of life isn't terribly complex. The practice of it is nearly impossible.

And even with God's Spirit working with our carnal, fleshly human minds, we stumble. We have difficulties in applying these things. Simple things like love your neighbor as yourself.

Terribly difficult to actually accomplish in day-to-day life, isn't it? As our emotions and everything else comes across, the situations we deal with, you know, the boneheaded other humans that God's created that we have to deal with, right? But that's what we have to be about as we're preparing in that time, continuing to take in of God's word and continuing through His Spirit to submit ourselves, to ask Him to help us put it more deeply in our heart so that when something happens and we just react, that reaction is not our human reaction, but it's God's word that we've hidden in our heart, and we're acting based on those principles. So that's the first section of spiritual purity and how it plays into our lives with the church being the bride of Christ.

Secondly, the bride during this time period consecrated herself. Now, consecrated isn't really a word. We use a whole lot these days. But the bride would examine what was in her life and would change what was necessary to be ready for her wedding.

And she was spoken of as being consecrated. They use a Hebrew word for consecrated, or set apart, really, is what it means for her husband. So she was set apart from all other relationships and activities to be separated for her groom. So during this period of time, it was a time period where the bride would begin to separate herself from things that were not in line with the relationship that she has with her betrothed husband. Perhaps there were other men that she was friends with who might have been potential suitors. She would begin to separate herself from those relationships because those other relationships were not consistent with being married to that one man. And likewise, in terms of the things that she did, her activities, who knows what the family of the husband did? Perhaps they were traitors and she would need to begin to learn what it was that they traded in, whether it was garments, whether it was animals. And she might have to learn more about those things and separate herself from things that she was doing day to day, and to learn and understand what it was that she was going to be moving into. So this was a period of alignment, of separating from where she was, and aligning to where the groom was. Let's look, then, when we think about our own Christian lives at what it is that we need to do. 2 Corinthians 6 is one section. It talks here very clearly about separating ourselves from things as we're called out of this world, as we're called by God.

2 Corinthians 6 will read verses 14 and 15. Here Paul writes to the Corinthians, Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness, and what accord has Christ with belial, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever. And what it was talking about here is not the fact, don't talk to anybody, ignore your neighbors, and that type of thing, but there are clearly people who are doing things and acting in ways that are not consistent with Christian belief. And that's the point that's being made here, is don't connect yourself, whether it's as a business partner, as a friend, as somebody who spends a lot of time with someone else, don't connect yourself with somebody who is spending their time and energy moving in a direction that's different and not consistent with God's way of life. We have to be thinking about consecrating ourselves, as this action would have been in a wedding at that time, and beginning to draw ourselves always closer to Jesus Christ and away from the world that we're moving out of.

Ephesians 17 is another passage, one among many, that supports this, as we read in verses 17-24 of Ephesians 4. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. So people who were called at that time told, don't walk the way that you used to, don't live your life the way that you used to. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, and because of the blindness of their heart. Verse 20, you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. And so we see that we continue to move along and try to take away, take ourselves away from the things in this world that are against the way of God and align ourselves very much with him. Revelation 18 verse 4, talking about end time prophecy and talking about Babylon, the system that would be in place at the time of Jesus Christ's return. And verse 4 talks about a voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. And so clearly we see that as Christians, just as a bride had to move away from where she was and move towards her husband, and this time between betrothal and the wedding was a time for her to continue to remove herself from the things that were inconsistent with the marriage to come.

That was her job. That was one of the things that she had to do. And likewise, as Christians, we have to do that same thing. And I would say we've got a great opportunity when we think about the time of year that we're in right now. Because when we think about that first point in terms of purity and the washing of water by the Word, we're in the middle of this series of days where we, number one, hear God's Word a whole lot between the Holy Days and the Sabbath and the Feast.

And we have time in a way that we don't in our day-to-day life, between the Holy Days, between the time that we have in the Feast, to step back to get some perspective, to reset ourselves, and to focus on what it is that we're supposed to be about. And so one of the things I would suggest is it's a great time, as we're at the Feast, as we separated ourselves physically from our day-to-day environment, to also think about what is it that we're doing spiritually?

To what extent have we not separated ourselves the way that we need to from the things that are happening in the world around us? There are plenty of things that are going on, and we know that as we watch the news, as we're exposed to things, whether it's on social media and other places, there are so many ways that the attitudes, the mindsets, and let's face it, just the fights and the petty squabbles of the world always try to invade our minds. And if we're not careful, we let those things come into our minds and our lives, and frankly, even into our relationships with other Christians, which is not where it belongs. And so one of the things we have to do is step back, use that perspective that we have by stepping back from our day-to-day, and evaluate are we consecrating ourselves? Are we moving away from where we were as a part of this world and moving towards that mindset of God in a steady way as every day goes by? Lastly, then, as a bride was preparing for her wedding, she had to make her wedding garments. Now, I think it's pretty unusual nowadays in our culture that a bride would actually make her wedding dress. I think I've heard of a few people who've done it. It would be a huge job, and between working and all the other responsibilities we have, it's not something most people do. At that time in society, it was quite the opposite. Very few people would have had access to a shop or the money to pay somebody else to make clothing for them, and so most people would have been making their own. And I think from what I've read, a bride would take a great deal of pride in putting together her wedding dress because it was also something very personal that she could do. She would try to put some flare into it, to adorn it with whatever she could to look good. It was a very individual expression of the person in terms of what they made and what they put together. Let's look at Revelation 19, where it talks about what we have as our spiritual garments, the things that we wear as we prepare for that proverbial wedding. Revelation 19 verses 7 and 8, again talking here about the marriage of the Lamb. Revelation 19 verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb is common, his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be a raid and fine linen, clean and bright. And here's the point I want to dwell on.

The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints, or the righteousness of the saints.

So that wedding attire that we should be building, figuratively speaking, putting together here as we prepare for Jesus Christ's return is righteousness. And as it's laid out in this verse in verse 8, here it talks about the bride being granted to be arraigned in fine linen. We know it's not our own righteousness we produce. We know that God, by his grace, forgives us, he gives us his Holy Spirit, and through that Spirit we have the ability to do righteous things. And that's exactly what we should be doing on a day-to-day basis. You know, I think about it as making a garment, not that I know how to do that in any hands-on sort of way. The one thing I know is it takes time. It takes time, it takes thought, it often takes a plan, a pattern to work according to, and it takes focus, energy, and effort. I think those are things that we have to consider in our own lives. How much focus, energy, and effort do we put on a day-to-day basis into putting those figurative clothes together into being righteous and having God's way of life? If you'll turn with me to Philippians 3 verses 8 and 9. We'll look at one last scripture that lays this out. Philippians 3 verses 8 and 9.

Hear Paul writing to the Philippians says, Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And so the other thing that we focus ourselves on as we're looking to develop that righteousness, that's that wedding garment, is our daily walk with God, coming before him daily and asking for forgiveness, asking for renewal through his Holy Spirit. And just like making a complicated garment takes time, as we build on to one piece at a time, one layer at a time, and slowly it becomes a whole, that's what our Christian walk needs to be like. Not something that's stalled out and left on the sewing table to be looked at in two or three years again when we get around to it, but something where we're making steady progress every day. And again, that daily idea of renewal and the feast to me is a perfect time to step away and recommit ourselves again to that daily renewal.

Just like you'd have a pattern to make a dress or any other piece of clothing, it's a great time during the feast to also think about what's the pattern that I want to follow in the next year?

What are the things that I want to bring into my life in order to be making that constant daily progress in that fine linen, spiritually speaking, that we're putting together?

So in conclusion, hopefully this deeper dive into the example of the cultural shorthand of the Bible, in this case talking about wedding customs and the analogy of the church as the bride of Christ, has at least given some interesting thoughts to everyone in terms of how we approach our spiritual lives. Understanding Jesus as the bridegroom can deepen our faith and our certainty in his coming, and understanding ourselves as part of the church and the bride of Christ can renew our focus on what we have to be about during this time. The feast is a perfect time to focus on and think more about these things. First of all, pursuing pure, pursuing purity through taking in God's word and deepening our submission to it. Secondly, separating ourselves from everything that does not represent the priorities of Jesus Christ in our lives. And thirdly, recommitting ourselves to that daily activity of creating that wedding garment, pursuing an ever deeper righteousness through forgiveness and constant renewal and realignment to God through his Holy Spirit.