The Feast of Trumpets and Symbolism of Ancient Wedding

It feels like we've gone and left for the feast and are already there, doesn't it? I venture to say that there will be some feast choirs that won't do any better or perhaps not even up to what we just heard. That was beautiful. Really appreciate everybody who worked on that special music. It was very, very special. As a speaker, I really liked to get up here after special music.

In fact, I was thinking, as my wife was working on, oh, glorious day, how wonderful it would be to get up after the morning special music. But this is even more special in some ways. We got to hear three selections, all three done very, very well. So I really appreciate all the special music today.

This is certainly a blessing for my wife and I because we haven't had this kind of special music in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a great place, but we don't have the special music there that you've all been able to enjoy here. Well, I'd like to thank all of you for coming to share this special occasion of marriage. We are here as family and friends to witness and to celebrate the wedding of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and God's true Church, the chosen ones, the saints of God.

Having grown to love one another, Jesus and the Church, the saints, have chosen to commit their lives to each other in marriage. And so today, they are here to be united as husband and wife. No doubt you recognize the words. They're from our marriage ceremony. They certainly ring very, very true today on this Feast of Trumpets. God is a family, and He uses human-family relationships to help us better understand the relationship that He wants with each of us on a spiritual plane.

The Bible speaks of the marriage of Jesus Christ to God's Church. The Bible speaks of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Are you diligently preparing to marry Jesus Christ? That's a question we should all ask ourselves on this Feast of Trumpets. Are you diligently preparing to marry Jesus Christ? Are you good enough for Him? Are you good enough to be His wife?

Are you in the process of becoming without spot or wrinkle, without blemish? How can we possibly be good enough to marry Christ at His return? At the sound of the seventh trumpet? That's a sobering question, isn't it? How can we possibly be good enough to marry Jesus Christ? In order to better understand how we are to marry Christ at His return, we do need to understand the five steps of the ancient wedding that was customary at the time the Bible was written.

It's important that we understand these steps of this wedding, this marriage, so that we can better prepare ourselves to marry Jesus Christ at the sound of the seventh trumpet. Turn with me to Revelation 19. Revelation 19 verse 5. Then a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready.

And to her, to the wife, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. Then He said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He said to me, These are the true sayings of God.

These are indeed the true sayings of God. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let's read a little further in verse 11. Now I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. We heard earlier today that the sound of the trumpet would be a call to war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. I'm sure we see the parallel from what I read just a few minutes earlier. The fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. The firstfruits have been changed into spirits who are now perfect, no longer flesh but immortal, glorified beings.

So they're there in fine linen, white and clean, and they followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron.

Christ is not coming back as a little babe in a manger. He is coming back as a conquering king. And he will rule with a rod of iron. Of course, he'll rule in love as well, but it will be tough love, and it will be the agape kind of love, the godly love that we all need. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God is indeed a family, and he uses human-family relationships to help us better understand the relationship that he wants with each of us on a spiritual plane. So let's talk about the five steps of the ancient wedding. The first one being the match. First, there had to be a match. It was the groom's father who arranged the marriage. It was his responsibility to find a suitable wife for his son.

Turn with me to Genesis 2. Let's go there together. Genesis 2. And we'll read verse 18, and again we will see the parallel. We'll see clearly what God is telling us today on this Feast of Trumpets. Genesis 2. Genesis 2. And the Lord God, the Eternal God, said, It is not good that man should be alone. God had created Adam, but he had not yet created Eve. It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and he brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all the cattle, the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable to him. The raccoons wouldn't cut it, the cows, the pigs. None of those other creatures were comparable to man, to Adam. Verse 21, And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and he closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman, woman, and he brought her to the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. I'm sure Adam was impressed when he saw Eve. In fact, I think he said something like, Wow! If I understand the translations correctly. This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

So Adam needed someone comparable to him.

So Eve was made especially for Adam. She was made to order by God himself. God is the one that made the match.

It was in God's plan. It was in the Father's plan. Of course, along with the Son, the one who became Christ, working together, they made Eve suitable for Adam. She was beautiful. She was perfect for Adam.

And Adam was again very excited about God's new creation.

It was God who was making the match. In John 6.44, I know this is a verse you're quite familiar with, but let's go there. John 6.44, what does Christ say?

Christ says, no one can come to me. No one can come to the groom unless the Father who sent me drawled him. Unless the Father makes the match, it isn't going to happen.

And thus the Father drawled him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Yes, God is in the process of making the match. Mankind has rejected God as their Father. We all know that. Just as Adam and Eve rejected God's authority in their lives, choosing to listen to and obey Satan the serpent instead of God, mankind has continued on that same course, eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know that Satan is revealed in the Bible as the God of this world. And we know that Satan is, in a very real sense, the adopted Father of the entire earth. The God of this earth, the God of the world. Now, we all know that we are free moral agents, and the world in general, all of us, as free moral agents, have chosen Satan to rule over us. It's a choice. Christ said the Pharisees, the religious leaders in Israel at the time of Christ, were of their Father Satan the devil.

Satan was their Father.

Remember, you can't serve two masters. You must serve one or the other. You must serve Satan or the true God. And if you're not serving the true God, you will be serving Satan. The Pharisees were instruments. They were children of Satan.

Let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 8, and let's consider that ancient Israel had made a covenant with God. They had promised that whatever God said they would do. They promised God that they would do exactly what He said. Now, in 1 Samuel chapter 8, of course, we see they've gone far astray from that covenant. 1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 7. This was a very striking verse to me. I remember it very vividly. Coming into God's church at 18 years old, this had such an impact on me. What I'm going to read to you now...

You see, Israel demanded a king. They no longer wanted God to rule over them. They no longer wanted God as their father. They wanted the God of this world as their father. They wanted to follow Him. They did not want to submit to the true Father, to their own Father.

And so they asked for a king. In verse 5 of chapter 8 of 1 Samuel, Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord, to the Eternal. Samuel knew this couldn't be right. We mustn't do this. But the Lord, the Eternal, said to Samuel, Heed the voice of the people in all they say to you. Because God had seen this type of behavior all along anyway. He says, Go ahead and heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you. They have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me. That I should not reign over them. God was to be their God. They were to be His children. Isn't that the covenant that they made? Earlier with God, they were to be a chosen nation, a chosen people. They were to show to the whole world what it would be like to follow the true God, the Creator God. But they failed miserably. They rejected the true God, and they accepted Satan as their father. And they wanted Satan to rule over them. And they wanted man to rule over them. Man who was being influenced by Satan the devil. So God agreed to be their God initially, to be their father. They agreed to be the chosen people of God. But now, everything had gone wrong.

It was not a good choice, obviously, what the children of Israel did that day. Man has chosen Satan as their Lord, and Master we followed along with Adam and Eve and with the children of Israel. We're continuing to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This world is Satan's, and that's why God says we must hate the world. He tells us we need to learn to hate the world. He says we must become enemies of the world. We are to be different. We are to be separate. We're to come out of the world, and we are to be very different. Today, we are being very different because we're here on a Thursday. We're here, however, on a holy day. God's holy day. God's feast day. The Feast of Trumpets. It shows that we have accepted God as our Father, that we want to be His children, and we want to follow Him. So God, a loving Father, is in the process of choosing a bride for His Son. He is calling His Son's bride out of the world, away from their adopted Father, away from Satan the Devil. The true God wants to be our God, and He wants us to be His children. He wants us to marry His Son. He wants us to be the bride of His beloved Son. In 1 Corinthians 1, it clearly shows that not many wise men are in the process of being called these days. God is not interested in the wisdom of this world. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh. God is not interested in the flesh. He is interested in the Spirit, because Spirit will last forever, for eternity. Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, not many well-born or noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

We should not glory in our flesh. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That's right. We are sanctified by the blood of Christ. We are redeemed by the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ, and by the one we are to marry at His return. That as it is written, He who glories, let Him glory in the Lord. We are to glory in God, and we sang praises to God, and the choir sang praises to God. And God is pleased when we humble ourselves and learn to praise Him. So God is in the process of calling a bride. The first step is the match. Now God has called all of us collectively to be the bride of Christ. Not just you in this room, but around the world. Those who are faithfully meeting, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, who are striving to become like Christ, to become like the groom. There's a match made in heaven, you might say. You are a part of that match. I don't know about you, but that's very exciting to me to think that God has looked down and chosen the weak and the base of this world to confound the mighty, to become the very bride of Jesus Christ. The first step is the match. We don't have much to do with that, do we? God's the one that calls us. It isn't because we're smarter or better looking or any such thing. God knows why. Is it because we are the weak and the foolish of the world?

Secondly, the second step in the ancient wedding was the betrothal. The betrothal. A marriage contract was made between the potential bride and the groom. The father of the bride negotiated a bride price.

The father of the groom would then pay that price. Satan, the God of this world, wanted Jesus Christ to fall down and worship him. You know the story. Matthew 4, Luke 4. The temptation of Christ. Of course, Christ refused. He would have no part of Satan the devil. He wouldn't listen. He wouldn't budge. Christ refused to follow Satan the devil.

So the negotiated bride price was the very life of the groom. That's what had to be paid. Christ would lay his life down for the bride. That was the negotiated bride price. The price that had to be paid to Satan to free the bride from her adopted father was the shed blood of the groom. Doesn't it say that we are bought with a price? What is that price? It's the very blood of the lamb. It's the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are bought with a price. We are bought with the shed blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. In John chapter 15 verse 13, it clearly says that greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friend. The groom agreed to lay down his life for his friend, his bride, his very best friend.

Really, the best wives and husbands are the best friends, aren't they? The groom agreed to lay down his life for the bride. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5, and let's read this and consider it in the context of the betrothal period. We are now betrothed to Christ. The match was made in heaven. Those of us who accepted the match, we are in the betrothal period. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25. Husbands, here's the instruction that Christ gives us through the Apostle Paul here. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Husbands are to be a type of Christ in the marital relationship. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Husbands are to lay their lives down for their wives. Husbands are to become living sacrifices for their wives as Christ became the real true sacrifice for each and every one of us. We're to love our bride. We human beings, us human husbands, were to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. And why? That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word. That he might present her to himself a glorious church.

Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. And for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. He says this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself. And let the wife see that she respects her husband. So marriage is a type of the relationship that the church is to have with Christ. Those of us who are called out and chosen and become a match for Jesus Christ, for the groom. The potential groom and bride had to agree to marry each other. Back in ancient times it was customary for them to drink a little wine at the betrothal ceremony to seal the marriage contract. To drink a little wine. Now, does that remind you of anything that we do as firstfruits? Those called out now and chosen, those who have been given the Spirit of God. What does that remind you of? Clearly, our baptism pictures the acceptance of Christ as our Savior and as our loving husband and our protector. Our baptism pictures our willingness to submit to Christ and to do His will just as He submitted and did His Father's will. Remember, Christ said, That's the example that Christ has set for us. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And every year at Passover we take a little wine. We drink a little wine. We've entered into a covenant. We are to be the bride of Christ. We are to marry Christ at His return, at the sound of the seventh trumpet. So, every year, baptized members, when we get together and drink a little wine at the Passover, it is a memorial of our baptism and our commitment to Jesus Christ. We've come out of the world. We've chosen to be different. So, each year we renew our covenant with God, we also renew our wedding vows, in a very real sense. We seal or renew the covenant with a little wine that is symbolic of Christ's shed blood for us and our acceptance of Christ as our Savior, our Lord and Master and our soon-coming King, and, of course, our loving Husband. Now, brethren, we realize at baptism that we are asked just two questions. Number one, have you repented of your sins? And, of course, sin is the transgression of God's holy and perfect law. Have you repented of those sins that killed our Savior, Jesus Christ? And number two, have you, in turn, accepted Christ as your personal Savior, your Lord and Master and your soon-coming King? Because Christ is indeed to be King of Kings, and we will rule and reign with Christ here on this earth for a thousand years, those who are the bride of Christ. So, upon these two conditions, have you repented of your sins and have you accepted Christ as your Savior?

And coming under a watery grave, having hands laid upon us, we know that we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, that's a very integral part of our calling, isn't it, to receive the Spirit of God. 2 Corinthians 1. Let's go there for a moment. 2 Corinthians 1.

2 Corinthians 1, verses 21 and 22. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 21. Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, Christ and God the Father, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, as an earnest or a down payment, a guarantee. Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Of course, this is Paul speaking to the church at Corinth.

The word translated deposit here, he sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee or a deposit, depending on which translation you use. This is the Greek word arabon, or it's spelled a-r-r-h-a-b-o-n. This is a Greek word. It could also be translated as a pledge. It speaks of the absolute surety that the promise given will be fulfilled. Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with the fiddler on the roof. The papa sang, They gave each other a pledge. Unthinkable! It's very interesting to note that in the modern Greek language, this word arabon is the very word for the engagement ring. It's a pledge. It's an engagement ring. The gift of the Holy Spirit is, in a sense, the engagement ring by which Christ has sealed our betrothal to Him. We are sealed by the Spirit of God. If you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you who sit here in this hall today, you have been called out. You have been chosen. You are to become the bride of Christ. That's no small thing. That's the engagement ring, in a sense. Christ knows His bride. And the sheep know the shepherd's voice.

Now, we had to agree to be Christ's bride. It was a choice that we each had to make. Christ said that He would send a comforter during His absence when He was crucified, when He was resurrected. We know He's at the right hand of the Father. Now, during His absence, He said that He would send this comforter. And we know with full assurance that He is coming back for us. That Holy Spirit that dwells in us assures us of that promise. Christ is coming back. You can count on it. It's as sure as God's Spirit dwelling in you. Christ is coming back for His bride. We know with full assurance that He's coming back because He is a faithful groom, a faithful husband. We need not worry about that. So the second step of the ancient marriage was the betrothal, to become betrothed, to become engaged, to enter into a covenant.

The third step in the ancient marriage was the waiting period or the betrothal period. It's a time frame. There's a betrothal initially, but then there's a time period, a waiting period. Now the groom would go back to his father's house once the betrothal period began, and the future bride would return to her house with her father.

A time of waiting and preparation for the wedding would take place. So there was much to do for the groom and for the bride. The groom would need to help his father prepare the wedding chamber. The bride would need to get herself ready to be married. In the book of Esther, it shows the preparations that would take place in beautifying the bride. Now, of course, I'm speaking physically here. In beautifying the bride for the upcoming wedding. That was a big deal for the wife to make herself ready. To marry a king, especially, there would be many, many preparations that would have to take place before the wedding. A beautiful wedding gown must be prepared. Even today, don't the ladies put an awful lot of stock in their wedding gown?

Now, brethren, we as the spiritually betrothed bride of Christ, we're now in a waiting period. We are waiting here today. Christ isn't coming back today.

The trumpet has blown. He's not coming back today. We know that.

But He is coming back.

We are in a waiting period. And, brethren, we are to wait patiently, having faith that our betrothed will come back to marry us. That He will keep the promise that He made to us.

We must have faith. It was spoken about earlier today, the need for faith. Yes, we all need to have faith. Will Christ find faith on the earth? Yes, He'll find it with His bride.

Or we won't be His bride.

He will find faith with His bride. We must have faith that Christ is doing His part in preparing for us. Of course, we wish He was already back.

I'm sure, in many ways, He wishes He was already back, too. In fact, a long time ago. We should also be developing a relationship, right now, a relationship of love and faith in our new Father. We're no longer following the God of this earth, the God of this world. We have rejected Satan the devil as our Father.

We're no longer His children. We've come out of that. We are developing a new relationship with the true Father.

And it's so important that we get that, and that we grasp that, because it will make a world of difference in the choices that you make each day. If you see that relationship clearly, that the true God is your Father, and don't you want to become just like Him? You don't want to be like Satan the devil. And yet, you live in this world. You live in Satan's world, and it isn't easy to get your thinking straight. We're told to put on the mind of who? That's right, of Christ. We're to put on the mind of Christ. We're to put on the mind of our husband to be. We've got to learn to think like him now. If we're going to marry him, if we're going to be joined with him, if we're to be a suitable wife, we have to change our thinking. We have to come out of this world, and we have to reject Satan the devil. What does the Bible tell us in the book of James? Resist Satan, and he will flee from you. You've got to resist him. When we cozy up to Satan the devil and his character, his bad character, then we become a bit like him.

On the other hand, when we reject him completely and fully, we put on the mind of Christ, and we put on the character of the Father, then we become like God himself.

God will be our Father, and we will be his sons and daughters.

That is our calling. That is your calling.

That's why you're here today. Because you've been called out, and God has made the match. And you've been betrothed to Christ. And you're now waiting patiently. But it doesn't mean you're not busy. It means you are preparing. And you're putting on the mind of Christ, and you're putting off Satan the devil and his ways.

And you're putting off the works of the flesh. And you're learning to walk in the Spirit, and to no longer walk in the flesh. So we, again, must be preparing for Christ's return. We should be developing, again, this relationship of love and faith in the new Father who loves us so much that he was willing to give the life of his only begotten Son, whom he had loved from the very beginning, before time. Christ said, I and my Father are one. We are the beginning, together, total and complete love.

But the Father loved all of us enough to send his Son to die for us.

And there's no greater love than that, is there? That's true agape love, to give up your own Son, to die for a motley crew. We are a motley crew, the weak and the foolish of the world. And eventually, God's going to call everyone to become a part of his family. We have a very special and unique calling because we are to become the firstfruits, the Bride of Christ. This is a unique, high and holy calling that we're a part of today, that we're talking about today. So we have to develop the kind of love that God has for us, and the kind of love that Christ has. Greater love has no man. See, I look at it this way. Greater love has no God than to lay down his Son.

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life. That's what Christ did. Christ laid his own life down. So we should all be developing this kind of relationship with the true Father and also his Son. Again, a Son who is to become our Husband. Now, in John 14, we read a betrothal speech from Christ. Let's go there. I don't know if you've ever looked at these verses in this way. But in a very real sense, this is a betrothal speech. Again, we are betrothed to Christ. We are engaged to Christ. John 14, verse 1, Christ said to his disciples, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. Believe in me, the Christ. In my Father's house are many mansions. There are many offices. If it were not so, I would have told you I'd go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. And I will receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. So that's what's on Christ's mind right now. He's gone to prepare a place for us. To be a part of the firstfruits, to marry him at his return. So we are preparing, again, for the return of Christ, our betrothed. There is much to do, isn't there? We're told in the Bible to work out our own salvation with fear and with trembling. That's something we need to do every day. We need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We really should look before we leap. Oftentimes, people make choices. They make decisions that really, when you stop and look at those choices and decisions, they're not based on the kind of godly relationship that we're supposed to have. A faithful relationship, a loyal relationship.

Faith and loyalty, trust, should help us make good decisions in this life.

We work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We must be sure that we have a lamp also that is in good working order. We must know the Word of God. This is the lamp. It is to be a light unto us, to guide our steps, to show us which way to go. Again, it helps us make decisions, godly decisions. We must also have plenty of oil for our lamp. In other words, we must be stirring up the Spirit of God in us so that we are producing spiritual fruit, the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness. These are all fruits of God's Holy Spirit. And we should be producing these spiritual fruit. This spiritual fruit, on a daily basis, we must become vessels of righteousness. Vessels of mercy and vessels of love. That's the calling that you have as the Bride of Christ. You're to become just like He is. You're to become like Christ, thinking like Christ, putting on His mind, willing to lay your life down for one another. We must be ready for the return of our Father, I'm sorry, our Husband to be. We must be ready for that. It is a time of preparation right now. Our faith in Him as our guide, our protector, and our Savior must be strong.

If we're to become the Bride of Christ, we have to have strong faith in Christ. In Psalm 90 verse 17, here it says, Let God's beauty be upon us and establish the work of our hands for us.

Yes, establish the work of our hands for us. What is this verse saying? Is it not saying that we must become as beautiful as possible for our Husband? Let the beauty of the Eternal, our God, be upon us.

God's beauty is to be upon you.

The work of our hands, it is to establish the work of our hands. What decisions will you make? What will you do with your life? Yes, that was what Mr. Ledbetter asked in the sermon at.

Is your life going to matter?

It needs to matter a great deal.

We must be preparing a beautiful wedding down of righteousness. We must allow God's Spirit to lead us, to guide us.

We must allow the mind of Christ to direct us and to be in us.

Now, we know that the bride is often veiled.

This reminds me of the parable of the wheat and the tares. Some masquerade as ministers of light and of righteousness these days. They focus on the outward appearance, not upon developing themselves internally and spiritually. And sometimes we in God's Church even play games along these lines.

Are there tares among us today?

Are you a tare? Is it possible that you're a tare?

Is it possible that I'm a tare?

God is not mocked. God knows exactly who you are. He knows exactly who I am.

God is not a respecter of persons. He sees right through us. He sees into your heart. He knows what you're thinking about right now. He knows if you're not thinking about what I'm talking about, and you're busy thinking about things that you must think are more important.

The third step is a waiting period.

Don't fall asleep during the waiting period. That's the danger. Christ delays His coming.

The fourth step is the coming of the groom.

The coming of the groom. The Father of the groom would decide when it was time to send for the bride back in ancient times. The physical Father. He would decide when it was time to send for the bride. Just as God our Father is the one who's deciding, when that seventh trumpet will blow.

A friend of the groom would go immediately before the groom, one of his friends, to announce His coming.

Then the groom would go and, in a sense, steal away his bride from the bride's father's house. That was a custom. They would actually do this.

Of course, spiritually, the key is to always be ready, isn't it? Christ comes back as a thief in the night. For those who are not ready, they will be taken unawares. We must not allow ourselves to let down our spiritual guard or fall asleep spiritually. Because if we do, that may be the very time the Father tells His Son to return for His bride.

Maybe the very moment.

We can't afford to fall asleep, and we can't afford to fall asleep with no oil in our lamps. Do you now have sufficient spiritual oil for the return of Christ? We know that this is the overall moral teaching of the parable of the ten virgins. The parable of the ten virgins, they were all virgins, but five were wives. Five were foolish, and five did not have enough oil. Sometimes it gets easy to let down as human beings. We all do that, don't we? We all do, let's face it. We're all guilty of that. But do we have enough oil? Do we have some spare oil there for us when Christ returns? We sung a song in the set right before this second service entitled, The One Whom the Father Sends. I'm sure you're familiar with this song. Only the Father knows the day and the hour when He's going to send His Son back. Christ again will come as a thief in the night to steal away His bride from the evil, adoptive Father, Satan the Devil. Satan still wants you to be his son and daughter. Trust me, he hasn't given up on you. He knows who you are also, and he would like to sift you and destroy you. He is the adversary, he is our enemy. Satan will be angry as we draw nearer and nearer to the return of the groom, to the return of Christ. He will become more and more angry, and he will try to prevent Christ from taking the bride. Doesn't the Bible tell us that? In fact, he's going to rise up to fight against him when Christ returns. Let's go to Revelation 12. Revelation 12.

Revelation 12, verse 12. Revelation 12, verse 12. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. Satan's days are numbered.

In this day, Satan no doubt hates this feast of trumpets, which pictures the return of Jesus Christ. That's the end of the beginning for him, when Christ returns. In fact, the Day of Atonement is when he's going to be bound for a thousand years. Verse 13. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and half a time from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. He was trying to destroy her. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Again, there are some cataclysmic times coming, some tumultuous times are coming upon this earth, the time of Jacob's trouble, a time unlike any other time. And there's been some very bad times out there. In fact, what's going on right now is certainly very bad for Christians where ISIS is concerned, if they get a hold of them. Very bad times. I don't know if you saw the beheadings of the actual pictures. Someone sent me the actual pictures, which I don't know that I would recommend. If you have a weak stomach, you don't want to look at these pictures, because it's unbelievable what people can do to each other, and what they have done to those who are professing Christians. They decapitated these people and piled their heads in a huge pile. Their bodies just spewed a fourth, and it was not a clean beheading either. Gruesome.

There are difficult times coming upon the earth. There's no question about it.

The dragon is going to make war with the church. Some will be protected by the father and by the bridegroom. Some will be required to have their blood shed. Some will have to go through the Great Tribulation to have their garments cleansed and whitened to have that beautiful wedding gown that they're going to need at Christ's return. Otherwise, they won't rise to meet Christ in the air. They won't be changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, unless they're clothed with that beautiful wedding gown. So the fourth step is the coming of the groom. That's what this day pictures. It pictures the coming of the groom, the return of Christ. And then the fifth step is the wedding feast. The wedding feast. Now, let's go to Revelation 19. This is the fifth step of the ancient wedding. After the groom came for the bride and they were united together.

Then the wedding feast. Revelation 19.5.

We go back to where we started.

Then a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns, let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And His wife has made herself ready. The wife utilized that waiting period properly. She humbled herself. She repented of her sins. She drew close to Jesus Christ. And she made herself ready. And she learned to walk in righteousness. She learned to put off sin, to put sin out, to become unleavened, to become like Christ. Now, the couple would go into the wedding chamber that had been prepared for them back in ancient times, and seven days they would be alone together. The marriage would be consummated at this time. The husband and wife would become as one, become one flesh. Now, brethren, we believe that Christ is returning to the earth. I don't think you'd be here if you didn't believe in that. We believe that when He does return, a great resurrection to life is going to take place. Those who are Christ at His return will be changed in a moment, if they're alive, they will be changed in a moment, in the very twinkling of an eye at the sound of the last trumpet. They will be changed from physical to spirit. They will no longer be weighed down and shackled by this flesh, this corruptible flesh. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, my Lord, my husband. That's how we're going to be changed into spirit, because we've repented of our sins and we've accepted Christ as our Savior, and we are looking forward to His return.

God's Holy Days are so precious, and if you don't learn the lessons of the Spring Holy Days, you will not look forward to the fulfillment of these Fall Holy Days. Think about that for a moment. If you haven't learned the lessons of the Spring Holy Days, you're not going to look forward to the fulfillment of these days. You have to make yourself ready. If you're not ready for the fulfillment of these Fall Holy Days, you're going to be in a world of hurt in the days ahead.

So, brethren, we shall be born into the family of God at Christ's return. Born into His family, I believe we will become God. We will be spirit beings. We will be like Christ. We will see Him as He is. We'll have the same character. We're not going to sin any longer. Only God doesn't sin. We're going to be born into His family. That's what God is doing now. God is calling you to be born into His family. We shall bear His family name. We shall be just like our elder brother, like Jesus Christ, the firstborn among many brethren. We shall begin to rule with Him at His return. Of course, those who have died in Christ will even rise first, won't they? And then we who remain, if we're alive at the time, then we'll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. So those of Hebrews 11 who are waiting, those men and women of faith, having never received the promises, that's when they will receive this promise of the firstfruits. We will be kings and priests administering the government of God around the world. I think it's important to learn government now. I believe in that. I believe that we are all people under authority. If you haven't learned that lesson, it's a lesson you'll need to learn. It is important, the choices and the decisions that we make. We do reap what we sow. We pay consequences for our choices, our decisions.

If we're going to rule and reign with Christ, we have to learn to be under authority, or we'll never be given authority. Jesus Christ is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. The Father will reign supreme in the Third Heaven until such time that Christ delivers to Him the Kingdom, and He comes to reign from the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will come down from Heaven. What a glorious Kingdom it is going to be at that time. This is what Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, the Eighth Day, the Great White Throne Judgment period. These are things that we'll talk about in the days ahead as we complete the fulfillment of God's Holy Day plan, His Master Plan of Salvation for us. This day that we are observing today pictures the beginning of all that we've been talking about today. Christ needs to come back. Are you anxiously anticipating the return of Christ as a bride or groom? As a bride, he anxiously anticipates her wedding day. Isn't there great anticipation for those who are getting married? Even a husband, too, awaiting the wedding day. I know I was anxious when I was waiting to be married. We anxiously await the day. We should be excited today. We should be very enthusiastic about the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our husband.

Are you busily going about doing your Father's business as well? Are you preparing faithfully for your big day? Isn't that what we call it? It's your big day. Whether you're a husband or a wife, it's your big day. It's going to be huge for the rest of your life. Marriage is a very important union. I was sitting at the table today with five couples, and I figured out 299 years of marriage with five of those couples at the table today as I had lunch. One of them was married 60 years, so that helped bring the average up some. They were married today, and 299 years among them. My wife and I were only 36 years, so I didn't even get to count myself, because I would have brought the average way down. It's commendable when two people can learn to love each other and stay together. That's why teenagers should never think lightly of who they're going to marry or enter into this covenant lightly. It's a major, major decision. You need to be careful who you marry. You need to marry someone of like mind. You need to make some good, solid choices right off the bat, so you don't have to suffer the consequences, because a lot of people suffer in their marriages. They suffer a great deal. It's sad, but it's true. It happens all the time. I hope and pray that everyone here will take to heart the importance of marriage. What marriage pictures? What it means?

Marriage is to last forever. That's what marriage is supposed to do. It's to last forever. We're to be faithful and we're to be loyal to one another until death do we part.

Never enter into a marriage covenant lightly. Be very, very careful when you approach marriage, because do you see what it pictures?

Do you see what it means? I can't even begin to stress the importance of your marriage and the example that you set for each and every person in this room and everyone you come in contact with. It's something to think of soberly, often, so that we never take it lightly. God surely does not take it lightly. He uses it as an illustration, a symbol of what eternal life is all about. If we don't marry Christ, if we don't make those right choices, are we going to live forever? Are we going to live for eternity? No, it's extremely important. It cannot be over-emphasized. We should be anxiously anticipating the return of Christ just as a bride or groom anxiously anticipates their wedding day. We should be busily preparing for our big day, the wedding day. Rather than the Feast of Trumpets pictures your big day. Judgment has begun at the house of God. Judgment is happening. You know, it's interesting, too, that the ten days between now and the Day of Atonement are called the Days of All, A-W-E. In Jewish thought, they represent a judgment period. We are being judged. Judgment has begun at the house of God. Judgment is upon you. The choices that you make are being judged. You will be held accountable for your choices. The Feast of Trumpets, again, it pictures our big day when we will marry Christ. The day that we will become the Bride of Christ, the Messiah, our Savior. It's only because of a faithful husband that we'll live forever. It's only because we have a faithful husband. I hope, as you keep the rest of this day, this Feast of Trumpets, that you'll think about what we've discussed throughout all the messages that we've heard today. And that you'll see the gravity of your calling. You've been chosen and called out to be different and to set an example for one another. Your example is very important. So be careful how you live your life, because people are watching. And most importantly, God is watching.