The Reality Of The Rapture Doctrine Is Proven By Ancient Galilean Wedding Ceremonies

The following article is from a newly released Ingenuity Film called Before The Wrath.  It is a synopsis of the movie.  It features new proof of the reality of the rapture – and from all places, Galilean wedding ceremonies.  This is great material for any Christian who loves God’s truth, and hungers for end times prophetic events to begin.  For more information, search the following sites:

http://www.BeforeTheWrath.com

http://www.IngenuityFilms.com

Maranatha, Pastor Steve  <><

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Jesus’ first miracle was performed at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.  A recent discovery involving this particular wedding ceremony proves that Jesus Christ is coming back for His church in the rapture.  Great Tribulation will be poured out upon the world like no time before.  But the Lord will return to save His own from the wrath that will be poured out upon them all.

Understanding is being given to Christians who will understand the return of the Messiah.  Jesus asks:

Luke 18:8 King James Version (KJV)
“I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Lifeway Research found that 36% of Christians believe the rapture will happen before the Great Tribulation period.  4% believe it will happen in the middle, and 18% believe it will happen at the end.  13% have other timing variations, 4% are not sure, and 25% do not believe in a literal rapture at all.

Jesus and all of His apostles were Galilean (with the exception of Judas Iscariot).  The Galileans developed customs that were unique only to them.  Jesus used this culture to teach of the nature and plan of God.  He used words, symbols, parables, analogies, illustrations and examples for them to understand.  He gave them clear revelation.  We need to see the Messiah through the eyes of the Galileans to understand when He will return.

A series of customs in a Galilean wedding that would unfold over an entire year, reveals a chronological timeline as to the return of Jesus Christ!

The wedding where Jesus performed His first miracle, happened at Cana in 30 AD, then ruled by Tibereas Caesar.  

1)The first step was the betrothal between the young bride and the groom that a wedding would take place.  During this time, a wedding was the biggest event that would happen in any town for anyone.  Everyone would rush to the betrothal at the main gate.  The bride receives a written covenant or proposal.  After the covenant, gifts were exchanged.  The groom offers the bride a “cup of joy,” and the bride has the power to accept or reject the offer of the groom.  She needed to drink the cup of wine for the marriage to progress.  The groom then drinks from the cup as well.  The groom then says something profound:  “You are now consecrated to me by the laws of Moses and I will not drink from this cup again until I drink it with you in my father’s house.”

During the Last Supper, Jesus offered a cup of wine to the disciples which symbolized a new covenant He had with them.  After the disciples drank from the cup, Jesus said something similar:  “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day that I drink it with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  Jesus’ cup represented the new covenant whereas He would pour His blood, and He would mark it, by pouring and drinking the wine.  At the Last Supper, Jesus is talking as a bridegroom to his bride.  The cup and bread sealed the betrothal just as in a Galilean wedding.  The marriage supper of the Lamb is built upon the custom of Galilean weddings.  

The groom must now leave the betrothed until the day the wedding is consummated.  

2)Over the coming months, the groom will gather new materials to add a room to his father’s house, as well as new furniture such as tables and stools.  He will pursue oil lamps and rugs for the wedding feast that will take place in the new home.  Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus warned His disciples that He would have to leave them.

John 14:3 King James Version (KJV)
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”  Jesus follows by stating that He will return and take His bride, and that where He is, we will also be.  Jesus introduces the doctrine of the rapture to us, that He will return for His bride.  Jesus will come back for His church.  Jesus tells us that when He returns for His bride, there are those on the earth who will not taste death.  But until that time, when the bride can be reunited with the groom, there is much that needs to take place.  The bride must prepare for the hour when the groom will return for her.  Material and fabric is purchased for an elaborate wedding dress.  This took time in the first century.  The bride was to remain vigilant and pure as she waited for her groom, no matter how long it took.  

3)This new revelation is sending shockwaves throughout Christendom.  It has been recently revealed that neither the groom or bride knew the day or the hour that the wedding would take place!  The bride always had to be ready.  No one in the entire town knew when the wedding would take place, that is, except for one person.  No one knew the day or hour of the wedding , no one except the father of the bridegroom!  He and he alone, holds the secrets as to when the wedding will take place.  Only Galilean weddings were performed with such customs.  To the Galileans, it was a surprise wedding.  The father would make the announcement as to the day and the hour: “Son, go get your bride.”  No one knows the day or the hour, when Jesus will return for His bride and establish His kingdom.  Only the Father knows.

Matthew 24:36 English Standard Version (ESV)
No One Knows That Day and Hour
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,[a] but the Father only.”

The bride and groom are eager for their union, yet must wait upon the Father’s call.  Our task is NOT to focus on the date of His return, but to carefully consider preparation for the Lord’s coming back for the church.

4)Jesus Christ will return as a thief in the night, in a world that is apostate and unbelieving.  Jesus warned His disciples to be ready for His second coming.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2  King James Version (KJV)
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

In ancient Galilee, researchers have just found that the hour of the planned wedding would be in the middle of the night.  This is why  they needed oil in their lamps and their lamps lit.  They were dressed and ready.  The groom would come for the bride in the middle of the night.  The bride was pure and slept in her wedding dress and the bridesmaids were there to help her out if the groom came unexpectedly, in an hour she did not know.  It could happen at a time when everyone else is not ready.  We are not to fall asleep as others do, because the groom could come at any time.  Be Ye Ready!

5)Parable of the ten bridesmaids in the night, prepared with oil in their lamps for the arrival of the groom.  All ten bridesmaids got up, yet only five had enough oil in their lamps to go on.  Oil represents the Holy Spirit.  Some believed for awhile, yet they were not born again.  [Refer to the parable of the sower].  People are leaving the true church in droves, while only a small remnant is keeping watch.

We head back to Cana at the time of Christ and the sun is setting.  The Galileans are asleep but the grooms’ hour has finally come.  The father makes the decision:  “Now is the time.”  The father wakes up the groom and groomsmen, and says:  “Go get your bride.”  He blows the shofar/trumpet and blasts it to wake up the entire village.  The bride and bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, executing their preparedness.  Trumpets wake the bride and the town, but only those who are prepared will attend the wedding.  After a year of preparing and waiting, they are finally together again.  Reunited as one forever.  The bride is carried in a litter to the grooms house, Lifted Into Thin Air Off The Ground And Born Aloft, and escorted back to his place.  She is to only be ready, while her escorts do all of the work.  Is this not indicative of Jesus lifting His bride off of the earth and into the air?

6)The beginning of the wedding feast is for those who heard and beckoned to the call in the darkness of night.  This is a picture of what will happen in the end of days.  Those who are caught up to be with the Messiah, will partake in the marriage supper of the Lamb.  The father’s house in a Galilean wedding, is a perfect picture of heaven.  Gathering as a bride and bridegroom, married forever, and gathered in the father’s house.  This is so important because this is our destination, and we are chosen as the Bride of Jesus Christ, and to dwell with Him for all of eternity.  Everything here on earth is a foreshadow of that which is to come.  

Many will be left behind.  The door will be shut behind them at the wedding feast.  In ancient Galilee, if you were locked out, there was no getting back in.  Many know about Jesus Christ and the rapture, but will be shut out forever.  Those who are locked out of the marriage supper are destined to be subject to the wrath of God that will be poured out upon the world.  And the righteous will be removed from the earth while the Lord pours out His wrath upon all those who dwell on the earth.

Even So, Come Lord Jesus…