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Gone Fishin'

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Gone Fishin'

Tag Archives: Bride

Who Are Overcomers?

23 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study, Spiritual

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Bride, Bridegroom, eternal city, glorified, interchangeable, justified, morning star, New Jerusalem, no blemishes, One Body of Christ, One Community of Faith, overcomers, pillars, promises of God, reborn, rulers, sacred city, sacred people, sacred place, saints, sanctified, saved, spotless, transformed, Tree of Life Fruit, Tribulation Wheat, unpreached truth, untaught truth, white garments, white stone, wife

Overcomers

…I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ ~ Revelation 21:2-4, NASB

In the above verses, the apostle John describes overcomers’ heavenly state of existence that is achieved only by Christ’s true Bride, who figuratively (metaphorically) is depicted as the New Jerusalem. However, what too many believers fail to understand is that Christ’s Bride is both the New Jerusalem—the place where She will live—and Christ’s adorned Wife who is without spot or blemish.  

Biblically speaking, very often a people and a place are presented as interchangeable. When we consider everything the Word of God says about Christ’s Bride, it becomes obvious that who and what the Holy Spirit inspired apostle John to describe in the above verses is the collective Bride of Christ who is the New Jerusalem, as well as the saints who emanate the eternal features of The Father’s glorious and holy heavenly city. In other words, Christ’s Bride is a sacred place and a sacred people.

Because the whole Word of God depicts the Bride of Christ as both a place and a people, it is time for all believers in Christ not only to comprehend but also to accept the following truths that rarely are taught or preached in modern-day churches. These untaught and unpreached truths, which by no means are all-inclusive, are as follows:

ONLY overcomers are saved AND sanctified reborn believers who conquer the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (see 1 John 2:15-17 and 1 John 4:1-4 [present world-system], Romans 7:15-25 and Ephesians 2:1-3 [desires of the flesh], 1 Peter 5:8 and James 4:7-10  [Satan]). Put differently, only true believers in Christ—in whom the Holy Spirit lives, fills (baptizes), and is sanctifying—will be the successful overcomers spoken about in the Word of God. The reason this entire statement is true is because all believers in Christ are promised eternal life BUT believing is more than giving intellectual assent to His Existence or His Redemptive Work. Believing also means Christ’s Ekklesia (His One Body of Believers or One Community of Faith Believers) is His collective Bride who uses everything He gave to Her to help Her become His saintly Overcomers. That is why the Word of God describes Christ’s saintly Overcomers as follows:

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to eat from the Tree of Life in God’s Paradise (Revelation 2:7).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who don’t receive the second death or Lake of Fire final judgment (Revelation 2:11).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive some of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive a white stone on which their new names are written—names only overcomers know (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who do deeds that please Christ until the end. They receive authority and power to rule over the nations with Christ (Revelation 2:26).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose deeds please Christ until the end. They are the ones who also receive the morning star (Revelation 2:28).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive white garments, and they are the ones whose names are never erased from The Book of Life (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose names Christ confesses before Father God and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who become pillars in God’s Temple on which Christ writes The Father’s Name and His new Name (Revelation 3:12).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to sit with Christ on His Throne (Revelation 3:21).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who inherit a world free of sin, diseases, pain, crying, and mourning. They are God’s people whom He lives among (Revelation 21:3-4).

 

 

By now, it should be evident that believers who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, but are not seeking to obtain the abovementioned overcomers’ heavenly state of existence will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised. If believers, the ones who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, are not transforming into The Bride of Christ whose daily saintly living consistently resembles Christ’s lifestyle, they will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised.  

Put differently, ordinary believers—people who are saved, reborn, and justified but who have not, with the help of the Holy Spirit’s progressive sanctification process, conquered the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (which are overcomers’ righteous deeds that please Christ)—will not become Christ’s saintly Bride who is adorned for Him (The Bridegroom).  Instead, they will be the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat who do not receive glorified bodies.

As the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat, these ordinary believers will not be Christ’s saintly Overcomers who are able to eat the fruit from The Tree of Life. They also will never wear white garments, never receive any manna, never receive their individual white stone upon which each overcomer’s new name is written, never sit with Christ in His Throne, never reign with Christ, never have their names confessed before Father God and His angels, never become pillars, never inherit an uncorrupted everlasting world, and never will always be in Father God’s Presence.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Shalom . . . . .

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Christianity and the Christian Epithet Aren’t for Followers of Christ

03 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

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Tags

badge of honor, believers, blasphemed, brethren, Bride, Christian, Christianity, churchianity, contemptuous, cursed, demeaning, derisive, derogatory, disciples, disrespectful, Edict of Milan, ekklessiae, epithet, insulting, irreverent, mocking, moniker, nide, offensive term, overcomers, pagan word, saints, sarcastic, scornful, the Way, those of the Way

I'm Not A CHRISTIAN

They then who had been scattered abroad through the tribulation that took place on the occasion of Stephen, passed through [the country] to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one but to Jews alone. But there were certain of them, Cyprians and Cyrenians, who entering into Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, announcing the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus. And [the] Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. And the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch: who, having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced, and exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord; for he was a good man and full of [the] Holy Spirit and of faith; and a large crowd [of people] were added to the Lord. And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul. And having found [him], he brought him to Antioch. And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd: and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. ~ Acts 11:19-26, DARBY

“Christianity” developed from beliefs that are based on far too many commandments of men taught as doctrines and from the traditions of men that have pagan roots. These reasons are why “Christianity” always has been a dinosaur, which means “Christianity” is and always has been outdated—useless to Christ’s true saints. For the 21st century’s genuine followers of Christ, “Christianity” as an organized religion is, and always has been since its inception (313 A.D., when Emperor Constantine declared “Christianity” the religion of the Roman Empire), an undesirable religion, as well as why the word “Christian” is and always has been an offensive moniker. Since 313 A.D., so many pagan traditions and doctrines have been passed down by The Roman Catholic Church as true and appropriate “Christian” beliefs and practices, including the Christianized belief that claims the word “Christian” is a person who believes in and practices “Christianity.”

The above-stated truths and facts about “Christianity”—a term that is neither indirectly suggested to be the religion of followers of Christ nor directly stated as the religion of followers of Christ. Indeed, the word “Christianity” isn’t even in the New Testament. Moreover, it is the misinterpretations of Christ and His apostles’ first-century teachings and preachings that have so many 21st-century followers of Christ choosing not to adapt to, to surrender to, or to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and His spiritual changes—His sanctification process or progressive transformation—that God says in His Word believers in Christ must undergo so that they might become Christlike. Everything that Christ and His apostles preached and taught is not being preached and taught correctly, if at all, in most of today’s Catholic and Protestants church buildings. They preached and taught about Kingdom of God living; being born again; salvation only in Christ; Christ the ONLY Way; progressive sanctification; godly holiness; the saints as overcomers; the saints, the brethren, and/or the disciples in the assemblies (eklessiae, NOT churches); being baptized with Holy Spirit and Fire; and so forth. Furthermore, apostle Paul addresses his epistles to the saints, the brethren, or the disciples in the assemblies (eklessiae)—not to any “Christians” who practice “Christianity.”

Yet today, in place of what Christ and His apostles preach and teach in the New Testament, what most churchgoers hear from the pulpits is some man-developed religious doctrines and traditions that most pastors are passing off as “Christianity” (an organized man-made religion that, as already mentioned, began with The Roman Catholic Church). As a result, members who attend said pastors’ churches have been practicing “Christianity,” or as I prefer to call it, Churchianity (a word C. S. Lewis coined). My point here is that “Christianity” and Churchianity neither represents the Holy Kingdom of God living nor represents baptized with the Holy Spirit and Fire Christlikeness. It “Christianity” or Churchianity that has been taught to modern-day “Christians”—people who say they are born again, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit when they really are just people who personify the leafy yet barren fig tree Christ withered from its roots.

Most “Christians” today continue to overlook the fact that the word “Christianity” cannot be found anywhere in the Word of God. Moreover, they continue to overlook another fact, which is that neither Christ’s apostles nor the first-century believers in Christ called themselves “Christians.” Christ’s first-century apostles and all the other believers in Christ called themselves “the disciples,” “the brethren,” “the saints,” “the elect,” “the believers,” and “those of the Way.”

The “Christian” label/nickname originated with the pagans who lived in Antioch of Syria. These pagans first called followers of Christ “Christians,” right after many Gentiles in Antioch converted to the Way and were vocal about their conversion. Many sources tell how, in the beginning, “Christian” was a derogatory pagan word—a sarcastic, mocking, irreverent, and contemptuous pagan term. There, indeed, are more than enough trustworthy sources that were written in or close to the first century that verify “Christian” was the derisive term pagans used to describe Christ’s Disciples.

For sure, “Christian,” as a derisive and an offensive term, is used three times in the Holy Bible (cf. Acts 11:26b; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). The apostle Peter references the apparent derisive and offensive nature of the word “Christian” in 1 Peter 4:16. There can be no doubt that apostle Peter knew “Christian” was a snide, scornful, disrespectful, insulting, and demeaning pagan term, even though “Christian” has Christ in it. What apostle Peter is doing in 1 Peter 4:16 is encouraging believers in Christ to wear the derogatory and hurtful term “Christian” like a badge of honor—to count it worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake and to God’s Glory, rather than to be made to feel ashamed for suffering as a “Christian,” which was the name of and a people who belonged to Christ whose name the pagans were blaspheming when they mocked and insulted “Christians.” For sure, to the pagans, being a “Christian” was worse than being a murderer, a thief, or an evil criminal (cf. 1 Peter 4:15)

Still, the truth is that neither Christ nor any of His Disciples/apostles declared or implied that believers in Christ are called to be “Christians.” Then too, neither Christ nor any of His Disciples/apostles declared or implied that believers in Christ are called to practice “Christianity.” Indeed, all throughout the New Testament, the words Christ and/or His Disciples use hundreds of times, collectively speaking, are “disciples,” “brethren,” and “saints,” In contrast, as previously mentioned, “Christian” only is used three times—twice in Acts and once in 1 Peter.

Years later, Roman followers of Christ began to call themselves, in Latin, Christiani, which was pronounced Chrestiani and meant they were followers of Chrestus. It is evident that Christiani was a pun that Romans used to give the Christian epithet a new and sweeter significance. Indeed, saying they were followers of Chrestus was the same as saying they were followers of the merciful one; the upright servant. That gave Roman believers in Christ a sense of pride. They were honored to be associated with and/or to suffer for Chrestus.

Over time, in the Roman Empire, “Christian” was considered to be a more splendid and appropriate name than how it originally was used. In other words, the scornful nickname had now become a respectable name. They were honored to have been given the occasion of their persecution and/or death. That occasion was because they were “Christians.”

Nevertheless, since the first-century followers of Christ not only never called themselves “Christians” but also actually went out of their way to avoid speaking that word and constantly declared they were not “Christians,” then we who are 21st-century followers of Christ should do the same. No justified play on words can change what the first-century believers knew was a contemptuous epithet. No men or women, priests/bishops or pastors/bishops, no organized Church, and no organized religion can tell Christ’s Ekklesia or Bride who or what She should call Herself. He and His first-century Disciples turned Apostles called all followers of Christ disciples, saints, brethren, elect, overcomers, believers, and/or those of the Way.

Finally, just as the first-century pagans used the “Christian” epithet, when they were mocking followers of Christ, the “Christian” moniker also is used to mock 21st-century followers of Christ. Thus, all believers in Christ who call themselves “Christians” need to stop calling themselves Christians and, instead, call themselves disciples, saints, brethren, elect, overcomers, believers, and/or followers of the Way. Likewise, all believers in Christ who claim “Christianity” as their religion, faith, or belief should stop and, instead, claim to be in a relationship with God and Christ.

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Betrothed Believer: Married to Christ

11 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Poetry

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arranged marriage, atoning sacrifice, betrothal charade, betrothed, Bride, Bride's purchase price, Bridegroom, commitment, consummate, faithful, faithless, fake bride, infidelity grounds for divorce, Jewish Wedding Customs, loyal, marriage contract, Marriage Supper of the Lamb, married, Mattan, Mohar, prepared, processional to Bridal Chamber, redeemed, seven days, teaching tool, wife

married-to-christ

 

 

And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out:

“Hallelujah!
     For our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns.
Let us rejoice and celebrate
     and give Him the glory.
For the marriage of the Lamb has come,
     And His bride has made herself ready.
She was given clothing of fine linen,
     linen bright and pure.”

For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints. ~ Revelation 19:6-8, Berean Study Bible

 

 

Righteous arranged marriage:
Predestined Bride and Groom
Prophesied in Message,
Saved from eternal tomb.

Negotiating match:
Father of Groom has Son
Bear expenses for “catch”;
Marriage costs for Bride – none.

The Son pays agreed price:
Mohar purchases Bride—
Redemption’s sacrifice,
Grand cost for purified.

Groom’s additional gifts:
Spirit, Authority
Power, private airlifts
For His holy Body.

Mattan’s heavenly best:
After Mohar is paid
Groom shifts from his request
To next response conveyed.

Bride imbibes poured out wine:
Shed blood that covers sin—
If faithless to Divine,
Quaint parade a no-win.

Banned bridal march harsh news:
Foul betrothal charade
Causes legal tie blues—
Consummation waylaid.

Only true Bride Father
Selected for Groom goes
In Rapture with honor—
Wearing white linen robes.

Wedding processional:
After that, seven days
Being affectional—
The consummation phase.

Leaving bridal chamber
For Groom’s Marriage Supper—
Faithful Overcomer
Celebrates with Savior.

Snapshot of Bride’s events:
Betrothed same as married—
Christ perfects agreement
With staunch and unwearied.

Live consecrated life:
Know Bridegroom’s returning–
Be pure and holy Wife;
Lamp kept trimmed and burning.

He’s coming to lift up
His Bride and take her Home
Where they’ll drink from the cup;
Finalize vows that Yom.

The Day of the Lord will
Come like thief in the night;
Stay prepared Bride until
It is time to take flight.

 

– I created the above poem on February 11, 2017

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Ekklesia Says It All: Christ Will Call His Bride Out of This World!

24 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

apantesis, Apokalupsis, assembly, Bride, Bridegroom, called-out group, congregation, dignitary, ekklesia, Epiphaneia, escort, gathering, huapantesis, institutional, koinonia or fellowship, parousia, qahal, rapture, relational, Septuagint or LXX, ten virgins, U-Turn

My Ekklesia

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,
Searching all the innermost parts of his being.
~ Proverbs 20:27, NASB

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be,
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. ~ Psalm 12:1, NASB

The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way. ~
Isaiah 57:1-2, NASB

But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. ~ Luke 21:36, NASB

It is interesting how God chose to use the Greek word ekklesia, as the word that best describes Jesus Christ’s called-out group—His ONE Body of Believers or the Bride of Christ. Etymologically speaking, ekklesia is formed from a compound, a combination of two Greek words: ek (from out of) and kaleo (to call aloud or to call forth).

Furthermore, based on ekklesia’s traditional usage, it is obvious to many scholars that ekklesia at one time was the most inclusive word in existence. Many of these same scholars believe that this inclusivity is how its etymological meaning is connected to the biblical understanding of a first century A.D. ekklesia being a called-out group of believers (Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, men and women, slaves and free persons, and so forth).

Now it should be noted here that other scholars have maintained that ekklesia originally only meant an “assembly” and NOT a gathered “spiritual” group that used to be part of a larger group. However, based on the Koine Greek language used to translate the Hebrew word qahal as ekklesia, which is found in one of the oldest and surviving Greek translations of the Septuagint (the Old Testament or LXX manuscripts), it cannot be denied that Christ Jesus’ meaning of ekklesia has remained the same as it is used in the Septuagint.

Furthermore, it widely is accepted that the Septuagint’s translation of the Torah (the Law; the first five books of the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament) was completed around the middle of the third century B.C., while the rest of the Old Testament books found in the Septuagint widely are accepted to have been translated in the second century B.C. So then, by the time the first four books of the Koine Greek New Testament were written, it is no coincidence that the first person named in the four Gospels who uses ekklesia is Christ Jesus. When He uses ekklesia, He no doubt is prophesying about a future “spiritual” Body of Believers whom Father God will “call out” from a larger group of people who will be living in spiritual darkness—a larger group of people, which will include both the unbelieving pagan “Gentiles” and the unbelieving “religious” Jews.

Historically and biblically speaking, from the very first time ekklesia is used in the New Testament (see Matthew 16:18), ekklesia does NOT mean “church,” as it universally is translated today. Ekklesia, according to how Christ Jesus uses this word, literally means “called out of,” which, without doubt, begs the questions: 1. Who is being called out? 2. Out of what have they been called? That’s why no matter how anyone tries to spin it, the word “church” only defines a “place,” predominantly a “physical building,” and NEVER a people; whereas, whenever ekklesia is used in the Scriptures to describe a congregation, convocation, or an assembly, it always refers to PEOPLE—refers to the ones who actually have been called out and/or set apart, and NOT the places where they meet/gather.

Now granted, Christian people are the ones who actually congregated in the first century A.D. Jewish Temple before its destruction, in Synagogues, homes, and much later in “church” buildings, and so forth. Nevertheless, from the inception of Jesus Christ’s ekklesia, physical buildings NEVER were considered His called-out ones. Thus, ONLY ekklesia refers to the PEOPLE who are the Lord’s called-out group of believers! In other words, Christ Jesus NEVER calls His Bride His “CHURCH.”

Why is the Bride of Christ (Body of Believers) never going to be the same thing as “The CHURCH”? Well, according to the most credible archeological findings, it is because it is primarily evident that from the time that all of the ancient Greek city-states (in truth, villages) began holding their own ekklesia, something or someone was responsible for calling forth/summoning each Greek city-states’ citizens. That someone or something was the sound that came from a herald’s blown trumpet, which called forth/summoned the different groups of Greek citizens to their own ekklesia (a word in the ancient Greek cultural that always seemed to depict the basic idea of an “assembly”). Additionally, the most reliable archeological findings show that each known different ancient Greek ekklesia was held in a local community meeting place where the assembly (ekklesia) of Greek citizens discussed their own city-state’s various political concerns.

Furthermore, in ancient Greek city-states, each ekklesia was both its specific group of citizens AND the controlling power that governed its own city-state. In other words, city-states like Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and so forth, were all part of ancient Greece (or the larger all-inclusive group that spoke the same language, believed in the same gods, worshipped the same way, and considered themselves to be Greeks), even though as city-states their own ekklesia not only had the power to enact laws and rule its own citizens, but also each ekklesia had the power to raise and train its own army, negotiate its own citizenship, establish its own religion, and collect its own taxes. In other words, most of the ancient Greek city-states were in essence individual kingdoms, with their own governmental assemblies, and their own kings.

Based on the available information about the etymological meaning of the ancient Greek culture’s ekklesia, it should be easy to see how, by the first century A.D., ekklesia very well could have meant a sanctified (set apart) spiritual Body of Believers in Christ Jesus who was “called out” or summoned by God to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, because the larger group of unbelieving people they once were part of still were living in spiritual darkness. Likewise, it should be easy to see how, by the first century A.D., ekklesia also could have meant something very similar to a Greek koinonia—group of Christians or followers of Christ who was united in purpose: fellowship. According to the Word of God, these early believers gathered together for the agreed upon purposes of sharing communion (fellowshipping), giving encouragement, and receiving preparation (cf. Acts 2:42), all of which were necessary pastimes that helped each participant achieve the God-commanded tasks of evangelizing and discipling his or her world, as he or she knew it then.

Put differently, these first century A.D. believers understood that they had been “called out” by God and for God (for His Divine purposes). In the latter sense, they all knew that, by gathering together with other like-minded born-again AND Holy Spirit- filled believers, who would meet (usually in community homes) for the sought after encouragement, fellowship, and training, they (these first century A.D. believers) would receive everything they needed to be able to represent accurately and faithfully the Kingdom of Heaven and Father God’s Perfect Will in all of life, while simultaneously affecting a change in their surrounding communities.

To reiterate, it is interesting that God chose the word ekklesia to define who the Lord’s Bride always has been, and continues to be. Once again, contrary to popular opinions, there is no way that anybody could make the English word “church” mean the same thing as the Greek word ekklesia. Again, the original first century apostolic meaning of ekklesia meant both a group of believers “called out” by God to receive Salvation (Kingdom of Heaven membership requirement, which is fulfilled after a born-again status is received) AND that of an “assembly” (a koinonia—a fellowship kind of meeting).

It wasn’t until the early 1600s that the King James Bible translators decided to transform the meaning of ekklesia so that it would reflect what “church” actually denotes today. At that time, the true historical and biblical meaning of ekklesia changed drastically from a basic “assembly” and/or “congregation” of people TO the “place of meeting,” as well as “a thing,” like a physical building. These “church” meanings definitely are the ones that the translators of the 1611 King James Bible intended for ekklesia, but as already stated these meanings are NOT the true definitions for ekklesia, when it is used to describe Jesus Christ’s Body of Believers.

Today, it widely is accepted that the literal meaning of ekklesia is a “called-out group”—an inclusive group of people “called out” from the world by God and for God. However, it should be noted here that after the first-ever members of this “called-out group,” which in this case represents God’s Household of Faith children, separated from that already mentioned bigger group, this is when God’s “called-out group” initially became a totally different group (i.e., Christians or Christ followers, and etc.). The point here is that, spiritually speaking, there really ONLY has been ONE true ekklesia. That is to say, from the Old Testament days, Father God has had His faithfully righteous Jewish people. From the New Testament days, Jesus Christ has had His faithfully righteous Body of Believers, which includes Jews and Gentiles. This Divine Truth often is missed. Too many people today, believers included, often fail to see that there really is ONLY ONE called-out group (more on this point later)!

What way too many believers also haven’t understood is that God purposely chose the ONLY word that could possibly give the most credence to the Word of God’s supernatural Rapture doctrine. More than any of mankind’s countless speculations or theories, ekklesia is God’s all-inclusive word that best describes what the Rapture is, and the “season” in which it will happen, just NOT the day or the hour!

Without doubt, it is the Word of God, which verifies that Christ Jesus will be coming for His Bride right after a rousing midnight cry, an angelic voice, and the sound of the Last Trumpet. Now anyone who is well acquainted with the traditional Jewish Wedding ceremonies will understand that this Last Trumpet call happens when the bridegroom, who first left His betrothed so that He could prepare a bridal chamber for the both of them in his father’s house, returns for his bride. Therefore, this LAST TRUMPET sound, which the apostle Paul writes about, is NOT the one that will happen at the physical bodily appearance of the Lord or His Second Advent, which is when He returns, bringing His saints with Him, at the end of the Tribulation Period. This LAST TRUMPET sound of Paul’s is the same TRUMPET sound that would have been blown right before the herald’s shout, which is mentioned in Christ Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Virgins. The wedding herald (probably a groomsman) could be the one who carries and blows the shofar, for he certainly is the one who shouts: The bridegroom is coming.

The Lord no doubt knew that His disciples knew that the bridegroom in the 10 Virgins Parable is coming back to abduct his bride in secret—to return on a day and at an hour NOBODY could have foreknown, thus, in secret—to snatch Her or “steal Her away” for the purpose of taking Her into the Bridal Chamber He built for Her inside His Father’s House, where they could consummate their marriage. In other words, the procession Jesus Christ alludes to in the 10 Virgins Parable is a procession from and back to Father God’s House, as prophesied and practiced in the ancient Jewish Wedding customs. This means that the Lord knew that His disciples also knew that the alluded to procession was NOT back to the father of the bride’s house for the wedding reception! The Lord knew His disciples knew that the Bridegroom (also King) coming for His Bride is a prophesied event, even though the Lord’s focus is more on preparedness (cf. Psalm 98:6; Joel 2:15-16; John 3:29; additionally, please read the Old Testament, as the Jewish wedding customs are in many verses in many chapters of several books)!

This preparedness (being ready ahead of time, because no one knows exactly when the “catching away” will happen) also is the apostle Paul’s focus, which is why his coming and going language in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is the reason why his use of the Greek word apantesis ISN’T in the technical sense. The same also is true of Jesus Christ’s use of apantesis in His 10 Virgins parable. Therefore, apostle Paul, like the Lord, also is relying on people’s knowledge of how and why the Bridegroom is coming back. That certainly must be why ALL of the movements—the Lord (Bridegroom) descending, the dead in Christ’s bodies resurrecting and then ascending, the alive in Christ ascending after the dead in Christ, and the instantaneous glorifications—obviously depict the abduction of the Bride of Christ, which is why Paul’s coming and going language is NOT the “technical” understanding of what the Greek word apantesis means—neither how Paul intends for it to mean in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, nor how Jesus Christ uses it in Matthew 25:6. (More on the use of apantesis later.)

Right now, it is important to mention that, based on the understanding of how the ancient Greek city-states summoned their individual ekklesia, informed people should understand that the same way those earliest assemblies were convoked, which was by a herald’s trumpet sound, also is going to be the same method God Himself has chosen to summon Jesus Christ’s Bride. In other words, there is one meaning of the Lord’s Bride being “called out” of the world, which as previously mentioned was because God “called Her out” of darkness into the Kingdom of Heaven’s marvelous Light, for the purpose of building His Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven (see 1 Peter 2:9-10). However, the Lord’s Bride also is going to be “called out” of, taken out from, or summoned out of various places (dwellings, rooms, sites, localities, and so forth, that are all over this world) so that the Bridegroom can gather (assemble) His Bride (Body) together in the clouds, after His Bride MEETS Him in the air. Once again, this in-the-air meeting includes both the gathering of the resurrected dead in Christ and the gathering of the raptured alive in Christ!

So then by changing or rather by insisting that in this day and age the ancient fundamental meaning and the modern day literal meaning of ekklesia BOTH just mean “church,” countless believers in Christ have missed the importance of the true meaning of the Greek word ekklesia—the meaning Christ Jesus first uses in the New Testament—which supports the New Testament’s Rapture doctrine. Thus, there can be no doubt that God Himself has inspired the apostle Paul, a Jew and a Greek, to teach via his letter to the ekklesia in Thessalonica (Thessaloniki) that the Lord’s Bride (the children in God’s Household of Faith) is representative of His firstfruits who, in the end times, will be “called out of” or taken out from, or summoned out of numerous places in many geographical areas so that they can be gathered together for an in-the-air meeting, and so that they then can continue to ascend into Heaven.

Perhaps the above truths are why it is important to note here that God is not always clear as crystal about EVERYTHING that is presented in His Word. Perhaps His repeated lack of transparency, especially with the biblical subjects that have varied interpretations, is why people have a hard time discerning the appropriate meanings for certain Hebrew and Greeks words, especially the Holy Bible’s original Hebrew and Greek words that consistently have proven to be difficult to communicate (translate) into the English language. Possibly this difficulty also is because, over time, the more present etymological meanings for these original Hebrew and Greek words have changed from their earliest meanings, which seems to be the case with ekklesia.  Sometimes this change is a good thing, and sometimes it isn’t.

Still, it would be wonderful if readers would consider what this blogger believes is the primary reason why so many professed Christians have so many dissimilar interpretations for the same Scriptures. There is no doubt that the main reason there are diverse interpretations for the same Scriptures is, to a certain degree, because of believers’ understanding of what some crucial original Hebrew and/or Greek words in those differently interpreted Scriptures actually mean in English. Therefore, this blogger believes that the chief reason why these varied interpretations happen, and are continuing to happen, is because God Himself obviously has included several words from the original languages of the Holy Bible which, on the surface, seem to be interchangeable when the truth is that these words have distinctly different denotations and/or connotations. This reason is specifically true, when similar yet significantly dissimilar words appear to describe the same kinds of events or groups of people (or absolutely are understood to be describing the same kinds of events or groups of people).

The point here is that perhaps God’s lack of clarity is intentional. Maybe His ambiguity is nothing more than His Way of showing His love for multiple possible meanings—a love He graciously shares with His Children. Then too, maybe His opacity is God’s Way of making sure that His Children in His Household of Faith always give their complete trust to (put their whole Faith in) Him by relying totally on His Holy Spirit to reveal, teach, and empower them INSTEAD of putting their trust in bible/prophecy scholars’ academic prowess or in the extraordinary number of hours these scholars claim they have spent in research and study! There’s no doubt that God knew human beings, especially those living in these last days and end times, would “think” that they wouldn’t need to depend on the Holy Spirit’s supernatural assistance, because they are “smart” enough to figure the truth out on their own—so intelligent that they only need to trust in their own “superior” research and analytical efforts!

Evidently God inspired the men who penned the Holy Bible’s verses to use the poles-apart words that are found in the Word of God’s original Hebrew and Greek languages. Once again, these poles-apart words, on the surface, often appear to have the same meanings. God no doubt had His inspired writers to create this very problem, primarily for the purpose of distracting or misleading the ones God didn’t want to know the truth! For example, God definitely would want to keep Satan and his demonic forces ignorant about and unaware of the real truth about these differently understood and diversely interpreted biblical events, people, descriptions, prophesies, and so forth.

Maybe this last truth is why, for example, every once and a while, there are some Greek words that have been problematic, where translating/communicating God’s Divine Truths accurately into English are concerned. These obvious prize pearls (God’s Divine Truths) have been hidden from sight under those Greek words that, again, initially appear to mean the same thing but, when people dig a little bit deeper, these words turn out to mean completely something else. The following is proof positive that Greek words have very different meanings, yet they are translated as the same English words: AGAPE, EROS, STORGE, and/or PHILIA, which often are translated as “love”; THUMOS and ORGE, which often are translated as “wrath”; EKLEKTOS and EKLEGOMAI, which often are translated as “elect,” “choice,” “selected,” and/or “chosen”; PAROUSIA, EPIPHANEIA, and/or APOKALUPSIS, which often are translated as “coming,” “presence,” and/or “arrival”; and HARPAZO, ANALAMBANO, and/or EPAIRO, which often are translated as “taken up,” “snatched up,” and/or “caught up.”

Having said that, it is important to note here that sometimes Greek nouns are translated as English verbs. Case in point, where the alive believers’ “in-the-air meeting” is concerned (their Rapture, which is a noun), most English translators of various English versions of the Holy Bible translate as the verb “to meet” the Greek noun apantesis. Now the Greek verb, which means “to go to meet,”  “to meet,” “to meet with,” “met,” and “to come face to face,” is apantao. The point here is that both Jesus Christ and apostle Paul use the Greek noun in Matthew 25:6 and in 1 Thessalonians 4:17—not the Greek verb. 

In neither case (either Matthew 25:1, 6 or 1 Thessalonians 4:17) does the English verb “to meet” truly capture the real meaning of the Greek word apantesis, as both apostle Paul and Christ Jesus are using it. Once again, neither Christ Jesus nor Paul is conveying the original Greek “technical” meaning of apantesis, which refers to the whole undertaking of sending a welcoming party, as a show of honor and respect, out of its city to greet/meet a visiting dignitary (king, governor, magistrate, or some other important person), and then that group of representatives immediately escorts this dignitary back into their city—the very city he was coming to visit.

Now, seeing how God has a knack for presenting things turned upside down, it’s no wonder that instead of apantesis carrying the ancient/traditional meaning, the apostle Paul literally has turned the technical sense upside down. He has done so by using apantesis in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in such a way as to say that the Lord Himself not only has reversed the direction from horizontal to vertical, but also He is the One who has made the U-Turn (has changed His descending direction).  

Furthermore, this turned upside down reality suggests that, instead of the noble Lord being met by a lowly greeting party, it is Jesus Christ who is doing the greeting! He is greeting His ambassadors (the Lord’s followers who have been in the world but not OF the world). In other words, just like Jesus Christ became the servant, when He washed His disciples’ feet at His Last Supper, at the time of the Rapture, the Lord will have become the escort (protector and guide) for His Bride who has been elevated to the status of a VIP. She, thus, only has been visiting (pilgriming; archaic verb) on the Earth, until Christ Jesus, as prophesied, comes DOWN from Heaven to the clouds, waits on the clouds “for a meeting” with Her, and then turns right around and escorts Her back with Him into Heaven, where He eventually will show Her the love, respect, and honor She has earned (cf. John 17:13-19; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 5:27).

Now Pre-Tribulation Rapture naysayers would have people to believe that there is no way Christ Jesus is going to make a U-Turn and take His raptured Bride back into Heaven, since the “technical” gist of apantesis is that the welcoming party (in this case, the Bride of Christ) escorts the king, lord, governor, magistrate, and so on (in this case, Jesus Christ), back to the city out of which the welcoming party has come (in this case, possibly Jerusalem). However, this interpretation of how the apostle Paul is using apantesis STILL would mean that someone or somebodies would have to make the U-Turn! Therefore, these Pre-Tribulation Rapture skeptics, who obviously just want to turn the apostle Paul’s Rapture images into a picture of Christ Jesus’ physical, bodily Second Coming, by saying that there only is one time He will return to Earth and that will be at His glorious appearance, when every eye will see Him, have just failed to understand that Jesus Christ wouldn’t be descending from Heaven to the clouds and then to the Earth to be a “visitor” anywhere on Earth, and especially NOT in Jerusalem!

Where the Bride of Christ is concerned, first of all, She is NOT going up to meet the Lord from any one particular city. Secondly, She never is depicted as escorting Her Groom (the Lord) back to any place on Earth, but rather She is described as participating in His Second Coming, when His feet touch down on the Mount of Olives, by being with Him YET following Him (cf. Revelation 19:14). His Bride is never depicted as accompanying Him, for the purposes of honoring, respecting, protecting, and guiding Him, which is what an escort did, and still does. Thirdly, as previously mentioned, He is not coming back to Earth as a “visitor.” At His Second Coming, when His feet actually touch down on the Mount of Olives, He is coming back as the Lord (Owner) of the entire Earth, as the Savior (Redeemer) of the entire world, and as King (Conqueror and Ruler) over the entire world. Therefore, at the time of the Rapture of His Bride, it makes more sense that the Someone who is making the U-Turn is Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, who also is returning to Heaven for His Coronation.

There are other reasons why the above Pre-Tribulation Rapture cynics’ interpretation of apostle Paul’s use of apantesis is faulty, and why this faulty interpretation in NO way supports the notion so many Rapture cynics about there being no such thing as a Rapture. First of all, Scriptures support the idea that it is the Lord who is coming as the Bridegroom for His Bride and that after He meets Her in the air He then immediately TAKES Her back into Heaven, where He has spent all these years preparing a place for Her (cf. Matthew 25:1, 6; John 3:29; John 14:2-3; Ephesians 5:25, 32; Revelation 19:7). Secondly, ancient Jewish Wedding customs teach an important message about the bridegroom being the one who builds the bridal chamber (living quarters) in his father’s house, and NOT in the father of the bride’s house! Thus, there is no way that the 5 wise Virgins are going out to meet the Bridegroom ONLY to escort Him back to the father of the Bride’s house. Thirdly, according to ancient Jewish Wedding customs, the bridegroom FIRST takes his bride back to his father’s house to consummate their marriage, which consists of spending seven days behind the closed “bridal chamber” door. Fourthly, Scriptures support the idea that it is the father of the bridegroom who hosts the wedding supper/wedding feast, and NOT the parents of is the bride (see Matthew 22:1-14). In other words, it is Father God who hosts the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and He is in Heaven!

Thus, based on all of the above reasons, it is obvious that the apostle Paul has proven that it is Christ Jesus who makes the U-Turn. Apostle Paul does this by turning the traditional horizontal images of a visiting dignitary approaching a delegation that has come out of its city to escort him back through the earthly city’s entrance INTO the non-traditional vertical image of the Lord descending to greet His deserving of honor and glory genuine Bride. After She meets with Him face-to-face, He then turns and begins to ascend with His Bride until together they reach Heaven (cf. Ephesians 5:26-27; Revelation 19:7-9).  

Now, if true believers’ Rapture naysayers claim that there is not going to be a raptured Bride, at least not before the Tribulation Period begins, but teach instead that the Lord’s Bride only will serve as a welcoming party for His Second Coming on Earth, then again their “coming” of Jesus the Christ (as the visitor) still is NOT His Second Coming. As previously stated, at Christ Jesus’ Second Coming, the Word of God makes it clear that the crowned Jesus Christ will return as the Lord (Owner) of the entire Earth, as the Savior (Redeemer) of the entire world, and as King (Conqueror and Ruler) over the entire world.

The bottom line then is that Jesus the Christ, at His Second “Coming,” when His feet really touch down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, will be “coming” back to Earth as the triumphant Lion of Judah, who defeats God’s enemies and then establishes His own millennial Kingship! Therefore, as previously stated, Jesus Christ is NEVER coming again to Earth as a visitor or pilgrim!!!! That is why when His ekklesia (Community of believers not of this world; thus, an allegorical visitor or pilgrim) meets Her Bridegroom (the Lord) in the air, it is going to be the Bridegroom (Christ Jesus) who will reverse His direction—He will go back up into Heaven instead of continuing downward onto Earth!

For all of these mentioned reasons, it should be clear by now that by changing ekklesia to “church,” the authorized King James Bible translators have affected too many believers’ whole approach to understanding the meaning of the Body of Christ/Bride of Christ, because the original intent of ekklesia always has been and continues to be relational, while the original intent of “church” always has been and continues to be institutional. Put differently, the early Christians who gathered together in their ekklesia did so for the purpose of sharing, fellowshipping, edifying, encouraging, discipling, equipping, and getting to know each other as a WHOLE family so that each member truly could become ONE. The sad truth then is that the English word “church” totally destroys this relational intent. Furthermore, by changing ekklesia to “church” the authorized King James Bible translators also have guaranteed that innumerable people will miss the main reason why Jesus Christ’s Bride is His truly “called-out group” (His genuine ekklesia).

Now, in the New Testament, there is only ONE ekklesia of the mentioned seven ekklesiae (the called-out groups or assemblies of believers) in the Book of Revelation who receives the taken out or raptured promise. This truth means the Pre-Tribulation Rapture involves the ONLY ekklesia that Scriptures say is HIDDEN in Heaven’s Bridal Chambers (cf. Revelation 3:10; see also Isaiah 26:20-21 and Zephaniah 2:3). Therefore, this ONE of the seven mentioned ekklesiae—the ONLY ekklesia what is hidden in Heaven’s Bridal Chambers—ONLY can be the Bride of Christ, and this Bride is the redeemed ONE Jesus Christ is describing as the pearl of great price (cf. Matthew 13:45-46, see also 1 Corinthians 6:20).

It is important to note here that if the idea of a group of people being “called out” is grounded in (if there is clear evidence found in) the Old Testament, then that would mean that the idea of New Testament believers being a called-out group is a sound biblical doctrine. Likewise, if the idea of a Rapture is grounded in (if there is clear evidence found in) the Old Testament, then that would mean that the idea of New Testament believers being raptured is indeed a sound biblical doctrine, as well.

For the record, in the King James Version of the Old Testament, there are three Hebrew words translated as “congregation” (as in the basic concept of an assembly). These words are as follows: 1. Moed (an appointed time, place, and meeting/assembly/congregation; found 223 times, of which it is used 150 times as “congregation”); 2. Edah (an assembly, company, band, herd, people, multitude, swarm, and/or congregation; found 149 times, of which it is used 124 times as “congregation”); and 3. Qahal (an assembly, convocation, company, multitude, congregation; found 123 times, of which it is used 86 times as “congregation”). 

An interesting nugget is that in the Septuagint or LXX manuscripts, the Greek word ekklesia is used in several verses of the Old Testament, mostly in the translation of the Hebrew word Qahal. The point here is that the Septuagint manuscripts’ translators were using the same Greek language to translate the Hebrew Old Testament that is found in the early Greek New Testament manuscripts.  In essence, from Genesis to Revelation, God has given the same “called-out group” name to His faithfully righteous children—ekklesia! As previously mentioned, from the beginning to the end of mankind Father God apparently has intended that EVERYONE who is His faithfully righteous son and daughter would be His ONLY true “called-out group” or ekklesia. The fact that ekklesia is used throughout the New Testament and in the LXX manuscripts for the Hebrew word qahal verifies the previous statement. Bottom line: There is ONLY ONE true ekklesia, especially since both Jews and Gentiles ONLY have one Redeemer, and because God ONLY provides one single plan of Redemption!

Keeping these last points in mind, it should be noted here that unlike the Old Testament, which has three Hebrew words that mostly are translated in the King James Version as “congregation,” in the King James Version of the New Testament there only is one Greek word that denotes the basic concept of an assembly or a “congregation,” and this word is ekklesia. In the New Testament, ekklesia is used 115 times. Of these 115 times ekklesia is used, 112 times it is translated into English as “church,” and 3 times it is translated as “assembly.”

Furthermore, this New Testament Greek word, ekklesia, has at least four important meanings, one of which is the same meaning used in the Old Testament to describe Israel’s appointed meetings/assemblies/congregations. These four meanings for the New Testament word ekklesia are as follows: 1. An assembly or gathering of people (as in Israel, the people as a whole, who were gathered in the wilderness [cf. Acts 7:38]; or a regular group of gathered citizens [cf. Acts 19:39]; or a group of believers gathered for religious worship [cf. Hebrews 2:12]); 2. An assembly or gathering of professed Christians in local dwellings in various earthly regions/cities (cf. Acts 8:1, 3; Acts 11:22, 26), and in the plural sense as ekklesiae or groups of professed Christians in numerous local gatherings primarily found throughout Turkey/Asia Minor or at several locations in a particular city (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:19; Galatians 1:2); 3. All professing Christians, wherever these Christians might be found; this meaning clearly is a reference to Christendom, as in a global Body of Believers located anywhere (in any city, village, and etc.) and united as ONE (cf. Acts 12:1; Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; Revelation 2:1-3:22); and 4. The Body of Christ, which has been Holy Spirit baptized into ONE united called-out group to whom Father God via Christ Jesus has bestowed as human gifts to the entire Body of Christ, and these human gifts are to function as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13-28; see also Ephesians 4:11-12).

Certainly, it would be hard for anyone to deny that in the Old Testament Israel was the “called-out group” who was summoned to meet God at His appointed times and in His appointed places. Moreover, what is interesting is that with each of the three Old Testament Hebrew words that most commonly are translated as the English words “congregation” and “assembly” (Moed, Edah and Qahal), there is no denying that in every situation the One “calling” or summoning His chosen Jewish people is Father God.  Since Father God via Jesus Christ is the One who also is “calling” or summoning the New Testament’s born again, saved, and being sanctified believers (Jews and Gentiles), there should be no surprise that the Greek word ekklesia is the New Testament word frequently used to mean a gathered together “congregation” or “assembly” that is meeting with God.

Right here, it must be stressed that NEITHER the Old Testament’s “called-out” Israelites NOR the New Testament’s  “called-out” first-century followers of Christ were summoned just to fill seats on the Sabbath Saturday or on Sunday. In other words, neither group of people was “called out” just to assemble together, according to the modern congregational idea, which simply means to gather in a building for the sole purpose of participating in “church” programs and ministry opportunities.

On the contrary, both the “called-out” Israelites and the “called-out” first-century followers of Christ were summoned to meet with God so that they could get prepared to engage their world, as they knew it, and then govern it. After all, in the ancient Greek culture, an ekklesia was the ruling body that governed its polis or city-state. Now since Christ Jesus is the One who first uses the Greek word ekklesia, there can be no denying that He definitely understood this common political term and, thus, it can be no denying that what He knew about an ancient Greek ekklesia is the reason why He uses ekklesia to describe His disciples and their future impact, which was to represent the Kingdom of Heaven and Father God’s Perfect Will on Earth in such a way that they would end up turning the old world’s order upside down (cf. Acts 17:6). 

This turning of the world upside down no doubt is the main reason why the Israelites weren’t given a direct route to take to the Promised Land. Evidently God knew they were not prepared to war against the “giants” who lived in the Promised Land. After all, only two ostensibly grasshopper-sized spies agreed with God that they could defeat the “giants” in the Promised Land! So, all of the Israelites wandered in the wilderness until all of the older generation that came out of Egypt had died! Put differently, God first had to get rid of all of the naysayers before He could prepare His faithful children to enter the Promised Land and eventually battle the “giants” in it!

In comparison, this turning of the world upside down no doubt is the chief reason why the first-century disciples had to be born again, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit. This process was their necessary preparation (equipping) that would enable them to transform their local communities, wherever each ekklesia had been established. In other words, God first had to baptize Christ’s disciples with His Holy Spirit so that they would become prepared faithful children who first would go throughout the Promised Land and silence their “giants”—the naysayers—by leading other Jewish people to Christ for salvation, as well as eventually battle the “giants”—naysayers—throughout the world, as they knew it then.

So then the point here is that there is a world of difference between Jesus Christ’s idea of building His ekklesia and “church” leaders’ congregational idea of building an edifice in which people assemble together. It is dumbfounding to think about the many believers today who fail to comprehend the difference between an ekklesia AND a “church”!

Now, there is something else that cannot be denied, and that is that in the Old Testament there are examples of Raptures/Translations of godly righteous people, specifically Enoch and Elijah. Yes, a faithful and righteous Noah and his family remained on Earth, but they were safe in the Ark, while the Flood was happening. In other words, they never were in any danger! However, in the end times, the only ones who will not be in any danger of persecution or death are the 144,000 Jewish men (the elect or chosen faithfully righteous ones). They are NEVER hurt or harmed during the Tribulation Period, because ONLY they have the seal of God!

The point here is that, just like it cannot be denied that God is the One who “called out” or summoned Israel, His elect or chosen people, to meet with Him, it also cannot be denied that God is the One who “called out” or raptured/translated Enoch before the Flood started, and Elijah before Israel’s Babylonian captivity started. Therefore, if God “snatched” out of this world His faithfully righteous people, long before the first major global catastrophe AND before the captivity of His beloved Israel, then His Son, Jesus Christ, also will do something similar. 

Jesus Christ says that He only does what He has seen His Father do (cf. John 5:19). For this last reason, as previously mentioned, it cannot be denied that in the New Testament the Body of Christ or Bride of Christ is the Lord’s “called-out group,” who has been called out of darkness into the Light, for the purpose of building Father God’s Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven (see 1 Peter 2:9-10). Likewise, it cannot be denied that the Body of Christ or Bride of Christ is the Lord’s “called-out group,” who will be called out of, taken out from, or summoned out of various places (dwellings, rooms, sites, localities, and so forth, that are all over this world) so that as the Bridegroom He could gather (assemble) His Bride (Body) together in the clouds, after His Bride MEETS Him in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

Right here is where the difference between the Rapture, which happens at the Lord’s in-the-air “coming” or Parousia, and the Lord’s Second Advent, which happens at the Lord’s feet-touching-the-Mount of Olives “coming” or Parousia, Apokalupsis, and Epiphaneia. Parousia, which means a “coming,” a “presence,” and an “arrival,” when used in context with the Rapture of the Bride of Christ also always means His personal “presence” at, or His personal “coming” to a specific place, at a specific time, for a specific meeting or gathering (cf. Matthew 24:3, 27, 37; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1). Thus, it is clear that the Parousia, which is used in context with the Rapture of the Body of Christ, precedes any end-times Parousia (Second Coming, as in His globally visible physical bodily return), which happens together with an Epiphaneia (epiphany) and an Apokalupsis (apocalypse).

The Parousia, thus, that is used in context with the Rapture suggests that Jesus Christ already is present. Indeed, He is present now within born-again believers’ spirits, which is what the apostle Paul means when he states that every physically dead believer’s spirit automatically is home with the Lord (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:8)!

For the above-stated reasons, when Apokalupsis is used in context with Jesus Christ’s Second Advent, Apokalupsis literally means an uncovering, unveiling, or revealing of the manifestation (Epiphaneia) of His presence (Parousia), which is His Glory and His Holiness—a shining forth that everyone on Earth will see. In a general sense, Apokalupsis also refers to the Lord’s Second Advent, when He comes back to Earth to physically fight in the Battle of Armageddon (the Apocalypse) and then afterward establish His millennial Kingdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7, 13 and 1 Peter 4:13).

That so many people, believers included, constantly confuse the Rapture Parousia with the Parousia, Epiphaneia, and Apokalupsis that are used in context with the Lord’s Second Advent only points to this obvious likelihood, which already has been mentioned, and that is: God evidently is using three words that have distinctly different denotations and connotations. He no doubt uses these three often misunderstood Greek words, specifically for the purpose of keeping the unbelieving world, the careless unprepared and unwatchful professed believers in Jesus Christ plus Satan and his demonic forces, ignorant about and unaware of the exact time when God’s ultimate plan of Salvation (His promised rescue of His righteous children; His “snatching away” of the resurrected dead and alive Bride of Christ) would be fulfilled. Thus, while at the Rapture Parousia the Lord will come down from Heaven, His feet will remain in the clouds in the air. It is while He is in the air that the loud shout or cry of command, the sound of the archangel’s voice, and the sound of God’s trumpet are made (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16), BUT none of this “noise” is for the benefit of the unsaved world. In fact, though these loud sounds will be booming, so much so that they awake the dead in Christ and arouse the alive in Christ, these sounds will NOT be heard by the unbelieving, unsaved, wicked world, because these no doubt spiritual sounds will be inaudible to their natural ears!

Case in point, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, ONLY the Ten Virgins heard the Bridegroom’s midnight cry. There is no mention of their parents nor other wedding party members hearing this cry.  Moreover, even though all of the 10 Virgins could hear and are awakened by the Bridegroom’s midnight cry (cf. Matthew 25:6-7), the deeper and, thus, harder truth here is that ONLY 5 of these 10 Virgins actually took Oil (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) in their vessels (symbolic of their individual born-again spirits that are being sanctified)! It is evident that the clear understanding here is that the 5 foolish Virgins had NO supernatural OIL (the filling or Baptism of the Holy Spirit, who is the anointing or Oil of the Word—the Spirit of Divine Truth, Holiness, and Wisdom). This missing Oil points to the inability of the Holy Spirit to perform all of His mighty Workings inside these foolish yet born-again believers’ spirits/hearts (cf. Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:6-15).

Now since parable is a word that means to “lay one thing down by another,” it is important to note here that Jesus Christ impressively is sharpening His hearers’ fundamental understanding about life in God’s eternal Kingdom by presenting a useful illustration of a heavenly Truth that is operational in the Kingdom of Heaven, which He then compares to a very familiar and well-comprehended earthly principle, or earthly narrative, or earthly fact that is operational either in nature or in humanity. Basically, His parables are true to life figurative narratives that are designed to convey, through analogy, some specific spiritual truths relative to Kingdom of Heaven living.

In other words, in the 10 Virgins Parable, Jesus Christ is comparing the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual preparedness of the 5 wise Virgins with the worldly spiritual unpreparedness of the foolish 5 Virgins. The Kingdom truth is that ALL 10 Virgins are saved, because the term “virgin” signifies the defining characteristics of the 10 Virgins—they ALL are pure or holy, justified or righteous, and consecrated or devoted. In other words, the word “virgins,” according to the way Christ Jesus uses it in His parable, which is in an allegorical sense, does NOT mean bridesmaids. They are not the Bride’s helpers, or cousins, or other family members, or friends. They are believers—followers of Christ(Jews and Gentiles). However, even though all 10 Virgins are believers in Christ Jesus, ONLY 5 of these 10 Virgins are truly wise AND prepared Virgins! Now, why would the Lord make this distinction, if it wasn’t an important distinction to make?

The Divine Truth, thus, only can be that the 5 wise Virgins were wise because they not only understood that at the moment they were saved, they immediately were given the gift of the Holy Spirit who came to live inside of them, bringing with Him an initial Supply of Oil, but also these 5 Virgins were wise because they understood that they had to totally surrender to their Lord and to His Gospel message concerning the Holy Spirit’s Baptism (additional empowering and endowing; a subsequent gift—a Baptism in the Holy Spirit). There is no other explanation for why, after all  of the 10 Virgins had heard the Bridegroom’s cry, had gotten up, and had trimmed their Lamps of profession (Faith), that ONLY 5 are the wise Virgins who took enough Oil to refill their reservoirs (individual born-again spirit).

This Oil in these Virgins’ reservoirs, thus, implies they not only were indwelt by the Holy Spirit but also filled with Him. That is to say, the initial gift of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside them, came with some Oil. This Divine Truth is very clear, because in the Lord’s parable it is obvious that all 10 Virgins ran out of their Oil about the same time—around midnight. Therefore, the Oil the 5 wise virgins had in additional flasks they kept with them points to a supernatural refilling of the Holy Spirit, who, after His first filling, refills, and refills, and refills, and refills, etc., His Oil in those believers who not only have poured out (or used up) their initial portion of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring but also who will seek Him for His subsequent Oil (power) refillings.

The Lord, thus, is making a very crucial point with the extra oil symbolism. This point is that the 5 wise Virgins’ extra Oil was not to be found within their individual inner spirit beings. Their extra Oil of Light was provided, as needed, by an external Source—by a supernatural Source that was outside their spirit and beyond the ability of the 5 Wise Virgins to produce, which is why this extra Oil was separate from the Oil they had within the lamp of their own spirits. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s supernatural filling is why, at the moment the 5 wise Virgins heard the Bridegroom’s midnight cry, they had enough Oil to pour into their lamps’ reservoir from which they then were able to draw that Oil up through their inserted Wicks (symbolic of that supernatural Connectivity that causes the inward Light of Christ to brightly shine outwardly). Together, the Source (Holy Spirit) and the Connectivity (the Lord, who is the Wick that draws the Oil) ensured that the 5 wise Virgins’ lamps of professed Faith would be able to burn a clean and bright flame not only so that these 5 wise Virgins could be lights in a dying sin-sick world, but also so that they would have enough of their Lord’s Light shining on the pathway that leads to that open Door (the Bridegroom; Christ Jesus; the Way).

Perhaps the following example better explains what Christ Jesus is saying: On the ships of old, it was the lamp trimmers’ responsibility to repeatedly trim the lamps’ wicks (extinguish the lamps’ flames, cut off the wicks’ used burnt parts so as to leave the clean unused wicks that, after the lamp trimmers had refilled their lamps’ reservoirs, they then could relight). The end results always were steady, clean, and bright flames.

Where Jesus Christ’s Parable of the Ten Virgins is concerned, the spiritual implication He is making about each Virgin’s lamp ALSO is that each lamp symbolizes the triune nature of each believer in Christ Jesus. That is to say, just like each one of the 10 Virgins has a physical body, soul, and a spirit, every one of their lamps also has three parts: 1. an open bowl (symbolic of the lamp’s body), which had a pinched end that formed another smaller opening or groove through which a cotton or flax wick could be inserted; 2. the bowl’s inner reservoir (or the lamp’s inner spirit), down into which olive oil (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) was poured and over which a lid often is placed; and 3. an inserted wick (symbolic of the lamp’s soul).

Furthermore, the spiritual implication here is that the 10 Virgins clearly represent 10 believers in Christ Jesus to whom Father God has given His Lamp Trimmer who is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One Who is responsible for making sure that their wicks (souls) repeatedly have been trimmed (Whose Mighty Workings include, but are not limited to, making sure that the used burnt portion of their souls, which no doubt had been affected by the cares of this natural world, have been cut off, and making sure that their low or emptied reservoirs have been refilled) so that these believers could have their lamps of faith relit by the Word of God (cf. Psalm 119:105; Matthew 5:14-16; John 8:12).  

Once again, Jesus Christ’s parable is about Who the ultimate Source of the Oil is that is within believers’ born-again spirits/hearts and Where that Source originates, which is from Heaven. As previously stated, the extra supernatural Oil the 5 wise Virgins had with them didn’t come from any human source. This Oil neither was already stored up within the hearts/spirits of the 5 wise Virgins, nor were the flasks they had to have been carrying attached to their actual lamps.  

For sure, the parable’s significant spiritual message of the Oil that emptied out of the 10 Virgins’ hearts or spirits versus the extra Oil that was in the 5 Virgins’ flasks, which would be poured into the 5 wise Virgins’ lamps, is that Father God is both the ONLY Source and ONLY Supplier of believers’ light, for in Him there is no darkness at all (cf. 1 John 1:5; see also James 1:17). Certainly, in this sin-darkened world, Father God is the ONLY Source and the ONLY Supplier of heavenly or godly spiritual Light, and His Light primarily manifests itself through His Word, as well as through His Holy Spirit Who uses God’s Word to reveal the spiritual knowledge of and spiritual understanding about Father God that help believers see the Way Father God has prepared for them.

This Divine Truth is why Jesus Christ, with His spiritual reference to an olive oil lamp and its wick, is teaching a valuable heavenly or spiritual truth; that being, because “darkness” exists, His followers must constantly remain prepared so that they ALWAYS not only will be able to know in which direction they are going but also will be able to SEE the Way that is ahead of them. No doubt, this Divine Truth is why the Lord depicts in the Parable of the Ten Virgins that it ONLY is after the 10 Virgins’ burnt wick parts are cut off (trimmed), that a noticeable difference between the Virgins could be understood.

What becomes evident is that ONLY the 5 wise Virgins were prepared or had enough Oil (a supernatural refilling of Father God’s Holy Spirit) that would fill up their reservoirs (born-again spirits), and it is this Oil (God’s Power Source) that would enable their wicks to be relit in time for them (the 5 wise Virgins) to respond to the herald’s shout: The bridegroom is coming. Now clearly, in the apostle Paul’s Rapture verse, he is filling in the blanks by providing information that is missing from the Lord’s Parable of the Ten Virgins, in which He only mentions a “midnight cry.” From the apostle Paul’s imagery, the picture becomes clearer, as believers can begin to understand that the herald’s shout would have been followed by the voice of an angel, which would have been followed by the trumpet of God, all of which would be calling the 5 wise Virgins (Bride of Christ) out of this world; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16). It then is, after the Lord and His Bride gather together for an in-the-air meeting, when the Lord makes His U-Turn and begins to ascend into Heaven with His Bride. Then the Door to Heaven closes (cf. Matthew 25:10-11). This spiritual understanding is why, the parable’s shut door symbolizes that the opportunity to miss the time of testing (the Tribulation Period; the worst ever DARKNESS), which God repeatedly says in His Word is coming upon this Earth, has passed.  

Yes, this blogger is saying that even Christ Jesus is depicting the Bridegroom as coming to get His five wise Virgins AND immediately returning back to His heavenly Home for the wedding celebration, as per custom (cf. Matthew 25:10). People who know the order in which each part of an ancient Jewish Wedding transpires would know that unlike how most English translations word Matthew 25:10, the WYC, GNV, KJV, AV, DRA, NLV, NKJV, JUB, and CEB English versions’ wording is more on point. In these English versions, the 5 wise Virgins entered in with the Bridegroom to the wedding or the marriage, which means here that because being betrothed meant they already were married without the benefits of intercourse, then these 5 wise Virgins were entering their bridal chamber with their Bridegroom to consummation their marriage. Contrary to popular opinions, the 5 wise Virgins were NOT entering with the Bridegroom to their wedding feast! That’s right! The Jewish wedding or marriage is different from the wedding feast.

Now, with most modern day earthly weddings, in which the engaged couples waited until the completion of their marriage ceremony before having sex, the marriage consummation usually takes place AFTER the wedding celebration or reception. After the wedding ceremony, where vows are exchanged, the married couple usually would take photos and then go to eat and drink with their guests. After their wedding reception, the married couple typically would then go into their honeymoon suite, where they would consummate their marriage.

In contrast, according to ancient Jewish Wedding customs, the wedding celebration or reception (the Wedding Feast; Marriage Supper) does not precede the consummation of the wedding or the marriage. In other words, according to Jewish Wedding customs, after the bridegroom returns from where he built the living quarters (bridal chamber), which he built in his father’s house,  the bridegroom would “steal away” his bride and take her to the bridal chamber in his father’s house. There, behind closed doors, for seven days they would consummate their marriage. After being hidden behind closed doors for seven days, the bride and the bridegroom would come out and then join their family and friends at the wedding feast, which in the Jewish Wedding customs represents The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Because of the well-known Jewish wedding customs, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ uses the Parable of the Ten Virgins to teach in part about His Bride being abducted and taken to Her Wedding Chamber and about the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, because there can be no doubt that He knew His figurative narratives (parables) all had multiple layers—numerous meanings—which ONLY the very wise would realize. Thus, since the Lord’s parable of the 10 Virgins is a figurative narrative that most people will take literally, one of the spiritual implications of this parable is clearly that only the Holy Spirit-filled Virgins will be the spiritually wise believers who will realize the deeper spiritual allegory and symbolism in this parable, as these figurative languages relate to the Bridegroom (Christ Jesus) who comes to get His Bride (the Lord’s ekklesia; His “called-out group”), who has been “called out” of the world for a meeting with the Bridegroom. Moreover, only the Holy Spirit-filled Virgins will understand that it is after the Lord’s ekklesia gathers together in the air with Him that He then immediately escorts His Bride (ekklesia) back to His Father’s House to be secluded in safety far away from the promised seven-year Tribulation on earth.

Furthermore, the Parable of the Ten Virgins’ allegorical Door that shuts is Jesus Christ, who is the Way to Heaven. In fact, Jesus Christ is the ONLY One who is called both the Way and the Door. The Door that shuts, additionally, is the door to the “marriage”—the Door to the Bridal Chamber where the Bridegroom and His Bride’s marriage finally is consummated. That Door, once shut, actually will open for no one, until seven days are up, at which time the Bridegroom comes out to let His Best Man know that the marriage is official. The Door that opens in the Lord’s parable is figurative language, which also describes a kind of judgment that the Lord has issued, which basically is that He did not know the 5 foolish Virgins; thus, the image of the 5 foolish Virgins not being able to enter into the Bridal Chamber is nothing more than the continuation of the 5 wise and 5 foolish Virgins spiritual comparison the Lord has been making!

It is so sad that many believers in Christ maintain that this parable cannot be about any Pre-Tribulation Rapture, because there are judgment and punishment in it. In other words, to these believers, judgment and punishment would mean these 10 Virgins represent the “Church” going through the Tribulation Period. However, those who maintain this nonsense have forgotten, or never knew, that none of the believers, whether wise of foolish, will be judged for their sins, neither at the time the true Bride is raptured, nor during the Tribulation Period, and not at the end of the Tribulation Period. In other words, the 5 foolish Virgins who are left behind are not left behind because of their sins. They are left behind because of their unpreparedness (just like the Israelites had to stay in the wilderness for 40 years, and why many of them had to die in their wilderness; again, it primarily was because they were NOT prepared to enter into the Promised Land). Additionally, the 5 foolish Virgins are left behind, because they were slothful servants who did NOT use EVERYTHING God has provided for their Salvation and spiritual growth. In essence, they buried their talent, which is symbolic of the spiritual riches God has made available to them (cf. Matthew 25:24-25, 29-30).

There also are those individuals who maintain that the 5 foolish Virgins actually bought Oil, and therefore, should have been allowed to enter the wedding chamber, but the Word of God does not say that. How could they buy this Oil, when this Oil (Baptism in the Holy Spirit) is an additional spiritual gift from God freely given to each individual believer who seeks this exceptional baptism? As also discussed in this article, this Oil ultimately comes from Father God who is the ONLY Source and ONLY Supplier, and He freely gives the refillings by way of His Holy Spirit.

In other words, this Oil of the Holy Spirit neither could be sold nor transferred. That is why the 5 wise Virgins COULDN’T give the 5 foolish Virgins any of their reserved Oil, because if they could that would mean the 5 wise Virgins, at any time, also could siphon off a portion of the Holy Spirit inside of them and gift that portion to someone else.

Surely the Word of God clearly says that: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17, NASB). Therefore, this Divine Truth is why it virtually was impossible for the 5 wise Virgins to give even the smallest portion of their God-given spiritual gift (Oil of the Holy Spirit) to the 5 foolish Virgins who, from the beginning of their Salvation, didn’t see the necessity of having by way of seeking their own EXTRA portion of Oil, which comes from the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line then is this: The 5 wise Virgins are wise, because they understood that ONLY the Holy Spirit is sold out for Christ Jesus believers’ true and faithful outside Supply and eternal outside Source of the Oil of anointing for Salvation AND empowerment. The Hanukkah story best demonstrates this same Divine Truth, which again is that the abundant external Supply of Light is within  the eternal and almighty Father God. Thus, in the 10 Virgins’ case, it is God alone who is the One who fills the lamps of born-again believers’ inner human spirits via His Holy Spirit, and His provision is without end!!!! However, all believers will need to seek and ask Him for their refills.

Not only through Paul but also through Peter, whose Day of Pentecost sermon begins with a reference to a prophesied promise of God (the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or the Baptism in the Holy Spirit), God promises to give His children EVERYTHING that comes with Salvation. This EVERYTHING includes the Holy Spirit’s subsequent Baptism. Peter also makes it clear that this promised Baptism is available to ALL of God’s Virgins (the pure or holy, justified or righteous, and consecrated or devoted believers in Christ Jesus; cf. Acts 2:14-18, 39).

The apostle Peter’s declaration that the Holy Spirit’s subsequent Baptism IS available to all believers (Jews and Gentiles; male and female, and so forth) is why, in His Parable of the Ten Virgins, the Lord, who earlier makes it known to Peter that He would use Peter to build His spiritual ekklesia (cf. Matthew 16:18), makes it clear that all of these Virgins, as a group of “called-out believers,” had been awakened so that they could go out for a meeting with their Bridegroom. Again, the spiritual implication here is that the Bridegroom’s Father already had provided His Holy Spirit (Oil of Salvation) AND the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (a never-ending Supply of His Oil or spiritual empowerment) to all of these Virgins way ahead of time, and by doing so had ensured all Virgins that His Oil of Salvation (Eternal Light) and His Oil of Empowerment (dunamis . . .  supernatural, miraculous power) were available to the Lord’s entire Body of Believers.

However, as illustrated in the parable, it is only the 5 wise Virgins who actually are the Lord’s truly empowered Bride. This Divine Truth is evident, because when the midnight hour starts (that time right before the prophesied time of global deep darkness falls) it is ONLY the 5 wise Virgins who demonstrate that they are the Lord’s truly empowered Bride. They are the only ones who are able to answer the “call,” which actually is a summons to come out of this world for a meeting with their Bridegroom or Lord, who, according to what Paul writes, is in the air and waiting for them in the clouds.

The above truth is why, according to Jesus Christ’s teaching in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which is about being spiritually alert AND spiritually prepared for the Lord’s “come up hither” call, it should be clear to true believers in Christ that they must be just like the 5 wise Virgins in the Lord’s parable. His ekklesia must take the time to prepare for His “coming” way ahead of time, because the Lord’s imagery in His 10 Virgins parable absolutely paints this vivid picture: It is ONLY the 5 wise Virgins who make the necessary spiritual preparation ahead of an anticipated time of profound darkness—ahead of the promised time of trial and testing (The Tribulation Period).  As a result, they get the chance to go into the Bridal Chamber, the Door shuts, and, according to many other Scriptures, the Bride rests safe and secure during the seven-year Tribulation Period.

Once again, knowing that their own lamp would fail them somewhere down the line, these 5 wise Virgins made it their priority to obtain a supernatural Supply of Oil that is outside of themselves. In essence, their extra flasks of Oil were, to them, their necessary ‘midnight-cry oil.’

The hard to swallow truth here is that ONLY those wise truly born again, saved, righteous believers in Christ Jesus who, with the aid of the Holy Spirit’s refilling, are walking with God by Faith and not by sight. As a result, they will hear AND be prepared for the “call” (summons; command) to come out of this world. Put differently, the 5 wise and prepared Virgins definitely symbolize the alive professed last-days Christians (ekklesia) who, according to apostle Paul, will be caught up to be with Christ Jesus in the clouds, after the resurrected dead in Christ Jesus believers ascend and receive their glorified bodies into which is put their born-again spirits that have been with Christ Jesus since their physical deaths. Yes, this truth is hard to swallow; nevertheless, it is still true—ONLY the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured alive in Christ will see their promised Bridegroom (will be in His physical “presence”) before the Tribulation Period begins. They will be the ones in glorified bodies who, while in the air, are gathered around their Bridegroom—they will be the saints the apostle Paul says will be honored in Heaven as a glorious Bride (ekklesia) that has NO blemishes or spots (cf. Ephesians 5:27-32).

Now, concerning the establishment of a sound Rapture doctrine first in the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament, there is no doubt that the prophet Micah is prophesying that there will be a Rapture of an ekklesia (the firstfruits’ Rapture of the holy and righteous Bride of Christ), because only that kind of huge event would be the most logical reason for why the Judah that Micah is prophesying about (evidently the left-behind Jews) will be bemoaning, exclaiming “Woe is me.” There can be no doubt their lamenting is because of a major event that has taken place, which has startled these Jews. It must be a most important occasion, because whatever this incident is it obviously has awakened the spiritually asleep Jews and finally has stirred their jealousy of believing Gentiles to the point that this Judah Micah speaks of, which is around during the Tribulation Period, is desiring Jesus Christ (these left-behind Jews are ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior)!

The prophet Micah writes:

Woe is me! For I am
Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.
There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,
Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.
The godly person has perished from the land,
And there is no upright person among men.
All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;
Each of them hunts the other with a net. ~ Micah 7:1-2, NASB

Micah obviously is describing the prophesied Firstfruits’ harvest of last-days souls, when the born again, saved, justified, and sanctified Bride of Christ “vanishes,” which is a better translation of the word “perished,” off of this Earth. Thus, in verse 2, Micah is not saying that “good” people have “died.” The English word translated in this verse as “perished” is from the Hebrew word ‘abad, which in English also is translated as “vanished.” For sure, Micah is prophesying that in the last days godly people will “disappear” off of the Earth (will be raptured), just like what happened to Enoch and Elijah, who were translated (raptured).

Then too, it would seem that a major prophet, the prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time as Micah, also prophesies about this future last-days Rapture. Isaiah writes:

The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way
.~ Isaiah 57:1-2, NASB

These verses often are used to explain why babies, young children, and righteous adults have died at a relatively early age. While this understanding might be applicable, based on the context (Isaiah 56 and 57 are one complete message), it is clear that the prophet Isaiah has had a vision of the future last days and end times, when God’s Salvation and Righteousness in the form of Christ Jesus is about to be revealed. Put differently, the prophet Isaiah has had a vision of the times prior to and during the Tribulation Period, when there would be a snatching away of the truly saved by Grace righteous and faithful people.

Thus, Isaiah obviously is speaking about the resurrection of the dead (the righteous in Christ Jesus who perish), the Rapture or removal of the Bride of Christ (the faithfully prepared righteous who are taken away; who disappeared), and the hidden away Bride who peacefully is resting on Her beds in Heaven’s bridal chambers, which is every upright (made righteous by Jesus Christ) believer’s blessed hope—EVERYTHING that eternal Salvation provides. Indeed, eternal Salvation also includes the Lord keeping His promise to rescue His Bride from the time of testing that is to come upon this Earth (cf.  Luke 21:36; Revelation 3:10). 

According to Isaiah’s prophesies, the faithfully righteous believers in Jesus Christ will be removed/taken off of the Earth. Only the corrupt officials and the corrupt global nations will be what is left behind. Put differently, Isaiah is prophesying that the individuals who are left behind after the Rapture of the Bride of Christ will be mostly Israel’s (the nation of Israel as a whole) wicked religious and political leaders—shepherds and watchmen—and the wicked nations of the world, who attack Israel’s defenseless flock like dogs (cf. Isaiah 56:9-12)!

The rest of the left behinders are chiefly those “…sons of a sorceress, offspring of and offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute” who have been conned not only by Israel and many other nations’ corrupt officials/leaders but also these left behinders have been hoodwinked by the ever-present global Babylonian systems, which largely are religious, political, and economic in nature (cf. Isaiah 57:3-8), and as such these left behinders not only will NOT notice (will not take it to heart; will not think seriously about) the disappearance of the most faithful of righteous people (those who died in Christ and eventually will be resurrected) nor the raptured (the alive in Christ believers who just disappeared). In other words, the masses of these left behinders will not notice that the genuine believers who have been “called out” of this world have been gone for some time!

In Isaiah 57:1, the word that is rendered in English as ‘swept away,’ or in other translations as ‘taken away,’ is the Hebrew word ‘acaph, which mostly means the faithfully righteous were gathered together or were removed from the evil (calamities, wars, pestilences, earthquakes, and etc.) that will be happening on this Earth during the Tribulation Period. In context, the prophet Isaiah no doubt is alluding to said “evil” as being those same calamities, wars, pestilences, earthquakes, and etc., which Jesus Christ predicts in His Olivet Discourse would come to pass during the Tribulation Period, and specifically more intensely during Daniel’s 70th Week, as judgment of and punishment for the “evil” behaviors of the unbelieving masses, as well as for those who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. For these reasons, it should be obvious that Isaiah 57:2 also is a picture-perfect description of the promised FirstFruits harvest of last-days souls, of which Jesus Christ was the first—the FIRSTfruit of the faithfully righteous sinless people to be resurrected from the dead and then taken up to Heaven. Therefore, Isaiah 57:1-2 verses really have more to do with the Pre-Tribulation Rapture than anything else!

This last statement is true, because the prophet Isaiah earlier prophesies in Isaiah 26:20 that at some future time the Lord’s Bride will be hidden in the rooms He has prepared for Her (see Jesus Christ’s promise to His disciples; John 14:2-3). These chambers or rooms are the appropriate nuptial hiding places, where the Bride of Christ will dress Herself in Her white linen robe and will wait there to be presented without spot or blemish to Her Groom. These Pre-Tribulation Rapture and Hiding in Bridal Chambers images are definitely what Isaiah is revealing, because he also prophesies in Isaiah 26:21 that there also is a future time that will be the time of God’s Wrath. Therefore, it should be clear that the Rapture and Hiding in Bridal Chambers will be before the time of God’s final judgments and punishments (before the Tribulation Period begins; before God pours out His final Wrath).

During this coming Tribulation Period, especially Daniel’s 70th Week, the prophet Isaiah makes it clear that the Lord’s Bride will enjoy peace, while She is resting on Her “beds” in the “rooms” He has prepared for Her. For sure, this time of resting is the promise the Lord makes to the Philadelphian ekklesia. He promises to keep these believers from the hour of testing (the Tribulation Period), and Isaiah lets believers everywhere know that the Lord will keep His promise.

Even King David seems to be prophesying about the last days’ righteous ekklesia being raptured (prophesying about the disappearance or vanishing of the righteous and faithful Bride of Christ). The central theme of Psalm 12 is that God Himself promises to rescue (to make safe) His godly people—to protect them, by keeping them away from the world’s most treacherous (evil, dangerous, and unrighteous) people. If Father God does that for His chosen Jewish people, then Father God also will do that for the Lord’s Bride, because Father God is immutable! David writes:

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be,
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men
.

…

‘Now I will arise,’ says the Lord; ‘I will set him in the safety for which he longs.’ ~ Psalm 12:1, 5b; NASB

King David also writes: “…I have not seen the righteous forsaken/Or his descendants begging bread” ~ Psalm 37:25, NASB. Clearly, the Word of God makes it obvious that during the Tribulation Period there will be numerous people who will be literally begging for bread!

The final bottom line here is that in the Old Testament there is plenty of evidence that supports a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of Christ Jesus’ Bride, and in the Old Testament there also is plenty of evidence that supports an ekklesia that is not in any way like a “church.” Again, no matter how anyone tries to spin it, the word “church” only defines a “place,” mainly a physical building, and NEVER a people; whereas, the chief way ekklesia is used in the Scriptures is as a congregation, convocation, or an assembly of PEOPLE—the ones who have been “called out” and/or set apart. Now, even though a group of people might go to a “church” building to worship, God never “calls out” any “church” building! In other words, NO “church” building is ever “called out” of darkness into God’s marvelous Light. Some of the people in each “church” building, however, could qualify as God’s “called-out group.”

In summary, if in these last days the alive believers in Christ Jesus are going to be alert AND prepared for God’s promised last-trumpet summons, which will “call” them to come up hither (rapture them), then it is vital that every one of today’s believers in Christ Jesus takes part in the process of recapturing the first-century followers of Christ’s cultural commission of going into the world, as they knew it, to both evangelize their world and disciple all its NATIONS. For the Word of God is crystal clear about this display of a global influence being exactly what God intends for every one of His Household of Faith children to achieve.

Furthermore, let there be no doubt about it. The only way that God intends for His sons and daughters to globally influence today’s world is by “churchgoers” as a whole understanding that they must accept God’s original meaning of ekklesia, which from its inception primarily means a “called-out group”—His sons and daughters who not only are supposed to engage this world but also are supposed to govern it while they are still on this Earth. This truth is why when the Lord returns back to this Earth with His host of saints, at the end of the Great Tribulation, the Scriptures make it very clear that these raptured and now returning back to Earth with Christ saints are the ONLY saints who will rule (govern this Earth once again), but this time right along with their Lord and King!

A word to the wise Virgins should be sufficient! Shalom . . . .

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05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Reblogged

≈ 2 Comments

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Bride, Bridegroom, cat o' nine tails, CHURCH, condesendingly, crucifixion, Easter Season, getting up morning, resurrected dead, resurrection, scourged, spit, unconscionabl

I first posted this entry on April 3, 2010.  As this 2012 Holy Week continues, I am Holy Spirit led to reblog this entry.  For sure, what I wrote back then is even more important today, because we are drawing ever-so close to the “in the twinkling of an eye” moment when the Rapture will take place.

Gone Fishin'

The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of…

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The Great Getting Up Morning for Christ’s CHURCH Is Near

03 Saturday Apr 2010

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

≈ 2 Comments

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Bride, Bridegroom, cat o' nine tails, CHURCH, condesendingly, crucifixion, Easter Season, getting up morning, resurrected dead, resurrection, scourged, spit, unconscionably

The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence. (1 Corinthians 15:3-9, The Message)

Many of us prefer not to recall the events that lead to Christ’s crucifixion, because  He is treated so inhumanely. Nevertheless, try as we might, we cannot get through any Easter Season without remembering how Jesus is relentlessly punished (scourged), unmercifully flogged with a cat o’ nine tails, viciously beaten beyond recognition, repeatedly mocked, coldly spat on, unconscionably lied on, condescendingly given a crown of thorns to wear, forced to carry His cross to which He is nailed, given to drink sour wine mixed with bile and myrrh, and punctured in His side! The good news is that this description of the Passion of Christ (His altruistic-love act) reveals this remarkable fact: In spite of everything the Lord suffers, Christ willingly sacrifices His life for us!

Thankfully, the greatest love story that ever was, or ever could be, does not end with Christ’s crucifixion (His torturous death), which is why during every Easter Season we also are compelled to think of our Lord’s burial and resurrection. That His tomb is empty because He is resurrected speaks volumes about His triumph over the grave. Indeed, because Christ is our resurrected Lord—the firstfruits of every person who falls asleep (dies)—we can shout hallelujah, and we can take comfort in this Divine Truth, which is, we who are in Christ might also suffer a physical death, but we too will be raised from the dead so that we will be with Him forever more!

So, this Resurrection Sunday, let us joyously bear in mind ALL that our Lord suffered for us, knowing that nothing and no one can stamp out His CHURCH. For sure, Christ’s resurrection not only establishes Him as the Son of God, but also His resurrection becomes the cornerstone of our Christian faith. Moreover,  since the same power that raised Christ from the dead is in us sanctifying us, we can become that CHURCH (Bride) our Lord (Bridegroom) is returning for in the very near future.

Thus, just like we rise from spiritual death when Christ calls us to be His CHURCH, those of us who have fallen asleep before Christ returns for His sanctified Bride will rise from physical death, when Christ once again calls us. After that, “…the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18, The Message).

This great getting up morning is on the horizon. Hallelujah!

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For Richer or Poorer…For Better or Worse

13 Wednesday Jan 2010

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

betrothed, Bride, Bridegroom, divorce, marriage contract, married, time-honored, unbiblical, vows

 

Anyone one who has been a member of a wedding party in which conventional vows are exchanged, or anyone who has been a wedding guest at a traditional marriage ceremony is no doubt familiar with the time-honored promises a man and a woman make to each other. Even though marriage is an institution ordained by God, and even though marriage should not be entered into lightly or in jest, in many cases, soon after men and women have spoken their wedding vows these promises are broken by people who would rather move on to someone else instead of staying married to  their current spouse.

 

In this 21st century, married couples have easily and swiftly broken their promises to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, and for better or worse. As a result, especially where Christians are concerned, divorce has become widely accepted by the institutional church as a godly way to deal with marital problems.

 

The truth of the matter is many Christians divorce for unbiblical reasons. Here are some of the most common unbiblical reasons (or excuses) believers use to justify getting a divorce: (1) My spouse committed mental adultery; (2) My spouse is abusive; (3) Divorce is no worse than other sins; (4) Making people stay in a ‘bad’ marriage is legalistic; (5) We serve a forgiving God who will forgive me, because He knows my heart; (6) My spouse would be happier without me; (7) I don’t have peace; (8) My spouse is a leech, draining me financially; (9) My spouse is not saved; (10) My spouse is not a good Christian; (11) We are incompatible; (12) We have grown apart; (13) My mate doesn’t love me; (14) I don’t love my mate; (15) I’ve fallen out of love; (16) I love someone else; (17) God wants me to be happy; (18) I married the wrong person; and (19) I need a drama-free marriage.

 

Yes, there are scriptural exceptions to God’s command to stay married. They are: (1) Matthew 19:9, sexual immorality (physical adultery); and (2) 1 Corinthians 7:15, abandonment, deserted by an unbelieving spouse. Nevertheless, even with these two scriptural exceptions, God makes it clear that He hates divorce (cf. Malachi 2:16; Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:11-12; 1 Corinthians 7:12-13). Furthermore, the fact that God would rather that His children work on their marriage instead of getting a divorce, for whatever reason(s), is made clear in 1 Peter 3:1-6.

 

Once more, the divine truth is that God hates divorce! This biblical truth should be very important to believers, especially since today’s believers and non-believers, when facing difficult or tumultuous marital circumstances, are not only too eager to dump their spouses but also too eager to feel that their divorce is justified. Believers, thus, need to know that, even though many of them will be tempted to divorce their other half for one, or several of the reasons previously mentioned, they must not rebel against God’s commands pertaining to the institution of marriage. If they do rebel, especially in this Rapture season, they very well could end up also walking away from their own salvation (that is to say, they will be divorcing God).

 

As the world’s false labor pains (Braxton Hick’s contractions) continue to increase in intensity and frequency (e.g., with catastrophes and hardships like the recent 2010 deadly Haitian earthquake or the 2009 global economic crises), it becomes more and more possible that many believers will be tempted to turn away from God, especially when He doesn’t answer their prayers the way they want. For this reason, married Christians, especially, must remember that not only are they wedded to an earthly spouse but also they are “betrothed,” spiritually speaking, to Jesus the Christ.

 

According to Jewish traditions, the bride and bridegroom are married during the betrothal period, but they do not live together or have sexual intercourse. To become “betrothed,” the bride (wife) must enter into a legally binding contract, which happens the very moment she accepts the bridegroom’s (husband’s) full marriage contract—his written marriage agreement, his cup of wine, and his bride price. The bride (wife) then waits at her parents’ home until her bridegroom (husband) finishes building the place where they are to live.

 

After the bridegroom (husband) returns from His father’s house, where he has been building the wedding chamber for his bride (wife), he gets his bride (who has remained faithful to him in his absence) and takes her home with him. Once there, they consummate their marriage and remain in their wedding chamber for seven days. When they leave their wedding chamber, they go to the banquet hall where they celebrate their marriage with invited wedding guests.

 

For sure, the fidelity vow between the Jewish bride (wife) and her bridegroom (husband) is just as important for today’s supernatural Bride of Christ as it was in the ancient Jewish culture. Indeed, in the past, if the “betrothed” woman broke her vows, like Mary the Mother of Jesus had been accused of doing, her fair punishment would be stoning! Even though believers are under Grace, the divine truth is that Jesus the Christ is ONLY coming back for those believers who are without spot or blemish—those believers whose WHOLE souls, spirits, and bodies have been fully sanctified (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:23). The remaining believers, along with non-believers, will have to face the wrath of God, which is the Day of the Lord or Tribulation Period.

 

Since the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process is progressive, then believers cannot afford to divorce God (cannot afford to not cooperate with God’s Holy Spirit by choosing to walk away from God). Believers cannot refuse to let the Holy Spirit complete His sanctification process, because if believers choose to walk away from God (divorce God) during this Rapture season, it is quiet possible that at the very moment many of them obtain their spiritual divorce the Lord might come for His Bride.

 

Contrary to opinions, the Parable of the Ten Virgins does illustrate what will happen to believers if they are like the foolish five virgins who do not get raptured. It should be noted here that the English word “virgins,” as used in the King James’ version of the Holy Bible, is an English translation of the Greek word parqevnoß transliterated as “parthenos.” Since “parthenos” means marriageable maidens who have never had sexual intercourse with a man, then the ten virgins (symbolic of 5 wise plus 5 foolish Christians) collectively represent the Bride of Christ. Without a doubt, the Bridegroom (Jesus the Christ) is coming back for His Bride (wise Christians who have NO spot, wrinkle, or blemish), for the Apostle Paul says that Ephesians 5:25-31 are verses that pertain specifically to a “…great mystery,” adding that this great mystery is “…an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one” (Ephesians 5:32, NLT).

Therefore, it is that supernatural or mysterious oneness, that marriage union between Jesus the Christ and His Bride that is being symbolized in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Those believers who are not ready to be counted as wise virgins, as believers who have been completely sanctified—glorified or changed into the  image of Jesus the Christ—are like the five virgins who are left behind.

 

When Jesus the Christ leaves five virgins behind, when He shuts the door to Heaven (cf. Matthew 25:8-10; John 14:6; Revelation 3:10; Revelation 3:16, 20), He is thereby letting these five left-behind believers face the Tribulation Period! Definitely there will not be any EXCUSES that the Lord will accept from unprepared and careless believers who have divorced themselves from God by not allowing His Holy Spirit (represented by the “oil” in the aforesaid parable) to fill them so that they will have the strength and power to endure ALL circumstances, even marital situations, until Jesus the Christ comes in the clouds to rapture them.

 

For these reasons, Jesus the Christ (Bridegroom) is saying to believers (Bride): “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 25:13, NLT). Since Creator God is believers’ Husband, Protector, and Redeemer (cf. Isaiah 54:5), they must be watchful, prepared, holy and righteous believers who remain surrendered to His beloved Son’s Lordship, in spite of whatever sickness, poverty, marital situations, or evil act they might experience.

 

For sure, once believers accept Jesus the Christ’s marriage contract—God’s saving grace; the Lord’s cup of blood; and His Bride’s price, which is salvation by faith in the crucified but resurrected Jesus the Christ—believers (Bride) must stay faithful to the Lord. They must keep themselves only unto Jesus the Christ for as long as they both might live, and that is eternally.

 

Believers (Bride) ONLY are faithful to the Lord when they are loyal to their wedding vows. Entering into a marriage contract with the Lord without seriously counting up the cost could mean that this person, or persons, might end up in a hasty divorce that has eternal implications!

 

 

 

See my Word Press blog entry: The Bridegroom is Coming: God’s Ultimate Marriage Story

 

 

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What Will Your RSVP Be To The King’s Invitation?

08 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Prophecy

≈ 4 Comments

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Bride, Bridegroom, Christ-like characteristics, compassionate, guests, humble, inward change, King, Letter of the Law, loving, Marriage Supper of the Lord, obedient, repentant, servants, sincere, Son, Spirit of the Law, Wedding Banquet

“Jesus told them several other stories to illustrate the Kingdom. He said, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify everyone that it was time to come. But they all refused!’” (Matthew 22:1-3, NLT)

Of the three consecutive parables found in The Gospel According to St. Matthew that specifically deal with Jesus the Christ’s teachings on the TRUE obedient faith, the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (cf. Matthew 22:1-14) makes it clear to today’s believers that just because they have sent an “accept” RSVP to God, promising that they will be in attendance at His Son’s Wedding Banquet, their acceptance of God’s invitation doesn’t mean that they will prepare for the Marriage Supper of the Lord in an appropriate manner. For this reason, Jesus the Christ’s three parables about believers’ TRUE obedient faith progressively explain the kind of faith that God’s children must exhibit in order for them to be considered His true sons and daughters (see parable #1, which focuses on John the Baptist’s ministry, cf. Matthew 21:28-32; parable #2, which deals with the Old Testament prophets’ ministry, cf. Matthew 21:33-44; and parable #3, which is about Jesus the Christ’s mission and ministry, cf. Matthew 22:1-14).

Each of the three true obedient faith parables refers to the same situation and setting (the one about the two sons, which is Matthew 21:28-32; the one about the wicked tenant farmers, which is Matthew 21:33-44; and the one about the Wedding Banquet guests, which is Matthew 22:1-14). These three parables’ shared situation deals with Jesus the Christ’s divine sonship and the people who become God’s adopted true sons and daughters through faith in His only begotten Son. These three parables’ shared setting is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb’s preparation times—the time of the Old Testament prophets’ ministry, the time of Jesus the Christ and the first-century apostles’ ministry, and the time of  Gentile spiritual leaders’ calling, inviting, evangelizing, discipling, and warning. These banquet preparations, thus, begin in the distant past, centuries before the birth of Jesus the Christ, and continue long after the Lord’s first coming, even  in this modern day!

Without doubt, today’s believers are no different than the majority of the Jewish people who lived “before” Jesus the Christ’s bodily first coming, or those who lived during the time of His earthly ministry. Just as very few of the individuals who lived during ancient biblical times readily accepted God’s first two invitations, and just as very few of them spiritually prepared themselves to be worthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, the same is true of modern-day people. Nevertheless, because God foreknew that many “chosen” people would renege on their “accept” RSVP,  and that many others would choose to send a “decline” RSVP, these are some of the reasons why He extends multiple invitations. His eternal compassion, love, and interest in ALL of His human creations have been such that, from the foundation of this world, God has not wanted ANYONE to miss out on the Wedding Feast—not any of His (1) “chosen” Old Testament Jewish people, not any of His (2) “chosen” New Testament Jewish people, and certainly not any of His (3) “subsequently chosen” New Testament Gentile nations.

Likewise, as it was in ancient biblical times, there are too many twenty-first century “called out ones” who are operating under the erroneous understanding that just because they have given an “accept” RSVP to God’s Wedding Banquet invitation that they definitely will be in the Bride’s seat at that feast. The truth is that many people who have accepted Jesus the Christ as their Lord and Savior will NOT be prepared for their Bridegroom’s promised return, and they (potential Bride of Christ candidates), therefore, will NOT be snatched away (raptured) when Jesus the Christ comes back on a cloud to take them to their heavenly mansion (wedding chamber).

In the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, which is about CHURCH-Age believers’ improperly clothed spiritual responses to God’s third invitation to His Son’s Wedding Feast, it is evident that the king in this parable is Father God, that the son is the Bridegroom (Jesus the Christ, the ONLY begotten Son of God), that the wedding guests initially are God’s chosen Jewish people, and then later the wedding guests are the Gentile nations who become the collective Body of Christ (a.k.a., the Bride of Christ or the CHURCH—believers from the Age of Grace, which is the present Church Age), and that the servants are the New Testament’s John the Baptist, Jesus the Christ, the first-century apostles, and other martyred church leaders who have been “called” into service throughout the current Church Age. Also a servant reference is made about the Old Testament’s prophets—those who prophesied about salvation and the Messiah before the Age of Grace and the CHURCH.

Moreover, in this same banquet parable, the Jewish people living during Jesus the Christ’s ministry represent the invited “guests,” those who not only give God a “decline” RSVP by rejecting God’s invitation for them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and sit at the Lord’s Table, but also they are the ones who take part in Jesus the Christ’s crucifixion. Furthermore, because these Wedding Banquet invitees are more concerned with their everyday lives—more concerned with business as usual—than they are concerned with their promised Lord and Savior’s first coming, they end up rejecting Jesus the Christ’s Son of God claims and then they take part in His crucifixion, killing Him primarily because of His divinity claims. Moreover, as Jesus the Christ predicts, many Jewish religious leaders will participate in promoting hatred for Gospel messengers, and they even will persecute many believers who follow the Gospel’s teachings (cf. Matthew 22:4-6 and the parallel Scriptures in Luke 14:18-20).

In this Wedding Banquet Parable, Jesus the Christ teaches about the Jewish people’s mistreatment of their prophets/servants, both Old and New Testament prophets/servants, as well as the future first-century apostles, and the later spiritual leaders. The Lord says that Father God, the King, has “…sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared, and choice meats have been cooked. Everything is ready. ‘Hurry!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went about their business, one to his farm, another to his store. Others seized his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them ” (Matthew 22:4-6, NLT). Consequently, the Jewish nation’s rejection of Jesus the Christ results in Father God, the King, allowing the Jewish invitees’ sacred city, Jerusalem, to be burned. Jesus the Christ makes this future 70 A.D. prediction, when He says that the “…king…sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city” (Matthew 22:7, NLT).

Now, after the King’s initial invitees give God a “decline” RSVP, He then not only proclaims that these invitees are not worthy to receive His most gracious invitation but also declares that these invitees’ rejection of His saving Grace or eternal plan of redemption makes it possible for God to now offer His saving Grace to so-called outcasts (to the Gentile nations). For sure, God ALWAYS has intended that Jesus the Christ’s true mission would be to save the whole world—to be Lord and Savior of every man and every woman who was born before Jesus the Christ’s first coming, and Lord and Savior of every man and every woman who would be born before Jesus the Christ’s second coming—that He would die to save EVERYONE, Hebrews and Gentiles, and the good and the bad!

Once again, the aforesaid so-called outcasts represent the Gentile believers who have accepted Jesus the Christ’s invitation to be their Lord and Savior, but there are a few Messianic Jews included in this number, too. Moreover, even though the Bride of Christ is not mentioned explicitly in the Wedding Banquet parable, Jesus the Christ implicitly mentions His Bride when He says that God tells His servants: “‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see’” (Matthew 22:8-9, NLT). There are many Scriptures that speak of the Wedding Feast being prepared specifically for the Bride of Christ (the CHURCH, which is primarily the Gentile nations), so even though Jesus the Christ doesn’t explicitly say that the Wedding Feast is for His special guests—His Bride or the CHURCH, the “called out ones,” the discipled believers who come from the four corners of the world—still the collective Bride of Christ is understood to be God’s invited privileged/favored guests. Therefore, the sending of His servants into the streets (metaphorically speaking, the Gentile nations; cf. Matthew 22:9, NIV) represents the Great Commission.

One of the most negative outcomes of the Great Commission is that there are far too many born again and saved Gentiles in today’s local churches who are NOT sold out for Jesus the Christ, as evidenced by the kinds of lifestyles they live—the ways they are responding to God’s invitation. For sure, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers have been about Father God’s business of evangelizing and discipling all ethnic groups located throughout this world; however, even though many of these servants of God, as Jesus the Christ says, have “…brought in everyone they could find…” (Matthew 22:10a, NLT), today’s CHURCH (Body of Christ or the parable’s banquet hall invitees) has become filled with a mixture of people who are “…good and bad…” (Matthew 22:10, NLT). In essence, there are believers in local churches throughout this world who are behaving just like the world rather than living like God expects His “called out ones” to live. The kind of Kingdom of Heaven lifestyle that God expects His children to live is a lifestyle of holiness and righteousness. That is why He called the members in the Body of Christ out of sin’s darkness and into the presence of His marvelous Light.

Now, it is undeniable that there are unsaved people sitting on the pews in today’s churches, but what most believers don’t realize is that many believers are included in Jesus the Christ’s number of the CHURCH’s “bad” members who have given God an “accept” RSVP—those who pay lip service to the Lord but their hearts/human spirits are far from Him. This last statement is confirmed by Jesus the Christ’s reference to one of the wedding guests who is inappropriately dressed. Jesus the Christ says: “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding” (Matthew 22:11, NLT).

For sure, the world today, including the CHURCH, is concerned with outward appearances. That is why, where many believers are concerned, if a person comes to church regularly, and if that person is involved in church activities like preaching in the pulpit, or teaching Sunday School and Bible Study, or singing in choirs, or participating in cell groups, or going on mission trips, and so forth, then that person often is thought to be a holy and righteous person—thought to be a person who is wearing a “righteous garment.” However, in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus the Christ is making it clear that, unlike it is with humans who look on the outward appearance, God is concerned about the inward appearance—about the heart’s clothing (human spirit’s attitudes)! According to Jesus the Christ, God addresses the heart’s clothing—believers’ inner attitudes about the Divine Truths about their God, their Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit—in this manner: “‘Friend’…how is it that you are here without wedding clothes’” (Matthew 22:12a, NLT)? According to Jesus the Christ, “…the man had no reply” (Matthew 22:12b, NLT).

Concerning our inner heart’s clothing, if we are like the person in this parable, then we will be people who are attempting to enter into the Wedding Feast inappropriately dressed. The man in this parable symbolizes a person who believes in the CHURCH and in Jesus the Christ; yet, this person obviously has REFUSED to put on righteousness and holiness. In other words, this person has rebelled against the king’s (God’s) authority, majesty, and explicit expectation pertaining to wedding guests having a spirit that conforms to the Be-Attitudes, a spirit that fully comprehends the spiritual implications of living a pure, holy, and righteous life just like Jesus the Christ lived.

Indeed, Jesus the Christ is saying in this Wedding Banquet parable that not only did this guest come to the Wedding Feast without wearing the appropriate wedding attire, but also this guest did so intentionally. This guest decided against wearing the correct clothing, even though he has had access to the available proper garments, and even though God has given this guest ample time to prepare for the Wedding Banquet (nearly 2000 CHURCH-Age years). The man’s attire, thus, did not symbolize habitual sincerity, repentance, humility, compassion, love and obedience, which are the Christ-like characteristics that the true wedding garment would symbolize. Moreover, this guest should have replaced his street clothes with a true wedding garment, but instead he comes in his street clothes—in clothes that symbolize the carnal habits of pride, rebellion, and sinfulness.

Thus, if we are like the rebellious guest in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus the Christ will rebuke our Pharisaical display of outward (eternal) righteousness, just like He rebuked the first century A.D. Pharisees for their outward display of hypocritical righteousness. At best, the Pharisees, whom Jesus the Christ specifically criticizes in the Sermon on the Mount, ONLY had  hypocritical righteousness. Inwardly, because of their own “leaven,” their evil corruption of God’s Laws and their hypocritical righteousness, the Pharisees and Sadducees’ hearts (human spirits) were rotten as rotten could be. This is why the Pharisees only could stress the letter of the Law (literal interpretation), for they never understood and therefore never could applied the full Spirit (intent) of the Law! Moreover,  not being able to apply the intent of the Law is why we, if we, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, only have an external disingenuous righteousness, also will be like the guest who comes to the wedding purposely dressed in the wrong garment, and having NO reply for the King, when He asks: Why are you not wearing the appropriate wedding attire?

Because of these religious leaders’ hypocritical righteousness, Jesus the Christ, through his many New Testament parabolic comparisons, teaches us that any person who is one thing on the outside and yet another on the inside, he or she is someone who is NOT one of God’s true faith believers, because this person is NOT being obedient to God’s command to live a lifestyle of holiness and righteousness, which flows from the inner spirit. In other words, a person’s external appearance MUST reflect that person’s inner attitudes. Any incongruity, that is, if what people see is really different from what people expect to see, which is the manifestation of the Christ-like characteristics that should be in the human spirit, this difference would mean that this person isn’t living a holy and righteous life!

Therefore, if a person thinks that he or she can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven without putting on (developing) the appropriate Christ-like character, as demonstrated by the works he or she would do that are backed up by his or her faith (a person’s total trust in God), then this person will soon realize that the ultimate punishment for not wearing the appropriate heart’s clothing will be that he or she will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Here are Jesus the Christ’s concluding Wedding Banquet words pertaining to the fate of this symbolic wedding guest who comes to God’s Wedding Banquet wearing unsuitable clothing: “ Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen ” (Matthew 22:13-14, NLT). The moral of this parable is in verse 14. God has invited us to eat at Jesus the Christ’s Wedding Table—God has invited us to become the true Bride of Christ (the CHURCH) who will be the participants in the future Marriage Supper of the Lord—but only a few of us are responding in the proper manner that would cause us to be chosen/invited as believers who are worthy to be seated the Lord’s Table!

If we ever hope to enter into the heavenly Kingdom of God and sit down at the Lord’s Table, then we must be aware of how we appear to God, now, so that if changes need to be made they can be achieved on this side of the Rapture. Since any opportunity for salvation is by Father God’s special invitation (by God’s Grace), He, thus, automatically lists in the “guest” category anyone He calls/invites to receive His salvation gift, which transforms and makes every recipient a “worthy” invitee. For this reason, every called/invited “guest” must put on the appropriate wedding garment, or be cast out of the wedding hall—denied a seat at the wedding table! There will be NO exceptions! That’s why the spiritual implication of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet is that, even though all born again believers are saved by Grace, not all of today’s born again and saved believers will be serious enough about their salvation to prepare their heart’s clothing (to take the time to develop a holy and righteous heart for God) by doing holy and righteous deeds for others! In essence, the Kingdom of Heaven’s holiness and righteousness, those God and Christ-like characteristics, are not being reflected in the “works” that many of today’s believers are doing for God!

Furthermore, just as the Jewish people’s indifference, hostility, and spiritual blindness have caused them to reject God’s loving call to redemption, a  rejection which ultimately has led to their condemnation (their branches being broken off the Olive Tree), believing Gentiles need to realize that they must respond faithfully to God’s redemptive call to holiness and righteousness or also suffer condemnation. Now, the Apostle Paul says: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, KJV), but the operative phrase in that verse is NOT “no condemnation”; the operative phrase in Romans 8:1 is “after the Spirit.”

The fact that some of today’s believers in Jesus the Christ are displaying indifference (a rebellious attitude toward God’s commands which causes them to choose to satisfy their own selfish lusts), hostility to God’s Gospel messengers and Gospel believers (hatred for spiritual leaders and followers of Jesus the Christ), and spiritual blindness (an intentional or unintentional hardhearted attitude toward the Divine Truth; or, some sacrilegious beliefs) only serves to prove that these people are walking after their carnal (fleshly) desires and evil thoughts of their mind rather than walking “after the Spirit.” Therefore, since they are not being controlled and led by the Holy Spirit, then they will receive condemnation/judgment!

Without a doubt, modern-day believers will be judged unworthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if they do not live a holy and righteous lifestyle in Jesus the Christ, which is achieved through progressive sanctification (the work of God’s Holy Spirit) and the daily studying of the Word of God. Moreover, for the believers’ whose human spirits (hearts) are not clothed in the God-kind of holiness and righteousness, they will find themselves left behind, after the Rapture of the CHURCH takes place, which means that their condemnation/judgment is that they will suffer the Tribulation Period and possibly suffer the fate of being cast “into outer darkness”—the Lake of Fire.

What will our RSVP be to the King’s invitation? If our response is an initial “yes,” but then we end up being improperly clothed spiritual heirs, even though we have accepted Jesus the Christ as our personal Savior, at the time of the Rapture, our carelessness, inattentiveness (being unprepared), and unwillingness (refusing to be watchful) will cause our Bridegroom to reject us and judge us to be unworthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We then also will enter into the Tribulation Period, and, if we survive this dreadful time, at the end of the Tribulation Period, as long as we haven’t accepted the mark of the Beast, we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. However, we will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven in glorified bodies, and, as such, this truth means that many of us will die a physical death during Jesus the Christ’s millennial reign!

If our response is like that of the inappropriately dressed wedding guest (a member of the Body of Christ/CHURCH/Bride of Christ), who intentionally dresses in his street clothes and then tries to enter the Lord’s Wedding Feast, we again will be left behind to suffer the Tribulation Period. Our carnal habits of pride, rebellion, and sinfulness will cause us to reject God’s approved “righteous garment,” and because we know that we MUST come wearing appropriate wedding clothing, that which symbolizes habitual sincerity, repentance, humility, compassion, love, and obedience, but we still rebel against God’s expectations, after the Tribulation Period, if we are survivors who have accepted the mark of the Beast, we immediately will be condemned to the Lake of Fire.

If our response is a flat out “no,” because we believe that we have found another way to get into Heaven, or because we prefer New Age spirituality that we believe is better than that which God’s Holy Bible prescribes, then, like many of the Pharisees and Sadducees who possessed a corrupt religiosity/spirituality, we will be branches that have been cut off from the Olive Tree. We also will be left behind to face the Tribulation Period. After those seven years, if we have survived, we will be separated from the Tribulation Saints (the Wheat) and then immediately condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire—sent to outer darkness, where there will be much weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Finally, Jesus the Christ makes it absolutely clear that the only RSVP response that will matter to God is that response which is an initial “yes” followed by a progressive inward change—a sanctified spirit/heart that is habitually sincere, repentant, humble, compassionate, loving, and obedient. We MUST have, and we MUST display these Christ-like characteristics! Without them, we will have no hope of being glorified—no hope of being counted in the number of those born again and saved believers who will be the raptured Bride of Christ. Only the true Bride of Christ will be saved from the seven years of the Tribulation Period—only the true Bride will go to Heaven and stay there until the Tribulation Period is over. Then the true Bride of Christ will come out of Heaven’s Bridal Chamber and sit down at the Lord’s Table to enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb’s Feast with Jesus the Christ, Her Bridegroom! Thus, to be able to eat the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we must choose this day to live a holy and righteous lifestyle, and then be faithful to live/keep the lifestyle we have chosen.

A word to the wise should be sufficient!  PEACE….

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The Bridegroom Is Coming: God’s Ultimate Marriage Story

25 Wednesday Feb 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Prophecy

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bride, Bridegroom, CHUCRH, Gentiles, grafted, great mystery, holiness, hypocritcal righteousness, Israel, Jews, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, millennial reign, Oil of the Holy Spirit, Olive Tree, parable, rapture, righteousness, ten virgins

William Blake's Ten Virgins Painting (Based on The Parable of the Ten Virgins)

Contrary to popular opinion, the Ten Virgins’ parable is not about Israel being grafted back onto the Olive Tree just in time to rule with Christ during His millennial reign. Spiritually speaking, since the Kingdom of Heaven/Kingdom of God is inside every born again and saved believer in Christ, the Ten Virgins’ parable, thus, is about all believers (Jews and Gentiles) who live and die on Earth during the CHURCH Age (cf. Matthew 25:1-13).

Moreover, in this parable, Christ is teaching that not everyone who professes Christ as Lord will be counted in His true CHURCH number, because not every believer will have both an inner and outer appearance of righteousness, as confirmed by His description of the five wise and the five foolish Virgins¹. The five foolish Virgins, though professed Christians, are more like the quasi-religious Pharisees who only had an external show of righteousness, and because of that Christ publicly rebukes them for their hypocritical righteousness and calls them whitewashed tombs (cf. Matthew 5:20-7:1-5; Matthew 23:2-28). On the other hand, the five wise Virgins are fully prepared and alert believers because they take the Oil of the Holy Spirit with them as they enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The Oil of the Holy Spirit is what makes it possible for trimmed yet burning lamps to be continuously refilled, and the Oil of the Holy Spirit is what makes it possible for believers to be prepared and watchful, as they await the rapture of the CHURCH.

For these reasons, it is important to understand that the Ten Virgins’ parable does not  deal with Israel (Jewish people having the “spiritual” scales to fall off of their eyes).  Indeed, the Ten Virgins’ parable focuses instead on the marriage between Christ and the CHURCH, which is that great mystery the Apostle Paul describes in Ephesians Chapter 5. Christ, thus, uses the Ten Virgins’ parable to teach all believers about the parallels between the traditional Jewish marriage custom and the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual Truths about the ultimate Bridegroom’s proposal submitted to the perfect Bride. Furthermore, in the Ten Virgins’ parable, Christ uses the Hebrews’ understanding of a marriage contract, the cup of wine, the bride price, the bridegroom’s midnight return, the shout, the bridal procession, the bridal chamber, and the wedding feast to reveal God’s spiritual Truths about the Rapture of Christ’s true CHURCH and what happens to His true CHURCH immediately thereafter.

For sure, the parable about the Ten Virgin’s is intended to teach ALL believers about the suddenness and unexpectedness of their Lord’s Second Coming—a second coming that happens in stages, with the final stage being Christ’s visible bodily return, when He comes back to Earth with His saints and allows His feet to touchdown on the Mount of Olives! Thus, the parable of the Ten Virgins is the true CHURCH’s wake-up call; this parable is intended to convince Christ’s true CHURCH about the necessity for each member to be prepared for that unknown moment when the Bridegroom returns for His Bride—returns in the air to rapture His dead in Christ and alive in Christ CHURCH members who are spiritually pure, righteous, and perfect in His sight!

The symbolisms in the Ten Virgins’ parable are: (1) Christ, who is the Bridegroom (cf. Ephesians 5:25-28a, 31-33); (2) the Ten Virgins, who are the CHURCH Age Christian believers (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2); without a doubt, the five Wise Virgins represent the watchful, prepared genuine believers (Bride of Christ) who are raptured—the alive believers who are caught up to meet Christ in the air; the five Foolish Virgins represent the alive careless, negligent, unprepared believers who are left behind to experience the Tribulation Period along with the ungodly unbelievers living in the world after the Rapture; (3) the Holy Spirit of God, who is the Oil in the five Wise Virgins’ lamps—the spiritual Oil that sanctifies believers with real righteousness, as well as the spiritual Oil that will glorify them; (4) the Shout, which signifies the prophesied thunderous sound that alerts the watchful, prepared Virgins (Bride) about their betrothed’s (Bridegroom’s) promised return—in this case, the time of the Rapture; moreover, this Shout consists of Christ’s (the Bridegroom’s) command “to come,” the archangel’s call, and the trumpet sound of Almighty God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16); (5) the Shut Door, which symbolizes what Christ means when He says “I know you not” (cf. Matthew 25:12b, KJV), and the Shut Door also highlights the fact that Christ has not been fooled by some believers’ external appearance of righteousness; lastly, the Shut Door symbolizes the end of the CHURCH Age—that there will be no more chances for the alive unprepared Christians or the alive ungodly unbelievers to enter into the physical heavenly Kingdom of God with Christ before the Tribulation Period starts; and (6) the Marriage Feast, which is the promised Marriage Supper of the Lamb or the wedding reception that the Bridegroom (Christ) has prepared for His Bride.

Since Jesus is God, as well as a Jewish man, He most assuredly is aware of the old marriage custom practiced by Jewish couples living in Israel, or in other places throughout the world. That’s why Jesus has no problem effectively using the parable of the Ten Virgins to illustrate how a Jewish man’s proposal to his beloved bride-to-be is, indeed, the most unforgettable marriage story of all time.

By telling the parable of the Ten Virgins, Christ is proving that He knows that from the first moment that a Jewish male decides who he wants for a wife (the female he either chooses or the one his parents have chosen for him to marry, as in an arranged marriage), there are three established steps to the Jewish marriage process that the Jewish male must follow. Step one: After deciding who he wants to marry, the Jewish male then leaves his father’s house and goes to his intended bride’s house, taking with him a contract of marriage, a cup of wine, and the “bride price” (money). When he arrives at his intended’s home, the first order of business involves the contract negotiations. If the guy and the girl are too young to accept their adult roles, the contract is negotiated between their parents. Whether the marriage is arranged or the young lady is chosen by the young man himself, and whether the intended bride’s parents negotiate the terms of the marriage contract with the young man’s father or the young man negotiates the terms of the marriage contract directly with his intended, the two parties—the prospective Jewish couple—will know each other’s responsibilities, for these responsibilities will be spelled out in the marriage contract.

Not only are the terms of the marriage contract very clear, but also, if accepted, this marriage contract becomes a legal agreement (covenant) binding both parties. They legally are betrothed (married), even though they are forbidden to have any sexual contact during their betrothal period. In fact, since they are considered officially married, if the marriage contract is broken, the couple is considered divorced (cf. Matthew 1:18-19). Moreover, if the husband dies during the betrothal period, the wife is considered a widow—even though the marriage had not been physically consummated.

Furthermore, during Step One, before the negotiated and presented marriage contract could be enforced, the husband-to-be must give the marriage contract to his intended, must put the cup of wine in front of his intended (which symbolizes his act of proposal), and must place before her the mohar, the cash gift or the bride price. She not only must read the marriage contract but also she must count her money. Once she does all that, the husband-to-be would toast the bride with a cup of wine, giving her a short period of time (about 10 seconds) to decide if she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. To accept the proposal, the bride-to-be would pick up the cup of wine and drink from it, or she could push the cup of wine away, which would mean she has rejected the proposal. If she drinks the wine, she not only is accepting but also is sealing the covenant—agreeing to remain true to her husband throughout the betrothal period while she waits for him to return for her and take her home with him. Moreover, if her answer is “yes,” then the bridegroom tells her, “I go to prepare a place for you” (cf. John 14:2a), but before the bridegroom leaves for his father’s house his bride covers her face with a veil.

This veiling custom signifies that this woman is unavailable (that she has separated herself from the pool of available young ladies)—that she is consecrated, set apart, and bought with a price. Moreover, the wearing of a veil after accepting a marriage contract, lets others know that this woman is “taken.” For these reasons, in everything, this wife now must submit to her husband.

In the traditional Jewish marriage, no engagement ring is exchanged; however, the tie between the betrothed Jewish couple is a much stronger one than the tie between Gentile fiancés and fiancées. Furthermore, this betrothal period gives the two parties a chance to grow or mature in their relationship—to get to know one another better—before they consummate their vows. For sure, this betrothal period gives the couple time to mature emotionally, affectionately, and faithfully.

Step Two:  During the betrothal period, while the husband and wife are getting to know one another better, and maturing emotionally, affectionately, and faithfully, the bridegroom is preparing a proper room (bridal chamber) in his father’s house, where he and his bride will consummate their marriage vows. The bridegroom’s father is the ONLY one who can sign off on the completion of this bridal chamber. This custom prevents the young man from rushing through his building responsibilities—keeps him from building a lean-to or some poorly constructed structure that would not be an adequate place to bring his wife. For this reason, neither the bridegroom nor the bride would know the day or the time of the wedding ceremony, which is why in Matthew 25:13 Christ tells ALL of His believes to “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh”; only God, Christ’s Father, knows when the Bridegroom (Christ) will return for His Bride (the true CHURCH).

Be that as it may, after the bridegroom’s father agrees that the bridal chamber is finished and that it is properly built, the bridegroom, accompanied by his companions/friends/groomsmen, returns to his bride’s house and escorts her to the bridal chamber that he has prepared for the both of them. It is while they are in this bridal chamber that they will exchange gifts—the bridegroom’s additional gifts for his bride and her dowry (offering) to him, which she laid up for him while she waited for His return. During the betrothal period, the bride also will keep her literal lamp filled with oil so that she will be ready for her bridegroom, in case he comes at night.

Traditionally, the bridegroom does return during the night, and his night arrival is the reason why he loudly calls out to his bride (or sounds a trumpet). To give his bride time to make herself presentable for receiving him (time to put on her veil and get her lamp), the bridegroom courteously alerts his bride to the fact that he is drawing close to her parents’ home. After he arrives and unveils his bride, the two of them leave for the place the bridegroom has prepared in his father’s house. Once there, they say their vows, then enter their bridal chamber, where, as aforesaid, they exchange their gifts and consummate their marriage.

Step Three: Seven days later, after their marriage has been consummated, the husband and wife come out of their bridal chamber for the Marriage Supper (Wedding Feast). The friend (best man) hears the husband’s voice, as the couple approaches the banquet room, and then the friend (best man) announces the union between the bride and the groom to the Wedding Feast’s invited guests. Only the husband’s special friend gets to stand beside him as one of the honored guests at the Wedding Feast. For this reason, the husband’s grateful friend rejoices in knowing that the bride and groom finally have become one (cf. John 3:29).

As Christ draws the parallels between the traditional Jewish marriage custom and the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual Truths about the ultimate Bridegroom’s proposal submitted to the perfect Bride, Christ presents modern-day believers with a beautiful portrait of the mysterious union between Christ (Bridegroom) and His CHURCH (Bride). We, thus, come to understand that through the parable of the Ten Virgins Christ is teaching us about His own return for us—teaching us about our Jewish Bridegroom (Christ) who loved us so much that He enacted the same marriage custom for us that God’s chosen Jewish people traditionally followed.

The mysterious union between Christ (Bridegroom) and His CHURCH (Bride) that Apostle Paul writes about in Ephesians 5:25-28a, 31-33 begins when we are born again and saved by Grace through our confessed faith in and acceptance of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. As New Testament believers, we now have entered into a legal marriage contract with Christ, who left His Father’s House in Heaven to come to us (His Bride-to-be) as our Jewish Bridegroom. Along with bringing us His marriage contract—the New Testament, which spells out for us our responsibilities as His Bride and His responsibilities as our Bridegroom—Christ also brings His gifts of the cup of wine (Christ’s shed blood) and His bride price (Christ’s atoning sacrifice–His death on the Cross).

After we accept Christ’s gifts, He lets us know that He is going (ascending) to His Father’s house (Heaven) where He will be preparing a place for us (cf. John 14:2-4). He also lets us know that He is coming back for us once our bridal chamber is completed. While He is in His Father’s house, we, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, must endeavor to live consecrated and sanctified lives for Him—we must wear our individual “spiritual” veils that let the world know that we have been bought by a price and, thus, belong to Christ.

Then too, during our betrothal period (the Church Age), while we live and walk in the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:25; Romans 8:9a, 11) and allow the Word of God to be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path (cf. Psalm 119:105), we also are busy for the Lord. We are making sure that we lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven (cf. Matthew 6:20-21); during the CHURCH Age, we obediently and righteously do the kinds of works for Christ that are of gold, silver and precious gemstone quality (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15). These righteous works become our dowry to our Bridegroom (Christ)—our righteous works that earn us the gifts/rewards Christ has promised us: (1) our crown of glory (cf. Proverbs 4:9; 1 Peter 5:4, KJV); (2) our crown of rejoicing (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:19, KJV); (3) our crown of righteousness (cf. 2 Timothy 4:8, KJV); (4) our crown of life (cf. James 1:12; Revelation 2:10, KJV); and (5) our robes of white linen (cf. Revelation 19:8, KJV). During this Second Step of the Body of Christ’s (the CHURCH’s) marriage process, we also are keeping our vessels filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, fills us, and helps us to develop our necessary daily and intimate fellowship, and righteous and holy relationship, with God so that our spiritual life can mature morally, spiritually, emotionally, and faithfully, and so that we can be a watchful and ready (prepared) Bride—the One the Bridegroom will recognize and find acceptable when He comes back for Her.

As the Bridegroom is coming down from Heaven, He alerts us with a loud shout, the archangel’s call, and God’s blast from His trumpet. Next, Christ catches us up into the air where we meet Him in the clouds; this event is better known as the Rapture (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). After we enter the heavenly realm of the Kingdom of God, we will say our marriage vows. Then, we immediately will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ where we will be judged according to the “quality” of the works we did on Earth under the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Our Bridegroom then will take us to the place He has prepared for us (our heavenly bridal chamber). Next, we will exchange gifts—our dowry of laid up treasures—for the rewards we will receive from our well-pleased Bridegroom (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, 9-10; Revelation 22:12).

After consummating the marriage, becoming one with Christ, which is a seven-day ceremony biblically and symbolically represented as the seven years of the Tribulation, we will celebrate our marriage at the Lamb’s Marriage Supper, which will not happen until the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign—when Christ sets up His physical Kingdom of God on Earth. Now, what should be noted is that Father God is the One who invites the special guests of honor to our Marriage Feast, but who we can expect to see there as honored guests are the Old Testament saints who died before Christ and the Tribulation saints who died during the Tribulation Period. Other guests will be the ones who not only survived the Tribulation Period but also the ones who made the last-minute decision to receive God’s gifts of Salvation and Eternal Life during the Tribulation Period (cf. Matthew 22:8-10; Luke 14:21b-23; Revelation 19:6-9).

It is sad to say, but in spite of the outpourings of the Holy Spirit, there still will be hard-hearted individuals who will not accept Christ as their personal Savior. Consequently, Christ’s Rapture and bodily Second Coming, the latter of which will trigger the end of our present world as we know it, will shock numerous men and women who are not in the least bit prepared for Him, just like the masses of people during the flood in Noah’s generation were shocked when the rains finally came. The flood caught the majority of Noah’s unprepared generation by surprise. Moreover, as only a handful of humans got to enter the ark to be saved from the flood, (exactly eight people … cf. 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5, KJV), likewise, in the end times, it also appears that only a remnant of individuals will be caught up to meet Christ in the air (see the mini-parables of the two field individuals, whose gender is not specified, and the two women grinding at the mill … Matthew 24:40-41, KJV).

In these aforesaid Matthew Chapter 24 mini-parables and in the Ten Virgins’ parable of Matthew Chapter 25, as each of these parables serves as a picture of believers, Christ is making it crystal clear that after the dead in Christ arise ONLY the living true CHURCH members will be allowed to enter into the bridal chamber with Him and be saved from the Tribulation—saved from ALL of God and the Antichrist’s wrath that will come upon this Earth. Christ describes how ONLY one of the two field workers, one of the two women grinding at the mill, and five of the ten Virgins will be representatives of His True CHURCH members. As such, they will be the ones who are saved from the Tribulation Period. The fate that will await those who are not raptured will be that they become the left-behind individuals who will experience the prophesied second destruction of the world.

What’s more, the Ten Virgins’ parable makes a salient point that needs to be mentioned here, and that salient point is that the Bridegroom will Shut the Door (will close off any access to Himself), which underscores the aforementioned statement about the careless, negligent, unprepared believers being left behind. Without a doubt, Christ not only is the five wise Virgins’ Bridegroom but also He is the five foolish Virgins’ Bridegroom. Now, since Christ is the ONLY Door through whom ALL believers must enter into the Kingdom of God (cf. John 10:7, 9), then the Word of God is clear: the Door will close on ONLY those believers who are foolish (careless and unprepared). Christ Shuts the Door, because He has judged those standing on the Earth side of the Door to be unworthy to enter into the physical heavenly Kingdom of God.

Most of us will agree that having any door shut in our faces is probably one of the most embarrassing feelings we ever could experience in this life. In the case of the foolish Virgins, the experience of having the Bridegroom Shut the Door to the Kingdom of Heaven in their faces is more than an embarrassment, because the closed Door is a harsh reality check that comes in the form of a twofold rejection: verbal and observable. Christ, the Bridegroom, not only tells them that He doesn’t know them but also He shows them that He doesn’t know them by keeping the Door closed—by intentionally ignoring their knocking and pleading.

What a horrible reality check we (modern-day believers) will have if we end up being careless, negligent, and unprepared believers to whom our Bridegroom says “I know you not”! How devastated we will be to realize that we not only are EMPTY of the Oil of the Holy Spirit—empty of the power and authority that keeps us in covenant agreement with our Bridegroom, and keeps us willing and able to fulfill our own marital responsibilities—but also we will be devastated when we realize that we are homeless, uncovered, and on our own, for the Holy Spirit can no longer live in left-behind believers who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads (cf. Revelation 7:2-4). In this awful state, we will come to realize too late that we are the very personification of Christ’s foolish five Virgins who find themselves on the outside of the Door that leads to the physical Kingdom of Heaven, pleading with Christ to let them in, only to realize that He will not.

The bottom line is this: If we do not have any Oil in our vessels when the Bridegroom comes in the air to Rapture His glorified CHURCH, He will Shut the Door on us. Thus, without the anointing that illuminates Divine TRUTH, we will not have any Light emanating from us that could move Christ to open the Door for us. How is it, then, that we who find ourselves left behind could ever run out of the Holy Spirit’s Oil?

Well, Christ makes it clear in the Ten Virgins’ parable that these ten Virgins are believers; however, He also makes it clear that only five of them are baptized with the Holy Spirit, as the other five are trying to live a holy and righteous life off of fumes! These foolish five are careless, unprepared (non-productive), inattentive and impure churchgoers because they believe in Christ yet they have “no oil for their lamps” (Matthew 25:3b, NLT); therefore, they are spiritually anemic, lacking the full power and full authority of the Holy Spirit who would have sustained their lamps’ light. They are without the anointed Oil that makes it possible for them to achieve the spiritual maturity that would have kept them enlightened, watchful and prepared while they waited for their Bridegroom’s return. The parable’s moral, then, is this: If we are foolish, carnal, non-productive, inattentive, impure Christians, we will be left behind! On the other hand, if we are wise, spiritually mature and productive, purified, watching and waiting Christians, we will be raptured.

Time is of the essence. We must take advantage of every opportunity we are given to become more like Christ, for we cannot afford to miss out on being the Bride who is to participate in the ultimate marriage, everlasting honeymoon, and glorious wedding feast of all time. We also cannot afford to miss out on our Jewish Bridegroom’s gift—the gift of living with Christ in the presence of God forever. For these reasons, we swiftly must become the CHURCH Christ is coming back for, realizing that He is not returning for members of brick and mortar churches, but rather we must realize that our Bridegroom is coming back for what we have within our individual vessels. Therefore, what we must have on the inside of us is the infilling (baptism) of the Holy Spirit’s power that works in us (cf. Ephesians 3:19b-20) and causes us to develop a righteous and holy conduct—one that demonstrates that we are walking worthy of our vocation (cf. Ephesians 4:1-6).

Additionally, we must be filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit, because only His anointed Oil will cause us to be fruitful, purified, and wise servants who are pure in heart (cf. Matthew 5:8), as well as humble, holy, righteous, loving, forgiving, peaceable, merciful, and thankful believers. Finally, we must be filled with the Oil of the Holy Spirit, because only His anointed Oil will keep us faithful in our resolve to remain true to Christ—will keep us loyal to the commitments outlined in His marriage contract (the New Testament). The Holy Spirit’s anointed Oil also will reveal to us God’s Divine Truth, which makes us aware of this fact: since carnal Christians just have an outward form of religiosity without any inward spiritual reality, they ONLY serve Christ with their lips. Therefore, we must seek continuous fillings of the Holy Spirit’s anointed Oil so that our married faces will never become unveiled, for this unveiling would indicate that we have fallen into spiritual adultery, and our spiritual adultery will cause the Bridegroom to Shut the Door and leave us behind!


¹The English word “virgins,” as used in the King James Version of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, has been translated from the Greek word “parqevnoß,” which is transliterated as “parthenos.” Thus, in the context of the aforesaid parable, “parthenos” or “virgins” means a marriageable maiden who never has had sexual intercourse with a man.

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Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen

Sanctified Child

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