The Bride of Christ Lesson 5b (The Bridegroom: Preparation and Provision for Wedding)

Today we will continue looking at the fifth characteristic of the Bridegroom: Preparation and Provision.  

As I stated in our last lesson, we are investigating the traditional Jewish wedding customs/ceremony as they were practiced in Biblical times. Today we will begin looking at part two: the time of preparation (the groom).   

Webster 1828 dictionary defines prepares as: To make ready; To set; to establish; To appoint.  

John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.  

Revelation 19:7, Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. (NLT) 

The time of preparation was also a time of separation for the bride and groom.  During this time, they would each busy themselves preparing for their life together after the final wedding celebration.   

During the erusin period, the groom was to prepare a place for his bride, while the bride focused on her personal preparations:  wedding garments, lamps, etc.i 

The Groom’s Responsibilities During the Preparation 

The groom was responsible for preparing a “home” which was a room in his father’s home for his bride.  His sole responsibility during this time of preparation was to work on this room. He took great pains to make it a comfortable, pleasing place in which to cultivate intimacy with his new bride.  His preparation took around a year to complete and it had to be approved by his father before he could return to claim his bride and bring her to their home to consummate their union. 

Our groom has far greater duties/responsibilities toward His bride.   

“When Jesus said, ‘I am going to prepare a place for you,’ we should not think of him returning to heaven, and having arrived there, setting about the construction of ‘rooms’ for his disciples to occupy — a task he has now been occupied with for some two thousand years! Rather, we should recognize that it was by his very going, by his betrayal, crucifixion and exaltation, that he made it possible for us to dwell in the presence of God. The imminent departure of Jesus, which so troubled the hearts of his disciples, was in fact for their benefit.ii 

In John 14:1-3, Jesus was reassuring the Christians in that it was necessary for him to go away to prepare a place for us. For Christ, preparing a place involves much more than building rooms, it means working for our good and on our behalf while we are separated from him physically. 

Hebrews 8:1-2, Now this is the main point of the things that we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord, not man, set up. 

Hebrews 5:8-10, Though He was a Son, He learned obedience through the things that He suffered, and being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him, being designated by God a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. 

In the Bible the duties of the High Priest included; overseeing the responsibilities of all the subordinate priests, wearing the Urim and the Thummin (engraved dice-like stones used to determine truth or falsity), offering a sin offering for the whole congregation, and once a year bringing the blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkling it on the mercy seat, God’s “throne”. 

Our bridegroom is not only preparing a place for us in heaven, but he is also functioning as our High Priest. As our high priest Jesus makes intercession for us before his father, he advocates on our behalf, and he upholds everything by the word of his power.   

First, Jesus makes intercession for us.  

Hebrews 7:25, Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, because He at all times lives to make intercession for them. 

He is supreme, and his very presence in heaven, seated at God's right hand, as the one who died for the human race and rose again is itself an intercession.iii 

As in [Hebrews] 5:9, the author is not talking about being saved in terms of forgiveness of sin and eternal life here. He’s talking about being delivered from and through trials and circumstances in this life. Jesus’s full-time job is to intercede for believers and to rescue them from the power of sin, Satan, and adverse circumstances as they draw near to him (see 4:16).iv [Brackets added for clarity.] 

Jesus’ eternal life and priesthood make possible His eternal intercession for worshipers who “draw near to God through him,” leading to their complete and eternal salvation. “Uttermost” may refer to comprehensive salvation (meeting our every need) or to eternal salvation (especially as it is grounded in Jesus’ always living to pray for us).v 

Jesus can save them for all time “because he always lives to intercede for them.” This refers to what his presence at God’s right hand represents: constantly appealing to God for saving mercy and enabling grace based on his sacrifice of himself (2:17–18; 4:14–16; 9:24; Rom 8:27, 34).vi 

Second, Jesus advocates on our behalf.  

1 John 2:1-2, My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

An advocate is one who comes to the side of another person in time of need in order to help. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus does for us when we sin. He immediately comes to us in order to restore us to fellowship with Himself. 

“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father.” It does not say with God, but rather with the Father. He is still our Father even if we sin. This reminds us of the blessed truth that though sin in a believer’s life breaks fellowship, it does not break relationship. 

Notice that our Advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous. It is good to have a righteous Defender. When Satan brings some accusation against a believer, the Lord Jesus can point to His finished work on Calvary and say, “Charge that to My account.”vii 

Our advocate does not maintain our innocence but confesses our guilt. Then he enters his plea before the Father on our behalf as the one who has made "the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (this word also occurs in 4:10; cf. also Lk 18:13; Ro 3:25; Heb 2:17; 9:5). And his sacrifice is not only for our sins, "but also for the sins of the whole world." This statement asserts two things: Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for all, and it is necessary for all.viii 

Did you catch all of that?  Let me recap: 

1.Our sin does not change our relationship with God, He is still our Father, however it does break our fellowship with God. (Thanks be to God that confession and repentance will quickly restore our fellowship!) 

2.When we sin, Jesus, or righteous defender, points the accuser to His finished work on Calvary and says, “Charge that to My account.”  

3.Jesus does not maintain our innocence but points out our guilt.  He understands that there must be a punishment for sin. However, he also knows that the punishment has been paid, and our record can now be stamped, “PAID IN FULL”. We get to go free because of the sacrifice of our Bridegroom!!!   

Finally, Jesus upholds everything by the word of his power.  

Hebrews 1: 3, He is the brightness of His glory, the express image of Himself, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 

Colossians 1:17, He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 

He upholds the universe by the word of His power. Originally He spoke to bring the worlds into being (Heb. 11:3). Still He speaks and His powerful word sustains life, holds matter together, and maintains the universe in proper order. It is by Him that all things hold together (Col. 1:17).ix 

"Sustaining", the fifth characteristic of the Son, does not picture Christ as holding up the universe like the Greek god Atlas, but as carrying it along and bearing it onward toward the fulfillment of the divine plan. The concept is dynamic, not static. "All things" is the totality, the universe considered as a whole. Nothing is excluded from the scope of the Son's sustaining activity. And he does this "by his powerful word." "Word" is thought of as active and powerful—the same word that created the universe (11:3); "powerful" is often used to describe literal physical power.x 

John 1:1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created. 

Jesus, the Word of God, is the life-force by which the universe was created and is sustained today.  According to Genesis 1, God spoke, and the world was formed.  Jesus not only created everything by the Word of His Power, but he is also still upholding all things today.  Without Jesus’ sustaining Word our universe would spin out of control and life as we know it would cease.   

In conclusion, in preparation for our  wedding , our Bridegroom makes intercession for us, he advocates on our behalf, and he upholds everything by the word of his power. 

 

Questions for reflection:           

1. When I feel like giving up, when things don’t go as I planned, do I remember that Jesus is making intercession on my behalf?   If not, how would this reminder help me to press through the trials of life? 

2. When I find myself falling into temptation do I run to Jesus, my advocate, or do I try to deny and hide my sin?  Do I confess my sin and throw myself on the mercy of the “court” or do I try to justify myself? 

3. Imagine what our world would look like if Jesus was not upholding everything.  How would we survive without the Word who became flesh?     

Note: All Scripture references are from the MEV unless otherwise specified.     

Works Cited:

i https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/ancient-jewish-wedding-customs-and-yeshuas-second-coming/ 

ii Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 292. 

iii Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament Copyright 2004. 

iv CSB Tony Evans Study Bible Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. 

v ESV Reformation Study Bible 

vi NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan 

vii Believer's Bible Commentary Copyright © 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2016 by William MacDonald. 

viii Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament Copyright 2004. 

ix Believer's Bible Commentary Copyright © 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2016 by William MacDonald. 

x Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament Copyright 2004.