“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Song of Solomon 2:10)
In this poetic book of the love between a bride and the groom, the groom comes to the bride from afar. She hears his coming and waits for him. When he gets near, he seeks her, and she sees him seeking her. (Song of Solomon 2:8,9) In ancient Jewish tradition, the groom left the bride right after the engagement for a year in which he would prepare a place for them to live under the guidance of his father, while the bride prepared her things for married life, first her wedding dress then maybe linens etc... The father would tell the groom when the abode was ready and when to go for the bride who had an inkling about when he would come for her. She and her bridesmaids would wait in anticipation for the groom to come for her.
This is the picture of the church and Jesus. Since Jesus left this earth, the church then and now await His return. Jesus spoke to His disciples about it, but they didn’t understand. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” (John 14:3-4) The abundance of traditions and rituals in ancient Judaism all point to the Messiah. The ancient Jewish traditional wedding is no different. The groom would leave to prepare a place for his bride. Jesus left to prepare a place for us with Him. Jesus said, “A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.” (John 16:16)
But just like the Jewish bride doesn’t know when her groom is coming, the church doesn’t know when Jesus is coming. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:36-37) I’m sure the disciples were stumped, first because Jesus says He’s leaving, then because He says no one knows when He will return and lastly because Jesus says the days will be like the days of Noah, which is really disturbing. Even today, we have an idea how those days were and will be, but we are not sure of the exact veracity of what it will be like. Each generation of believers believed it would be in their time. There are so many details and clues in Scripture, and they all have to coincide. But like the Jewish bride had a sense of when the groom was coming for her, the church has that same anticipation that Jesus will soon return. As other generations of believers, we can take all the Scriptures and have a sense of when Jesus is coming, but we do not know exactly. If God said no man knows, then no man knew, knows nor will know the exact time of His return.
The sweet words of the groom to the bride in the book Song of Solomon are nothing compared to the sweet words our Lord will say to us when He comes for us. We will be surrounded in a way unknown to this world by His love. He will see to it that we are spotless, without wrinkle or blemish and holy before Him. (Ephesians 5:27)
Jesus told the parable of The Ten Virgins. After telling the parable Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 25:13) In the parable we have a picture of the bridesmaids waiting for the groom. There are five wise and five foolish bridesmaids. (Matthew 25:2) The wise bridesmaids are prepared with oil in their lamps. The foolish are not. When the shout is made that the bridegroom is coming, the wise virgins light their lamps and go out to meet him. But the foolish ones have to go out and get oil for their lamps. (Matthew 25:6-9) Meanwhile the wise virgins go with the groom to the marriage feast. Then the door is shut. (Matthew 25:10) The door is shut and no one else can enter. As youngsters looking for a party, many times because of lack of funds, we crashed many weddings. The best parties are weddings. There’s music, free food and dancing. And because there are many people invited and no one really knows if you’re part of the groom's family or the bride's family, we felt safe and comfortable celebrating with everyone else. But in Jewish tradition, the door is shut and the uninvited cannot come in.
The five foolish virgins come late to the wedding and the door is shut. They can’t get in. The groom’s words cut to the core. “But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” (Matthew 25:11,12) What he was saying is, that they didn’t come out to meet him. They then must be uninvited. Jesus warns us to be ready for Him. Be full of the Holy Spirit as represented by the oil in the lamps. Our light should be shining brightly because we have the fullness of the Holy Spirit, a demonstration of His character in thought, word and deed.
While the picture of the return of Jesus is beautiful, it also puts us on notice to be prepared and to wait expectantly because we don’t know the day nor time. We want to be in that resurrection!
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