The 'Church' (Ekklesia) as a Jewish Bride!

The title is important ... because there is no literal Greek word for what many call church. In fact, that would mean the word church is no where in the Bible. But the Greek word Ekklesia is in the Bible and it speaks to a gathering of believers. In that context we bring Jew and Gentiles into one body ... that believes in a Jewish Messiah. As such, the concept described here, of a traditional practice related to a Jewish wedding makes complete sense.

There are four stages leading up to a Jewish wedding. But in this story the bridegroom is the Messiah and the bride is the community of believers (commonly referred to as the Church, but we also like to designate the group as Jew and Gentile believers of the Messianic community — a.k.a. the global Messianic Congregation). The pattern we are suggesting is nothing new, there are various sources that outline the bride and bridegroom relationship suggested here. So, we'll be brief about this one... but it's worth a mention because many are still unaware of this part of the story!

• Step One — Arrangements and paying a bride-price.
• Step Two — fetching the bride by the bridegroom. The rapture is an event that to some comes with controversy... an explicitly literal reference to believers being swept up into heaven — en mass no less! — is not so clear to many reading the Bible. Yet, this step is simply Yeshua fetching the bride and bringing believers to Himself for a time before the wedding.
• Step Three — the wedding.
• Step Four — wedding feast. The time line describes a feast at the end of the Tribulation Period... and in this sequence this represents the wedding feast. The honeymoon is next... how about 1,000 years? Really, take a look at the time line!

Yes, all this is set in a Jewish context... after all the bridegroom is Jewish... you did notice that didn't you!

More detail on the topic above can be found in Chapter 23 of the Creator's Window [find page 99 and the side bar entitled 'Window Pane 15 - A Jewish Marriage: Church and Kingdom.'']

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