Contents

1    A Christian Love Story

2    The Covenant

3    The Cup

4    The Price

5    The Departure

6    The Return

7    The Bridal Chamber

8    The Marriage Supper

9    Give This Book to a. Jew

ZOLA LEVITT

Zola Levitt is a Jewish believer thoroughly educated in the synagogues and brought to the Messiah in 1971. He holds degrees from Duquesne University, Indiana University and an honorary Th.D. from Faith Bible College. He has, in his Christian walk, addressed millions of people concerning the facts of the Bible through his national television program, ZOLA LEVITT PRESENTS, which is carried on the major Christian networks, CBN, PTL, TBN and LBN, and numerous large city broadcast stations.

Zola Levitt Ministries, Inc. is a teaching and evangelistic association guided by the standard of Rom. 1:16, "To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." Like the apostle Paul, we work through the Gentiles to reach the Jews. We inform our Gentile viewers and listeners of those principles of the faith which will be most helpful to them in understanding and witnessing to their Jewish friends. Our ministry offers a wide variety of teaching materials including books, cassette tapes, music, video tapes, and some imported gift items from the Holy Land. A current list of these materials is available at no charge by writing to: ZOLA, Box 12268, Dallas, TX 75225.

A Christian Love Story

by

ZOLA LEVITT

Our Lord was Jewish and He did things like a Jew. So often, if we consult the Jewish law and custom, we find many of the. motivations for particular actions of our Lord.

For example, we took up in the other books in this little Bible study series - THE MIRACLE OF PASSOVER and THE SPIRIT OF PENTECOST—a study of what were originally purely Jewish feast days. With PASSOVER, we came out with a very complete knowledge of communion, that bread and that cup which identify us so mystically with our Lord. With PENTECOST, we found so apt a symbol of the calling out of the Church—a festival devoted to planting and harvesting.

In this book, we will consider the Jewish custom of matrimony. Obviously, wedding customs varied from nation to nation and from time to time. Even in today's world we see different traditions of marriage taking place at the same time in different countries. The Jews had their own peculiar ways, based on the Old Covenant, and the Lord, as we shall see, followed those traditions in choosing a bride.

We should appreciate that the Jews had no dating or courtship as we now think of those things. Marriage to them was a practical legal matter, established by contract and carried through by exacting procedure.

These customs exist in a form today in the Jewish wedding ceremony, and in Jesus' time they were most fascinating and complex.

When the young man of Israel in Jesus' time saw the girl he wanted (or the girl his father said he wanted), he would approach her with a marriage contract. He would come to her house with a covenant— a true legal agreement—giving the terms by which he would propose marriage. The most important consideration in the contract was the price the bridegroom would be willing to pay to marry this particular bride.

The "bride price" is still utilized today in parts of the Mediterranean and African worlds and while it seems most archaic to us now, it had some useful purposes. First of all, if the bridegroom was willing to sacrifice hard cash for his bride, he was showing his love in a most tangible way. Secondly, it was a favor to his future father-in-law. We must recall that in those days of farming and heavy labor, it was something of a liability to raise a daughter. A family with sons would prosper more because of the built-in work force; but a family with daughters would expect to "consolidate their losses" when the girls were mature enough to attract bridegrooms. And so the father of the bride was more or less paid off for his earlier expenses and for his patience and skill in raising a girl to be good marriage material.

The bridegroom would present himself to the bride with this agreement, offering to pay a suitable price for her, and she and her father would consider his contract. If the terms were suitable, the bride and groom would drink a cup of wine together and this would seal the bargain. This cup was most significant. It signified the bridegroom's willingness to sacrifice in order to have this bride. It was offered as a toast to the bride, and of course, it showed the bride's willingness to enter into this marriage.

Then the groom would pay the price. It should be said that this price was no modest token but was set so that the new bride would be a costly item—that was the idea. The young man had no delusions that he was getting something for nothing. He would pay dearly to marry the girl of his choice.

When that matter was settled the groom would depart. He would make a little speech to his bride, saying, "I go to prepare a place for you," and he would return to his father's house. Back at his father's house, he would build her a bridal chamber, a little mansion, in which they would have their future honeymoon.

We should appreciate that this was a complex undertaking for the bridegroom. He would actually build a separate building on his father's property, or decorate a room in his father's house. The bridal chamber had to be beautiful—one doesn't honeymoon just anywhere; and it had to be stocked with provisions since the bride and groom were going to remain inside for seven days. This construction project would take the better part of a year, ordinarily, and the father of the groom would be the judge of when it was finished. (We can see the logic there—obviously, if it were up to the young man, he would throw up some kind of modest structure and go get the girl!) But the father of the groom, who had been through this previously and was less excited, would be the final judge on when the chamber was ready and when the young man would go to claim his bride.

The bride, for her part, was obliged to do a lot of waiting. She would take the time to gather her trousseau and be ready when her bridegroom came. Custom provided that she had to have an oil lamp ready in case he came late at night in the darkness, because she had to be ready to travel at a moment's notice. During this long period of waiting, she was referred to as "consecrated", "set apart", "bought with a price". She was truly a lady-in-waiting, but there was no doubt that her groom would return. Sometimes a young man would depart for a very long time indeed, but of course he had paid a high price for his bride; even though there were other young women available, he would surely return to the one with whom he had made a covenant.

The bride would wear her veil whenever she stepped out of her house so that other young men would realize she was spoken for and would not try to approach her with another contract. (Today, the Bride of Christ wears a veil—those not understanding of our covenant try to make other contracts with us that would violate the one we have with our Bridegroom. We are to resist those other offers and wait only for the One Who paid for us.)

As the year went on, the bride would assemble her sisters and bridesmaids and whoever would go with her to the wedding when the bridegroom came, and they would each have their oil lamps ready. They would wait at her house every night on the chance that the groom would come, along with his groomsmen, and sweep them all away to a joyous and sudden wedding ceremony.

Meanwhile, the bridegroom would be building and decorating with all that he had. His father would inspect the chamber from time to time to see if it were ready. If we came along the road at this point and saw the young man working on his bridal chamber, we might well ask, "When's the big day?" But the bridegroom would answer, "Only my father knows that."

Finally, the chamber would be ready and the bridegroom would assemble his young friends to accompany him on the exciting trip to claim his bride. The big moment had arrived and the bridegroom was more than ready, we can be sure. He and his young men would set out in the night, making every attempt to completely surprise the bride.

And that's the romantic part—all the Jewish brides were "stolen". The Jews had a special understanding of a woman's heart. What a thrill for her, to be "abducted" and carried off into the night, not by a stranger but by one who loved her so much that he had paid a high price for her.

Over at the bride's house, things had better be ready! To be sure, the bride would be surprised since the groom would try to come at midnight while she was sleeping. But the oil lamps were ready and the bride had her veil. And while she might be sleeping in her wedding dress, she was definitely surprised. It's a wonder she would sleep at all as the year went on!

Now there were rules to be observed in consideration of a woman's feelings. The groom couldn't just rush in on her. After all, her hair might be in rollers! Actually, as the excited party of young men would get close to her house, they were obliged to give her a warning. Someone in the wedding party would shout.

When the bride heard that shout, she knew her young man would be there momentarily. She had only time to light her lamp, grab her honeymoon clothing and go. Her sisters and bridesmaids who wanted to attend also had to have their lamps trimmed and ready, of course. No one would try to walk through ancient Israel, with its rocky terrain, in the dark of night without carrying a lamp.

And so the groom and his men would charge in, grab the girls and make off with them! The father of the bride and her brothers would look the other way— perhaps just making one quick check to see that this was the young man with the contract—and the wedding party would be off. People in the village might be awakened from their sleep by the happy voices of the young people carrying the oil lamps through the streets, and that's how they knew a wedding was going on. Today, we hear car horns—back then, they saw the lamps late at night. Those looking on would not know who the bride was because she was still wearing a veil, of course. But she would be returning through these same streets a week later with her groom and then her veil would be off. At the return of the bride with her bridegroom, all the people would know just who got married and they would realize the total significance of this wedding.

When the wedding party reached the house of the groom's father, the bride and groom would go into their chamber and shut the door. No one else would enter. The groom's father, meanwhile, would have assembled the wedding guests—his friends—and they would be ready to celebrate the new marriage. Since the wedding was actually going to take seven days (until the appearance of the bride and groom out of the chamber), it was hard to plan for. Occasionally, the host would run out of wine, as we can well imagine. The Lord Himself graced a wedding at Cana with His presence and replenished the wine for the celebrants as told in John 2.

But the celebrating wouldn't start right away. First, the marriage had to actually be consummated. The Jews were a most law-abiding people and the law provided that the bride and groom become one before their marriage was recognized. Thus, the friend of the bridegroom—the individual we might refer to as "the best man"—would stand near the door of the bridal chamber, waiting to hear the bridegroom's voice. When the marriage was consummated, the bridegroom would tell his friend through the door and the friend would then go to the wedding guests and announce the good news. The celebration would then begin and it would continue for an entire week!

At the end of the week, the bride and groom would make their long awaited appearance to the cheers of the crowd. There would then be a joyous meal—a marriage supper, which we might refer to as the wedding reception—to honor the new couple. At this point, the bride would have discarded her veil, since she was now a married woman, and all would see exactly who it was the bridegroom had chosen. The new couple and the guests would enjoy a magnificent feast to conclude the entire matrimonial week.

After the marriage supper, the bride and groom would depart, not remaining any longer at the home of the groom's father. They would go instead to their own house, which had been prepared by the bridegroom. (The Bride of Christ will spend seven years in heaven at the home of the groom's Father, and then we shall return with our Bridegroom to occupy the Kingdom He has prepared for us).

As the bride and groom would travel back through the village, it would be appreciated by all onlookers just who the couple was and where their permanent home would be.

And that was a complete Jewish wedding in Jesus' time, in all its glory. Readers of the Gospel can easily see the beautiful analogies between this complex procedure and the manner in which the Lord Himself called out His chosen Bride. We will review below each of the elements of the Jewish wedding, along with the Scriptures that explain them.

Perhaps there is no happier Bible study than this one!

The Covenant

The Church is called "the bride of Christ" in the New Testament for good reason. It is we who have a covenant relationship with the One Who forgives sins. It is we who drink the cup with Him, and we for whom the price was paid. We are the ones to whom He said, "I go to prepare a place for you," and we are the ones who now await His sudden return.

Our covenant, in all its fullness, was expressed by the prophet Jeremiah:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer. 31:31-34).

Paul repeated the same covenant in Hebrews 8:8-12, for the benefit of the bride.

We can see very plainly that these verses constitute a contract. Terms are given and the parties identified. The Lord made His covenant with "the house of Israel and with the house of Judah", but it is continued to all of those who are the spiritual seed of Abraham and follow the Jewish Messiah. The New Covenant is written in our hearts, in a very real sense. It is not like the Old Covenant given to Moses, as explained in verse 32 above. That covenant was etched in stone and totally inflexible and unbreakable—the punishment for breaking it was death. The New Covenant comes out of a love relationship—we obey the Lord today because we love Him, not because we fear Him—and thus the New Covenant is a matter of the heart.

God purposely contrasts this New Covenant with the Old in order to make the point that He would forgive our iniquities and forget our sins under the new arrangement.

This is the most striking term of the New Covenant —that our sins are forgiven and forgotten. That certainly wasn't true under the Mosaic law. The people might in effect "file sacrifices" against their sins so that when the Messiah came He would retroactively take that into consideration and forgive them (Romans 3:25). God went along with an unregenerate people, knowing that forgiveness would be provided when the Messiah paid the price as the final sacrifice. But we are not in the same position. The price has already been paid for our sins, so that every last one of them is totally forgiven.

Some believers don't like this concept, and indeed much of the Church spends much of its energy acting as if the Covenant read, "I will forgive you only if you're good." There is a great deal of pretense among the believers that each of us is sinless, or very nearly sinless. But the fact of the matter is, God knows well the hearts of men and has provided a different system for us than He did in the Old Covenant. We are not responsible to be sinless; we are responsible only to believe in the Messiah, Who was sinless in our place and paid for our sins.

We might look at the New Covenant as a "gift certificate" for salvation. When one gives you a gift certificate, you need only to take it to the store and present it; there will be no charge for the merchandise. It's not that the merchandise is free, but that someone has been there ahead of you and paid for it. When you get the merchandise home, you may misuse it, if you wish. You may take gifts provided for you by the one who bought your certificate and damage them, or fail to appreciate them. That would be a shame, of course, but it certainly wouldn't cause the buyer of your gift certificate to come to you demanding the return of the merchandise. In the case of the New Covenant, God, the store owner, has agreed to provide you the merchandise of salvation in return for the gift certificate purchased for you by His Son. It's as simple as that.

Well, then, you may ask, can I sin as much as I like and still be saved? Paul covered that case when he said, "Shall I sin more that grace may abound?" He made clear that we are not to take our salvation as a license— that would be as bad as damaging the free gift we have received—but, in point of fact, our salvation has been paid for in advance. We can only thank God for this arrangement under which we common sinners can achieve the glory reached by Christ Himself. We would certainly never make it on our own merits.

Verse 34 above will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of the Lord, when everyone will certainly know the King. He will reside in Jerusalem in the Tabernacle for 1,000 years and it will no longer be necessary for people to teach "every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord'". When this particular wedding is completed, it will be a happy marriage indeed!

The New Covenant is like a contract also in the respect that it is signed and dated. In the verse following those quoted above, God presents His signature to this contract:

Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar;

The Lord of hosts is His name (Jer. 31:35).

There's no doubting whose signature that is!

Now we find a date, as we do on all contracts:

If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever (v. 36).

God says plainly that His covenant will go out of date when Israel ceases to be a nation. Clearly, our covenant is still in force because Israel is a nation today and has really never ceased to be a nation. If all the Jews would perish—if those who wanted to exterminate the Jewish people ever had their wish—then it is apparent that the New Covenant would go out of date and forgiveness would not be available to anyone. The very presence of the Jews among us is the sign of the New Covenant; it is still in force and every sin of every person who believes is still forgiven.

The Jews are, in this one way, a most special people. As God promised His friend Abraham:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 12:2-3).

But in case anyone would doubt that Israel will survive, the Lord adds a footnote in the next verse:

Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord (Jer. 31:37).

Obviously, Israel is as secure as the secrets of how the universe is put together. If anyone could tell God how He has set up in heaven and earth, He would then cast off the seed of Israel, He says. It's virtually the same argument God used with Job when that worthy one came before Him with questions. God inquired, "Where was thou when I laid the cornerstone of the earth?" as if to say, "Seeing that you ask such intelligent questions, I am sure that you understand as much as God does." That settled who Job was and who God was, and the verse quoted above should settle once and for all any question about the survival of Israel and the Jewish people.

And thus we have our marriage contract and it is an advantageous contract for the bride indeed. Note the language used in Jeremiah 31:32: "Which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord." God could very well have been angry enough with Israel that He would have chosen a different bride for His Son. He says, in effect, "I tried to marry them before, but they broke the marriage contract." Nevertheless, in His forgiveness, God makes this covenant again with Israel, sending His Son to that nation and the Holy Spirit to that people. And Israel, in turn, sent the Messiah to the world through Jewish missionaries who built the churches of Asia. And the contract God has made is a real stunner—He has agreed that should the Bride sin this time, He will forget about it!

It is as if the bridegroom came forward and said to his bride, "I'll pay the price for you and drink the cup with you, and go to prepare the place for you and if you happen to stumble in the year that I am away, I'll just forget it. If I hear, while I am building the bridal chamber, that you were not waiting for me at home but had even gone out with another man, I will just forget about it. If you try to break my covenant, I will not allow it to be broken. I will pay for all your sins myself!"

Here, we have a bridal contract unbreakable by the bride. How could God possibly make such a contract?

Well, we might say this: The price was very high.

The Cup

And so, Jesus came to His own, the people of Israel, prepared to pay that high price. He came with the New Covenant, to sign it with His blood. The expression, "signed in blood", is thoroughly biblical. When God made covenants in the past with Abraham, Moses and so forth, He had animals sacrificed and the blood sprinkled to ratify the covenant. Jeremiah had only prophesied the advent of the New Covenant; Christ came to sign it and present it.

We see Him drinking the cup with His Bride in Matthew 26:27. It was at the Passover table that the Lord did this so appropriately. He was to die that day (the next morning actually, but the Jewish day begins at sundown). He took this last opportunity to drink the cup with His Bride and seal the New Covenant:

And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:27-28).

Looking at verse 27, we might ask, "What did the Lord say when He gave thanks?" Any Jew can tell you— there is just one Jewish blessing over the wine and it has been said for all time.

Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.

The fruit of the vine, ultimately, is the Church. Jesus said that He was the true vine, and the disciples were the branches. Finally, we become the fruit in this figure, and this brings out the toast aspect of this cup. Jesus praised the Creator for bringing forth this Bride and He toasted the Bride for becoming the true fruit. Then He told all the believers to drink this cup so that they would answer His proposal affirmatively and become His promised Bride.

In verse 28, He announced that the cup was His blood of the New Covenant ("testament" and "covenant" are the same word), and that it is shed for the remission of sins. Obviously, this fulfilled Jeremiah's announcement of the New Covenant—the covenant which would forgive sins. It's interesting to consider that the New Testament itself is our copy of the contract. Should anyone accuse you of sin, you need only show him your copy of the contract to prove that your sins are forgiven. Should the devil himself accuse you, and Satan is the "accuser of the saints", quoting the terms of the New Testament will settle the matter. You are "bought with a price". Your next responsibility after receiving the Bridegroom is to go about, in proper modesty with your veil, honoring the covenant you have made, in the manner of a virgin bride awaiting her promised bridegroom.

You are not to make further sacrifices to impress God. Jesus made it very clear that this one sacrifice— this one cup—would be sufficient to forgive everyone's sins, all the way up to the Kingdom of God:

But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom (v.29).

We are responsible to God for good works. We are more than a bride; we are also workers in a field. But insofar as our salvation goes, it has been bought and paid for and we cannot lose it or enhance it in any way according to this contract:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

The Price

How much did our Bridegroom pay? We all realize that our Lord went to the cross for us and that this was painful, humiliating and so insulting to the Son of God. But do we fully appreciate how much it cost Him?

After all, it could be argued that Jesus was a strong, young man, able to walk 75 miles from Galilee to Jerusalem. No one would want to be crucified, but He suffered only six hours. People with cancer die slow, lingering deaths; some of us are born with handicaps we must bear a lifetime. Did Jesus really pay that much?

To find the real value of something, we must ask the purchaser. To people who are very rich, a Cadillac or a fur coat is a small expenditure. To the poor, those things are extremely expensive. Jesus Himself commented on how much He was paying in the following verses:

And He came out, and went, as He was wont, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.

And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.

Saying, Father, if Thou are willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done (Luke 22:39-42).

This prayer took place right after the Passover supper, when the Lord retired to the Mount of Olives near the Temple site. He told His disciples, "Pray that ye enter not into temptation", which any bridegroom might well have said to his bride. "Be sure you wait for me, darling, I'll be back before you know it. Don't get tempted!" many young bridegrooms must have told their betrothed as they departed.

Then Jesus held a private conversation with His Father, saying, "If Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me." This must also have happened from time to time in the old Jewish wedding custom. Many a bridegroom probably returned to his father after learning the price for a particular bride and asked his advice on whether he should pay it. "Do you realize how much they want for her?" must have been a question repeated often in the old tradition. The Jewish bridegroom was wise enough to know that his father's judgments in these matters were trustworthy, and he would consult his father about the amount to be paid. And here we see Jesus clearly expressing that if His Father were willing, the cup should be removed from Him. Of course, like the respectful Jewish bridegroom of old, He trusts His Father's judgment and said, "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine, be done."

We get some inkling of how high a price the purchaser was paying in this case from this passage— but we're to learn more further on.

In this case, the Bridegroom's Father's will is very clear:

And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him (v. 43).

And now we see the verse that expresses most plainly of all what the purchaser thought of the price:

And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground (v. 44).

Now when Jesus actually went to the cross, we might think His Father had special mercy on Him. It normally took three days for a person to die by crucifixion. The condemned one would hang there morning and night as people passed by, dying by inches. He would be naked, suffering from a flogging and in total agony until his life seeped away. How was it that this Carpenter, in fine physical condition, was dead in just six hours?

That question has been asked from time immemorial, but a simple consultation of the order of the Jewish feasts answers it perfectly. In Leviticus 23:5-6, we have God's placement of the first two feasts of the Jewish year, Passover and Unleavened Bread:

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover.

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

The symbol of Passover is the sacrifice of the lamb, and Jesus fulfilled it on the cross. The symbol of Unleavened Bread is the body of the Lord buried in the earth ("if a kernel of wheat fall into the ground...", "This bread is My body"). Thus, to fulfill the second feast, the Lord had to be buried at the beginning of Unleavened Bread, or at sundown on the day of Passover. He was placed on the cross at 9:00 in the morning and taken down at 3:00. Sundown in April in Israel is about 4:30 or 5:00, and thus the Lord was buried exactly in time to commemorate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

And so the fulfillments progress through the rest of the feasts. First Fruits, which we now call "Easter", came on the following Sunday (Lev. 23:10-12), and indeed the Lord rose as the first fruits of those to be resurrected (I Cor. 15:22-23). The fourth feast is Pentecost, 50 days later (Lev. 23:15-16), and the Lord sent the Holy Spirit in a great harvest. Three thousand people were saved that day, just as 3,000 people were killed on the day the Law came. They had made a golden calf and the Lord was infuriated:

And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men (Exodus 32:28).

But when the Lord sent the Holy Spirit, He returned to Israel exactly 3,000 souls. The Lord is a good bookkeeper, and indeed, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (II Cor. 3:6).

Thus the Lord performed exactly in accordance with the first four feasts of Israel. He will do the same in the future, it is clear. We expect the Rapture of the Church on the fifth feast, the Feast of Trumpets (I Thess. 4:1617). We expect the return of the Lord to the earth for the start of the Kingdom on the Day of Atonement, when "all Israel will be saved" (Zech. 12:10,13:1; Romans 11:26). And finally, the Lord will set up His Tabernacle in Jerusalem appropriately enough on the final feast, the Feast of Tabernacles. The tabernacles hark back to the shelters the Lord gave the children of Israel in the wilderness, and indeed the Lord's Tabernacle will shelter us on this earth for the duration of the Kingdom. These final three feasts are explained in Leviticus 23:24, 27 and 34, respectively.

We say all of that above to show that the Lord, Who never omitted a Jewish feast, fulfilled each one even in His crucifixion and burial, as well as in His resurrection, His sending of the Holy Spirit, His return at the sound of the trumpet, His second coming on the day when Israel atones, and His establishment of His Kingdom on Tabernacles. Thus, it is valid that the Lord had to come off the cross in six hours for the simple reason that He was a law-abiding Jew and He had a feast to keep.

What is significant is that Jesus paid the full price. He could have called a legion of angels to avoid the cross, or He could have been brought down from the cross in even a shorter time than six hours. His Father might have arranged for Him to have a more merciful death than a flogging and a public crucifixion. But the fact is, He accepted His Father's will, was crucified and remained on the cross as long as was lawful for Him to do so.

A full knowledge of the price paid for us must inspire us. to live up to the expectations of our Bridegroom: Any time the Jewish bride felt tempted to break her contract, it is certain that a mere reading through of the terms would remind her that her bridegroom had paid a great deal and was trusting her to keep her side of the bargain. If we read our contract often and understand it completely, we can more likely glorify our Bridegroom as we wait for Him.

The Departure

We saw in the Jewish wedding custom that the bridegroom would depart to his father's house after he made the covenant, drank the cup and paid the price. Likewise, our Lord went on to His Father's house with an announcement to His disciples virtually in the same words as the Israeli bridegroom must have used:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

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 (John 14:1-3).

Jesus is in heaven now, preparing our place, and we are in the waiting period. True, we grow impatient for His return, but then imagine how impatient that young bride must have been! People who plan to be married don't like waiting around, especially if they can't even see each other! Probably, in the old days, there were a few violations during the waiting period and people must have thought they had a violation in the case of Joseph and Mary. Those two were "espoused" (betrothed), not married, and Mary became with child. It was not that serious a matter to the onlookers, since undoubtedly this situation had occurred before, the Jewish wedding being what it was. But Joseph, at least at first, thought Mary had violated their marriage contract in a most grave manner, and he sought to "put her away", or cancel the contract. Of course, the angel revealed the true situation and Joseph and Mary went on to be married.

In our case, we have been waiting a long time. But we must continue to wait in a manner that would gratify our Bridegroom. The veil worn by the bride is simply our good testimony before the world. Our consecrated, set-apart ways speak to the unbelievers around of our loyalty to God and our agreement to marry His Son. Paul put it very strongly when he said simply, "You are not your own".

We must all fully realize, as we wait, that the Lord is coming. The bridegroom always returned. We hear many a sermon on the Lord's return but we falter in our walk, reasoning that if He didn't come last year or last week, He probably won't come tonight. But there will be a night when the Lord will come, and He requires that we be ready and waiting. We can believe that that Jewish bride waited at home every night and trusted constantly in that marvelous night when she would at last hear the shout.

The Return

The return of the Lord for His Bride, the Church, is most clear in the Scriptures:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (I Thess. 4:16-17).

Here we see the shout and also the sound of a trumpet.

We have already discussed the trumpet in connection with the dramatic Feast of Trumpets, which symbolizes the Rapture. But we might look further into that peculiar biblical symbol to fully appreciate its significance. The Rapture of the Church will be a kind of repeat performance. God had previously delivered His Chosen People into their Promised Land when Joshua led the Israelites against Jericho. The walls of Jericho have been found: they were 11 feet thick! How were the weak and wandering tribes of Israel, with their old men, women and children, going to assault this frontier city, so well prepared for just such an attack? Well, we realize what weapons they used and we realize a great truth thereby:

And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him (Josh. 6:5).

What a comparison that verse makes with the Rapture of the Church. Indeed, "the people shall ascend up"! The clincher of the type is the name of the leader. We don't often appreciate that "Jesus" is a transliteration of the real name of our Lord. His name in Hebrew was "Yeshua", which translates in English to "Joshua". In both cases, then, God used the trumpet to deliver His people to their Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. Other Scripture explaining the fact of the Rapture also mentions the trumpet:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (I Cor. 15:51-53).

Indeed, as Paul exalted:

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 5557).

We shall not die, it should be explained. We all received our eternal life the moment we were saved. We may die physically, but "the dead in Christ will rise first”. We shall live on with the Lord in His Kingdom and eternity. Our Bridegroom has indeed prepared a wonderful place for us. How marvelous that "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed". (That Scripture appears on the door of a church nursery in Dallas.)

Now when the Lord comes for us, we are to have oil lamps ready and waiting. Oil in the Bible is the Holy Spirit, and we are to have the oil and be ready to travel even in the dark of night. The parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) is correctly applied to the Kingdom, but has marvelous application to this wedding story. In that parable, there were ten virgins "which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom".

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps (Matt. 25:2-4).

The bridegroom in this parable acted in accordance with the Jewish tradition of totally surprising the bride and catching her asleep:

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept (v. 5).

But then he comes with a shout:

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him (v. 6).

We will see by the ensuing verses that only those virgins with their lamps trimmed with oil were able to go with the bridegroom. The others, suddenly realizing that they were not properly prepared, went out to purchase oil, but they were too late:

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not (vs. 10-12).

The message is very clear: We must have the Holy Spirit—we must be true believers in the Lord Jesus—to go with Him when He comes.

The oil was established as a very essential ingredient as far back as the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness:

And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always (Exodus 27:20).

We can learn a great deal from the above Scripture. We are just like the lampstand in the Tabernacle. We are set aflame once when we believe in the Messiah, but as we walk, we must constantly take in the oil—the Holy Spirit—in order to keep our flame burning brightly. The flame is a beautiful symbol of the Christian faith. With one flame I can light all the candles in the world and mine will not be diminished.

Understanding the symbol of the oil and the symbol of the trumpet as well, we are in a position to see how powerful we really are in this world. Gideon went forward with only 300 men and attacked a force of Midianites totaling over 100,000! Gideon, like the U.S. Marines, came forward with "a few good men", but the Lord had armed these soldiers in a special way. They carried trumpets in their right hands and oil lamps in their left hands. Remarkably, they won that battle with their peculiar attack:

And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon (Judges 7:20).

Armed with God's symbol of deliverance, the trumpet, and the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the oil in the lamps, Gideon's army prevailed over the pagans. God had chosen to have Gideon attack with such a small force so that the glory would certainly go to Him. And likewise, we carry the Holy Spirit in the same sort of pottery jars used by Gideon's men:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (II Cor. 4:7).

When we break the earthen vessels that are our earthly bodies, the light pours out of us and the oil within convicts the unbeliever. We are a small army, like Gideon's, but outfitted with God's special weaponry, we are invincible in this spiritual battle.

But we must be absolutely certain that we have the oil—the virgins with the empty lamps could not go into the bridal chamber with the Lord. The Lord Himself concluded that parable:

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh (Matt. 25:13).

There are a lot of empty lamps around. There are huge churches where the Holy Spirit is never mentioned nor the Word of the Lord preached. They are lamps with no oil. They shall hold services as usual on the Sunday after the Rapture.

The Bridal Chamber

How is our seven years in heaven with the Lord (while the Tribulation Period takes place on earth) like a honeymoon? Actually, what the Lord has prepared for us is called by a rather fearsome name in the Scriptures:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (II Cor. 5:10).

We are going to appear before our Lord to review the things each of us did in his earthly service. This judgment concerns our works, of course, and not our sins, which were paid for in advance.

Paul is very clear on what will happen in the judgment seat of Christ. He points out that the only reasonable foundation one can lay in this life is that of Christ, and then he goes on to give the particulars of how our works are judged:

For other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is (II Cor. 3:11-13).

The Lord will put a torch to our works. Those that are of the precious metals will not be harmed, but the wood, hay and stubble will be burned away. We will be duly rewarded for our good works:

If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward (v. 14).

And we will suffer losses of our rewards for the works that are burned up:

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (v. 15).

Note the last two phrases in the above verse. Even if we have a great many bad works and therefore few rewards, we still shall be saved. We shall survive this fire of judgment. God has fire that does not consume, such as in the lake of fire or in the burning bush seen by Moses. God's purpose in this judgment seat of Christ is not to burn us up, but merely the works unworthy of the bride of Christ. We ourselves will be saved.

How is this like a honeymoon? Well, a honeymoon is where the bridegroom removes his bride's veils and knows all of her secrets. We will be spiritual creatures when we meet Christ, since "we shall all be changed", and so our Bridegroom will examine our spiritual secrets. Some honeymoons indeed are not as joyful as we might have expected, married people can tell you, but we're there with someone we love and when all is said and done, we become marriage partners through the experience.

Now that peculiar moment when the bridegroom tells his friend that the wedding is consummated is also in the Gospel. It has to do with that great friend of

Jesus, John the Baptist. It seems the Pharisees were approaching him time and again and asking if he were the Messiah. From the passages, we can gather that they wished he were the Messiah—they could get along better with a Messiah who lived by the Dead Sea and ate locusts and honey than with the Carpenter of Galilee, who did so many miracles. If John were the Messiah, then they could muddle through. It was that mild-mannered young preacher from rustic Nazareth they could not seem to abide. In one of their dialogues, John, seeming to almost lose patience with them, uses this very special moment in the wedding ceremony to illustrate his point. He told them:

Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him.

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled (John 3:28-29).

Perhaps John, an Old Testament saint killed before the cross, and a dear friend of our Bridegroom's Father, will serve this function in our wedding in heaven.

The Marriage Supper

When the wedding guests get the good news from the chamber, they celebrate. Who will be the wedding guests at our marriage to the Lord?

Well, in keeping with the tradition, they will be the friends of the Bridegroom's Father—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, and His many other friends from the great days of the Old Covenant. How magnificent it will be to greet all those saints when we come out of the chamber and sit down to our marriage supper!

Perhaps Daniel will sit by Jeremiah, and he will say "You know, I read your book!" Daniel indeed read the Book of Jeremiah and gathered most important information from it (Dan. 9:2; Jer. 29:10). Perhaps it would be a good idea if we would read the Book of Jeremiah and the other books of our wedding guests before we go on to the reception!

Only a little space is given in the Bible to the magnificent culminating event of the marriage supper of the Lamb:

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints (Rev. 19:7-8).

We shall be arrayed in "fine linen, clean and white", which the priests wore in the Tabernacle of old as a sign of their consecration to God. Indeed, at this time we shall be perfect; we shall be as perfect as Jesus Christ. Our sins were forgiven at the cross, our bad works were done away with in the judgment seat, and we are now presented spotless and without blemish to the Lamb as a fitting wife. The Scripture quoted above is so accurate, utilizing the term "wife" instead of "bride" at this point, since we are then married to the Lord.

We rejoice in being the Bride of Christ now, but imagine the joy we will have as the Queen of the Kingdom to come!

After our marriage supper, we shall depart with the Lord to return to this earth in the manner that the bride went to the house prepared for her by the bridegroom. We shall not dwell in His Father's house any longer, but will leave heaven to occupy our Kingdom.

When we return we shall have our spiritual veils off, and all the world will fully realize who the Bride of Christ was and why we acted as we did.

Give This Book to a Jew

In each of my books, I make an appeal for my people, the Chosen People. Give this book to a Jew. It's his wedding tradition, his Messiah, and his New Covenant. It is only fitting that he should have this knowledge and that he should come to the Messiah of Israel.

And it is fitting, too, that the Church, mostly Gentile, should appreciate the Jewish customs and traditions that teach us so much about our Lord. The feasts of Israel, the magnificent types in the Old Testament, and the Old Covenant under which so many millions labored for God for so many centuries, are essential to our faith.

The Lord, who ministered entirely in Israel and "came only unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24), would have us continue His mission to the Jews. The Bible is replete with this appeal and the principal difference between the American church, as it is now constituted, and the churches of the New Testament, is in the Jewish membership. So few of the Chosen People are saved today and this cannot be God's will.

The Father said plainly:

And I will bless them that bless thee (Abraham's nation), and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 12:3).

And the Son said plainly:

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And as ye go, preach, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 10:6-7).

The great apostle was more than clear:

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16). (Italic mine)

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (Rom. 10:1).

I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. 11:1).

Like that tireless Rabbi Paul, I continue in much the same mission. I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Levi, and I appeal to you now, on behalf of my people.

"Let my people go"—to heaven!

STUDY BOOK SERIES by Zola Levitt

THE MIRACLE OF PASSOVER:

A complete explanation of the beautiful symbols and shadows of the Messiah which appear in this crown jewel of Jewish Holy Days. The true meaning of Communion as the Lord instituted it and as the Church practices it.

THE SPIRIT OF PENTECOST:

From the fear and trembling of the Upper Room to the magnificent miracle of the coming of the Holy Spirit. An exciting presentation of the full meaning of "the birthday of the Church."

A CHRISTIAN LOVE STORY:

The Jewish wedding customs of the Messiah's time and how He fulfilled them all in Calling out His Bride, the Church. A new and deeper understanding of the bond between the Bridegroom and each believer—a spiritual "Love Story."

THE SIGNS OF THE END:

The Messiah's own words of warning about the conditions that would prevail in the world at the end of God's plan. Are we now approaching the Great Tribulation and the return of our King?

GLOR Y: The Future of the Believers:

The entire prophetic system explained for those who are going to live it! The Rapture, our time in Heaven, the Kingdom and Eternity. Where we go from here. Our rewards, our eternal lives, our entire future.

THE SEVEN FEASTS OF ISRAEL:

A complete explanation of the holy days God gave Moses on Mount Sinai, and how each was fulfilled by our Lord. Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Tabernacles, etc., fully discussed as to their hidden meanings in the Messiah. A very special section on how every baby in the womb develops according to God's system of the holy days.

THE SECOND COMING:

The prime difference between the biblical faith and worldly religions is that with the Messiah we have a bright future. What we see is not all we get. The life in this world is of little importance to those who have been promised the Kingdom to come. The return of the King fully explained.

SEVEN CHURCHES: Does Yours Fit In?:

A refreshing and unusual perspective on the churches presented in Revelation 2 and 3. A Jewish Christian and Bible scholar, Zola looks at these earliest churches from the Old Testament and Jewish traditional point of view. A highly interesting and most useful study, applicable to church life everywhere today.

HOW CAN A GENTILE BE SAVED?:

Christians always ask Zola, "How did you come to the Lord?" Their real question is, "How can a Jew be saved?" He finally decided to make a biblical inquiry into how they got saved. The results are extremely thought -provoking.

"IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE":

The Lord said, "In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you." An explanation of the incredible seven years we will spend as guests in heaven, in the Messiah's Father's house.

ISRAEL, MY PROMISED:

Has God finished with the Jews? Are the modern Israelites the valid Chosen People of the Bible? A sensitive and very personal look at the land of our Lord, as seen today and as promised in the Kingdom.

Table of Contents

1 A Christian Love Story

2 The Covenant

3 The Cup

4 The Price

5 The Departure

6 The Return

7 The Bridal Chamber

8 The Marriage Supper

9 Give This Book to a. Jew