Category: Return of Jesus – Book
I Am Coming Soon
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
Throughout history, the element of surprise has birthed many dramatic victories. In 1184 B.C., a massive wooden horse is left at the gates of Troy, ostensibly as an offering to the goddess Athena. The horse, however, conceals soldiers who, once wheeled into the city, open the gates for an invading Greek army.
A detachment of 2,400 troops crossing the icy Delaware River on Christmas night of 1776 uses the cover of darkness and the drunken stupor of defending German troops (whom the British hired as mercenaries) to secure a surprise victory for General George Washington’s beleaguered Continental Army.
And in the early hours of June 5, 1967, the Israeli Air Force launches Operation Mivtza Moked with two hundred aircraft. The pilots catch their Egyptian counterparts napping. By the end of the day, five hundred Egyptian aircraft are destroyed, and their military airstrips are rendered inoperable. Jordanian and Syrian aircraft are similarly targeted. As a result, the Six-Day War radically alters the geopolitics of the Middle East.
Unlike these historic upsets, the return of Christ doesn’t hinge on stealth. Jesus is not returning in disguise. He’s not scheming with Mother Nature. Nor is he descending from heaven under the radar. Quite the contrary. Jesus openly tells us he’s coming back. He offers signs as obvious as a red sky at dawn. He urges us to be ready at all times. Scripture foretells his return as personal, physical, visible, and powerful. John declares that “every eye will see him” (Rev. 1:7).
Continue reading Parable of the Wedding Banquet
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
In the previous post, we looked at how an ancient Jewish wedding foreshadows the return of Christ for his bride. But not everyone enjoys the marriage supper of the Lamb, as Jesus illustrates in the parable of the wedding banquet:
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.
“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:1-14).
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Our Marriage to Christ
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
Heaven is not our final home; it’s the intermediate state between physical death and future glorification, which is pictured in the third and final act of ancient Jewish wedding ceremonies.
Nissuin
We’ve examined the shiddukhin, or marriage contract, and the erusin, or engagement. Now, we come to the nissuin, or marriage. This Hebrew word is derived from naso, which means to lift up. At this time, there’s great fanfare as the groom fetches his bride and escorts her to his father’s house. The couple again enters the huppah, recites a blessing over a cup of wine – a symbol of joy – and finalizes their vows.
At last, after a year of separation, the husband and wife enter the bridal chamber and consummate their marriage. A friend of the groom waits outside until he’s informed that the new couple has engaged in marital relations for the first time. The friend announces this to the guests and, with resounding joy, the marriage feast begins. Often, the celebration lasts for days, as we see in the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performs his first miracle (John 2:1-11).
Continue reading The Parable of the Ten Virgins
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
In the previous post, we looked at the contract that plays a vital role in a Jewish wedding. Now, we see how Jesus illustrates the erusin in his parable of the ten virgins.
In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to this special time at the end of erusin, when the groom comes for his bride (Matt. 25:1-13). It’s a riveting story, which begins with ten virgins (or bridesmaids, likely twelve to sixteen years of age) taking their lamps and going out to meet the groom.
By most accounts, these lamps resemble torches, with oil-soaked cloth on the end of poles. Jars of olive oil are carried along as well, with bridesmaids dipping the fabric end of the poles in oil before lighting them. Five of the bridesmaids take extra oil along with their lamps, since the typical oil lamp would burn for only about fifteen minutes without additional fuel. So, the bridesmaids bring their lamps, but only half of them are adequately prepared.
Continue reading Our Betrothal to Christ
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
In the last post, we began to look at the ancient Jewish wedding as a parable for God’s work of redemption in Christ. We continue this study now.
After the shiddukhim, the second element of ancient Jewish weddings is engagement, or betrothal, known as erusin in Hebrew. After their immersion in the mikvah, the bride and groom enter a shelter known as the huppah, or marriage canopy. This symbolizes the couple entering into a contract to establish a new household.
Beneath the canopy, the groom offers the bride money or a valuable object such as a ring, and the couple shares a cup of wine to seal their vows. This parallels the cup Jesus and the apostles share in the last supper as a sign of the new covenant. As Matthew records:
Then he [Jesus] took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom (Matt. 26:27-30).
Later, Paul writes that, in the Lord’s Supper, we remember Christ’s death until he comes again (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
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