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. 

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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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