Bible Prophecy, End Times Revelation:
Wedding Parables Summary

Summary:  All three wedding parables support the need to invite others to the wedding and for us to have light showing how we can get there (marry the Bridegroom). Each parable has imagery supporting an unexpected calamity, high reward, and a loss of destiny for preachers.

Keywords: Bible prophecy, end times, Revelation, wedding parables,

Ask your pastor or Sunday School teacher how many wedding parables there are in the Bible. Most know about the 10 virgins in Matthew 25; some may know about the wedding garment in Matthew 22, but none that I’ve asked know about Luke 12:32-48--“wedding” is mentioned once.

1. All three parables support the need to invite others and for us to have light showing the way (how we marry the Bridegroom).

   A.  The King who makes a marriage for His Son sends His servants to bid everyone ("bad and good," Matt 22:10) to the marriage.

   B.  The wise have light to show the way. The foolish do not and go looking for oil, Matt 25:9. (They lack oil from the Old Testament olive tree, Zechariah 4:3,14. Christians focus on N.T.

   C. "Lights burning" is parallel imagery in Luke 12:35.

2. All three parables have imagery of an unexpected calamity.

   A. In Matt 22:7, the "remnant" had their city burned for failing to appreciate the invitation. It’s more than 70 AD, because Christ blended the temple signs with “end of the world,” Matt 24:3.

   B. Christ is the word (John 1:1,14) and He is also “the First and the Last,” Revelation 1:11. The first place that a word or phrase is found often has a meaning or context for the end-time. Using this rule, the midnight cry in Matt 25:6 is linked to calamity at Passover, Exodus 12:29,30.

   C. We are to be ready "that when He comes and knocks, [we] may open to Him immediately." Luke 12:36. What's His "knock"? With the Bible as it's own expositor, the only other place that Christ knocks is in Revelation 3:20, for the church of Laodicea. We think Jesus always knocks at our heart, wanting to be part of all we do.

We forget He wanted His church to repent of their materialism and lukewarmness. The church ended in an earthquake; a sign for us? No one denies that the description of the church at Laodicea fits us.

"What is to come has been already, and God summons each event back in its turn." Ecclesiastes 3:15, NEB.

3. All three parables support high reward, but a loss in destiny for church leaders.

   A. We see this in 70 AD when the temple burned, but Christ mingled those signs as also being for the end of the world in Matthew 24:1-3. Would God do such a thing for America that tries to bless the world?  Maybe we are like that lukewarm materialistic church. We forget our slight of the wedding invitation. We think about the 2nd coming when we hope to eat the wedding supper, but we are ignorant of Bible teaching on how the wedding occurs (explained below), and church leaders failed to inform us.

   B. Change in leadership is also suggested in the imagery of "Go to them that sell [oil]." Matt 25:9. The ministry studies Scripture and distills it as oil for the church. Earning their living doing so, they are "them that sell," but in Christ’s parable, they weren’t going to the wedding, and those who ask them for their input will arrive too late. This is not a good picture for preachers.

   C. Luke's wedding parable has four groups, Luke 12:43-48.

        1. The "little flock" that is “so doing when He comes” are made "ruler over all that He has" Luke 12:44.

        2. The evil servant who thinks delay and smites fellow servants is lost as unbelievers, Luke 12:45,46. This is New World Order forcing compliance by marking everyone, Revelation 13:17.

        3. The ministry "that knew his Lord's will and prepared not"...shall be beaten with many stripes, Luke 12:47.

        4. Church members they did not inform "that knew not...shall be beaten with few stripes."

Confirmation: The aggelos (messenger or preacher to the lukewarm church of Laodicea) is “naked.” Naked means he is not wearing a wedding garment and will be thrown out, Matthew 22:11-13. These are parallel passages--Luke’s wedding parable has six parallels with the message to Laodicea, so this is all about the wedding. We compare Scripture as in Isaiah 28:10.

Our actions choose the group we want to be in:

“By faith Noah…by faith Moses…” None of them knew except they had the word of God, and He “will not do anything [except] He reveals His secret…” Amos 3:7. We must be like Bereans who studied to see if Scripture supports it. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Romans 14:23.

The King's servants bid to the marriage and have light to show the way. If we aren’t inviting others and don’t have light to show how we can marry the Bridegroom, we’re not included

So how do we marry the Bridegroom?

When Christ said, “Search the Scriptures…they testify of Me,” the only Scriptures in existence were the Old Testament. There we see God appealing to Israel to turn to Him, “I am married to you,” Jeremiah 3:14. When did they get married?

God took Israel from calamity in Egypt to a covenant relationship at Sinai. That's how they got married, and became His kingdom. “All those things happened unto them for examples [types, margin] and they are written for our admonition…ends of the world” 1Corinthians 10:1,11. We are headed for calamity, as shown above, #2, but we can marry Christ if we make a covenant with Him when He "knocks" if we "open to Him immediately," Luke 12:36.

If you would like to consider more information supporting His "knock" as an earthquake, please read the article at http://ezinearticles.com/?Bible-Prophecy---Earthquake-Initiates-End-Times-Apocalypse---Understanding-Revelation-=-Survival&id=2086869

The pope visited Jerusalem at a biblically prophetic time. You may read about it at www.PopesVisit.net It reflects on the Romans in 66 and 70 AD under Cestius and then Titus. After 2000 years, we see John Paul and then Benedict as modern parallels, Matt 24:3,15

But Herod's Temple didn't burn when Titus sieged the city until the 10th day of the 5th Jewish month--the same date that Solomon's Temple burned, Jeremiah 52:12, Josephus. .

Will it happened for the third time on the 10th of Av? If so, it would have huge significance. This year, the 10th  of Av falls on August 2. Some believers fast and pray on the 9th of Av, the day before, as a memorial. Biblical support for this is found in Zechariah 7:3,5. Us too?

*** If this information proves correct, you will want to return to this website for further information, thank you.

This has been a lot to consider. Please visit again to read the next column when your "digestion" of this has cleared!

Earthquake precedes seals, trumpets & thunders in Revelation 6:1, 8:5 and 10:3. Christ said "Watch" or He comes as a thief, Revelation 3:3.

The apocalypse in the Hebrew Scriptures is called "the day of the Lord,” and it links to an earthquake in numerous passages: Joel 2:10,11; Zeph 1:7,10, Zech 14:1,5; Isa 2:12,19.

These passages support “the day of the Lord,” not as the day Christ comes, but probably the last seven years of tribulation, initiated by the earthquake. Paul says the day of the Lord comes with “sudden destruction” 1Thessalonians 5:2,3.

As Evangelical Christians, we may have misread the wedding parables and concluded that Christ’s “knock” (Luke 12:36) is a rapture and we go to heaven, but why would He say, “have your loins girded”? (verse 35). If we were going to heaven, it wouldn’t matter. If you have believed in a rapture, you may find information at www.Rapture4.netfirms.com to be helpful.  “Loins girded” implied readiness for action. The Bible is to be its own expositor, and the only other place where Christ knocks is Rev 3:20, for the church ending in an earthquake. The wedding parables also support calamity.

Calamity in the wedding parables is seen from the Rule of 1^st Use. Where a word or phrase is first found, it often has a context for end-time because Christ is “the Word… the First and the Last,” Jn 1:1; Rev 1:11. The first place we find “midnight cry” is at Passover when calamity fell on Egypt, Exodus 12:29,30.

God took Israel from calamity to a covenant relationship at Sinai. He later said, “I am married to you,” Jer 3:14. That’s how we marry the Bridegroom because “all those things happened unto them for ensamples [types] and they are written for our admonition…ends of the world.” 1 Corinthians 10:11.

The church of Laodicea where Christ "knocked" ended in an earthquake. The Bible explains that we are to be "like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, [we] may open unto him immediately."  Luke 12:36.
Destiny will depend on our immediate response.

Why "immediately"? Because the wedding parable imagery suggests a link to the feast days of Leviticus 23 and blessing is implied in the context of our readiness at the "appointed time," a word found several times in Daniel that refers to those annual Sabbaths.

"Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he comes shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."Luke 12:37. 

There are seven topics that God has emphasized seven times in the Bible as a mark of His truth for the end times, as Revelation is a book of sevens. These seven are from other parts of the Bible, but they are linked with the seals of Revelation 6 and when accepted collectively, they represent a seven-fold seal by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) which has seven components in Isaiah 11:2.

Should something huge happen August 2 (the 10th of Av, the date that Solomon's Temple and Herod's Temple both burned (Jeremiah 52:12), or September 20 (Feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23:24) this would focus our expectancy on the fall feasts and our need to participate. 

We are tested by our willingness to respond "immediately" as Luke 12:36 says. The first place where we find "immediately" (KJV) offers insight. When Christ called James and John to be His disciples, "they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him." Matthew 4:22. So it may be for us as we put the past behind us. If we want more than anything else, a close personal connection with God's cause in the end-time, we must say "goodbye" to the ship, "business as usual"  and even our close family ties that would prevent our doing God's will.

This is a hard-saying, but He promises to make us "ruler over all that He has," a reward for those who give all that they have now. And "he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose!"

Earthquake has a double message:

1.   “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the time of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven and earth, the sea and fountains,” Revelation 14:7. We should not think of God as a strict God eager to terrorize helpless human beings. We are not in the hands of a God who is angry with us. Calvary reveals that God was willing to put Himself into hands of angry men. So by judgment we understand He is merciful and will spare us if we repent. "Except ye shall repent, ye shall all likewise perish," said the Savior when reflecting on a tower collapsing that killed innocent people (shades of 9-11 in Luke 13:5). Judgment is His work to separate those who love God and want to serve Him more intelligently, from those who are hardened in their own choices who are indifferent or in disbelief of God, His laws and His plan of salvation.

2.   “The Bridegroom comes, go out to meet Him,” Matthew 25:6. Each wedding parable was linked with calamity. The historic precedent  is when God took Israel from calamity to a covenant (marriage) relationship at Sinai, and later said, "I am married unto you," Jeremiah 3:14.

We are entering a time of judgment and a time of opportunity for spiritual union with the Bridegroom by the covenant that we may make. For a better understanding, please read the left-column on the wedding parables, before leaving this page.  

Bible covenants were linked with sevens.

1. God promised the land to Abraham seven times: Genesis 12:1,7; 13:15,17; 15:7,18; 17:8.

2. When Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, he gave him 7 ewe lambs in Genesis 21:27,28.

3.  When God made a covenant with Israel, He gave them the 7^th day Sabbath and 7 annual Sabbaths as a sign, Ezekiel 20:12.

Revelation is a book of sevens showing that God will keep the covenant and we will consider seven topics that God has emphasized seven times as a mark of end-time truth to be included in the covenant that we will want to make after considering them. The seven topics will be posted for consideration one each day for seven days of unleavened bread (not cake, these require mental chewing)

The message of the earthquake,  “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the time of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven and earth, the sea and fountains,” (Revelation 14:7) is broken into phrases  having a connection with the 7 seals.

This first phrase suggests our need to fear God, not man, so that we will want to conform our lives to His word and make the choice to honor what He thinks is important by His seven-fold emphasis.

The 2nd phrase, “Give glory to Him," is about His name—“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name,” Psalm 96:8. We will also see He name linked to thunder in Revelation 6 where we find the seals. Following the earthquake please visit www.1stSeal.netfirms.com  This is the first seal and its information is focused on end-time truth.

If you wish to read more, try http://TheBridegroomComes.wordpress.com or  SmartLinks