Ha Kallah....and the Rapture...

Kallah is how you say Bride in Hebrew or to say The Bride, Ha Kallah, now this is a difficult concept for most men to grasp, however, we are the Kallah. Now, let me begin by saying, when did the Bridegroom make his visit? And why did He make His visit? And why was His visit so important?

It was for Her, His Bride. Now, in the Hebrew wedding custom, the Bridegroom journeys to the house of the Bride, (as you will see more below). There in that House, or tent, the covenant was made, now, from that moment on they are considered Bride and groom, Husband and wife. But the Bridegroom must then leave the bride and her house and journey back to where He came from. The two are joined in the covenant of marriage. But they don’t see each other until the day of the wedding. They spend their time preparing for the day the Marriage is consummated or until they enter the Bridal chamber.

But, for the Bride it seems as nothing has changed, she still lives with her family in that tent or home. She still does her daily chores, her surroundings are the same, she is married, but what has changed? Well, she is changed, she is now the Kallah! You see, Two thousand years ago the Bridegroom journeyed to the house of the bride, in other words Yeshua, Elohim in the Flesh journeyed to this world, into our house and into our lives. And likewise, it was to make a covenant, with who? All those who receive Yeshua as Elohim and Saviour and accordingly the Mashiach left the brides home and returned to His Home, Shamayim Heaven. (Please read Yochanan ~ John 17:9-18).

So what would you call this time period in between, that’s right, the day we are living is called the time of separation till the Marriage takes place? The Groom is in His place, Shamayim Heaven. And we as the bride, we are in our house, this world, now, if you said “Ken” or yes to the bridegrooms covenant, you are as she is, your still in the same tent, bayit home, and your still in this present world. Things around you may look and feel the same, your life, your circumstance may look unchanged, but something very big has changed….You! It is not that the tent that has changed, or your world, but you have changed, and you are no longer of the world. You’re in this world, but no longer of it.

You no longer belong to your circumstances, nor to your past, nor to your sins and limitations. No longer are you bound to these things, you don’t belong to the world. You my Chaverim belong to the Bridegroom, indeed, you are free because you are HaKallah, the Bride!

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify G_d in the day of visitation, 1 Kefah ~ Peter 2:11-12.

The Hebrew Wedding Model In this updated Note on the Rapture, I wanted to explore another reason why I believe in a "pre-tribulation" view of the Harpzo, the "snatching up" of the Church. All through the Bosar ~ Gospels, Yeshua relied on the ancient Jewish wedding pattern for many of His parables, climaxing in His promise in the Upper Room in Yochanan ~ John 14 .

Many of us miss the full import of these allusions if we aren't familiar with the model of ancient Jewish wedding practices. Jewish Wedding The first step, the Ketubah, or Betrothal, was the establishment of the marriage covenant, usually when the prospective bridegroom took the initiative and negotiated the price (mohair) he must pay to purchase her. Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was established, and the young man and woman were regarded as husband and wife. From that moment on, the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified ... set apart... exclusively for her bridegroom.

As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride drank from a cup of wine over which the betrothal had been pronounced. After the marriage covenant was established, the groom left his bride at her home and returned to his father's house, where he remained separated from his bride for approximately 12 months. This afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and prepare for married life. During this period of separation, the groom prepared a dwelling place in his father's house to which he would later bring his bride. At the end of the period of separation, the bridegroom came...usually at night... to take his bride to live with him.

The groom, the best man, and other male escorts left the father's house and conducted a torch-light procession to the home of the bride. Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the time of his coming. As a result, the groom's arrival was preceded by a shout, which announced her imminent departure to be gathered with him. After the groom received his bride, together with her female attendants, the enlarged wedding party returned from the bride's home to the groom's father's house, where the wedding guests had assembled. Shortly after their arrival, the bride and groom were escorted by the other members of the wedding party to the bridal chamber (huppah..see pic).

Prior to entering the chamber, the bride remained veiled so that no one could see her face. While the groomsmen and bridesmaids waited outside, the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber alone. There, in the privacy of that place, they entered into physical union for the first time, thereby consummating the marriage that had been covenanted approximately one year earlier. After the marriage was consummated, the groom came out of the bridal chamber and announced the consummation of the marriage to the members of the wedding party waiting outside. Then, as the groom went back to his bride in the chamber, the members of the wedding party returned to the wedding guests and announced the consummation of the marriage.

Upon receiving the good news, the wedding guests remained in the groom's father's house for the next seven days, celebrating with a great wedding feast. During the seven days of the wedding feast, the bride and groom remained hidden in the bridal chamber (Beresheit ~ Genesis 29:21-23, 27-28) for the seven days of the huppah. Afterwards, the groom came out of hiding, bringing his bride with him, but with her veil removed so that everyone could see her. The Ultimate Bride The New Covenant portrays the Church as the Bride of Mashiach in Ephesians 5:22-33 (Rav Sha'ul even quotes Beresheit ~ Genesis 2:24 as the union at the Parousia of the Bridegroom in verse.31!); Romans 7:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Yakkov ~ James 4:4. In the opening verses of Yochanan ~ John 14, the marriage covenant is confirmed. Sha'ul continually reminds us of the purchase price and the covenant by which we, the Bride, are set apart, or sanctified.

Ecclesiology vs. Eschatology "It is this distinctive nature of the Church that is often overlooked by students of prophecy: it is more a matter of ecclesiology than eschatology." One thing that seems to highlight this distinctiveness is the strange remark Yeshua made regarding Yochanan ~ John the Baptist: Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than Yochanan ~ John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Matityahu ~ Matthew 11:11. What does that mean ? Yeshua then goes on to explain, For all the prophets and the law prophesied until Yochanan ~ John. Matityahu ~ Matthew 11:13 It is Yochanan ~ John the Baptist that closes the Old Covenant , not Malachi. A profound distinction appears to be drawn between the saints of the Old Covenant and those of the New.

One of the challenges in fully appreciating Sha'ul's epistles is the need to understand the staggering and distinctive advantages afforded the Church, in contrast to those of the Old Covenant saints. And it is this role as the Bride of the Bridegroom that is emphasized in the parables and in the Book of Revelation. The Departure of the Bridegroom... The Bridegroom has departed, and His return to gather His Bride is imminent. He has gone to prepare a place for you and me. (He has been at it for 2,000 years ! It must be a spectacular Bayit ~ abode !)

This very doctrine of "imminence" is taught throughout the New Covenant and is a cornerstone of the "pre-tribulational" view: there is no event which is a prerequisite condition for His gathering of His Bride. The Great Tribulation... There are those who believe the Church will go through the Great Tribulation. In exploring this issue, it is essential to distinguish between persecution, which clearly has been the lot of the Church for 19 centuries, and "the Great Tribulation" of eschatological significance. The persecution ... and tribulation... of the Church was clearly promised to us: These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Yochanan ~ John 16:33

The source of this tribulation is the world and, of course, hasatan. However, "the Great Tribulation" of eschatological significance is quite another matter. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Matityahu ~ Matthew 24:21... Time of Yakkov's Trouble . The context here is clearly Yisrael. Yeshua is quoting from the Old Covenant : And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book ~ Daniy’el 12:1 Note that "thy people will be delivered": the focus of the "Great Tribulation" is Israel. That is why it is called "the time of Yakkov ~ Jacob's Trouble": Alas ! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Yakkov ~ Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. Yirmiah ~ Jeremiah 30:7

Yeshua (in the Old Covenant) explains: I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly. ~ Hoshea 5:15 To "return," He must have left His place ! The offence referred to is singular and specific: their rejection of Him. In "their affliction" they will ultimately repent and He will respond. The Great Tribulation also involves more than the wrath of the world or the wrath of hasatan: it involves the indignation and wrath of HaShem.

In contrast, the Church has been promised: For G_d hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our L_rd Yeshua Mashiach , 1 Thessalonians 5:9 And, Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. ~ Romans 5:9 And, specifically, Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour "time" of temptation "trial", which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. ~ Revelation 3:10 Kepha ~ Peter also emphasizes, The L_rd knoweth how to deliver the g_dly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 2 Kefha ~ Peter 2:9 Here, Kefaha is using the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah "as an example," as Yeshua also did, in which the prior removal of Lot was a precondition before the angels could do their work. Please remember, when Yeshua spoke to His disciples in Matityahu 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, he was speaking in reference to His Second Advent, so He was saying, the Church which did not come into being till shavout or pentecost will not have anything to do with this time frame, after all we will be in the Bridal chamber for seven years with a front row seat....

A complete study of this issue involves careful and diligent study of both the Church (ecclesiology) as well as the eschatology (end time aspects) of the Great Tribulation, which, of course, far exceeds the focus of this brief review. It requires precise definitions of the terms used, and great care to understand how each of the elements of the revealed truth relate to each other. But the fundamental doctrine of imminence has to be forfeited with any view that requires the Great Tribulation - or any other precedent event - to occur prior to the Rapture. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. ~ Luke 21:36 Are you going to escape these things that shall come to pass ? If so, how ? Or are you relying on the notion that the L_rd is "delaying His coming ?" This could be a very dangerous presumption. Do your homework. It is important.