Father of the Bride - Part Two

Art used by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site, http://revelationillustrated.com.

 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Revelation 21:7

As mentioned earlier, one of the responsibilities of the Father is to prepare the Bride, the Church, to meet the Bridegroom, Jesus the Christ.

Earlier this month, we looked at some of the parallels between the natural preparation of a Hebrew girl to become a bride and the spiritual preparation of the children of God to become the unblemished Bride of Christ. Here are even more details:

• It was customary for the father of the bridegroom to choose the bride, not the groom, himself. A friend or trusted servant (agent) would meet with the family of the bride to make the arrangements. The bride often did not even know what the groom looked like, but she knew once she agreed to the marriage, she would be with him forever! It is the Heavenly Father that has chosen us to be the Bride of Christ. The Holy Spirit acts as the agent to speak to us on behalf of the prospective Bridegroom today. We, as the prospective Bride, have a choice to accept Christ's love and this eternal relationship.
• The prospective groom would travel from his father's home to the home of the bride. The father of the bride and the groom would negotiate a price to purchase her as his bride -- a bride-price.The bride-price always reflected the value of the bride. A hefty bride-price has been paid by our Prospective Bridegroom. He paid for us with His life. In doing this, He paid the cost for all of our sins that was demanded by our Holy Father in order to dwell with him eternally. (Romans 5:5-9)
•  Upon agreement by the father of the bride, the groom, and the bride, the betrothal, a type of "engagement" began. At this time it was understood that the bride was consecrated, set apart, for the groom. This would be symbolized by a shared cup of wine between the bride and groom at the time of agreement.Our consecration begins once we accept Christ's death as a gift of salvation, and it is symbolized by our partaking of Communion. (1 Corinthians 11:24-26)
• Following the betrothal, the bridegroom left the bride to go and prepare a home for them to share. This separation gave the bride time to prepare for married life. During this time, the groom would be exempt from military duty while he prepared for his bride. Christ has promised that he has gone to prepare a place for us to come and dwell with Him.(John 14:1-3). At this time, He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. After He returns, He will come ready for battle for the final defeat of the enemy.(Revelation 19:11-21)
• Once the groom's father decided it was time, the groom would return for his bride. A shofar would be blown and, often in the middle of the night, the bridegroom would come to "snatch" his bride. The bride would not know ahead of time when the groom would return. When God, the Father, decides (and only then), following a trumpet blast, Christ will return for His Bride, like a "thief in the night". We, the Bride, don't know the time when He will come, so we must prepare and be ready. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; Matthew 25:1-13)

We have looked at how much of this preparation is done in the early years between a father and a daughter, as he pours into her. As the child grows, she becomes  a little more independent of the father and has to make more choices and decisions on her own, hopefully influenced by the lessons learned from her dad.

As we grow in Christ, there are choices we must make based what has been poured out by our Father. This month, as we continue to unwrap our identity as daughters of the Most High God, let's look at how we "ADVANCE" as CANDACE, "courageous and noble daughters" of God.