GOD’S WORD FOR APRIL 21
GOD’S WORD FOR APRIL 21 ~ ~John 14.2-30. ~ ~ ““I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
While the Bride is making her wedding dress, the dresses of her maidens, and preparing for the personal things for their house, the bridegroom is building and preparing their home and the wedding feast. This would be an addition onto his father’s home. He had full responsibility for those things, and he did not know when the wedding would be, but he had to have enough food grown and stored for the entire town to eat their fill. This would mean growing a variety of things he wasn’t accustomed to, if he couldn’t afford to purchase that much. Since the feast was always in the middle of the night, he had to have enough lamps, oil, rugs,(since they ate in a reclining position on the floor) dishes, cups, and anything else the guests may need, while having the home itself large enough to accommodate possibly the entire town if they all come, and have it look appropriately presentable so his bride, or his father, would not be embarrassed. It wouldn’t matter how long it took for him to accomplish this, and he was assured by the agreement, if not by trusting his bride, that she would wait for him, but his heart would grow more anxious by the day, so he would work very hard.
He would furnish it, decorate it, and have it as much the way he thought she would want it as possible. His goal is to please her in every detail.
This is what Jesus left earth to do for us, His bride. He told us so:
In My Father’s house are many mansions (rooms) if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
NOW we see why He said “If it were not so, I would have told you”…because in the betrothal ceremony they were to be perfectly honest, and divulge anything that might not be exactly what the other would want.
John 14:28 ~ ~ “ You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”
We should rejoice, just as the bride always rejoiced. There was another rule in these betrothals, and that was that the bride always had to upgrade to a better home than she grew up in!!! This is another reason why Jesus said “if it were not so, I would have told you” because a rabbi even had to inspect both homes and make sure it was an upgrade! Jesus assured us that His Father was greater, and that His house is greater than what we have known.
Jesus said In Mark 13:32 ~ ~ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
This is how it was in a traditional Galilean wedding. Not only does the father of the groom choose the bride, but he and only he knows when the groom should go and pick up his bride. Galilee is the only place with that tradition!!!!
The groom lets his father know that all is ready. The father inspects everything, says nothing, and they all wait.
Everytime anyone goes to bed from that time on, including, of course, the bride and groom, but also the grooms mother, and the bride’s parents, and the entire town who was interested in the couple, would have had to have their lamps ready in case they were called that night.
The bride and her maids slept in their wedding clothes. There would be no time for anything because everyone would rush to the groom’s home for the feast. This is what Jesus was talking about in:
Matthew 25:1-13 ~ ~
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’”
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”
In this Jesus was referring to His second coming, because He is the Bridegroom. All signs indicate that this event will happen very soon. After that, there is no more chance for salvation.
The oil for the lamps is a symbol of the Holy Spirit Who indwells believers. If you haven’t made the commitment to the Lord Jesus, read those verses above again. See what happened to the ones who did not have the oil and weren’t prepared for the bridegroom coming. Please, please, I implore you, don’t take the chance. Be prepared. Study the Bible and make your commitment to Jesus.
You will lose nothing but your sins!!!!
Live in the Light of Our Lord 