Preparation of the Kallah, the Bride
https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/the-bridegroom-returns-jennifer-oakley-delaplante.jpg (Used by written permission of the artist with our deepest thanks!)
Feb 3, 2021 https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2021/02/03/stringing-pearls/
Mar 24, 2021 https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2021/03/24/the-kallah-bride-of-christ/
Aug 19, 2021 https://www.treadingwatertiljesuscomes.com/2020/08/19/poverty-proverbs-19/
Preparation
Every Jewish girl was prepared from birth for this moment. Two fathers meet with a young man wanting to ask for permission to marry the daughter he desires. She has learned the art of cooking, sewing, providing for the needs of others, to buy and sell her goods and services. She has attended synagogue and learned some of the Torah. She knows what is expected-purity, humility, meekness, obedience (yes, obedience), and honor. She desires to be a Proverbs 31 woman for this IS the expectation of her family, her community, her God, and now a young man.
Prenup?
Now, the question is asked: Will you accept me as your husband, and agree to the terms of our contract. Yes, this is a prenup agreement! This agreement states: I (the groom) will give this amount for you (the Bride) because you will be a loss to your family and you will give me 100% of yourself for the rest of your life. I (the groom) will build and provide a home and income to sustain us and any children brought to the union. You (the bride) will not embarrass me (the groom) in public, be faithful to me alone, and I (the groom) will be faithful to you (the bride). He will protect her even if it costs his own life. All this is written down, signed, and sealed with a cup of wine (symbolic of blood covenant) as an unbreakable promise between the Bridegroom and the Bride.
Preparing Bride
All this preparation is completed by the time a girl is 12-15. Her mother knows when the time has come because the girl has passed her first monthly course and is now “mature”. As a physician told me once, “when you have the anatomy you have the physiology.” In other words, all that is needed for the consummation is prepared by God and to wait too long is to risk having an unworthy bride. That is course, isn’t it! But it is the truth.
Arrangements
Parents in arranging marriages early were in a sense protecting the virtue of their daughters. (Some say they were protecting their own livelihoods because no one wanted an impure bride because the bride price plummeted. Daughters were valuable to families! Daughters are valuable to the family.
Cost of impurity
In Israel, the cost of impurity was very high. Reputations were ruined, the family name was soiled, dowries were cut to almost nothing, and this dark cloud was cast onto children labeled for the sins of the parents.
Pure, Virgin Bride
Jesus has called us a pure, virgin bride. Does this boggle your mind? I know me! Pure and sinless I am NOT! Just ask my family and friends! I am so thankful He chose me, paid my bride price as if I was pure and valuable, and He provides proof (more about this later!) to the world and His Father, I am what He calls me: A Holy, spotless, virgin BRIDE.
I will come again and take you home
This marriage contract once sealed is equal to legally being married. Then, the wait begins….It begins with a promise: “I WILL COME AGAIN! Please be ready!”
(John 14:3; Matthew 25:1-13) www.endtimes-bibleprophecy.com
www.biblestudy.org Parable of the Ten Virgins
The one to two-year wait is long. During this period of waiting the Bride is preparing her wedding clothes, learning from her mother the art of being a wife; she is making herself ready: Every evening sleeping in her wedding gown because the Bridegroom may come in the middle of the night. She MUST be ready. There are no rehearsals. (Matthew 24:32-44, I Thessalonians 5:2, Revelation 16:15)
He is Coming!
Are you preparing to meet your Bridegroom face to face? Time is short
This I Promise You by Mairead Donnelly
Yvonne Jones
