For my readers.  If you have never been to the "LastTrumpet" before, please read the url above first, before reading my article.  It is not fair to the other author to ask you to read an evaluation of his work, without asking you to read his work first.  Just as you should not read Bible commentary without having read the Bible first.  8-)

Attempting right away to sew the first seeds of doubt, through the methods of skeptcism and ignorance:

"One of the most serious concerns is that we really are not sure of all the details of these customs."

Furthermore, if a purported pretrib coming to fetch the church to heaven is supposed to reflect the ancient Semitic custom of a groom's fetching the bride to his home, what is Jesus' taking the church with Him back to earth right after the marriage supper, and for a thousand years, supposed to reflect? An ancient Semitic custom of the groom's taking his bride back to her home to live with her there for a long time?

[Rev 19:7] 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
[Rev 19:8] it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure"--for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
[Rev 19:9] And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are true words of God."

[Rev 21:2] And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Esther 1:5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace;
Esther 1:10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,
Esther 1:11 To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. 

The pretrib reasoning gets itself into a pickle by injecting a marriage custom that isn't even mentioned in the biblical text at hand, and then giving that custom argumentative weight of an allegorical sort but not carrying out the allegory consistently. In fact, our ignorance of ancient Semitic marriage customs exceeds our knowledge. And what knowledge we do have shows considerable variation in these customs.

The text in Ephesians five makes six statements  that the husband and wife are like Christ and the Church.  It is unthinkable that a person could think this is not a valid comparison that we are to make, and that it will require diligent study, considering the text concludes it is one of the great mysteries of the Bible, as is also the rapture.

Ephesians 5
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
[The rapture & translation of the living is also a mystery. 1Cor 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,]
33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

2 Cor 11:2 "...I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

Rom 7:4...."ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead..."

Luke 12:36, "And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding..."

Christ spoke of his return and the Kingdom with many Wedding Analogies. Matt 22 & 25 in addition to all of the above.

Notice the differences in these two descriptions of ancient Semitic customs. In the first one, [1]the bride was escorted to the home of the groom by a wedding party. Only later did the groom arrive, and was received by the women as he approached. In the second custom, the [2]groom traveled in a noisy procession to the house of the bride. The guests had already been assembled having known the date and approximate time of the grooms arival. [3]Several times it was anounced to the bride's party, by men running ahead of the procession, that the groom was on his way. He arrived at the pre-determined time, just before midnight, to fetch his bride back to his house.

These are the genuine ancient Semetic customs. And, they do not fit the pre-trib scheme, where the groom is alleged to arrive at the bride's house secretly to snatch her away, without any warning. The Gospel accounts agree, and also imply that the date of the groom's coming for his bride was fully known and planned for. Jesus' parable of the ten virgins is strikingly similar to the custom described above. And it was modeled after the wedding customs of the day.

1.  Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

2.  1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

3.  Matthew 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

To fully explain Matt 24:31, it is a double reference to two events at the end of the tribulation.  First, the gathering of the people of Israel who are on earth to the marriage supper in Jerusalem. (See Isaiah 11:12; 27:12-13.)  Second, the gathering of the saints out of heaven to return with Christ. (Rev 19, Zech 14:5, Jud 1:14)  Further, Matt 24:29 is a double reference to both times of tribulation, our current tribulation, and the great tribulation, and the conclusion of both of these time frames would really be the start and end of the great tribulation.  Matt 24:29, the stellar signs and stars falling are a clear reference to Satan being cast out of heaven (Ezekiel 32:7-10 & Isaiah 24:21-23), which occurs at the start of the tribulation, (Rev 12:4-13) and before the day of the Lord (or great tribulation), (Joel 2:30-33)

Matt 24:31, where he sends his angels, is in contrast with 1 Thess 4:16 where the Lord himself descends personally.

The author of the lasttrumpet explains how Matt 25:1-13 fits the marriage traditions.  I agree with the author, that it does not fit the doctrine of an "at any moment" unannounced rapture, and I do not believe in such doctrine.  I believe the Bible teaches a pretribulation rapture on the Feast of Trumpets, which is very much announced (people are preaching it right now), and at a relatively known time.  Ironically, the Feast of Trumpets is known as "the unknown" festival, or "of that day and hour no man knows".  Imminance is kept alive, along with knowing the time, through the form of "at any Feast of Trumpets".  It can come at any year, and we must always be ready for the proper "time and season" (moedim festival) as spoken of in 1 Thess 5:1, when the Lord will come to "sieze" his bride in the "caught up/harpazo/rapture", like a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

The post tribulaition scheme destroys imminance, and is very much like saying the Lord will delay his coming until a certain seven years pass first.

Matt 24:
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Second Cup Indicates Consumation In Christ's Millennial Kingdom The Jewish custom was for the bride to be given a glass of wine at the time of the engagement. This was called "the cup of
acceptance." If she accepted the proposal, she drank from the cup, and the betrothal covenant was sealed. The parallel to the Lord's supper is striking, where Jesus gave the cup to His disciples. Yet, Jesus made an interresting comment at this event.

Matt 26:27-29
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

We know that at the wedding, the bride and groom again share a cup of wine together for the first time since the betrothal covenant was made. Yet, Jesus told the disciples that He would not share in the cup of wine with them again until the coming Millennial Kingdom. This rules out any such activity in heaven during the tribulation. If Jesus had Jewish wedding customs in mind, then his statement clearly precludes the pre-trib rapture scenario!

The millinnium will begin at the marriage, when the marriage begins, which is the time the groom comes to take his bride at the rapture.  The bride and groom were also seen as king and queen, and Rev 4 & 5 is this enthronement ceremony which takes place right after the rapture in Rev 4:1.

2 Peter 3:
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Interestingly, as an aside, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been preaching that the kingdom began in 1914, a failed rapture date.

The authors conclude on this point:

The consumation of the wedding must be post-tribulational.

I am very glad that the author has been able to accurately understand and restate the basic position of how the bridal week applies to the pretribulation rapture.  I wonder why he forgot this when he made his conclusion above about when the consumation takes place?  Unfortunately, he has not done acurate research into what he claims are the two "unproven assumptions".  Interestingly, the author made no attempt to show why the second reason is a false assumption whatsoever!  I almost forgot to rebut his second point, because he never actually even supported it, so I had to come back to this point in the essay to even present the case that he might have wanted to refute, but never did!

Here is the reason why the bridal week of seven days should easily be seen to be representative of the tribulation week of seven years.

The word week in Hebrew is shavuah. It means a "seven", and it can mean seven days or seven years.  This same word is used in a passage that speaks of the bridal week, and also for Daniel's 70th week, Dan 9:24-27.  Judges 14:1-18 "...And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. ...If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast... She cried the whole seven days of the feast." Genesis 29:22-28 "So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. ... Finish this daughter's bridal week."  Further, it is a "day for a year" when considering a length of time of a judgment from a type; see Moses and Ezekiel.  Obviously, the wedding is the type, and the tribulation is the judgment, in the issue at hand. [Num 14:34] "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise." [Ezek 4:6] "And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year."  I don't think it is any stretch to consider these days as "allegorical", since the entire wedding comparison is allegory.

Pre-tribbers point to the fact that the groom would fetch his bride, and bring her into the bridal chamber ["huppah"], where they would reside for seven days immediately following the wedding ceremony. It is alleged that this represents Christ's coming for His Bride in a pre-trib rapture, where she is taken into heaven [the huppah] for seven years. This reasoning depends on some unproven assumptions. First, that "heaven" is the "bridal chamber" [or "huppah"]. Secondly, the seven days are allegorical (meaning years) and represent the seven years of the tribulation, rather than taking them literally. Pre-tribbers point to John 14:1-3 to support the idea of heaven being the "bridal chamber" [huppah]. Jesus said to the disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you." It is claimed that this was a reference to the groom's preparing a bridal chamber in his father's house.

It is certainly likely that Jesus had the "huppah" in mind here. But, heaven is not necessarily indicated by the word's "my Father's house." See the article My Father's House for an in depth discussion showing strong evidence that Jesus was referring to His Millennial Kingdom, not heaven, in John 14. Jesus used the phrase "my Father's house" earlier to refer to the Temple, [John 2:15-17]. And, the phrase "house of the Lord," used some 250 times in the Old Testament, always referred to the Temple, [many times referring to the future Millennial Temple]. Finally, the Hebrew word "huppah" [bridal chamber] is found only once in Scripture, in a prophetic sense, and it clearly refers to the Millennium.

Hebrews 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Hebrews 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Matt 23:
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

Besides, it makes no sense whatsoever that Christ will go away to build us a place and come back for us in order to take us there... to the temple.  He coming back to take us to heaven.  Even little Children know that.

John 14
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

The phrase, "I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" is what a groom would say to the bride when he would leave to build the bridal chamber where they would consummate their marriage week.

Next, the bridal chamber is the figure of heaven.  He states:

Finally, the Hebrew word "huppah" [bridal chamber] is found only once in Scripture, in a prophetic sense, and it clearly refers to the Millennium.

The other two verses in Psalm and Joel, show the emergence of the bride and groom coming out of the bridal chamber, which is also depicted at the end of the bridal week, in Rev 19.

Psalm 19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

I would also note that there is an "inner chamber" in the temple, which we just discussed.  Further, understanding the concept that the house of God, or temple, is a picture of heaven gives a specific pretribulation meaning to the following passages:  Psalm 27, I will note is to be read daily for the 30 days leading up to the Feast of Trumpets.

Psalm 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Psalm 31:20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Of course, for those unfamiliar with the expression, the "time of trouble" in Psalm 27:5 is a reference to the time of Jacob's trouble, also the great tribulation, also the Day of the Lord, all three of which are also known as that time unlike any other, and the travail / birthpangs.  So there is only one THE time of trouble.  See Dan 12:1,2, Jer 30:6,7, Matt 24:8:21, Joel 2:1,2, and finally also Isaiah 26:16, (which is also quoted below in reference to the bridal chambers, AND the travail.)

Finally, understanding the purpose and symbolic meaning of the chambers, that they represent heaven, shows that these verses from Isaiah are talking about the pre tribulation rapture to heaven, until the time of trouble, travail, and indignation, be overpast.

Isaiah 26:
16 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked  serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

The chambers our "our chambers", "thy chambers", remember, because Jesus said he was going up to heaven to build them for us.  Some people get confused by that, is it God's pavillion, or our chambers?

John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And that passage does not fit the pre-trib model either.

...what is Jesus' taking the church with Him back to earth right after the marriage supper, and for a thousand years, supposed to reflect? An ancient Semitic custom of the groom's taking his bride back to her home to live with her there for a long time?

Notice that John does not describe any wedding or supper occurring here.

He concludes:

The expression "the Bride hath made herself ready" implies that the Groom is about to go and fetch her!

Revelation 19
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Next, he says:

If pre-tribbers are right, that Jesus was referring to heaven as the seven years in the "huppah" in John 14:1-3, then a pre-trib rapture, where Christ takes the Bride to heaven for seven years, requires that the Groom be intimate with the Bride BEFORE the wedding ceremony!

When the groom comes for his bride to steal her away, this is a noisy, public, action.  Blowing trumpets at midnight in a large wedding party to announce the arrival of the groom is sure to wake the neighbors!  So there is a public announcement of what is going on, it's not like the bride and groom are doing anything obscene.  Finally, the marriage supper or wedding feast would be inapproprate at midnight, it happens the next week.

What does NOT fit the pattern is having a large public marriage supper, and then having the groom and bride go off for a week.  How could the groom come for his bride as a thief if the public display were first?  It makes no sense! Nevertheless, this is the American tradition, not the Jewish tradtion.  If the author argues it is innappropriate to have in view a Jewish tradtion, how much less appropriate to impose American traditions into the Bible text!

I fully agree with the author that...

The marriage supper occurs AFTER the tribulation, on earth, not in heaven.

In his final paragraph, the author makes a plea for evidence for "where the groom is alleged to arrive for his bride completely unexpected and kidnap her away secretly".

I will point him to the following verses, Jugdes 21, Deut 22:25-29, Exodus 22:15-17.  In addition, I suggest he read my webpage explaining those verses, among others, in the context of the subject at hand, the pretribulation rapture.
 
 

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