<= Cont..d From Part III
 

All right, you followed the Bible. But what about other things? When it came to unclean animals like pigs, then you came to the New Testament, to the law of the converted Gentiles and say: When you prayed and offered thanks everything becomes clean. According to God’s Word did America follow the law of Moses? When the Sabbath was given for rest and not to do anything other than God’s work, why do you spend your holidays enjoying with all the filth?

When God’s law said that adultery should be avoided, the bill of divorcement came which is nice for man since they did not come to New Testament law of Jesus Christ which the Gentiles follow. During the time of Peter, he even joined with the converted Jews leaving the saved Gentiles when the grace of God poured in Cornelius’ house but Paul had to fight with Peter for taking sides with the Jews converted. This is the case even now when Gentiles accepted the deeper law of Christ. But Jesus said that if one strikes you on one cheek turn the other cheek to him. It was the great knowledge of God to preserve them. Some Jews when converted followed exactly the pattern of the New Testament and among the Jews many were taken captives into heathen lands, some remained in Jerusalem and some remained as Jews. The Jews, unconverted, who were God-fearing and followed Torah (law) were the blinded ones to whom Jesus comes to help in the final war against the nations but not for the self styled "Jews" who are not Jews at all, who follow Babylonian Talmud or Traditions of Elders just like Christians of the Church follow traditions in denominations (Isaiah 66:5). Jesus will not appear to them at all.

Now if you really follow the teachings of Sermon on the Mount, it is impossible to follow the Old Testament Law "Tooth for a tooth and eye for an eye". Why did St. Paul fight the Jews (converted) not to force law on the Gentile converts? But some Jews really followed the Lord Jesus Christ and became passive. This was God’s plan to preserve the followers of Jesus Christ in countries where they were taken captives.

Jesus was sent to the lost tribes of Israel and He told His disciples also to go to the lost tribes of Israel and said that they would not have finished the cities of Israel till the Son of Man comes. We see the Jews but the majority do not follow the Torah (law) but now they are following the Babylonian Talmud which Jesus called traditions of the Elders and Phariseeism. If you turn to Ezekiel whom God calls as a Son of Man:

Ezekiel 24:24 - "Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord God".

When Jesus came on the scene, the tribes of Israel were scattered and no visible identity could be seen by the naked eye. So there were the Jews scattered throughout the heathen countries among Gentiles and God told them:

"Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace ...... neither hearken to your dream which ye cause to be dreamed." Jeremiah 29:6-8.

This clearly shows, real God-fearing captive Jews followed God’s instructions and mixed with the people of the country and became one like them. This was God’s advice and those who did not take this advice perished. So how can you find them? Others followed the law or Torah, but the self-styled Jews neither followed the law of God, nor the commands of Jesus Christ but Babylonian Talmud which was only traditions.

Now, many preachers use typology for everything even for Apollo going up into the space and so on. They say that Jesus should come to the earth three times. First He came to redeem the Bride (they now change even what Bro. Branham said according to their own thinking). Second time He comes to take the Bride and third time Jesus comes with the Bride. If Jesus had come at the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which Apostle Paul calls earnest payment or advance payment for purchase, then the second coming should have taken place about 1970 years ago and Jesus had already prepared a place and taken the Bride there.

Suppose Jesus had returned to earth to take the Bride on Pentecost Day: it means that the Lord Jesus had already prepared a place for the Bride and the rapture should have taken place already and for 2000 years even Millennium would have been long overdue and we must have been at the final destruction, according to some preachers. If this is the case, then the tribulation was the Jews scattering and the destruction of Jerusalem, and that means the Gentile period must have been the so called Millennium. If the Lord does not come to take the Bride before the rapture now, but only on the Mount of Olives that also clearly shows that the Church will not be taken in the rapture except by going through tribulation. Let the preachers themselves decide. When the Lord ascended up, only those disciples who left everything and followed Him saw and the angels said that Jesus would return the same way to earth in a cloud. So all will not see except the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless revealed now at this time.

Now Jonah was swallowed by a big fish. When Jesus wanted to pay the tax He told His disciples to catch a fish and that the coin will be there. They caught a fish and the money was there. This was a sign that fish depicted a means of money. Now U.S.A. is a type of whale. All over the world people rush to U.S.A. In view of the inequalities of dollar value and with their country’s money, it is easier to get rich working in U.S.A. Every preacher desires to go to the States and if a man comes back from the States, he is regarded as a very, very rich man as the people in other Eastern countries think that there are trees bearing currency notes on their branches and we had to go there and pluck and come back rich.

The trouble is the different denominations in U.S.A. will never help anyone coming depending on God but would want them to join their harlot systems and then when they are swallowed by this whale, they get all the tax money from the mouth regularly and losing their faith become dead. They are not only dead, but come back to their countries and spoil everyone who depend on God by giving money to the believers and spoiling their assemblies. It is impossible for a man to depend on God totally unless God’s hand is on the man. I now see clearly why a majority of the servants of God who started in good consecration later lost their stand completely and just became money bags in our country. I could quote examples how I was offered large sums of money by many denominations in U.S.A. How even Bro. Osborn, Dr. Oral Roberts, Dr. Billy Graham and others whom I met personally, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Episcopal Churches, Business-men Fellowships could not look at me or receive me simply because I refused to become "their man" even though I was "Jesus Christ’s man".

Almost all those who left India have been swallowed, dead and digested by this whale and when the Lord visited me and I decided to stand on the Word of God alone, the whale had to vomit me back into the shores of India.

Do you know that all the tribes of Israel were given possession in Canaan except the Levites? They were given properties to their clan, etc. First God chose the first-born, but later on for the loyalty of Levites, God gave them a special privilege of serving Him in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and take care of the Ark of God and God said, "Jehovah was their inheritance". (Num.18:20-24). They did not get any reward.

So also the Bride has no inheritance in this world and the Bridegroom is her inheritance. The Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders which was their Head and the Bride carries the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Head. The Son of Man is the whole body of the saints of God totally forsaking this world and depending on God, giving glory to Lord Jesus Christ the Head. Through this little group of people who will be glorified, the Lord will manifest mightily and the whole world cannot stand against this glory and those who fight with this "Son of Man" or the "Bride of God" will be actually fighting against the Lord God and to these people God says "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye; and ask anything in my name and it will be granted". The Bride will have the mind, voice and Word of Jesus Christ. HALLELUJAH! - Daniel 7:13-18.

If a man followed the Sermon on the Mount totally and a whole nation did that, they will not become great in this world. They will be pushed aside and can inherit only the worst part of the country, such as thorny desert, like waterless, rainless country. But when they realise God and have faith in Him, they are lifted up after redemption of their souls. First of all, after Noah’s time, there were his children (and we usually state that Ham was cursed. But this is wrong. Ham was never cursed but only one of his children) and he had other three sons who were not cursed (Genesis 9:25; 10:6). The world was replenished by Noah’s descendants and in Acts 17:26 it is said that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and bounds of their habitation."

Jesus said to walk two miles with a man if he wants us to accompany one mile. The Sermon on the Mount is very much appreciated by the Hindus and they say why do not Christians all over the world practise what they preach? During the time of Esther (Esther 1:1) Ahasuerus reigned from India even unto Ethiopia over 127 provinces. (Esther 8:9; 16-17). Here we find many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. When I was reading the other day, I understood that the only way to find the lost tribes of Israel is to read Genesis 49:1-28. The whole of Ezekiel and portions in other Prophetical books give us some idea about the scattered people who were sowed into them by God. One thing surprised me as the non-Christians come to attack with many verses in the Bible to tease us as to the kind of God we have. One was as stated in Ezekiel 4:13-15. God asked Ezekiel to eat bread baked by the dung which cometh out of a man, stating that what Ezekiel the son of man (not God) will do all what the Israelites will do (Ezekiel 24:24) and then when Ezekiel objected, the Lord gave him cow’s dung for man’s dung for baking purpose.

‘Will a God ask a man to do like this’ is the query of the non-Christians, but the Word of God is true. In my travels throughout the world, I find there is a system in worship among the Hindus that they honour cow as a sacred animal and cow dung they take it, bake it like cakes and make powder (such a fine powder) and after their worship rub on their bodies and faces and forehead. Many Indians even today add straw and bake cakes out of it and use it for fuel.

The Hindu priests have a system like the Levites and serve in the temple out of the tithes and offerings and have no earthly inheritance. They carry their gods like the Ark of God on long poles. As this "cow dung" truth in Ezekiel is used only in worship in India, I believe the Levites must have been scattered in India also and lost their identity. And tell me where will they find a congenial place for worship in any other countries? When the Gospel came to India through Apostle Thomas whom we call doubting Thomas (John 20:29), "Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed". I am sure Thomas must have preached "believing and seeing ministry" vehemently in India and was killed in Madras City at St. Thomas Mount. Apostles were sent to lost tribes of Israel to make recompense. This was 1900 years ago. St. Thomas’ churches are called Mar Thoma Churches and still have the Hebrew form of singing in worship. And people are strong in the Word of God and read it over and over.

While "forsaking all" is mocked in the West, it has been a pleasure and delight in the lives of Indian people because the Hindu culture is such. This is a sign that many scattered Jews should be in India losing their identity. And in their religious books a famous man called Thiruvalluvar has written religious couplets which are regarded as a Bible by the Hindus which is exactly like the Law, depicting One God and One family. This was written even before the advent of Christ. The temples of Hindus have only one gate with a windowless high wall around with red and white stripes (Ezekiel 23:14) with the interior holy place and holiest of holy for their God. Also a stone altar for sacrifice etc., this pattern is exactly like the Tabernacle in the wilderness. They do not have Bible, Torah, but how did they get this enlightenment of One God, I can tell many things, but I will stop here. (Zechariah 10:9; Amos 9:9; Ezekiel 20:32; Isaiah 46:10-11; 41:2).

If we turn to the Psalms we will find some interesting passages:

"Behold and visit this vine: And the vineyard which thy right hand had planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. (Psalms 80:14,15).

"Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself". (Psalms 80:17).

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man, that thou visitest him". (Psalms 8:3-4).

First Jesus came as a fruit for the Jews, a fruit out of a sown seed. He came of the Jewish seed through whom salvation comes, but when they rejected Him and cut Him off, that Branch blessed the Gentiles who are wild olives as they were grafted with this Good Branch and now the Lord comes for the fruit of the grafted branch which will be exactly like that original. This grafted fruit (all the Bride of Christ) is the Son of Man. Now this may make you think I am blasphemous. Why should you think it incredible if God could come into Enoch and Elijah and translate them, why could He not come into the Bride? Think humbly, then you will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ for the whole body needs Him. When a man dies, we call his carcass as body. A body means the whole thing from head to foot but without life. When there is life (the life is the head) then the body functions. Jesus is the Tree of Life and when this Life comes into the Bride, it is alive again.

Isaiah 56:1. "My Salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed" (the first and second coming depicted).

"When they persecute you in this city flee ye into another for ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come".

If you turn to Luke 17:22-24, it is said unto the disciples by Jesus that the days would come when they shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man and they shall not see it. This clearly makes us understand that when the Son of man comes, the disciples cannot see, i.e., they will not even rise up from the dead and be alive during the days of the Son of man neither the Son of man will be a leader like Mohammed the Prophet, Buddha or be any big organisational head like the Pope, but He will come like lightning seen by few and disappear from shining quickly which means the time is very short for the "take off" and when people from the East to West just begin to realise the light emitted by "this lightning", the Bride will not be here. It takes 3¹/₂ years to form an organisation but the Bride will fly away during this period as lightning. He clearly says the disciples will never see those days.

In a wedding, people seem to think that only the Bride will be there with the Bridegroom. No, not at all. There are the friends of the Bridegroom, relations, parents, businessmen, servants and hired people etc., and the Bride also has bridemaids, parents, relations, friends, hired servants, visitors, time servers and business people. You will also have the different parties who helped in this union and Bestman or Groomsman, children of Bride-chamber and so on with the torchbearers. Jesus Christ shows a difference between the dead in Christ and the sleeping. Lazarus was sleeping but was not dead, but people who were crucified with Christ were called dead in Christ.

Again when Jesus said that His disciples will desire to see the days of the Son of man while He was saying Son of man was Himself, was He fooling His disciples? But we understand that the Son of man was definitely not Jesus Christ Himself because if that was the case they were already before the Son of man themselves and need not desire to see the days of the Son of man.

You cannot recognise a man if his head is cut off, so in fights we were trained in Y.M.C.A., Ceylon to protect the face from any attack as it is the most vital place for recognition. When a man comes, we recognise from his face correctly but sometimes by other limbs. So you recognise the Bride by her Head. The Bride is on the Word and so it will be exactly like the Bridegroom who is the Word. In Mark 13:32, Jesus said: "that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Here is an important thing to remember. Jesus came into the world to redeem us. The Father loved Him and showed Him everything and never did hide anything. When He rose from the dead, He said: "all power is given unto me in heaven and earth". After that when He met the disciples, He never revealed the time of His coming. When Jesus Christ lifted the man to the position of Adam’s former state, God’s work through Jesus was finished and Jesus overcame and sat on the Throne of God as He is the Almighty God. But if Jesus did not know His own coming into the Son of Man, it is something like saying that God did not know what He was doing. But the Son of man into whom the Lord descends will not know himself or any other in this world the time and hour when this should happen.

We know now that God is leading us into the promised land and let us hide behind Him giving all the glory to our Creator. He alone can give us the celestial body. Why the world looks so big is, because we do not have God in His fullness. If once the Bride has got God in His fullness, the world and everything is counted as dung. When I used to travel from home eventhough I knew well ahead of time of leaving, I will try to slowly prepare. But I always found that I could never do it properly and when the exact time comes I will be in a great hurry and will not be able to do anything by way of preparation and miss something valuable which will be noticed after reching the destination. Let us not do that in the case of our Spiritual Life which we cannot repent after we miss going in rapture.

When Jesus was in this world, they were preaching in their synagogues about the Great Messiah, singing about Him and talking about His deliverance power and the glory, but all the while the Messiah was sitting there in front of them and they excommunicated Him and killed Him. The Bride only will understand this and the whole world will miss this as that is the plan of God. I am writing this as God has revealed to me and you may ridicule or reject but that does not hurt me. The most inevitable has to happen and we will not be found at fault. If I am in U.S.A., as its citizen then it is different. But I am far, far away and am burdened about India and Africa as time is short and this is an echo of what we are giving our people in this country. No one is forced to accept this and we are ready to be corrected if we are shown proof from the Word of God and may the good Lord bless all of us.

People may be calling me a brown man as I am neither black nor white but I regard you all as children of the same Father. Children may fight, but what matters most is the relationship with the Father and the stand of truth and the path we take. Let us bring our grievances to God if there are any. Even in the vision of Stephen Acts 7:55-59, first of all he sees the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Then he says "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God". Where did Jesus disappear? You must understand that in the end Stephen called on God and said: "Lord Jesus receive my spirit". He did not say "Son of man receive my spirit". When Son of man was revealed, Jesus was revealed as God. God revealed to him that Jesus had taken His place as God, but he was not looking at the Son of man and saying "Jesus receive my spirit". He called on God and asked Him to receive his spirit. When the Bride or Son of Man is glorified, redemption of body is complete.

"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth shall be exalted". (Luke 14:11).

When I left India for my first missionary journey around the World in 1959, it showed me a kind of picture. The picture in my mind was that at the left of the centre of the picture, I saw a great broad way, comparatively level, reaching onward until it was lost in the distance. On this, travelled a multitude. I could see that the men and women had not very high ambitions. They were the folks content with a living wage. They were going a long monotonous way. There was uniformity. On the right of the centre I saw a great mountain - the mountain of success - lying parallel with the broad way and also losing itself in a distance. It became steeper as the altitude increased. Men and women were travelling on the roads. Higher up the mountain the roads were growing narrower. There were not so many upon them. At the summit of the mountain was the highest road of all with only now and then a traveller upon it. These mountain roads were only for those with ambition and ability to climb. Those climbing at the higher levels seemed to be putting forth almost super human efforts and few were undertaking the more difficult ascents. The world was showing me the road to success. It told me I could plod and lose mysellf with the multitude or be a climber. My whole aim was to become famous and was climbing the mountain way. I came to India and became a famous evangelist and the foremost in India for crowds of attendance.

Then my second missionary journey came in 1967, the Lord brought me into deeper truth. He brought me to the fact that the Word of God is the most essential thing to follow and we should not follow the crowd. The picture I had in mind was different. The broad way and the mountain way both came to the same place down a great precipice and one could see the fright and pain on the people’s faces as they could not return because of the big crowd and had to perish falling from the precipice where there is gnashing of teeth and fire and brimstone. I found out that the world has deceived me, led me falsely and treacherously hid from me the truth of eternal separation and death spiritually. I returned to India with God and His Word and lost all popularity as I refused to walk with the crowd and people of the day.

Then my third missionary journey came in 1969. The Lord dealt with me severely in India and I was despaired of life for certain things around and happenings at home and so on. But I never knew the fault was within me also. I even did not desire to go out of the country and was rather pushed. This time the Master showed a different picture. I saw a black dark tunnel near the mountain and many who saw it turned their back and went away and no one seemed to desire the place and inside I found a great light and Jesus Himself waiting to take me and others who would pay the price. This tunnel led the people quite out of the precipice and fire and brimstone, and went to glory land. I found out not much people were interested in this way. Then the Lord caught me and spoke to me:

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, did not reckon Himself, taking the form of a bondslave becoming the likeness of men; and being found in the fashion of man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death even a death of a cross".

Then he pointed to the background of the picture and continued:

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name". "Whither I go, ye know the way."

Then catching my hand said:

"Come, I am taking you with me. Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

"Now learn the Parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors". Luke 21:28-29; Matthew 24:32-33.

As you know the fig tree does not blossom after putting forth the tender and spring leaves. The fruits also do not come after the leaves. It is quite the opposite. First of all, as far as Jews are concerned, God compares them to a fig tree because you can see their fruit on their old branches immediately after blossoming. But the tender leaves and other blossom and fruit has come forth (a flag, National independence, their own defence, and "tooth for tooth" retaliation according to law, enterprising people).

But the tender leaves of a new generation has not yet shown much. It is first the blossom, then the fruit and then the leaves, then summer. In spring, instead of the leaves they get fruit and blossoms. Now spring has finished wth the fruit on old tree branches, but the new shoots are just coming and this time the Lord should be at the doors on the earth rejected of every denomination and by people possessed of denominational spirit. The carcass means "the worthless or decaying remains of once great and comely or the vital thing, the shell or husk" (Webster Collegiate Dictionary). All dead denominations and denominational spirit together are called the carcass and this is the time when vultures are feeding on these dead "twice dead and plucked up by the roots". First death is during the seeding time and second death is after having grown as a tree and then dry up. First no one will notice and the second a public laughter and if plucked by the roots a stumbling block to all traffic on the road.

The lightning coming of the Son of man means: the Bride will be off before the time given for any formation of organisations after a big revival, i.e., three to three and a half years.

"Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." (Rev.11:8).

This clearly shows that before the two witnesses come forth for their ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ should be crucified again (rejected totally) second time, not in Jerusalem, but in Sodom and Gomorrah (U.S.A.). (This should have happened on the total Solar Eclipse on March 7, 1970). Crucifixion means no one remained even the disciples and losing all hope, denial by Peter, Judas betrayal, but this crucifixion is also spiritual not physical, as in that case Jesus had to die twice, but this time God glorifies without death and takes the Bride away before terrific judgement falls on the nations.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12).

Why this famine and why people could not find it? First of all, who are the people who travel most at their own cost? West and North; South and East are not much travellers. The famine for Word means that God has finished with them and they had to go overseas for food. Why? Because they hear there is food elsewhere, but they do not find it because the rapture is finished before they hear about the food and endeavour to procure it. Joseph stores food for years and marries a Gentile Bride - a priest’s daughter - not an ordinary girl. Joseph’s name was changed. Listen people of God, he did not appear as anything but as a heathen in name, not a Nazarite, but married and had children, and God made him a provider among the Gentiles. They had no true God. But Joseph had a true heart for God. The true God people had famine as they supposed they were true to God but rejected their very life in Jesus because of jealousy. They had to travel so far to get food and there Joseph was revealed, or rather Joseph revealed himself. Oh, Bride of God! What a great thing it will be for you if you can only understand this! The brethren of Joseph had to humble themselves and go to a heathen rejected place for food and meet the Provider. No more famine after that!

When Jesus was in this world, He had been to the Wedding of Cana of Galilee. The people of the West have not the slightest idea of the Weddings of the Orient and we believe that He really meant the Eastern Wedding practices in all His references.

Bride-Chamber:

In Palestine, a few days before marriage, both Bridegroom and the Bride shut themselves up in their respective homes during which period the Bridegroom receives visits from parties of his young male friends. This is called the "Nuptial Joy" feast and the young men are the children of the bride chamber (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19). A fact which casts light upon the words of our Lord "Can the children of the bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them?"

Betrothal:

Good faith or promise. The betrothal of a couple was accompanied among the Jews by a payment in money or kind, or even of both though there were occasional exceptions without consulting the betrothed. The betrothals often took place in childhood about 12 months before marriage though the marriage itself was not completed till the Bride had reached the age of 12. Betrothals were simplest affairs. Among the ancient Jews the betrothing was performed either by a writing or by the giving of a piece of silver to the Bride in the presence of witnesses, and giving a ring (not in ancient days). After the marriage was contracted, the young couple had the liberty to see each other but not go out together which was not allowed before the marriage, unlike Western countries’ custom. The woman was considered a lawful wife and any tresspass against her betrothed was punished as though they were fully married. Betrothals cannot be broken without a bill of divorcement. Betrothal is used to symbolise relations between God and His people. (Hosea 2:19-20; 2 Cor.11:2).

The marriage union was arranged by the parents though the consent of contracting parties was sometimes asked. On betrothal, purchase money is paid by Bridegroom’s party or dowry by Bride’s party was paid (later custom). The Bride receives presents. The Bridegroom is freed for a year from the summons to war or business (Deut.24:5; Luke 14:20). A knowledge of the ceremonies by attending weddings in the East is essential for the understanding of several passages of Scripture. Betrothals take place with much feasting and hilarity and the young couple are permitted to talk together and so become better acquainted. A few days before the marriage, they both shut themselves up in their respective homes when the Bride and the Bridegroom receive visits from parties of their friends. The companions of the Bridegroom are expressly mentioned in the history of Samson. Also the companions of the Bride sing the Epithalamium or Wedding Song at the door of the Bride the evening before the wedding. The wedding guests from either side were the children of the bridechamber. (Matthew 9:15).

The Bridegroom sets out to claim his Bride late in the evening accompanied by a procession of friends. His groomsman is also dressed like a Bridegroom (there is a possibility of mistaking the bestman (groomsman) for the Bridegroom Matthew 22:1-10; 25:1-10; Luke 14:8). They bear torches and lamps and generally are preceded by a band of musicians. No one can join the throng without bearing some kind of a light. The lights carried in the procession are called meshals and the light carriers are paid celebrants. Linen rags or tow are tightly forced together and put into frames of metal at the top of a long pole. (This typifies making a big show of preaching on sin, when they themselves are not victorious over sin. This righteousness, God calls filthy rags, a sin. At other times, the lamps or torches are held in one hand while in the other is a bottle of oil and the bearers take care to pour out of the latter from time to time upon the linen to keep up the flame (flame of take temporary revival) which would otherwise go out. Matthew 25:1-8).

When the company arrives at the entrance of the street where the Bride resides, we can hear the shout of many female voices and observed by the light of the torches a company of veiled bridesmaids waiting on the balcony to give notice of the coming of the Bridegroom. When they catch sight of the approaching procession, they run back into the house making it resound with the cry "Halil! Halil!" and music, both vocal and instrumental, commence with it. Thus the Bridegroom enters in. After the ceremony and benediction, the Bride and Bridegroom are conducted with great pomp to their new home. The procession resembles in all essential respects that of the Bridegroom coming to claim the Bride.

After waiting two or three hours to near midnight, the coming of the Bride and Bridegroom was announced. All persons employed now lighted the lamps and ran with them in their hands to take up their stations in the procession. Some of them had lost their lights and were unprepared but it was too late then to get more. The cavalcade moved forward and entered the dwelling of Bride, the courtyard of which was splendidly illuminated and covered with lighting and decorations. There was a great number of guests all dressed in their best. The Bridegroom was carried in and after remaining with the guests in the open a short while, he entered the house when the door was immediately shut and a guard placed before it. It was usual for guests to appear at marriage feasts in a sumptuous dress. There was a wardrobe from which everyone not duly provided with a wedding garment might be supplied. It is still a custom in the East that when a rich man makes a feast he provides each guests with a sort of pelisse which he throws over his other apparel.

Between betrothal and marriage, all communication between the affianced parties were carried on through a friend appointed for the purpose and termed the friend of the Bridegroom (John 3:29). The marriage itself was a purely domestic affair though the espousal was ratified by an OATH. When the day appointed for the Wedding arrived the Bride bathed (Judith X:3m Eph.5:26-27) put on white robes, often richly embroidered, decked herself with jewels, fastened the indispensable Bridal girdle about her waist, covered herself with a veil and placed a garland on her hand and neck. The Bridegroom arrayed in the best attire with a handsome headdress and a garland on his hand set out from his home for the house of the Bride’s parents, attended by his friends accompanied by musicians and singers. If the procession moved at night there were torch bearers. Having received his Bride, deeply veiled, from her parents with their blessing and the good wishes of friends, he conducted the whole party back to his own or his father’s house with songs, music and dancing. On the way they were joined by maiden friends of the Bride and Groom (Matthew 25:6). A feast was served at the house of the groom or his parents but if he is fixed a real distance, the feast was spread in the house of the Bride’s parents either at their expense or the Groom’s. The Groom associated with the Bride for the first time. In the evening the Bride was escorted to the nuptial chamber by her parents and the Groom by his companions or the Bride’s parents. On the morrow the festivities were resumed and continued usually for one week. For widow’s marriage 3^1/₂ days and virgin’s 7 days.

The choice of the Bride revolved not on the Bridegroom Himself but on his relations or on a friend appointed by the Bridegroom for this purpose. The consent of the maiden was sometimes asked, but this appears to have been subordinate to the previous consent of the father and the adult brothers. Occasionally the whole business of selecting the wife was left in the hand of a friend. The selection of the Bride was followed by the betrothal which was a formal proceeding undertaken by a friend or legal representative on the part of the Bridegroom and by the parents on the part of the Bride. It was confirmed by oaths and accompanied with presents to the Bride. The presents paid by the Groom were a relic of a purchase of the Bride as in some of the less civilised portion of the world today. On the other hand, a father was bound to provide a dowry for his daughter either in money or land or jewellery (now the common form). The act of betrothal was celebrated by a feast and among the more modern Jews, it is the custom in some parts to give a ring for a Bride’s finger.

Between betrothal and the marriage a varying interval elapsed. During this period the bride-elect lived with her friends and all communication between herself and her future husband was carried on through the medium of a friend termed the friend of the Bridegroom. John 3:29. She was virtually regarded as the wife of her future husband hence faithlessness on her part was punishable with death, the husband having the option of putting her away. Deut.22:23; 24:1; Mark 1:19. The essence of the marriage ceremony consisted in the removal of the Bride from her father’s house to that of the Bridegroom or his father. The Bridegroom prepared himself for the occasion by putting on a festive dress. The Bride was veiled (NO MORE SEEING ANYTHING). The Bride was vested from head to foot in a red cashmere shawl so thick that she could see nothing, but was led by her friends. Her robes were white.

The last act in the ceremony was the conducting of the Bride to the Bridalchamber - Joel 2:16. The Bride was still completely veiled so that the deception practised on Jacob was not difficult. Deut.20:7; 24:5. There is a custom in the East that the Bride cannot get out of the home in her dress except that brought by the Bridegroom (glory of the Bridegroom - sinlessness). The Bridegroom has to be in Bride’s residence in order to take her.
 

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