"At midnight there was a shout, 'Behold the bridegroom! Come out to meet him'" (Matt. 25:6 NASB).
Few, obviously, would intentionally question our Lord's stated outline of end time trends and developments (Olivet Discourse, Matt. 24). It is thus to our loss that conjectural assumption has frequently taken precedence over that which he sought to convey. For example:
"THE GROOM IS HERE!" (Matt. 25:6 NAB).
As recently noted ("Food for Thought," 07-23), considerable importance inheres the two-fold nature of the Disciples' question concerning "the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age" (not "world" as per KJV; Matt. 24:3). That they viewed Christ's coming (or return - see preceding post)and the end of the age as synchronous (concurrent) is obvious - such, of course, precluding the seven year interlude of much popular proposal. That Jesus did not seek to alter the apostles' perspective in this regard, but himself addressed their query from such point of reference becomes profoundly significant.
It is also important that in our Lord's reply to their question, not only does "the sign of the Son of Man" (vv. 30-31)appear subsequent to the "signs of the times" (vv. 4-28), but that the celestial portents and trumpet call by which his elect are summoned occurs "immediately after the tribulation of those days" (vv. 29-31). As seen in verses 21 and 22, Jesus here utilizes the term "tribulation" in a sense inclusive of the age-concluding seven year time frame. This then sets the stage for his Parable of the Virgins that follows.
As in all cultural settings, marriage in our Lord's time followed an established pattern. First claiming his bride and observing the requisite observances at her home, the groom then returned with her to his own residence from which, upon his approach, waiting friends went forth in high spirits to meet him. This was the setting for Jesus' Parable of the Virgins in which his emphasis centered upon the "sign" (i.e., signal indication) of the groom's arrival (Matt. 25:1-13). As such, it represented a scenario with which his listeners were quite familiar.
In Paul's enlargement upon this parable, we are further informed that upon Christ's return, those having departed this life in the faith return with him, as such constituting his Bride in its larger sense (I Thess. 3:13; 4:14). Rising to meet him, "we who are alive and remain" (vs. 17) correspond to the waiting friends who, upon the groom's heralded arrival, go forth to greet and welcome him.
Together, Christ and his Bride (those returning with him together with those having gone forth to meet him) then proceed to that site from which, at his Ascension, leave had been taken of the believing community: "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you;'" (John 14:28 NIV; see Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:12; Luke 24:50). Once Jesus' parable and Paul's expansion upon its intent are understood, prophetic preview increasingly inclines to a clarification of meaning and objective - particularly in terms of "we who are alive and remain."
The present lack of familiarity with biblical era custom has tended to obscure the parable's design in other ways as well. Thus, for example, the frequent misidentification of those anticipating the groom's arrival as "Christ's Bride awaiting a Rapture call to heaven." Much to the contrary, the bridegroom does not return for the purpose of conveying either Bride or waiting friends to some far distant destination. Nor has it been their intention to join him on any such journey. The purpose of his waiting friends' having gone forth has been rather "to meet him" in welcome and greeting (again, Matt. 25:6).
As similarly portrayed in Christ's Parable of the Talents with which that of the Virgins is followed (Matt. 25:14-30), our Lord's return to the believing community is a recurring theme of Scripture. Thus also the Parable of the Nobleman who, upon having journeyed to a distant country in the interests of being crowned king (a not uncommon practice under imperial Roman rule), returns - not that he might spirit his subjects away, but rather that in establishing his reign they might share in its administration (Luke 19:12-27; cf. Luke 12:35-37; see also II Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; 20:6).
Simply stated, Scripture is notably lacking of any suggestion that the living and prepared are transported elsewhere or that they return with the groom (master or nobleman, as the symbolism may require) to the location from which he has just arrived. Such not only violates Jesus' own portrayal of his return, but reconfigures the event so as to focus, not on the coming of the bridegroom but rather alleged departure of his friends.
Herein lies the source of much present confusion.
Burl Ratzsch
