Jesus The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom is a highly significant name of Jesus. For many, when Jesus actually revealed He was the Bridegroom is lost in miracle He did at Cana. The Scripture tells us that the following happened, "On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you. ⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him." (John 2:1-11). There is much lost on us when this is read in churches, the focus becomes that the miracle of turning water into wine proves Jesus is divine, and this is true, but there subtle details here that any Hebrew and Disciple of Christ back then would have paid attention to. Firstly, notice what day it is when Jesus is at this wedding, it is the Third Day (John 2:1) which is significant because Jesus rose from the dead on the Third Day (John 20:1-28). Then Mary asks for Jesus to provide, and his answer seems quizzical, what does he mean by His hour? Well that actually is Hour of His Death, because He uses the same language with his step brothers (John 7:3), and that hour refers to His Crucifixion, "Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners." (Matthew 26:45). Mary is asking Jesus a question that is answered with His Death, she is seeing it as asking for miracle, but weddings and wine is significant, because Jesus later drinks wine and says, "And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood./After supper he took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people--an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you," (Luke 22:20), this happens the night before Jesus dies, He tells us what wine is suppose to be, and then on the Cross Jesus actually says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”  jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:28-30). Thus we see that at beginning of Jesus' Earthly Ministry there was miracle of wine, and at His death, when He makes propitiation for the sins of mankind, He takes sip of wine, the Cup of Suffering, and His Blood which is poured out after this is the New Wine of the New Covenant that covers our sins and admits us into eternal life. 

The next part of the Miracle at Cana that is interesting, is that Jesus reveals He is the Bridegroom. He takes over playing host by providing the wine via a miracle of His divine power. In Hebraic custom at that time the Bridegroom is in charge of festivities and provides the wine, bread, barley, meat, and everything; if there is a shortage, then the Bridegroom goes into storehouses to provide, for weddings often ran one to two weeks! It was party hard time. Jesus by providing the Wine is saying to those with eyes to see, that He is Bridegroom, which He alludes to later when challenged by the Pharisees, "Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast," (Matthew 9:15), and John Baptist spoke of Jesus in this manner, "You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.." (John 3:28-29). The LORD Jesus made it clear He is the Bridegroom when He shared the following parables about Himself, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,  but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25:1-12). This marriage fest is a wedding that commences when Christ Returns and establishes the New Heaven and Earth, and the New Jerusalem descends, "Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

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 the true words of God.” ¹⁰ Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:6-10). 
Often people did not understand the timeline or what Christ was doing., during His First Coming The Apostle Peter kept trying to thwart Jesus' First Coming Purpose and Calling to die for mankind's sin, "From then on Jesusbegan to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him^[ for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”  Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s," (Matthew 16:21-23), and  "Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. ¹¹ But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?," (John 18:10-11). Cephas (Simon Peter) thought Jesus was suppose to be Messianic King, which is to happen when He comes on the clouds of Heaven and the One Thousand Year Reign takes place (Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16, Revelation 20:1-7). Many failed to see that Jesus was first coming as Bridegroom and Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53, whole chapter). Even at Cana when He turned the water into wine it was major symbol, the water basins were for purification ritual in Judaism (Exodus 19:10, Exodus 29:4, Leviticus 16:4), and the wine represents Jesus' blood and New Covenant of forgiveness for Sin through Him, which then means the old way of water cleansing people from sin is now replaced with Blood of Christ, "When God speaks of a "new" covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear," (Hebrews 8:13), "Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant," (Hebrews 7:22), "Now, however, Jesus has received a far superior ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is superior and is founded on better promises," (Hebrews 8:6), "But when God found fault with the people, He said: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah," (Hebrews 8:8), "Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant," (Hebrews 9:16), "to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel," (Hebrews 12:24), and  "And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," (2 Corinthians 3:6). It is the Sprinkling of Blood that purifies from sin, even Moses  knew this, "Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.” Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. ¹⁰ There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!" (Exodus 24:6-11). Even in Old Testament only blood could cleanse sin (Hebrews 9:22) and bring people into God's presence, and note that what Moses is doing is foreshadowing of what Jesus is going to of with His Blood, for Moses and Elders are dining with Christ pre-incarnation. God had to take on flesh/a body (John 1:1-15) and shed His blood to make the New Covenant and pay for all sins of mankind for all time, "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God." (Romans 6:9-10 cross ref. 1 Peter 3:18, Hebrews 10:10, ). For this is why the Apostle John said, "This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth," (1 John 5:6), both purifications, Jesus has us baptized when we confess Him and covered in His Blood of the New Covenant. For even when Jesus died on cross out of His side flowed, "Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." (John 19:34). This is what Jesus meant by that people must drink His blood and eat His body (John 6:40-53), it is figure of speech saying that people must accept the New Covenant drawn in His blood and believe and trust in Him for salvation and eternal life (John 6:40), for He is only way to Father (John 14:6). 

The Bridegroom and Messiah are two parts of Christ's nature. When Peter said, "You are Son of Living God, and the Messiah (Christ)." (Matthew 16:16). Peter is actually declaring two things, Son of Living God is the Bridegroom, "And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, ³ and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴ Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. ¹² And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14). and the Messiah is the Anointed One of David who will sit on his throne and reign for thousand years and forever, which happened when Jesus rose from dead and reigns at Father's right hand (Acts 7:55-56, Mark 16:19) and will happen as Peter expected and most Jews expect at Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-16, Revelation 20:1-7). There is great confusion over this in Judaism, because during the Maccabees, a notion that the Bridegroom and Messiah are different persons became prominate, and this is why the Pharisees and even Disciples at times were confused. They had been lied to. The Bridegroom every Jew knew was God and Messiah they weren't sure if He was God or just a man like David, although had they paid attention to that "Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! ¹² For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever," (2 Samuel 7:11-13), and "Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. ³⁰ But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne. ³¹ David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. ³³ Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. ³⁴ For David himself never ascended into heaven, So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” (Acts 2:29-34, 3^). Notice how Peter ends this argument, He says Jesus is Both Lord and Messiah, Lord in Aramaic and Hebrew was name of God of Israel, Jehovah or Yehovah which is YWH, and Messiah or Christ is the Anointed One, thus Cephas is making it abundantly clear and debunking the lies of the Maccabees, making it clear that Jesus Christ is both Bridegroom (LORD) and Christ (Messiah).

When the people greeted Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday they were saying "The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!," (Matthew 21:9), which is the proper greeting for Jesus' Second Coming when He is Messianic King of Kings (Revelation 19:11-16, Revelation 21:1-7). The right greeting would have been "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).  The issue is that people were looking for Millennial Reign of the Messiah (Revelation 21:1-7), and totally forgot about the Suffering Servant and Lamb of God promised by Isaiah (Isaiah 53 whole chapter), the Bridegroom who must offer Himself up on a cross to save the Bride from hell and separation (sin). In fact, a book of the Old Testament, depicts just this scenario where Hosea saves His Prostitue Wife even after she goes after other men, which is symbolic of Jesus coming to purchase us and our sins, while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), and chose us when we were following other gods and lead us unto Himself. 

The Bridegroom is God who is Jesus, as evidenced by the Parable of Ten Virgins, and confirmation by John Baptist who admitted He wasn't the Messiah, but the Best Man to Bridegroom. Some of insights I have shared come from a book I read by Brant Pitre called "Jesus The Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told." An excellent book to read, although the last chapter is a dry and recycled chapter on Transubstantiation. It is critical to mention to Jews that Jesus is Bridegroom, because it catches their attention like saying Jesus is the Son of David, and most Jews are aware only God is Bridegroom, so you are saying properly to a Jew, Jesus is God (Colossians 2:9, Titus 3:16-18). Let us be bold and say as Peter did in Acts, Chapter Two, Jesus is the LORD and Messiah, Bridegroom and Christ! Amen.