Christ comes as Bridegroom but as a Thief If We Don’t Watch: Signs for Both Fit this Spring
“The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the…day of the LORD.” These signs this spring are parallel to when God “executed judgment” on Egypt and took Israel to a covenant, later saying, “I am married to you.” Watching is protective in Christ’s wedding parables and in biblical references to His coming as a thief, but we misunderstand the terms.
Before we discuss the solar and lunar eclipse pointing to Passover this spring, we see on the first page of the Bible that God appointed the sun and moon “to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times and days and years.”[i]
Mow’ed is the Hebrew word in the above text, also translated as “feasts of the LORD” in Leviticus 23[ii] where God gave seven holy convocations or annual Sabbaths like Passover.
We forget that the apostle Paul kept those appointed times[iii] after Calvary and said, “let us keep the feast.”[iv] He said they “are [not were, as some translations imply] a shadow of things to come,” don’t let anyone judge how you keep them.[v]
One commentary says, “The Lord Jesus was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. Its imposing services were of divine appointment. They were designed to teach the people that at the time appointed One would come to whom those ceremonies pointed.”[vi]
Christians are looking for the Bridegroom’s coming and many assume it’s in the sky like a rapture. God came as Bridegroom to Egypt and took Israel to a covenant, later saying, “I am married to you.”[vii] “God shows no partiality.”[viii] He included Egyptians who chose to be protected by the blood as they became part of the “mixed multitude,” but He came as a thief to the rest of Egypt.
This year Passover is marked in a way that only God could mark it. “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the…day of the Lord.”[ix] While a solar eclipse might occur on any day in the year, God’s choice to do so at the same time that He designated the biblical New Year’s Day in Egypt[x] on March 20 seems unique. Furthermore, two weeks later Israel put blood on the doorpost and with the same timing this spring, Passover will have a blood moon–something that only God could do.
In the 1st paragraph we saw that the sun and moon mark ‘sacred times and…years.’ Some believe this year is a sabbatical year that comes every seven years.[xi] Seven years ago we had the economic crash in 2008 and seven years before that, it was 9-11. Do we get the idea? This is unique timing and something big is coming, but what? The text in the previous paragraph says it’s “the day of the Lord.” That’s the Old Testament term for end-times, and it begins with an earthquake, Joel 2:10,11.
The apostle Paul said, “the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, for when they say, ‘Peace and Safety,’ then sudden destruction comes upon them…let us watch!”[xii] Watching is protective. Christ said, “If you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief.”[xiii]
But what do we mean by “watch?” Watch is translated from the Greek word, gregoreo, and it means to be awake. We can’t be awake every night, but Passover was the only night in the year that watching was commanded.[xiv] Israel was to eat the Passover lamb and leave nothing till morning.
In place of the Passover lamb, Christians understand that the Savior instituted the Lord’s Supper and then went to the garden with His disciples, telling them to watch and pray as an example to us.[xv]
We should do the same by mentally contemplating the closing scenes of Christ’s life and entering into fellowship with Him. Our Lord calls to us across the ages, just as he emptied Himself that dark lonely night, asking only one thing of His disciples, His friends, “Watch with Me.” He desires us to be awake with Him as He sweat His precious blood and was tortured for us that night. As an aid to staying awake in pursuit of true spiritual communion with our Savior, reading chapters on the closing scenes of Christ’s life, available online are helpful, interspersed with prayer.
When Christ said, “You don’t know the day or the hour,” we misunderstand His clues. The Greek word for “know” is oida, and it means to be aware, consider, understand. Christ was saying, you don’t understand, and each time He said it, He gave an example that fit a provision for Passover a month later, “as the days of Noah,” when the Flood came with Passover timing, but in the 2nd spring month.[xvi]
Noah entered the ark on the 10th day—the same date that the sacrifice was selected later in Egypt.[xvii] When people refused Noah’s invitation to be saved, they selected themselves for a sacrifice.
Again, Passover in the 2nd month is suggested when five women missed the wedding. Christ said, “Watch,” [a clue for Passover] You don’t [understand], for it’s “like a man traveling to a far country.”[xviii]
Israelites didn’t travel in winter, and if they took a long journey in spring and couldn’t get back to Jerusalem for Passover, they were to keep it in the 2nd spring month.[xix]
This timing clue is a conjunction linking Christ’s parable of His coming as Bridegroom with His last parable in which wise stewards were ready for their master’s return, but the slothful servant was not.
This clue is really about Christ who took the long journey to heaven. His return as Bridegroom and for judgment [as on Egypt] must conform to His laws that are in effect “until heaven and earth pass.”[xx]
The Bible offers a message of warning for impending judgment. It says, “Fear God…the time of His judgment is come.”[xxi] But how do we give a message of warning if we don’t know when it is? The biblical pattern is Passover when God said, “I will execute judgment.”[xxii]
That’s also when He came as Bridegroom and married Israel in a covenant. Paul included that history of the Exodus when he said, “all these things happened to them as examples* and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”[xxiii] *The KJV margin for examplessays types, implying an end-time antitype.
Now we come to the timing clue for thief. Christ said, “If the goodman of the house had known… he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken up.”[xxiv] The Bible explains itself, and there is only one Old Testament use of “goodman” in the King James Bible. “The goodman is not at home. He is gone on a long journey…and will come home on the yom kece [full moon].”[xxv] Passover comes on a full moon, but “long journey” is a specific clue for 2nd Passover as we saw when five virgins missed the wedding in Matthew 25:12-14.
These clues fit both Christ’s coming as the Bridegroom and His coming as a thief.[xxvi] Which way He comes for us depends on whether we are watching for Him or not.
All of these clues support Christ’s fairness in telling us to watch—be awake. Do we really think He wanted ALL Christians to be awake every night for the past 2000 years? It wouldn’t be fair—and we cannot be reined up to a time of impending judgment any and every day of the year.
“GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”[xxvii] This must apply to His plans for judgment. So what does He want to reveal? The next sentence says, “A lion has roared!” We forget that Amos 1:1,2 says, “Before the earthquake…the Lord roars.” It’s about an earthquake.
Zephaniah 1:10 shows “a great crashing from the hills” in the context of “the day of the Lord.” Verse 8 says, “In the day of the LORD’S sacrifice [Passover] I will punish…the king’s children…clothed with strange apparel.” [No wedding garment; Christians believe they are the king’s children].
This emphasis on Passover may seem strange, but Passover commemorates the greatest events of the Old and New Testaments. Christ endured hell for us[xxviii] and He asks that we enter into His sufferings one night in the year and pray that God will pass over us at that appointed time when God said at the first Passover, “I will execute judgment.”[xxix]
In a nation where the Supreme Court approved the intra-womb holocaust of 57 million infants, we are worse than Egypts killing of infants and we more deserving of judgment than Sodom for parading their sin, also approved by the Supreme Court. But there’s a higher court and judgment is impending!
Going to Egypt for a time of judgment, Moses faced death for failing to circumcise his son. We face judgment for failing to watch and pray on Passover as Christ said. The law that enjoins watching is in effect “till heaven and earth pass.”[xxx] Over 100 times, the word Torah is translated as law and it means the instructions in the five books of Moses. We don’t have to kill animals, but there is much we are failing to see, as the “blind” imagery of Revelation 3:17 suggests.
“These times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world.”[xxxi] This is not when Christ comes in the sky—it will be too late to repent then.
But if we wait till God’s judgments fall before we say anything, God will hold us accountable for their loss of life.[xxxii] It’s like you are at church before worship begins and you get a phone call that a bomb is planted in the sanctuary. You don’t shrug it off and say, I doubt it. You must convey a swift warning!
There is no good reason why we have to be like Isaiah 56:10 says, “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.” It’s not a sin to sleep, but yes, maybe so if it’s when Christ said watch (and be a watchman with a warning.)
In another sense, these annual Sabbaths were mikvah—rehearsals in anticipation of when the One to whom they pointed would come. After 1400 years of rehearsals, the Jews missed the point of the sacrificial part of Passover, but Christians have had longer to see how the imagery in Christ’s wedding parables fits Passover. The midnight cry, loins girded and being awake[xxxiii] are from the first Passover.[xxxiv]
This year is parallel to that time in Egypt. The solar eclipse on March 20 marks the same time that God indicated to Moses, but instead of blood on the doorposts, it’s on the moon. Do we get it? God executed judgment then and we might be naïve if we think judgment won’t fall on the U.S. But shall the world have no warning? Noah warned them. “As it was in the days of Noah,” we may seem crazy!
Lao dicea means people judging. The church is lukewarm with materialism and the messenger [aggelos] has the door closed to Christ/Truth.[xxxv] We don’t need to shed the blood of lambs—God is putting blood on the moon, but why not open our churches for the Lord’s Supper on 2nd Passover as the best of clues suggest for the return of the Bridegroom?
We must be watching “that when He comes and knocks [we] may open to Him immediately.” If so, “He will make [us] ruler over all that He has,” Luke 12:36,44. This is not some Internet scam. It’s a promise from the One who is going to make the sun dark and turn the moon to blood so we will know. The woman clothed in the sun in Revelation 12 has the moon under her feet—a lunar understanding.
2nd Passover is counted from the thin visible crescent seen in the western sky after sunset on Sunday evening, April 19, making 2nd Passover, Sunday evening, May 3, when churches around the world should celebrate communion and have an all-night focus on the closing scenes of Christ’s life with prayer that we can faithfully be His through the end-times.
This is not a visible coming. God was not visible when He came to Egypt. We have misunderstood the wedding parables as Christ’s imagery suggests by all 10 virgins asleep with lights out.[xxxvi] For more information, the reader may visit http://TheBridegroomComes.com and an online source for meditation on the closing scenes of Christ’s life is at http://www.whiteestate.org/books/da/da72.html
We just might find Christ shows up at the rehearsal as suggested in Luke 12:35-37. Let’s do all we can to invite others. The king sends His servants to bid others to the wedding. Every wedding invitation has a date and all three wedding parables have Passover imagery, like the midnight cry.[xxxvii] we can do it!
REFERENCES:
[i] Genesis 1:14, NIV
[ii] Leviticus 23:44, NKJV unless specified
[iii] Acts 20:6,16; 27:9
[iv] 1Corinthians 5:8
[v] Colossians 2:16,17
[vi] Christ’s Object Lessons, 34
[vii] Jeremiah 3:14
[viii] Acts 10:34
[ix] Joel 2:31
[x] Exodus 12:2
[xi] Leviticus 25:4
[xii] 1Thessalonians 5:1-6
[xiii] Revelation 3:3
[xiv] Exodus 12:10
[xv] Matthew 26:38-41
[xvi] Genesis 7:4,11
[xvii] Exodus 12:3
[xviii] Matthew 25:13,14
[xix] Numbers 9:10,11
[xx] Matthew 5:18
[xxi] Revelation 14:7
[xxii] Exodus 12:12
[xxiii] 1Corinthians 10:1,11
[xxiv] Matthew 24:43, KJV
[xxv] Proverbs 7:19,20
[xxvi] Revelation 3:3
[xxvii] Amos 3:7
[xxviii] Revelation 1:18, KJV
[xxix] Exodus 12:12
[xxx] Matthew 5:18
[xxxi] Acts 17:30,31
[xxxii] Ezekiel 33:6
[xxxiii] Matthew 25:5,6; Luke 12:35-37
[xxxiv] Exodus 12:10,11,29,30
[xxxv] John 10:6
[xxxvi] Matthew 25:5
[xxxvii] Matthew 25:6; Exodus 12:29,30
