20. 2.The Marriage Supper of the Lamb Patterns off the Jewish wedding  The father of the groom made the arrangements for the marriage and paid the bride price. (Eph. 5:25-27)  The fetching of the bride (1 Thess. 4:13-18)  The father of the groom who determined the timing. (Matt. 24:36)  Before the groom left to retrieve his bride, he must have a place already prepared for her as their home. (John 14:1-3, Rev. 21-22)  The wedding ceremony, to which a few would be invited. Prior to the wedding ceremony, the bride underwent a ritual immersion for ritual cleansing. (Rev. 19:6-8)  The marriage feast, would follow and could last for as long as seven days. Many more people would be invited to the feast than to the marriage ceremony. (Isa. 25:6-8, Mat. 22:1-14; 25:1-13).

21. Implications of these two events The Bridegroom brings the Bride with Him to His home in Heaven by means of the Rapture of the Church. The church is then judged at the Judgment Seat of the Christ which corresponds with the ritual cleansing of the Bride. This results in the Bride having the white linen garments and rewarded. Then the wedding ceremony takes place before the Second Coming as we see in Rev. 19. The Church is already in Heaven before the Second Coming and has been there long enough to be judged. This shows that the Rapture and the Second Coming are not the same and are separated by at least 7 years or more.