Sid: We want everyone going to the greatest Jewish wedding in history it’s called the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. But you will not understand the Wedding Supper of the Lamb or even what Jesus is referring to if you look at it through Gentile eyes. You must look at it through Jewish eyes. And the church has been denuded of its Hebraic Heritage, therefore if you have the wrong culture and the right words you come up with the wrong conclusion. But if you understand the culture that the words are referring to you’ll come up with the right conclusion. That’s why my guest Rebecca Park Totilo I’m speaking to her by telephone at her hotel room in Wichita, Kansas wrote a book called “His Majesty Requests an Invitation to the Royal Wedding of the Lamb.” And what she does is she traces the culture that’s been denuded and robed that Jesus lived in and that He was talking about. And if you understand the ancient Hebrew wedding customs you’ll capture the picture of the greatest wedding that the world has ever seen. When I think of a Jewish wedding Rebecca one of the joyest things; I mean it’s such a exciting celebration is we take the bride and we take the groom and we lift them up in chairs and praise God I don’t do that but some of the younger men do that. And oh I had just been recently at a wedding in Brazil and they lifted this fellow up and the bride up and they were holding…and I felt so sorry for the people lifting the chairs up with them. And I felt maybe (Laughing) it might be a little dangerous but tell me the significance of that?
Rebecca: Well this has been going on since Biblical times you know their wedding is esteemed as the building of joy with great festivities and celebration. And boy they really know how to throw a party let me tell you. (Laughing) with the joyful music and dancing and they lift them up in chairs because the bride and groom are regarded as king and queen and of course they’re dressed up beautifully and they wear crowns upon their heads. And are seated on these thrones and so this is a beautiful picture of what we have to look forward to one day because the day that we marry Yeshua we are going to be also lifted up with Him as His queen and He’ll be crowned King of kings. And He says that He has a crown in store for us waiting for us. And of course you know too the scripture shows us that when He was crucified they put a crown of thorns upon His head. And it’s interesting because in Biblical times the groom used to wear a floral crown upon his head.
Sid: Hm.
Rebecca: Now this is the custom of course that they had to disregard because they’re not allowed to wear a crown upon their head until the temple is rebuilt. And so when know that when Yeshua returns that we will have a crown upon our heads and that we will rule and reign with Him for the millennium. And it’s a joyous time that we have.
Sid: Speaking of a joyous time another joyous part of a wedding I just was at a Jewish wedding so it’s all fresh in my mind. Is where they take a wine cup and the groom smashes it and everyone yells a Jewish blessing “Mazel Tov” and music goes and everyone starts dancing. Tell me about the breaking of the glass well what does that mean?
Rebecca: Actually there’s a lot of meanings to it but you know through the years things have been passed down but the one that sticks the most is they believe in the midst of joy there’s a remembrance of sorrow when the walls and stones, the physical walls fell down at the temple. And so they believe that there’s always the remembrance of Jerusalem in the midst of every joyous occasion. And for believers in the Messiah we remember what Jesus said that “Destroy this temple and in three days He would raise it up.” And so the body of Christ that was broken for us you know we look at how they shouted Mazel Tov. Now you know the people of that time were shouting crucify him and crucify him. And they were celebrating of his death and so even in our own occasion of looking back on this we have that remembrance of the sorrow of the pain of His death on the cross but yet we have to look forward to that wonderful time and that marriage that we’re going to have with Him and celebrate.
Sid: All right there’s another word that very few Christians have even heard that has relevance it’s called ketubah.” And I have to tell you this ketubah this agreement the wedding between the bride and the groom the one I saw was so beautiful and just so inscribed in such beautiful artwork. What is a ketubah and tell me the significance.
Rebecca: Well in an traditional betrothal they would enter into the agreement of the covenant of the marriage with the signing of the ketubah. And this was the marriage contract sort of like today’s prenuptial agreement if you will (Laughing). The terms that they would agree to such as the bride price and the provisions the bridegroom was agreeing to make for her including the food and clothing. And it also would name the wife as heir the estate should he die. It also sometimes would mention the bride’s dowry of what she was also going to be bringing into the relationship. And so this is a very rich document that brides will hang on their walls and you know proudly display. So it’s a beautiful thing it’s a very cherished item. And for believers in the Messiah though it’s our promise of the word of God. You see our covenant is the Old and the New Testament and these are the documents that we’ve been given and it shows all of the promises that it tells us that we have as His bride. And so that’s the reason why the Lord even mentioned the food and clothing do you remember He was saying “Why do we worry about these things?” You see we don’t have to because we have a ketubah that spells it all out for us so that we can trust Him because he’s our heavenly bridegroom. And you know also in the wedding in the Jewish weddings they actually read this aloud for everyone to hear because they want everyone to know about their devotion that they have toward one another. And of course this custom is coming from Moses who stood before the people of God and read aloud the Torah and was telling them the promises the Lord had made to them. And then it says that the people responded. “We will do what the Lord has said, we will obey.” And in essence they were saying “I do to the Lord” (Laughing.)
Sid: You know I’m reminded just as we’re wrapping up this week something we talked about earlier in the week. You had prophetic dreams of tremendous destruction that’s going to occur to America. But you said that there’s a supernatural protection available and you said that it was only for those that were really have intimacy with God on fire for the Lord and have a love for Israel those would be protected supernaturally. What advice do you give us to have this deep intimacy with the Lord?
Rebecca: Well it can really be a simple prayer of just a hunger and a thirst for the truth. And that’s all it really has to be is a seeking know Him because we can no longer rely on other people or the teaching of men.
Sid: We can’t rely on our pastor when it comes to a crisis.
Rebecca: No, you know the time is coming where you may not be able to go all gather together to worship. And so we really need to know the Lord intimately and on our own and have that one on one relationship with Him. Because when the times are evil and it’s getting worse every day that we don’t know that our freedoms you know can be stripped away from us and that we would have these things taken from us that we would not be able to come together and learn from one another. And so we need to really seek to know him. And I know that there’s a divine protection for every believer who really enters in to know Him. Because He warned us of course in Revelation to come out of her that to come out of Babylon we need to come out of the world and out of the system. And to know Him and that’s the reason because He’s warned us. It’s just like in the book of Judges Chapter 3 that when the Israelites turned away from God they refused to go into the chuppah to the bridal chamber with Moses. They were afraid to and they fell into idolatry and they got back into the world system.
Sid: Why is the bride dressed in white?
Rebecca: Well, that is something that’s so beautiful because it’s symbolic of the purity that we can have in Him. In fact he told the Israelites to wash their clothes and to sanctify themselves and then on the third day He would appear before them all the people. And so that’s what He’s telling us we have to set apart and that we are His people and that we need to be clean and ready for Him. Our lives need to be pure, we need to get out of sin and get out of this world system. In fact even in Orthodox weddings today you’ll see the groom will even wear a white garment it’s called a kittel. And this was actually symbolic of almost like a Cohen priest going into the Holy of Holies. And so just as the priest has to prepare himself and put on the garments we too have to wear the garments that the Lord has provided for us. And that we put off the old man and we put on the new and prepare ourselves to go into that place to be within His presence. And so just like the wedding day is a like a Yom Kippur they believe that their sins are forgiven and their washed clean. And we too can now also have that and when we enter into His presence we become more and more like Him every day.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth