For two-thousand years the Bride of Christ, the Church, has been waiting for the return of the groom to gather her up and take her to the place that He has been preparing for her. In Hebrew marriage customs the Bride would be waiting for her groom with only the father of the groom deciding when the groom can gather his Bride. This gathering would be announced by the blowing of a horn and the arrival of the groom to retrieve the Bride, who would be ushered back to the father’s house and her new dwelling place. These customs can be seen within the Biblical text predicting a future rapture of the Church although much of the Church has neglected to do historical and grammatical studies of Scripture. Additionally, some have rejected the notion of the Church being gathered up before a time of tribulation takes place on earth. The debate over eschatological issues has escalated for centuries. Israel becoming a nation once again in 1948 added fuel to the fire of the debate. For those that had insisted that the Bible taught Israel would be a nation again this appeared to be fulfillment of prophecy. That fulfillment also appeared to vindicate dispensational scholars who had maintained this view even under great scrutiny. Even with the world stage falling into place to fulfill all Biblical prophecy there are some that still deny that there will be a future judgment of the world. They deny that Israel will be a major player in that time of tribulation and that there will be a one-world government led by one that will stand against God. This debate is primarily a debate over method and approach to Bible study. This work is an introduction to prophetic study and eschatological debate using the theme of Hebrew marriage customs as a thread through many of the key passages. This study focuses on many of the key passages related to prophetic studies including Daniel 9:24-27; John 14:2-3; 1 Corinthians 15:50-52; Romans 11; 1 Thess. 4:16-17, as well as many others. It also deals with many issues such as the tribulation, the rapture of the Church and the future of Israel all from a dispensational perspective while dealing with premises from skeptics of dispensational theology such as Hank Hanegraff, Gary DeMar, and R.C. Sproul. This study demonstrates that the intent of many passages in the Bible is to convey a message that affirms a future for ethnic Israel within God’s economy that will be fulfilled following the removal of the Church and a time of tribulation.
