Thank you, Math Man, for posting the above.   I love that picture...the prophetic picture...of the church as Christ's Bride that John talked about in Revelation 19:7.  Excerpts emphasizing 7 days or 7 years with the Bridegroom from various websites posted below.

 

Revelation 19:7  "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

 

 

Dr. David Reagan and Lamb & Lion Ministries

"Another beautiful prophetic type is to be found in the Jewish wedding traditions of Jesus's time. After the betrothal, the groom would return to his father's house to prepare a wedding chamber for his bride. He would return for his bride at an unexpected moment, so the bride had to be ready constantly. When he returned, he would take his bride back to his father's house to the chamber he had prepared. He and his bride would then be sealed in the chamber for seven days. When they emerged, a great wedding feast would be celebrated.

Likewise, Jesus has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for His bride, the Church. When He returns for His bride, He will take her to His Father's heavenly home. There He will remain with His bride for seven years (the duration of the Tribulation). The period will end with "the marriage supper of the Lamb" described in Revelation 19. Thus the seven days in the wedding chamber point prophetically to the seven years that Jesus and His bride will remain in Heaven during the Tribulation."

http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_rapture4.php

Chuck Missler and Koinonia House

In this second article in our series on the Rapture, we will explore another reason why we favor a "pre-tribulation" view of the Harpzo, the "snatching up" of the Church. All through the Gospels, Jesus relied on the ancient Jewish wedding pattern for many of His parables, climaxing in His promise in the Upper Room in John 14 (as reviewed in our previous article). Many of us miss the full import of these allusions if we aren't familiar with the model of ancient Jewish wedding practices.

Shortly after their arrival, the bride and groom were escorted by the other members of the wedding party to the bridal chamber (huppah). Prior to entering the chamber, the bride remained veiled so that no one could see her face.  While the groomsmen and bridesmaids waited outside, the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber alone. There, in the privacy of that place, they entered into physical union for the first time, thereby consummating the marriage that had been covenanted approximately one year earlier.

After the marriage was consummated, the groom came out of the bridal chamber and announced the consummation of the marriage to the members of the wedding party waiting outside. Then, as the groom went back to his bride in the chamber, the members of the wedding party returned to the wedding guests and announced the consummation of the marriage.

Upon receiving the good news, the wedding guests remained in the groom's father's house for the next seven days, celebrating with a great wedding feast.

During the seven days of the wedding feast, the bride and groom remained hidden in the bridal chamber (Cf. Genesis 29:21-23, 27-28) for the seven days of the huppah. Afterwards, the groom came out of hiding, bringing his bride with him, but with her veil removed so that everyone could see her.

 ZOLA LEVITT

How is our seven years in heaven with the Lord (while the Tribulation Period takes place on earth) like a honeymoon? Actually, what the Lord has prepared for us is called by a rather fearsome name in the Scriptures:  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the thing done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (II Cor. 5:10).

We are going to appear before our Lord to review the things each of us did in his earthly service. This judgment concerns our works, of course, and not our sins, which were paid for in advance. Paul is very clear on what will happen in the judgment seat of Christ. He points out that the only reasonable foundation one can lay in this life is that of Christ, and then he goes on to give the particulars of how our works are judged:

For other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is (Cor. 3: 11-13).

The Lord will put a torch to our works. Those that are of the precious metals will not be harmed, but the wood, hay and stubble will be burned away. We will be duly rewarded for our good works:

If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward (v. 14).

And we will suffer losses of our rewards for the works that are burned up:

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (v.15).

Note he last two phases in the above verse. Even if we have a great many bad works and therefore few rewards, we still shall be saved. We shall survive this fire of judgment. God has fire that does not consume, such as in the lake of fire or in the burning bush seen by Moses. God's purpose in this judgment seat of Christ is not to burn us up, but merely the works unworthy of the bride of Christ. We ourselves will be saved.

How is this like a honeymoon? Well, a honeymoon is where the bridegroom removes his bride's veils and knows all of her secrets. We will be spiritual creatures when we meet Christ, since "we shall all be changed", and so our Bridegroom will examine our spiritual secrets. Some honeymoons indeed are not as joyful as we might have expected, married people can tell you, but we're there with someone we love and when all is said and done, we become marriage partners through the experience.

Now that peculiar moment when the bridegroom tells his friend that the wedding is consummated is also in the Gospel. It has to do with that great friend of Jesus, John the Baptist. It seems the Pharisees were approaching him time and again and asking if he were the Messiah. From the passages, we can gather that they wished he were the Messiah - they could get along better with a Messiah who lived by the Dead Sea and ate locusts and honey than with the Carpenter of Galilee, who did so many miracles. If John were the Messiah, then they could muddle through. It was that mild - mannered young preacher from rustic Nazareth they could not seem to abide. In one of their dialogues, John, seeming to almost lose patience with them, uses this very special moment in the wedding ceremony to illustrate his point. He told them:

Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled (John 3: 28-29).

Perhaps John, an Old Testament saint killed before the cross, and a dear friend of our Bridegroom's Father, will serve this function in our wedding in heaven.