what is the bridal paradigm? is it happening now?

I had a wonderful conversation with my nephew Joe earlier this week, and we talked about the difference between calling God "master" and "husband" (see Hos. 2:16). The Hebrew is illuminating: master = Baali and husband = Ishi (transliterated). The Lord's invitation today is to call him Ishi, which is a call to the forerunner generation to come forth.

But Joe had some more questions emerge after we parted, so he emailed me some questions.

Joe: remember when we were talking about the bride/bridegroom analogy in the Bible? you were saying that now is the time for the church to embrace and come to understand that analogy better.

here's my question. do you think there is anything different about this generation of the church itself? why do you think this generation is ready to embrace this analogy, and other generations weren't ready?

Ted: my reason isn't necessarily based on scripture, but observation. When the deliverer was ordained to come to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, there was a major attack on boy babies--a futile attempt by the enemy to stop Moses from rising up. When the deliverer was ordained to be born in Bethlehem, the enemy orchestrated another attack--more focused this time--to prevent Jesus from growing up so he could fulfill his role as the Lamb of God. Today we are 37 years into our country's policy to encourage abortion, which is just one nation's practice in a world crazy with baby hate. I call this the biggest effort of Satan's yet to crush an entire generation. Nevertheless, there is a new generation rising that is seriously sold out for Jesus and the advance of his kingdom. This looks to me like the fulfillment of the prophecy at the end of Malachi, despite the advance of evil in this age. I believe there will be an increase of the glorious advance of the kingdom at the same time there's a horrendous display of God's judgment on a lawless world. We'll just have to wait and see...

And you probably wonder what this has to do with the bridal paradigm... for me it's a short logical leap from the generation that is called out as a forerunner before the second coming of Christ and the spotless bride being called forth as well, in turn. [check out Mike Bickle's notes on the Forerunner Ministry>>]

Joe: so just to clarify, your perspective says that we are in the last generation before the new heavens and new earth are ushered in? or maybe it has nothing to do w/ that. just trying to understand, i apologize for all of the questions. =)

Ted: that's a stretch I'm not willing to make. I'm inclined to say that we're very close to the last generation before the tribulation (and the antichrist, which go together). My reading of Revelation shows that the new heavens and the new earth come after the millennial kingdom, which in turn comes after the judgments of the seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls.

There are lots of interpretations of the end times; some say the book of Revelation has already been fulfilled. Most say it is yet to come. Some say there will be a rapture of believers before a great tribulation; others say it will happen in the midst of the tribulation, while others say it will occur after the tribulation.

Lots of divergent and contentious views. As noted above, a good, and fairly comprehensive resource from the post-trib rapture perspective is available at Mike Bickle's website.