Sid: My guest by way of telephone at her hotel room in Wichita, Kansas is Rebecca Park Totilo. I am interviewing her on her most recent book “His Majesty Requests” An Invitation to the Royal Wedding of the Lamb. The heart of this book Rebecca is something that so few Christians understand. You took the ancient Jewish Wedding and showed how many of the statements and things that Jesus did in the New Testament you can’t even understand if you didn’t understand the customs of the day of the Wedding. Now the reason the Wedding is so important is because of the subtitle of the book. “It’s an Invitation to the Royal Wedding of the Lamb.” And how can you prepare to be the Bride for the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb if you don’t know the directions. And when people either hear you speak or read your book the main…my main prayer is to have intimacy with God. What happens with their intimacy with God as they understand these revelations?
Rebecca: Well, I’ve had people watch the presentation that I give showing the footage from weddings and they’re just crying. (Laughing) It’s just amazing I just tell people well you’re going to cry at weddings you know but this is much more than that because they’re realizing they’re finally seeing the picture of what He was trying to tell us. And this has been a lost picture for 1000’s of years because the believers have just grown so far away from their Hebrew roots of the faith. And I know that that’s what has happened to me is that I had become so disjointed from the scriptures. I knew the words but I couldn’t put a picture to it. And I had a Rabbi come up to me and tell me things about myself and he was able to just sort of bring things to life for me. And I went home and I started to study things and look through the eyes of a Hebrew. And so when I was doing my research for this book I did not rely on the Christian books as much as I was studying the Jewish writings and the books from the Jewish perspective. Because I knew I didn’t want to put a spin on things and make it fit our thinking but I wanted it to be authentic and true. And I even had Rabbis’ that work at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem do research for me in helping me to put this book together. And so I know that what I have been able to uncover and rediscover for people will bring it all to life for them.
Sid: Okay, well let’s take an example Jesus talked about He was preparing a mansion for us. Show me what understanding you got in that by understanding the ancient Jewish customs.
Rebecca: Well at the betrothal ceremony the bridegroom would leave the bride’s home and he would return to go back to his father’s house for several months to prepare for the Wedding Day. And so he would actually stand up to make an announcement to his bride just before leaving and he would say “I go and prepare a place for you and when it is ready I will return for you.” And so during this time of separation he’s gone home and he’s building a bridal chamber for his bride. Now of course he would probably just throw it together real fast if it was up to him but the father has to give the final inspection to it to make sure it’s ready before he’s allowed to go back and get his bride. And so that is exactly what we read in scriptures that remember when they asked Jesus about His return and when He’d be back? He said “Only the Father knew.” And that’s because the Father is going to have to give the final approval to the bridal chamber that He’s actually preparing for His bride. And so you remember that He was comforting His disciples with these same words. He said “For us not to let our hearts be troubled because in His Father’s house there were many mansions and if it wasn’t so He wouldn’t have told us that.” And so He was saying “I go to prepare a place for you.” So He was reaffirming us that once this place was ready this bridal chamber he was going to return for us.
Sid: What about in ancient times there was a price paid for the bride.
Rebecca: Right.
Sid: Tell me how that ties in.
Rebecca: And you know actually that this is a custom that still continues in some form in some cultures. But of course if anyone seen the movie “Fiddler on the Roof” they’ll remember (Laughing) the two fathers sitting down together having a drink and hackling over the price for the daughter. And so you would see that of course it was really God who had set a standard of righteousness for the bride. I know when I came across this I thought “I don’t know if I like this or not because I don’t want to be treated like a head of cattle here you know you’re just going to pay for me and I’m your property.” But it was because of the custom of the pagans the cultures around them that God was trying to set up a price of value upon a woman. And that you just sort of just placed a value of integrity upon her and so we know that in ancient time that they actually have it in scriptures where there is a price for the bride. And Jesus of course fulfilled this, He paid the bride price for us with dying on the cross and that was the ultimate price that He paid. And you know even in His dying words “It is finished” He was actually speaking to His bride because the word finished in Hebrew shares the same root word for bride which is Challah. And so he was actually sharing this with his bride saying that He had paid the final price. And that’s so beautiful it just means so much more to me now knowing that He was thinking about us when He was on the cross.
Sid: And you know what I’m thinking about right now I’m thinking about in Christianity where the Jewishness has been squeezed out.
Rebecca: Oh, yes.
Sid: And we have things like Easter or Resurrection Sunday and we really don’t even. If there’s a Passover Seder it’s a onetime thing and its demonstration and it’s more of a show. But you saw the whole bridegroom pumping the question connected with what is known as the Last Supper in the Passover Seder.
Rebecca: Right. That’s so right.
Sid: Tell me about that.
Rebecca: You know that’s what sort of got me started on this search too was realizing that I was telling you earlier about the Rabbi that spoke to me. One of the things that he addressed in me was the customs of the church and the Christmas and the Easter and the Halloween Harvest Parties and things like that and how far those were from the Biblical feast that God had ordered.
Sid: Can you picture when see I believe that we’re at the cutting edge of the greatest revival among Jewish people in history. And Rabbis’ are going to have revelations of Jesus, come into the congregation and become that one new man the Jew and Gentile. But…and the Gentile believer is going to bring that New Covenant understanding. And the Jewish believer especially these Rabbis’ are going to bring this richness that has been taken out. And I believe somehow those two coming together are going to ignite the greatest revival the world has ever seen. But go on I just couldn’t miss putting that in there but go ahead.
Rebecca: Well, in Judaism the perspective Israeli bridegroom would pop the question by pouring a cup of wine for his beloved and then he would wait for her response to see if she would accept it. You see if she would sip from the Kiddush cup this was showing her willingness to enter into the covenant of marriage. And what she actually was saying yes to this proposal. And so they were sharing a breit cup which is a cup of covenant. And so we see Yeshua at the Passover dinner doing the same thing with his disciples. He took…after the supper He took the breit cup and he was sealing the marriage covenant with His bride. He lifted his cup up with His right hand and He prayed the Jewish prayer over it and then he of course blessed the Father for His beautiful creation and for His choice fruit. And he said “Drink ye all of this for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” And so he was actually proposing to them and if they drank they of course accepted His proposal. And so each time we take Holy Communion and share in this cup we are actually entering into a covenant if you will of betrothal with Jesus as Messiah. And each time again as we take this communion we are reaffirming our vows to Him and that we are betrothed to Him; and so we have to remain faithful to stay pure and ready for Him at any time.
Sid: And then you point out in your book from John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar He said ‘It is finished.’ And He bowed His head and gave up the Spirit.” What did that mean from the Hebrew?
Rebecca: Well, it’s very interesting that the word “It is finished.” Actually shares the same Hebrew root word as the bride which is challah. And so with His dying words He was actually speaking to His bride and telling her that bride price had been paid in full and that it was complete now and paid in full and he was reassuring her that everything was taken care of now.
Sid: And you know Mishpochah you may say “Why do I have to understand this?” Because the greatest intimacy in the natural is a marriage and the greatest intimacy in the supernatural is a marriage. And you’re in preparation to be a bride but if you don’t understand the instructions from our Messiah it’s very difficult. And as you explained Rebecca there are two types of virgins. One that had the oil and one that’s just interested in their own things.
Rebecca: That’s right there’s a distinction made in the scriptures showing us that there are those that will go into the marriage supper, those that were made ready and those that weren’t. And you see the Bible talks about the parable of the 10 virgins and that 10 of course is minyan which is a legal congregation for the Jewish believers who understand that. And so I believe that the story of the 10 virgins is actually a representation of the believers a congregation of the church if you will. And that those were all representative of us. You see the virgin there were all called and invited and could qualify if you will to be the bride. But yet not all were ready and so some of those that were you know that tried to get in could not enter in because the Lord said “I never knew you.” You see that the Lord was not saying that He did recognize them it was just that they were not known by Him. They had not had that intimate time with Him.
Sid: Is…when people read your book or hear this teaching what happens to their intimacy with the Lord.
Rebecca: Well, it begins to really I think shake the foundations because it’s actually an awakening for them. It’s almost like becoming born again because you begin to see things…
Sid: Woops we’re out of time.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth