A Prepared Bride 1 - Rev. 19:6-8

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

"Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear."
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

Rev 19:6-8 NIV
There are several things in this passage that I would like us to focus on.

First, the whole host of heaven to shouting this declaration. This is not just a few folks but so great a multitude that John characterizes the sound like the roar of water or thunder. Can you imagine a sound as deafening as Niagara Falls just from the shout of glory to God? Incredible!

We use to sing part of this verse as a chorus in the early days of the Charismatic Renewal.
"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory unto Him!" Unfortunately, we didn't continue with the reason for the rejoicing!

This great multitude is singing the praises of God, in this instance, for a specific reason. That reason is that the time for the wedding of the Lamb had come. It was time for the marriage of the Lamb to His bride. Scripture teaches that the body of believers, the host of those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior are the bride. (2 Cor. 11:2, Eph. 5:23-32)

Therefore, this great excitement in the heavenlies is a result of our impending nuptials to our Lord and King. Certainly something to shout about but that is not all! The multitude states,

"and his bride has made herself ready"

When teaching this, I often ask the ladies present how they prepared for their wedding. Most all tell me that although they had help, basically they got themselves ready. For instance, they had to put their dress on.

When it comes to the wedding of the Lamb and His bride, she must prepare herself for her King. Others cannot do it for her. Since it is that we are this bride, it is given to us to prepare ourselves both individually and as the church. We must be prepared. We have One called along side to help us, the Holy Spirit(John 14:16, 26; 16:7) but we must do the preparing. We cannot wait around for someone else to dress us like some mannequin in a store window. We must get ourselves ready!

Further on these verses actually tell us the nature of this preparation.

"Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear."
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

We have vestments, clothing, a bridal gown, as it were, which which we dress ourselves. A gown of fine linen, bright and clean, without spot or wrinkle.

We, as the bride of Christ, are first and foremost washed in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 1:5) to cleanse us from our sin, our rebellion against God. However, I believe that there is need for an on going cleansing or washing as Paul illustrates for us.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Eph 5:25-27 NIV

Christ gave Himself up for us to make us holy or sanctified, set apart for Him. There is a cleansing that comes through the Word of God. Again, this is not painting the outside while the inside is fetid and foul. This is holiness because He is holy. This is righteousness imputed by grace not earned by works nor demonstrated by how drab your clothing or austere your countenance. This is the character and nature of God transforming us day by day as we look to Him.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor 3:18 NIV

What we behold, we become! What we give our life energy to, we resemble. What we worship, we are transformed into. If we worship success, we worship ourselves and become ego-centric. If we worship pleasure, if we seek it out, if we give our energies to it, we become depraved, even reprobate. It we seek God, Him first and Him alone, we take on His nature -

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Gal 5:22-23 NIV

The fruit, the harvest, the result of seeking Him above all else is that we become like Him. And we keep at it until He comes!

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3 NIV

Finally, the verses in Revelation define for us the nature of the vestments, the wedding gown.

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

This fine linen with which we shall be clothed are the righteous acts of the saints. In other words, the right things that we are doing - our obedience to His Word.

"If you love me, you will obey what I command." John 14:15

But not just His written word but also His leading, His guiding each day.

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." John 16:12-13 NIV

and again,

As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Heb 3:15 NIV

To be prepared, to make ourselves ready is to be washed from sin and to be cleansed from sins. It is to actively be seeking the face of God. It is to be obedient not just to the written Word but to His urgings and nudgings and leading each day. It is not enough to not sin, we must be actively doing righteousness. What good is it if you have huge passages of scripture memorized but your neighbor sits alone next door, unable to go out but neither is anyone going to visit. What good is it to have gone a whole week without gossiping and yet in that same week you never once told your kids how much you loved and appreciated them.

This preparedness is not an outward show. Sanctification is not isolating ourselves from the world. It is demonstrating the inward holiness of God through our lives, the way we talk, the way we care for the forgotten, the way we meet the needs of the unlovely. It is letting who God is in us, affect our daily lives.

We become what we behold!

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 NKJV