“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: `Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” (Rev. 19:7-9)
This table is a weekly preview of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a weekly practice for feasting with Christ in glory forever. And so we want to practice well. As far as we are able, we want to see a true preview and not misunderstand what is happening here.
So notice in this text that the New Jerusalem, the Church, appears before God arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, and that the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. But notice where the linen came from: it was given to her, it was granted to her. And so this is how you make yourself ready. This is how you prepare for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. You receive what He has given to you. You put on what He has granted. And what He grants is righteousness, and He grants us His righteousness in such a way that it can be rightly called the righteousness of the saints.
Mark this well: you do not make yourself ready by conjuring up good works out of your own inner goodness. You do not prepare yourself for God by being good, by doing righteous acts of your own. No, you prepare yourself for God by receiving His goodness, which then becomes your goodness. You get ready by putting on the clean, bright linen of His righteousness. Our hearts and hands are dirty. We can never make our clothes clean enough. You and I are not good. But it has been granted to all who ask to wear the Lamb’s linen. He is the spotless Lamb, and if you wear His linen, you stand before God completely spotless and clean. Blessed are all those who are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
Photo by Mingheras Cosmin on Unsplash
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