The Bride has made herself ready … or has she?
Click here, then on the "Listen button" to hear this article. - Enjoy - Rogersings +8^)

“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.  – Revelation 19:7-8

From the scripture above, the Bride of Christ, has made herself ready for the marriage by clothing herself in the fine linen that was “given” to her for her “righteous” acts.  This clothing of fine linen is something given to the Bride by the Groom while she is in Heaven, at the Judgement Seat of Christ, for the good works she has done on earth, and the marriage is something that is getting ready to happen on earth “after” the seven year Tribulation period.  There is a lot to consider in this verse because the Church is the Bride of Christ, and we will clothed with fine linen in Heaven to the degree that we faithfully served Christ on earth.

‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.  – Revelation 3:5

 As scripture states, anyone who is born again is a new creation in Christ Jesus … an overcomer in Christ (1 John 5:4-5).  Therefore, as an overcomer, each believer in Heaven will be clothed in a white garment and their name will remain written in the “book of life”.   There won’t be anyone running around naked in Heaven but it is possible that some white robe will shine more than others, reflecting a person’s degree of faithfulness on earth.   We are not saved “by” good our works but we are saved “for” good works that Christ has prepared for us, and those good works will be evaluated in Heaven at the Judgement seat of Christ.  If we faithfully do the good works prepared for us while on earth we will receive crowns, rewards of service in Heaven and fine linen clothing that reflects our love for Christ for all to see.

Some people use scriptures to scare a Christian into serving Christ by making him think he can loose his salvation but this is bad teaching and results in the wrong motive and reason to serve Christ.  There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) and a Christian should always rejoice because he will never be condemned and loose his salvation, since salvation is gift from God that He security keeps once you have accepted it.  The problem with carnal Christians in the body of Christ who don’t pursue their born again identity or who repeatedly get saved week after week is mostly due to bad teaching and discipleship in many of the churches today.  This is not true of all churches and praise God the pastors in our small church preach the good word of God alone and preach about the life of value of living a life of sacrifice and service to Christ. 

“But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  Luke 21:36

I’ve seen people use the above scripture to scare Christians into thinking that if they don’t pray enough they will not escape the wrath of the Tribulation, be left behind while the others Christians are rapture and even loose their salvation.  This intent of the scripture is remind the believer that he is privileged and “he will escape the Tribulation” by a pre-Tribulation rapture.  Because we are saved from God’s wrath we should have an attitude of gratitude toward God and look forward to being with Jesus, who saved us from our sin.  We are to stay alert to the signs of the times and pray that we are serving Him faithfully, doing His will, so we will receive a full reward and joy when Jesus appears!  Our praying is meant to strengthen our faith and assurance in Christ.  It is not meant to scare us into thinking Christ will abandon us, if we don’t pray enough.  More importantly, Jesus wants His bride, the Church, to watch and anticipate His appearing and the Great wedding day!  here is even a reward for those who watch and for His appearing.

in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. – 2 Timothy 4:8

No one other than Jesus Christ can live a perfect life.  We are all born sinner with a nature of rebellion toward God and a born again Christian still retains his rebellious sin nature, while he also receives a new perfect Godly Spiritual nature.  We are to daily fight against our sin nature and live by our Godly nature  … this is the “die2live” message of this web site.  When we sin we are to confess our sin and return to fellowship with Christ (1 John 1:9).  Our motivation in serving Christ is to have God’s joy in us because we are living a holy life.  

Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  – Nehemiah 8:10

Happiness is a byproduct of holiness.  Happiness is a blessing that God bestows upon a believer based on the degree to which they are living a holy life unto Christ.   The song “Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus” is true.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight always, LORD, my rock and my redeemer. – Psalm 18:14

As  born again Christ, each of us is to prepare like a Bride to meet her Groom, Jesus.  Each person who is born in Christ Jesus is a bride to Christ (yes, men you are a bride from a Spiritual standpoint) and each of us is to prepare like a bride to meet the Groom.  The time is now, when we are to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, in order to transform our mind by our new Spiritual nature and do the good works that Christ has prepared for us to do.  In this way we will have a rich reward in Heaven, our eternal home.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. – Philippians 1:6

God is going to complete the good work that he has begun in each believer and His Bride will be made ready in Heaven, clothed in fine linen, to enjoy Christ and serve Him forever but the degree of our joy in Heaven will be based on the degree of service to Christ on earth.  Don’t you see, “joy” is based on our the degree of holiness we pursue in our life on earth now.  Holiness is the secret to happiness on earth and in Heaven!  It’s not meant to be a secret but this teaching should be shouted fro the rooftops, unfortunately the failure to teach this Biblical principle correctly has made it a secret to many Christians.

I will close with this message from Peter where he explains that we are to be holy and Godly as we look for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to take us to our eternal holy home.

Purpose of This Letter  – 2 Peter 3

1This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

 

The Coming Day of the Lord

3Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

      8But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

A New Heaven and Earth

10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

      11Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

      14Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,18but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

 

About

I'm a born again child of God loving and serving my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share
Translate »