Are You Ready?

“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. Revelation 19:7-8

The whole purpose of the Lord dying on the cross is that He might have for Himself a beautiful, glorious Church. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. The marriage of the Lamb and His wife is really the union between Jesus and His Church. But the second coming of Jesus will only take place when the Church has made itself ready. What do we mean by “being ready”? Revelation 19:8 says that the Bride is ready when she has put on her wedding garment. There are three important features about this garment:

1. The garment is made of linen. Why linen? Linen is a material that is very comfortable to wear. Ezekiel 44:18 says, “They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.” What is sweat? Sweat is associated with the curse that has put man under labor (Gen. 3:19). There are two forms of righteousness: one by human works and another by God’s grace. The righteousness that is typified by linen speaks of the righteousness by grace. Christianity is unique among all other belief systems in the world in that it teaches a salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9).
2. The garment is clean. Cleanliness comes when you are washed by the Word of God (5:26). This means that your life must be governed by the Word of God. Not only does the Word cleanse you, it also sanctifi es you—making you holy unto God.
3. The garment is white. Revelation 7:14 says, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The color white speaks of the righteousness we have through the forgiveness of sins. And it is the precious blood of Jesus that washes us white as snow.

Are you ready to meet the Lord at His coming? Do you have the linen garment? Is it clean and white? Revelation 16:15 says, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” God doesn’t take away our salvation but we can lose it. There are two sides to the gospel: God’s side and our side. There is no problem with the former but it is the latter that we need to be careful about.