6-8 Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, the sound of strong thunder:
Hallelujah! The Master reigns, our God, the Sovereign-Strong! Let us celebrate, let us rejoice, let us give him the glory! The Marriage of the Lamb has come; his Wife has made herself ready. She was given a bridal gown of bright and shining linen. The linen is the righteousness of the saints. (Revelation 19:7-8 MSG)
“… just as the Messiah also loved the congregation and gave Himself over on her behalf, so that He would sanctify His wife, the congregation, the bride, making her pure by washing with the word of Torah, in order that He would present for Himself the glorious congregation, not having spot or wrinkle or any of such things but so that His bride would be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25b -27 ONM) This scripture in the Hebrew is speaking in part of an actual Jewish wedding where they sing the Songs of Songs which gives the voices of two lovers a man and woman, praising each other, yearning for each other, giving an allegorical romantic expression of the love between God and man. It also expresses that He is coming for a congregation-like a body that has many parts; other words in the original writing this passage means to join, new covenant, complete, whole, entire, integrity, truth, perfect, sincerity, sound, undefiled, upright, whole, glorious, and to be a partner truly connected with the Source Of All so deep and powerful that His words would be fulfilled. This doesn’t sound like He is coming back for a bride dressed in sackcloth and ashes, but for a pure bride adorned in holy apparel, because she has kept her body a holy temple for Him.
Think about this on a natural level of a wedding someone might have-if you were a groom standing at the altar, waiting for the bride to make her entrance. Everybody in attendance stands with the groom in excited anticipation to see her come in. They are expecting to see her adorned in beauty after hours of going through selections at the bridal shop for that perfect dress, every hair is in place after hours at the beautician, the beauty of her face shining after the awesome work of the makeup artist, and the pretty shoes worn on feet that has been painstakingly scrubbed of all dead skin and beautifully polished toenails done by the pedicurist. The doors open and she walks in, but she looks like she just woke up, her hair has not been combed, her shoes are flapping as she is trying to walk down the aisle, because they are coming apart from the soles; the dress looks like it was designed and made from an old potato sack. How receptive would you be as groom if your bride presented herself to you looking like that? How much more does our glorious Lord and Savior deserve when he comes to receive us?
That’s why we need to have that encounter with Him so that healing and restoration can come. Let’s not waddle anymore in all the issues we are facing so that our garments won’t be stained with the muck of life. Jesus died on the cross not just for our salvation, but so that every conceivable bondage could be broken and would not hold us back from His plan. He wants to receive a beautiful glorious bride when He comes back in the clouds. If it is your desire to be the bride the Lord is coming for, you need to be spiritually prepared. You need to grow and mature in the Lord, and understand that healthy growth starts from the inside, not the outside. This will make us the bride ready to be caught up to meet our soon coming King!
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