**Becoming the Bride of Christ - Part 4 **
When the Bride has prepared herself to meet the Bridegroom, she will be clothed in pure white linen.
“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 God’s holy people.)—Revelation 19:7-8 (NIV)
Fine linen represents the righteous acts of God’s people. This means there is something that we have to do. This is not something that God does for us. It is not a free gift that is part of the salvation package. This is our responsibility. This is something that we must do that goes above and beyond salvation in order to prepare to meet the Bridegroom.
In Luke 21, after Jesus describes the signs leading up to the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord’s Vengeance, He tells us that there will be some who are counted worthy to escape these things.
“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”—Luke 21:36 (NKJV)
In Revelation chapter 7, we see this group of Overcomers who have been counted worthy to escape the Great Tribulation. They are in Heaven, standing before the Son of Man, as Jesus promised. Each of these Overcomers is clothed in a white robe.
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, **clothed with white robes, **with palm branches in their hands”—Revelation 7:9 (NKJV)
In the next few verses, we discover how these Overcomers qualified to escape the Great Tribulation and to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb.
“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’
**“**And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’
“So he said to me, ‘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.** Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”—Revelation 7:13-17 (NKJV)
In order for these Overcomers to escape the horrors of the Great Tribulation, and to stand before the throne of God in Heaven, they had wash their robes and keep them spotlessly clean.
Clothed in Righteousness
Though Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, there was an exchange. He took our sin in order that we might receive His righteousness.
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”—2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
When we receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”—Isaiah 61:10 (NKJV)
“Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your saints shout for joy.” —Psalm 132:9 NKJV)
“I put on righteousness, and it clothed me”—Job 29:14 (NKJV)
But as we have seen in many Scriptures, our garments can become stained, spotted, and wrinkled through the influence and acceptance of sin, the values of the world, and deceptions of devils.
The Bride of Christ will have prepared herself to meet the Bridegroom by keeping her garments clean, pure, and white, “not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27 NKJV)
In Bob Jones’ experience, when he died in 1975, he found himself standing in a line of people who died at the same time he did. The people in this line were coming face-to-face with Jesus Christ. Bob was most concerned about whether or not he was fully prepared to meet the Lord.
“My first thought was, ‘Did I die clean? Was my robe spotted?’ Cause I had come out of such deep sin! And I was concerned to see if I was clean. And there was a man that stood alongside of me. I’ve never been able to see His face. He’s the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.
“He spoke to me and said, ‘Now look, you can see.’
“I looked and my robe was white.
“My thoughts was this. ‘Bob, you’ve finally got it made. This is the greatest day you ever lived. You’re going home to the Lord, and you are clean!’”
Bob looked down to see that his robe was pure white without a single spot or wrinkle! He was going to meet the King of Kings and he was fully prepared!
Bob Jones understood the importance of keeping his robe clean and white. Bob understood that if his robe was spotted or stained, he would not qualify to be a part of the Bride of Christ. If his robe was spotted or stained, he would not qualify to be an Overcomer. He would have experienced the eternal loss of the greatest rewards in the Kingdom of God!
Those Who Are Not Ready
In the book of Revelation, John was told to write, “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”
But for those who are not ready, it will be another story. Those who are not worthy to be clothed with the pure white linen of the Bride will regret it, as Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 22:
“And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, … But when the king came in to see the guests, **he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. **So he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”—Matthew 22:1-14 (NKJV)
Jesus gives us this exhortation in Revelation 16:15:
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and who keeps his clothes [that is, stays spiritually ready for the Lord’s return], so that he will not be naked—spiritually unprepared—and men will not see his shame.” (AMP)
Sadly, there are many, many Christians in our Laodicean Church age who are not even aware of their spiritual condition. They have no idea that they are completely unprepared to meet the Lord.
‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. Because you say, “I am rich, and have prospered and grown wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked [without hope and in great need], I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich; and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen; and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will].—Revelation 3:15-19 (AMP)
Without clean, white garments, we will not qualify to be included among the ranks of the Overcomers who will become the Bride of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was Jesus’ message to the church in Sardis.
“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. **He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments”—**Revelation 3:4-5 (NKJV)
Overcomers must be willing to lay down their lives in complete consecration and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.”—Revelation 12:11 (AMP)
We see an entire group of these Overcomers receiving white robes when the fifth seal is opened in Revelation chapter 6:
“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.”—Revelation 6:9-11 (NKJV)
In this way, the Overcomers possess the mind of Christ, their souls having been transformed into His image through the work of sanctification, washed with the blood of the Lamb and the Word of God.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and **became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. **Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:5-11 (NKJV)
When those who are counted worthy to be included in the armies of God return to earth with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, they will be clothed in pure, white linen.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who was riding it is called Faithful and True (trustworthy, loyal, incorruptible, steady), and in righteousness He judges and wages war [on the rebellious nations]. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many royal crowns; and He has a name inscribed [on Him] which no one knows or understands except Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, [dazzling] white and clean, followed Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword (His word) with which He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He will tread the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty [in judgment of the rebellious world]. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name inscribed, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”—Revelation 19:11-16 (AMP)
Seeing into the future, Enoch assured us that these are not armies of angels. Those who return with the Lord in the armies of Heaven are disciples of Christ. These are Overcomers, worthy to be dressed in pure, white linen.
“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”—Jude 14-15 (NKJV)
Those who will be closest to the Lord throughout eternity will dressed in clean, white robes.
“Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting,** clothed in white robes**; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.”—Revelation 4:4 (NKJV)
But how do we clean our robes to make them white, removing all of the spots and stains?
That is what we’ll focus on next.
**References: **
Davis, P. K. Webinar 71 | Clothed with Christ. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePVZT4a1xA
Jones, B. Bob Jones - prophesy, near death experience, heavenly encounter. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOmWbN8T81U
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