Aug. 27, 2014 MAKING YOURSELF READY
Revelation 19:7: “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.” In the book of Revelation we get a glimpse of the purposes of God and we see His plan unfolding in the earth and in the heavens. There are two major themes in Revelation, and really all of scripture; one is the total defeat of Satan and his followers and the second, the total redemption of those who have been purchase by the blood of Christ. Believers make up the church which is referred to as the bride of Christ and the great event coming for the bride is the marriage supper of the Lamb. In the verse above we see that the bride has made herself ready. The obvious mandate for us is to be making ourselves ready and throughout Revelation we see how we are to make ourselves ready. As said in previous blogs, we see many times the admonition of being “overcomers” in this life and we learned that we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, our testimony, and by “not loving our lives even to death”. (See last two blogs). Back to the marriage supper that is yet to come-who can imagine how awesome it will be. In verse 19:7-8 we read: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And 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.” The “righteous acts” and good deeds we are to be engaged in are a result of us being made righteous in Him-that’s who we are now-people that are doing “righteous acts”. Apple trees produce apples and pear trees produce pears-the tree is known by it’s fruit. What are “righteous acts”? In a sense, we are to clothe ourselves with righteous acts. Basically, anything we do can and should be righteous acts if they are done in faith and in obedience to what God has said and may say to us. For a starter, just put the “one another” verses into action-love one another, pray for one another, exhort one another, and etc. Then, implement the teachings of scripture; be obedient to what the scriptures teach-be a giver, forgive others, grow in your faith, be honest, prefer others above yourself, be faithful, study the word, worship God, think the right thoughts, visit the sick and etc. Many have bought into the lie that says that all that matters is that we know Jesus as our savior. That is certainly important, but it is only the beginning. (A good question to ask is; “why are we saved”? It’s for more than just going to heaven.) As we mature in the faith, our life will more closely resemble the life of Jesus as Jesus is our example. Let us not lose sight of what glorious things are to come- that is, glorious for those who have made themselves ready. A wonderful side benefit of being in the process of making ourselves ready and being an overcomer, is that we find purpose in life, we are not defeated by the “world system” and all of its troubles, we find that God gives us wisdom and we are at peace. May we not be so caught in the here and now that we forget our destiny. I look forward to seeing you at the marriage supper of the Lamb! (I heard that it’s going to be out of this world!)
Revelation 19:9: “And he said to me, “Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ “ And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Blessings,
Buddy
Revelation 19:7: “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.” In the book of Revelation we get a glimpse of the purposes of God and we see His plan unfolding in the earth and in the heavens. There are two major themes in Revelation, and really all of scripture; one is the total defeat of Satan and his followers and the second, the total redemption of those who have been purchase by the blood of Christ. Believers make up the church which is referred to as the bride of Christ and the great event coming for the bride is the marriage supper of the Lamb. In the verse above we see that the bride has made herself ready. The obvious mandate for us is to be making ourselves ready and throughout Revelation we see how we are to make ourselves ready. As said in previous blogs, we see many times the admonition of being “overcomers” in this life and we learned that we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, our testimony, and by “not loving our lives even to death”. (See last two blogs). Back to the marriage supper that is yet to come-who can imagine how awesome it will be. In verse 19:7-8 we read: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And 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.” The “righteous acts” and good deeds we are to be engaged in are a result of us being made righteous in Him-that’s who we are now-people that are doing “righteous acts”. Apple trees produce apples and pear trees produce pears-the tree is known by it’s fruit. What are “righteous acts”? In a sense, we are to clothe ourselves with righteous acts. Basically, anything we do can and should be righteous acts if they are done in faith and in obedience to what God has said and may say to us. For a starter, just put the “one another” verses into action-love one another, pray for one another, exhort one another, and etc. Then, implement the teachings of scripture; be obedient to what the scriptures teach-be a giver, forgive others, grow in your faith, be honest, prefer others above yourself, be faithful, study the word, worship God, think the right thoughts, visit the sick and etc. Many have bought into the lie that says that all that matters is that we know Jesus as our savior. That is certainly important, but it is only the beginning. (A good question to ask is; “why are we saved”? It’s for more than just going to heaven.) As we mature in the faith, our life will more closely resemble the life of Jesus as Jesus is our example. Let us not lose sight of what glorious things are to come- that is, glorious for those who have made themselves ready. A wonderful side benefit of being in the process of making ourselves ready and being an overcomer, is that we find purpose in life, we are not defeated by the “world system” and all of its troubles, we find that God gives us wisdom and we are at peace. May we not be so caught in the here and now that we forget our destiny. I look forward to seeing you at the marriage supper of the Lamb! (I heard that it’s going to be out of this world!)
Revelation 19:9: “And he said to me, “Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ “ And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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