“Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
– Revelation 19:7-8
Before diving into these verses, let’s quickly cover the “who’s who” that’s been developed throughout the Bible and particularly in Revelation. The Lamb is Jesus, the Son of God, crucified, resurrected, and reigning in heaven. The Bride is the church. The saints are every single follower of Jesus (not just a few super-Christians).
There will be a glorious day when Jesus will return to Earth and claim His beautiful bride, which is the church around the world. In anticipation of that day, the church (each individual church and thereby the entire church as a whole) should be making herself beautiful (not in appearance but in character and action). By the power of the Holy Spirit, God has empowered His churches to do this. Unfortunately, there are currently still plenty of times when the church isn’t beautiful. Too often, fighting, pettiness, division, greed, selfishness, abuse, politics, and power make the Bride ugly as sin.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! The church has been given everything needed to be beautiful, spotless, and pure. However, that doesn’t happen automatically and it doesn’t happen through the efforts of a relative handful of church leaders. These verses tell us the beautiful fine linen that arrays the church for her wedding day consists of the good works of every follower of Jesus.
Every believer has work to do to make the Bride beautiful. If Jesus is your Lord, then you have a responsibility to help make the church beautiful. You’re not simply called to make yourself beautiful with good works, but to invest in the church (around the world) and through a church (local) with good works of love, compassion, care, justice, mercy, kindness, and sacrifice. You have a role in dressing the church for her wedding day by making disciples, going, baptizing, and teaching others to obey Jesus.
Are you, by your Christ-like good works, helping make the church more beautiful for her wedding day? If so, stay encouraged and keep up the good work. If not, it’s time to take up your sacred responsibility.