A Prepared Bride

In the book of Revelation, John records the following:

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

"Hallelujah!

For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

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 the saints.)

Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God." Rev. 19:6-9 NIV

The bride of the Lamb has made herself ready. She is prepared for the groom's arrival, for their wedding, for the feast and for the marriage to follow! And how has she prepared herself? She has clothed herself in fine linen which represents the righteous acts of the saints. In other words, to prepare herself for her groom, she acted righteously! She did something!

Let us be certain of who this bride is.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul compared the relationship of Christ and the church to that of a husband and wife.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Eph. 5:25-33 NIV

Jesus wants to present to Himself a bride that is without stain or wrinkle – a bride fully prepared!

Paul also wrote to the church at Corinth,

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 2 Cor. 11:2 NIV

Even Paul wanted to present to Christ a bride who was pure.

I join with them! I want to see the bride, the body of Christ, the believers, prepared for her Groom. Not caught unaware, but prepared!

We find a reference to preparing for a wedding feast in a parable that Jesus taught.

"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'

"'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'

"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour”. Matt. 25:1-13 NIV

In this parable, Jesus presents to us an image or a description of what the kingdom of heaven will be like in the last days because He says, “At that time..”. If you read the context, you will see that Jesus is answering a question the disciples had concerning the sign of His coming and of the end of the age. (Matt. 24:3)

What is both sobering and encouraging is that half of those who were part of the wedding party did not enter in because they were lazy and unprepared. The encouraging part comes when we notice that at the time of the Bridegroom's arrival, all of them were asleep. However, those who were prepared were allowed in.

From this, we know several things. We know that this parable deals with the end of the age and Jesus' return. We know that this is what the kingdom of heaven will be like. In other words, what things are going to be like for those in the kingdom, those under His rule – the saved, the believers. We also know that only those prepared are going to enter into the wedding banquet.

What was that? Only those prepared will be saved?

No, only those prepared will enter into the wedding banquet, the marriage supper of the Lamb. More on this later in these writings. Read 1 Corinth. 3:13-15 for a preview.

Admittedly, this is an unusual biblical stance. If I am wrong and every believer regardless of their faithfulness and obedience enters in, have we lost anything by being prepared? No! However, if I am right and only the prepared enjoy the wedding feast and the rest follow later, we will have lost much by not challenging God's people to be prepared!

Let's take a look at a number of passages from the Revelation itself. In chapters 2 and 3, Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches. My point here is not eschatology but preparedness. The Lord concludes each letter with a challenge.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Rev. 2:7 NIV

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Rev. 2:11 NIV

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. Rev. 2:17 NIV

To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations- 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery'-just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Rev. 2:26-29 NIV

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Rev. 3:5-6 NIV

Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Rev. 3:12-13 NIV

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Rev. 3:21-22 NIV

Included in each challenge is the statement “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”. This sounds very much like a passage in the book of Hebrews.

So, as the Holy Spirit says:

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" Heb. 3:7-11 NIV

I challenge you, today, to hear His voice and not harden your heart.

Clearly stated in the verses in Revelation, a reward is prepared and available for anyone and everyone who overcomes, who subdues, walks in the grace of God that is available and fulfills his or her destiny!

We have this legacy in Christ.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 NIV

And from the apostle John,

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:3-5 NIV

Paul wrote to the Roman believers that no matter what we face “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”. Rom. 8:37 NIV

The Father is entreating us to prepare ourselves for the soon coming of the Bridegroom. I do not have a timetable but I do sense an urgency that we, the people of God, be about the Father's business. The wise virgins were prepared and even though the Bridegroom tarried in His coming and they fell asleep, because their were prepared ahead of time, they were ready in an instant to enter in. The rest of this publication is dedicated to that purpose.

Written in 1969 by the father of Jesus Rock and Roll, Larry Norman, the song entitled, “I Wish We'd All Been Ready” puts things in perspective.

Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor.
I wish we'd all been ready.
Children died, the days grew cold,
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold.
I wish we'd all been ready.
There's no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you've been left behind.

A man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise, she turns her head, he's gone!
I wish we'd all been ready.
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and one's left standing still.
I wish we'd all been ready.
There's no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you've been left behind.

There's no time to change your mind.
How could you have been so blind?
The Father spoke, the demons dined,
The Son has come and you've been left behind.
You've been left behind
You've been left behind!

© 1969 Beechwood Music Corp. and J.C. Love Publishing Co.

All rights controlled and administered by Beechwood Music Corp. (BMI). All rights reserved.

I do not want to see any unprepared, taken by surprise or left out. I believe that just as in the days of Jesus' first coming, so it is that there needs to be and shall be released the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way.

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." Mal. 4:5-6 NIV

Anyone who studies Biblical prophecy understands that Old Testament prophesies often have more than one application or interpretation referred to as “The Law of Double Reference. For instance, Strong of Strong's Systematic Theology states,

Certain prophecies apparently contain a fullness of meaning which is not exhausted by the event to which they most obviously and literally refer. A prophecy which had a partial fulfillment at a time not remote from its utterance, may find its chief fulfillment in an event far distant. ... Instances of the double sense of prophecy may be found in Is. 7:14-16 ... Hos. 11:1 .... (Augustus H. Strong, Systematic Theology, Revell, 1907, page 138)

James Gray states the following after describing the historical situation at the time Isaiah spoke to king Ahab as recorded in Isaiah 7.

But while this is the historical setting of the prophecy, the Holy Spirit uses it, as we see from Matthew 1:23, as applicable in a higher sense to the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is in accordance with a "law of double reference" frequently employed in the Word of God, by which two events are blended in one, having a near and partial, and also a remote and complete fulfillment. (James M. Gray, Bible Problems Explained, Revell, 1913, page 30)

Even my earlier mention of Paul's writing about the relationship of a husband and wife has a double reference in that he also is speaking of Christ and the church.

There was a need for “Elijah” to come and prepare the way for the Lord's first coming, His manifestation as Servant and Savior, so it is that there is a need and a precedent for those with the spirit of Elijah to be raised up once again to prepare the way for the Lord's second coming when He will be manifested as King of kings and Lord of Lords.

The angel Gabriel said to Zechariah concerning the birth of John the Baptist,

Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:16-17 NIV

Thirty years ago, I received this word from God and it has influenced my life, every decision I have made. It has matured and been seasoned within me for such a time as this. Now is the time for there to be raised up those with that same spirit that Elijah had, that John the Baptist had. A clarion call from the Father's heart, entreating His children to be restored, to be prepared for the Bridegroom, for the wedding feast and for the marriage to follow.

It is we who choose by our action or inaction, by our obedience or disobedience, to be prepared for the Bridegroom's coming. The scriptures are clear.

John the Apostle wrote in his first letter,

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 NIV

If you are prepared, ready with wicks trimmed and lamps filled, you enter into the wedding feast even if you fall asleep. However, if you are not prepared, not only do you not enter in, but you are not even recognized!

Choose you this day whom you will serve!