Letter #1 - Is the bride of Christ ready for His return?

“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.” 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.

(Revelation 19:7-8)

“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

(Matthew 24:42)

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

(1 John 2:28)

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

(I Timothy 6:13-14)

“Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.
(Luke 12:35-36)

Revelation 19 shows us the second coming and glorious appearing of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. God reveals in this scripture, our future state, the church, the body of Christ, as His bride. Even more striking is that the bride is presented as having made herself “ready”, bright and clean, because of the righteous acts of the saints. This is the state the church will be in when Jesus comes back. It is written.

Notice the other scriptures. While the future of the bride of Christ is written, we are still exhorted to be ready, and be alert, so that when He comes we will not find ourselves unprepared. Preparation comes through the righteous acts of the saints, or as Paul says to Timothy, to “keep the commandment” (of all sound teaching and instruction). Part of sound teaching noted in 1 John 2:28 is that we must “abide in Him”, so that we won’t be ashamed at His coming.

In our flesh, we wrestle with the two truths: that God has called us to obey Him, and that God has called us to abide in Him, or know Him. We naturally make a distinction between these things, but they are dependent on each other, not having one without the other. They are both central to making ourselves ready, as the bride of Christ for that day of His glorious appearing. Knowing Jesus more deeply naturally produces the fruit of faith and obedience that God the Father desires for the church.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

(Philippians 3:8)

While these scriptures inspire us to obey Him more and abide in Him more, there is something deeper. Because we have a command to be ready, and a unique prophetic image of the bride that is ready, these scriptures beg that we examine our hearts for the gap between the two. We must ask ourselves: are we ready? Specifically, as individuals, and as a local church body: are we ready for Christ to come back? Will we be ashamed at His coming?

God wants something very specific in regard to our readiness. He desires a church that is not afraid, not deceived, that recognizes the signs of the times they are living in, is ultimately faithful, and prepared for trials now and for the future tribulation leading to the day of His coming.

Are we ready? Are you ready?

To the degree that there is a gap between the current state of our hearts and what God wants, we must pray and we must repent.

We cannot simply try harder or promise to do better. This is not a class, a mental exercise or a lesson to learn, but action taken from a broken and contrite heart that allows God to transform us. The only way is repentance. And with repentance there is always change. A turning from one thing to another. Like the command: “Go. From now on sin no more.” (John 8:11). The word demands change.

If we are moved to brokenness, prayer and repentance, our hearts are in a position to receive God’s word and seek what God wants.

A letter to the church body from God’s deep dealings with my own heart.

All scriptures taken from the NASB 1995.