The Wedding Garment

No future event in all of prophecy is as exciting and encouraging to anticipate as the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb." I would not miss it for anything this world has to offer. It is the crowning moment of the believersÂ’ future. The Father has anticipated His SonÂ’s Bride, but even more, the Son has redeemed and sanctified His Bride. SolomonÂ’ book of songs was written and sung in the most beautiful of poetic language in order to celebrate this future wedding. David, the sweet singer of Israel, set the tone for his sonÂ’s faith in this future coronation by his words of prophecy.

David prophesied, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. KingsÂ’ daughters were among thy honorable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy fatherÂ’s house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him." (Psalm 45:6-11) This language is almost too beautiful to comprehend. Only the Creator could design such an event to crown the faithfulness of His saints.

Jesus spoke a parable about this wedding and warned us of the absolute necessity of being dressed in the wedding garment. There is no dressing room connected to the nuptial chamber. The garment must be a work of grace embraced by the espoused Bride in this life. In this parable, Jesus told of the King Himself visiting the guests in the outer court, and finding one of them without the wedding garment. You may ask, "How did they get in without the proper wedding attire?" The answer is, "The wedding had not begun, the music had not started." It was an awesome lesson to warn His disciples and us that there would be no exceptions. Without a wedding garment, there will be no entrance into the nuptial chamber where Majesty will meet the spotless Bride. (Matthew 22:2-14) "For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:14)

The letter that Jesus Christ sent to the Sardis church after His ascension speaks of this heavenly moment. He warned them "Â…that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." He then said, "Â…repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." (Revelation 3:1,3) Almost the entire church had defiled their wedding garments and He was plain with them about the cost of such disobedience. He then said, "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy." (Revelation 3:4) The message is strikingly clear. No one without the spotless wedding garment will be a part of this Bride.

As the Son of Man directed John the Revelator to describe the coming Great Tribulation, He pauses in the middle of the vials of wrath to proclaim, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." (Revelation 16:15)

The Blood-washed saint of God is never angry with His Lord because He demands our faithfulness. Watching and keeping our garment is our joy. We are like an excited Bride that is dressed in spotless white making our way to the bridal chamber. We care not for the empty suitor that would charm us with idle words. The pleasures of sin cannot attract the Bride that sees her Bridegroom as the fairest of ten thousand. What does this world have when it is compared to the righteousness and grace that have crowned the godly saints?

The wedding garment is the woven fabric of Divine Blood that our Bridegroom offered on the cross. This Blood does not cover your sins; it cleanses you of those sins and renders your life purged and pure. The Spirit said, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14) This is the wedding garment. It cannot be earned; it is a gift. The wedding garment is a work of grace that must be a living experience. Every day and every hour we embrace His work of redemption. The garment can be defiled by your carelessness and disobedience. His words declared, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (I John 2:1-2)

Jesus Christ said, "I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments." (Revelation 16:15a)