What does it mean for the Bride of Christ, "the Lamb's wife," to "make herself ready"? (Rev. 19:7). In trying to respond I would "walk humbly with [my] God" (Micah 6:8). Revelation was not written except with tears (5:4), and can be understood only by those who have accepted the "yoke" of Christ and are "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29).
"The Lamb's wife" is NOT what the best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, says. There is, and there has been no woman on earth who could qualify to be the Bride of Christ, the Son of God. "She" is "the church [who] is subject unto Christ," not resisting Him, not crucifying Him afresh (Eph. 5:23-32; Heb. 6:6).
The only "church" mentioned in Revelation that could be a candidate seems to be the seventh of history, the last--Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-21). Reverent-minded scholars through the centuries have seen in verse 20 that "the faithful and true Witness" identifies her with the bride-to-be of Song of Solomon 5:2-8, who spurned her only true lover (the "knocking at the door" is a direct quote from the Septuagint version that Jesus and the apostles used). Obviously, before the "marriage" can take place, "she" will do what He commands, "repent" (Rev. 3:19). The Song of Solomon represents her as seeking her lost Lover, but almost in vain.
The "making herself ready" seems to suggest a repentance which she has at last chosen to receive, not reject (all true repentance is a gift from the Lord, Acts 5:31).
"And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints (dikaiomata)" (Rev. 19:8). It's Christ's righteousness which has now at last been imparted, not merely legally imputed. It's His righteousness lived out in His church. It glorifies Christ, its Source. It's a beautiful demonstration to close the great controversy between Christ and Satan.
Let's remember: we can't believe in the Bridegroom unless we choose to believe also in "the Lamb's wife"--that she will repent. They are "one flesh"-to-be.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 3, 2004.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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