The Bride Makes Herself Ready - thectp.org

1 Session 6 Called to make Ourselves Ready 1. Out of th e Fat her s gr eat lo ve for Hi s Son , He i s dete r-mine d to giv e Je su s a wif e wort hy o f H is m a jest ic spl endo r an d g re at sa crif ice. If y ou w er e sea rching for a wife f or you r son , y ou would not want him to marr y a woman who w as un-faithful to him a woma n who flirted with other men, who was c aptivated by othe r love rs, or wh o was deeply enm esh ed in the wo rld.

2 You w ould only give him a wife who was t otally de-voted t o y our son, who loved him faithfully, and who sev e red all ties f rom ev ery c ompr omising re lation-ship. The sam e is true with our heav enly Father. The Fathe r will only give Je sus th e v er y b est. 2. The S cri ptur es te ll u s t hat ev ery b el iev er w ho w ant s to be th e eter na l wi fe of Je sus m ust mak e thems elv es rea dy. Many believe rs mistake nly think that they have al-read y mad e th ems elves r eady just b ecaus e the y a re Christians.

3 Many believ e that since they m ade a This se ss ion cov ers : The c all to make ou rs elves r eady The distinction between the bet roth ed Bride of Christ and the et ernal wife of the L amb Thre e w ays that we ma ke our selves r eady This se ss ion cor re spo nds to: Session 6 of Und er standing the Bride o f Chri st CDs 67 The Bride Makes Herself Ready 68 Understanding the Bride of Christ decision to f ollow Christ, said the sinners p ra ye r at th e chur ch altar, attend church e ve ry Su nday, sing wo rship son gs, say amen to the pastor s m es sag e, and are r elatively good pe o ple, they have already made them selve s r eady.

4 As important a s thes e t hings ar e, they d o n ot automatically make you read y as a w orthy b ride. Sev eral sc riptures confirm the ne ed to mak e o urselve s read y. A v er y important one is: Let u s rejoice and b e g lad and give the glor y to Him, fo r the marriage of the Lamb h as c ome and His Bride h as made he rs elf read y. It wa s given to her t o clothe he rs elf in fine linen, bright and clean; for th e fine linen is the righteous ac ts of the saints. Then he said to me, W rite, Bless ed a re tho s e who ar e invited to the ma rriage suppe r of the Lamb.

5 And he said to m e, Thes e a r e tru e w ord s o f G od (R ev. 19:7-9). Another of thes e s criptures is the parable of t he wedding feast (Matt. 22:1-14). Jesus begins this parable by saying that the kingdom of heaven can be compa r ed to a king who gave a wedding feast f or his son. As th e sto ry g o es, the king sent out his slaves to bring pe ople to the fea st. First, he s ent them to thos e who ha d already been invited b u t w e r e u n w illin g t o c o m e.

6 H e s e n t o t h e r s l a v e s t o t e l l th e p e o p l e that ever ything was Ready , but this group paid no attention to the in-vitation. The third grou p who w as invited per s ecuted and e ven killed the slaves. Finally, the slaves w ent to the highways t o invite all they could find. As a result, the wedding hall was filled with those who a c-cepted the invitation. But an interesting obse rvation follows. The king came in to look ove r the dinner guest s and f ound one man who wa s not dre ss ed in wedding clothes. The improp erly dr es sed man was immediately rem ov ed fr om the ma rriage fe ast.

7 Wh y? H e had a cc epted the invitation, but he had not clothed himself in wedding garments. Tha t is, he had not mad e himself re ady. Matthew 24 r ec o rds J es us w ord s t o His disciples ab out the e vents su r-rounding His s ec ond c oming. H e t ells them many things, but on e statem ent stands out. E ven though not spe cifically about His Bride , He tells His followers in the end times: Be on the alert, fo r y o u do not know which day you r Lo rd is coming. But be sur e of this, that if the head o f the hous e had known at what time o f the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to b e br ok en into.

8 Fo r this reason y o u also must be Ready ; fo r the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will (Matt. 24:42-44). Again, the familiar end-time theme eme rge s: b e Ready ! One chapt er later , but still a continuation of H is message fr om Mat-thew 24, J esus tells the parable of the 10 virgins. As the pa rable go es, 69 10 virgins we re waiting f or the B ridegro om t o c ome f o r th e w edding feast.

9 Five we re r eady and five wer e not. Only those wh o w er e r eady went in. Notice what J es us say s: And while they w e re g oing away to mak e the pur chas e, the bridegro om cam e, and those wh o we r e r eady went in with him to the w edding feast; a nd the do or was shut (Matt. 25:10). Once again, we s ee tha t only those who mak e themselve s r eady will be the et ernal wife of the Lamb . 3. In add itio n, the re ar e a nu mbe r of ot her S cript ure s th at a ll ude to the brid e mak ing he rs elf rea dy by clot hin g her self i n wh ite g arm ent s, f ine lin en, or w edd ing cl ot hes.

10 In R ev elation, the m es sages to the chu rche s at Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea all refer t o similar concepts , sug gesting that only those who ov er com e will be p repa red a s a w orthy b ride fo r J esu s (R ev. 3:4-5, 3:12, and 3:18-21). In the Old Te stament, se ve ral allegorical pictures f rom othe r b oo ks make th e sam e p oint. The Bride o f Ch rist must make h er self r eady . Just like a Bride in an ancient Jewish wedding made her own dr es s, w e are called to mak e our s elves r eady and put o n our w edding clothes by living in obedience to the H oly Spirit.