March 31 - Hallelujah! (pt. 2)

March 31 – Hallelujah (pt. 2)
Revelation 19:6

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

Take a moment to get that sensation in your mind. Allow the immensity and grandeur of those sounds to build up within you.

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.”

Handel heard the power of that sound and responded with music from His soul. My heart can barely contain the emotion of the moment as I hear what He wrote in response to reading this text. Great multitudes, rushing waters, peals of thunder. Hallelujah!

“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)” (Rev. 19:7-8)

The bride is here. The wedding is occurring.

This wedding now focuses on the bridegroom, not the bride. The bride has made herself ready to be presented to her groom. In this day and age, the focus is completely on the bride. When I owned a printshop, I saw a lot of brides and their mothers coming in to order invitations. Everything revolved around her needs and desires, prepared to her specifications.

On that day – the church – the bride, will prepare itself for the bridegroom – the Lamb. At the end of Revelation 19:8, we see an aside, a note telling us that the righteous acts of the saints are the fine linen of the bride’s dress.

“…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (Phil. 3:9)

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10)

Every single righteous act that a Christian performs becomes part of this wedding gown. Think about that! As overwhelming as this entire book of the Bible can be as we read it, each of us individually is part of the whole. Our righteousness in Jesus Christ – through God – is a part of the raiment of the Bride. All of this is being done so that we can be in the throne room participating in worship.