Say Yes to the Dress

Revelation 19:6-9

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2019%3A6-9&version=NIV;MSG;AMP

  

Getting ready for your wedding can be very stressful. In our American culture, it normally falls to the bride and her mother to plan the event. Everything has to be perfect; the dresses, the reception, the music, and did I mention flowers.

 

At my wedding, the cut glass vase for the flowers couldn’t be found. As a result, the flower bouquet sat in the front of the church in a blue plastic beach pail. If there is one thing that you can count on at a wedding, it’s that something will go wrong.

 

If the bride is the focal point of a wedding, her dress is the spotlight. There’s even a reality TV show called Say Yes to the Dress. It’s all about picking the perfect dress at Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan, which will cost at least $1300 and possibly as much as $40,000. Perfection!

 

Even John focuses on the wedding dress of the bride.

The Marriage of the Lamb has come;
    his Wife has made herself ready.
She was given a bridal gown
    of bright and shining linen.
The linen is the righteousness of the saints.     MSG

 

Here, the bride is a metaphor for the church. In this picture, the bride is preparing herself; getting ready for the groom, which is Jesus. According to the Amplified Bible, “the fine linen signifies the righteous acts of the saints [the ethical conduct, personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character of believers]”.

 

In this verse she (the church) is given a gown of righteousness. That is to say, the righteousness that only Jesus, the King of Kings, can give us through his death and resurrection. Or as Paul wrote in Romans 13,”…clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

So go ahead, Say Yes to the Dress. I’m not referring to the perfect gown to shine on the bride, but to the gown of righteousness that makes it possible for us to come into the presence of the groom and say with the multitude, “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.”