The Bride has made herself ready!
By Helen Jesze, 19th February 2021
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready, “
Rev. 19, 7 ESV
“…so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless,”
Eph. 5, 26 + 27 Amplified Bible
A few nights ago I had an unusual dream, which seemed to be prophetic. I dreamt that my husband and I had been invited to the wedding of a young lady whom we knew personally, but we did not know the bridegroom. As this young lady was a fine Christian of exemplary character, we were looking forward to meeting her groom. In my dream there was no wedding service but all the guests were seated at tables, and I was one of those serving out the food. The first time I came near to where the bride was sitting, the groom was nowhere to be seen. The next time I approached her, he was standing next to her, and as he turned round, I gasped in surprise. We happened to know this young man, who went to a different church than his bride-to-be, and we knew something of his character, which left much to be desired.
I stared in dismay at the bride-groom. His hair was greasy and unkempt, his clothes were dirty and looked as though he had slept in them. His nails had dirt under them and his tie was all askew – how could he have turned up to his wedding in such a state! How could this young woman have chosen this man to be her husband? If he showed her such a lack of love and respect on his wedding-day, what would the rest of their lives be like?! Then my gaze fell on a wedding-invitation lying on the table, and I saw the actual date for the wedding was in another four months, not today! That day was a kind of special party in preparation – the wedding-day had not yet arrived! Then the thought came to me in my dream – Reprieve – and the words seemed to be spoken: “The Bride has made herself ready!” Then I woke up, with the dream still vivid in my mind and these words, repeating in my spirit.
Every born-again Christian is invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which will take place one day in Heaven. “The Lamb” is our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Pascal Lamb, by his death becoming God’s sacrifice for sins. Being now bought by his blood, accepting and believing in him, we will one day be part of the worldwide Church, accepted as his Bride.
My dream showed a bridegroom who was in a disgusting state and not fit for his bride. When we look at our lives and the Church in general, we must ask ourselves the question: “Are we ready to meet our Bridegroom?” In our Bible verses, we see two works of preparation taking place. One is done by the bride, herself: “She has made herself ready.”
The other work of preparation is done by our Lord Jesus. He washes us by the water of his Word and his blood, sanctifying us, cleansing us, so that he might present his children to himself, making them glorious, with no blemish or sin in them.
We are drawing nearer to the End of Time as we know it now and that Marriage Supper, and still have opportunity to ‘make ourselves ready’, although we do not know how much time it wil actually be. Just as I saw the wedding-day was four months later and had the thought “Reprieve”, (which means a putting-off until a later date, a postponing or cancellation of punishment), we also have time to prepare ourselves, putting away those things which would harm our spiritual lives, making us unfit for our Bridegroom.
If we ask him, the Holy Spirit will show us what those things are, and as we reach out to the Lord, confessing our sin, reading and searching the Scriptures, we will be washed and sanctified. We have a part to play and God has a part to play in our preparation as his Bride.
Would we be ready if he called us today? Let’s make sure we are!
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