The Daily Word of Righteousness

From Imputed to Actual Righteousness, #6

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.) (Revelation 19:7,8—NIV)

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (Revelation 21:2—NIV)

The main difference I see in these two presentations, separated by the thousand years of the Kingdom Age, is that in the first instance, which I hold to be the first stage of the movement from imputation to actual righteousness, the Lamb's Bride "has made herself ready."

In the second, the Bride is "beautifully dressed for her husband." I take this to mean she has been dressed by others, possibly.

The call today, while the world is sinking into a moral cesspool, is for God's victorious saints to purify themselves. The Holy Spirit stands ready to enable us to put to death the lusts of our flesh.

Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (I John 3:3—NIV)

We must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. The fine linen with which we shall be clothed at the return of the Lord is that of our righteous acts—righteous acts as we, through the Spirit of God, have "crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."

In our day the main body of the Christian churches in America are continuing as always, trusting in a "state of grace" to keep themselves without condemnation. But here and there, there are saints who are hearing the trumpet of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is bringing to their attention the parts of their personality and behavior that are displeasing to God. They are confessing these as sins and renouncing them. The Spirit of God is helping them remove the graveclothes that bind them. They are gaining victory over worldliness, lust, and self-will.

We are entering a new era. The Kingdom of God is at hand. The Kingdom of God is the doing of God's will in the earth as it is in Heaven.

The next feast after Pentecost is the Blowing of Trumpets, the Lord's trumpet declaring war against the sin in His people. A godly remnant is hearing and responding. The destruction of Satan's entire kingdom has begun.

Has the Lord been showing you something in your personality that is unscriptural? Do not sweep it under the rug. Confess it. Renounce it. By the help of the Lord, turn away from it. Go to the Mercy Seat in Heaven and get the assistance you need. It is an eternal judgment on sin and Satan while you go free.

The whole Church is not at this point yet, but the number of believers who are pressing past Pentecost is growing each day. Why don't you be one of them?

The firstfruits of the Bride appears at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Then she follows the Lord Jesus Christ in the onslaught against the wicked of the earth. She works with Him in establishing the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14—NIV)

To be continued.