The Dress Dichotomy

Let us be glad and rejoice,
    and let us give honor to him.
For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,
    and his bride has prepared herself.
⁸ She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”
    For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.~ Rev 19:7-8

Think of this as a part two to my Friday blog about the bride making herself ready.

The dichotomy of the title to today's blog arises from the age old interplay between faith and good works.

Friday's blog gave it's primary attention to the works side of the image of the bride.  The garments she is to wear to her wedding are the good deeds of the saints (v8).

And in Some cases the bride can take sole responsibility and credit for her dress.  Some brides design and make their own dress and pay for the whole thing. 

In my experience they are few and far between,  and they deserve all the credit.

But here we must look at the imagery with the eye of a theologian rather than the eye of a wedding guest.

Our good deeds,  apart from the grace of God are like dirty rags.

As a bride it is as if we walked backwards through a hedge and then rolled in a muddy puddle just before entering the church.

Indeed we do not deserve to be wearing white.  We are no shrinking violet,  no blushing bride,  We have a history.  We have been 'damaged goods'.

No we are not here on the merit of our moral integrity or our virgin purity.

But that purity is bestowed on us.

We are given the dress to wear.  It is a gift.  We are made pure by The groom and the Father of the groom. All our past sins atoned for.  Our slate wiped clean.
We are in a state of grace.  Praise God.

And just like many brides have the dress made for them,  the Father has prepared our wedding dress for us.  Just like so many brides have their dress paid for (but not all!) He has paid for ours with his life.

And just as a bride is helped into her dress on the day,  he has  dressed us in his own righteousness.

This kind of radiance and purity you cannot buy with all of human wealth.  This kind of beauty you cannot achieve with any amount of human effort,  no matter how hard you try.

This makeover is a gift.

And it's not just external.  It's not,  as many brides experience,  the pretense of purity.

No.

He changes our very nature and purifies us from the inside out.

Amazing grace.

But we must not overlook the deeds themselves.
For with grace they are an adornment,  more glittering than jewellery.

They are our love gift to our Lord from a grateful heart.

You see grace does not just clean us,  but it changes us.

God's grace is given that our hearts be transformed,  as much as that we be forgiven.

Where sin abounds,  his grace abounds more. Hallelujah.

But shall we go on sinning that grace may abound more? 

By no means.

This is the paradox.

Our good deeds are dirty rags.
Yet we are saved for good works.

For we are God's workmanship,  created for good works in christ.

So although we can do nothing to add to our righteousness yet our deeds,  (faith expressing itself in love) will bring pleasure to our grooms heart,  and will beautify us on the big day.

I love this.

We can not get too comfortable with either grace or works apart from each other. They go hand in hand.

Today,  may we live as forgiven. With the weight of sin lifted but with the easy yoke of good deeds in place,  to please you lord.

This day,
And all days.

Amen