Revelation 19:6-10:
"And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted (given) to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said me, "These are the true sayings of God." And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
God has given us the fine linen that's clean and bright! Yes, we do "acts" of righteousness as we work out our faith through our obedience to Christ, our love to others, our kindness, faithfulness, enduring hardship, living lives that are set apart or holy to the Lord in gratitude for what He has done for us. We cannot even get into the feast without Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Even with whatever righteous acts we have done, it is not enough to enter into the presence of a holy God.
My words of "thank you" pale in comparison to the gift I have received. I don't fully comprehend what you have done, but I know it's better than I can ever imagine- to be fully clean, fully righteous and that's why I get to come to Your table Lord. I cannot even fathom what that feels like, to live life without sin dogging me down. The beggar in the street longingly looking into the window, wanting to come but knows she's not had a shower in weeks, disheveled, torn and dirty clothes. Hair unkempt and yet You, Jesus, say "Come in Kim, you are washed and clean because of MY sacrifice. Here are your clean and bright, clothes. Your fine linen. Come! Come, feast at MY table. The marriage supper of the Lamb. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Lamb who took away every, single, solitary sin that you did... those mean words? Gone! That yelling at your kids? Gone! That proud comment! Gone! That disrespectful tone and attitude? Gone! It has ALL been washed away because I died, I wanted you, Kim to have life and life even more abundantly than you could ever ask or imagine! I am the God that heals you Kim! When are you going to take in the grace, the full Truth, My love for you and live truly free?"
"Come to ME, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take MY yoke upon you and learn from ME, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For MY yoke is easy and MY burden is light." Matthew 11:28
I'm thinking now of the Prodigal Son... squandered everything that His father had given him on riotous living. Drinking, carousing, sleeping around, wasting everything that was given to him...who knows the level he went to when he had his father's money?
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." Luke 15:21
He came to the end of himself. He had been at the pinnacle point, so he thought, of enjoying life. He realized there was no fulfillment in it all. He decided to go back to his father. "My father is never going to forgive me for all that I've done and how I wasted his money on nothing good."
"But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry." Luke 15:20-24
Wow! Even when he was far off! His father saw him and had compassion. He ran and fell on his neck and kissed him! After all he'd done? His son had not even had a chance to apologize yet. While his son is trying to tell him how sorry he was, meanwhile his father is calling to his servants, "Bring out the best robe, get a ring and new sandals for my son, kill that calf that we've been saving for a special occasion!" Unbelievable! He barely heard the apology, his father was already getting things ready for a huge party to celebrate him coming home!
A picture of our heavenly father!! We too have run off, done our own thing. We haven't listened to the things He has told us to do for our good. We haven't truly believed or received the fact that he truly loves us and only wants what is best for us. We need to take in this message of His overwhelming love for us "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We weren't washed up, clean, dressed in our finest. We were covered in dirt and shame, living in our slop. Full of sin...pride, arrogance, boastful, unkind, ungracious, full of anger, hateful...all the things.
"But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never game me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' Luke 15:28-30
So, his other son got angry because he was doing the right thing while his brother was living a riotous life while he was faithful to his father, working and doing the right thing. I've been there too...feeling angry and jealous that someone else seems to be loved and chosen while I feel like I've been doing all the right things and left in the dust. I understand why his dad did what he did (I'm a parent who loves her sons and would probably celebrate if they came back from the dead, so to speak too.) There are two sides to every story, in this case, three. As many people as there are, is how many different perspectives there would be.
The heart of God is for all of us, wherever we find ourselves, whatever we are struggling with. He loves each of us. He knows what we've been through and what has shaped us. He has grace for each of us no matter.
