Ready or Not, Here I Come! Part 2

I also explained that, while we are Heaven-ready already, this does not give us a license to act ungodly (see Titus 2:11-13).

In retrospect, I would like to add that the deepest desire of the Christian’s new heart (whether he or she realizes it or not) is to express Christ’s love and life, not to sin:

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Rom. 6:17-18 NASB)

Today we are going to take a closer look at what the Bible says about Christ’s bride making herself ready for His return:

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:7-8 NASB)

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is usually my study translation of choice, but not in this case.

The wording here could easily be misinterpreted because it implies that Christ’s bride “makes herself ready” for her marriage to Him by clothing herself with “righteous acts,” i.e., performing righteous deeds. This flies directly in the face of grace.

I was disappointed to find that all but 15 percent of the English translations of this passage at BibleGateway.com referred to righteous acts or deeds performed by Christ’s bride as being the necessary ingredient for making herself ready for her marriage to Him.

The 21st Century King James Version (KJ21); the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC);  the Blue  Red and Gold Letter Bible (BRG); the 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV); the Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB); the King James Version (KJV); the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV); and The Message (MSG) were the only translations that described the fine, bright, and clean linen as the “righteousness” rather than the “righteous acts” of the saints.

Since you are probably more familiar with the King James Version than any of the others listed, let’s look at this passage in that translation:

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Rev. 19:7-9 KJV)

What exactly is the “righteousness of saints”?

I believe we can find the answer by looking at a Scripture from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:21 NASB)

Jesus became sin on our behalf so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.

The “righteousness of saints” is the very righteousness of God.

This verse does not say that believers in Christ possess the righteousness of God; it says they are the righteousness of God!