Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
“The marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7-9) includes the detail that “the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.” This clothing is also described as “clean and white.” Does this description contradict Isaiah 64:6b, which states that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags”? The unity of Scripture cannot be broken, for it is the Word of God. Any supposed discrepancy is based on a faulty understanding of the text and is thus baseless. This passage explains itself: “To her [the Church] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen.” The granter, obviously, is Jesus. Ephesians 5:22-32, using the example and imagery of marriage, speaks of the kind intent of our savior to “sanctify and cleanse it [the Church] with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (verses 26-27). This process has already begun, and our faithful response to the Faithful One is ongoing. We are moving in the direction of “righteousness”, and the ultimate fulfillment of Christ’s cleansing is assured. We are at various levels of personal, experiential sanctification now, but in heaven, there will not be shades of white raiment. All of our spiritual (really, unspiritual) spots will be removed, and the entire Church will be glorious and glistering. What Jesus calls “clean” is “clean” indeed.