Again I heard what sounded like a vast crowd, like the noise of rushing water and deep roars of thunder, and they cried: "Hallelujah! The Lord our God, sovereign over all, has entered on his reign!
"Exult and shout for joy and do him homage, for the wedding-day of the Lamb has come! His bride has made herself ready, and for her dress she has been given fine linen, clean and shining." (Now the fine linen signifies the righteous deeds of God's people.)
Then the angel said to me, "Write this: 'Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-supper of the Lamb!' " And he added, "These are the very words of God.!
At this I fell at his knees to worship him. But he said to me, "No, not that! I am but a fellow-servant with you and your brothers who bear testimony to Jesus. It is God you must worship. Those who bear testimony to Jesus are inspired like the prophets."
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So we are talking about a time presumably to come when God's reign over the Earth becomes palpable to all.
When? When the Christ, God's spirit in us, is ready to marry "the Church," God's people. (That would seem to include the lot of us, unless you believe that some people ain't His?)
And this is when that 'Church' has "made herself ready," ie when we are generally consciously aligned with God's purposes. (This seems to imply a bit of a wait here. Then again, illumination can strike suddenly when a person is ready!)
"For her dress she has been given fine linen," which this text says represents our righteous deeds. But the fact that it says we are to be "given" that dress tells me that it is not our doing righteous deeds that makes us ready (though it shouldn't necessarily hurt) but our being given the innocency and spiritual atunement from which good behavior naturally follows.
Getting "invited to the wedding supper" should mean getting born. Now Jesus had stories about all of us getting that invitation and saying, "Thanks, Boss, but I'm busy today!" Whereupon God rounded up everyone sufficiently helpless & dragged them to the wedding, while those of us who "have taken charge of our own lives" were too late, ie our earthly lives went according to plan and were all over before we could make it to the party. [My own plans keep on falling apart, whereupon God always seems to have something else in mind, and it's been fun! Honest! Like a roller-coaster over the Abyss!]
"Those who bear testimony to Jesus are inspired like the prophets." When the Spirit is at work in the world, those of us who are caught up in its motions--whether or not we call them "Jesus"--seek and find inspiration from God at work in/on us.
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