DRESSED FOR THE WEDDING

"Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous." 1 John 3:7.

As I'm thinking of my wedding today, I've been reading about a story that Jesus once told. It was a royal wedding and guests from far and near had been invited. Everyone was dressed for the occasion--the bride and the groom were in their new wedding clothes. All their attendants were dressed beautifully. But so were the invited guests. As they entered the king's palace for the festive occasion, they were given a wedding robe to put on. Coming from the king, it must have been an elegant garment. 

When we accept Jesus into our lives, He gives us a wedding garment as well. The Bible calls it a robe of righteousness. "For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10). "By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ’s true followers will possess. To the church it is given “that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,” “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Revelation 19:8; Ephesians 5:27. The fine linen, says the Scripture, “is the righteousness of saints.” Revelation 19:8. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 310).

Jesus clothes us with His spotless life. The merits of His righteousness stands in place of our own. Our sins are washed away. And our righteousness, which is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), is replaced with the royal robe. This beautiful garment has no human threads; it is all from Jesus. For only the robe that Christ provides can make it possible for us to stand, washed and clean, before the presence of our Father's glory with unspeakable joy (Jude 24). 

But this robe is more than just a robe of cleansing. It is the robe that all will wear who have experienced the life-changing miracle of the new birth. For when we put on this robe, we are really putting on Christ. His character has become our own. "Old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. That is certainly true when you are married, and when we are born again, we are married to Jesus, the greatest Love you can ever know!

So what does it mean to put on Christ? (For as Paul says, "As many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Galatians 3:27). Putting on Jesus means receiving His righteousness. We receive His righteousness because we are forgiven and cleansed. But at the same time, we experience new life through Him. And this life empowers us to live like Jesus--to be as loyal to the Father as Christ was to God.

I love how it is explained in my book on Christ's parables, "When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then as the Lord looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 311).

What a beautiful picture of conversion! This is what the new birth is all about! And like my marriage to my sweetheart, it's not merely a one day event. Love is meant to be experienced every single day. The commitment, once made, on the wedding day, should be lived out in our lives "from this day forward." So, in a sense, the wedding garment must never be taken off. It is a testimony that we continue to be in love with Jesus, filled with His Spirit, and overflowing with faithfulness to God. It is only as we demonstrate love that love can flourish in our lives. For as John the beloved says, "He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous." 1 John 3:7. 

Our righteousness is only experienced through the presence of Jesus in our lives. And it's also defined by the righteousness we see in His life. I might make the mistake of saying, "This is the right way to go or the right way to live." But that would be holding onto my own righteousness, like the man in the parable who refused to put on the King's wedding garment. But true righteousness is seen only through the life of my Lord and Savior.

The Father also gives me His robe of righteousness so that He's not the only one who will see the character of Jesus in place of my rags. He wants the whole world to know that I belong to Jesus and He belongs to me. And as I follow Jesus, obeying His word and walking as He walked (1 John 2:6), everyone will know that I have been to the wedding with Jesus. And I am His chosen bride. He is my Beloved and I am His!