The Bride Makes Herself Ready- Revelation 19:7;9- Into the Wilderness I am!

 

Isaiah 61:10 

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Joel 2:16

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

Isaiah 62:5 

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

John 3:29

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

As born again believers, we are betrothed and espoused to Christ. He is our bridegroom. 

The Bible as a whole compilation, is God's redemptive love story and passionate zeal for us- what love yea, what zeal yea, what everlasting consolation He gives to us. God's love is to be experienced while here on earth, so that we prepare our hearts to receive Him for all eternity. 

I saw something yesterday, that said "our lives here are short, but eternity is forever so we have to prepare for eternity during the time we are given" or something and it's so true!

Saying "yes" to Jesus, is never a one time thing. We go on in our walk, to mature believer's in Christ. Once one has truly tasted the goodness of the LORD, you are to never put your hand back in the plow or look back like Lot's wife... but sometimes we are stubborn and even in our stubbornness, God so loves us! Yes! That should never give us license to sin, we are under grace not any law other than to love- 

In the book of Esther, prior to receiving the kingdom Esther prepared herself for 12 months of beauty treatments. 

Esther had to leave her home to be selected as Queen.

Ruth had to leave Moab 

Revelation 19:7

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.

wife- Greek- gune 

γυνὴ (gynē) — 73 Occurrences

Bride - Greek- numphe

Strong's Concordance

kallah: daughter-in-law, bride

Original Word: כַּלָה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: kallah
Phonetic Spelling: (kal-law')
Definition: daughter-in-law, bride

Song of Solomon 2:10

“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”

The Father has sent the Holy Spirit to invite the compromising church to separate from ungodly environments, yes even people, and any comfort we may have in this world to prepare for our eternal destinies.

Revelation invites us, and reminds us we must overcome these things to prepare ourselves ready for Jesus.

1.) the loss of our first love

2.) Trials and tribulations

3.) Compromise with the world

4.) Influence of Jezebel

5.) Spiritual Slumber/ Apathy

6.) Pride, Self-satisfaction, indifference

Pursuing intimacy with Jesus, maturing as an overcomer, and growing in power and authority are essential dimensions of being made ready as a worthy bride for Jesus.

We put off our old selves, and put on Christ's righteousness and His garments. We must desire and aggressively seek God's grace. We must desire change, pray for change, and aggressively make changes in our lives. 

The Song of Solomon depicts Christ as the Bridegroom and the Shulamite portrays the individual believer as the bride of Christ. The three major seasons that we will look at are 1.) The initial awakening to love

2.) The period of being established in love

3.) The wilderness of preperation

Jesus is filled with joy, delight, and happiness. We have been created by God to pursue pleasure. We have been created to enjoy, to delight, and to be satisfied. But only delighting in the Lord can we find the deep and lasting satisfaction that our hearts crave. 

It is in our wilderness, that Jesus produces in us fire-tested faith, mature love, and complete obedience. 

Narrow is the pathway for the bride of Christ, but we are complete in Him and as we come to Jesus daily, He truly gives us rest for our souls. True rest is found in coming to a restful God. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and our Prince of Peace. The Holy Spirit reminds us in our wilderness, to "be still and know that I am GOD." (Ps. 46:10) 

Instead of trying to rush through our prayer, our morning, sit down, yea I said it! and get quiet with God to experience and enjoy His presence.

God wants our identity rooted in His love:

-At the banquet hall, the bride declares, "His banner over me is love" (Song 2:4)

-As the bride of Christ, Jesus wants our identity completely rooted in His love. When we are born again, Paul said that we are betrothed as pure virgins to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). 

-We can rest, knowing that we are the bride of Christ. Jesus loves us deeply and dearly- enough to die for us. 

For our love to deepen, and our intimacy with Jesus grows, we all must enter into a "wilderness" period. Moses lead the Israelites out of the wilderness, a period of 40 years. Jesus' wilderness of temptation was for 40 days and nights; yet there's many years (roughly 18) that we know less of. 

Jesus says, every tree that He hath planted gets pruned. Praise God! If you have or are dealing with the chastening of the LORD, make no mistake about it, you have a higher calling which is in Christ Jesus! You are loved by Him.

-It is in the wilderness of preparation that we really grow in bridal love for our King

-The wilderness exposes our fear of trust and obedience (Song 2:17)

The Bridegroom withdraws His presence from her, not because He is angry, but because He wants to produce obedience within her (Song 3:1).

The Father's goal for our life is to produce His love for Jesus in our hearts (John 17:26). This kind of all-consuming passion is only expressed by wholehearted obedience. If we truly love Jesus we will fully obey His voice and His word. Jesus tells us that we are to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Him (Matt. 10:38) That means that to become a worthy bride for Jesus we must embrace the cross. What does that mean? The cross is the instrument that puts to death everything that stands in the way of our complete obedience to Jesus. Embracing the cross is about self-denial, surrender, brokenness, and humility. 

Embracing the cross is a day-by-day activity where we yield our will, purposes, pleasures, and desires to Jesus and make a fresh commitment to obey Him, no matter what the cost. We are to first submit to God, in order to resist the devil and overcome things of this world. Fully planted and surrendered to whatever the LORD's will for your life is is essential. 

The wilderness may also be a period of chastening, where the LORD is to deal with you as sons and daughters. The enemy plants lies in our minds, saying because of our past or whatever sin we may be entangled with, God doesn't love us, but that could not be further from the truth! In fact, because of God's love for us, He chastens us and disciplines us. We may feel the rod of reproof; we may see certain signs and wonders; there may be a messenger of Satan sent to us; we may heed many warnings... whatever the case is God is waking up His people- the Bible states that the veil is done away with in Christ, and whenever anyone turns or returns to the LORD, the veil is gone (2 Corinthians 3:14).

Song of Solomon 3:11

“Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.”

The Bridegroom Jesus wants to deposit within His bride a vision of the wedding day so that she will have the courage to follow Him through the valleys and ravines, and away from the dens of lions and mountains of leopards (Song 4:8). 

This new revelation of the Bridegroom King will help the bride fully embrace the cross and fully obey Him because now she realizes why she is in the wilderness in the first place- she is being prepared for her wedding day. Yes, the wedding being prepared right now for us all born again believers, in Heaven. 

Myrrh, which is bitter and used as a burial spice, symbolizes trials and death to self. Frankincense or incense represents prayer (Ps. 141:2; Rev. 5:8). The bride, is making a sacred vow to embrace the cross and be devoted to prayer. 

How do you know Jesus? Just as your LORD and Saviour? Great! Now LET HIM be your Bridegroom! We have a wedding to attend!

As a Bridegroom, Jesus has deep affection, passionate love, and a godly jealous desire for us as His blood-bought bride. We are betrothed to the King of the universe. As the bride of Christ, we have an amazing invitation to marry Jesus and partner with Him forever (Rev. 19:7-8) Just like King David learned to trust God while he was running from Saul, we too must trust deeper in Christ and His full provision for our lives. In our wilderness of preperation, we learn that our LORD is powerful and reliable and just. We learn to "lean" on Him and trust Him fully. Our obedience causes God's affection for us to deepen. Denying ourselves for Jesus' sake overwhelms God with pleasure and joy. 

Amazingly, the Father wants to put His love for Jesus within us that we will be set ablaze with holy passion for Christ. In the wilderness of preparation, we discover that our destiny is to love Jesus like the Father. 

In the wilderness, we are called to be set apart. "That He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:27) 

To say YES to the wedding invitation and high calling in Christ Jesus, we must take Ruth and Naomi's suggestions:

- Washing- the Holy Spirit wants to cleanse us with the blood of Jesus and wash us with the water of the Word (1 John 1:5-10; Eph. 5:26)

-Anointing- Just as Ruth anointed herself with frangrant anointing oil, the Holy Spirit wants to anoint us with His power and presence.

-Clothing- Ruth put on her best clothes, and we are to put on the wedding garments, which are righteous acts leading to an overcoming lifestyle (Matt. 22:12; Rev. 19:8)

Like Ruth, let's actively make ourselves ready for Jesus by yielding completely to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to transform us into people of excellent character that captures the heart of our Kinsman-Redeemer. Like Ruth, let's become totally devoted to our Husband, the LORD Jesus Christ!

Revelation 22:17

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.