“¶ And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 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. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:5-10)
This oracle from the scene of the conclusion to the transitional dispensation from the New Testament Church period to the millennial reign of our Christ, is something that I submit is worthy of close and intimate attention at this hour, and brings to the body some level of consideration about what a bride should wear.
Our generation is so rotten, that every form of pride and lust-driven experimentation occurs relative to the ceremony and the bride’s clothing. When Scripture addresses a matter of sincerity and gravity to the human heart – like being married – we should be very attentive to what it says. Here, in Revelation 19, we have the antitype of every wedding event; particularly every wedding event that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ participates in. In this passage, the bride is “granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white”. The word for “linen” references a root “buwts” (“boots”) that refers to “a costly, fine white linen cloth made in Egypt”. The word in this passage “white” comes from a root verb “lampo” (“lam’-po”) that means “to shine”.
Interestingly, the next clause in the passage says that it is “the fine linen” that is “the righteousness of saints”. I say interesting, because the word here “white” refers to her shining in radiance, reflecting the glory of her husband. The word “linen” is the white-ness … the purity … the righteousness that her Husband has granted her. In her nature, she is filled with blackness of sin and death. This truth is what is intended in the Song of Solomon – the greatest treatise on the relationship between a bride and her husband in all of Scripture – when it says: “I am black but comely” (Song 1:5).
So we should take our lesson from the reference to the linen that is white. The being arrayed in white is the standard. We do not make use of the white as this generation does … to pretend to some purity in the bride herself … we put our brides in pure white clothing to represent our understanding that we are covered over in the sight of our Husband (Christ) with His purity and righteousness.
I submit that it is our happy duty to follow the antitype when we engage in the ceremony respecting the marriage of the Lamb … and our brides should always be adorned in pure white clothing.]]>