“Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
– Revelation 19:6–8
Oh, what a picture! What imagery of the church, the bride of Christ, made ready, ultimately, on this day, dressed in fine linen, bright and pure. Huh? Who of us deserves to be dressed like that before the Lord God almighty? None of us deserves to be dressed in fine linen, bright and pure.
Yet we are. Why? Because we are the bride of Christ. What is the imagery here? The marriage of the Lamb. This moment, when all who have put their trust in Jesus are fully and perfectly and finally united with Him as the one who became sin for us, in order that we might become what? The righteousness of God.
Revelation 19:6–8 Reminds Us that We are Clothed in Righteousness
We are clothed in righteousness. Whose righteousness are we clothed in? We’re clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. The only way we could be standing around the throne of God on this day and this marriage ceremony, this wedding celebration, is by the blood of the Lamb. That’s the picture. The marriage of the Lamb has come. What is the Lamb? The Lamb is the one who died, who was slain, whose blood paid the price for a bride to stand with fine linen, bright and pure. And then listen to what it says: “For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
And so we pray, based on this passage. Lord Jesus, the Lamb who is slain for our sins, we love and worship and praise your name. We praise you as our righteousness. We praise you as our life. Lord, we praise you, Jesus, as our hope, as we think about this day and we long for this day. And we long for this day when we will rejoice and exalt and give you glory at this wedding celebration, as we are made ready by you, granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure. We know that we don’t deserve that kind of clothing, and only you can clothe us in righteousness.
Revelation 19:6–8 Helps Us to Live Righteously
And so we pray, in light of this phrase at the end of Revelation 19:6–8. “For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” God, help us to live in righteousness today. Lord, we want to live lives that reflect your righteousness today, in our thoughts, in our desires, in our words, in our actions. God, help us to think right thoughts. We pray, Lord Jesus, by your life in us.
God, we pray for right desires, right motives. We pray for right words. Help us to guard every word today. We pray for right deeds, right actions, that you would help us in life and family and work, with friends, with people we interact with today. Help us to live in righteousness, to do that which is good and right, according to your word. By the power of your righteousness, your blood-bought righteousness, Lord Jesus, in us.
And we pray that you’d help us to lead others to be at this wedding ceremony on this day. God, we pray that you would use each of our lives to lead more people around us today. We pray for friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, people we’ll interact with today. Help us to share the good news of the Lamb with them, that they might rejoice and exalt and give you glory on that day.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for the Spread of the Gospel
And God, we pray that you help us to spread this good news to the ends of the earth. We pray today on behalf of the Isan Thai people. God, we pray for this Thai people group, for the spread of your good news, the good news of the Lamb, to them. We look forward to being with every nation, tribe, and tongue as a part of your bride, your body, on that day, dressed in fine linen, bright and pure, with Isan Thai people next to us.
God, we pray that you would bring them in, bring in all the peoples, all the tribes, all the nations and languages, and use our lives on this earth toward that end. We pray all in anticipation of this scene that we cannot wait for, in Revelation 19:6–8. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly, we pray. We, as your bride, are longing for your return. May it be so soon, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
