Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer for revival and for being washed by the Word captures the very heart of what God desires for His people. The longing you expressed to be made pure and ready as a bride for Christ is exactly how Scripture pictures the church in its relationship to Jesus as the bridegroom and coming King. He delights in His bride and desires her beauty, and He is coming again to receive her to Himself and to bring her to the marriage feast that has been prepared.
That readiness comes through the washing of water by the Word. Jesus gave Himself to sanctify and cleanse His church, that He might present her to Himself as glorious, without spot or wrinkle. This is not something we can attain by rules or outward regulations. None of us is as pure or holy as Christ on our own. Our standard is Christ Himself, and the righteousness we need is first imputed to us through faith in Him. That is the fine linen, pure and bright, in which the bride is clothed, the righteousness of the saints given by Christ.
Yet there is also a true holiness we are called to pursue, and Scripture is clear that without holiness no one will see the Lord and that the pure in heart shall see God. This holiness is not a matter of outward appearance or dress. It is a matter of the heart. What defiles a person comes from within, out of the abundance of the heart. For that reason we are to follow peace with all people and holiness, living a life that is pleasing to God. Holiness is rightness of character, and righteousness is rightness of conduct that flows from it. Holiness is the root and righteousness is the fruit. Without a pure core there is no lasting power to live rightly.
That work is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. As the servant was sent to seek and to woo a bride for his master's son, and to bring her back to him, so the Spirit has been sent to call out and win a bride for Christ, one already chosen by God and made beautiful in His eyes. The Spirit enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh, not by our own might or power but by His power, so that we may walk in the good works God prepared beforehand for us. In this way we participate with Him and make ourselves ready, while trusting that He who began the work will establish our hearts blameless in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
This hope of His coming is itself purifying. Everyone who has this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. We are to be holy as He is holy and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, not in our own strength but as we continue in His Word and are sanctified by the truth. Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified through the truth, for His Word is truth, and as we abide in that Word we come to know the truth more deeply.
Your prayer for the ministry of reconciliation is also at the center of God's purpose. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and He has now committed to us that same message. We serve Him in our spirit through the preaching of the gospel of His Son, doing the work of an evangelist, bearing fruit both in the character of the Spirit and in a harvest of souls gathered into His fold and called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is right to pray for all people and for those in positions of influence, since God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and He is the one Mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus, who by one offering has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
May the Lord answer your prayer by shining in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ, enlightening the eyes of your understanding, and keeping you in His Word. May He establish you unblameable in holiness, clothe you in His righteousness, and empower you from on high to be His witness, proclaiming His excellencies as one called out of darkness into His marvelous light, until you see Him face to face. And with the bride we join in that final prayer, come, Lord Jesus.
That readiness comes through the washing of water by the Word. Jesus gave Himself to sanctify and cleanse His church, that He might present her to Himself as glorious, without spot or wrinkle. This is not something we can attain by rules or outward regulations. None of us is as pure or holy as Christ on our own. Our standard is Christ Himself, and the righteousness we need is first imputed to us through faith in Him. That is the fine linen, pure and bright, in which the bride is clothed, the righteousness of the saints given by Christ.
Yet there is also a true holiness we are called to pursue, and Scripture is clear that without holiness no one will see the Lord and that the pure in heart shall see God. This holiness is not a matter of outward appearance or dress. It is a matter of the heart. What defiles a person comes from within, out of the abundance of the heart. For that reason we are to follow peace with all people and holiness, living a life that is pleasing to God. Holiness is rightness of character, and righteousness is rightness of conduct that flows from it. Holiness is the root and righteousness is the fruit. Without a pure core there is no lasting power to live rightly.
That work is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. As the servant was sent to seek and to woo a bride for his master's son, and to bring her back to him, so the Spirit has been sent to call out and win a bride for Christ, one already chosen by God and made beautiful in His eyes. The Spirit enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh, not by our own might or power but by His power, so that we may walk in the good works God prepared beforehand for us. In this way we participate with Him and make ourselves ready, while trusting that He who began the work will establish our hearts blameless in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
This hope of His coming is itself purifying. Everyone who has this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. We are to be holy as He is holy and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, not in our own strength but as we continue in His Word and are sanctified by the truth. Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified through the truth, for His Word is truth, and as we abide in that Word we come to know the truth more deeply.
Your prayer for the ministry of reconciliation is also at the center of God's purpose. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and He has now committed to us that same message. We serve Him in our spirit through the preaching of the gospel of His Son, doing the work of an evangelist, bearing fruit both in the character of the Spirit and in a harvest of souls gathered into His fold and called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is right to pray for all people and for those in positions of influence, since God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and He is the one Mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus, who by one offering has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
May the Lord answer your prayer by shining in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ, enlightening the eyes of your understanding, and keeping you in His Word. May He establish you unblameable in holiness, clothe you in His righteousness, and empower you from on high to be His witness, proclaiming His excellencies as one called out of darkness into His marvelous light, until you see Him face to face. And with the bride we join in that final prayer, come, Lord Jesus.
