PREPARATION
Jim T Brown
Revelation 19: 7
Revelation 21: 2
The theme of preparation flows through the Holy Scriptures. Proverbs tells us that the heavens were prepared by Jehovah, chap 8: 27. What mighty operations entered into the preparation of the heavens, so majestic and magnificent:
When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers …
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?,
Ps 8: 3, 4.
How marvellous to contemplate that! But, pre-eminently, there was a body prepared for the Lord Jesus. That would never cease to affect us. What divine activity entered into the preparation of that precious body; a body in which He would carry out the will of God in perfection; a body in which He would suffer, in which He would die, and a body in which He would bear our sins. What an encouragement for our brother and sister that, at the outset of their marriage together, they have this common bond that the Lord Jesus bore their sins in His precious body on the tree. In going on high, too, He has prepared a place for us there, wonderful anticipation, and wonderful prospect.
These scriptures refer to the preparation of the assembly for the Lord Jesus; in the first, as the Lamb’s wife, and in the second, “as a bride adorned for her husband”. Chapter 19 says, “rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready”. That is her own act. She has devoted herself to making herself ready. Down from Pentecost, the readying process has gone on, down through the centuries, through dark times and bright. Even in the dark ages there were assembly-minded persons, walking in fidelity and faithfulness as befitting what was due to the Lamb’s wife, imbued with some impression of what the Lamb had suffered to secure the object of His affections. How would they know what He desired, what His longings were? Proverbs tells us, “The heart of her husband confideth in her” (chap 31: 11): they knew - and we should know - the beatings, speaking reverently, of that precious heart, His yearnings, His longings that there should be an answer to what His heart desires. How precious. It says, “And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”, Rev 19: 8. It may be just a little act of righteousness, or a bigger one perhaps, but each creating a thread to be woven into the garment of the wife. She has made herself ready. Think of it, century after century, threads produced each day, that will be woven into that garment for the delight of the heart of Christ. This work goes on unhindered. In recent months man’s busy world has stuttered and paused, stalled in some cases, ceased in others, but the work of God has proceeded unhindered, every day adding something to the beauty of the clothing.
Our brother and sister have experienced delays to their marriage on account of current restrictions, but let them have the assurance that each day has not gone unnoticed in heaven. These days, worked out in patience, as accepting the will of God, and in submission to His ways, have doubtless produced a lustrous thread, which will be woven into that garment for the pleasure of the Lamb. What assurance that brings. It says, “the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”: more than one, and so there is a contribution for each of us to make. These things challenge us, but what an incentive it gives. How it galvanises our affections, and our spirits to walk in fidelity to the One who delivered Himself up for the assembly. He reserved nothing -
Reserving nothing save the right to love.
Hymn 318
But there is a household setting as well; how much the household setting can provide. One thinks of John 12; it says there, “Jesus … came to Bethany” and entered into the house of these three beloved souls. It continues, “There therefore they made him a supper”, v 1, 2. They were prepared. The Lord Jesus did not ask for a supper to be made for Him or for food to be provided. It was their instinctive reaction to the needs, the desires, the yearnings of the Lord Jesus. They had not to run out to buy the ingredients to make the supper. The ingredients were there in the house. How could they know what the Lord Jesus would desire, what His tastes were, what He would cherish and what He would value? Surely by communion with Him we would know what these yearnings are. The deeper our yearning for Him, the more prepared we are for what He Himself desires. It says in Proverbs of the woman of worth, “She is like the merchants’ ships: she bringeth her food from afar”, chap 31: 14. Her links typically were with the heavenly Man, and the food she brought was from that heavenly region afar, where Christ in glory is. So that they knew in that household in Bethany what was suitable to Him, and what could be made available to Him according to His own desires. May this be so in our brother and sister’s home.
Revelation 21 anticipates the eternal scene: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. It does not say exactly that she is the bride. She is not just nominally a bride; she is there in all the reality of what a bride should be. Every quality, every characteristic, every beauty desired of a bride is there for her adorning, and for His pleasure. What a vessel the assembly is: “the fulness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1: 23), a creature vessel, yet capacitated to be the fulness of One so great and so glorious.
Then too He is “head over all things to the assembly” (v 22), and this glorious vessel is linked to Him in the headship. How wonderful also to consider what God will receive from the assembly: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men”, Rev 22: 3. The assembly will have that place. Think of this vessel providing a residence for God, and an environment for praise to God, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the ages of ages”, Eph 3: 21. How grand these things are.
But this is the time of preparation. What a day of unmingled joy it will be when the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready; that is our responsibility. It is given to her to be clothed in fine linen, and divine sovereignty would no doubt enter into that; that is another side. But the preparatory side, the side of making ready, belongs to us now; it is our responsibility.
I commend it to our brother and sister. They together will be part of this great preparatory process, each day of their lives, as committed to divine interests here, producing a thread, to be woven into that clothing, which will be for the delight of Christ’s heart and which will be part, by and by, of that adornment with which the assembly will be invested for His delight eternally. That scripture in Proverbs is so very wonderful: “She putteth her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle” (Prov 31: 19); the distaff is a feminine thought. It brings out an activity to which we can all contribute. It suggests spiritual energy and application to produce these glorious threads with which the assembly will be adorned. May we be encouraged to participate more fully, more effectively, more efficiently, in the preparatory process. We look forward to the day when the Lord Jesus will come to claim His assembly for Himself; the preparations will be finished then. Even now, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”, Rev 22: 17.
May our hearts be enhanced in appreciation of this glorious vessel and the One who is her head. For His Name’s sake.
Maidstone
18th September 2020