훌륭하고 웅장한 교회 건물보다 하나님이 인정하시는 그리스도 중심된 꿈을 가진 일꾼을 세우는데 헌신합니다(참고: 마가복음 13:1-2, 현대인의 성경). 많은 사람들이 그리스도에 대하여 많은 사람들을 속일지라도 우리는 아무에게도 속지 않도록 주의하고 오직 우리 주 예수 그리스도를 아는 지식에서 성장하여 성숙한 믿음을 가지고 있어야 합니다(참고: 마가복음 13:5-6, 현대인의 성경). 난리와 전쟁과 지진과 기근 같은 일들은 반드시 일어나야 하지만 우리는 두려워하지 말고 또한 그것은 끝이 아니라 고통의 시작에 지나지 않는다는 사실을 명심해야 합니다(참고: 마가복음 13:7-8, 현대인의 성경).
Clean fine linen
Having been justified by
God,
we will participate in
the wedding feast of the Lamb in the new heaven and new earth.
Revelation 19:7-8 says:
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the
Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and
clean, was given her to wear"
(Fine linen stands for
the righteous acts of the saints).
At this wedding feast,
the groom is Jesus Christ, and the bride is us,
who believe in Jesus and
have been justified.
The "fine
linen" we will wear symbolizes justification,
which God has clothed us
with
(Note: the verb in verse
8 is passive,
indicating that God has
clothed us with the fine linen).
As the bride, which is
the church, and those who have been justified by God,
we must prepare
ourselves (Note: the verb in verse 7 is active,
indicating that we, the bride, must prepare
ourselves).
This preparation
involves the righteous acts of the saints.
In other words, as those
justified by God,
we must prepare
ourselves with “righteous acts” or “righteous deeds” (v. 8).
From the perspective of
1 John, "righteous deeds"
refer to actions
performed by a righteous person like Jesus (1 John 3:7),
doing righteousness as
"Jesus Christ the Righteous One" (2:1) does (v. 6).
Specifically, these
righteous deeds are encapsulated in Jesus' twofold commandment:
"Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"
and "Love your
neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37, 39).
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