Good Works Beautify The Bride of Christ

Please turn your copy of the Word of God to Revelation chapter 19. If you are using the

Pew Bible in front of you, that can be found on page 1040. 1040.

Revelation 19. I'll begin reading in verse 6. When you have that, please stand for the reading of God's Word.

Amen. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, this is one of the greatest truths that we have in all of Scripture.

This truth of Christ and His Bride. We ask that you would open our eyes to understand it more fully.

That we would be filled with a great zeal for our Husband, the King. And that you would work in us according to the mighty power of the

Spirit working within us. All that you would have to be worked in us.

A great love. A great joy. All the fruit of that Spirit.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we have been going through this series on motivations for good works.

And in particular, most recently, motivations for good works that have to do with how good works advance the

Kingdom of Heaven. And within that sub -series, an even shorter sub -series, that has to do with how good works bless

Christ. So we've looked at that in general, the good works bless Christ. Look at how good works edify the

Body of Christ. They build the Temple of Christ. And now they beautify the Bride of Christ.

And this really is the crowning truth of all these truths. This truth of the

Bride of Christ is one that goes deeper than the others because it is more than just a mere metaphor.

What I mean by that is, in all the other analogies and metaphors that you see used about Christ, like, for example, the vine and the branches, there are things taken from creation and then applied to Christ and His Church.

This is one where we are taught by Scripture that is the other way around. That is the truth of Christ and His Church and God's plan for Christ and the

Church that has given, by that God has given us marriage and designed marriage to reflect

Christ and the Church. So while other analogies and metaphors take from creation, apply to Christ and the

Church, this is one where this God, where this truth, this God's plan for Christ and the Church, is out of which we have marriage.

We know that from, in part, from Ephesians 5, where Paul describes human marriage as being like the marriage between Christ and the

Church and explains that it's not just something where some of these realities match up, but that God has ordained it this way.

In fact, it is the case that He speaks of the two becoming one flesh as a mystery.

Now, why is that a mystery? Well, a mystery is something that is hidden but then later revealed.

In Ephesians, it talks about the mystery of Christ being the uniting of Jews and Gentiles. So when it speaks of the two becoming one flesh and marriage as being a mystery, what it's referring to is that consummation between Christ and the

Church. We do not know what that represents since the Church is currently betrothed to Christ.

The Church is betrothed to Christ. There has not yet been a consummation. Maybe you're used to thinking of the bride and the groom as being like a consummated marriage, but it is not.

It is a betrothed marriage. It's like an engaged couple, as we term them, here in our culture where we don't have, typically, proper betrothals with vows, but a couple that is betrothed, that they are committed to one another, and that marriage will be consummated.

We read of that consummation here in Revelation. Revelation speaks of the wedding feast that will happen.

Now, how can Paul say that the two becoming one flesh is a mystery unless he knows that there is an organic connection between the marriage between Christ and the

Church and human marriage? It is an organic connection. It's not just something artificial where he is drawing out of nature some analogy.

It is something where there is an organic connection, and even those parts that he doesn't understand how it's connected, and we don't understand how it's connected, are still connected because it is out of God's plan for his son to have a bride that he has given us human marriage.

So this, out of all the other analogies, is one that is much deeper because it is reversed in its purpose.

And it is in this that I would love for us to see more deeply how good works bless

Christ, how good works, indeed, bless Christ greatly.

In this passage in verse 6, it says,

Now, we have heard in Revelation about a voice that is like many waters on a few occasions.

First, we heard about this in chapter 1 in verse 15.

It says, So we have

Christ himself, that his voice is like many waters. However, we see that that voice that is like many waters also applies to the bride, the great multitude that is gathered together.

We see this bride pictured in several ways. In Revelation chapter 7, it speaks of the 144 ,000.

And it says here, in verse 4 of chapter 7, These are not precisely the tribes of Israel as you are used to hearing them.

Dan, for example, is missing in this list. And so part of what's being indicated there is that you are not supposed to be thinking of this as a literal list of the tribes of Israel, but rather as a picture of the twelvefold people of God, as a picture of all of God's people.

And then that is what he heard. He heard this list of 144 ,000. But then what does he see in verse 9?

After this, Okay, so we have a multitude that no one can number.

In this passage in chapter 19, we are reading of a multitude. Later on in chapter 14, it says in verse 1,

So now we see that the 144 ,000 have a voice like many waters.

They also have a voice like the groom, like the king, like Christ himself.

It says it also sounds like peals of thunder. And then what do we see in Revelation 19?

This is the same group. Just as we saw in chapter 14, when he hears the 144 ,000 and he sees the multitude, before the 144 ,000 sing with a voice like many waters and like peals of thunder.

Now it is described as a great multitude, singing with a voice like many waters and sounds like peals of thunder.

Many people would divide these into two groups, saying that the 144 ,000 are different than the great multitude. It is pretty clear from all these passages that he is seeing, he is hearing of 144 ,000 and he is seeing a great multitude.

These are both the same group and this is the church that is singing.

This is God's people all gathered together singing, Hallelujah! For the Lord our

God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult 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. So this is a great celebration.

This is a great celebration of salvation having been completed and then fully manifest.

That the bride and the groom are coming together and you see at this moment the entrance of the bride.

The bride has made herself ready and is granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.

For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. It is important to understand how bride and groom go together, what their purpose is and what the purpose of all this beauty is.

A bride brings dignity and honor to her husband through her beauty.

In Proverbs 31, 23 it speaks of the husband of the

Proverbs 31 woman as being one who is known in the gate.

He is well known. He has a high reputation. Why is this?

The point is not that because of his high reputation that is what makes him worthy of the bride so much that it is because of the bride's excellence that he has a higher reputation.

That's the point of that passage. The point of the passage is not about the Proverbs 31 husband. It's about the Proverbs 31 wife that is through her excellency that he has a great reputation among others.

So the bride's quality brings dignity to her husband and that is most especially signified in a wedding ceremony where the bride is dressed in especially fine clothing in order to demonstrate the excellence of her husband.

So I have been asked this question before, especially as we have looked at the relationship between Christ and the church and that should inform our view of human marriages.

Is it even appropriate in a wedding where the music changes and all the focus is on the bride as she comes down the aisle in a way that wasn't the case for the husband?

If we are really trying to reflect Christ in the church, shouldn't the focus be primarily on the husband?

If he is the one who represents Jesus Christ, she by her beauty in that occasion shows the dignity of her husband and it is appropriate for the focus to be on her in that way.

Look at Revelation 21 verse 9.

It says, So here the bride is described like a city and she has an excellent glory and it goes on for a few paragraphs here about how glorious she is as she enters in and it is right for the focus to be on that city and on its gloriousness because it is reflective of her husband's gloriousness.

This is how that ceremony works and it is appropriate for a bride to bring dignity to her husband through her excellence and particularly through her beauty and in that ceremony through the beauty as highlighted by the garments that she wears.

I think part of the reason this may be lost on us culturally is in our culture it is very common for the bride's family to provide the wedding ceremony and the wedding feast.

That is not what you see in Scripture. In Scripture the overwhelming pattern is that the groom and his family provide the wedding feast.

Here in Revelation who is providing it? Is it not the father and the son? And then you look at the wedding at Cana and what happened?

When Jesus turned the water into wine the master of the feast goes and talks to the groom assuming that the groom had provided the wine.

His assumption is it is the groom who is supposed to be providing the wine at the wedding feast.

You look at the parables and who prepares the feast? Is it not the king for his son?

And then you see this in a number of other places as well.

The only place where you don't see this in Scripture is with Laban where Laban has prepared a feast for Jacob and Rachel and what happens at that occasion?

He swaps the brides. So there is a lot of role reversals happening there in that example of Laban that shows that that's not the ideal situation.

Now why I believe this is important for understanding this truth that the bride's beauty in the ceremony reflects the groom is because if you understand that this is the groom's family bringing together this celebration you can understand how highlighting the bride's beauty would be for the purpose of the groom.

If instead you're used to the bride's family wanting to provide it in order that their daughter is treated like a princess and the focus being on her almost to the exclusion of the man where he is kind of sidelined, then it doesn't make as much sense if that's what you're used to.

But if you see the scriptural pattern in the culture represented in the

New Testament and even in the Old Testament that the groom is the one providing the feast and the groom's family is providing the feast then you understand that her beauty is not independent of the groom's dignity rather it is in service of the groom's dignity.

So the bride brings glory to Christ. Christ is glorified through the bride. Christ is particularly glorified by the bride through good works.

Now, just thinking about the reasons that a husband has brought dignity by his wife for several reasons.

One, and you can think about this just in your day to day life, you see a man with a good wife, with a beautiful wife even and you think, wow, he must be a really good man to be so worthy of such a good wife.

And you think about that usually in the dynamics of having been paired up. But there's another sense in which it's true too.

And that it is through the husband's leadership that a woman becomes an excellent wife.

It's through the husband's leadership that he then establishes her beauty, providing her with nice clothing, providing her with everything that she would need in order to have a good set of circumstances.

And so the picture that you see in scripture is of this having a real connection.

The reason the husband has brought dignity through the bride's beauty is because her beauty is in a sense coming from him.

That might be not how you normally think of it, but that is how scripture is teaching you to think of this.

And you can see that in a few passages. Consider Ephesians 5 if you go ahead and turn there. I'm going to have you turn to a couple of passages if you don't mind.

Or even if you do mind. Ephesians 5 verse 26.

I'll start at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water of the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

So whose activity is it that's making her an appropriate bride, that's making her an excellent wife?

It's his activity, right? He's washing her with the word. These are things that we even as husbands are supposed to be implementing.

So that he might present the church to himself in splendor. So this is something that he is doing for himself.

Not in a selfish way, but in a way that understands the whole picture of marriage.

That it is for himself that he would invest in her. Verse 28 makes that clear too.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself.

This is what Christ is doing. In pursuing his own dignity, he is washing her with the word.

He is clothing her in righteous garments. Now, this is also an allusion to Ezekiel chapter 16.

If you want to turn there, I think it would also be helpful for you to look at this passage. Ezekiel 16.

A couple of times in Ezekiel, God's relationship to Israel is pictured as a husband and a wife.

This is in anticipation of the New Testament, where you have the faithful bride who has been washed by the water of the word and is made securely the bride of the son.

Here in Ezekiel, you repeatedly see a picture of an unfaithful wife. But it still uses the same imagery about God preparing her for his service.

Ezekiel 16, verse 8. When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love.

And I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. And I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the

Lord God. And you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.

I clothed you with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.

And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver. And your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth.

You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty.

For it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. So what is the picture here?

The picture here is not that the bride has some beauty that's independent of her husband, but rather that the husband is bringing her along in beauty that is through his goodness to her that he is making her more beautiful as a wife.

Now while this happens in, you know, incredible ways in this divine marriage, of course it happens in natural ways in human marriage.

There's just the husband's general leading of the wife, but then also providing clothing, etc. Now, in addition to Ephesians 5, there's simply the, and its allusion to Ezekiel 16 with the repeated mentions of washing with water.

We didn't see the earlier parts too where it talks about washing with water. But here in Revelation chapter 21, it says the same thing.

In Revelation 21 verse 22, having talked about the bride as the city coming down from heaven, talking about its splendor and all the jewels.

22. And there will be no night there.

So why is it that there is no temple in the city? Because the temple is the

Lord. Why is it that there's no need for sun or moon to shine on it? Because God gives it light, and its lamp is the

Lamb. So why is the bride so, where's that splendor coming from?

It is a reflection of the groom in that picture. And then, of course, what you have is our verse,

Revelation 19 .8, that says, very simply, it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.

This is not something that she is doing herself. It is something that he is doing for her.

It is granted to her that she would be able to clothe herself. And so Christ, in loving himself, loves his own body and grants to her the ability and the right and the privilege of dressing herself in the linen, which is the righteous deeds of the saints.

You think about how a husband has a certain dignity on his own just as a man, but there's extra dignity that is brought to him by a bride, adding beauty to him that he would not have otherwise.

Him being able to dress her in ways that he would not dress himself, that adds dignity to him.

You can see this in other things, too. Why do clothing companies get beautiful models?

They get beautiful models to show off the clothes. The point is not the beauty of the woman herself.

The point for a model with a clothing brand is to show off the clothes, is to show off what the brand has to offer.

And in human marriage, this is not just true in clothing, this is just true in the home in general. The wife taking care of the home, like you see in Titus 2, working about the home, is showing off the husband's whole estate.

The fact that she is there, making it not a dead place, but a place full of life, is showing off not just her own beauty, but the dignity of her husband in wearing the whole estate, as it were.

Now, this is a beauty that is from the husband through the bride for his own dignity, and it is one that is increasing.

It is increasing. I think a good way of thinking about this is the fact that it is a mediatorial glory.

If you look at the back of your bulletin, I have written on here some of the paragraphs from the

Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, which is the statement of faith that we use at this church.

It says in 16 .5, speaking of... This is in the chapter on good works.

It's describing good works. It says... All right, there's a lot of things here, but the first thing is that Christ has given us

His Spirit by which we can do good works, okay? So in the origin of them, we are able to do good works.

Yet, inasmuch as we are the ones doing them and we are corrupt, they are imperfect and unacceptable before God, so why does

God accept them? The next paragraph explains... So even though our good works are imperfect, they are good because they come from the

Spirit of God and they are accepted because they are mediated So He in both giving us

His Spirit and doing that work of having suffered on the cross, not just paying the penalty for our sin, but earning for us by His perfect light, the

Spirit of God, that we might do good works. And then on top of that, taking our imperfect works, mediating them to God, they become acceptable to Him.

This is a work that He is doing. And so He is increasing His mediatorial glory because those righteous deeds, that beautiful dress that the bride wears, is something of His own doing and is something that He is increasingly doing.

It's something that He is doing throughout all eternity, even, that He is accomplishing this.

This is a profound truth. Something that I've been pointing out a lot as we've talked about good works is how many people very much simplify the motives of good works down to either just thankfulness or because your neighbor needs them.

And there's really not much more to it than that. A common statement about this is

God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor does. And that makes sense in some ways.

God is perfect. He is eternal. He cannot be changed. He is blessed. What it means to be blessed is to have everything that you need.

We are blessed by God in that we receive from Him what we need. He is blessed in that He is the fount of all blessing.

He does not need anything from anyone. He just has all things. He is perfectly content. And so there's nothing that we can do for Him.

None of our sacrifices are necessary for His well -being. He is perfectly content with all that He has.

We can't add to Him. We can't take away from Him. There's nothing. But then our neighbors need our good works.

And so we do our good works not for Him, but for our neighbor. In his book called

Antinomianism, Mark Jones has this wonderful statement that I love in response to that.

I love it in part because it's a little surprising. It has some shock value.

He says, God does not need your good works, but Christ does.

God does not need your good works, but Christ does. Now, you might say, well, Christ is God. How could He need our good works? He's the same yesterday and today and forever.

But you see, when Scripture says He's the same yesterday and today and forever, it's referring to Him as God.

But Christ is likewise man. In fact, the term Christ, meaning anointed one, is a title that primarily refers to His humanity.

As man, He had a beginning and He was born. He grew up in knowledge and wisdom.

He grew in favor with God and man. And He has, as a husband to the bride, though He is seated at the right hand of God, it does not mean that His work is finished in every sense.

It is finished in that He has once and for all time made atonement for His people, but He lives forever to make intercession for them.

And that work of intercession is ongoing. And as He mediates more and more of our good works, offering them up to the

Lord, He is more and more accomplished as a mediator. The beauty of the bride increasing shows

His dignity because He is more and more accomplished as a groom. And so there is a real sense in which

Christ is benefiting and is growing in His dignity in being that forever mediator, mediating our good works to the

Father, being a more and more accomplished mediator. This is an incredible reality that a lot of people have not stopped to contemplate, that Christ Himself benefits from us in time through our good works, the works that He is doing in us, right?

He is doing them in us by His Spirit, et cetera. But through us, He is bringing to Himself dignity as the groom.

And this is a wonderful joy to be able to participate in this and to see

Him growing forever and ever in His glory. Like the hymn says that we will sing in a moment, the bride eyes not her beauty, the bride eyes not her garments, but her dear bridegroom's face.

While the bride has garments that show the beauty of the groom, we get the blessing in showing the beauty, the dignity of the groom more and more, the ability to look at Him more and more and see

His dignity more and more. It should fill you with joy. So this is a wonderful truth that Christ truly does benefit from our good works,

Him growing in dignity, in mediatorial glory, as God being perfectly glorious, never increasing in glory one iota, but as man increasing in His mediatorial glory forever and ever through the good works of His bride.

Several things for you to consider as we round out that truth.

If you are one who is not a member of that body, that temple,

His bride, then you do not, not only do you not get to enjoy this, but likewise it is the case there is a terrible fate that awaits you.

If you look immediately after this, it talks about the rider on the white horse. This is

Christ Himself destroying all His enemies, all those who oppose the bride. You are either friend of the

Lord or you are His enemy, and He will oppose those who are His enemy. The reason that you have this scene of peace and beauty is because victory is fully manifest at this point.

Every last enemy has been placed under His feet at this point. The reason that Scripture uses the

Song of Solomon in Psalm 45 as pictures of the bride and not

Michal, David's wife, for example. Why is it that the focus is on Solomon's marriage and not on David's marriage to give this picture of the beauty of a king and his bride?

Why do we see that in the Song of Solomon? Why do we see that in Psalm 45? It is because David conquered and there was so much bloodshed through him in order that his son might have peace and have this kind of glory and splendor that you see.

This consummation that happens, happens when that work is done.

If you see Christ as being demonstrated in a twofold way by His forefathers, David and Solomon, at that point, every last enemy, having been put under His feet, the work of David is done and the work of Solomon begins there.

That he is, that he has peace and prosperity that was not enjoyed previously because there is bloodshed.

If you have set yourself up as an enemy of the bride or as an enemy of Christ and you might think, well, I'm not an enemy,

I'm just on no man's side. There are only two options. You are either a friend with God or you are an enemy of God.

If you are an enemy of God, you'll be removed. Join instead with His bride.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Forget your, as it said in Psalm 45, forget your father's household, forget your people.

And the king will desire your beauty. Join with the bride.

Consider also the parable in Matthew 22, verse 11.

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?

And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Perhaps you identify as a member of the bride, but you have not put on the appropriate garments.

You are not dressed in the linen that is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Christ would have that everyone at his wedding feast, and the father would have for his son that everyone at that wedding feast be clothed in the appropriate garments.

Do not lie to yourself and say that you're part of that bride dressed in white if you are not one who is dressed in white.

It is not through being dressed in white, it is not through your good works that you make yourself acceptable before God.

But Christ who has justified, who has offered his life on the cross, is doing a work in his people to wash them with the water of the word.

And you are essentially calling him a liar if you say that you belong, but you are not washed. You are saying, well, he has,

I am truly one of his, he just doesn't wash me. No, that is not the case. Christ washes his people.

Do not lie to yourself, do not lie to others. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ truly, and he will work in you by his spirit.

If you are part of the bride, then take this as an encouragement. Recognize your need to pursue the dignity of Christ through pursuing the beauty of the bride through your good works.

Be encouraged in this that you can pursue these things joyfully. Know that you must be washed with the water of the word.

This does not happen on its own. It's not just by trying really hard that this will happen. Instead, it is a work of Christ in you, and he does that work through you by his word.

It is through his word that you are, that you receive the nutrients from the vine, you being the branches, and you more and more will bear the appropriate fruit.

So be in his word. Likewise, 2 Corinthians 11 -2, Paul says to the church in Corinth that he has betrothed them to Christ and has a godly jealousy over them, desiring that they be as a pure virgin.

You see, Paul himself is laboring for the beauty of that bride on that final day.

God has placed different people in the life of the church to labor for their beauty.

If you're a member of the church, you have me as a pastor. If you're a member of some other church, Lord willing, you have another pastor who is laboring with a godly jealousy that you be presented to Christ pure on that final day.

Understand this and respect this. If there are men laboring particularly for your glory, for that glorious day, for your beauty, that you be bringing

Christ's dignity on that final day, heed them. Do not let them do their work with groaning.

Instead, heed the things that they are saying. And you can do this with joy.

It is a joy to prepare for a beautiful wedding. All kinds of people prepare for a wedding.

There are people who prepare the food. There are people preparing, you know, just the decorations and arrangements.

And they typically enjoy that in some measure with an excitement about the event that is going to happen.

But no one should be more excited than the bride and the way that she is preparing, choosing the dress, et cetera.

You are to pursue this with the joy that a bride should have in preparing herself for that day.

Now, we can also take a few things away from this for human marriage. As Paul said, there's an organic connection between Christ and his bride and between the husband, a human husband and his bride.

As you are pursuing marriage, think about it in these terms. A lot of men look for a woman who already has everything together in all senses, not thinking about how he can contribute to her.

The beauty of that marriage between Christ and the bride is not that she was already beautiful without him and needed nothing.

Rather, it was how much he has to offer her. The husband who is looking for a bride who doesn't need any kind of instruction, who doesn't need any kind of help, is not really looking to be a husband.

Now, I'm not saying that you should fail to take into account anything about a woman's upbringing or a lack of godliness or anything like that, but go into it with an excitement to be able to give and lead.

You should be evaluating your capacity to lead and her capacity to follow. Women, as you're pursuing marriage, be thinking this way as well, that you are thinking about his capacity to lead and your capacity to follow this particular man.

Likewise, throughout the course of marriage, it is appropriate to be thinking in these terms, for the husband to be thinking about making his wife beautiful, not just in what she would wear, but in general.

It's appropriate for him to be concerned about her beauty and the dignity that that would bring him.

It's appropriate for him to observe, if she's letting herself go, that she take better care of herself.

A lot of people would consider that very off -limits, that husbands aren't supposed to say that sort of thing. No, this is part of a husband's job, to care for her.

Now, of course, not just with physical things, but likewise with spiritual things. 1

Timothy 2, 9 through 10, says, likewise also that women should dress themselves with all dignity, not with braided hair and gold or pearls and costly attire, but with what is appropriate for one who professes godliness, good works.

A woman should be adorning herself with good works. It is right, likewise, for husbands to encourage their wives in good works.

This is something else that is often considered in our culture off -limits. The wife is being particularly lazy.

It's often expected that a husband would simply concede to this and fill in the gaps and do the work that she's not willing to do.

This is not being a good husband. A good husband is going to encourage his wife and call her to higher things.

This is appropriate. And it is for his own dignity that as she is an excellent wife, he is caring for her as he would care for his own body, and he also brings her right dignity.

So I would encourage you not to think just like the culture thinks about these things, but to think biblically as we're instructed by the union between Christ and the church to think about these rightly.

Wives, care about your beauty, both physically and spiritually, for the sake of your husbands.

And husbands, know that it is within your realm of authority to care about these things, that it would be for the good of your wife and bring you dignity, just as it brings

Christ. Here in this picture we have in Revelation 19 and in Revelation 21.

We have an incredible opportunity to increase the glories of Jesus Christ and the glories that we would experience in him for all eternity.

Pursue good works with eagerness, with joy, with zeal, being washed by the water of the word for the sake not just of the church's beauty, but for the dignity of Christ our

King. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful truth.

We ask that we would take it to heart, it would not be lost on us, that we would reflect it in our own marriages, that we would be a people who are so oriented to Christ our

King that it shines in every aspect of our lives, even those natural ones that are enjoyed by those who do not know of Christ.

There are ways that we have of glorifying you that they do not have, and we pray that we would be model examples of marriage.

We pray that as a church, that we would be a model example of faithfulness, that we would be faithful to our true husband, that we would not turn away from him, that we would be guarded with a godly jealousy.

We pray on behalf of all those who have been given the charge of local assemblies that they would guard those with godly jealousy, and that on that final day, when every last enemy is placed under Christ's feet, that his bride would be glorious, dressed in beautiful linen that is the righteous deed of the saints.