Commentaries:
At this wonderful ceremony, the Bride will be given a very special privilege—that of being able to wear fine, clean, white linen. This raiment is so much more beautiful, important, and meaningful than even the loveliest of today's physical wedding gowns.
A study of fine, clean, white linen in the Bible reveals that this fabric (or more correctly, a spiritual version of it) is the material worn by angels. It was also worn by royalty and by God's priests, and it was also used extensively in the construction of the Tabernacle. At the marriage of the Lamb, the children of God who make up His Bride will become worthy to wear this fine, clean, white linen because, as well as becoming like angels (as Jesus describes their state in Matthew 22:30), they will become kings, priests, and pillars in God's Temple. Here in Revelation 19:8, fine linen is described as symbolic of "the righteous acts of the saints."
Staff
The Marriage of the Lamb
God blesses marriage in the first chapter of Genesis, and it is interesting that as the Book nears its end, in Revelation 19, marriage and His blessing on it once again take center stage. Clearly, the institution of marriage has a far higher purpose than just the physical union of a man and a woman.
Here we have a prophetic portrayal of the ultimate marriage, and God's blessing goes out to those who comprise the wife—the bride—of Jesus Christ. This blessing in Revelation 19:9 gives the blessing in Genesis 1:28 its true context. Our human marriages are types of this greater spiritual marriage. The experiences that we go through during a blessed physical marriage are designed by God to prepare us for our part in the ultimate intimate relationship with our Savior.
Marriage is a representation on the human plane of union between God and man. A similar intimacy exists in both relationships. Just as the sexual bond between a man and woman makes them "one flesh" (Genesis 2:24; see I Corinthians 6:16), a close, spiritual unity between God and a converted human being—which Jesus says is "to know" God in John 17:3 (compare this term to the sexual imagery of Genesis 4:1)—makes them "one spirit." On this, the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:17, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (see also Ephesians 4:4). Physical marriage, then, can teach us how to be spiritually one with God.
Just as surely as God will bless the union between His Son and the Bride, He will also endue the physical type with the ability to fulfill its purpose—that is, to create unity between marriage partners to prepare them for union with God.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Marriage—A God-Plane Relationship (Part Three)
At this time, the bride of Christ, the church, has made herself ready and is clothed in white linen, which represents her righteous acts. The implications are clear: Getting ready, walking worthy, and overcoming are the righteous acts of the saints that prepare her to be His wife in the resurrection to the Kingdom of God.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Elements of Motivation (Part Five): Who We Are
The fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. Consider that the marriage analogy carries right through from the Old Covenant into the New. Under the New Covenant, the church is seen as a bride preparing for marriage.
There is a major difference, however, between the Old and New Covenant marriage analogies. In the Old Covenant, when Israel agreed to God's proposal, and Moses performed the ritual described in Exodus 24, they were married. When we enter into the New Covenant, we are not married yet. We are like a bride preparing for marriage, even though we have already agreed to the New Covenant. God has made this change to resolve the weakness of the first covenant, which will be eradicated before the actual ceremony and union take place.
Revelation 19 is the announcement that the bride is now ready and the marriage can take place. There are four things that a marriage relationship must have to really be successful:
1) A marriage must have love. A loveless marriage is a contradiction in terms.
2) A marriage must have intimate communion—so intimate that the bride and groom become one flesh. The two become one.
3) A marriage should have joy. This will be a natural result if love exists in the marriage. The joy of loving and being loved is like nothing else.
4) A marriage must have fidelity, loyalty, and faithfulness. No marriage can last without it.
The weakness of the first covenant will be resolved—eradicated—before the actual ceremony and union take place. This time, Christ will be married to a wife who has already proved that she loves Him, that she is capable of intimate communication, that she is happy with Him as her Husband, and that she is faithful in every aspect of her life.
Notice how attention is drawn to her preparations, as well as her righteous acts. Could her righteous acts have anything to do with the preparation? Absolutely. Could it have anything to do with her being qualified? Absolutely. Works—her righteous acts—are represented here.
We should not be misled into thinking that her deeds, her righteous acts, have earned her salvation. All through the Bible, it maintains a delicate balance between grace (what is given) and obedience (the proper response). Here, that balance is shown by the wife's garments being granted to her. She has worked, but the gift is still given.
It takes work to make a marriage successful. It takes work to make our relationship with God successful. If we do the right kind of works, there is no doubt that the relationship will be successful, and God will be well pleased with us. And we will enter His Kingdom.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Love and Works
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Revelation 19:8:
Genesis 2:24-25
Numbers 12:1
Deuteronomy 22:11
Ruth 3:2
2 Kings 4:8-37
Psalm 1:1-3
Song of Solomon 1:1
Ezekiel 18:31
Amos 5:21-24
Zechariah 3:1-5
Matthew 6:9
Matthew 13:45-46
Matthew 22:1-14
Matthew 22:1-14
Matthew 22:11-14
Matthew 22:11
Matthew 22:37-40
Mark 1:14-15
Revelation 3:18
Revelation 19:8