Since the Garden of Eden, clothing and what to wear on various occasions has been important in every culture. This will be true at the wedding feast of the Lamb in Revelations 19. Notice the message to us through the apostle John.
And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great." And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true words of God."[1]
What a thrill to anticipate such an event. It will be an experience like none other in our life here on earth. But like all special events under the sun, we will want to take thought about what we will wear to that event. Note that it will be a wedding feast. We will not want to do or say anything that will detract from the main purpose for which the feast is held. And we will be part of the bride of Christ. We will want to honor our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who has taken away our sins. But what to wear?
There are crowns mentioned several times in the Book of Revelation. Some will be worn by Satan’s emissaries. They will not be there. These individuals will be destroyed in the lake of fire. There are also crowns seen on the heads of the twenty-four elders in chapter 4. But they will have cast their crowns before the throne at the feet of the Lamb. There is no mention of crowns in chapter nineteen. If anyone will be wearing a crown, it will be the Lamb of God.
What is noted are the garments of the bride, the Church. These garments will be made of fine linen. They will be spotless. But what are they? They will be the righteous acts of the saints. The works that we do in this life under the sun.
I love studying the book of Titus. Titus was left at Crete to correct some problems that existed among the brethren. Strong personalities were doing and saying things that harmed the fellowship and the gospel itself. In this short epistle, Paul uses a play on two terms to describe the works that would be performed by Titus and the saints who made up the Church. These terms are both translated “good.” One term is agathos. The other is kalos. Agathos occurs four times.[2] Kalos occurs five times.[3]
Agathos refers to that which is beneficial in what it does. Kalos refers to that which is pleasant, and valuable. The first, agathos, is that which is intrinsically good. Kalos is that which is extrinsically good. Going a little deeper for the application of each, agathos works are necessary. They will last for eternity. Kalos might be considered nonessential but enjoyable.
To illustrate, for those of us who are old enough to remember cod liver oil, when I was a child, cod liver oil was used as an elixir that could cure anything. But it tasted terrible. A child who had been given this would think twice about complaining of a belly ache just to stay home from school. The illustration is, Grandma says to Johnny, “Here, take some cod liver oil, it is good for you? Or she might say, “Here is a piece of cake, it is good for you.” With an understanding of the difference between the two terms, agathos and kalos, see how this deepens your understanding of good works in the book of Titus.
On the other hand, when in difficult situations, Romans 8:28 comes to mind.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.[4]
I once went to the bedside of a dear sister in Christ who had had a stroke. She was paralyzed on her right side, had difficulty speaking, had to learn to walk with a leg brace, and could not use her right arm. As she looked at me, unable to speak, with fear and despair in her eyes, I started to quote this Romans 8:28 to her, but it got stuck in my throat and I began to cry. Speaking to her as her pastor, those words seemed way out of place unless I could somehow convey to her the love of the Lord Jesus. It wasn’t the time for a word study.
Let me ask you. Which term do you suppose Paul used when he penned Romans 8:28?
In Romans 8:28 it is agathos. It refers to the very nature of God, our salvation, and our purpose for being here on earth, and why we go through the trials we all face every day. In another place, Paul wrote:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.[5]
Which term is used for “good” in this context? Of course, it is agathos. You see, life under the sun is the time when we cloth ourselves with agathos works which are the garments we will wear to the grand finale, the marriage feast of the Lamb. The verb tenses of the act of dressing are instructive. In verse 7, “the bride has made herself ready,” the verb is Aorist Tense, Active Voice. It refers to the kind of action. In this verse, it is a Historical Present because she is dressed and is now ready. In verse 8, “it was given to her,” the verb is Aorist Tense, Passive Voice. The clothes did not give themselves, they were given by God.[6] The phrase, “to clothe herself,” is Aorist Tense, Middle Voice. The bride did this herself.
Are you preparing yourself by putting on good (agathos) works?
What makes these garments appropriate for such an occasion is not because we are such good (kalos) people, but that we do good (agathos) works. They become righteous acts when we are born of God, when we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, when we put on the new man, when we walk in the Spirit both individually and corporately, and when we use our spiritual gifts to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ in order to build up the Body of Christ. What makes these works righteous is not that they are kalos works, but that they are agathos works. And they are performed in the power of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of pleasing and glorifying God. They are righteous because of Christ’s righteous act of going to the cross and paying the penalty for our sins so that we become righteous in Him.
What a wonderful, spectacular occasion that will be. See you there. What will you be wearing?
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[1] Rev 19:5-9.
[2] Tit 1:16; 2:5, 10; 3:1.
[3] Tit 2:7, 14; 3:8 (twice), 14.
[4] Rom 8:28.
[5] Eph 2:10.
[6] Ibid.