Prepared as a Bride

Preparation is going on all around us, every day.  In our personal lives we prepare for work, school, and travel.  In the business world, people prepare for meetings and presentations.  At this very moment farmers are preparing to harvest their crop; the very same crop that they planted back in April/May, and they spent February/March preparing the ground to receive that crop.  Brides spend months preparing for their ‘big day”.  A great concern is placed on temporal preparation for things of this life; should not an equal concern be placed on spiritual preparation? 

 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah 40:3

 The Bible tells us that the only way to be received into the kingdom of God after death is to first receive the Son in this life (1 John 5:12).  A testimony that you have received the Son and he has received you should be the most important focus of every human being; both obtaining that testimony and keeping that testimony.  Satan does all he can to distract and disrupt the finding and keeping of this testimony.  A sanctified life is a married life.  “So, can you be single and sanctified?”  Of course you can; because the marriage is between you and God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.  Moreover, the scriptures will bear out that the institution of marriage between a man and women (not a same sex marriage; there can be no such marriage no matter what the world says or a piece of paper) was meant to be an allegory to the relationship that Jesus wishes to have with you.  He will be a: faithful, loving, caring, providing husband; and we are to be a faithful, loving, caring, obedient bride.  This union operates under the common banner of edifying God and advancing his kingdom.  Now, as in a temporal marriage, the bride will prepare for the receiving of her husband.  So our spiritual man must prepare for the reception of the groom (Jesus Christ).  How is this done?  The heart prepares to receive the Holy Ghost by a singular, earnest act of repentance.  Not “I’m sorry I got caught” type of repentance, but a: broken, contrite, penitent, forsaking, repentance.  This is only logical, what husband would receive a wife that was not willing to forsake all others?  What possible chance could a marriage have if the wife was not prepared in her heart to be devoted to her husband? So the act of repentance prepares the heart of man for the reception of the Holy Ghost.  You forsake the world, and its vices; you are then forgiven, cleansed, and made ready.  You are made ready to make a covenant, ready to make a vow, ready to receive the Son and be received.

The blessing of forgiveness can and is often confused with the blessing of full salvation.  The feeling of forgiveness and being “cleansed” is a wonderful feeling; so wonderful that one could believe “this must be the height of the spiritual experience with God.” “This must be all there is.”  The Bible will declare plainly that this is untrue.  It is only the preparation phase, there is another work to be done; there is a marriage that must take place.  It is entirely possible that there are many, many people who have been made ready to receive the Son of God and never made it to the alter to make a vow to him, to commit their life to him, to receive him and be received.  As in a marriage, emphasis must be given to both the preparation and the union; however the whole of the service is not about the preparation but the union.  It is the union of God and man that brings full salvation; that brings new life.  A life devoted to a: loving, caring, providing, sympathizing, guiding, Jesus Christ; a wonderful life, a complete life, a sanctified life.