Beautiful Way | Lesson 7, Part 1

Greetings MOL Family!

There is a wedding that is about to take place!!! You and I are invited to share in it!!! But, like every wedding, this takes some preparation. And this is what we are interested in:

Put On Thy Beautiful Garments

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. – Revelation 19:7

The bride is getting ready. And as soon as the bride is ready, the Bridegroom will come! I wonder what it is going to take to get her ready? That is what we want to study, a bit, as we continue this study of beauty – the beautiful way. This bride, my dear friends, will be, in the eyes of Jesus and in the eyes of all the universe, the most beautiful object:

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. – Revelation 19:8

What does she wear? Righteousness. What is righteousness? Right doing. All the righteousness we shall ever wear is the righteousness of Jesus. But, my dear friends, there is a world of difference in the experience between simply having that righteousness imputed to us (accounted to us); I say a world of difference between simply having that and having the experience of actually living that righteousness – having that righteousness worked out in us.

The thief on the cross got the full benefit of imputed righteousness. The Remnant church will get the full benefit of imputed and imparted righteousness. That is very practical. It enters into all the details of our life – our diet, our dress, music, reading, association, recreation, amusements, education, child training. Everything in life is to be a matter of living out the righteousness of Jesus. He is teaching us His way, and giving us His power to live that life. And so, it is written:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus. – Revelation 14:12

I want to share another picture of these beautiful garments. Here is the invitation of Jesus to Zion, Jerusalem, His bride, the only object in this world on which He bestows His supreme regard:

Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. – Isaiah 52:1

Oh, do you see the garments given to this bride? The second verse:

Shake thyself from the dust. – Isaiah 52:2

God help us to do it friends, get rid of the dust of this world. What do you say?

Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. – Isaiah 52:2

And let me say, dear friends, those captive bands, whether they are of steel, or of silver, or of gold, must be broken before we can be robed fully in those beautiful garments of the righteousness of Christ. The things of this world, the fashions of this world, the customs of this world, they are captive bands that hold us in slavery to satan. Jesus says to His church, “Break those bands.” “Shake thyself from the dust.” “Arise, put on your beautiful garments.” Oh, that God may help us to put off the world and put on Jesus’ beautiful life.

Simply Beautiful, Beautifully Simple

The 45th Psalm. We were noting this in another lesson, but there is something about it I want us to consider now. And keep in mind that this is all very practical. The righteousness of Jesus is practical. It isn’t just some theory. It reaches to the table. It reaches to the looking glass, the mirror. It reaches to what we put on and what we put off. This is all very literal as well as symbolic and spiritual:

So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. – Psalm 45:11

This is the wedding song, this 45th Psalm. A Song of Love the introduction says. And you notice in the 11th and 13th verses, this bride of the king is the daughter of the king. She is royal all the way through:

The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. – Psalm 45:13

This is the gold of faith and love that Revelation 3 talks about. But she is all glorious where? Within. That is the thing I want you to see. Character shines out in the face, the secret of her beauty, the beauty that is attractive to all Heaven and thrills the universe, the beauty of the remnant church is an inward beauty, but it shines out in the face, in the countenance.

See how God regards this, 1 Peter the 3rd chapter. Here, you remember, is the apostle’s instruction to women about what to wear and what not to wear. You know, so many people have a meager idea of this New Testament instruction on jewelry and these other related practices. They suppose that if a person is a strict Christian, he is really not very good looking. Just the opposite is the truth, my friends.

God wants us to put away these heathen, pagan ideas of adornment in this world. He wants us to get rid of all that slavery – the time consuming, money-spending, pridefeeding program of this world. He has something far more beautiful and wonderful for every one of His children.

Whose adorning …

(Speaking of the wives)

…let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair. – 1 Peter 3:3

It is not talking about simple braiding, at all. It’s talking about what was being done right there at that time, where women were spending hours and hours fixing up their hair in a hundred different ways:

Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. – 1 Peter 3:4

I want to ask you something. Did you ever hear anybody say? “Well, I wonder why they are talking about women’s dress, women’s dress, women’s dress all the time.” Would you like to know? There is more than one reason, but here is a beautiful reason for it. God wants His church to be beautiful. And men are to do the best they can, but they don’t have as much to work with as the women.

When God made Adam, he was handsome. But when He made Eve, she was simply beautiful, and beautifully simple. Oh, how thrilled Adam was when he saw Eve, and how thrilled every true bridegroom is from that day until now when he sees his beautiful bride. Am I right? And how the heart of the great Bridegroom longs to see His bride, His church, made ready. My point is, it is symbolized by a woman, because that is the most beautiful object God has made in this world.

So, dear sisters in Christ, young and old, never let the devil tempt you to feel irritated because there is more instruction on the dress question to you than to men. Take it as an expression of the Father’s love for you, and the Father’s purpose in your creation. He made you in a special sense to be beautiful.

But, oh, what will make you beautiful? Since the most beautiful adornment is what shines from within, in the eyes, the face, the countenance, God has given this people a program of health to bring us up out of the pit of sickness out into the sunlight of health and beauty. That is one of the great purposes of health reform – to fit a people for the marriage of the Lamb.

Oh, wouldn’t it be too bad, friends, if the bride has to come halting in, just barely able to cripple along. That wouldn’t look nice, would it? Oh, no. Jesus wants His church to be as those brothers of Gideon were described. Each one resembled the children of a king. And He has given His people a program of health to get us ready. Shall we accept it? Shall we follow it? Shall we develop that health and beauty which come from harmony with the laws of life and health?

You remember 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Put it down in your notes:

And the very God of peace sanctify you…

What is the next word?

wholly [that is, completely, entirely]; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Oh, when He took His people out of Egypt, He gave them a program of health, didn’t He – diet and all the rest? And there was not one feeble person among their tribes. What a beautiful object they must have been, two million people with no disease – two million people reflecting the health and beauty of Heaven. Ah, friends, for God to take the remnant down here in the sickest, weakest age of the world and bring them to the place where, like Israel, they demonstrate the beauty and success of His plan, that is the major undertaking of the ages. Thank God He is going to succeed. Aren’t you glad? Let’s work with Him, from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to bed at night, yes and through the night.

What a day of rejoicing that will be; when we see the Bridegroom coming to take His beautiful bride home – to be with Him, forever!

Join us next week, to understand more qualifications for this wedding celebration. Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then… 

-Continue on to the next study-

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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.