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NASB | Revelation 19:8 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. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 19:8 She has been permitted to dress in fine linen, dazzling white and clean--for the fine linen signifies the righteous acts of the saints [the ethical conduct, personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character of believers]. |
Bible Question:
Country Girl, Jesus did more than "set a whole standard of behavior for the whole world." Was it really "His influence" that has preserved the world to date? What is "the straight and narrow gate to Heaven?" You indicated the possibility for man to "stay up with God's standard of doing anything decent" - is this ever possible according to God's Wotd, ie our righteousness is as "filthy rags" (Is 64:6)in God's sight. There is no one who does good (Ps 14:3) Rom 3:23 No one has met God's standard at any time (except One!). This being the case, how is one clothed with "fine linen?" Note, "It was GIVEN to her to clothe herself in fine linen" Where do our righteous acts come from? See John 15:5 What do you think will happen to the "good" things a believer does on his/her own initiative? Blessings, mommapbs |
Bible Answer: I think you probably have already figured out I was trying to say that Jesus "set a whole NEW standard for the world to imitate." I see your point as well as Angel's and Emmanus' points. Believe me, I'm not saying we can even come close to earning our salvation as there's ABSOLULTELY no way that can be done. But just like a good, loving parent invests his/her lifetime in a rearing a child or children and then hopes that child(ren) behave like they've been reared, in the same way our God wants us to behave like we've been bought and paid for by His Son. We should wear His Name somewhat proudly like Apostle Paul did while minimizing our measly acts of kindness as weak, feeble attempts to imitate Paul or even better Christ Himself. I don't think God keeps a score card on us and compares us to each other, again learning from our earthly parenting experience. He just wants us to stay in contact with Him through prayer and constant study of His Word because even the most mature christian needs a boost now and again to keep fighting the battle with the Devil and avoid the temptations of this world. As we mature in this spiritual relationship with our Father, we should realize our needs and priorities aligning themselves closer and closer with His. And then I think we'll realize more and more of His answers to our prayers. We should all strive to see things in this world as He does, listen to our fellow christians, seek to encourage them and love them in spite of their shortcomings and ask for their forgiveness for our shortcomings. Part of the unpleasant duties of a christian is to be an influence for good even to those that don't appreciate it. Sometimes we may even feel compelled by God to do what we can to correct some of the wrongs in this world BUT we MUST do so in love and show that we really do love people's souls like He does, without condition. We must show them over and over again and again, that whatever we say and do, we say and do so in the Name of the Lord. Your reference to John's words are good words as they make it plain that we are indeed dependent on Christ for His guidance and sustanance. Only by His representing us to His Father, can we hope to live with Him forever. But the toughest item of controversy as I've noticed it in the Forum is this battle between faith and works. As you've stated, our righteous acts counts as absolute zeros in the final judgments but that DOES NOT mean we should stop doing them. Jesus makes this very plain in the scriptures I referred to earlier. We MUST see ourselves as the debtor set free and go and share the good news, spreading the Word everywhere we go AND we MUST behave like we have a Father above watching us. He expects us to dispense acts of kindness and goodness not because we're earning our salvation but we must prove to the world we have it. Otherwise, how will the world know our christianity, our salvation is real and genuine? Hopefully, this may clear up some questions for you. Blessings to you. Country Girl |