National Women's Day is a South African public holiday celebrated annually on 9 August. The day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country's pass laws that required South Africans defined as "black" under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era. The first National Women's Day was celebrated on 9 August 1994. In 2006, a re-enactment of the march was staged for its 50th anniversary, with many of the 1956 march veterans.

Many Churches now use the day to organize their own women’s conferences.

I was invited to speak at the women’s conference of the Free Reformed Churches in the Mamelodi Township on the theme of the necessity of good works in the life of a Christian.

In the talk, Revelation 19:7-8 and Sunday 32 of the Heidelberg Catechism were taken as point of departure.

Let us rejoice, be glad, and give him glory, because the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. She has been given the privilege of wearing fine linen, dazzling and pure. The fine linen represents the righteous deeds of the saints. (Rev 19:7,8).

Heidelberg Catechism Sunday 32

86. Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works?

A. Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits, [1] and He may be praised by us.[2] Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits,[3] and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbours for Christ.[4]

[1] Rom. 6:13; 12:1, 2; I Pet. 2:5-10. [2] Matt. 5:16; I Cor. 6:19, 20. [3] Matt. 7:17, 18; Gal. 5:22-24; II Pet. 1:10, 11. [4] Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 14:17-19; I Pet. 2:12; 3:1, 2.

87. Q. Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent walk of life?

A. By no means. Scripture says that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, greedy person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like shall inherit the kingdom of God.[1]

[1] I Cor. 6:9, 10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5, 6; I John 3:14.

Introduction:

The way any human being lives now, your present behaviour and your character, is determined mainly by what you expect your ultimate future is going to be.

The Bible teaches us, that for the Christian, his sure expectation of God’s future is a life shaping certainty that our ultimate future is the eternal love and glory of God, a new heaven and a new earth, that is going to start with a glorious wedding celebration.

The most important and powerful life changing dynamic of the Christian faith is to experience within oneself, now already, the beginning of God’s new great and everlasting future. When your eyes now already catch a glimpse of the breath-taking glory of God’s final redemption and coming new creation, your life and lifestyle becomes transformed.

What is on your mind when you think about the return of Christ?

If you would know for sure that tomorrow is going to be the final day of history, when Christ will appear triumphantly on the clouds, will you be happy and shout for joy, or would you be frightened and anxious?

Will you be part of the great multitude that is described here in Revelation 19:1, shouting: "Hallelujah!

Or will you be part of the millions from all layers of the society described in Revelation 6:16 and 17 who will want to hide in caves and among the rocks of the mountains and call to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"  

Christ has redeemed us by his blood. But we do good because Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like a beautiful bride, the day that Christ, our bridegroom comes. In the process of preparing for the day of the wedding we show that we are thankful to God for all he has done for us, so that he may be praised through us. While we are preparing the wedding gown we grow in assurance and expectation of the great day of the wedding so that by what we are doing, our godly living, our neighbours may be won over to Christ. (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 86)

To enable us to grow in our understanding of what it is going to be like on the day when Christ returns, the Bible often paints this picture of a wedding.

The words of Revelation 19:7,8 speak of a wedding and specifically mentions the wedding gown of the bride.

If you return home from a wedding, the first thing you will be asked is: “So, what did the bride look like? How did her wedding gown look?”

This was the same in the times of the Bible in the ancient near east.

In considering the marriage and the wedding gown we gain a new depth of insight on all our amazing gifts, privileges and obligations as people of God.

Let’s consider the significant implications of this profound picture of the Church as the Bride of Christ under two headings.

Matchmaking Preparation of the Bride for the wedding1. Matchmaking

To understand the image of the wedding gown of the church well, we need to have a brief look at the cultural practices around weddings and marriages in the times of the Bible.

The groom’s father often chose the bride for his son as we read of Abraham in Genesis 24. He took the initiative to choose a wife for Isaac.

After the bride has been chosen, a dowry, a bridal price had to be paid. In South Africa, where the practice of paying a dowry is still very much in place and among us as Africans it is called “lobola”.

In the Hebrew language it was called mohar.

In the Hebrew culture it was usually a very sizable price.

Jacob, for example, had to work 14 years to have Rachel whom he loved as his wife. We read in Genesis 29:20 that Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. When he realized he was betrayed by her father Laban he worked another seven years to pay for Rachel! What a sizable bride price! What deep love he must have had for her!

In 1 Samuel 18 we read that when David was considering to marry Micah the daughter of king Saul, he realized that it is going to cost a massive price to marry a king’s daughter and he said to the king’s servants: “I’m only a poor man and little known.” He was then told by these servants: “The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.”

The dowry for princess Micah could easily have cost David his life! Yet he was willing to do it.

There was also a practice that a bride had to agree to be given to her husband to be. She had to say yes! After the negotiations has been done and the dowry has been paid, the father of the bride would fill to cups of wine and they would drink it together as a symbol that the couple entered into a covenant and was seen as betrothed or engaged. The bride had to say: “I am yours,” and he had to say: “You are mine”.

All these images lie behind the New Testament pictures of the church as the Bride of Christ.

The church as the Bride of Christ has also been chosen by the Father. He has chosen us from before the foundation of the world to belong to Christ. 1 Peter 1:2 says we have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and Ephesians 1:4,5 says we have been chosen in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

The Father has also given us to Christ.

Christ also paid a lobola, not of money but of his own blood and his life to ransom us to belong to him forever.

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, as it is said in Ephesians 5:26  to make her holy, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

In Revelation 5:9 Christ is worshipped with the new song in heaven with these words: You were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

In the well-known song: The church’s one foundation we sing:

From heaven He came and sought her

To be His holy bride

With His own blood He bought her,

And for her life He died.

Our union with Christ will only become an experienced reality when the Holy Spirit lead us to the point where we from our side commit ourselves to him. He wants you to give yourself to him wholeheartedly and confess: Lord Jesus I am yours and you are mine. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee;

Have you ever done that, brother and sister?

Can you really say I have given myself in total submission to Jesus as my Bridegroom and my Lord?

Then you will not be afraid and frightened for the day of his return. As it stands in 1 John 2:28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

2.         Preparation of the Bride for the wedding

In the times of the Bible, the period of betrothal usually lasted for a year. During this year the bride looked forward with great anticipation and did her utmost to prepare the most beautiful wedding gown for her wedding day.

The wedding gown of the bride was not only beautiful but also precious. We see a reference to that in Jeremiah 2:32 where we read: Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire?

If we have not really given ourselves to Christ in total submission, we’ll have no power and no desire to prepare the most beautiful wedding gown for the day of his return which will be like a wedding day for his church.

Just imagine that for a moment. If it is the day a wonderful bridegroom’s wedding, he approaches the place where the wedding is going to be conducted and there the bride is standing with ugly filthy clothes. She just says, I was so busy with other things, I had no time to prepare a wedding gown.

What will be clear of such a bride?

She has not given her heart to the bridegroom yet.

In Revelation 19:8 it says the wedding gown is given to the bride.

She has been given the privilege of wearing fine linen, dazzling and pure.

Even up to today in certain of the middle east cultures the bridegroom covers the bride with a special cloak, using the words, ‘From now on, nobody but myself shall cover you.’

If you have never deliberately given yourself to Christ, now is the time. Go on your knees and confess to Him: “Lord Jesus please take me as your bride. I want to submit my whole heart to you and live for you.”

Then the bride will be able to put on her wedding gown and wear it to please her bridegroom.

Applied to the church it means that Christ enables us through the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life dedicated to him. That means the Holy Spirit enables us to put on our wedding gown.

How do you and I put on Christ’s wedding gown?

By doing good works. When we do good works for Jesus we are like a bride putting on her wedding gown.

The lifestyle of a believer dedicated to Christ is often portrayed as taking off old clothes and putting on new clothes. As it is said in Ephesians 4: 22 and 24: … put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and … put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness....”

The lifestyle of those who are part of the bride of Christ, must specifically be characterized by showing real love and compassion to others.

The last part of Revelation 19:8 says, her wedding gown is her acts of righteousness. That means her good works. The Greek word that is being used here (dikaiomata,) has the same root as the word that is used for our justification. Our righteousness, being right before God through faith in Christ in NT Greek is our (dikaiosune). The lifestyle of someone who is justified before God then becomes our dikaiomata, translated here with our acts of righteousness. When you are a true Christian you have been declared righteous before God. Then all those who know they have been declared righteous put on the wedding gown of the bride of Christ: that is her acts of rigteousness.

The New Testament then often makes it clear that this wedding gown for the return of Christ is to be involved in acts of mercy and justice for the poor and suffering.

Colossians 3:12-15 says: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

That is the wedding gown and good works that God wants to see in our lives. We have been chosen and dearly loved by Christ. And therefore, now we put on a wedding gown of love and compassion.

Verse 14 says: “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

This should be the lifestyle of a Christian. Jesus said: “By this the world will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 16:35)

That is why we also confess in the Heidelberg confession that we do good works in order that we might adorn the gospel ( Tt 2:10) and make it attractive to outsiders ( 1 Pt 2:12) and may win our neighbours for Christ.

We see a clear description of such a lifestyle if we read Job 29:11-17. It is said of him: Whoever heard him spoke well of him, and those who saw him commended him, because he rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.  The man who was dying blessed him, he made the widow’s heart sing. He put on righteousness as his clothing; justice was his robe and his turban. He was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. He was a father to the needy; He took up the case of the stranger. He broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.

The Bible so often stresses that a genuine Christian lifestyle is a life of being involved in acts of mercy and justice.

James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unspotted from the world..

What 20 000 brave South African women did on the 9th of August 1956 with their march to the parliament buildings to speak out against the injustice of pass laws of those times in South Africa, was in line with Isaiah 58:6-7 where God said through the prophet:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Today, with remaining poverty and growing unemployment, sexual abuse of women and 1 in 3 women being raped in South Africa there is a desperate need for churches to reach out to communities with ministries of mercy and community development.

Jesus said the real test with his return of whether we really loved him will be our attitude to those in need:

Matthew 25:34-40

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  "Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  "The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

When you are part of the Bride of Christ, the Holy Spirit fills you with love and compassion to be a channel of God’s love and compassion in this broken world. That is your wedding gown for the return of Christ.

The lifestyle of the early Christians provides an amazing picture of how Spirit filled Christians live in the world.

Rodney Stark published a book a few years ago with the title: The Rise of Christianity.  He reveals historical facts, but also brings a sociologist's perspective to bear on the puzzle behind the success of early Christianity. His research made it clear that there were three ways in which the early Christians were remarkably different from their pagan neighbours:

When the great epidemics hit the urban centres, while others just fled, Christians stayed to care for the sick and in the process several died while they were doing it.

Secondly when Christians were persecuted, they did not respond with retaliation, or guerrilla warfare, but they died while they were praying for their persecutors.

Thirdly when Rome conquered all the nations all national boarders were opened. The cities became fiercely multi ethnic, which lead to a great deal of ethnic tension. The Christian church was the first institution in the history of the world that brought people together across those ethnic barriers and said: Race means nothing.

If you ask why were the Christians so much more compassionate to the sick? Why were they so much more forgiving to their persecutors? Why were they so much more ethnically inclusive than everybody has ever seen? There is actual only one main answer: Their attitudes and lifestyle were dependent on what they believed their ultimate future is going to be. They knew they were getting ready for the great wedding feast with the return of Jesus.

Christians had a live expectation of the return of their Bridegroom Jesus Christ.

They were shaped by a joyful certainty of God’s great future: Eternal glory and love. Therefore they could stay in the cities, because they were not afraid of death, because they knew after death comes God’s love.

The reason why they did not retaliate against their persecutors with violence and terrorism, is because they knew that by the end of time God would judge everything and put everything right.

They were ethnically inclusive because they believed that there is one God who was busy gathering his new people from every tribe, tongue and nation.

You see, when the Holy Spirit takes hold of your life, He brings this supernatural joyful assurance of God’s future glory in your life and you then start to radiate his compassion into the broken world around you.

The way you expect the final return of Christ will be seen in your acts of righteousness. It is your wedding gown.

Lesslie Newbegin who was a missionary in Sri Lanka was once asked to explain what it really means to be a Christian?

He then used this illustration:

When people were walking in an Eastern direction on the narrow mountain paths in the early morning a strange red light was shining from their faces. People who saw it asked with wonder and amazement: Why are their faces radiating such a brilliant light?

Later they then discovered it is the reflection of the rising sun shining from their faces.

A real Christian, Lesslie Newbegin said, is someone who is walking towards the Sun of Righteousness and therefore radiates the love of God back into the world around him.

The church as the Bride of Christ should now already provide a foretaste of the glory of God’s final redemption to the world. Because our Bridegroom is coming to wipe away every tear from our eyes; because there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, because there shall be no more pain, we as the bride must radiate something of that to the world, now already.

And if that happens, then the prophecy of Zachariah 8:23 will become a reality that ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of one believer and cry out: “We want to go with you, we want to share in your destiny, because we have heard that God is with you.”