When you accept Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit as a gift, your name is written in the Book of Life and you become God's child.
This is the beginning of your preparations to become eligible as a bride of the Lord who opened the way of salvation with love through the crucifixion.
The Lord who resurrected and ascended into heaven is currently preparing dwelling places in Heaven for believers who have gained the authority as God's children and He will come in the air to welcome His brides who have pure and beautiful hearts.
"Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless"
(2 Peter 3:14).
"So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless"
(Ephesians 5:26-27).
What should we do to become a blameless and beautiful bride who has no blemish, no spot, no stain, and no wrinkle? Let's look at some of the spiritual meanings.
No blemish
If a person, who calls himself a Christian, drinks, acts violently, tells a lie, defrauds others, and lives in depravity, then other people may criticize him.
'Blemishes' refer to wrongdoings that are apparently manifested and revealed on the outside. In other words, these include actions against the truth. Thus, after you accept the Lord, first of all, you must shake off the former manner of life in your deeds, and you also have to diligently listen to, learn, and practice the Word of God. This is a significant point.
Also, 'a blemish' indicates 'a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something'. If one had done an evidently evil work in the sight of even men as well as God, it can remain in him in a form of a trace though he accepted the Lord and repented of all his transgression. Also, if one has done the works of the flesh recorded in Galatians 5:19-21 after he accepted the Lord, even if he repents of them thoroughly, it will be left like a 'scar'. Of course, it does not mean that he cannot be saved, but it makes it hard for him to enter the better dwelling places in Heaven. So, he needs to make much more efforts than others.
Aside from them, our deficiencies can be said to be 'blemishes'. A man should properly go through the necessary steps in growth; seeing, hearing, feeling, and practicing things. But if one has undergone a certain step in an abnormal way or if he has skipped the step, it will cause a deficiency of the body to be formed. You can fill the deficiencies only when you take cognizance of your shortcomings and see, hear, feel, and act in the truth.
No spot
'Spot' relates to a sinful nature and all things that come out from the sinful nature. If one is exposed to the sun, after he had moles on his face removed, it causes the moles and spots to be formed again. In the same manner, if you maintain attachments to the world and you do not remove the roots of the sinful nature, though you repent thoroughly of your past sins, chances are that you will commit sins when you are exposed to the worldly things. Thus, it is very important to cast away sinful natures continually until your heart receives the assurance they are gone.
In the process of the removal of sinful natures, we need to cast away clearly-revealed evil things first such as lying, craftiness, hatred, jealousy, envy, and adultery. Then, we have to get rid of evil conscience; we should remove everything that is not in accord with the Word of God whenever it is found. Also, we can get rid of the evils in our natures that we cannot discover on our own, in and by the grace of God through trials.
No stain
'Stains' refer to one of the deficiencies of the body that appears trivial but is detectable when we try to find it. In this case, there is a deficiency of the body caused by one's personality or temperament. Even if an extroverted person has cast away arrogance and boastful nature his active attitude still may seem to be caused by his boastful nature in others' sight.
Also, there is the deficiency of the body formed because of the lack of experience in growth. Let's say one who has never had attachment to the worldly things has achieved the heart of spirit. He has never experienced the fleshly things so he sometimes cannot understand others' hearts and embrace them. This is not sin but could give reasons for others to judge him. Therefore, only when we fill these deficiencies we can be said we are complete.
No wrinkle
'Wrinkles' refer to self-formed frameworks. They are those of goodness and of truth that we have made on our own. Let's suppose the president of a company says to his workers that they will dine together. But a director says to him, "We are so thankful for just giving us the opportunity to work in this company. You do not have to treat us to dinner, either." Or, let's say the president says to the workers in a restaurant, "Help yourselves. You may eat whatever you want" but the director chooses a dish that is the cheapest and says, "We are satisfied with it, aren't we?" He might think it is goodness, he does not understand the deep goodness of the president and act like that without thinking the time would encourage the workers to work more earnestly.
Some people stopped God's blessing from coming by their own thoughts. It means they have only a limited concept of goodness in considering others and it stops the receiving of blessings. To reach the deeper level of goodness God wants, and the deeper level of spirit, we need to break the self-framework of goodness.
Additionally, you may have the trace of the flesh that was shaped without noticing it. If you are introverted and gentle, people might think, 'Why does he act like that?' However, as long as you enter the deep level of spirit and then whole spirit God modifies the personality that is a part of you into a soft and sophisticated character and uses it.
As read in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," we have to welcome the Lord as a bride without blame.
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