By Jon Beaty

A Scary Wedding Mix-Up

Some people put a lot of effort into making sure they’re dressed for the occasion. Really, everyone should. There may be a dress code. A code is a signal. How we dress is a signal for a lot of things. Among other things, how we dress reflects our character.

Picture this: You arrive at a fancy wedding feast. Tables are full of food, and everyone looks great. But you’re in old, torn clothes, feeling out of place. As you arrive, you’re offered a fresh set of wedding clothes, the same threads offered to all the guests. Would you refuse?

Sadly, when it comes to our invitation to join Jesus’ “wedding supper of the Lamb” many guests refuse the wedding garment and will lose their invitation. This will happen even among those of us who worship together every Sabbath. Why? Because some think their own dress or suit is good enough.

What God’s Dress Code Means

God has a dress code. It isn’t about style. Codes are symbols that convey meaning. God’s dress code reveals His character.

The Old Testament priests serving in the Tabernacle followed a Divine dress code designed to teach God’s people about His character. White linen robes signaled purity. Blue stood for obedience. Gold represented righteousness. Scarlet symbolized love.

In the New Testament, Jesus revealed a similar dress code in Revelation 3:18. He tells the Laodicean church—representing end-times Christians—to get “white garments” from Him. These garments also reveal God’s character as displayed by Christ’s sinless life. This white garment is what we need to allow us to join the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Connection to the Day of Atonement

The dress code for the Laodicean church links to the Day of Atonement, the sixth of seven Hebrew festivals that foreshadowed the time we are now living in. The seventh festival was  the Feast of Tabernacles, foreshadowing Jesus’ Second Coming.  

The Day of Atonement called God’s people to search their hearts for sin that needed forgiveness. The day was also a special Sabbath reminding people to rest in God’s works and not to rely on their own works. The high point of this day was the high priest’s atonement for Israel’s sins with the blood of the Lord’s goat on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

Seventh-day Adventists believe we’re in that real Day of Atonement now—the Investigative or Pre-Advent Judgment. Jesus is our High Priest in heaven, offering His blood at the throne of God as atonement for the sins of spiritual Israel (His church). The call is the same for all: repent of all sin, rest in His finished work signified by the Sabbath, and receive Jesus’ sacrificial death as a substitute for the death we deserve. Our preparation for the Judgment is to put on Jesus and have Christ in us—the wedding garment needed for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Jesus’ Story of the Wedding Feast

Jesus emphasized this in His parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14):  A king plans a feast for his son. The first guests invited reject the invitation— like Israel ignoring, persecuting and killing prophets and the Messiah.

The king takes a new approach, inviting everyone from the streets, good and bad. This foreshadows the gospel going to all people: God’s grace is deep and wide. We don’t deserve it; it goes to the good and the bad.

Why the Wedding Garment Matters

Each guest is offered a wedding garment. The king checks the guests. One lacks the free wedding outfit— whatever he wore instead wasn’t good enough. He’s thrown out, with nothing to say; his choice clear. The wedding garment symbolizes Christ’s sinless life in two ways: given to us (justification), by crediting Jesus’ perfect life to our account by faith (Romans 4:3-5); and grown in us (sanctification), changing us to act like Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). One proves the other. Without it, we’re fooling ourselves, like the Laodiceans—believing we’re rich and in need of nothing, but poor and naked in the eyes of God.

Preview of Judgment Before Jesus Returns

The story affirms the Pre-Advent Judgment prophesied in Daniel 7:9-14. Heaven’s books open before Jesus returns. Jesus reveals to His Father, the angels and the whole universe  who has received His gift of salvation by faith. The question: Who has Christ’s white garment? Those who have surrendered their own rags to receive Christ’s righteous covering and indwelling. If that’s you, no fear: “No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Jesus defends you, affirming His self-sacrificing love on your behalf.

The Beast’s Mark and God’s Seal

Rejecting the wedding garment foreshadows receiving the mark of the beast described in Revelation 13—salvation merited by human works rather than salvation by God’s covering grace. Bible prophecy predicts people’s allegiances will be manifest by one of two choices. Those receiving the beast’s mark will engage in worshipping the beast by observing a government-enforced counterfeit Sabbath established by civil laws mandating Sunday rest. The mark of the beast signifies submission to human government, and rejection of the Lord of the true Sabbath—a rejection of His righteous life in exchange for death.

For a smaller remnant, their choice to receive Christ’s righteousness is sealed by their surrender to God’s will by keeping the true Sabbath as a sign of trust in God’s sanctifying Spirit to make them fit for His kingdom (Exodus 31:13). The Sabbath commandment is the one commandment that embraces love for God, humanity and God’s creation. Keeping God’s commandments proves they have Christ’s righteousness signified by the wedding garment.

Revelation 19:7-8 describes a bride in bright linen—the white garment that represents the righteous acts of saints produced by Christ dwelling in them by the Holy Spirit. God’s seal goes to those ready for the Lamb’s wedding feast because they’ve surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus and the gift of His righteousness as a substitute for their sin-blemished works. We have nothing better to offer.

Invited and Chosen

Jesus’ revelation of the divine dress code makes our choice clear. “Many are called, few chosen” (Matthew 22:14). The parable of the wedding feast reveals the tragic truth that some refuse the call and therefore are not chosen. Those who say yes to God’s grace by faith are made worthy in Christ our Righteousness

Jesus holds your reservation, He’s delivered your invitation and offers you the wedding garment needed to take your place at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. Today is the day to accept His gift. To receive it requires only daily surrender of all you have to put on Christ and to allow Jesus to dwell in you through the Holy Spirit.