Morning By Morning #343

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.

Revelation 3:4

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

This verse refers to the justification of believers. “They will walk…in white”—meaning they will enjoy a constant sense of their justification by faith, they will have the understanding that Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to them, and they will know they have been washed whiter than newly fallen snow.

It also refers to joy and gladness, for the Jews wore white robes during their holidays. They who wear undefiled garments will always have bright faces and will understand what Solomon meant when he said, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white” (Eccl. 9:7 – 8). Everyone who is accepted by God will wear white garments of joy and gladness while walking in sweet communion with the Lord Jesus. Then why are there so many doubts and so much misery and mourning among believers? It is because so many of us defile our garments with sin and error and therefore lose “the joy of [our] salvation” (Ps. 51:12) and the intimate fellowship of the Lord Jesus. It is because we do not “walk…in white.”

This promise also refers to “walk[ing]…in white” before the throne of God. Those “who have not soiled their clothes” here on earth will certainly “walk…in white” in heaven, where the white-robed hosts sing perpetual hallelujahs to the “Most High” (Gen. 14:18). They will be filled with joy beyond belief, happiness beyond their wildest imagination or dream, and blessedness beyond their deepest desire. “They whose ways are blameless” (Ps. 119:1) will have all this, not through their own merit or works but by grace. “They will walk with [Christ]…in white, for [He has made them] worthy.” In His sweet fellowship they will drink from “springs of living water” (Rev. 7:17).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

After Solomon’s temple was destroyed, the time finally came for a new one to be erected, and it must have been beautiful as well, for the Lord said this regarding it, “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house” (Hag. 2:9). Yet the people had defiled themselves by their sinfulness, causing God to say, “So it is with this people and this nation in my sight. Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled” (v. 14).

The second temple was replaced by Herod the Great, a man considered great not because he was a great king but because he was a great builder. In fact, the sages of Israel praised his temple by saying, “Whoever has never seen Herod’s Temple, has never beheld a beautiful building in his life.” But even Herod’s Temple will pale in comparison to the heavenly temple yet to be revealed, where all God’s children will “walk…in white.” It is well beyond our imagination, for John, who had the future revealed to him by Jesus Himself, says this of it:

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple… On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there…Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 21:22, 25, 27