Passage
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.”
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, members of over 5,400 branch churches in Korea and all over the world including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, Argentina, Germany, France, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Belgium, Netherlands, China, Japan, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, India, Mongolia, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Swaziland, South Africa, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, and local sanctuary members, those who are attending the service on the Internet all over the world, and television viewing audiences,
This is the fourteenth session of the Heaven lecture series.
From the 10th session onward, I have been explaining about the common elements of the heavenly kingdom, namely it concerns the basic environment of the kingdom of heaven.
To tell you about the general natural environment of the kingdom of heaven, first I told you about the sky and land of heavenly kingdom, then about the roads and the river, and also about the animals and plants.
From today, I will talk to you about how the children of God will live there forever in that environment. I will first talk about things that commonly apply to everybody.
Now, in this session, I will first tell you about the clothes that we will wear in heaven.
When you travel to another country, you will prepare clothes that are suitable for the weather conditions in that country. It’s because you would want to have the most pleasant journey possible.
And heaven is not just a visiting place but we will live there forever. Also as stated in the first part of Philippians 3:20, our citizenship is in heaven and we are going to be heavenly citizens.
Through this message, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become wise and blessed believers by learning the secrets to live a happier life in the eternal heaven and making it completely yours.
Body
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when we go into the heavenly kingdom after the Great White Throne Judgment, we will have a perfected heavenly body.
I already explained to you about this perfected heavenly body, in the fourth session of this sermon series.
Both men and women will have the form of a 33-year old. The body shape will be just right and most beautiful, neither too thin nor overweight.
Men’s height will be about 190 centimeters, and women will be just over 170 cm.
Regardless of the race on this earth, everybody will have the milky colored, bright and clean skin without any spot or blemish. The skin will also give off the brilliant luster of glory.
In this world, most women would like to have soft white skin. They put white powder or use all kinds of methods to avoid or remove wrinkles. But in heaven, you don’t have to worry about your appearance at all. All women will look beautiful even without make-up, and all men will look handsome.
Today, we have technology to edit the pictures. We can make the face look brighter than original, and we can make changes so we look more beautiful.
In heaven, there are external lights, but there is also a light coming from within the heavenly body.
The brightness of the light coming out depends on how much that person accomplished sanctification. So, we call this the ‘luster of glory’.
The more we are sanctified and resemble the heart of the Lord, the whiter and the brighter our luster of glory will be. And by the brightness of this light, we can discern the heavenly rank.
The hair will be blond and wavy. Men’s hair will come down to the neck.
But, for women, the length of the hair will be different according to the magnitude of each one’s sanctification. They will start from a length in line with the shoulders, and the higher the level of faith, the longer the hair will be. The longest hair will come down to the base of the spine. It is just as 1 Corinthians 11:15 says, “but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.”
Now, what kind of clothes do we wear in heavenly kingdom? Today’s passage Revelation 19:8 says, “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.”
Likewise, in heaven, basically both men and women will wear bright and white clothing. The material of the clothes will be so silky, light, and fluffy as if it had no weight.
Also, there is light coming out from the dress itself, and this light is also different according to the magnitude of sanctification the person has accomplished. The more sanctified, the brighter and more lucid the light will be.
In heaven, there is no dust, and the heavenly body doesn’t sweat, so even though we wear the same clothing for a long time, it won’t get dirty or smell. So, will we need only one set of clothing? It’s not true.
Just as we have different kinds of clothes suitable for different activities, in heaven also we need to change the clothes we wear from time to time.
We have clothes for ordinary times, and we need party clothing to wear for banquets, and we need dress that is formal attire to wear when we worship God.
Also, if we have sports activities or play various games, we can have appropriate clothing for those activities.
But as you know, everything is given to you in heaven according to what you have done on this earth.
Therefore, the number of the clothes given to each individual will be different according to how much you have worked for the kingdom of God and how much you glorified God.
Some people will have only a few sets of clothing to wear forever, but in other cases, people can be given innumerable number of clothes and they can change as many times as they want.
Also, some people have to change the clothes themselves, but for some other people, the angels will read the mind of their masters and do everything for them.
In heaven, not only the number of the types of clothing will be different but also the designs, colors, materials, the patterns in the cloth, and the decorations on the dress will all be different.
Therefore, just by seeing the kind of dress one is wearing, we can understand how much that person loved God and how faithful he/she was for the kingdom of God.
Even on this earth, during the old days when there were kings, the designs, colors, and patterns of the clothes were very different according to social class. In the case of Korea, there might have been some differences in different eras, but violet, yellow, and red colors were used for the king’s clothes, so, ordinary people could not have those colors for their clothing.
It was not only about the color of the clothes, but the patterns that they could have on their clothes were restricted.
For example, dragons or phoenix could be used only for the king.
It was the same with the material, design, and decorations.
In the same way, in heavenly kingdom, too, within the justice of God who pays back to us according to what we have done, everything will be given exactly according to the measure of one’s sanctification and the rewards.
First, the colors for the materials are different.
For example, we call some colors red, yellow, pink, and light green, and these colors will have different ratios of mixture in them and the luster of the colors will be different in each dwelling place of heavenly kingdom.
In case of pink color, the pink color used for the clothing of a person who is in New Jerusalem and that of a person in paradise will be very different in the glittering and feeling produced. But even though it is used in the relatively lower dwelling places of heaven, it cannot be compared with any color on this earth in its clearness.
It will still give out luster that we cannot even imagine.
Next, the patterns in the clothes will have very special meanings given by God.
Some examples of the patterns are the pattern of thanks, pattern of praise, pattern of prayer, patterns of joy, and the pattern of glory.
If a person lived a life of thanksgiving in all things during his life on this earth, God the Father will inscribe the pattern of thanks on his clothing.
Also, if a person lives a life of joy not only for joyful things but even with sad things or under the trials in life, God will give him the pattern of joy on his clothing.
Next, the pattern of praise will be given to people who give God the Father the beautiful and acceptable aroma of praise by singing praises coming from his deep heart with thanks for the grace and love of God, although he is not a praise leader or a professional singer.
And on the clothes of those who prayed with their life for the kingdom of God and His righteousness will be inscribed the pattern of prayer.
But the most beautiful and brightly shining pattern than any other patterns is the pattern of glory.
This pattern of glory will be given to a person who glorified God so greatly by doing everything only for the glory of God whether he ate or drank or whatever he did.
If a soldier renders a very outstanding service in a battle, he will receive a special medal honoring his meritorious service. The pattern of glory is given to commemorate a person’s good work who gave glory to God so greatly. Therefore, in heaven, those who wear the clothes with this pattern will be the most honored of people.
What kinds of patterns do you want to have on your clothes? You may want to have the pattern of prayer by praying a lot. You may want to have the pattern of praise.
Because the pattern of the glory is the best, you want to receive clothing with the pattern of glory. It’s good.
Please long for various patterns, but remember it’s not that only one pattern will be given to one person but you can receive many kinds of patterns, and be faithful in all God’s house.
One interesting thing is that there is something like a uniform in heaven, too.
When all people in the kingdom of heaven gather together to worship God, or have a banquet, according to the era in which they lived and led their Christian lives, the colors and patterns of the clothes will be differentiated.
It’s not like the uniforms of this world, standardized with the same design, but the colors and patterns of the clothes are the same so that it represents when and where we belonged on this earth.
For example, there is a separate color and patterns for the clothes that the Lord and the believers who followed the Lord will wear.
Also, in case of the believers who live in these end-times, there are colors and patterns that represent which church they were from.
Therefore, when all our Manmin members, including all branch churches worldwide, go to heaven, at proper times you will all wear the separate clothes with distinguished colors and patterns that indicate that you were Manmin members on this earth. I hope you will understand that, in heaven, wearing clothes with differentiated colors and patterns is also a very honorable thing.
Brothers and sisters, in heaven, not only through the clothes we wear but also with the crowns given and ornamentation worn in the hair, we can see the rewards and glory of each person.
It’s because all crowns and various ornaments can only be given by God as rewards.
According to how sanctified we are, how many souls we brought to the Lord, the offerings we have given to the Lord with all our heart, and according to how faithfully we worked for God, different rewards will be given.
So, the jewelry adornments and crowns that are given according to each one’s deeds must be different, and the number, the light, the brightness, and the splendor of those ornaments will all be different.
Now, what kinds of ornaments and crowns are there to adorn the head in heavenly kingdom? The Bible mentions several kinds of crowns, and they are related with the magnitude of one’s sanctification.
So, the qualification to receive each crown is different, and the value of each crown is different.
First, we can find the ‘Imperishable Crown” in 1 Corinthians 9:25. This is a crown given to those believers who do not completely obey the word of God. They actually have more things that are not in accordance with God’s word than the things that they obey. But, because they try to obey God’s word, this crown is given.
Namely, it is given to the believers who go into the first kingdom of heaven, having the 2nd level of faith.
But those believers who are barely saved, namely those who had no effort to live by God’s word and have gone into paradise will not receive any reward, and thus they will not receive any crown either.
1 Peter 5:4 talks about the unfading ‘Crown of Glory’.
This crown is given to those believers who have the level of faith to act by the word of God, namely those who are at the third level of faith.
Those who are at the third level of faith do not commit sins in action, so they at least don’t do anything to disgrace God’s name.
Also, whether 10%, 30%, or 50%, they give glory to God to the extent that they live by God’s word.
God remembers even the little glory that the believers give to Him and pays them back with the crown of glory.
Therefore, even though they may be the same crown of glory, the size and the jewelry on the crown for ornaments will be different according to how much each individual has given glory to God.
Next James 1:12 says, “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” and Revelation 2:10 says, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
This is about those whose ‘self’ has died completely and who have gone into spirit, namely those who are at the fourth level of faith.
They go into the third kingdom of heaven, and to them, God gives the crown of life.
Now, what kind of crown will God give to those who have accomplished the fifth level of faith, namely the whole spirit and have gone into New Jerusalem?
Revelation 4:4 says that 24 elders who are around the throne of God are wearing the crown of gold, and in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul said a crown of righteousness is prepared for him who fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith.
He added this crown of righteousness is not only for him but can be given to all who love the Lord’s appearing.
Therefore, I hope you will quickly accomplish the whole spirit and be faithful in your duty with all your life until the Lord comes back so that you will receive the crown of righteousness as your reward.
In heaven, there are many more crowns than introduced in the Bible. There are crown of flowers, pearl crowns made of a beautiful pearl, and crystal crown made of crystal with many kinds of decorative jewels on it.
The sizes of the crown also vary. Some are so big that we cannot understand with our thoughts of this world.
On this earth, we can wear a crown only when it fits our head, but in heaven, it’s not so.
Even though the crown is much bigger and higher than it can actually fit the head of the wearer, we can still wear such a crown, and it is such a glorious thing to wear such a crown.
In heaven, there are not only crowns but there are separate decorations for the heads of women.
In ancient Korean dynasties, the women in the king’s palace, namely, the queen, the concubine, court ladies, and their maid-servants all had different hairstyles and decorations.
In the same way, there are different hair decorations in heaven, too. In paradise, there are no crowns, and there are no adornments for hair, so they will have plain hair.
But as we go up the levels of faith, more beautiful and splendid hairpins or hair bands will be given.
For the women in New Jerusalem, the jewels that are in these ornaments will be the most gorgeous and beautiful, and especially, they will decorate their hair with thread-like strands that have beautiful colors. The adorning threads of beautiful colors will come down like it was a part of the hair, and will give out various lights and brilliant splendor.
Women consider their hair much more valuable than men do, and they do many things to decorate and care for it. The good God the Father does not miss even this kind of minute thing and pays back to us with rewards and glory.
From next session, we will look at what will be eaten in the heavenly kingdom and whether we will have to eat to survive.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters, the passage for today’s reading says that the fine linen, bright and clean, which is basically given to everybody in heaven, is the righteous acts of the saints.
To the extent that the believers truly love God, keep His commands, and accomplish sanctification in their heart, their expressed actions will also be righteous. Not only in the service, faithfulness, and volunteering in the church, but also even in the world, they will become the light and salt to give glory to God.
Likewise, to the extent that our faith in God becomes perfected by our deeds, we will be given a brighter and finer robe in heaven.
Revelation 22:14 likens this process of believers’ acting according to the truth and taking brighter fine linen with washing of the robes.
It says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” What does the city in the verse refer to? It is the city of New Jerusalem.
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will all wash your robes through sanctification of heart and acting in the truth so that you will receive the qualifications to boldly enter into the city of New Jerusalem.
[Amen!]
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