"The parable of the wedding garment opens before us a lesson of the highest consequence. By the marriage is represented the union of humanity with divinity; the wedding garment represents the character all must possess who shall be accounted fit guests for the wedding." COL 307
" To the church it is given 'that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,' 'not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.' The fine linen, says the Scripture, 'is the righteousness of saints. ' Rev. 19:8; Eph. 5:27. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour." COL 310
How do we get this imparted character, which is the righteousness of saints?
"By His perfect obedience He made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. " COL 312
Many do not want to believe this. They believe that the wedding garment is just a covering Christ gives us when He comes, but they are deceived. The garment is the character which God works in us.
"The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire sur-render of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven. " DA 555, 556
"Even your thoughts must be brought into subjection to the will of God and your feelings under the control of reason and religion. Your imagination was not given you to be allowed to run riot and have its own way without any effort at restraint or discipline. If the thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong, and the thoughts and the feelings combined make up the moral character. " 5T 310
"Moral perfection is required of all. Never should we lower the standard of righteousness in order to accommodate inherited and cultivated tendencies to wrong-doing. We need to understand that imperfection of character is sin." COL 330
"Men may now excuse their defects of character, but in that day they will offer no excuse." COL 317
"God will accept nothing but purity and holiness; one spot, one wrinkle, one defect in the character, will forever debar them from heaven, with all its glories and treasures." 2T 453
What are spots and defects of character? Since the "thoughts and the feelings combined make up the moral character," defects must be wrong thoughts and feelings, or wrong attitudes.
How could God allow us into heaven with hearts having resentment, bitterness, envy, jealousy, hatred, evil surmising, or any other defects of character? The character will not be changed when Jesus comes.
"Many are deceiving themselves by thinking that the character will be transformed at the coming of Christ, but there will be no conversion of heart at His appearing. Our defects of character must here be repented of, and through the grace of Christ we must overcome them while probation shall last."AH 319