The bride’s preparation is explained in v 8: she clothes herself with “bright, pure, fine linen,” which symbolizes “the righteous deeds of the saints”. These “righteous deeds” may best be explained in part from v 10, “holding to the testimony of Jesus. Testimony  occurs seven other times in the Apocalypse, usually in the expression “testimony of Jesus” and always with the contextual idea of bearing witness to Jesus in both word and deed. For saints to hold to the testimony also means negatively that they will not give their loyalty to Babylon but separate themselves from it  18:4.

A possible meaning here is that before the marriage can take place the saints must complete their preparation of performing “righteous deeds” by persevering in their faith despite the world’s persecution. This is close to the conclusion reached about earlier passages that affirm that believers will receive white robes. According to this understanding, a classic theological tension appears to exist between the idea of the bride “preparing herself” (v 7) and that of the bride being “given” her garments (v 8), that is, “it was given to her that she should clothe herself”. This tension is also seen in   Lev. 20:7–8; Phil. 2:12–13).

7 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sets you apart. Lev 20:7–8.

12 Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed,y so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Php 2:12–13.

Some try to solve the difficulty by diluting the lexical meaning of ἐδόθη, given, granted and translating it as “permit, allow. Mounce solves the antinomy by saying that “this does not deny the Pauline doctrine of justification based on the righteous obedience of Christ (Rom. 5:18–19), but suggests that a transformed life is the proper response [by the justified] to the call of the heavenly bridegroom.”

If that is correct, then it would be better to view vv 7–8 as indicating that a transformed life of good works (though certainly not perfection) is not only “the proper response” to justification but a necessary external response or “badge” required before entrance to the wedding of the Lamb is granted. Theologically, this would mean that justification is the causal necessary condition for entrance into the eternal kingdom, but good works are a noncausal necessary condition. In this regard, cf. also Rom. 2:6–8; 2 Cor. 11:2.

Without exception receiving white clothes elsewhere in the Apocalypse precisely conveys the idea of purity resulting from a test of persevering.

Therefore, the white clothes here should be equated not with the “righteous deeds” of perseverance, but with the reward or result of such deeds. In this light the final clause of v 8 could be interpretatively paraphrased as “the fine linen is the reward for (or result of) the righteous deeds of the saints.”

Another viable translation would be “the linen is the deeds putting right [acquitting, vindicating] the saints, righteous deeds performed by the saints.  Another viable rendering would be “just judgments on behalf of the saints.

The white robes, might represent two inextricably related realities:

(1) human faithfulness and good works (as a necessary evidence of right standing with God)

(2) vindication or acquittal accomplished by God’s judgments against the enemy on behalf of his people, righteous acts of the saints, may be best left ambiguous: “righteous deeds of the saints,” including both “righteous acts performed by the saints” (subjective genitive) and “righteous acts for the saints” (objective genitive) performed by God.

The context supports a meaning of vindication or acquittal, resulting from divine judgments on behalf of the saints.

It cannot be accidental that those who accompany Christ in this act of vindication are described in 19:14 as “clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” The oppressed saints accompany Christ as he vindicates them, wearing the symbolic clothing of their vindication, which is performed only by Christ as they stand by and watch. 20:4 expresses the idea well: “judgment was given for [on behalf of] them.”

In this light, it is not fortuitous that the opening words of v 7 allude to Ps. 118:24 and Matt. 5:12, since the main point of both is praise to God for vindicating the saints (cf. Matthew’s

Rev. 19:8b also envisions “righteous acts by the saints” must not be lost sight of., in 19:7 the bride is said explicitly to have “prepared herself” for the wedding.

Rev. 19:8 has a unique parallel in Targum. Zech. 3:1–5. Clean garments and a “pure miter” are given to the high priest in Zech. 3:5–6 LXX to signify that his iniquities have been taken away.

Indeed, the LXX of Exodus 25–37 repeatedly describes the clothing of the high priest as being partly made of “linen,” so that the “linen” in Rev. 19:8 probably includes a priestly nuance, especially in the light of Zech. 3:5–6 and of Rev. 15:6, where angelic priestly figures also wear “pure bright linen”.

(17:4), which, as observed briefly above, demonstrates that the pure linen of 19:8 includes reference to righteous acts done by saints themselves. Conversely, the bridal “woman” (γυνή) is a resumption of the “woman” of ch. 12, who represents the believing community (and again in 21:9).

The phrases in Rev. 19:7b–8, “his bride prepared herself” and “it was given to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, bright [and] pure,” continue the meaning of the marriage metaphor in 19:7a. As in the initial clause of 19:7 and in Isaiah, the primary point is not that the saints’ effort contributes to the acquisition of righteousness.

The bride’s garments are interpreted as “righteous deeds” in order to describe an aspect of the intimate relationship between God and the people. As noted above, the phrase includes reference to persevering faith in Jesus despite persecution, which is required for entry into the consummate, intimate relation with Christ. But righteousness in Isa. 61:10–62:5 is not primarily personal acts of righteousness by Israel but their restoration as a vindication of them as God’s, the church’s righteous faith and deeds during its earthly bondage were given a guilty verdict by the world but now its members’ lives of faithful witness are vindicated by God through judgment and deliverance at the time of their final union with him. Therefore, the white linen represents not only the saints’ pure and righteous condition before God but also their vindicated standing before God and the world.

The saints are clothed with pure linen as a symbol of God’s righteous vindication of them because, though they were persecuted, they were righteous on earth. The full meaning of the pure garments is that God’s righteous vindication involves judging the enemy, which shows that the saints’ faith and works have been in the right all along.

This dual sense of “pure linen” in 19:8 suits admirably the rhetorical purpose of the entire Apocalypse, which includes exhortations to believers to stop soiling their garments (3:4–5) and not to be “found naked” (3:18; 16:15). This underscores the aspect of human accountability, which is highlighted by 19:7b: “his bride has prepared herself.” Yet, the readers can be encouraged to obey the exhortation by the knowledge that God has provided grace for them to clothe themselves now by the power of the Spirit (“it was given to her”

The same preparation is pictured in 7:13–15. There “they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” means that, despite resistance, the saints continued believing in and testifying to the Lamb’s death on their behalf (see further on 7:14). “The blood of the Lamb” is the only means of “washing” their robes. Yet, the washing metaphor itself includes reference to saints identifying themselves with the Lamb in his death by both their faith and their works, which demonstrate the genuineness of their faith.

 The angel commands John to write.

That which John is to write affirms by way of conclusion from vv 7–8 that those who participate in the vindication and in intimate communion with God are “blessed.” “Those called to the Lamb’s wedding supper” of enjoying such communion with God.

Verse 9 presents a different perspective on the wedding metaphor from vv 7–8. There the bride, the corporate church, was viewed as about to wed the Lamb, but now individual Christians are portrayed as guests at the marriage banquet. Both pictures portray the intimate communion of Christ with believers, but the first focuses on the corporate church and the second on individual members of the church. The same alteration of focus on the community as a whole and the members of the community has been seen in ch. 12 with the woman and her seed 12:17). Therefore, 19:7–9 does not speak of two different groups of the redeemed.

John falls down in order to worship the angel in response to the angel’s confirmatory interpretation of vv 1–8 in v 9. This episode is recorded to underscore the divine source of John’s visions and to put in proper perspective the nature and function of angelic intermediaries. The theme of angels refusing worship to highlight the divine source of visions and to tone down the role of mediating angels is found in other Jewish and Christian

This passage presents an example of how easy it is to fall into idolatry, for which the judgment described throughout ch. 19 comes into play. That part of the point of v 10 is to underscore the “subtlety of mistaken identity of the true object of worship” is enforced by 22:8–9, where John astonishingly repeats the very same offense.

The witness was first borne by Jesus and then transmitted to believers, and the witness they bear is about Jesus. Beckwith puts it this way: “the Spirit of Jesus, in testifying is meant; and in this connection reference must be made to his testifying in and through Christians.” A subjective genitive connotes the idea that all true prophecy has its origin in the words and acts of Jesus; an objective genitive conveys the notion that all true prophecy manifests itself in testimony to Jesus. John is not to worship the angel because God’s true servants witness to Jesus, which brings honor to him; they do not witness or bring honorific attention to themselves or angels or any other created thing.

The testimony is defined as “the spirit of prophecy,” which is supported by the parallel in 22:8–9. This may mean that it is a prophetic testimony inspired by the Spirit, taking τῆς προφητείας as an objective genitive: “the Spirit inspiring prophecy.” Alternatively, the phrase may mean that those giving such testimony are considered “prophetic people,”

Therefore, angels in heaven and believers on earth are fellow servants in that they both have prophetic roles. Prophets here are not an exclusive office but the same group mentioned as prophets elsewhere in the book, where the prophetic role of the entire church is in mind (so 11:3, 6, 10; cf. 16:6). John is part of this general group, but he is also part of a narrower class of NT prophets and apostles who continue the OT prophetic office (1:10; 4:1–2; 10:11; 17:1–3; cf. 22:9).

“the Spirit of prophecy” Rev. 19:10, then the phrase indicates fulfillment of the promised “Spirit of prophecy,” which was to be a witness to the presence of the messianic era and therefore a witness here to Jesus as the only true object of worship (in contrast to angelic mediators of revelation [19:10a], idols, and the like). This Spirit was to be a possession of all those living in the latter-day community of faith (so Joel 2:28–32; Ezek. 39:29).