Kingdom Ready Blog

It’s no secret.  I love clothes.  I love to shop for them.  I love to buy them.  I love to wear new things.  There are certain items in my closet, that I love so much and wear so often, that people probably think that’s all I own.  Generally speaking, this clothes thing is a ‘girl thing’ and not of interest to most men.  If you are like my husband, he will put on about anything, wear things that need ironed, and remark as he walks out the door, “the humidity will help the wrinkles fall out.”  Tony would think it absolutely torturous to have to actually shop for the clothes that he wears.  That is not his idea of a good time.  So, it may come as a surprise to you, but the Bible talks about this subject of clothes, and with my female radar, I was quick to pick up on this subject and I have been fascinated ever since!  I’m specifically talking about what many of us have hanging on a hook on the back of our bathroom door:  a robe.

I first noticed this robe one day, when I was reading in the book of Isaiah.  The prophet Isaiah writes,

“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God:  For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”  Isaiah 61:10.

The LORD God has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.  Of course, this is not a garment made out of cotton or a terry cloth robe.  It’s all imagery, providing us a beautiful vision of what God is going to dress us up with, as He dressed Adam and Eve in their first garments after their sin in the Garden of Eden, with the skins of the very first sacrifice.  Instead of sin and death, we will be clothed symbolically with salvation that equals eternal life and God will see us, not as sinners, but cleansed, sanctified, justified, holy, blameless, pure, and righteous, because of the cleansing blood of the Lamb.  We will be decked out and adorned to the hilt with our awesome, brand new, sparkling white robe, as the bride of Christ.

The Lamb of God [Jesus] speaks of this concept also, in Revelation 3:4-5:

“But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.  He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” 

And again in Revelation 3:18, “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.”  

Here, Jesus tells us how we can obtain these cool clothes:  overcome.  We must overcome sin, to be able to obtain our white garments in which to clothe ourselves, so that we won’t be found naked.  Of course, we really won’t be naked in the physical sense, but naked, meaning that we will be standing without our salvation when Christ returns!  Nothing could be worse than not being prepared and ready for the day of the Lord and found wearing our dirty sins still, when a clean and white, spotless robe is free for the taking, so to speak!

This is the same concept of which the Apostle Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, when he writes this:

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.  For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”  

This is outstanding imagery written by Paul, to assist our imaginations in visioning what our hope is for our resurrected, immortal, imperishable bodies.  In our mortal bodies, we groan.  Just as Paul writes in the book of Romans, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”  Romans 8:22-23.

Every day, our cells are dying, our body parts are working less efficiently, our vision and hearing grow worse, our joints ache, and our memories go. [*groan*].  This is our earthly tent.  Our mortal bodies.  One day, we each will die. Not just our body, but all of what makes us a living, breathing person. Our entire life will ebb away.  We will no longer think or feel.  We will die and no longer exist.  It’s part of the curse.  But, God promises us a dwelling from heaven that we can put on.  What is that dwelling?  It represents the robe of our salvation and righteousness that we are to adorn ourselves with!  We cannot sew these clothes ourselves.  We can’t save ourselves by our own good deeds or sacrifices.  It is a gift from heaven.  It’s because of God’s grace and the gift of life that Jesus willingly gave up for us, in obedience to His Father, that we can put it on.  Without it, without this garment of salvation, we will be found naked or unclothed on the day of Christ’s return.  We must be clothed in this heavenly righteousness, in order to be changed in the twinkling of an eye; in order to inherit immortality at the day of Christ’s return!  This Scripture does not teach us that we are going to go dwell in heaven, but instead, Paul is referring to the day of Christ’s return, the day we all yearn for, the day of the redemption of our body.  God will supply us a new home, a building, designed by Him, as He dwells in the heavens, that will be indestructible and have no end.  When we ‘put it on’, we will not be found naked.  It is our clothing, a heavenly robe of righteousness that guarantees God’s promise of immortality that only He can provide us, through the gift of His Son, Jesus.
Paul uses this imagery of “donning” or “putting on” our new clothes again in I Corinthians 15:53,

“For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immorality.”

Jesus’ words found in Revelation 22:14 completes the picture:

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” 

When Christ returns, we will put our arms into the sleeves of our new imperishable body, and put on our coat of immortality.  We will pull the robe of righteousness snugly around us, so that we will not be found naked, but clothed, so that we can enter into the city gates of the new Jerusalem, the center of the kingdom of God.  For flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; nor can the perishable body inherit a kingdom that is imperishable.  This kingdom is being prepared for us by Jesus, who is currently residing in heaven, awaiting the time of the earth’s restoration (Acts 3:21), when he will return to the earth to complete God’s plan.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  I Peter 1:3-5.  Without these garments, or brand new clothes, we won’t get into the new Jerusalem, prepared for us by Jesus.  But, with our garments on, spotless, white as snow, washed in the blood of the Lamb, we will enter into the gates, so that we may be able to partake of the tree of life and live forever within this everlasting kingdom on a new and restored earth.  “But according to His promise, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”  2 Peter 3:13.
It’s beautiful!  This is something we should yearn for and share with others, so that upon Christ’s return, they will not be found naked, lacking their salvation that will grant them their gift of eternal life in this everlasting kingdom.  Today, many loved ones and friends around us think they are rich and have need of nothing, but they do not know that they are “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”  Revelation 3:17.  The Bible doesn’t leave us in the dark, not knowing how to be rescued from this ill fate!  No, Jesus tells us these saving words, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and will dine with him and he with me.  He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.”  Revelation 3:19-21.

We don’t have to be naked and standing without our righteousness and salvation, when Christ returns.  We can repent and overcome our sins, by our faith in Jesus, the Lord Messiah!  We can choose life, not death.  We can choose obedience, like Jesus did.  We can choose to live a life reflective of our faith in Jesus, where our deeds and fruit will show that we do indeed believe in the Gospel of the kingdom and Christ Jesus.

The amazing thing about it is this:  These garments are a gift from God, from heaven!  We don’t have to go sell all that we have to afford to purchase them.  We don’t have to sacrifice our first born child.  We don’t even have to try different clothes on to see if they will fit!  These garments have been bought for you already, with the blood of Jesus.  These garments are being laid out as a gift for the Bride of Christ, to adorn herself to be made ready for the day of His return to the earth.  We just have to put them on!  We can’t leave them hanging in the closet to put on later… we have to choose to put them on and receive this gift of salvation to be ready for that day, because we do not know the day or hour when he is returning!

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”  And 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.  And he said to me, “Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”  Revelation 19:7-9.  

Are you ready for Christ’s return?  Will you be found adorned with your bright and clean robe of righteousness?  Or will you be found lacking salvation, naked, and ashamed?  Go on!  Don’t stand there NAKED!! Go put on your robe of salvation, then rejoice and be glad, and give the glory to God!  “The Time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.”  Mark 1:15.