This is an exhortation that will interest sisters, because it is about clothes, and it will interest brethren, because it is about a glorious woman. It is about the most marvelous wedding of all time, to which we have all been invited. It is particularly about the clothes that we shall wear at that wedding, the bride’s trousseau, in fact. For the bride is a multitudinous bride of the heavenly Bridegroom.
The big question is — Has the Bride completed preparing her clothes, her trousseau? — or, is she leaving everything to the last minute? She should be well prepared, and even if not quite confident, she should be awaiting serenely, with longing and joy in her heart, listening for “The voice of my beloved! Behold He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping down the hills . . . My beloved spake and said unto me ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! . . .. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away!” (Song 2:8)
Hark! It is the voice of our beloved, dear brethren and sisters. What will He say? “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thy ointments than all spices! Thy lips, 0 my spouse, drop as the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.” (Song 4:10).
Why is Our Bridegroom so Interested in Our Clothing?
The smell of thy garments! What garments? This exhortation is about these garments. The Bridegroom is very interested in our garments, in our trousseau. We do hope to be among the number of the multitudinous Bride, do we not? Why is our Bridegroom so interested in our clothes? Because “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:13) Like Adam and Eve, we are naked until we are covered. What coverings are these?
Do we remember the message from our Lord to Laodicea (Rev. 3:17) — “Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked (yet they had such lovely expensive clothes!) I (said Jesus) counsel thee to buy of me, gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed . . .”
What is the gold ? Surely it is the symbol of tried faith. What is the white raiment? Our minds should flash back to the white coat of Aaron’s, worn beneath his robe of office, and indeed the white coat worn by every priest of Israel, to cover him, to hide his nakedness. “The fine linen is the righteousness of saints” said Jesus (Rev. 19:8). As Isaiah so forcefully reminded Israel “our righteousness are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6)—not clean white garments at all!
The fact is that neither Israel of old, nor we, in our time, can clothe ourselves with the fine linen of righteousness, nor with the garments of salvation. These precious clothes which our beloved will see and smell and approve will be of His own providing. Yet, we do have an essential part to make. We must respond to His care and His love, even though imperfectly, and we must provide the foundation garments.
So let us look more closely at the Bridal trousseau. We shall see that several garments are involved. First of all the underwear, which we must be busily preparing right now. This is the garment next to the skin, as we might say. The garment that begins to cover the flesh, and all that flesh means. Peter says “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” (I Peter 5:5). Here is the first garment. This is the first requirement of any person by the Lord; humility, meekness, the opposite of the pride of life. “To this man will I look (saith the LORD) even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). This garment is an awkward one to fit and keep fitted. Some of us find it keeps bursting at the seams!
But if we “humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, He shall lift you up” says James (4:10) and how will the Lord lift us up ? By clothing us with the next garment! What can it be? When we do really appreciate our true estate, our total unworthiness of God’s mercy, our abject poverty as Adam’s sons and daughters, and hopeless and helpless we do come to seek the Almighty in true humility, and then find Him through Jesus Christ our Lord, what is our reaction?
Surely our reaction is one of exceeding thankfulness and praise. We shout “Hallelujah,” if not with our voices, in our hearts. “For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever.” (Psalm 117:1) And so, instead of the spirit of heaviness, we receive the garment of praise as Isaiah so beautifully expresses it — “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3)
Dear brother, dear sister, your garment of praise, do you keep it wrapped about you? Are all well covered by this beautiful second garment? Or does it slip off sometimes, when we grumble and complain? “None have such reason to be glad, as the reconciled to God.” Let us then keep this refreshing covering wrapped about us, and every day lift up our hearts in praise, and express our thankfulness in thoughts (to be read by God), in words to be heard by our fellow pilgrims, and in deeds (as an example to others).
When we first found the Truth, we did rejoice with unfeigned joy, and swore devotion to our Lord, and almost snatched at the covering of the third garment. We couldn’t wait to be baptized, and washed clean and white, our sins washed away by the grace of God and the love of our Lord Jesus, our Saviour. We wanted to start life again, by turning over to a clean page, by being clothed upon by His righteousness. “Blessed indeed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man, unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit is no guile.” (Psalm 32:1)
Confession, repentance, iniquity not imputed, forgiveness for Jesus sake, covered by the white robe presented by the Lamb of God. Our minds flash back to Eden, to the covering for Adam and Eve that God provided by the sacrifice of one of Adam’s precious lambs. It must have been a soul shattering experience for our first parents to see the price paid for that covering. (Gen. 3:21). And so our very real and deadly sins are just as really forgiven because we have been clothed upon with the linen garment of the righteousness of saints, provided by the Savior to cover our disgrace.
Let Us Give More Thought to These Garments
How are we wearing this precious garment? Remember it cost Jesus his life to provide it, how are we using it? Is it with scrupulous care, realizing its priceless worth. Although stains and smudges on it can be cleansed by prayer, it cannot be replaced. Oh, my dear brethren and sisters, let us give more thought to these garments so generously provided. These are the unseen realities that clothe us for the wedding day — they constitute our trousseau. Isaiah reminds us in these lovely words “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)
But this is not all. These are but the undergarments to cover the flesh. Our heavenly Bridegroom has another garment in preparation. It is that with which we hope He will clothe us at His appearing when “this mortal shall put on immortality.” This may be termed the Victory Robe, which cannot be worn without the appropriate undergarments. Just think, clothed with immortality, no longer flesh and blood but flesh and spirit, like Jesus, partakers of Divine nature. Can it really be true? This is not something that we can be casual about, it really does need all our heart, mind, soul and strength.
Now, we can see more clearly the point of the warning of Jesus when He said “Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments.” (Rev. 16:15) and “Thou hast a few names even in. . . which have not defiled their garments, they shall walk with me in white.” (Rev. 3:4) How wonderful to walk with Jesus, instead of stumbling along behind Him! In white! “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” (Song 6:3). Surely a divine consummation indeed, impossible for us to fully appreciate in this life.
So here we are preparing our trousseau, a bride in preparation for the great event. Our undergarments can still be refitted, mended and altered. Our garment of fine linen can still be cleansed. Humility, the first of our clothes doesn’t cover us all of a sudden, it has to be developed until the pride of life is covered. The garment of praise can always do with lengthening a bit. We are apt to forget that we have it to wear all the time. The third garment, so graciously provided by our dear Lord, can be laundered if we are honest to confess our faults to Him continually.
As we turn to these emblems on the table, how very true are the words of the beloved disciple “We love Him because He first loved us.” Let us meditate on the wonder of it all as we take the bread and the wine in loving memory of the price He paid for our covering, our Bridal trousseau. Surely it is the world’s most wondrous love story, and we are personally deeply involved in it, not only now, but at all times.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One