At a recent study day I attended, the speaker discussed one aspect of Jewish life which has numerous parallels to our spiritual walk. He spoke of weddings and the Jewish traditions surrounding them. These are traditions with which the men and women of Jesus’ time would have been familiar, and the background knowledge with which they would have listened to Jesus. Often reading the Scriptural record through this historical lens can bring to light some comparisons which we would not normally see.
As with most marriages today, a period of betrothal would precede the marriage. When we look specifically at Jewish marriages at the time of Christ, we learn that the period of betrothal did not exceed twelve months. Once the betrothal had been agreed upon, the two would share a cup of wine to complete this process. The bride and groom were now regarded as legally married, and a divorce was required to break the betrothal. Following this, the bride and groom would complete their individual obligations apart from each other, and remain separate until the day of their marriage. The groom would return to his father’s house and work to prepare a place for he and his future wife. This would either be a room in the house of his parents or an extension to his parents’ house. Only the groom’s father had the authority to say when the preparations of the groom were complete, and when the groom could leave to marry his bride. During the period of betrothal, the bride would also return to her father’s home. She would spend this time preparing her marriage garments and seeking counsel from her mother. The bride did not know the exact time of her groom’s coming, and would live in anticipation of his arrival.1
I found the description of the bride and her role in the period of separation (that of preparing her wedding garments) very interesting, especially when coupled with the spiritual significance as it relates to our lives. We realize that this is most relevant, as we the bride of Christ, are also living in a period of anticipation, watching for our bridegroom’s soon arrival.
God’s Provision
To begin, we can examine who provides these clothes that the bride of Christ is wearing. In Isaiah we read, “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…” (Isa 61:10 NASB). It is God who clothes us. As we look at Genesis 3:21, we realize that man’s garments (or coverings for sin) have always been provided by God. In the Garden of Eden it is God who provided Adam and Eve with ‘garments of skins’ to cover their nakedness. Similarly, we see this same principle reflected in the Law, in the details of the burnt offering. As we can read in Leviticus 1:6 and 7:8, the burnt offering was a sacrifice which required the entire animal to be burned on the altar, save the skin of the animal. It was God who originally would have provided this animal/flock for his people, and also God who gave the Law to Israel, detailing how they could approach Him and please Him. The flesh of the animal was to be burned, serving as a pleasing aroma to God, while the skin remained.
Paul tells us we are to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14 NIV). God continues to clothe us, but it is no longer with animal skins, as was the case for Adam and Eve. Rather, we are to be clothed with Jesus Christ. Likewise, we no longer sacrifice the flesh of a sheep or a goat, but we sacrifice our own flesh and crucify our own sinful desires, which is pleasing and right in God’s eyes. Our fleshly thinking and actions must be done away with, so that all that ultimately remains is a faithful disciple clothed with Jesus Christ. These thoughts are brought together in the words of the prophet Zechariah, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you” (Zech 3:4 NIV).
We know that God is prepared to clothe us, but we also know that this is not done automatically. God has provided Jesus Christ as an offering or a covering for our sins, but we must each still come to God and seek to be clothed. Or, putting this idea in the context of Revelation, we each must ‘buy’ these clothes from God through Christ. Here we are told:
“I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see” (Rev 3:18 NASB).
This word ‘buy’ means to go to market, to purchase, or to redeem, and it is used in Matthew 25, when the unwise virgins are advised to ‘buy’ oil from the marketplace. It is this absence of buying which resulted in a lack of oil and not being recognized by the bridegroom at his coming. God is prepared to clothe and redeem us through Christ, but we must wisely use the time God has provided as to seek out or acquire these clothes, as we wait for Jesus to return. It is these clothes which, in God’s eyes, cover our nakedness and will allow us to be recognized by the bridegroom at his coming.
The Clothing of the Faithful
Initially we are clothed with Jesus Christ when we are baptized. Paul states this, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal 3:27 NASB). However, we know that this act of baptism must be followed by obedience to God, as we become no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness.
We read of this righteous clothing in Revelation and Isaiah: “…the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was given her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev 19:7-8 NASB). “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…” (Isa 61:10 NASB). From these two verses we can understand that the faithful are clothed by their righteous acts and with garments of righteousness and salvation. This is not a contradiction to Galatians 3 (above). We see that being clothed in righteousness and salvation can only occur if we are first clothed with Jesus Christ. After baptism we can truly seek to put to death the acts of the flesh and “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other …just as the Lord forgave you” (Col 3:12-13 NASB).
In Romans we read of both righteousness and salvation, “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Rom 10:10 NASB). Belief therefore results in righteousness, because “if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of him” (1John 2:29 NASB). But our belief must be coupled with an outward demonstration of our faith, so as to result in salvation. To be clothed in Christ is to ‘wear Christ’ so that all can see him in us. Jesus speaks of how we practice our righteousness in the Sermon of the Mount. He warns “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 6:1 NASB). Jesus then goes on to clearly define what these acts of righteousness are: giving to the poor, our prayers, and our humility as we fast. As we perform these works, our thoughts should be of how God perceives our actions, not how man sees them.
Keeping Our Clothes
We know the importance of remaining properly clothed until Jesus returns. We are plainly advised on this point by John: “Behold I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame” (Rev 16:15). Like the Jewish bride, we have to live in anticipation of our bridegroom’s arrival. We don’t know the exact date Jesus will return, but we can be confident that one day he will return, and how great would it be if we were found strong in our faith and active in our service at that time!
We each have to maintain our clothes, by putting on Christ and then continually coming to God through Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. It is in this act of judging ourselves (1Cor 11:31) that we can be made to stand blameless (Jude 24) in that day. As we examine ourselves we should try to see ourselves through God’s eyes. Does He see us as naked or fully clothed with Christ? Have we worked hard this week to keep these clothes spotless, or are there blemishes which must be forgiven? In Revelation we read of the church in Laodicea, and the state of their garments. They did not know they were naked, but this is how God saw them. If this is the state we discover ourselves in, we should listen to the words spoken to those at Laodicea, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent” (Rev 3:19).
Additionally, it is as the bride of Christ that we hope Jesus will find blameless and clothed when he returns, not simply ourselves. We should also be concerned with the physical clothing of our brothers and sisters just as much as we are concerned about our own spiritual clothing. We know we will be held accountable for this, Jesus tells us so: “Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For when I was naked, you clothed me” (Matt 25:34, 36 NASB).
As we remember Jesus, we see in the bread and wine his body broken for us, and his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. This is a frequent reminder that we must continually recognize and ask forgiveness for our own sinful tendencies, and be fully clothed in Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One