GARMENTS IN WHICH CHRIST APPEARS
GARMENTS IN WHICH CHRIST APPEARS
2 Kings 22: 12 - 14; Luke 2: 8 - 14; Revelation 19: 11 - 16
I should like to use this occasion, under the Lord’s hand, to stimulate in our hearts preparedness to receive varied impressions of the Lord. If He draws near to His people — as He does, for He says, “I am coming to you,” John 14: 18; that being the thought in His mind toward His people who can question that in His coming we should receive a wide range of impressions of Himself? “The tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits,” Revelation 22: 2, suggests something like that, the “twelve manner” indicating the variety there is in that which comes from heaven.
So one had in mind to speak a little of the garments in which the Lord appears at various times. The thought of a garment, or vesture, has a great place with God, who Himself is the invisible God, “whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting,” 1 Timothy 6: 16. For ever, God remains the invisible God, but He is pleased, as to Himself, to suggest the idea of a garment, so that there might be something that we can see, while, as to His own Being, He remains invisible. The physical universe is intended to be a testimony to God as Creator, so that men might apprehend His eternal power and divinity, Romans 1: 20; that what may be known of Him should be seen. When the creation has effected the purpose for which it was intended, having conveyed what God desired should be known through it, God will fold it up as a vesture, Hebrews 1: 12. God greatly desires that what can be seen of Himself should be seen; He has spread out the heavens; He has created the earth; He has brought forth its fulness, and He has created the sea and filled it with life, so that these things might impress us with His greatness.
Then the Psalmist speaks of God clothing Himself with light. It says, “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment,” Psalm 104: 2, so that, wherever He moves and wherever He acts, He remains invisible, yet this garment is seen, for light is there. We can be quite sure, dear brethren, that wherever God is acting, or moving, light must come in, for He ever works in the light, as we read, “God is light.” As He began in the creation in Genesis 1, He said, “Let there be light.” The Psalmist, also, tells us, “he is clothed with majesty ... with strength,” Psalm 93: 1, showing that clothing has a great place with God. Our bodies, indeed are said to be clothing. Job says, “Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh,” Job 10: 11. The human body in that sense is clothing for the spirit, clothing that God has made — wonderful clothing. The apostle says, “not for that we would be unclothed,” 2 Corinthians 5: 4. Think of God making such clothing. “Let us make man” — his body being clothing in which what he is might find expression, and indeed what God is, in whose image man was made, as He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” Genesis 1: 26.
With this thought in mind, and of how the Lord Jesus, having become Man, conveys a wide range of impressions of Himself to His people as He comes to them, I desire to speak of His garments, or at least some of them. We have the suggestion in 2 Kings 22 of a wardrobe and a keeper of it. I am not overlooking the fact that the Lord exhorted His servants to have only one coat, He Himself being the Model, whether He was surrounded by His lovers, or whether He was surrounded by His enemies, or whether He was alone with God. There is a sense in which He always appeared in the one coat. He was not like the chameleon; He did not change His colour according to His circumstances, which, alas! is sometimes the case with us. On the other hand, we have this thought of a wardrobe; and what a range of garments is in that wardrobe, carefully kept by; a keeper! No doubt the prophetess, Huldah, who was the wife of the keeper of the wardrobe, ministered the thoughts of God in relation to that wardrobe. The Spirit of God connects her and her service with this thought of keeping the wardrobe, and so I would touch upon some scriptures in this setting.
One would earnestly commend the precious Scriptures, especially to the children and the young men and women. How many of us regret with all our hearts that we have not given more time to the Scriptures, that we do not know them better. The apostle said to Timothy, “from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,” 2 Timothy 3: 15. One would earnestly entreat the young, under no circumstances to neglect the Scriptures; even if you do not understand them much, know them. Timothy knew them, even if he did not fully understand them, from his childhood.
So I want to refer to some of the garments in which the Lord appears in the Scriptures. Indeed, dear brethren, His body is in the nature of a garment. Scripture speaks of the body of Jesus, and heavenly beings are interested in it; for in the body of Jesus God was expressed, for God was manifested in the flesh. One of the most profound and wonderful things for our hearts to lay hold of is this manifestation, for it cannot be gainsaid that God was manifested. No wonder the angels were profoundly interested. He was “seen of angels” — no wonder the angels were in attendance, no wonder they contemplated what came into view in Jesus as He entered this world; and then when He was risen two of them were found, one at the head, and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. No wonder there were men and women who were drawn to Jesus and had peculiar regard for His body. One of them anointed His feet and never ceased to kiss them. The Lord says of her, “this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet,” Luke 7: 45. The Lord was watching, and appreciated that she did not cease this expression of love. No wonder Mary expended her box of ointment on His body, for the manifestation of God in holy manhood was there.
Referring to our Lord’s garments, the first reference to these literally, is the swaddling clothes, referred to by the angels who say to the shepherds, “Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger,” Luke 2: 12. How many a time the Lord has drawn near to us in this way, appealing in this diminutive way to win our hearts, to attract us to Himself. How far away from God must be a human heart that is not moved in relation to that Babe in swaddling clothes! In Luke 2 “The Babe” is come into this world clothed thus to dispel fear and to capture the heart for God. The glad tidings are like that, the Lord coming through them so near to us as to win His way into even a child’s heart. Many are the garments in the wardrobe, of course, but how attractive these are to the youngest heart! There are times when He would present Himself thus clothed, figuratively, of course, to bring before us His own lowliness and attractiveness, what He was as wholly dependent here upon God, so that we might be affected. As our hearts are turned away from human greatness, the Lord becomes attractive to us in that light as “the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.”
I would refer to what is represented in Joseph’s coat. It was taken away from him by those who hated him without a cause. As they brought it to their father they said, “discern now whether it is thy son’s vest or not,” Genesis 37: 32, but that coat remained, for Jacob would never destroy it. It belonged to the wardrobe. “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons.” He was a peculiar object of the love of Jacob, not that Jacob did not love his other sons, for no true father would do otherwise. But then Joseph was different, Joseph was unique, he was loved peculiarly, and, because of this love, Jacob made him the coat of many colours. How Jacob would delight to see him wear it, expressing in all these colours the excellences which Jacob had discerned there, so that they should be seen — that is the idea of a coat, the idea of garments, that things should be seen.
All this speaks of the Lord Jesus, as peculiarly loved here in manhood. He was arrayed here in this coat of many colours. Think of some of them, dear brethren. Who could look on such a coat without seeing what suggests the blue, the expression of what is heavenly? Who could fail to see the purple, for indeed he was born King; kingly features were inherent in Him and were constantly expressed? Who could fail to see the scarlet — one who could not be hid? It says, “Jesus hid himself,” John 8: 59; but really He could not be hid, certainly not from the eyes of heaven, from the eyes of God. Emerald also, the ever present expression of what is living. Nothing stale, nothing stereotyped, ever came from the lips of Jesus, no mere formal work was ever done by Him. Emerald was there in the coat. The colour of glowing brass was there, that is a colour in Scripture — glowing brass, or amber, the evidence of holiness according to God.
The Lord Jesus was here for the thirty years marked by these characteristics. He was the delight of God who said, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight,” Mark 1: 11. “I have found,” God says; He not only raised up His Son Jesus, but He sent Him to bless us. Jacob says to Joseph, “come, and I will send thee.” The apostle says, “God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you,” Acts 3: 26. He was sent wearing this coat. Joseph came seeking his brethren, came into the field arrayed in this coat, and they took it from him, stained it with blood, and sent it back to Jacob. The Lord would appeal to us by the suggestions conveyed in this coat in order to give us an impression of the peculiar place He has in the love of the Father. Some saw this, and said, “we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father,” John 1: 14; that is like the coat of Joseph. John says, “we have contemplated his glory.” The Lord comes to us at times to give us an impression like that so that it might have its effect upon us. He is consciously recognised by us as the First-born One, for the birth-right was Joseph’s — the first-born among many, loved in a unique way, as the coat indicates.
There are many other features we might speak of. Mark speaks of the Lord’s garments on the holy mount, more than any other writer. It says, “his garments became shining, exceeding white as snow, such as fuller on earth could not whiten them.” The Lord is seen there arrayed in this garb, the heavenly purity of His vesture being emphasised, a purity, dear brethren, that is entirely unknown on earth. There is no fuller on earth capable of producing such whiteness as is seen in the garments of Jesus on the mount. How the Lord loves at times to come thus to us,
that we should see Him in the spotless purity that marked every motive, every action, and every word. How unclean are the cleanest of garments in this world. The prophet says, “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” Isaiah 64: 6. When looked at in the sight of heaven they are such, but the garments of Jesus are exceedingly white as snow, and shining. Luke says white and glistening, radiating the pure light of heaven. Thus the Lord would present Himself to us; thus helping us to judge the uncleanness that is natural to us, and that marks everything in the world.
There is another robe that He has worn: the robe of derision, of mockery, of scorn, of contempt, that was put upon Him by men. They put on Him a purple robe, but they did it in mockery, derision, and hatred. Sometimes the Lord has to call our attention to that when we would make friends with the world, when we begin to think highly of the wisdom of this world that comes to naught. When we tend to association with this world for gain, friendships with the world, the Lord may have to remind us of this robe and of the place He has in this world as despised and rejected. Saul of Tarsus said, “Who art thou, Lord?” and He says, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.” Not I was, but I am, Acts 22: 8. Some of us think He was that, but He says, I am despised and scorned and hated here. In a spiritual sense Paul presented that robe at Corinth and in Galatia. He said, “O, senseless Galatians — who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified?” Galatians 3: 1. He presented Christ to both the Corinthians and Galatians in relation to the terrible scorn, hatred, and contempt of this world. How often the Lord has to remind us of that robe spiritually, dear brethren, we must admit.
He would love to appear in other garments, but again and again He must remind us, by the prophetic word, of the meaning of the cross. The epistle to the Hebrews tells us that a time would come when some would crucify afresh the Son of God, and tread Him under foot. Christendom will do this, and indeed it has begun. It is the terrible expression — re-enacting the whole thing spiritually, so that the purple robe still has its own meaning.
We also have the grave-clothes, not, of course, that the Lord ever wears them again in a literal sense. As Peter and John look into the sepulchre, they are there. They are laid aside, they have served their purpose, and the napkin is folded up. Joseph of Arimathaea brought clean linen, not a trace of defilement on the linen, corresponding to the purity of the manhood of Christ. The clothes that were there in the sepulchre spoke of the fact that He had been buried. Oh,
how often He has to tell us that He has been buried, when what should be buried about us is not buried. In our lives, in our relations with one another, in the gatherings of the saints, often there is that which should be buried, that which is unfit to be seen. That is the idea of burial. Abraham loved Sarah. No one would question that, but he says, “that I may bury my dead out of my sight,” Genesis 23: 4. He could not bear to see his dead remain unburied. The apostle at Corinth preached that Christ was buried; in that sense he presented, spiritually, these grave-clothes.
Are we going to perpetuate the existence in ourselves of what is corrupt and loathsome? As the Lord speaks to us about His having been buried, it is that we might put out of sight for ever that which in us is unfit to be seen. His burial was vicarious as much as His death, and was to remove from under the eye of God and from us, as judged in the same way, what should never again be seen, what no one would like to see. Martha indicates that when the Lord proposes to raise Lazarus. “By this time he stinketh,” she says, John 11: 39. That was right as far as it went; what is buried we never want to see again, so the Lord reminds us of His vicarious burial.
Just a word or two more, although there are many other garments. We read of a mighty angel in Revelation 10 who came down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, with a face like the sun. He put one foot on the earth and the other foot on the sea, and took possession of everything, crying with aloud voice as a lion; a reference undoubtedly to Christ, and speaking in this sense, under the figure of a cloud, of one of the garments in which He appears. The cloud is the symbol in Scripture of the divine presence, the glory of God being behind it, but there in such a way that it is evident there is more than we can see. The cloud denotes there is something unseen, something more than appears to the eye. We can see the cloud, and we can worship as we see it, but it also tells us that there is more there than we can see. Because certain leaders in christendom cannot see behind the cloud, they say there is nothing behind it, and they give up the truth of the deity of Christ. Those who love Him gladly accept the inscrutable character of the Person of Christ, that besides all we may know and delight in, there is always something further. Indeed we are told that “no one knows who the Son is but the Father,” Luke 10: 22, and that, He has a name written which no one knows. Clothed in a cloud, thus brings in the divine presence with all its blessedness, or, maybe, with its warning, but we recognise that there is more than we can compass.
In Revelation 19 we have another reference to the Lord’s garments. There are other garments in this closing book. The swaddling clothes of Luke suggest the beginning, but there are many others that follow. In Revelation 19 we have this word that He is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. Again, I am not referring to what it bears on primarily, but in a general way. The Lord appears in this vesture bearing upon it the evidence of death; it is vengeance, no doubt, corresponding with what Isaiah speaks about, “dyed garments,” as having trodden the winepress; but the Lord chooses at times to draw near to us with the token on His vesture of His death, with the reminder, in the garb in which He draws near, that He has died, and that evil comes under His judgment. Would we have it otherwise?
You will remember the bird that was let loose in the open field. One loves to think of that bird being liberated to go where it would without restraint. Such is the Lord, the heavenly One, He is gone where He would, and Peter says He is gone into heaven. It is His own act, in that way, He has gone there, but this living bird was dipped in the blood of the slain bird, the stain of death was upon the living bird as it went into the open field. I am sure the Lord loves to draw near to us in this sense, so that we should never lose sight of the fact that He has died. He has been into judgment, He has been into death; He is seen thus in Revelation 5 as a Lamb “as slain,” not exactly something past, something historical; the death of Christ is never mere history. The Lamb is seen in the midst of the throne as slain. Every part of the universe awakens in praise as the Lord appears as it were in a garment indicating death. Also on His vesture and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. On His vesture He has this name written. It does not tell us what the vesture is made of, but it tells us what is written on it, it is permanently there.
That is a word for the care meetings, for He would come in there with this name written on His vesture, King of kings and Lord of lords. If anyone is to rule rightly, he must be controlled by the King of kings, and if to administer rightly, he must be under the administration of the Lord of lords. How differently we would behave if we were conscious of the Lord being in this garb, and He is spiritually; He comes in, so to speak, in this way, with this name on His vesture. There would be a different story to tell at times if we were conscious that the King of kings and Lord of lords was with us with this name on His vesture. He would disclose Himself to our hearts in this way. All rule and administration is centred in the One who has this garment on which there is the name written. It is a permanent matter, it is never erased, for He will never resign, He will never give up His kingship or His lordship while it is needed — He will never abdicate, like the kings of this world. The Name is written on His vesture.
King of kings and Lord of lords. One suggests these thoughts with the hope that we might see the immensity of what is available. I am sure we have scarcely realised the variety of the characteristics in which the Lord would draw near.
May the Lord help us, and, as the apostle said to the Corinthians, the Spirit would say to us, “be ye also enlarged,” 2 Corinthians 6: 13.