“… See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”
Jesus is not satisfied only to remove our filthy garments. Scouring out our deeply set stains of sin was indeed costly; it required a cross to purify, and wash us clean. Yet the removal of sin is not the final end, rather it is but the beginning of Jesus’ work. He washed us from our sins so that He could clothe us with festal robes! Jesus intends to present us to Himself in gloriously beautiful clothes. These new clothes are not simply clean versions of the same kind as our old clothes. They’re not simply clean clothes, but special festal robes. Only language used to describe the ultimate in human celebration is fit to describe the garments that Jesus will clothe us with. They are wedding clothes. Bride’s clothes – close so singular in their beauty that to wear them in a menial context would be laughable. Jesus died to purchase, purify and present us to Himself in glorious clothes – designed to display glory and honor and delight Him as bridegroom.
In heaven we will be presented without spot or wrinkled or any such thing but holy. O how the Christian soul longs to be clothed, clothed – as it were – in a house not made by hands, eternal in heavens, swallowed up by life. Jesus however is not biding his time until that day. No, He is at work as a tailor or seamstress measuring, cutting, and stitching new clothes for us even now.
How often we are exhorted to clothe ourselves in the word. We are told to clothe ourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to put on righteousness. We are to put on new life. The process of getting dressed in these clothes has already begun. The process of being clothed in festal robes starts from the moment of our cleansing. Jesus did not cleanse us just so that we would put our old filthy clothes back on. We are to put off the old self, and put on the new.
When someone goes on a job interview, or on a date, they give careful consideration to what they wear. That in which they clothed themselves will give an impression to the one they go to see. They want to make a good impression. Should not the “clothes” that Christian’s wear be worn with the same intentionality, to make a good impression? Not our physical clothes (though they might matter in some small degree) but the clothes of Colossians 3:12-14… “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, Holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; Just as the Lord forgave you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. ”
O my soul, wear such clothes as these; wear them first because the lover of your soul has cleansed you and given them to you because He wants to present you to Himself in glorious raiment. Wear them also to show forth His glory – making a good impression – to the world, reflecting the greatness and majesty of the Lord.
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