Royal Robes (I don’t deserve)

To think that for all of my faults and failings, my Father has not just a robe, but a royal robe waiting for me in heaven is truly amazing.  A robe that I don’t deserve but for the Grace and Mercy of our Father in heaven through the sacrifice and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

Source: lambofgodglory.wordpress.com

Earlier this year in May I was asked to deliver a short Word at our Church Sunday Service and whilst preparing for this I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to say.  God is amazing because He communicates with us in so many different ways and a few weeks before I was due to deliver the Word we sang the well know worship song, King of Kings Majesty.  This is one of my favourite worship songs, which I have heard and sung many times before, however this time what really struck me is the part where we sang ‘Your Majesty I can but bow, I lay my all before you now, in royal robes I don’t deserve, I live to serve Your Majesty’ (you can enjoy this worship song for yourselves by playing the video at the end of this article).  As I have said, I have heard this worship song many times before but the image of a clean, fresh, perfect set of royal robes waiting for me, a sinner saved by grace kept going around and around in my mind.  I felt that God was telling me that this is the Word He wanted to deliver through me during the service.

I have to admit I found it quite amusing that God wanted me to talk about clothes because anyone who knows me will know that I am not very fashion conscious or imaginative with clothes at all and in fact I would be one of the least likely people you would expect to talk about this subject. There are however numerous examples throughout the bible where God uses what the World would see as the most unlikely of people, so I continued preparing with confidence that this was God’s will. As I prepared God took me to many different scriptures where clothes (or robes) are significant: 

Genesis 37:3 ‘Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him’

Genesis 41:42 ‘Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck’

1 Samuel 18:4 ‘Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt’

Luke 15:22 ‘But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;’

Genesis 37:3 Joseph receives his ornate robe from Israel  
Source: www.doubleportioninheritance.com

There are numerous other scriptures throughout the bible where clothes/robes are used to signify a gift or a reward of some description however these scriptures demonstrate how significant clothes were in these well know passages. To think that for all of my faults and failings, my Father has not just a robe, but a royal robe waiting for me in heaven is truly amazing. A robe I don’t deserve but for the Grace and Mercy of our Father in heaven through the sacrifice and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

In the book of Revelation in the letter to the church of Sardis it is emphasised that those who’s clothes are not soiled are worthy and that when Jesus returns for us He will be dressed in white.  Revelation 3:4-5 'Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels'.  White represents cleanliness or purity and worthiness and indeed this also represents the perfect robes we will receive when we arrive in heaven.  Unclean clothes are the complete opposite and are a representation of the sin in our lives.  If I continue to sin in anyway and do not continually ask for forgiveness and repentance, and I do not try to lead my life according to the will of God then I am walking around in soiled and dirty clothes.  I continually need to ‘wash’ or change my clothes to ensure that I stay clean just like Joshua in Zachariah 3:3-4 ‘Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you'. Praise God that my Father clothes me in clean garments every time I ask for forgiveness and I repent.

Revelation 22:14 ‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city’.  If I need to wash my robes then I am acknowledging that they must be dirty in the first place and I am therefore continually blessed if (as the Word of God states), I wash my robes I will then have the right to the tree of life. There is no doubt that life is sometimes a challenge and I continually make mistakes and soil my robes. However, I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour and that I can have my soiled robes washed in the confidence that He died for my sins.  I am saved, Praise God, and I will sparkle like a jewel in a crown because in my new clean white robes and I will be clean and blameless; Zechariah 9:16 ‘The Lord their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his flock. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown’. 

Our robes are ready, our sins have been washed away and our Father is waiting to greet us into heaven, because of the gift He gave us in Jesus Christ.  What a wonderful thought.

Author: Gary O’Neill 

May God bless and enrich your life

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