The Two-Hundred-Forty-Seventh (Clothing)

From the time man started wearing garments as a result of sin, they have become a method of expressing one’s societal status, events or activities we intend to take part in, and even our emotions.  Torn clothes and sackcloth were made into signs of mourning, sadness and lamenting (2 Samuel 1:11-12, Esther 4:3).  Adorned and expensive clothing became synonymous with royalty, nobility and the wealthy (Esther 6:8-9).  But did you know there is also spiritual clothing?

Just like the physical clothing we put on our bodies every day, in the spiritual realm we have clothing as well.  Not just us, but we see many verses of scripture describing the messengers of heaven as having clothing, too.  There are messengers with robes and golden sashes (Revelation 15:6), some just dressed in linen (Daniel 12:6), some adorned with jewels (Ezekiel 28:13).  From the context of these descriptions, it seems messengers are clothed based on their purpose, their role in creation, but what are our spiritual clothes based on?

Before we get too far into that, we must first take a moment to acknowledge that there is a difference between our physical bodies and our spiritual clothes.  That may seem obvious, but we need to recognize it because there are verses that refer to our physical bodies as a “tent,” which may be confused as a sort of physical clothing for our spirit.  Paul even talks about being “clothed” with our heavenly dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:1-2).  However, the words Paul uses for our physical bodies is oikia and skenous, which mean house and tent, or tabernacle, respectively.  In other words, our physical bodies are a dwelling place for our spirit rather than a clothing.

Later in that same chapter, Paul goes on to talk about appearing before Yeshua and receiving our due for what we have done in our body (2 Corinthians 5:10).  He makes it a point to state that judgment will be for the good and bad that we do, meaning everything will be taken into consideration during our appearing before Yeshua’s judgment seat.  The important thing to recognize though, is that this first couple paragraphs of this chapter in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth reinforce something we alluded to last week: we are our spirit, and therefore our spirit is what is forever connected to what we do.  

To put it another way, our physical bodies are temporary and they only do what our spirit has them do.  Whether, as believers, we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into the expression of the fruits of the spirit through our bodies or we allow our flesh to control us into the expression of the acts of the flesh, our spirit is the thing to which either of these actions are connected.  Our spirit is the thing that will stand before the judgment seat of Yeshua.  The question is, what will our spirits be wearing when we stand there?

If we go back to the Old Testament for a moment, we are able to get a picture to help us understand more about spiritual clothing.  What we find is that the prophet Zechariah had a vision about Joshua, the high priest (Zechariah 3:1-7).  In this vision, he sees Joshua standing before the messenger of the LORD in dirty clothes.  My personal view is that, based on the language used here, this particular messenger was Yeshua and therefore this vision would be a glimpse into what believers will experience when they get to Yeshua’s judgment seat.

Particularly on our current topic of the clothing though, we see that Joshua’s dirty clothes were associated with iniquity.  We also see that the clean, fine clothes are associated with righteousness and purity, since the messenger’s charge to Joshua was for him to walk in YHWH’s ways and keep His commandments.  This is not the first place we see this type of imagery, however.

Going back even further, to just after the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt, we read about the commandments of YHWH that are associated with the tabernacle, the precursor to the first temple.  The first thing to understand is that the full name of the tabernacle is usually translated to the “tent of meeting.”  This is not the only way to translate the Hebrew words though.  

The Hebrew words used for the tabernacle are ohel moed, and if you remember one of our studies way back toward the beginning of our biblical study journey, that second word might be familiar.  In fact, the very first occurrence of this word is in the first chapter of scripture, where it is translated to seasons (Genesis 1:14).  This word is also, and more accurately, translated to “appointed time.”  So, really the tabernacle’s full name is the “tent of appointed time.”  

We’ve sort of got ourselves on a tangent here, but to get to the end of this rabbit trail we must acknowledge that the name of this tent used in the wilderness is a reference to the future.  YHWH literally dwelt in the Most Holy Place of this tent (Exodus 40:34, Leviticus 16:2).  The tent of appointed time was a precursor, a type foreshadowing the appointed time in which Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, would dwell with man in order to be sacrificed for our sins as well as a foreshadowing of His return, yet to occur, in order to be our leader physically on earth.  Just as there was an appointed time for Him to come the first time, according to the manifold wisdom of YHWH, there is an appointed time for Him to return such that He can physically be a Shepherd to His sheep.    

Along those same lines, and to bring us back to this week’s topic, we actually see prophecy of Yeshua and His clothes in the Old Testament as well.  If you recall, there is a couple verses that Yeshua recited in the synagogue, and the ones He chose came from a chapter in Isaiah (Luke 4:16-19, Isaiah 61:1-2).  He quoted these verses in reference to Himself, and therefore we can understand that this chapter is about Him.  

In fact, as we read through this chapter, we find that it prophesies the entirety of YHWH’s plan for man.  We won’t get into detail on it this week because it’s a study for another time, but if we jump down to verse ten we see that Yeshua is clothed with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).  We know this is still referring to Yeshua, because the next couple lines connect it to the imagery of marriage and from other verses in scripture we know that’s associated with Yeshua and His chosen people.  It doesn’t stop at the bridegroom, which is always represented as Yeshua, but includes the bride as well, which to me connects the prophecy to the fact that His bride will also receive these spiritual clothes.  

His bride only receives these clothes because He has received them though, and that’s an important aspect to remember.  We would have no right to wear a robe of righteousness or a garment of salvation without His sacrifice (Revelation 7:14).  His obedience to the will of YHWH, to die for our sins, is what gives us the ability to wear this spiritual clothing.

Getting back to the tent of appointed time, there are specific requirements that the priests had to follow in order to carry out the various offerings of the Israelites.  One of these requirements was that they had to wear specific clothing just to be able to give the offering, let alone enter the Most Holy Place where the actual presence of YHWH was.  There was even a whole process in order for them to put on the garments, which is directly related to our spiritual clothing.

First off, the garments themselves were ornate and adorned, just like the ones given to Joshua in Zechariah’s vision.  They were also made completely of linen (Leviticus 16:4), which we see in other verses is the same material given to the holy people of YHWH to participate in the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:8).  This aspect is particularly interesting to me and it makes me wonder if there is a spiritual connection to that particular material.

As we stated earlier, the other aspect of this clothing is that it was required to be worn in order to be in the presence of YHWH, or even to provide the sacrifices to Him (Leviticus 16:2).  As we saw last week, once Yeshua died for our sins, and was resurrected and seated at YHWH’s right hand, those righteous that had physically died prior to His resurrection were able to join Him in heaven, and that’s because they now had the right to wear the clothing of righteousness that is required in order to be in the presence of YHWH.  We see this clothing spoken of when John talked about the saints that he saw in heaven (Revelation 6:11, 7:9, 13-14, 19:8).

The last aspect of these priestly garments directly connected to our spiritual clothing is what the priests had to do in order to put them on.  They had to wash themselves in water before donning the garments (Leviticus 16:4).  The baptism of water is a representation of a spiritual event in a believer’s life.  It is the rebirth of one’s spirit, being made alive in Yeshua, and that event is required in order for us to put on the spiritual clothes of salvation and righteousness and enter the Kingdom of Heaven where the presence of YHWH is (John 3:5-8).

So, we know that we have spiritual clothes, we know that the spiritual clothes of iniquity are dirty, and we know that the spiritual clothes of righteousness are clean and bright.  What about how to put those clothes on?  As far as the dirty ones, we know that those are put on us as soon as we’re born due to the iniquity, the state of rebellion, that we are born into because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden.  Paul says that we need to “put off” that “old man,” and the word he used for “put off” is the same one used for taking off clothing (Ephesians 4:22, Acts 7:58).  He uses the same word when talking about “laying aside” the deeds of darkness (Romans 13:12).

The bright white clothes of righteousness are obviously a different story.  Paul wrote to the church in Rome that they need to clothe themselves in Yeshua, and in this passage he gives a contrast of the clothing of Yeshua to indecent acts like drunkenness and sexual immorality (Romans 13:13-14).  This gives us an idea of what the clothes of righteousness are not, but we still don’t have any idea of what they actually are.  Elsewhere, he also writes that being baptized in Yeshua clothes the believer in Yeshua (Galatians 3:27).

It's not until we look at some other verses that we find out specifically what these clothes are “made of.”  We know that they are righteous acts (Revelation 19:8), but what are these righteous acts?  They are compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 5:5), and we spiritually put these clothes on just like we took off the clothes of our old man (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10).

As we close this week’s study, we must not underestimate the importance of the spiritual clothing we must put on as believers.  Yeshua gave a parable that spoke specifically to this clothing, saying that if we are not wearing it when the time comes, we will be sent to a place we don’t want to be while those who are wearing it are taking part in the marriage to the Lamb (Matthew 22:2-14).  Another important aspect is that the fastest way to lose this clothing is by turning your back on Yeshua.    

I always found it interesting that in the account of Yeshua’s betrayal in Gethsemane there was this seemingly out of place but very specific statement about a young man running away naked (Mark 14:51-52).  At first, I thought it was just a reference to the situation being so scary and traumatic that the man thought nothing of being de-robed while escaping, but with one key detail that’s included I believe this is actually a message from the Holy Spirit.  This man was wearing the same material that will be spiritually given to saints: linen.  I believe the reason this is included is to show us what happens when you turn your back on Yeshua and run away from Him.  Your righteous spiritual clothing will be stripped of you and your unholy, shameful nakedness will be exposed.

We hope you found this study a blessing and have made a commitment to put on the spiritual clothing of righteousness in your every day life!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene