Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Special Garments

Why special garments?

We dress up usually when we have an important event to attend, right? We dress up for something 'special'. We don't wear our everyday working clothes for special events. We save our special clothes for special things.

On the Day of Atonement the High Priest was dressed in special clothes.

Lev 16:4  He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

Holy garments.

Linen garments.

Only dressed in these holy garments could he enter the sanctuary, the most holy place of the sanctuary.

And get this--

Rev_3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

'Walk with me in white'  'not defiled their garments'.  

Who is being talked about here?  Those who would be CHRIST'S.

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

A man which had NOT on a wedding garment.
Bind him hand and foot and take him away cast him into outer darkness.

No WEDDING GARMENT no place at the WEDDING.  This is a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven.

And then we have this-

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

The Laodiceans, poor, blind, and naked.
Buy of Christ- White Raiment.

Rev_3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Clothed in white raiment.

We must be clothed in the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Let's continue with our study--

Taken from-  '2002 Feb -- XXXV -- 2(02) -- "Mark a Tau"'

Continuing...

"Joshua was Clothed with Filthy Garments" -- The revelation given to Zechariah in the vision of the third chapter demands careful study.

Joshua, the high priest stands in judicial review before, "the angel of the Lord" with "Satan standing at his (Joshua's) right hand to resist him" (v.1). As the vision unfolds, this Angel is designated simply as "the Lord" (v. 2) and His redemptive powers as the Messiah are revealed (v. 4). Further, this Divine Messenger proclaims the promise and the objective of the Lord of hosts to be realized by His messianic servant, "the BRANCH" (vs. 7-8). There is a close relationship between these verses and the revelation in Chapter 6:12-13, which reveals "The BRANCH" as the One who will accomplish the design of "the counsel of peace which was between the Two of Them" (Heb).


Here in Zechariah 3 are all the elements symbolized in the services of the typical Day of Atonement:

The mingled (((TWO BLOODS)))) blood of the bullock and the Lord's goat to accomplish the final cleansing (the action of the (((ONE)))) Messianic Lord and the decree of the (((TWO)))) Lord of hosts. (((BETWEEN THEM BOTH- TWO))))

The scapegoat for Azazel (Satan standing at the right hand of Joshua)

The High Priest carrying in himself the sins of the children of Israel, and placing them on the head of the scapegoat (Joshua clothed in filthy garments)

And the ultimate atonement, the removal of the uncleanness of the children of Israel (the change of raiment and the removal of all iniquity). (See Leviticus 16).

In this vision given to Zechariah, the High Priest is standing for the people as the mediator between them and Jehovah.

When the office was instituted, not only was the high priest to carry Israel in symbol in the two onyx stones set in gold placed on his shoulders (Ex. 28:11-12) and in the breastplate (28:29); but there was a special significance to the plate of pure gold which he was to wear on his forehead on which were engraved the words, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" (28:36) The instruction states:      And it (the plate) shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in their holy gifts, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord" (Ez. 28:38)

Keil & Delitzsch make a very enlightening comment on this verse. It reads:  

The high priest was exalted into an atoning mediator of the whole nation, and an atoning sin-exterminating intercession was associated with his office. The qualification for this he received from the diadem upon his forehead with the inscription "holiness to the Lord." Through this inscription, which was fastened upon his head-dress of brilliant white, the earthly reflection of holiness, he was crowned as sanctified to the Lord, and endowed with the power to exterminate the sin which clung to the holy offerings of the people on account of the unholiness of their nature, so that the gifts of the nation became well-pleasing to the Lord, and the good pleasure of God was manifest to the nation. (Commentary of the Old Testament, Vol.1, pp.203-204)

When we understand that the Aaronic priesthood was but typical of the reality, Jesus Christ, High Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedec, then the "sin exterminating intercession" which was basic in the final atonement, takes on renewed significance in the light of the vision to Zechariah.

First, Joshua, standing for the people, could NOT remove his filthy garments. They had to be TAKEN from him.

The command was given by the Divine Messenger, "Take away the filthy garments from him" (3:4). Joshua could refuse, knowing the result - he would at some point be naked before the Lord. He had a choice. Either respond as did Adam, and make himself a garment of "fig leaves," or accept the provision of the Divine Mediator: "I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will give thee a change of raiment."

It is either faith or works, my works to achieve perfection, or faith to believe what the great High Priest says He will and can do.

The message of the type declared plainly that the High Priest alone accomplished the cleansing on the typical Day of Atonement.

The vision given to Zechariah states likewise that the Divine Messenger, The BRANCH, will do for man that which he cannot do for himself, take away his "filthy garments" and give him a change of raiment.

The concept that the high priest stood for Israel before God is echoed in the New Testament motif of being "in Christ."

"Ye are complete in Him" (Col. 2:10)
"Your life is hid with Christ in God" (3:3)
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (II Cor. 5:17).

 Even the hope of the resurrection is based in this relationship: "the dead in Christ shall arise first" (I Thess. 4:16).
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:22).

It was Paul's desire to "be found in Him, not having [his] own righteousness, which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. 3:9).

More on this study tomorrow by the grace of GOD.

We need Christ's righteousness. We need to have our filthy garments- our unrighteousness taken from us. We can't take it off ourselves it must be taken off of us by our Savior.  And once it's taken off of us, only our Savior can clothe us in HIS righteousness.  Just as God had to clothe Adam and Eve, their attempt at clothing themselves wasn't enough.  Our attempts to clothe ourselves in righteousness is not enough, Christ must clothe us with HIS clothing.

Please LORD help us to understand this more fully, give us the comprehension, the heart knowledge that we need.

All in YOUR LOVE SAVIOR!

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