GOD WILL CLOTHE YOU WITH DIGNITY

Then he answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with RIGHT ROBES – Zechariah 3:4

Scripture is sparse on the clothes Jesus wore; but John.19:23-24 revealed this about His robe: “They divided His clothes among the four of them. They also took His robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top” Like His garment; the character of Jesus is a seamless fabric, woven from heaven to earth, a picture of dignified composure and uninterrupted perfection. The standard of dressing for taking a seat at His table is therefore high, but His love for humanity is higher. At the cross, Jesus changed places with us. He wore our sin so we could wear His righteousness. He became a curse for us to be clothed in blessings (Gal.3:13-14).

As it was with Joshua the High Priest, Jesus gave us His Robe of Righteousness in exchange for our rags of wretchedness! His gift of grace qualifies us to sit at His table. For our sake, He took on the indignity of nakedness, stripped before humanity and shamed before His family. He took the indignity of failure. For a few pain-laden hours, His adversaries appeared to be winning, and Christ appeared the loser. Worse of all, He wore the indignity of sin. He bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness (1Pet. 2:24). His clothing on the cross was – Sin – yours and mine.

In ancient times when criminals or prisoners were stripped of clothing, they felt ashamed and disgraced, such as our Saviour felt on the cross. Death on the cross was usually reserved for the vilest offenders: assassins, murderers, and the like.  Every aspect of the crucifixion was intended not only to hurt the victim but to shame him. The condemned person was marched through the city streets and at the execution site, was stripped and mocked. Jesus was not only ashamed before people, He was ashamed before heaven – for your sake and mine. He suffered indignity to purchase our dignity.

In Christ, we have been stripped of the filthy garments of Sin and clothed with change of raiment, garments of grace (Zec.3:5). He will usher us into His divine dressing room and clothe us with holiness, honour and dignity. When Christ has delivered you from indignity and ignominy, you shall never again be found naked or ashamed. He makes you fit to feast at His table.