Day 12
Gleaning Gold
~Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Nuggets of Truth
I am so thankful that I received the garment of salvation. Prior to my salvation, I had the coverings of sin. But now, according to Isaiah, I wear a robe of righteousness provided by Jesus Christ, Himself! Why do we need a robe of righteousness, you may ask? We can only come before God in holiness. We all know that everyone of us has sinned and is born with a sin nature. None of us are good enough to come before a Holy God!
It has been this way since Adam and Eve. Here they were already able to be in God’s presence. He walked with them in the Garden of Eden! Instead, they chose to sin and, therefore, gave up the privilege of sweet communion with the Lord. In fact, they tried to cover their bodies with clothing made by their own hands. But was the Word teaches us, this was not sufficient – it was not enough.
~Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
This is where God first teaches us on this topic. God has to be the one to provide the “clothing” for us. The first mention of shedding blood is mentioned in the Word for this very reason. God made Adam and Eve coats made from animal skins and clothed them. Blood had to be shed to make these coats.
~Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God used this account to teach us. Through the Old Testament, Jewish law pointed towards Christ’s work on the cross. The New Testament points back to the cross and teaches us today how we, too, may have this covering. Prior to salvation, we desperately try to dress ourselves our own way. We think that by doing good deeds, going to church, giving money to the poor, etc., will be enough to balance our lives. We cannot come to God dressed in our own works of righteousness, my friend. Isaiah tells us exactly what our righteousness appears as to God.
~Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
God is the one who has to be the one to provide our covering! We cannot do it for ourselves. Our church cannot be the one to provide the covering. Our good works cannot provide the covering. As with Adam and Eve, God has to be the one to provide our covering!
Christ taught us in Matthew about what happened to those who tried to enter the king’s son’s wedding with their own clothing. The man did not take the wedding garment which was provided for the guests and required to go to the wedding. Notice what happened to this man who tried to enter in with his own garment.
~Matthew 22:12-13 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 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.
Refining the Gold
The Book of Revelation tells us that we will be attending a marriage supper like that the one that Christ taught us about in Matthew. That marriage supper is coming, my friend. Christ’s bride will be clothed in white raiment – white because we are covered by Christ’s righteousness, not ours. Christ is our righteousness.
~Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 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.
valorie
Good Afternoon Kate:
The Lord has blessed me immensely by bringing your website and blog across my path.
I have been a Christian for many years but I also have been tossed two and fro and been quite confused over the years, by many false teachings
I have been looking for a bible study written by a Christian lady whom uses the KJ bible to help me as I study Gods word.
I am so hungry to learn and grow in Gods word and I have found the amount of studies and devotions you have written are truly a gift to help me.
In Christ
Valorie
Kate Plourde
Good morning, Valorie! Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog. I hope you find what you are looking for amongst the devotionals I have on here. I also have a discipleship series that is not on this blog but we can do through email, should you be interested. I’d be happy to do that with you. I’m glad you dropped by and I pray that you will be blessed by what is here. Let’s connect by email OK? I’ll email you shortly 🙂
Awaiting His Return,
Kate