Sunday School "Clothing" July 15, 2018 Part 7

Good morning, Ms. Wylene. Toby and Sophia and Emmett are sick and Emmett's showing up. Yeah, oh, well, thank you. Thank you, thank you for praying for us.

Opening Prayer and the Theme of Clothing as Salvation

All right, well, we are gonna go ahead and get started. Does everybody have a handout? You may need one. Okay, looks like we're okay then. Let's start off with a word of prayer. Father, I thank you so much for the day.

We thank you for the rain for providing for us. Lord, we thank you for bringing us together this morning. We ask that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit so that as we look at the truths of your word, as we read the scriptures together, that the Holy Spirit would illumine the meaning of the text to our hearts, that we would get a clear view of Jesus Christ and that we would rejoice in your truth and that we would respond in repentance and faith so that your will would be done in our lives.

We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ with whom you are well-pleased, amen. So we have two more weeks, including this one, two more lessons, including this one, before we are done with our biblical study, our biblical theology of clothes.

And our key word is covered because we are talking about a story of salvation and themes such as provision that God is the one who has covered us. He has provided us salvation. We think of the terms of the story of salvation in terms of identity, that we are covered by the identity of Jesus Christ, that we are clothed in him.

We think of the story of clothing and salvation in terms of mediation, that we are renewed in the image of God through Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate one. And in his story, we find the story of salvation and all the authority and holiness and truth and wisdom of God are mediated to us through Christ, who is our savior.

And now we're talking about clothing as a story of occasion and thus decision. So this is where we are right now. And again, when we think about clothing, it's very practical and very common part of everyday human life.

And not only do we think of clothing in terms of basic provision, basic necessity, but we also, and not only in terms of maybe wearing a uniform or a special identification that we wear, or the functionality of our clothes, but also sometimes because of an occasion, we wear a certain type of clothing that has really little to do with provision or identification or function.

These kinds of clothes are all about appropriately matching the occasion, right? So let's think about that. What are some occasions that we're supposed to wear a special kind of garment, special clothes for?

And think of some sort of public occasion, some sort of social gathering, some kind of important get together. What are those that we do? Weddings is probably, yeah, weddings and funerals, right? Special attire for a cookout.

I'm wearing my best apron, right? So at the coronation of the barbecue king. Okay, yes. Okay, there we go. Okay, that's St. Patrick's Day, you wear a green July 4th, you wear red, white, and blue. Okay, so these, graduation, okay.

Okay, so folks that are graduating, are you, are these silly looking hats and robes that they're never gonna wear again, probably.

So, concerned about,.

So sometimes we're dressing for occasion, barely about form or function. It's, we're dressing up because of a certain, and this usually is some idea of respect or reverence for those who are involved.

Okay. Again, we all have some sort of patriotism to us, I'm sure, as interest there, but then we also, we dress up for the veterans, right? And those who have defended and died for our freedom, who have obviously a much more vested interest, since they have put themselves on the line in the way that we have not.

You know, maybe we know the people in the wedding, maybe not. Maybe we're related to the people in the wedding, maybe not. And so we have some sort of interest in the wedding, but those who are the principles in the wedding are going to be wearing clothes that are even more refined and fine than what we're wearing.

I mean, when I attend a wedding, I don't go wearing a tux, you know. And how offensive would it be if some other woman showed up to a wedding and she was wearing a bridal dress, and she was not the bride of that wedding.

You know, that would not go over very well, would it? Someone would get escorted out the building. So, and then you think of, in terms of funerals, sometimes we know the person, we don't know them as well as the family, but everyone is supposed to, you know, and I found that this is fairly severely lacking in funerals today.

Dressing in respect to the family, this does not happen very often nowadays. And there's less of a drop-off, I think, in weddings and funerals, but you're supposed to dress with respect to the emotional investment that is being, you know, that is honestly being honored.

You've lost a loved one. Well, it's important to see that the way that we're, what we're putting on the outside is, to some degree, a true reflection of what's on the inside. And this is gonna be very important for us when we come to our final lesson about clothing as a matter of decision, deciding what to wear.

There is a very real connection between what is on the inside and what we put on the outside. Okay, so someone says, I don't really care what I put on, and say, well, I can tell. Okay, but there's going to be, you know, there's gonna be a connection from the inside to the outside.

That's just the way God made us. The clearest example, I think, that Jesus identifies is out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. That's the way we're made, that what's on the inside somehow, some way, works its way out to the outside.

And so when we think of this clothing for occasion, we can keep that in mind. And again, and of course, these were the first two mentioned because this is the most obvious, weddings and funerals. It's the most obvious because it's on the handout.

So we'll start with that. We'll start with funerals and where we see the connection in the scripture. So we go to, again, back to the story of Joseph, which is a story that can be traced by paying attention to clothes.

And we go to Genesis 37 and remember that Joseph, as the favored son, was given a coat of many colors. He was honored by his father for being the wisest of all his sons, the best of all his sons. The one son he could depend on and the son that got all of his other sons in trouble because Joseph would report on his brothers, whether or not they were doing right.

His brothers hated him. They hated him. They hated his dreams, which were accurate about him ruling over them. And when they found Joseph coming again to check on them in rage, they plotted to kill him.

Reuben saved his life and just threw them in the well. Reuben's plan was to get in good with his father by releasing Joseph and, you know, I protected Joseph. But Simeon saw a lucrative opportunity and sold Joseph.

When Reuben heard about that and that Joseph was gone, I think it's the very first time we find it in scripture, Reuben tore his clothes. This is an expression of grief. Again, this is on the outward, what's on the inside, that emotionally you are torn and rent and shredded by something that has occurred.

And so this is the outer expression. But now we're gonna pay attention to what happens when they deceive their father by taking Joseph coat of many colors and use it to tell a story to their father and tell a lie to their fathers.

This is Genesis 37 and verses 31 through 35. So they took Joseph's tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood. And they sent the very colored tunic and brought it to their father and said, we found this lie.

Please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not. Now notice that they tell a lie. We found this. They stole it after they sold their brother to slavery. And then they simply ask him to examine to see whether or not this tunic belongs to Joseph.

That in and of itself is not a lie, but it is deceitful because they're hoping and confident that Jacob will come to his own conclusion about it. Obviously they've dipped it in blood. So he examined it and said, it is my son's tunic.

A wild beast has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces. And they say nothing to deter him from that conclusion. So Jacob tore his clothes. Okay, so he has the same expression of anguish and grief that Reuben did, but now notice the clothing of grief and mourning.

And he put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. He put on mourning clothes. He put on clothes that were not as adequate for provision. He's not wearing the clothes that would more adequately provide for him and cover him in a way.

He's wearing clothes that identify him as in mourning. He is wearing clothes that say that he, that in a sense he is cut off from all blessing. He is saying, I am undone in this grief. And so he put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

Verse 35, then all his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son. So his father wept for him. Of course, the next verse tells us what the truth of the situation that Joseph was sold by the Midianites as a slave in Egypt.

And, but Jacob does not know this. Israel does not know this. He is weeping in mourning and he intends to do so to the end of his days. Now, we see here in this very, this story that just shows so much of what's going on in a family just being broken apart by sin.

We see that Jacob in his grief. Now, Joseph is not dead, but he thinks he's dead. And so he's putting on this clothing of mourning. And this is where we really see this picture for the very first time in detail.

I think that's interesting. Very often, as I was studying for this and I was reading through, very often I found people who were in mourning and in grief and putting on sackcloth and putting on these mourning clothes for people who they thought were dead.

But that very often, very often this external, this external grief, which comes from an internal grief, sometimes has nothing to do with reality, but the reality that we believe to be true. And sometimes, and I think that there's something instructive about that, that we, that ultimately when we come to the New Testament and we are not told to forbid grief, but when we grieve, to grieve as those who do have hope.

We are not hopeless in our grief. So something to keep in mind. Okay, let's look at the next example, example of Mordecai in Esther chapter four. Now, Jacob was mourning for a son, Mordecai, a son that he believed was already dead.

Mordecai, we will find him mourning for an entire people, for all the Jews who lived in the empire of Persia, not because they had died, but he was convinced that they would, and that they would unless something happened to intervene.

And so Mordecai, Mordecai mourns in such a way that is, you can't miss him. He doesn't mourn in a hidden way, he mourns in a very public way, because what he's mourning is very public. What he's mourning matters to the whole empire.

And it should matter to his relative Esther, who is in the palace. So Esther chapter four, verses one through four, when Mordecai learned all that had been done, which means when he had learned that Haman, the right hand man of Hazarus, the foolish king of Persia, when he learned that Haman had arranged by backing it with his own finances and using the king's seal, the murder of all the Jews at some point in the future, when Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes.

So again, the renting of the clothes and the putting on a sackcloth, and here we read about ashes. And he went out into the midst of the city, and wailed loudly and bitterly. He went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate, clothed in sackcloth, because you need to be dressed appropriately in different venues.

In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes. So Mordecai's grief, his mourning, we see there in the capital, because of Mordecai's position and his relationship to Esther, he is the representative for all the rest of the Jews throughout the empire.

As this news travels throughout the empire via Pony Express, everyone's finding out about it fairly quickly, and then they're all mourning as well. But Mordecai mourns very publicly to get attention, because he needs Esther's attention.

Now verse four, then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish, and she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.

So here we see, Mordecai has a great grief, and Esther needs to know what happened, because Esther, he believes, is in that place for such a time as this for her to intervene. So Mordecai is, but this clothes, Esther says, you need to stop this, stop.

You're breaking my heart, because you're acting this way, and you're so publicly grieving. And so she sends him clothes, essentially to say, stop grieving, stop grieving, stop mourning. He said, no. Not only is it that Mordecai can't stop grieving, because of what has happened, but he shouldn't.

He shouldn't. It's absolutely right that he keep grieving, because of what is proposed, what is looming over the Jewish nation. So she, you know, oh, this is too much, you are hurting me, you're causing me to grieve, and he said, yeah, that's the whole, that's the point, you should grieve, because of what is about to happen.

And so he refuses to put on something on the exterior that would be untrue to what's on the interior. So he's dressed for the occasion, grief and funeral. Now, this is gonna be very helpful for us, especially as we get into what has to be the saga of sackcloth in the Bible.

If you wanna get out your concordance and look up sackcloth, it's all over the place in the Old Testament. And it's important that we see that it is, as far as human beings are concerned, as far as the biblical story is concerned, it is culturally connected to death.

Connected to death. Someone has died, and therefore I wear sackcloth in mourning. And we've got to have that in mind. We've got to see that from these stories, if we're gonna understand the importance of the imagery of sackcloth next week.

It's connected to death, that kind of grief. And if you wanna study and find out what sackcloth is otherwise connected to, then please do so. You'll be ready for all the questions next week. Now, there's two other passages that we can look at.

Will someone look up Amos chapter eight and verse 10? And then we'll have someone look up 2 Samuel chapter 14 and verse two. Okay, Miss Vonnie will look up the second. Oh, you got Amos. So any volunteers for 2 Samuel chapter 14?

Okay, Brother Red will do that one. So Miss Vonnie, we'll listen to yours first. Yeah, it's 2 Samuel 14 verse two. This too, like the situation in Mordecai, is a future reference. Now, they are not in sackcloth and ashes right now, but God is promising such disaster, such destruction through judgment, that there will be nothing but mourning as far as you can see.

That everyone you meet will be in mourning and in grief. That's God's way of trying to, through Amos, get the people's attention and say, this is the end of sin. This is where it's going to go. Okay, so let's listen to 2 Samuel chapter 14 and verse two.

So Joab is playing politics. Absalom wants to come back to Jerusalem. Absalom is angry over what Amnon did to his half-sister, Tamar, Amnon raped Tamar, and David didn't do anything about it. The son of Eli, David didn't do anything about it.

And so he was upset that he didn't do anything about it. So Absalom did, and he waited for a couple of years, and he got a feast together, made sure Amnon was there, and then his hitmen killed Amnon, and Absalom fled.

So Absalom said, I'm gonna take justice into my own hands since it was denied me, and he fled. So he wanted to come back to the city. Absalom's got plans. He doesn't want this unjust king reigning on the throne anymore.

He wants to be the one who is just. And so he has an in with Joab, and trying to convince Joab to get back to Jerusalem. So Joab has this cunning idea, and he wants this woman to come and tell David a story about, I have only one son left, and there was a problem in the field, and he ended up hitting someone, and they died.

And so now everyone, the whole city wants to kill him, the town wants to kill him, but he's my only son left. Won't you do anything about this? And David says, okay, well, he's off the hook. This is, we don't hear about this kind of David in Sunday school, but, and so then she says, well, can I press a little bit further here?

You're willing to give my son a break, but what about your own son? And then David figures out, ah, this is Joab at work. He's trying to do this, and so, but she was to be convincing by putting on mourning garments.

This goes back to our discussion about, since clothing is a story of identity, it's also a story of deception. That people, because we have this general connection to what is on the inside is expressed on the outside in some form, those who are intentionally deceptive put on something on the outside that we would emotionally connect with, but in fact, it's not true.

And we have to be careful, especially when it comes to issues of grief and strong emotions that have to do with weddings and funerals. There's a whole lot of lies and a whole lot of sin and a whole lot of things that happen in the name of weddings and funerals.

It's absolutely grievous to go to funerals in the most part these days. Everything, there was a young lady who died in Tennessee. I had some remote connection to because she was involved with some group I preached at.

I preached at them like once a month because they needed the Bible. They didn't really have much of the Bible, so I tried to help them. But anyway, so this young lady died and her funeral was just awful, just awful.

Only one person said anything about the gospel whatsoever, anywhere close to the gospel. And the guy they put up there to preach got up there and for 40 minutes talked about himself and what an opportunity he had to finally talk to a bunch of people.

They sang songs that were pantheistic. She's gone, but I'll fill you on the wind and I'll see you in the trees and I'll carry you in the flowers and so on and so forth. And all these professing Christians are like, oh, it's so beautiful.

Why don't you become Buddhists? But nobody can say anything or come against any of that. Why? Because of the emotional grief or whatever. And so funerals are a hotbed of heresy. And weddings also, there's very little concern these days about getting married within the family.

You should not be unequally yoked. Those who are born again Christians should not pursue these kinds of serious relationships with those who are not. But then, because today the only heresy is calling something heresy, young Baptist men are marrying young Catholic women or a young Church of Christ man is marrying some evangelical young lady.

And there's no concern for doctrine, no concern for what the gospel is. So I've had endured a little bit of that in my history. But in the name of a wedding, very emotionally charged, I mean, this is love, you don't mess with love.

All sorts of things are done in the name of a wedding that is really actually deceitful. It's not, you're dressed up to be honoring to God in these matters because there are issues of life and there are issues of the image of God and the gospel and so on.

But a lot of things are done in a way that is covering over deception and sin. So something to keep in mind as we're talking about this. Well, clothing is a story of occasion, not only grief and funeral, but also joy and weddings.

Weddings, Joy, and the Clothing of Salvation

We definitely see that. Jeremiah 2 .32, can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. Hmm, can a bride forget her attire? I mean, thousands of years ago, a bride would wear the most magnificent thing she had ever worn or ever would wear.

Look different than the bridal dresses today, but this is a moment of such significance. She would never have been dressed that well before and she would likely never be dressed that well ever again to signify the importance of that day.

Is she gonna forget about that? I don't know. Brides, you tell me. If you've forgotten what you wore on your wedding day, I think most do. Yeah, how important is that, right? So Jesus tells a story in his series of lost things.

He tells a story about a woman who has 10 silver coins and loses one coin. Does she not light a lamp and sweep the house carefully until she finds it? Well, that makes some sense. You know, you don't wanna lose money.

But then what does she do when she has found it? She calls together her friends and her neighbors saying rejoice with me for I have found the coin which I had lost. Now, when you find the quarter that you missed, even if you find the $40 that somebody left in their pockets comes to the wash and you get it back, you don't call your neighbors and your friends over for celebration.

But these 10 coins, these 10 silver coins have to do more with an ornament that was worn by a Jewish bride. And she just lost part of her either wedding necklace or wedding headdress of some kind. Somehow these 10 coins are very common Jewish weddings and it would be an adornment for the bride on their wedding day.

As part of her dowry even. So there is an incredibly emotional attachment there to these 10 coins to lose part of it is just unthinkable. But then when she gets it back, that's why she's so happy. That's why she's so joyful and willing to have people over.

So to rejoice in that. So you can see this in the scripture that there's a close attention to what is worn on a wedding day. And very quickly, very quickly the imagery of what is worn on a wedding day is associated with the joy of salvation.

And so we can see that in a couple of places, but one would be Isaiah 61 in verse 10. So someone can read that for us. Isaiah 61 in verse 10. So obviously we're looking here at a prophecy of the new creation, but notice when it says garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, we've already talked about this provision and identity and everything else, but notice how it's described on the occasion.

The occasion is like that of a wedding. The occasion is like that of a wedding as a bride and bridegroom and what they are known to wear. And so, and we think of weddings are qualitatively different than funerals.

And there is to be joy and celebration. There is to be great happiness involved. And so the clothes worn on a wedding day are easily then seen as the clothes of salvation. Of this reconciliation of this union between God and his people.

And we hear this also in terms of the bride of Christ and what she is clothed in. The Old Testament imagery of Jerusalem and the way that she is attired when she is personified comes over to the New Testament, especially in Revelation chapters 19 and 21 and talking about the bride of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem and what this bride wears.

Revelation 21 verse two says, I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And so I think it's important to see that connection that in these two special occasions in the Bible, weddings and funerals throughout the Bible, these two special occasions are viewed in the affairs of humanity.

They call for special clothes, special clothes being dressed for the occasion. The grief and the joy of these two occasions lead to these applications to judgment and salvation. And even as we'll see next week more subjectively, they are applied to sorrowful repentance and joyful faith.

God Dressed for the Occasion of Judgment

So let's look at judgment. We've already heard from Micah or Amos, I mean, the judgment of God will result in the people wearing sackcloth and ashes mourning as far as you can see, but God gets dressed for the occasion of judgment.

God gets dressed for the occasion of judgment. We see this in Isaiah 63 verses one through six. Who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Basra? This one who is majestic in his apparel, majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength.

It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red and your garments like one who treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine trough alone and from the peoples there was no man with me.

I also trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments and I stained all my raiment. For the day of vengeance was in my heart and my year of redemption has come.

I looked and there was no one to help and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought salvation to me and my wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.

So in this vivid imagery of judgment and the wine press of God's wrath, God is dressed for the occasion of judgment. And there is this connection, however, to salvation. Do we see that in verse one? The one who comes to judge, he says, it is I who speak in righteousness mighty to save.

Because we're not going to find salvation without finding judgment. God is glorified in salvation through judgment and there is no such thing as salvation without judgment. In order to save, there must be judgment.

And the people of God in the Old Testament knew this very well. Their salvation meant the judgment of the wicked that were against them and surrounding them and oppressing them. And even in the death of Christ, there is, is there not judgment?

A judgment upon Christ in our place and for our sake, for our salvation. But there can't be salvation for us without there being the judgment of God satisfied in some fashion. And in Christ's position, in the absolute satisfying fashion.

And at the end of all things, when we rightly say, Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus, we are looking for the fullest expression of our salvation, are we not? But what will this mean for the world? The day of judgment is the day of salvation, is it not?

And this is what we talked about last week when we looked at the final bit of the story of Jesus Christ. What does he wear when he returns? He wears the clothing of judgment. This is in Revelation 19, 11 through 16.

I saw the heaven open and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war. So again, we hear a connection to Isaiah about this righteousness and this one coming for judgment.

Verse 12, his eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems, crowns. And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. That sounds familiar from Isaiah 63, doesn't it?

Because God, in describing his approach and why are his garments red, okay? But he comes in a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses.

So the armies of heaven are dressed for the occasion. And in this we have the ultimate expression of what we would call a just war. They are coming justly and in righteousness. This is right and good and just.

This is what should happen and must happen for the righteousness of God to prevail. They are white and clean in their garments coming following him on white horses. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations.

Salvation for us must means judgment for those who oppose Christ. And he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. Winepress? Where's John getting this language?

From Isaiah 63. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as John writes this revelation of Jesus Christ, with all these vivid images, he has as his artist's palette the entirety of the Old Testament and he's always taking from it and crafting the images that are before us in Revelation.

There are few books in the New Testament more rooted in the Old Testament than Revelation. There is so much here. And he doesn't, usually in Revelation, John's references to the Old Testament are not so much quotations as they are just allusion after allusion after allusion to all of these passages.

And then verse 16, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So God is dressed for the occasion on the day of judgment. We don't see this kind of clothing, the clothing dipped in blood.

We don't see this kind of language in other contexts. This is God dressed for the occasion. Now our final look for this morning is also again helpful and preparatory for next week as we talk about salvation and us being dressed for the occasion of salvation.

And the Psalms have a couple of passages that will help us with this. And Psalm 30 verses 10 through 12 is one passage and then Psalm 132 verses 16 through 18 is another. But Psalm 30 says, verses 10 through 12, hear O Lord and be gracious to me, O Lord be my helper.

Now notice, you have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness that my soul may sing praise to you and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

And you think of Jacob and Mordecai refusing to be comforted and just refused to be comforted, but it took a work of God for them to trade the sackcloth for the garments of gladness, right? What did it take in the case of Jacob?

The favored son he thought was dead was actually. Went down to Egypt, but he came back alive. Ultimately, he thought he was dead, but he was alive. What it took for Mordecai, God intervening to save his people from certain destruction.

Only then would he find Mordecai dressed in the splendor of King's robes when salvation had come. And so here the psalmist is saying, only God can turn for me my mourning into dancing. Only God can take away this sackcloth of mourning and grief and bring me the raiment of gladness.

Okay, so Psalm 132, verses 16 through 18. This messianic prophecy, the future of God's people. God says, her priests also I will clothe with salvation. God will clothe with salvation. And her godly ones will sing aloud for joy.

There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth. The horn that Hannah prayed for, the descendant of David that Nathan promised to David, the Messiah, I have prepared a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame.

But upon himself his crown shall shine. So again, we find judgment and salvation together, but it's God who is clothing his people with salvation. He is dressing them for the occasion, appropriate to what he is doing.

And this takes us all the way back to clothing as a story of provision. Because it's not something that we clothe ourselves with, it's something that God clothes us with. All right, so I know this is a lot of background, I think.

But I hope the payoff will be next week as we talk about clothing as a story of decision. And we take the things that we've learned this week about grief and judgment and salvation. And then we become a little bit more specific about something that we do every single day, we decide what to wear.