Clothed in Salvation: Is 61:10-11

“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:10-11)

In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve sinned, they became aware that they were naked and sought to hide their nakedness by sowing together some fig leaves. Unimpressed, God made for them a more suitable covering; garments of skins. The animal that paid with its life that they might cover their nakedness was the first animal to die in God’s new creation. An animal that Adam and Eve were given responsibility to care for was killed to cover their sins. Today, many still remain naked, but our nakedness is not physical but spiritual. Jesus writing to the church at Laodicea said, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) God has provided a covering for our spiritual nakedness, not the flesh of a dead animal, but the salvation of His own son. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)

God has clothed us with salvation and wrapped us with His righteousness. He has hidden our nakedness with His provision. Though God is still at work on the inside, to the rest of the world, and even the demonic world, we are seen dressed in the garments of God. Outwardly we appear as the children of God, “among whom you appear as lights in the world,” (Philippians 2:15) while inwardly God is working to bring about the salvation of our soul. God is working on the inside. One of the distractions of the enemy is to become overly introspective. Even though God has robed us in His righteousness, it is tempting to try and peek inside the garment to see who we are and to root around in our past. We can become so preoccupied with trying to understand why we are the way we are and to discover what in our past has lead us to be the people we are, that we loose site of who God has called us to be and the life He has called us to live. Unless God chooses to reveal these things to us, we should leave that which is on the inside to God.

Before Adam and Eve sinned, they were unaware of their nakedness. They lived with God in perfect innocence. God wants to restore this innocence to us. He wants us to learn to walk with Him without worrying about what He is doing on the inside. It is of no use trying to find the problems hidden on the inside when God has not chosen to reveal them. When God is ready (and we are ready) He will show us what we need to know and give us the opportunity to repent and be healed of our sins and our past. Isaiah compares our growth in God to plants growing in the ground. The ground provides nourishment for the plant, but the plant cannot grow if we keep digging it up to look at its roots. We must entrust the seed to the ground and believe for an increase. In the same way we must commit our lives to God and trust in Him for our increase. This is not to say that we should never evaluate our lives, but we judge our lives by the fruit we have produced. If, after such an examination, we find our fruit lacking, we must resist the temptation to figure it out on our own. We must go before the Lord and ask Him to show us why we are the way we are. With His revelation will come His conviction that will lead to our repentance. Doing our own digging around in our lives will lead to sorrow, but allowing God to reveal our lives will produce a sorrow leading to life. “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

David Robison