Dressed in His Righteousness Alone

When my mother left our home to enter a nursing facility, I was given the option of using their laundry service or continuing to do her laundry myself. Knowing I would be to see her frequently, I said I would continue to do her laundry. Knowing items often get lost, even with the best laundry services, I said I would continue to do her laundry. Knowing how much I was going to miss getting her ready for the day and cooking her meals, I said I would continue to do her laundry. There is something about doing the laundry of our loved ones that is intrinsically intimate. Sure, most days it can seem like just another household chore, but when the person is gone, we realize just how special clothing can be. Clothing is personal. It expresses our style, occupation, and budget. It is worn by us and smells like us --even after multiple washings. And the only thing harder than finding items of clothing in the laundry after a person is gone, is not finding them anymore.

I have to wonder about the clothing God made for Adam and Eve after their futile attempts to cover their nakedness. "Tunics of skin", the NKJV calls them. Did they eventually wear out? Did Eve study them so she might craft replacements as well as her Father fashioned the originals? When baby Cain entered the world, did she immediately send Adam to slay rabbits for the layette? In terms of modesty, how much or how little was revealed? Did they feel ownership of their clothing the way we do? That last question there --that's the one. Did they feel ownership of their clothing as we do?

Scripture spends quite a bit of time talking about clothing. Do you remember Joseph's coat of many colors given him by his father as a symbol of favor? (Genesis 37:3, 4) Talk about your bad choices:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

When Joseph's brothers finally decided to take their revenge, they opted for mercy for their younger brother, but showed none toward their father (Genesis 37:31-34):

So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

I can imagine Jacob clutching the tunic in both fists, holding it to his face, weeping and breathing deeply the scent of his favorite boy. Did he return time and time again to that bloody coat, drawing his breath and allowing the images of his son to flood his mind?

And look at the description of John the Baptist's attire:

Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; (Matthew 3:4)

Rugged, utilitarian --sort of like John the Baptist himself. His words to the people were simple and direct. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! He took a no-nonsense approach to the religious elite in his day, calling them a brood of vipers.

Clothing is personal. Even the most Puritanical tend to feel some sort of ownership, as though clothing were a second skin to us. Skin that became necessary because of sin. It should be a curse to us, right? But even Jesus took ownership of His garments. In Matthew 9:20-22, a woman with an issue of blood had faith she would be healed if only she could touch the hem of Jesus' garment. The hem! She was correct.

But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

(Luke 8:46) 

"I perceived power going out from Me," yet she only touched His hem (Luke 8:44). That power which flowed from the Messiah, through the hem of His coat, and to a broken but believing woman, did what nothing or no one else could do. It made her whole. And by God's grace, clothing is for us a picture, a picture of the righteousness in which the saints stand clothed through Jesus Christ, and have been made whole. It is personal. We should feel ownership of that righteousness as we yield to the Holy Spirit and immerse ourselves more deeply into God's Word day after day. We should feel it, not as though it were a second skin to us, but a first; our most lovely and our most essential. If you are not clothed with the righteousness of Christ today, I urge you to get a new wardrobe. An everlasting and holy wardrobe. One that, even when you are gone and your favorite shirt is no longer found in the hamper, those who long to breathe in more than memories can be assured you are now whole.