Clothed With Christ

Mark 14

50 Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. 51 One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, 52 he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.

When we abandon Jesus, we are exposed in every possible way. The very people who only hours earlier had proclaimed their undying support of the Christ, when faced with the Roman Army, run for the hills, naked and all. How many times have I left myself exposed for the goober that I am because I have denied my Lord, have run away from Him, or have just ignored His love for me? Galatians 3:27 says when we are baptized into Christ, we are CLOTHED with Christ. We no longer have to be naked and ashamed. May I remember that since Jesus “has my back,” in fact that Jesus “has me covered” and may I NEVER again be guilty of abandoning Him and running away.

Better Clothing

Exodus 29
29 “Aaron’s sacred garments must be preserved for his descendants who succeed him, and they will wear them when they are anointed and ordained. 30 The descendant who succeeds him as high priest will wear these clothes for seven days as he ministers in the Tabernacle and the Holy Place.”

Under the terms of the Old Covenant, the priests of the Lord God had to wear special clothing, and of course Aaron & his descendents had the most special of clothing. Under the New Covenant, followers of Jesus are clothed with Christ when they are baptized into Christ. How much more special clothing could there be? I am thrilled to be clothed with Christ. This clothing of holiness is not because of who I am, but has everything to do with Who Jesus is, and I praise God every day that I am clothed in Jesus. I’m ready to minister in His name today, are you?

Clothed With Christ

Job 30
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me ;
he binds me like the neck of my garment.

In his great lament, Job stumbles across a nugget of truth in such a way as to change the relationship between God and man forever. Paul in writing to the Galatian church put it this way:

Galatians 3
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Now, I realize that when Job said his words, he was considering being clothed by God to be restrictive, or as a means of God controlling or punishing him, but the truth of the matter is, when we are clothed by God through faith AND through immersion in Christ, we are set free from sin. Now, Job has been listing his long list of sin free accomplishments. I cannot help but think that this pride-filled list in chapters 30 & 31 might indeed be a sin. Job still does not accuse God of anything, and he is simply stating his case for his obedience to God, however, I’ll take being clothed with Christ as my defense any day. When God, the Righteous Judge, looks at me, I want Him to see Christ living in and through me. At that time, the Judge can declare, “case dismissed.”