THE WARDROBE OF JESUS

Sermon of the Week #200806 – February 10, 2008

In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they learned they were naked. God solved the problem by making them clothing from the skins of animals, and ever since, mankind has been concerned about their wardrobe.

Jesus knew what we wear can be a problem, so He took care of the situation in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

This teaching of Jesus makes us curious about the wardrobe of the Lord Jesus; and the scripture gives us several examples.

WHAT JESUS WORE AT BETHLEHEM

What did the Lord Jesus wear as a babe? His wardrobe at birth was very simple. Luke says when He was born in Bethlehem, “She brought forth her firstborn Son; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn.”

The shepherds were told, “And this is a sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” It appears from the message of the angels that the babe lying in the manger in swaddling clothes was a sign. What was the sign? As far as the manger is concerned, it was a sign that there was no room for Jesus.

There was no room for Jesus at Bethlehem where He was born. Later on there was no room for Jesus at Nazareth. When He preached in the synagogue and identified Himself as the Son of God, they led Him out of the city to throw Him off a cliff, but He, passing through their midst went His way. Finally, there was no room for Jesus in the world any place, except on the cross; and it does not take long for the Christians to find out, the cross is the only place the world can find room for them.

There is room at the cross for you. There is room at the cross for you; though millions have come, there is still room for one. There is room at the cross for you.

WHAT JESUS WORE DURING HIS MIISTRY

Now at this point we do not know what style of garment He wore during His ministry. Matthew tells us when He went to a place called Gennesaret, “They sent into all the region round about, and brought unto Him all that were sick; and they besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment, and as many as touched were made whole.”

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tell of the woman with the issue of blood who was healed when she touched the border of His garment. She said, “If I do but touch His clothes, I shall be healed.”

Someone asked me one time how he might touch the robe of Jesus. I told him I was glad he asked that question, and since the Lord is not here now physically, there is no way we can touch His actual clothes He wore while on earth. The only thing mentioned in the clothing of Jesus now is when Paul says in Galatians 3:27, “As many of us as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” Evidently, when a person believes in Jesus, and His death on the cross, repents of his sins, and is immersed into Christ for the remission of sins, he puts on the garment of salvation, and God no longer sees the filthy rags of our mortal flesh that are now covered by the holy, sinless, blood of Christ.

One of the parables of Jesus speaks to this point when we learn when the King came in to behold the guests He saw there a man who did not have on this wedding garment. The King said, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” There is a gospel song that proclaims that message:

“When Christ shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found. Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.”

WHAT JESUS WORE AT THE TRANSFIGURATION

Then consider Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as they tell what Jesus wore at the Transfiguration. While He was no doubt wearing the same clothing as usual, something happened at that time that warrants mention. All three writers, Mathew, Mark, and Luke tell how the Transfiguration affected His clothing. The clothes He wore became white, dazzling, and glistening. When His divinity shone through the rags of His mortal flesh it affected the garment He wore.

Paul tells us, “Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit?” We cannot help but wonder if that ought to have some effect on the clothes we wear. Do the clothes we wear indicate that we have been with Jesus, or hob-knobbing with the Devil?

WHAT JESUS WORE IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE

Next, Luke mentions His garments as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus sweat great drops of blood as He prayed. Whatever garments He wore were dampened by great clots of blood. In these bloody garments, He was betrayed with the kiss of Judas, and led away for trial.

The bloody garments of Jesus in Gethsemane underscore the value of the wardrobe of Jesus. Peter tells us, “Forasmuch as ye know that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received from traditions from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

WHAT JESUS WORE AT THE TRIALS

The apparel of Jesus at His trial is also mentioned. He made appearances before King Herod, and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Herod arrayed Him in gorgeous apparel and the soldiers of Pilate put on Him a scarlet robe.

Jesus would not say a word to Herod. How far gone does a man have to go before the Lord will no longer talk to him? Perhaps there are many today to whom God no longer listens. God tells us, “My Spirit shall not always strive with men.” The glistening white robe of Herod and the scarlet robe of Pilate remind us that Jesus was the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon.

A robe of purple and a crowns of thorns, somebody fashioned them both. Somebody fashioned that gaudy gown, somebody platted that bloody crown, Somebody fashioned them both. A robe of purple and a crown of thorns and it was so long ago. They platted the crown He so meekly bore; they wove the vestments He so meekly wore, and it was so long ago. A crown of thorns and a purple robe and I read the words with a sigh; but when I think of mine own misdeeds, my soul awakes and my conscience pleads and I say to myself, it was I.

WHAT JESUS WORE AT THE CROSS

Then what they did to the clothing of Jesus at the cross needs to be mentioned. When Jesus went to the cross they took off the scarlet robe, and put His bloody garments back on Him. At the cross He was stripped of that garment and crucified naked. Part of the shame of His death on the cross was the shame of nakedness.

Adam and Eve knew the shame of nakedness. Before they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they had been clothed in the garment of immortality. The Devil told them to eat of that tree and they would become wise, and know all about good and evil. The Devil told them the truth. When they ate of that tree their eyes were opened, and they learned a lot of things they had never known before. They learned what it was like to be stripped of that sheen of glory, and to be naked, cold, ashamed, afraid, and worst of all, they found out what it was like to lose their immortality and become mortal.

Many today are greater sinners than Adam and Eve. At least when they were naked they were ashamed, and today many pose naked and are proud of it. Some don’t get paid for it, but wear as little as possible. As Paul says, “They glory in their shame.”

On that day when we all appear before the Lord Jesus in judgment, no one will want to appear naked. That is why Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 5, “This earthly house of our tabernacle shall be dissolved, but we long to be clothed with our habitation that is from Heaven, if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.” Jesus told the church at Sardis those that overcame would be arrayed in white garments.

The soldiers who were in charge of this detail took the bloody garments, and divided them into four parts, to every soldier a part. Since the outer garment of Jesus was woven throughout without seam, rather than trying to split it, they gambled over it. It is easy to see the parallel in the dividing of the robe of Jesus to the greater sin today, in the dividing of the Church of Christ, which is His Body.

Another lesson revealed in the dividing of the wardrobe of Jesus, as it was divided into four parts, teaches us, they all had a part, and so do we. Van Rembrandt, the famous Dutch painter is known for inserting members of His own family in his paintings. One of his masterpieces is the soldier driving the nails through the hands of Jesus. Van Rembrandt painted his own face on that soldier. Anyone could see Rembrandt did it.

I don’t know what kind of a picture you can conjure up on the canvass of your imagination regarding the crucifixion of Jesus, but any picture that leaves you out of the picture is a false impression. The weight of your sins and mine was on the hand that held the hammer that drove the nails through the hands of Jesus, and riveted Him to those timbers of torture that we call the cross. We all had a part. Who crucified Jesus? I must confess, “I did it.”

The indifference of these gamblers at the cross is not any greater than many today. Studdart Kennedy has a poem that tells us about it:

When Jesus came to Golgotha they hanged Him on a tree. They drave great nails through hands and feet and made a Calvary. They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep; for those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap. When Jesus came to our town, they simply passed Him by. They would not harm a hair of Him, they only let Him die. For men had grown more tender they would not cause Him pain; they simply passed on down the street, and left Him in the rain. Still Jesus cries forgive them, they knew not what they do; and still it rains the chilling rain that drenched Him through and through. The crowd went home and left the street without a soul to see;  and Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.

WHAT JESUS WORE IN THE TOMB

And then there is the clothing provided for the burial of the naked dead body of the Son of God. Joseph provided the tomb and Nicodemus brought spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight. It had to be a high-profile burial. The burial of Jesus was in an expensive tomb—a rich man’s tomb. Under the circumstances the Lord lived; He could never have afforded this kind of funeral, but the Father took care of that. Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. He would not need it very long. He would be giving it back to Joseph early on Sunday morning.

Nicodemus provided a clean linen cloth. Matthew and Luke say that the body was wrapped in the cloth, John says the body was bound in the cloth, and Mark says the body was wound in the cloth. It appears the Lord’s body was wrapped up, bound up, and wound up, and clothed like a mummy.

On the day of the resurrection, Peter and John went in and found the linen cloth lying and the napkin that was on His face rolled up in a place by itself. It appears that Jesus came out of the wrappings like coming from a cocoon, and left the garments undisturbed. The wrappings fell flat with all the spices still inside, and Jesus was alive. He had said before, “No one taketh My life from Me, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again,” and He did it. Jesus is alive!

WHAT JESUS WORE ON THE ISLE OF PATMOS

The final mention is the appearance of Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, as he appears in a garment clothed down to the foot, and girt about the breast with a golden girdle. His head and His hair were as white as snow, His eyes were as a flame of fire, and His feet as burnished brass, His voice was as the sound of many waters, He held seven stars in His right hand and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. He announced to John that He was alive, and He was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death, and of Hades.

In this vision Jesus is clothed in a garment down to the feet. His wardrobe appears to be that of the High Priest. The writer of Hebrews tell us that we have a Great High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but one who was tempted in all points like as we are, and yet without sin. Paul adds to this that Jesus is the one mediator between man and God; Himself man, Christ Jesus.

This whole picture of Jesus presents the Lord Jesus as human and divine. His eyes remind us of His humanity. But those eyes shine like a flame of fire reminding us of His divinity; He sees all. His voice reminds us of His humanity, but the sound of many waters, as of the sound of a thousand Niagara’s remind us of His divinity. His mouth reminds us of His humanity, but the sword of His mouth reminds us of His divine Word. He looks like a man, but His countenance brighter than the sun when it shineth in its strength reminds us of His divinity. The entire picture on Patmos reminds us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It is the picture of the divine Son of God wearing the wardrobe of human flesh.