|
The Light
Dr David Wood
THE LIGHT
ARE YOU NAKED? - PART ONE
Happy New Year one and all! Praise God for each one of you and may His love
engulf and overtake you as you pursue Him. I am going to open this New Year,
2009, with the question; are you naked? If you are reading this article
physically naked I do not want to hear about it. What I am taking about is
spiritual nakedness. As children of God we have the most wonderful of
clothing. If you are a child of Satan, unsaved, you are indeed naked and
vulnerable to a successful attack at any time. All “attacks” are from the
devil, never of God.
John 10:10 (KJV)
10 The thief cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and
that they might have it more abundantly.
I think you can readily see from this verse that bad is of the enemy and good is
of God. Jesus said in the latter part of this verse that the very reason He
came into the earth was to give us life in abundance. This is the Greek word
zoe meaning life as God knows life. Can you just start to image how life is for
God? God the Father is no different concerning His children than you and I
concerning our children. Our wonderful Heavenly Father wants us to have an
overflowing abundant life now and in the ages to come. Praise His name!
We all know that Kings and Priests generally dress a certain way which make them
recognizable as such and sets them apart. Well dear children of God we have
already been made kings and priests in the earth as a result of the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ and we are set apart from the world as His.
Revelation 1:5-6 (KJV)
5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
As a result of this we also have been given certain clothing and have certain
clothing available to us. This following verse from Isaiah tells us about the
clothing we are given by God at salvation. As you are well aware just because
you have something does not mean that it is working effectively for you. In
general we must be aware of not only what we have but exactly how to use it.
Otherwise it remains unrecognized, unused or ineffectively used. You may have a
wonderful car in your garage but if you don’t know what it is, it is useless to
you. You may know what it is but have no idea how to operate it so again it is
useless to you. Or you may know what it is but you are able to operate it only
in first gear therefore it is used ineffectively.
Isaiah 61:10 (KJV)
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my
God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath
covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh
himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her
jewels.
The clothing described here is that of the priests and kings of old. In Exodus
we find the instructions that God gave concerning the clothing of the priests.
Remember that the Old Testament is a type and shadow of the New Testament to
come. Things were represented on a natural level in the Old Testament to
demonstrate the Spiritual Truths. In fact in Romans we are told that the
natural world is ample demonstration of the unseen or supernatural (spiritual)
world making all persons without excuse.
Romans 1:20 (KJV)
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Now let us get back to the clothing God has given to the believer. And what
must we, the believer, believe? We must believe on the name of Jesus and
receive Him as Lord. (John 1:12)
Exodus 28:4 (KJV)
4
And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an
ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall
make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister
unto me in the priest's office.
Exodus 28:42 (KJV)
42
And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins
even unto the thighs they shall reach:
John 19:23 (KJV)
23
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made
four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was
without seam, woven from the top throughout.
Notice that Jesus’ garments were split four ways. The four garments are those
described in Exodus 28:4. The outer most garment is the ephod coming to
mid-thigh, than the robe which extended to below the knee, next the coat coming
to the ankle and beneath all this the breeches. These garments are seamless and
the person is completely covered except for the head. Remember Jesus is the
head and we are the body and we are completely covered. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
Look at John 19:23 above and see who it is that is getting the covering
(clothing) of Jesus. It is the Roman soldiers. Romans are gentiles. This is
symbolic that the righteousness of Jesus was coming upon the gentiles. (Romans
5:18) It is a natural picture of all that was Jesus’ is come upon us, the
gentiles, to all that will believe.
Now let us return to a discussion of the robe of righteousness mentioned in
Isaiah 61:10. The robe was the middle coat like garment.
Exodus 28:4 (KJV)
4 And these are the garments which they shall make; a
breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and
a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons,
that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
This middle garment, the robe, is symbolic of something that separates us from
the world, the world system. Picture it much like a walled city of old with the
walls and the gates that allow entry to the city or this case to you, spirit,
soul and body. The gates are our physical senses of touch, taste, smell,
hearing and sight. We primarily receive by sight and hearing. Our middle man
the soul (mind, will and emotions) makes the decision what comes in and what
does not come into us. This is why it is imperative that we know the Word of
God. Then we can judge what is of God and what is not and that which is not of
God we must not allow. If we allow righteousness (absence of sin) to filter
what comes to the gates and walls then we are protected but if not we become
contaminated. Eventually we will fall as was demonstrated time and time again
in ancient Israel.
Exodus 28:31-32 (KJV)
31
And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue.
32
And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have
a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an
habergeon, that it be not rent.
The robe was entirely blue reminding us of heaven where God resides but also
symbolic of grace, the work of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:
We are saved by grace by faith. When we receive Jesus as Lord and believe upon
His name we are saved. We are translated out of the kingdom of this world, the
kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. Satan is no longer our father but God
the Father is our Father and Jesus our Saviour. Grace is a work of the Holy
Spirit that results immediately with salvation. Finally, as we conclude our
study of our spiritual clothing for this month let us consider the following
verse.
Job 29:14 (KJV)
14
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and
a diadem.
When we receive Jesus and believe upon His name we immediately receive and put
on this robe of righteousness. As this verse in Job says we are judged
righteous. What a deal, give Him all praise and glory! We immediately became
sons of God! (John 1:12)
This robe of righteousness is the seal of the Holy Spirit. Think back to what
we just discussed about it being a middle garment and comparing it to ourselves
and the old walled cities.
Ephesians 1:13 (KJV)
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye
were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
It may be useful to think of it as a freezer bag or one of those devices that
completely seals food and vacuum wraps. We then make decisions about whether to
contaminate ourselves. Of course our learning about this is a process and God
is so good to preserve us as we grow. But if we learn but do not implement or
we refuse to learn and implement then we become contaminated and the curse again
has access into our lives. So at salvation we are judged righteous, given the
robe of righteousness and in the eyes of God there is no sin in us just as there
is no sin in Him. The latter part of Job 29:14 says; “my judgment was as
a robe and a diadem.” Immediately a diadem was placed in our hand! The diadem
is the symbol of kingship! It lets all around us know that we have the
authority of a king, in this case backed by all of Heaven. Praise the Lord,
what a deal!
I trust that is partial teaching has invigorated you and caused your faith to
grow. Until next month let me again say; we love you and pray that God bless
and keep you.
Would you like to read past "Light"
articles?
Click Here
|