Of Robes and Righteousness
- Accepted By God Through The Righteousness And Atonement Of Jesus
Written by Eileen R. Jacobs
“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.” - Isaiah 61:10
Once in a while I love to stop by yard sales. I happened to visit a sale this week that actually had some woman's clothing that were just my size. What luck! As I rummaged through the heaps of someone else's things, I found a beautiful, sheer blazer or some kind of over-shirt. As I considered the many turtle-neck shirts I currently own that could be worn under this lovely, purple, floral textile, I was quite excited about how this sheer covering might make a classy complement. For a whopping 50 cents, who could refuse?
I brought home my economical treasures and began to send them through the wash cycle to be sure they were clean and smelled of my own laundry soap, instead of the musty odor of old rags. I proudly pulled my new clean clothes out of the washer and hung them out to dry. I then introduced my husband to these magnificent, classy finds. During show and tell, I happened to look at the tag on the purple, floral blazer and read that it said "Secret Treasures." Suddenly, the lights came on and sheepishly I discovered that what I had thought was a blazer, wasn't actually the kind of attire to wear in public. Rather, it became embarrassingly clear what I had purchased was a very revealing robe.
We can sometimes interpret things in the wrong way, even though we are very sincere and innocent in our thinking. We can be living in error and not even know it. Even though I had learned that I had been saved by grace and that it was not because of my works, I still misunderstood that the rest of my life would need to be lived out by that same grace through faith. I always thought that God had a bad opinion of me because He could see everything I did and He knew the secret places of my heart. I was disappointed in me, so why would I ever think that He thought otherwise. So as most people do, I tried with all of my might to live right in order to please God. You see, I was trying to make my own garment to wear before my King, one that I thought would look great. This is what the Bible says I was doing:
“For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” - Romans 10:2-3
This was me! I had a zeal for God. I fell in love with Jesus as a little girl, but it didn’t take too many gold stars and personal trophies and rewards before I learned to try to win over the Lord with my works of service and good behavior. I hadn’t been taught about God’s righteousness that had been given to me as a gift when I received Christ as my Savior. I thought I had to earn it. In Isaiah 64:6 the Bible declares,
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;” - Isaiah 64:6
Righteous deeds are things we do to be seen as righteous. Aren’t good things we do “good” to do? Yet this verse says that God looked upon these things as an unclean, filthy garment. Those of us who frequent woman’s restrooms are sometimes violated with this sight when someone fails to trash their filthy menstrual cloth. The reaction to such a find is usually...”Whaaa...gross!” Don’t think I am just being a bit crude. That is actually what is meant by “a filthy garment.” God looks at everything we do on our own to be righteous as “gross.” This seems so unfair at first, but God has made it so that no one can have more gold stars or trophies than anyone else. All of our own righteous deed are counted as equal...they’re just “filthy.”
So for myself, I came to the realization that it didn't matter how much I tried to follow all the rules and attempt to make myself pleasing before God. All of my Bible reading, and praying, fasting, giving, helping the needy, confessing, and so on, was seen by God as just a filthy garment. Now don’t get all theological and offended yet. Please don't misunderstand me, these things are all good when the motivation is in and through the love of Christ. However, when done for the sake of gaining approval, or acceptance, or trying to win the favor of God in order to get His promises, that is repulsive to the Lord of Glory.
The good news is that, at the cross, Jesus took upon Himself all of my filthy garments, all my self effort and the sin that spawns it, and everything else that was repulsive to God and put it all away in His death. Yes, He took the punishment for all of my sin, but He did something else: in a sense, He traded clothing with me. He exchanged my filthy garments, which was every attempt at righteous acts in order to earn righteousness, and He gave to me the free gift of His righteousness, His Robe of Righteousness. What does one do with clothes? Clothes are put on to cover nakedness. Acts of self righteousness are like the sheer robe that I mistakenly bought at the yard sale. It was see-through, and if worn as intended, would have exposed my nakedness. However, Jesus’ everlasting Robe of Righteousness covers nakedness, never to be seen again.
“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.”- Isaiah 61:10
Believer, His Robe of Righteousness is awesome and be-jeweled, sparkling and beautiful. This is His special robe that you received when you received Jesus as your Savior by faith. You did nothing to earn it, He simply gives it to you to wear in the presence of Almighty God. Because Jesus is perfectly acceptable to God, when you are wearing His robe of righteousness, you are acceptable too. You never have to earn the right to wear this robe. It is yours to wear continually because Jesus gave it to you to wear. Child of God, wear it now with confidence, knowing how accepted you are before the Father, and you can be in His very presence without any fear. It may sometimes feel like you are wearing that sheer, purple garment where nothing is hidden from His view, but what the Heavenly Father sees is a pure, white robe of righteousness, His Son’s righteousness.
Friend, if you are hearing this message for the first time, that you do not need to be perfect before coming to God, just accept this free gift of righteousness for yourself. Just believe God’s report concerning His Son, that He died on a cross receiving in His own body your sin nature and your diseases, and He died an excruciating death on a cross taking the punishment for every sinful act or thought you have ever had or ever will have. Talk to the Lord God today and tell Him you believe this has happened on your behalf. When you do, the free gift of Jesus’ righteousness is yours. Believe it by faith that God has made you righteous without your efforts, because He gave to you His Son’s own perfect righteousness. Trust me, you’ll never be fully right if you go at it by your own efforts, and you will always know that you lack that perfect standing with God.
Thankfully, even though I was already a Christian and already possessed the Son’s Righteousness, I finally came to learn that I no longer needed to try to become righteous, or to earn those gold stars or trophies. I am righteous through the shed blood of Christ and His finished work on the cross, plain and simple. The righteousness of God, according to Romans 5:17, is a gift to be received by faith. Hallelujah! There is so much freedom in living the Christian life by faith knowing that I do what I do out of love and gratefulness to God; I do what I do because His love and righteousness are working themselves out through me, and not because I am working out my own righteousness. Praise God, you and I are already righteous in God's eyes since our Savior Jesus Christ gave us His clothes.
Now that, dear friends, is GRACE!
“But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,” - Romans 4:5
written by
Eileen R. Jacobs (July 2009)
Copyright © 2009 Eileen Jacobs Ministries. All rights reserved.
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