Planning for a wedding takes a lot of preparation. One of the biggest decisions a bride makes is for her wedding gown. The bride and her friends spend hours pouring over bridal catalogs looking for just the right gown, just the right veil, jewelry, and hair style. A lot of time is spent deciding on the dresses for her bridesmaids. Hours are spent getting the fittings just right, as well. The groom and his men don’t spend as much time selecting their tuxedos, but they want everything to be just right, too. Imagine a bride coming to her wedding with a stained dress that had some tears in the lace and veil, and rip in the hem! Imagine the groom’s suit was worn nearly through at the knees and elbows! How about if they both picked up any old clothes at a free giveaway rag barrel! No one would come to their wedding dressed like that! Even a bride and groom with little money wants their attire to look nice.
In our reading today from the Prophet Isaiah, we read how the Lord God has clothed us with His garments and robes of righteousness, just as the best adorned bride or groom. The Church, composed of all born-again believers, is the Bride of Christ. How are we adorned as we come to our Groom? We try to dress ourselves with our good works. We put on all the volunteer work we’ve done, the gifts we’ve given the poor, the Bible studies we’ve attended, singing in the choir, etc. Then we stand in front of our mirror and think we look gorgeous. Left to our own ability we would be attired no better than the bride getting her gown from a rag barrel. As Isaiah said just a few chapters later, all of our righteousness, all of our good works, are just as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). On our own we are dressed in the worst from the rag barrel.
This is where the Lord steps in and has the best clothes to offer us. When we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior, He then clothes us in His righteousness. He clothes us with the garment of salvation, with a robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom’s best ornaments and a bride’s jewels (vs. 10). The only fitting attire we can have to stand before the Lord is in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, which He freely gives to all those who come to Him in faith. When we accept Him as our Savior we can be clothed as beautifully as the flowers in the best tended gardens (vs. 11).
These verses in Isaiah give us a picture of imputed righteousness. When a penitent sinner realizes he can’t achieve his own righteousness by works, he then repents and calls on the mercy of God. At this time the Lord will then cover him with His own righteousness, by grace through faith.
As Isaiah continues in our passage we see how the city of Jerusalem, and the people of Israel had been intended by the Lord God to be as a lighthouse, giving forth a light of testimony for the Lord to the nations of the world. They were supposed to bring His truth and witness to the Gentiles and other nations (vs. 1-2). This is an assignment that Christians have today. We are to be a witness, a light, a beacon to the unsaved world of God’s salvation through the Lord Jesus.
Are we being that lighthouse? A lighthouse’s purpose is not to just stand there and look pretty. It has an important purpose, and that is to warn the boats of the rocky, dangerous shore, and to direct them safely into the secure harbor. Are we warning the lost of the danger they are in? Are we directing them into the safety of the Savior’s arms?
When we turn to the Savior, Jesus Christ, not only does He clothe us with His garment of salvation, and robe of righteousness, clothed as a most gorgeous bride, we also become a crown of glory to Him, a royal diadem (vs. 3). Many of us have seen royal weddings on TV in the last several years. The gowns the brides wear, the diadems the royalty wear are breathtaking. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we become the Bride of Christ, and we no longer need to be dressed out of a rag bag. We are dressed grander than any royal princess!
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