The Garments of Christ

Luke 2:7: And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:12: And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Wrapped Him in Swaddling cloths.

1) What those clothes revealed.

2) Born to Die.

3) This garment which His virgin mother took and wrapped Him in were not the garments of life. This one is the sign of death

4) The winding sheet which she used when He was born was the same sheet she used at his burial.

5) She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths.

1) No midwife was there to assist her in the agonies of child-birth.

2) The only hands that was to clothe Him was the hands of a virgin.

6) Handling Christ’s Body.

1) In the scriptures you will find that the body of Christ had times when no hands touched Him but the hands of believers.

2) At His Birth: It was a believer’s hands which clothed Him at His birth, the hand of believing Mary, who had already said that she rejoiced in God her Saviour.

3) At His Death: It was two believers who clothed Him for His burial, Joseph and Nicodemus.

4) In between His Birth and Death: Evil hands were to tear His cloths, part His garments, buffet, beat and blacken His body.

5) Born to be Sacrificed.

6) It was a revelation of His passion. The first recorder words that came out of His mouth was “I must be about my Father’s business”.

a) John 18:37: Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

7) He came to die: The very first cloths which touched the Eternal Word made flesh, was the clothes of death.

1) Here we have his Passion. “I must be about my Father’s business”.

2) What Those Clothes Concealed.

3) There have been great events which we have all waited for in this world, but none greater than the birth of Christ, and God concealed it.

4) Note the word “Wrapped”. If you want to cover up something, you wrap it up!

5) God has hidden this from the wise and prudent, and revealed it into babes.

Matthew 9:20: And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

1) The Garment with the Hem.

1) The hem is the last thing done to the garment,. It is the finished work.

2) There are three things that are very important in making the hem.

1) The hem is made by the turning up of the extremity of the garment.

2) In His finished work, Christ having lived 33 years turned up the end of His life to God.

3) If the son of man be lifted up.

4) To make the hem, not only was it to be turned up, but one must also pierce the garment with a needle.

5) This is a picture of the cross. Not with a needle but with cruel nails; Not with fine pointed steel but with a jagged spear.

6) There is something else necessary to the making of the hem. It must be a threaded needle.

6) The thread must follow the needle and that thread is the unbroken purpose of God.

1) So the garment is finished. The hem is made. The robe has been turned up. The needle has done its piercing. The thread has done its fixing.

2) There is one thing needed for you and me. We must touch the hem of his garment

The Glory of the Garments

The glory was not in the garments they were like any other poor person wore in that day. The glory was in the person of Jesus Christ and shown through.

3) Matthew 17:1-2: And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light

4) Mark 9:2-3: And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. 3And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

5) Luke 9:28-29: And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. 29And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

a. To flash like lightning; to gleam; to brighten; to be radiant; to dazzle.

b. Jesus was praying when these changes took place. Apparently, He was concentrating so intensely and was so wrapped up in God that God transformed Him, that is, allowed His Godly nature to shine right through Him.

6) There is a difference in them all.

c. Matthew says: “White as Light”

d. Mark says: “White as Snow; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them”

e. Luke says: “His raiment was white and glistering”

7) Why the difference, because it brings out the three-fold officer of the Lord Jesus Christ.

a. Christ as our Redeemer executeth the office of a Prophet, Priest and King.

b. Matthew reveals Him as the Prophet.

i. “White as Light”. A prophet comes to give us God’s light. To enlighten our minds. To throw God’s light upon His Word.

c. Mark reveals Him as a Priest.

ii. The purpose of a priest is to bring cleansing. Here we have the priest standing in the garments of His priestly, cleansing power.

d. Note the two things that are used; “Snow and Fuller Earth.

e. Fuller Earth is man made.

1) Snow comes from heaven, no man’s hand ever formed it, it comes from the blue sky of heaven.

2) Our High Priest does not cleanse us with a cleansing that is man made.

3) “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”.

4) Rev. 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

1) Luke reveals Him as a King.

2) Jesus Christ was not seen in His humiliation as the King. We seen that in the Prophet and Priest.

a) Matthew is six days “Prophet”; Mark is six days “Priest”. Six is the number for man.

3) In Luke His raiment was white and glistering. Glistering is used in the New Testament here and it means “Flashing Lightning”.

a) Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

4) In Luke it was eight days. Eight is something New.

a) Man has not seen Christ as King yet, but on the Eight day we shall see Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords

The number of Garments

Psalm 22:18-They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

John 19:23: 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. 24They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

1) The word Part in Psalm and Parted in John does not mean to rend but to give a particular portion to each person.

A. Christ like the Galilean peasant had five garments.

1) He had his Sandals, He had his Headdress, He had his Outward Cloak, He had his Girdle, and He had his Inner Coat. Four soldiers got one garment apiece.

One got His Sandals; His Headdress; His Girdle; His Outer Cloak.

1) But when they came to the Inner Coat, “The one that was worn next to the flesh”

1) This is the one that when they removed our Lord stark naked.

2) Remember the first Adam, God clothed him. But the Last Adam was unclothed so that we might be clothed in the Garment of His imputed righteousness.

The Significance of the Garments

1) The first four garments were the garments that were seen of man. Man saw the Sandals, they saw the Headdress, they saw the Outward Cloak and they saw the Girdle.

2) These four garments bring out Christ as Sovereign.

a. Matthew as the King.

b. Mark as the Servant.

c. Luke as the Saviour.

d. John as the Son.

3) The Girdle is the badge of office. Rev. 1:13: And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

4) The Sandals speak of Christ as the Servant.

5) The Outer Garment with the Hem on it. Speaks of Christ as Saviour.

1) Matthew 14:36: And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.

6) The Headdress speaks of the concealment of His Diety.

1) It is the headdress that conceals the man of the East.

a) Jesus walked in and out of the Temple frequently. He was a well-known character.

2) Do you ever wonder why Judas betray Him with a kiss.

a. Because with the headdress on all you could see it the eyes, nose and part of the lips.

7) The Inner Coat

John 19:23: 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. 24) They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

THERE ARE FIVE THINGS THAT WE WANT TO LOOK ABOUT THE COAT

1) The Material of the Seamless Robe.

a. The inner robe of the Galilean peasant, in the time of Christ was made of Linen.

i. Rev. 19:7-8: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

b. Fine Linen is the Righteousness of the Saints.

c. The saints of God does not have any Righteousness of there own; We were only sinners just as vile in their sins, just as hideous in their crimes as every other sinner in the world.

d. But we are clothed in garments, not our own.

i. 2 Cor. 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

1) This Robe was next to the flesh. You remember that in the Tabernacle and the Priest was a shadow and type of Christ and the believers.

2) Ezekiel tells us something about the Priest that worth while.

a. Ezekiel 44:17-18 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

b. Why could they not sweat?

i. The word sweat is just used three times in the Bible. Genesis; Ezekiel and Luke.

1. Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

c. The first Adam sweat under the curse of sin.

i. Ezekiel 44:17-18 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 18They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

d. The Priest had the garment on the outside.

e. The garment that the Priest wore on the out-side was the same kind of garment that was worn by the general public as an inner garment.

f. The Priest in the temple were to be clothed with fine linen, so that the curse of the fall, ‘sweat’, would not appear upon their garments.

2) Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

g. Note the words SWEAT and GROUND in Genesis 3:19 and Luke 22:44

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

h. Matthew 5:17: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

i. Matthew 3:16-17: And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

j. Matthew 27:28-31: And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

1) Christ did not wear the scarlet robe, as He walked to Calvary. He wore the precious robe that was His own. Man has no part in the great sacrifice made for sin.

2) When He comes to Calvary, they take off from Him the coat, the girdle, the headdress, and His sandals, four in all.

3) Before however they nail Him to the cross, He stands in the seamless robe. The last garment that human eyes gazed upon before He is crucified was the priest garment.

4) Because He is about to do the work of a priest and sacrifice Himself upon the cross, they take off the garment of the priest and nail Him to the tree.

5) The Lord Jesus Christ is now glorified. He is at God’s right hand. He has a message for the beloved disciple John, the message the book of Revelation. On the Lords day, the Lord Himself appears. There was a great trumpet sound, A great voice was heard. John turned around, what did he see.

Rev. 1:11-14 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, 12And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

6) What did he see?

1) The first thing he saw in the midst of the Seven Candlesticks, “One like unto the Son of Man Clothed.

2) He was clothed with a garment down to the foot, this is the seamless robe again.

3) Because Jesus Christ is now doing for you and me the work of the great high Priest. He is within the Veil