Clothing throughout the Bible is used to represent our spiritual
condition--our
righteousness, or lack of it.
It is first used in Genesis when man became conscious of his sin. First he tried to hide from God, then tried to cover his nakedness with fig leaves to get rid of his guilt. God, in His mercy, knew there was no warmth or protection in fig leaves, so He made from him clothing of animal skins (Gen.3:7-21). The death of that first animal was the beginning of animal sacrifice to put man in right standing before God.
Man always tries to deal with sin and guilt by his own methods, but they don't work. Only by the death of Jesus, the Lamb, are we clothed with His blood to make us righteous.
The father, in Jesus' story of the prodigal son, welcomed back his wayward son by putting on him his best robe (Luke 15:22). Our Father in heaven also provides "garments of salvation...robes of righteousness" (Isa.61:10) when we repent and return to Him.
The robes the Roman soldiers put on Jesus before His death were scarlet, or purple. Scarlet represents the blood, purple speaks of royalty--a King. Isaiah had predicted that His garments would be red, stained with the blood of the people (Isa.63:2-34) because "he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrow" (Isa.53:4). Yet Isaiah said we would hide our faces from him (Isa. 53:3). Does this prediction of hiding from Jesus not remind us of Adam's hiding from God by covering his body with fig leaves? Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would clothe us in garments of salvation--He would save us! The garment would be our robe of righteousness, not our own worthless works as represented by the fig leaves!
We can see from these analogies of clothing representing righteousness that man is unable to save himself. Isaiah said, "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we do all fade as a leaf" (Isa.64:6). He knew man needed a saviour, and foretold that Jesus would be such a One to die for the sins of mankind.
The Apostle John's vision of the future in Revelation also uses clothing to describe the spiritual condition of those who persevere to the end. It reads these people "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev.7:14). To do so gives us the right to the tree of life (Rev:22:14). White represents the purity of these saints, those who know that only Jesus can make them pure and white, that they can never be righteous enough, on their own, to enter the presence of an Almighty God.
The Old Testament requirement to keep oneself outwardly immaculate to get rid of sin foretold a day when the inward man would be cleansed. The Mosaic Law required outward obedience; Jesus requires a heart yielded totally to Him. So while we no longer receive a curse when we fail to keep the Law, any wilful disobedience to the will of God by a born-again Christian does not go unpunished (Heb.10:26-29). Christians are being judged by God today for their disobedience so that they will be purified for the rapture of the church. Those He disciplines He loves (Heb.12:6).
The spiritual armour required to cover our hearts from Satan's attacks is "the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph.6:14). Because we are so prone to sin, only the death of the Lamb can save us. It is impossible to become the pure and spotless Bride of Jesus without first being washed in His blood!
Our spiritual condition, as represented by clothing, is completely dependent upon our faith in Jesus' death and resurrection. Without it, we are naked (Rev.3:17-18), filled with guilt (Gen.3:10), and under the curse (Gen.3:16-19) as were Adam and Eve!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer