2/2 Life

Put on Your Beautiful Garments
(ISAIAH 52:1-6)
 
Pause & Reflect
 
1 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

1. [v.1-2] *Biblical principle – GARMENTS MADE WITH 100% HOLINESS – God’s holiness is sown into every fiber of His beautiful garments – once only for the Levitical priesthood but now covering all in Christ Jesus as a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:5-10). In a time of hopeless despair in exile, God continued to call on His people to listen up, wake up, sober up, drink up (His sobering judgments), pass up (His wrath to their enemies), and now dress up with His beautiful garments. This is the third time the phrase “awake, awake” appears, beginning from the previous chapter 51 (verse 9; verse 17). Awake, put on your beautiful garments! These are no ordinary garments. When worn, they represent God’s holiness that marked out His priests then, and His people now as a royal priesthood in covenant relationship to Him. When worn, even the bonds of the old covenant sign (circumcision) are broken.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – In Jesus Christ, we have been made forever 100% holy – forgiven of all our sins in the past, all our sins in the present, and even all our sins yet to be done in the future. This holiness is the garment of the gospel to be worn right now. You are a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) with the royal priestly garments (Exodus 28) covering you, never allowing any sin to stain you or drain you below the bar of 100%. You’ll endlessly be recharged to full capacity. Are you wearing this? Do you trust in this, no matter what sins have entangled you that you will always return to 100% holiness/sinlessness/set-apart as cleansed and belonging to the LORD? Like law enforcement in uniform or court justices in robes, has wearing this holy garment changed your identity, who your commanding authority is, and your integrity before the LORD?     
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – What same sin-stained clothes are you putting on that only get dirty and smelly again and again? What clothes – old ways and old self – have you been living in while the new garments of Jesus remain unworn? Jesus has indeed broken the chains, but you must remove/loosen the chains. How are you still living chained when the power to remove them is before you?

 
3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised.

1. [v.3-5] *Biblical principle – GARMENTS SIZED FOR HIS SOVEREIGN WILL – The LORD’s beautiful garments are sized (E-XL) – Eternally Extra-Large – for when worn, we decrease while He continues to increase – His grandeur, bigger, and surpassing sovereign redemption from trial to triumph, from sorrow to gladness, from suffering to glory. God is not a broker with anyone. He gets no advantage by delivering His people into judgment, nor does He demand of His people a price to redeem them out of it. What He permits (even evil to do) does not nullify all that He controls. Who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him (1 Corinthians 2:16)? We often cannot understand why God does this or does not do that. Yet, He sovereignly sees us. At just the right time, He redeemed us without price to us, but at the great price of His only Son. By His own free will, all is for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28).
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – To us, the redeeming work of the gospel is a free gift at no cost. But to God, it came at the most costly sacrifice of His only eternal Son. By wearing these oversized garments of His grace, how have you experienced both the free gift and the costly gift of Jesus?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – God acts according to His own free and mysterious will. He sees everything, and when time comes to pass, all that happens is in accord with His will. When worn, His garments show us to live by His will and say, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” When has the LORD brought you to a place to confess this? Why is it far more important to obey His will rather than understand all of it? How can you obey His will today without getting all the questions to His will answered? Instead of “why” how can we live with a “why not” mindset?

 
6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

1. [v.6] *Biblical principle – GARMENTS STYLED TO MAKE HIS NAME KNOWN – Wear your beautiful garments of God in style, for it reveals the designer who always has the last word at the runway – in that day when all will know Jesus Christ is LORD. Wearing the beautiful garments of God will draw us into the sovereign thoughts of God – thoughts higher than our thoughts, ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). As His people journeyed with Him through judgment, discipline, oppression, and deliverance they came to know who their God was personally by His name. They came to know His style. God never panicked, nor was surprised, nor was in a dilemma what to do. The garments taught them the divine style of God’s last word – He would prove His promised word all the time. As we continue to wear these garments, we begin to know His style too. God always proves He is the designer and fulfiller of His Word. Already, He has in Christ. By His garments, we truly know Him and long for the day of His Son’s return!
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – When worn, our holy garments are noticed by others who want a peek at the backtag to see who made it. How is the name of Jesus getting noticed through you? How can we go viral with the name of Jesus humbly, wisely, winsomely, and creatively without compromising the integrity of His glorious name?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – What kind of style do we need to put on? Read the following Scriptures –
      1. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (COLOSSIANS 3:12-17)
      2. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (ROMANS 13:14)
      3. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (EPHESIANS 6:11-17)

 
The central truth of this word was –
Listen up! Wake up! Sober up! Dress up! Wear your beautiful garments, church! As God’s people then were a kingdom of priests – beginning with the tribe of Levi set apart as the priesthood of the nation – these special garments (Exodus 28; Leviticus 8) to display the holiness of God is now ours in Jesus Christ! He calls us all – not just a special tribe – to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to the LORD as His royal, chosen, and holy people, calling His people out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:5-10). We have garments more beautiful than the priests of Israel. We have the Designer’s holy fabric, never staining with time and wear. We have a style that never goes out-of-fashion in the world. We can wear this for all seasons – a garment larger than ourselves or our own will! It’s time to dress up, church!

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray for one another.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)