Psalm 93:1 The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
David wrote this psalm hundreds of years before that first Easter, yet how beautifully it describes the risen Christ. What an opposite picture from the broken, naked body on the cross with soldiers dividing his clothes among them as he bled.
When I heard the familiar “empty tomb” story this Easter, I had just seen a documentary on the shroud of Turin and the bloody face cloth from Spain
that matches it. I realized that Christ had to leave those earthly, bloody and sweat filled burial garments behind- they no longer fit Him. He was now to be robed in Righteousness and pure white to sit at the right hand of the Father when he ascended- the robes described by John in Revelation. The robes His blood has cleansed for us.
Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes–who are they, and where did they come from?”I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev 7:13-14
These are the same gleaming white robes the messengers of God wear throughout the Bible. They are worn by the messenger at the empty tomb, and the one in Acts at the Ascension. So we, one day will wear them.
In the Church tradition in which I was raised, the choir, ministers and acolytes (children who carried the cross and candles, and helped out in the Eucharist) were all robed. It was explained to me that way everyone looks alike so people can concentrate on God instead of what these people who are there to serve are wearing.
Today, each of us in a way are clothed by His righteousness so people will see Him though our actions and words instead of us with our human faults. Each morning we stand in our closets and make the decision about what to wear on our bodies. Today, what will you wear over your soul? Will it be the white, glistening robes of the Risen Christ in your life, or the soiled ones of human nature?
