False messiahs are everywhere these days. I recently watched a video on a Jewish rabbi claiming to be anointed as the messiah and that he will rebuild the 3rd temple. Obviously, there have been numerous figures coming forward through the ages claiming to be messiah. Some recent ones were;
· Alan John Miller, The Australian surfer dude with the cool hair that convinced his girlfriend she is Mary Magdalene incarnate
· Álvaro Theiss, the creepy old guy from Brazil
· Moses Hlongwane, cool cat granddad from our own Mzanzi
And the list goes on. With all this nonsense happening in the background and with the context of the garments of light, let us have a dive into the garments of Messiah. The garments of Messiah are the launch pad to mature into the garments of light. Without Messiah it is impossible to walk in the light. Therefore, the starting point in our sojourning through this life into the next life should be Messiah.
Last week we looked the Garments of light in the context of Matthew 22. This week we will see how the garments of Messiah also link to this same passage;
Matthew 22:9-14
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he said unto him, Friend, how came you in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
We are confronted with two questions in this passage:
· Will you come to the wedding and accept the invitation of Messiah? (Garment of Messiah)
· Will you wear a wedding garment? (Garment of Light)
Now we have spoken about the second part, the garments of light, in detail the last two weeks but for this study I would like to examine the first question, the garments of Messiah, in more detail.
In the passage in Matthew the wedding invitation is extended to virtually anybody. These people did not do anything to deserve the invitation. It is simply a grace gift extended to them in the form of Messiah Himself. Messiah is willing to cover anybody with His robe of righteousness, if they allow Him. Messiah covers those who have repented and are devoted to following Him. I am going to break this study down in the following questions:
· What do the garments of Yeshua look like?
· What purpose do they serve?
· How do the garments of light and the garments of Messiah interact?
· How do we obtain the garments of Messiah?
· What do the garments of Yeshua look like?
Why does this matter? It is important to know what the garments of Messiah look like in the spirit so we can better grasp the function of the garments and the work of Messiah.
Ecclesiasticus 27:8
If thou followest righteousness, thou shalt obtain her, and put her on, as a glorious long robe.
The garment of the high-priest was always going to be a template to reflect something of the nature of the garments of Messiah;
Ecclesiasticus 45:5-8
He made him to hear his voice, and brought him into the dark cloud, and gave him commandments before his face, even the law of life and knowledge, that he might teach Jacob his covenants, and Israel his judgments. He exalted Aaron, a holy man like unto him, even his brother, of the tribe of Levi. An everlasting covenant he made with him and gave him the priesthood among the people; he beautified him with comely ornaments, and clothed him with a robe of glory. He put upon him perfect glory; and strengthened him with rich garments, with breeches, with a long robe, and the ephod.
A robe is defined as
· a long flowing outer garment especially : one used for ceremonial occasions or as a symbol of office or profession.
· a loose garment (such as a bathrobe) for informal wear especially at home.
So this covers us virtually completely and is flowing; which reminds me of the blood of Messiah. The priestly robe is described so beautiful and almost extravagant. This guy would have stood out in a crowd. He would not have simply fit into the mould of the Israeli population. Almost like a 10 feet high radiant flower standing in the desert or a lighthouse on the coastline. The garment of Messiah will make you stand out – in a beautiful way and not a weird way. It will draw some people to you and offend others that are irritated by the ruach of Messiah. And that is okay. That is the way it is. Yeshua experienced the same reactions.
The robe would have covered the entire body except their hands, feet and head. Which is interesting because Peter, during the meal with Yeshua in the upper room said, that Yeshua should not only wash his feet but his hands and head also (John13:8-9).
Except for the beauty and glory of the robe of righteousness there is a second element to the garments of Messiah – the blood/pressed grapes. In The legends of the Jews by Louis Ginsberg, the blessing that Judah is given by Jacob reads as follow;
… Rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor teachers of the law from his posterity, until his descendant Messiah come, and the obedience of all peoples be unto him. How glorious is Messiah of the House of Judah! His loins girded, he will go out to do battle with his enemies. No king and no ruler will prevail against him. The mountains will be dyed red with their blood, and the garments of Messiah will be like the garments of him that presseth wine. The eyes of Messiah will be clearer than pure wine, for they will never behold unchastity and bloodshed; and his teeth will be whiter than milk, for never will they bite aught that is taken by violence.”
Revelation 19:13-16
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
The words blood, grapes and wine are used interchangeably in scripture. Revelation 19 refers to the manifestation of the Messiah ben David (Messiah son of David). When Messiah comes back to rule in righteousness. This moment will be terrifying for those opposing Him, but an absolute encouragement for those who have pledged allegiance to the Lamb. Just for clarity the blood, in this context, is not the blood of Messiah but the blood of nations. He is victorious and dashed His enemies to smithereens.
If we are not covered by the righteous blood of Messiah, the robes of righteousness, there is a blood dept to be settled for the sins we have committed. The garments in themselves are a double-edged sword. You can die to self in Messiah and live under the garments of Messiah or we can live without Messiah and die during the culmination of these end time events by the hand of Messiah that executes judgement. These are the two manifestations of the garments of messiah. Choose your payment method; would you like to pay with your blood or that of the Messiah?
· What purpose do the garments of Yeshua serve?
Gen 1:26-27
And ELOHIM said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So ELOHIM created man in his own image, in the image of ELOHIM created he him; male and female created he them.
Yah created man;
1. In His image (appearance of Yah)
2. In His likeness (character of Yah)
Note this scripture omits ‘and he created them in His likeness’ when it comes to the physical creation. The garments of Messiah (image of the Father) enable us to grow into our garments of light and the character of Yah. That is why Messiah is called the second Adam. The Messiah restores us to manifest the image of Yah and enables us to grow from glory to glory into His likeness. We should walk in the light as He is in the light.
When we receive Yeshua we have the Ruach (Spirit) and somewhat appearance of Yah but not yet the character that needs to be cultivated from the inside out. This character is forged through adversity. There are no quick fixes here. He is the Potter, we are the clay.
The acts of righteousness are rooted in the garments of Messiah and flow out into our wedding garments. Almost like the high priest’s garments; the undergarment is Messiah and the outer garment reflects the glory (light). The undergarment’s purpose was to cover the nakedness and shame (sin) and the outer garment was for pure beauty and glory.
The tabernacles also had 2 curtains; when Yeshua died the outer curtain was torn. He opened the gateway to the garments of Messiah. The torn outer curtains represent the robes of righteousness of Messiah and the inner curtain represents the transition into the garments of light. Attending to the showbread (reading the Word), menorah (listening to the Ruach) and incense (praying often) enable us to grow and mature into our heavenly robes.
Yeshua spoke about the cleanliness of the cup and that it is more important to clean the inside which is true. But I do not know anybody that only cleans the inside and not the outside – maybe the other way around, but it is hard to imagine cleaning the inside and leaving the outside filthy. The garments of Messiah clean us from the inside out.
This brings us to the dual-function and interaction between the garments of light and the garments of Messiah.
· How do the garments of light and the garments of Messiah interact?
The relationship between the 2 phases/2 garments becomes more prevalent as we keep running through the scripture. I would just like to give more clarity on the interaction between the garments of light and the garments of Messiah. The first example is the story of Boaz and Ruth. Ruth had to cover herself with a part of Boaz’s robe/blanket/skirt.
Ruth 3:9-11
And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth your handmaid: spread therefore your skirt over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman. And he said, Blessed be you of Yahweh, my daughter: for you have showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you followed not young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to you all that you require: for all the city of my people do know that you are a virtuous woman.
;Afterwards they had a wedding where Ruth probably wore a white linen wedding dress. The instance where Ruth covers herself with the skirt of Boaz is a picture of the garments of Messiah. This is form of wedding proposal and they are betrothed until the finer detail of the kinsmen redeemer is settled. When we move into the wedding feast the betrothed is clothed in a wedding garment, the garments of light. A better understanding will be obtained through examining the word ‘skirt’ here in more detail. The Hebrew word used for ‘skirt’ is kanaph;
Strong’s Definition: From H3670; an edge or extremity ; specifically (of a bird or army) a wing, (of a garment or bed clothing) a flap, (of the earth) a quarter, (of a building) a pinnacle: – + bird, border, corner, end, feather [-ed], X flying, + (one an-) other, overspreading, X quarters, skirt, X sort, uttermost part, wing ([-ed]).
Just like the robe of rightesneousness covers/kanaphs us. Kanaph (skirt) originates from the word used for the wings of birds and the first mention is in Gen 1:21. There are many scriptures that mention how Abba bears us on His wings or covers us with His wings.
Deuteronomy 32:11
As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings
Psalm 91:4
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
Like the young eaglets we are babies in Yeshua when we are covered with his wings. He is teaching us to fly. He is teaching us the way of light. We are under the wings/garments of Messiah and we mature into the garments of light/flight. His garments clothes at our birth (when we are born again) and we go through a time of intense nurturing and strengthening and teaching. As we grow, we grow into His image and His likeness. Until we can fly like He does. This is the true faith.
The second example, which ties into Matthew 22, is in the scroll of Isaiah;
Isaiah 61:3, 10
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation (Yeshua), he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
This tells you point blank what the procession looks like. The bride and bridegroom both are covered with the robe of righteousness. When we proceed to the wedding, the garments of Yeshua, becomes an ornament/jewel. And I presume it is a diadem on our foreheads. But I do not have to get into this now. Keep in mind in this particular passage Yeshua means salvation. So Yah wraps us with the Son. Now, this brings us to our final question;
· How do we obtain the garments of Messiah?
This is our starting (and end) point, Yeshua. With Yeshua you get to enter the race by grace and when finish it, obtain the garments of life (light).
Galatians 3:27
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Once we have repented of our sins (transgression of the law) this is the next step. Once we are baptised into Messiah we are clothed with the Messiah and we are able to be glorified with Him in the resurrection of the dead. Once we are clothed with Messiah we are equipped to perform our tasks in the Kingdom and walk by faith (and not by sight). But do we automatically reflect the character of Yeshua once we are baptised?
Well, for me I did notice a radical decline in my sinful habits and a great desire to do His will when I got baptized. But I still realise how massive work-in-progress I am. And this is what Messiah meant by we are clean but still need to wash our feet. There are matters in our daily walk that needs to be addressed, brought into the light and be cleansed. Let this scripture in Enoch serve as an encouragement for us all;
Enoch 62:13-16
And the just and chosen will be saved on that day, and will henceforth not see the face of the sinners and of the unjust. And the Lord of the spirits will dwell over them, and they will dwell with this Son of man, and will eat and lie down and rise again with him to all eternity. And the just and the chosen will have risen from the earth, and will have ceased to cast down their faces, and will be clothed with the garments of life. And these will be the garments of life before the Lord of the spirits; and your garments will not become old, and your glory will not decrease before the Lord of the spirits
In concluding, do not cleave to the garments of false messiahs. We need to remember how we have the liberty to choose on which side of the bloody and glorious garments of Messiah are we standing. When He covers us with the robe of righteousness we belong to Him, like Ruth and Boaz were betrothed and in the process of getting married. May you choose life and not death my brothers and my sisters.
Shalom fam
Edgar<>Judah
