“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in
my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a
robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and
as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”-Isaiah 61:10.
When I think about Joseph’s coat, it had two
distinct differences that normal coats did not have. Joseph’s coat was very expensive because of its
many colors. In that time, coats were
not colorful. They did not have the
technology or the resources to produce colorful clothing. When they did produce a colorful coat, it was
very expensive. Joseph’s coat also had
long sleeves. In that time, they did not
wear long sleeves because they spent most of their time working outside. Israel intentionally gave Joseph a long
sleeve coat because he did not want him to work in the fields like his brothers
did. I believe this coat is similar to
my coat of righteousness. God gave Jesus
a robe of righteousness. On the cross,
Jesus took off this robe and swapped it with my filthy rags. Jesus put on my filthy rags and robed me in
his righteousness. In doing so, my new
robe of righteousness has two distinct qualities like Joseph’s coat. For one, my new robe is very expensive. Jesus paid a heavy price, so that I would be
in good standing with God. My new robe
of righteousness also has long sleeves.
It has long sleeves because Jesus has already done it all. It is a robe of rest. He declared, “It is finished!” The only thing I have to do is believe. I understand that God has clothed me with the
robe of righteousness. I am right with
God. My good or bad works has nothing to
do with this gift of righteousness. This
gift was given to me because of Jesus.
It’s all about the finish work at the cross. This gift is not about how good I am, but how
good was the person who bought it for me.
The Lamb of God did not just take away my sin, but he gave me his righteousness. I am completely covered by the blood of Jesus. He is my burnt offering. He covers me from head to toe with his blood
and righteousness. I am righteous by his
blood. God has clothed me with the robe
of righteousness which was paid for by the blood of Jesus. It’s not my own righteousness, but it’s the righteousness
of Jesus Christ.
