Clothed

"3 to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit . . . "

"10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."

    ~Isaiah 61:3;10

These verses in Isaiah contain beautiful promises from God. Favor. Restoration. Beauty instead of ashes. Gladness instead of mourning. Praise instead of weariness. Salvation. Righteousness. 

What I noticed when I read these though is that it is not merely beauty, gladness, praise, etc. It's a headdress, an oil, a garment, a robe. The promise is grounded in tangible items that we put on. That we can touch and feel. God does not promise a mere concept but something as deeply real as the physical objects surrounding us. We can become oaks of righteousness, as another part of the passage says, by living in the steadiness and surety of God's restoration. 

We are grounded in Jesus, given deep roots, filled by His strength, and it's for that reason that we can grow. That we can display His glory.

But these items of restoration are more than a way of making the abstract concrete. Most of them are clothing.

He has clothed us.

A garment of salvation, which naturally leads to and from the garment of praise already promised, sweeping up our faint spirit in His mercies, which renew us. 

We are covered with a robe of righteousness. That's what we have in Christ. A covering. We are naked in our shame like in the Garden, but He clothes us. He covers our nakedness and shame. And He uses the only covering that works: Himself. He is our righteousness. The only sufficient covering. When God looks at us, He doesn't see our sin but Christ's righteousness, which covers us completely. 

Do we see how incredible this is? It changes our very identity.  

Once we are covered, we cannot be naked any longer. This is not a sheet hanging in front of us to hide our nakedness from onlookers; we are completely changed. We were naked, and now we are clothed. 

We don't have the power to cover our nakedness, but He gives us an identity of being clothed. Jesus is the One doing the work. All we have to do is receive and not deny the gift of mercy, allowing Him to wrap us in the garment of salvation and leaving our nakedness behind. 

Our shame is taken. Our nakedness is no more. Our God clothes us. And then He goes further: He adorns us. Our bridegroom is our high priest, and it's the adornment of covenant (the headdress and jewels of a wedding) that He puts on us. 

We have been clothed by the Lamb of God. We are utterly changed.