Bible Studies
The Best Robe (Lk. 15:20-22)
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. You will recognize this reading as from what has become known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 2. We all recognize that the parables are rich with meaning and that this one is particularly rich. 3. We all like to see ourselves in the prodigal—loved by the father, embraced, and accepted by him, even though we are unworthy. 4. But I must confess that there is a detail in this parable that I have given little attention to before that I now believe is absolutely rich in significance. 5. In verse 22 the father says, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him.” I believe that this statement ties in with a very powerful theme evidenced throughout the revelation of God.Discussion:
I. In the Garden of Eden, before sin, man was naked and unashamed, but with the introduction of sin there was a need for covering.A. Man himself recognized the need and so sewed fig leaves together and made for themselves loin coverings (Gen. 3:7).
B. The inadequacy of these coverings was recognized when God came into the garden.
1. “The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God” (3:8).
2. Adam’s explanation to God: “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
3. God recognized that sin was to blame for the exposure.
4. “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (3:21).
5. This is one of the earliest evidences of God’s compassion as He acts to respond to man’s embarrassing exposure.
C. In this episode we learn not only that sin introduces shame, fear and exposure, but also we Learn that God is sensitive to man’s feeling of vulnerability. In addition there is an association made between sin, nakedness and clothing.
II. There is another incident in the book of Genesis that is as striking as it is mysterious (Gen. 9:20-27).A. Did Ham merely see the nakedness of his father or did something more happen here?
1. Keil and Delitzsch observe that Ham found pleasure in his father’s shame and proclaimed his pleasure to his brothers.
2. Cf. our revealing the shame and vulnerabilities of others.
3. Note Joseph is described as a righteous man who wants to put Mary away secretly (Matt. 1:19).
B. Shem and Japheth covered their father’s nakedness walking backward with their faces turned away.
C. The prophecy that Noah gave afterward suggests far-reaching implications to Ham’s actions (25-27).
III. Throughout the text of the O.T. and into the N.T. clothing takes on more and more significance, less as a covering for the physical body and more as a covering for sin.A. Ezekiel 16:8-13a describes how God found Israel naked and clothed her. Later, in verses 35ff she is described as uncovering her nakedness through her idolatry.
B. The priests of the O.T. had special garments to be worn in their service in the Temple, but Zechariah 3:1-5 finds Joshua, the High Priest clothed with filthy garments as he stood before the angel of the Lord. Satan was accusing him. The Lord rebuked Satan and clothed Joshua with festal robes saying, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you.”
C. This same imagery is evident in other places in the O.T.
1. 2 Chron. 6:41 refers to God’s priests as being “clothed with salvation.”
2. David wrote “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psa. 32:1). Cf. Rom. 4:7.
3. Isa 61:10 says, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
a. Note that it is God who does the clothing in each of these texts.
b. This Isaiah passage introduces the image of wedding attire.
D. Gal. 3:27 is a powerful passage. It speaks of being “clothed with Christ.”
1. It says that those “baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ.”
2. Col. 2:12 refers to being buried with Christ in baptism and raised up with Him; then Col. 3:1 says if you have been raised up with Him you are to consider the members of your body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, etc. Then it says we are to “put aside anger, wrath, malice, etc. and to put on compassion, kindness, gentleness, etc. These are the adornments of those who have been clothed with Christ.
E. Jesus told a parable of a wedding feast in Matt. 22:1ff.
1. Verse 11 speaks of one “not dressed in wedding clothes.”
2. He was bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness.
3. We question “Why?” The wedding garments had been supplied by the king, but this man did not put them on. He had no covering for his sin. So it is with the one who is not clothed with Christ.
F. In the book of Revelation the association of the wedding and appropriate clothing continues.
1. In the message to the church at Sardis the Lord said, “a few people in Sardis have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (3:4-5).
2. To the church at Laodicea he wrote, You are “poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed” (3:17-18).
3. Rev. 19:7-8 “the Hallelujah chorus” says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”
4. Back in chapter 7:13ff the great multitude from the tribulation were the ones who had their robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb.
Conclusion:
1. Have you ever felt like you had nothing to wear? Usually when we feel this way it is not that we have nothing to wear, just that what we have seems inadequate or inappropriate. 2. We have been invited to a wedding feast. All our clothing is inadequate, but we must not despair God has prepared garments of righteousness for us. He would clothe us with Christ. He would cover our sin, our inadequacies, our shame and our nakedness. 3. Like the prodigal, would you come acknowledging your sin and your unworthiness and exchange your worn out clothes for the “best robe?”
