Robes Of Righteousness (2)

WITHOUT the robe of righteousness, without salvation, without the new birth, all other religious activities are in themselves insufficient to earn you a place in God’s kingdom. Whatever you have or do, is not enough until you totally surrender your life to the Lord and He, in exchange, gives you the robe of righteousness. Like Job in the Bible, have you “put on righteousness”? It is not something that you can provide for yourself. It is something that only the Lord can give you.

It is not enough to be a priest, a pastor or a Christian worker. It is not enough to be born to Christian parents. The question is: are you really born again? When were you born again? What day, time and hour were you born again? You cannot put on the robe of righteousness until you have put off the filthy garment of anger, wrath, malice, etc. No act of self-righteousness will suffice. What God is looking for is the righteousness that comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a great danger in neglecting salvation, in rejecting the robe of righteousness from God. And the Bible is replete with the stories of people that lost all because they laughed off the offer of the robe of righteousness. Men like Cain (who killed his brother Abel), King Saul (who lost the throne of Israel because of disobedience), and Judas Iscariot (who betrayed Jesus), did not escape the judgment of the Lord, when they neglected the robe of righteousness, when they trifled with the opportunity for redemption offered them by the Lord.

If you sin wilfully after you have known what it takes to obtain the robe of righteousness, you will perish. If you neglect to “follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man can see the Lord”, you cannot get to heaven. Like Esau in the Bible, some people sell their robes of righteousness because of marriage, money, business contract, etc.

You must realise that preaching, retreats, church services or worships, exhortation, encouragement and counseling will not go on forever. If you neglect the robe of righteousness for too long, it might be too late for you to come to your senses and seek the face of the Lord. “Strive to enter through the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”

At the end of life, will you be saved from sin, or regret that you lost the opportunity of being born again? For those who have on their souls the robe of righteousness and the garment of salvation, when the Lord shall come, they will inherit the kingdom of God. Every one of such people will receive rewards from the Lord.

The robe of righteousness opens to you the treasure trove of heaven. With the robe of righteousness now, on the final day when the trumpet shall sound, when the saints of God shall go marching in, the Lord will give you a reward, robes that are white and clean and pure.

The first mention of “white” in Revelation 3: 4 refers to the garment of righteousness, which is bestowed on us when we turn away from sin, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. The second mention in verse 5 is the reward. Part of the reward is the privilege and honour to be “clothed in white raiment” and to have our names in the Book of Life.

If you are part of the Bride of the Lamb, you need to make yourself ready by examining your life daily. Is your garment still clean or has it become dirty? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? What is the state of your heart or spirit? How is your Christian character and commitment? How do you rate in the sight of the Lord? Looking at the things going on in your heart and mind; looking at your ambition, career, character and relationships, is everything alright with you? Temptation will come to try you whether you will backslide or not. But “blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

If you have not been born again, you need to turn away from your sins, pray and get saved. If you have not been sanctified and made holy, pure and perfect, you need to pray to God to have you cleansed inwardly. If moral blemish has come into your life, you need to pray to be cleansed from it. If your robe of righteousness has been soiled, you can ask the Lord to purge and cleanse you again. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Further Reading (King James Version): Matthew 22:11-13; Job 29:14; Psalm 132:9,16; John 3:1-4,10,5-7; Isaiah 61:10; Zechariah 3:3-4; Colossians 3:8-14; Romans 10:1-3; Philippians 3:6-9; Hebrews 2:3; 10:26-31; Matthew 13:49-50; Matthew 23:1-7,27-29,31; He Rees 12:14-17,25,29; Jeremiah 8:20; Luke 13:24-30; Revelation 3:4-5; 19:7-9; 22:11-14; Matthew 5:8-12; 13:40-43; Psalm 112:6; Revelation 7:9-17.