Since the movement of hippies in the sixties, a new image of Yeshuah-Christ is born, that of a wanderer dressed in rags and on the verge of cleanliness. But this was the wish of the hippies to build a false image of Yeshuah as if he was looking like themselves, in other words to make a new idolatrous image of Christ. Their image was that of a addicted generation going towards its self-destruction.
This image of long-hair, scruffy clothing strongly influenced the next generation in the way of dressing by using clothes looking intentionally worn or torn up.
These hippies have not invented anything in this matter since for nearly two thousand years the Catholic Church has also inspired the world with the image of a Yeshuah with long hair dying while crucified! This representation of Yeshuah by Catholicism was severely condemned from the beginning by Paul when he wrote on the one hand:
" O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Yeshuah Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? "
(Galatians 3: 1)
And on the other hand
" 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering." (I Corinthians 11: 14-15)
The importance attributed to clothing by Yehoah.
Yehoah Elohim, to the extent that we believe in him, attributes importance to our presentation when, for instance, He is inviting us to be with Him every last day of the week, the Sabbath, and during His holy days.
We must remember that during these special days, our Father enhances our congregations with His presence, to the extent that we have prepared ourselves for it. We can compare this situation, proportionately, with the visit of a President or a member of the royal family. Part of our preparation for this meeting is our clothing and the Word makes recommendations about it here and there.
THE PRIESTS
First of all, to better understand the importance of our clothing according to the circumstances during our lives, we must have in mind what the Lord expects of Christians:
" Yeshuah has made us kings and PRIESTS TO HIS ELOHIM AND FATHER, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1: 6).
And here also:
" Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be PRIESTS OF ELOHIM AND OF CHRIST, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." (Revelation 20: 6)
It means that if we want to be part of the new world to come, the Kingdom of our Father, we first have to GET AQUAINTED WITH THE WORK OF PRIEST.
Our Father, according to His custom, will try us before entrusting us with this task; that's what he does for deacons too:
" 8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.” (I Timothy 3: 8-10)
The mission of the priests is to offer sacrifices to the Lord, but not just any sacrifice!
He must offer animals that the Lord has designated for this purpose in His Bible. Thus, at the time of the old covenant, when the Temple or the Tent of Encounter still existed, the atonement sacrifice consisted of the herd and of the flock WITHOUT BLEMISH or also for the less fortunate, with turtledoves and young pigeons.
The priest also offered sacrifices of thanksgiving and perpetual sacrifice by following PRECISE REQUIREMENTS given in the book of the law.
A SYMBOL FOR OUR TIME!
Today, our Father is no longer asking for sacrifices of animals and in fact, Paul is explaining it to us by using the words that Yeshuah said to his Father:
" 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— TO DO YOUR WILL, O ELOHIM.’ ”
8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O Elohim.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshuah Christ once for all."
(Hebrews 10: 5-10)
This explanation of Paul already lets us understand that the sacrifices have changed but they still exist today. So Paul shows us how a Christian can offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving:
" I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of Elohim, that YOU PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY, ACCEPTABLE TO ELOHIM, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12: 1)
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR APPEARANCE?
Just as Yehoah was asking to the Children of Israel for offerings made of animals without blemish, in a similar way He is asking today from the believers to present their body before Him with a good appearance. Paul is explaining how to do to render ourselves pleasant to the Father in his epistle to the Romans, chapters 12 and 13. Take some time to read these chapters before going on with this lecture.
• Among Paul’s recommendations, he advises us to have MODEST FEELINGS ABOUT OURSELVES AND BE HUMBLE (Romans 12: 3 and 16
• ABHOR WHAT IS EVIL, but OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD (Romans 12: 9 and 19-21).
• DO NOT LAG IN DILIGENCE AND DONT BE LAZY (Romans 12:11).
• We must LOVE OUR ENEMIES by doing them good and rejecting any idea of vengeance (Romans 12: 19-20).
• The believer must BE SUBMITTED TO THE AUTHORITIES existing on earth because it is a way of being submitted to the Lord who authorized their establishment. (Romans 13: 1)
All is well summarized by Paul as follows:
BUT PUT ON THE LORD YESHUAH CHRIST!
(Romans 13:14)
So you can see here the importance that must be given to the garment to please Elohim.
THE CLOTHES OF THE PRIEST.
The background of this lecture is, namely, that the believer has a vocation of priesthood and that he must put on Christ. This should put on us pressure to inform ourselves diligently about the sartorial care which the priests under the old covenant had to take.
If Elohim took care to ensure that the Bible, especially the old covenant, was made available to us, He did not do it in vain! We must never forget that, as Paul writes in Colossians 2: 16-17, many instructions contained in the old covenant are the shadow, that is, a prefiguration, of things to come.
Among other things, it should not be useless to meditate about the importance that Yehoah gives in detail to the clothing of the priests. He has indeed designed prestigious clothes for them to be worn only when the priests are at His service!
Here is how Yehoah speaks to Moses about this (Exodus 28: 2 ):
"2And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, FOR GLORY AND FOR BEAUTY. 3 So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest.”
It should be noted here that gifted people, donations from members of the assembly are called upon to make sure the clothes will be outstanding in beauty and value. If we read Paul, we will see that nothing has changed (Romans 12: 6-8):
“6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Let us now return to Aaron's garments and observe in the wealth, luxury and precision that Yehoah has required for them Exodus 28: 4 - 28):
" 4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.
5 “They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, 6 and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked. 7 It shall have two shoulder straps joined at its two edges, and so it shall be joined together. 8 And the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen.
9 “Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: 10 six of their names on one stone and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth. 11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold. 12 And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before Yehoah on his two shoulders as a memorial. 13 You shall also make settings of gold, 14 and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings.
15 “You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, you shall make it. 16 It shall be doubled into a square: a span shall be its length, and a span shall be its width. 17 And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones: The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row; 18 the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; 19 the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20 and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings. 21 And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name; they shall be according to the twelve tribes.
22 “You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold. 23 And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24 Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate; 25 and the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front.
26 “You shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the ephod. 27 And two other rings of gold you shall make, and put them on the two shoulder straps, underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod. 28 They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod."
All of this reveals how Yehoah creates these clothes so that they are rich and beautiful to see. This also recalls the wonders of His creation during the first week. Every sartorial detail is also there for our understanding and education. Thus, some fifteen hundred years later, John reveals some of the symbolism of these priestly garments:
"... 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." (Revelation 19: 7-8)
All these writings inspired by our Father insist on the care we must take to present ourselves before Him not only in the garment but also in our works.
LIGHT OR DARKNESS!
And first of all, we must know that there is also a wealth in the simplicity of the garment!
It's not just gold, fine linen, and rich fabrics that will make nice clothes for our Lord. John the Baptist is an example of a different choice to please his Elohim:
" Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey." (Matthew 3: 4)
Limiting oneself to an EXTERNAL APPEARANCE was the specialty of the scribes and Pharisees with a few exceptions; this way of doing things, which is often still practiced among religious authorities today, is abhorred to Yeshuah :
" 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."(Matthew 23: 25-28)
So let us meditate carefully on the clothes we want to wear because if we want to be invited to the wedding of the Lamb, it will be necessary to wear wedding clothes showing inside our good attitude and thoughts but also outside with a nice appearance, otherwise we will be rejected to the darkness of the outside. (Matthew 22: 11-14)