Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of heavenly garments as a reflection of God's grace and beauty, highlighting their diversity and glory as eternal rewards for the faithful. He explains that while salvation is a free gift, the garments we receive in heaven correspond to our acts of love and service to God during our earthly lives. Bickle encourages believers to engage in a process of spiritual growth and obedience, which will lead to a rich and diverse wardrobe in the New Jerusalem, symbolizing their faithfulness and relationship with Christ. He draws parallels between earthly garments and heavenly rewards, illustrating how our actions and character now will influence our eternal state. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper understanding of the beauty and significance of our heavenly garments, urging believers to live in a way that honors God and prepares them for their eternal rewards.

Father, we thank you for your presence. Father, we love who you are and we trust your leadership and Holy Spirit. We ask you again, over and over to mark our hearts, to feed the hunger of our heart for more of him, Lord, even tonight, I ask you to heal hearts, illuminate our understanding, impart zeal, and just anchor our heart in a new way tonight. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, tonight we're going to look at heavenly garments as part of our heavenly rewards that they're glorious, beautiful, but they're very diverse. And that's a point that I'm going to be emphasizing a number of times tonight. Just a quick review in our last two sessions, we looked at 15 principles, or you could say premises related to eternal rewards. And I just want to review very briefly, six of those 15, just to kind of get our mind around this, particularly as we look at some of the details of eternal rewards. Number one, paragraph eight, eternal rewards are expressions of God's grace. We're, we're, we're clear about that from the Bible. It's God's generosity. We take one step of obedience and he gives us a mile of reward. I mean, the extremity, the generosity of what he gives us, we could never, ever with understanding actually think we earn them in any kind of a realistic way. Principle number two, though we don't earn them and though God gives us far more than we could ever earn, he does give us eternal rewards related to what we do. He responds to the way that we loved him in this age and not just emotional, uh, telling I love you, I love you, but actually walking it out in faithfulness and diligence in our assignment before him. Principle number three, we'll look at tonight. Uh, we compare scripture with scripture to get more insight on eternal rewards. Like we'll see what God says a number of places in the scripture about garments. And that will give us insight into how God views garments for billions and billions of years, because God never changes. So how he views garments now gives us insight to how he views garments forever and forever pair principle. Number four, we gain insight from the natural realm. We don't gain full insight, but some insight. David said he looked up at the sky, saw the handiwork of God. He saw the thumbprint of God's beauty and his activity in creation. Or we can look at society. That's part of the natural realm. And because people are made in the image of God were image bearers, though fallen image bears were image bearers. So what people do, how they reflect core and common values throughout history, gives us some insight into what is the image of God being expressed in and through us. It's an imperfect picture, but it does give us a hint. I love this in Matthew chapter six, talking about the natural realm. Verse 28, Jesus said, look at the lilies. He goes, go stare at him, study the lilies, many, many types of lilies. Actually, there's not just one type of lily. Verse 28, Solomon, the wealthiest king of Israel and the wisest and the most creative and gifted. He couldn't array himself. His garments could not compare to them because the lilies had beauty and diversity beyond Solomon's scope and grasp. Verse 30, so of God, so clothes, the grass and the flowers, then he went on to say, and they fade away. They burn up in a moment. Here's the phrase. Will he not much more clothes you? Now, this promise that will he not much more clothes you reaches far beyond this life. When Jesus said, Solomon and his creativity, his wisdom, his wealth could not come up with a wardrobe that could rival the lilies because of the father's handiwork in creation. And I can imagine Jesus smiling and saying, will he not much more clothes you, more than even the lilies that Solomon could not rival? I'm imagining the wardrobe in the New Jerusalem that the saints will have, much greater than the lilies, which was much greater than Solomon's. So whatever Solomon's wardrobe was, we know that God will much more clothes us, much more than that. And so that's a hint. That's not a direct statement, but it's like I imagine the Lord says, just go think on that for a while. Imagine where this might go. And don't imagine this promise is limited nor fulfilled in completion in this age, not even close. Paragraph E, the fifth principle I want to review, and each one of these we spent a bit of time on, is that eternal rewards are far more glorious than anything we can imagine. Paul said that it's never entered the mind of a person, the glory, the measure of the glory. So whatever you're imagining, the thrones, and crowns, and garments, and food, and fellowship, and relationship, whatever you imagine, it's far lower than you could ever imagine. Those rewards are far greater, I mean, our imagination comes up far short. So we must be careful as we think on eternal rewards that we don't reduce them to something that we can easily imagine because their glory is beyond our reach. So whatever you think, it's greater than that. And eternal rewards are commensurate with the King of glory because we're relating to Him and He's the author of the rewards. He's generous, He's smart, He's wealthy, very creative. So whatever the rewards are, they're commensurate with His personality, and His wealth, and His skill. They are commensurate with the new Jerusalem, the environment of the city that we will live in forever. A glorious diamond-like city with a people that are rewarded in a way that fits the environment of the city. The rewards are befitting of royalty. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood of... You're the aristocracy of the eternal city, for real. That's kind of a cute little statement, but it's real. You're literally the royal family. Whatever the king gives his royal family, the rewards are in that vein. It's in that mindset. And they express His beauty. Paragraph F, Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Jesus would say, to heal broken hearts, to liberate the captives, to preach the gospel to the poor. He actually gives 12 details of what the Spirit on Him is to do. And one of them that is often overlooked is verse 3, to give beauty in the place of the broken ash heap of broken lives. But He gives beauty. He doesn't just allow us to see it, He imparts it. And the eternal rewards are a part of the way He... Is one way that He imparts His beauty. Garments are dynamically connected to beauty. Beauty is bigger than garments, but garments are deeply connected to them. Psalm 98, Moses prayed along this very line. He said, Lord, let the beauty of the Lord be on us. Not just character, yes, character, the beauty of holiness, but let the beauty of God be on us as well. And I have no doubt that this is connected in part to our heavenly garments. And it's interesting that Moses, the very next phrase, said, and established the works of our hands. Because we'll see in a moment, a very well-known verse, that the garments of the bride are related to her works. The beauty of her garments are related to her works. And Moses was putting beauty and works together right here in Psalm 90. Isaiah spoke of putting on beautiful garments. And then he compared those beautiful garments to the way a bride adorns herself on her wedding day. Isaiah 52, O Zion, put on beautiful garments. Now, that is a twofold application. We put on garments, spiritual garments in this age in character by embracing humility and kindness. But don't imagine that's the end of the story. The garments that we put on of kindness, beauty, humility, compassion in this age, they are manifest as actual spirit, heavenly garments in the age to come. Because as I've said over and over in the first three sessions, eternal rewards is Jesus expressing how he feels about the way you loved him in this age. Eternal rewards is not about earning anything or it's not about being over anyone. Although there is an element of ruling, but that's not the reason. People don't want to rule so they can be over someone, they want to rule so they work in close proximity to Jesus in something that's dear to his heart. Isaiah 61, he's clothed me with the garments, plural, of salvation. Obviously, there's spiritual truths of being justified by faith, but it doesn't end there. The garments are beyond that, though they certainly begin there, and that's the foundation of them, our spiritual truths, Jesus, what he did on the cross for us. But it has an outward, a full outward expression in our body, our garments, our dwelling place, the glory of God in our resurrected body, et cetera. He's covered me with the robe of righteousness in a way that a bride adorns herself with jewels. Now, there's no day in which a woman is more careful about her garments than her wedding day. And I think that's one of the reasons Isaiah focused on this. There's no more great attention. There's no more willingness to spare no expense than on the wedding day. That's the day they give their all. And the Lord is saying to Isaiah, the garments you will have, well, think about those lines. They'll be glorious beyond what you're imagining. This gives insight to the beauty of them. Paragraph G, as we've said at each session, so I won't spend much time on it, they are given, eternal rewards are given in varying measure. Salvation is free and everybody gets access to the city and they're in the family automatically by faith. It's a free gift because of what Jesus did for us. But our function in the city and our life in the city has a connection to the way we responded to Jesus after he freely gave us his salvation. Paul said, as one star differs from another star in glory. So also, the resurrection of the dead, but it's not just the resurrected body, I believe the whole realm of the resurrection, the garments, the crowns, the thrones, all the dimensions of the resurrection, there's varying degrees of glory. I mean, all we have to do is look at creation and we see God's personality, his creative personality. There's millions of species of birds and fish and flies and flowers. I mean, just everywhere, there's so much diversity. There are animals and plants that humans don't know anything about. They're on the backside of a mountain. Nobody will ever see them. God says, because I'm that creative. I did it because that's who I am. I didn't do it only so that somebody would see them. I do it because I'm creative. Well, his creative genius and diversity did not stop when we get resurrected. But without any element of sin to diminish our experience, the creativity of God will be released in a way beyond anything we can imagine. Paragraph H, I assume, I think this is a fair assumption, there will be many different types of garments, many. It's God's personality. And when we look at the Old Testament, we see how God commanded different garments. And there's great diversity and color. I believe there will be many different types of clothing. You'll have a vast wardrobe. Some will have a far more diverse wardrobe than others. Because our garments will be, as we'll see in a moment, one of the foundational verses, Revelation 19, verse 8, that the wedding garments are corresponding to the faithfulness of the saints in this age. I believe there'll be diverse in design. I love to say, you're not just going to have the basic white gown t-shirt forever, for billions of years. It's not like God made this glorious city with diamonds and jewels. And He said, oh, I forgot, clothing, it's all the same white garment, that's it. No, He didn't forget. I believe it will be diverse in fabric, brightness, coloring, fragrance, design. Turn to the top of page 2, the white garment. Now, this is a common term that's mentioned in the book of Revelation in six different occasions. But the term white garment has more implications than might meet the eye at a quick read. So don't see the common term and say, got it, and just move on. I believe paragraph A, down towards the bottom of that paragraph, seems to me, and I think it's pretty clear, there are many types of white garments. Not just one, again, classic, white garment, standard, couple billion saints, all have the same one, forever. But I believe that all believers receive a white garment of sorts related to the gift of salvation. But I believe there are various garments related to this term called white garments, that only some believers will get related to their faithfulness. So I believe it's a term that has a lot of diversity, it's a vast implications to this one term. Paragraph B, we'll consider two words that describe heavenly garments. Leukos is the word, the Greek word for white. But it's also translated a number of times as bright. When it says white garments, when it particularly speaks of the heavenly realm, it means bright garments. Not only white, bright is the stronger idea. It is white, but there's a brightness to it. And I don't believe that the garments are only white. And I believe the predominant idea is brightness of the glory of God. Of which the seemingly dominant color of God is the jasper-like, says that God is a jasper-like in His appearance, is bright, diamond-like appearance. And the new Jerusalem has this jasper-like brightness of glory. But many hues of color in context to the jasper brightness of that diamond, white-like, glittering, diamond release or just a manifestation of the glory of God. So this word, the leukos, does mean white. And it often means white, the white fence. And it is, if we're talking about a natural white fence, it doesn't mean bright. But when talking about a heavenly object or being, it almost always associates it with brightness. So that shifts the meaning to more than what naturally meets the eye. It can mean brilliant. It can mean light. It can mean bright. It could be light garments or garments of light. It's what the word white garments could be translated. And so the word white is a big word with movement in it. It is, it's inclusive when relating and describing something in the heavenly realm. Leukos speaks of the shining garments of an angel. Leukos speaks of the white shining garments of Jesus at the man of transfiguration. I have several verses there. It says they were shining, glittering. The whiteness was dazzling. So it's more than what again might meet the eye. And as a quick reading, Roman numeral three. Well, let's look at a couple of the verses that describe or that say clearly that we receive heavenly garments as a reward. Well, one of the main foundational passages on this subject, it's Revelation chapter 19, verse seven to eight, the heavenly declaration, rejoice and be glad. Verse seven, for the marriage of the lamb has come here. We have in the text on the notes here. His wife has made herself ready. So the context is the marriage supper of the lamb. And the first statement is the bride, the wife, the saints. That's an, it almost takes us back. She made herself ready. Like, okay, she did. I thought it was the grace of God. Then quickly the balancing statement. Yes, she did make herself ready, but it was granted to her by God. By the grace of God, by the power of God to be arrayed in fine linen. And here we see it clean, bright, and brightness has a, again, a huge, I mean, a massive room for diversity and color and beauty and different measures of the glory of God. You know, there's not just a, a light bulb. Isn't just a hundred watt light bulb. There's a million watt light bulb. I just made that up. But you know, there's all kinds of different light bulbs, not just a light bulb. And then it goes on. The voice of the Lord from heaven defines it clearly and says, let me be clear. The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The fine linen on the bride is related, corresponds to her faithfulness on the earth. Now, remember, I've said this every time, but it needs to be said over and over. 99%, 99.9, probably of our righteous acts are very small and often unnoticed by anybody. Or very few people. So don't imagine righteous acts means, you know, the day the martyr dies. That's the big one. No, well, that is the big one. But that martyr's life might've been filled with decades of small little statements, acts of service, being diligent and faithful to their assignment. Unrecognized, unnoticed, unapplauded, unappreciated, but faithful because the Lord, they could see that the Lord valued what they were doing. Those are the acts of righteousness, the deeds. Most of them are very, very small deeds. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 42, if you give a cup of cold water, I, he said, surely I won't forget that. The smallest deed. If you do it in my name, because you love me. So look at number one, we see this tension. She made herself ready. And the tension is, but God granted to, which is it? Is it her response or God's sovereign grace? Which is it? It's both. It's not either or when it says she made herself ready. John is emphasizing John, the apostle writing the book of revelation. He's emphasizing the personal response of love to Jesus. In other words, she wasn't forced to obey. She did it as voluntary love. She prepared herself. John says she did it out of love in an overflow. She saw who he is and said, I want to respond. I don't care what it gets me in this age. As long as it moves him, I'm doing it. So he wanted to emphasize that she wasn't forced. It was voluntary, small acts of servanthood. But then the tension. Verse paragraph two, between the bride preparing herself and it being granted. Because our garments are related both. To the righteous act of Jesus done for us on the cross. And the righteous act of the saints done in response to the free grace of God. So the righteous acts, he did it for us. And then a response of gratitude. We do it. We respond back to him. And they're the acts of the saints. All of our righteous acts. They're wrought by the Holy Spirit, inspiring us. Even a, a, just a whisper of inspiration. And they're, they're the evidence of the grace of God working in us. So much so that Paul said. Ephesians two, we are his workmanship. We're created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are his workmanship. He ordained that we would do. Multitudes of small little acts of service. Kind words. Helping, giving money, giving energy. Serving in little out of the way places. They don't have to be out of the way every time. You might be serving in a prominent place. But it's the act of serving. We are his workmanship. That's the grace of God working in us. There's nobody on the last day is going to have the idea. They did it alone. But at the same time, the Lord, it is generosity. He says, yeah, but I want to highlight. You really did do it. You responded. Yes, it was my grace. Yes, I'm generous in how I evaluate you. But you did say yes to me thousands of times in small ways. And I want you to know I want that part of the story. The Lord's not nervous. That somebody might get credit for loving him. He actually loves the idea of that. And he wants to magnify the love that we showed to him. It moves him. That the bride chose to do this. Now notice. In verse 8, it's the righteous. Acts, plural, paragraph 3. The plural suggests. These are the specific acts done by the saints. This is distinct. From the imputed. Gift of righteousness, which was the singular righteousness. It's not the plural acts of righteousness. It was the work of righteousness that was imputed to us. By Jesus's death on the cross. The point being. That here in Revelation 19. It's talking about what the saints do, because some theologians. They want to remove that most don't. But some do. And they want to say, well, this is all just the cross. And yes, it is all the cross and the grace of God. But it's our response to it. And the Lord honors that. And we have deeds. I mean, we have garments. In the age to come related to our response. It really matters what we do. Really, it does. Paragraph B. Jesus. We're still in the book of Revelation on heavenly garments. On the white garments. Now we know they're bright garments. They're not only white, but the word can be translated bright as well. And it can have many different hues of color. Like in the city. There's that bright again. Jasper like diamond, like. Glory of God. But many other hues of color mixed in. And glorious and beautiful ways throughout the city. Jesus said in Revelation 3 18. He says, I counsel you to buy from me. Gold refined by fire and buy from me. White garments. That you may be close. He's not urging them to buy salvation. He is urging them to buy garments. That are distinct from the free gift of salvation. Of which there are white garments associated with that. But again, I believe there's a diverse great diversity. Within this large category called white garments. Now, when Jesus says, buy these garments, it's like. I mean, this just troubles theologians. Like Jesus, you've gone too far. I mean, you mean well, but you went over the line this time. Don't you understand the reformation truths? Jesus justification by faith. And Jesus could say, I'm not talking about that. That's free. I gave that to you for free. I'm saying there's something distinct from that. And when he says by. He doesn't mean earn. He means engage. In the God ordained process described in the word of God. In order to acquire those garments. Invest yourself in a costly way. Again, we can't earn because we do a step of obedience. We get a mile of blessing could never be construed as earning. In the presence of God. But it does correspond. We do buy. We invest ourself in a costly way and we acquire garments that are distinct from. The automatic garments that every believer gets freely at the gift of righteousness. Jesus says in revelation three, verse four and five, and in a different occasion to the church Sardis. He says in verse four, you have a few believers in Sardis, the city of Sardis. That have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in light. Then he went on and said this really strong phrase for they are worthy. In other words, they have responded in an appropriate way to the grace of God. It's not they are worthy compared to Jesus is worthy is nothing. That's not the conversation. They have responded in an appropriate way to the grace of God. For he who overcomes verse five. He'll be clothed in the white garments. And again, these are the. White garments that he went on to say in. You know, paragraph B, we just looked at verse 18, a couple of verses later by them. Acquire them in the God ordained process, which is just interacting with the Lord and obeying. In our by responses of humility. Being diligence in our servanthood, generosity, purity, the simple ways of love, the small acts that express generosity, humility. Purity. Servanthood, those kind of ways. Now, Jesus makes it clear in paragraph C, the reason for reserve receiving the white garments is giving their given their worthy. This is a key phrase to qualify. This is the words of Jesus. He doesn't want this confused with the gift of righteousness. It doesn't. It doesn't contradict it, and it's not to be confused with it. He's talking about something different than that. That's why he used these strong words in revelation three by these garments and these garments are for the people that are worthy. He's wanting believers to make a strong connection that their deeds matter. Then he's not nervous about that. He wants them to know that the way they love him now will be expressed by him at that time. And one of the ways he expresses it is by the garments he gives. The scripture is clear. No person could ever be worthy of gaining salvation. That's not. It's not even a thought that anybody with the most basic Bible knowledge could confuse. And when Jesus talked about being worthy of white garments, he's meaning responding in an appropriate way that's that is appropriate for the Lord to give those white garments that are distinct from the common garments of salvation that everybody gets because there's the garments is a vast array of garments. Again, I believe this strongly that some of you you'll all have a wardrobe that will, I think, shock you. But some of you will have a wardrobe beyond anything you can imagine. Solomon was outdone by the lilies, and Jesus is going to outdo the lilies that outdid Solomon. He says much more. Will I clothe you much more? Top of page three. Well, let's look at some of the scriptural insight we have. I mean, the scripture, I mean, let me say this way, gives us insight into God's thoughts about garments. What does God think about garments? This is very brief. This isn't comprehensive by any means. But because God never changes. What he thinks about a subject, though there may be a different application throughout all of eternity, but we know that his design and his creativity and his wisdom and his values never change. I mean, his ability to have creative design is what I mean. Well, first, we'll consider because I think that as we consider different garments in the scripture, we can get some insight, only hints. We can't get definitive details of what it all looks like, but we have a kind of a canvas so we can kind of, in our imagination, paint a picture that we can't get real close, but we can know there's a lot more there than a lot of people are imagining. And again, I challenge you to imagine because you'll never, ever, it's never entered your mind what he has prepared. It's beyond what you can imagine. And that's glorious. But then he tells us, think on heavenly things. And what the one preacher said that if you don't think rightly about heaven, you won't ever think about heaven. You have to think rightly about heaven to think on heaven. Most people think cloud, harp, floating, white robe. Got it. No, no, there's so much more than that. I like clouds and harps and garments. I do like those, but it's much more than that. Matthew chapter 17 in Jesus's transfigured what he's transformed. Hadn't gone to the cross yet, but he, Peter, James, and John got a glimpse of his glory, the glory that he possesses forever. His face transfigured Matthew 17. You could read the whole text. It mentions his face has changed shining bright, but his clothes are white as light. Now that's one of the references where white means brightness, dazzling brightness. And that's the Matthew 17. Look at Mark and Luke also develop it in shining, dazzling garments. But the word used is white garments, but it's more than just basic, plain white. Psalm 104, the Psalmist declared in worship to God, you cover yourself with light like a garment. The garment around you is light and glory. So when God designed garments for himself, that's a sure that's an inadequate way to say it. There are garments of light. Now in Romans 13 verse 12, I don't have it on the notes. Paul said, put on the armor of light and he meant spiritual truth. Put on spiritual truth in this hour, this age, but that armor of light, I believe has an application bigger than spiritual truth of this age. I think that we have garments of light. These white multifaceted diverse garments that every believer has a different measure of the glory of God related to their acts of service to the Lord, righteous acts. It's not only serving, but standing for truth, standing for Jesus. You know, we're in an hour of history where it's becoming more and more unpopular to stand for what the Bible says. A lot of believers are getting more and more silent on important issues because there's other believers in the workplace or in the cafeteria that are mocking them because they're standing for what the Lord says. Beloved, stand. Stand, that's considered an act of righteousness. I don't mean be belligerent. Don't back down because there's a group of people, even believers that are dismissing the word of God because they imagine they're more loving than God is. Don't go there. Be clear. Be kind, be sweet, but be strong. And the Lord will write it in his books. It might develop your wardrobe a little bit more than you might, it might shock you. Revelation 13, I mean Revelation 1 verse 13. Jesus, he had a robe, it says a garment, down to the feet. It's a robe reaching to the feet. So we know it's a long robe and we know it's a robe that paralleled the high priestly office. There's a lot of implications to this, but I just want you to see it's long and it has symbolic meaning of his function, meaning it declares his function. It's not just pure symbolism. It is a robe that depicts his function. And in the age to come you will have garments, some, all different sizes and shapes that will depict some of them, your function and your role, just like this one. But it wasn't just a robe that reached the feet. It was girded about the chest with a golden band. So that, I mean that, I'm imagining that has a beauty and a design to it that is stunning. I don't think it's just a simple little gold band, you know, like a one-inch gold band. Okay, got it. The gold band's in place. This is Jesus. I mean, he is a clothing designer equal to being a songwriter and a musician, which is equal to being an architect, a scientist, a poet, and a king, and more and more a bridegroom. Anyway, I like this, the chest or the golden band. That's another facet of the beauty of heavenly garments. I'm expecting that kind of, all kinds of beautiful facets to the heavenly garments in the age to come. In Psalm 45, talking about the Messiah, which we know is Jesus, but in Psalm 45 in the Old Testament, they didn't. They said, they declared in worship, all of your garments are scented, they're fragrant. Well, I don't have this verse here, but 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14 and 15, tells us the very fragrance of Christ will be in us and on us. That's the meaning of this, and it's God smells it and God sees it in us and on us. There's quite a fascinating study about fragrance in the New Jerusalem. There's a handful of verses, Genesis to Revelation, on this subject. Heaven is not just filled with beautiful sights, it's filled with beautiful music, beautiful fragrances. I mean, I think that every, I don't know about every, but probably every dinner, you'll probably have live music and fragrance and beauty besides wonderful food. I don't know if it's every, every meal, but many meals. I'm assuming that's the atmosphere of that city. And dining is one of the rewards, dining with the Lord. Not everybody eats, but I believe that some will dine with the Lord. The overcomers, it says, in a way that goes beyond the average privilege of everyone in the city. Getting ahead of myself here. That's for another session. Isaiah wrote about the Messiah's garments, and the reason we're looking at his garments, well, there's a lot of good reasons too, but the reason tonight, I'm skipping all the good reasons, is it reflects what our garments might be like, because it's the God who is the author of the creative design of the garments, who never changes, who's giving us garments, so we're getting insight into what kind of garments he might make. That's kind of, that's the subject we're on right here in this part of the teaching. Isaiah 6, the Lord was sitting on a throne, and we find out, Isaiah 6 from John 12, that Isaiah was actually looking at Jesus, the Messiah. We find that in John 12. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Do you know how big the train of his robe must be to fill the temple? You know, I've seen some of the royal ceremonies, coronations, or you know, different ones on documentaries, and some of the royal families, and the train of their robe on some occasions is like, oh my goodness. Well, the robe of Jesus has that kind of diversity to it. Look at Isaiah 63, verse 1. Don't miss this verse 1. Isaiah, he declares, this one who is glorious in his apparel. Don't miss that phrase. His garments are glorious. That was one of the first things that Isaiah, when he's recording this encounter with the Messiah, his garments were beautiful. They were glorious, but they were powerful, not just beautiful to look at. I believe they're glorious in design, and and fragrance, and features, and fabric, and everything else. Then he went on to say he was traveling in the greatness of his power. That's the next phrase I don't have here in the in the abbreviated notes. But I want you to catch this. He was, he is glorious. Wow, his appearance. I mean his apparel, his garments are glorious. Then Isaiah went on to say, he said, why are your garments red? And he said in verse 3, I don't want to get off on this subject. He's talking about, in context to the second coming, when he's marching up to the city of Jerusalem to liberate them at his return, and they're surrounded by the nations, the armies of the earth. He says, I, verse 3, I've trodden the winepress, and the blood of my, the enemies of Israel, as they're surrounding the city of Jerusalem in Zechariah 12, and Zechariah 14, and Joel 3, and a bunch of other places, Zebaniah 3. The nations are surrounding Israel. Jesus, the greater David, comes marching up to the city to liberate the city at his return. And their blood is sprinkled on his garments. And he says, I've stained all of my robes, and my point here isn't what Jesus does in the second coming. That is a glorious subject for another day. The point I want you to see here is the robes are plural. He doesn't have a robe. He has robes, and they're beautiful, and he has many types of garments. So if that be true of him, I believe there, there will be reflections of that truth, expressions of it, to his bride. Paragraph two. Just a point in passing, is that people during Jesus's ministry, they want to touch his garments, because the power of God would be released when they touched his garments. Now we know that that the power is in his person, but it's associated with his garments, like Elijah and Elisha. Their garments even had relationship to the power of God, and you know, Paul talked about the handkerchiefs they prayed for, and people got healed. I don't know how all that works, but there's a dimension of power that's associated with these heavenly garments. Well, the Lord had earthly garments, but there's power and glory in his apparel. Paragraph B. Let's look at the angel's garments, ever so brief. There's more in the scripture than this, but had limited size of, for my notes here, I wanted to squeeze a few in. The angels have bright linen garments, and they have bands around their chest. Not all the angels, but some of them. I'm assuming the golden bands are different than Jesus. There's probably many, many different types of design of the golden bands. Again, the creative God, I don't think he just one size fits all. That's not his style. That's not his leadership pattern in scripture. Daniel 10, a certain angel, it says man, but it's clear the context was an angel. He had, was clothed in linen, but his waist was girded with gold, his waist where the other angel, his chest was. So there's diversity of design and beauty. The high priest, the Old Testament. Look what it says in Exodus chapter 28. This is God speaking. He's speaking to Moses. Like the audible voice of the Lord coming to Moses, Moses, verse two, make garments for your brother Aaron. But here's the phrase I want you to see. I want the garments for glory, and I want the garments for beauty. This is God's idea. It's not like he came to Moses and said, Hey, I'm thinking of a uniform. What do you think? Should we go with something standard or something elaborate? No, Moses didn't have a thought. I don't believe it's totally God's idea. He wanted garments that depicted the glory of the station or the office that Aaron was to stand in. I mean, it's the glory of God, but it's reflected in a person. He goes, I want garments that make clear the station that he has in my kingdom, the assignment. And I want him to have garments that express my beauty. I don't want just garments. I want beautiful garments, but I don't want just beautiful garments. I want garments that depict the honor and the glory of the station that the servant of the Lord has. And then look, he goes on to verse four. He says, he says, now when you make the garments make sure there's a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a tunic, a turban, a sash, hats on and on. He gave a few more he didn't put here and he says it again in verse 40. It's for glory and for beauty. I want it to signify the glory of the station that i've given them. I want others to see the garments and understand their position before me. But I want them beautiful. I have in the notes here, there were distinct parts of the garments. Trousers, coats, girdles, robes, breastplates, tunics, hats, crowns, on and on. And if in this age my assumption is surely in the age to come and the priestly garments had different colors gold, blue, purple, red, white, and other and others and if true in this age I believe a very fair assumption is in the age to come. Paragraph D, the saints garments. Now again, we only find hints of God's creative design and the way he thinks about garments. Here we, you can read a couple of them there just for the sake of time. But I want to mention Matthew 13, the righteous will shine forth as the sun. That's not just the resurrected body, I believe it will be, but I believe I believe it will relate to their garments as well. And that's that dazzling brightness that has diversity of glory in it. And then speaking of the bride of Christ, in the symbolic language in Psalm 45, we already looked at Psalm 45 when it said that his garments were all scented, they were fragrant. Well in the same Psalm, here now we're looking a few verses later, the Messiah's garments are fragrant, but the daughter's garments, the royal daughter, the bride of Christ clearly depicted here in this messianic Psalm, Psalm 45. The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace. Everything about her within the palace is glorious. Her garments, her crown, her throne, her food, her station, everything about her has the glory. And then the spirit highlights, her clothing is woven with gold. Now again, I would assume that this will be depicted in heavenly garments in many, many different creative ways for every person will have a different look and feel. Possibly, I mean, I don't know that for sure. But it seems like that's the testimony of God's leadership in history. She shall be brought to the king, here it is, in robes plural with many diverse colors is the idea. Top of page four. We can gain insight, only hints, but I like hints because I like to think and I can't be sure, I don't want to press details at a level that's beyond what the scripture, but I want to take the hints and say, Holy Spirit, just I just want to imagine more than just neglecting the subject like so many do. I want to think on this using the Bible and using even your handiwork through human culture because people are image bearers of God. Again, fallen image bearers and all that people do and all the culture reflects is not from God, but there's elements throughout all of cultures all through history that are common and some of those elements reflect the image of God in them because it's so many different people, so many cultures, so many generations. The common theme is the thumbprint of God on them. And one of these subjects I want to, there's quite a few things like that, like nobility of love is in every culture. We could go on and on, that's a subject for another time, but the diversity of garments and the meaning of garments, every culture from the tribal cultures to the aristocratic families of Europe, to the cultures of Asia, to Latin America, to the islands, they all have such diversity of garments that all speak about honor and status and responsibility in the culture and they have, they depict achievement and reward and this is something every culture has in common. The application is different, but they all have this in common. I look at that and I go, why? And my answer is it's the thumbprint of God in the human spirit to see garments this way because it's in the reflection of the image of God because we're just going to be this way in the age to come, far beyond what we imagine. Let me just look at this just real quickly here. I have written in paragraph A in the middle, there's a great science, that's probably not the best term, but in knowing what to wear, when, where, and why. Garments is a massive subject. I just go with the basic long-sleeved shirt and black pants, you know, that's, I just stick with that for now, but my wife tells me I need to branch out a little bit. Okay, garments can give insight into someone's personality, their accomplishments, their function and station in life. That's very obvious. Garments say who you are, how you want people to see you and relate to you, what you represent, who you want to impact. A picture is worth a thousand words. Garments are not neutral. We all know that. This is obvious, but I just wanted you to think, oh yeah, that's very obvious, but okay, because I think some of this is reflected in the age to come. I don't know exactly how, but it's a big subject, not a small subject. Clothing is not neutral, but it's well planned in the cultures of history, all over the earth, and the clothing has a message in it. Paragraph B, clothing is an important part of relationship. I believe in the age to come, clothing sends a message in relating to one another. Clothing is a communication tool. For instance, by wearing special clothes at a wedding, you communicate the value you have in the people being married and you communicate the value of the ceremony, the vow they're making. Your garment being there has some statement about what you think about them and the covenant they're making. You wear a suit at a job interview, you're telling the potential employer, hey, I value the opportunity you're giving me here right now to give me a half hour to talk to you, and I want you to know I pay attention to detail. I want you to know I'm diligent, I'm aware, I'm attentive. It's a good time to polish your shoes before you go in there. It's going to look right at your shoes, go, man, nah, you don't even pay attention to detail. You're communicating something. Now, you don't have to wear a suit if you're auditioning to be on our worship team, but by wearing black clothes or dark clothes, depending on the culture, at a funeral, you're communicating, you recognize and share the grief of the family that's mourning. Now, again, I'm not trying to be comprehensive, but the idea that close communicate messages and the relational statements all through history. Paragraph D, look at all the different, I just did kind of a rapid fire, kind of rapid the diversity of clothing in cultures. There's formal occasions, religious ceremonies, funerals, academic events. Ecclesiastical events, legal settings, military, casual, sports, cultural. Meaning in the age to come, there'll be many of these different, totally different events. You won't wear the same garments to every event. Paragraph E, I assume our garments will be as diverse in the age to come as our settings and encounters. Like for instance, when you think of a king, he wears different clothing, depending on what he's doing. If he's at home, I don't know where a king wears at home. If he's on vacation, if he's at an official banquet, if he's at a military function, if he's meeting a head of state, a king wears different garments. Well, you're kings and priests forever. You'll have many settings and many garments. Again, paragraph F, I believe the saints will have a vast wardrobe in the new Jerusalem. Each occasion will require different garments, different look and feel and design. That's just an assumption. Well, let's go back to the passage we looked at a moment ago. Worship team, go ahead and come on up. Jesus, we're going back to the passage we looked at. He goes, I counsel you to buy from me white garments. He's saying engage in the God-ordained process, which again is talking to God, obeying God, humility, generosity, purity, servanthood. We don't earn by buying, but we invest ourself in a costly way. Paragraph B, on three occasions in scripture, we are exhorted to buy, that's the phrase, buy spiritual things. Jesus spoke two of those occasions and none of these exhortations were contradictory or in any my, any way undermining grace. That's not what they were about. They were saying invest yourself in a costly way. That's what they're really saying. Now Isaiah says it so clear. Verse one, chapter 55. Yes, come and buy wine and milk, but buy it without money. He goes, let me tell you how you do it. Verse two, by listening carefully to my word. And by number three, verse three, by inclining your ear to listen and incline your ear to obey. Jesus called that watching and praying. Watching meant being attentive to the word and to what's happening, being attentive and listening. And Jesus said, or the scripture says, if you pay attention and you lean into it, you're actually in that process of buying that spiritual training. You're leaning into it. It doesn't cost you money, but it costs you the attention of your inner man. Well, amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord. Lord, I want to say yes to this subject, this glorious subject. Garments. You said for the one that overcomes, I will give them white garments to the one that overcomes. To the righteous acts of the saints, I will give them fine linen garments. He said, buy from me garments. Lord, we want to wear our love forever and forever. I want to wear my love for you forever and forever. Holy Spirit, I just ask you even now to come and touch us. Lord, open the eyes of our understanding. Let us see what you're worth. Beloved, it's going to be worth it. It's going to be worth it. It matters what we do. It's gonna be worth it. It's gonna be worth it. It's gonna be worth it all. I believe it. I believe it. When I see your face, it's gonna be worth it all. It's gonna be worth it. Even to try your small acts of servitude and tribulation. When I see your face, it's gonna be worth it all. I believe it. I believe it. When I see your face, it's gonna be worth it all. It's gonna be worth it all. Even to trials and tribulation. When I see your face, it's gonna be worth it all. So open up the eyes of our understanding. Came to give beauty in the place of ashes of our broken lives. The Lord says, I want to impart beauty now and in fullness in the age to come. Beauty beyond what you can imagine. Beautiful ashes. The garments for the spirit of heaviness. You give the garments a praise. A praise. You will wrap me in the garments. Wrap me in your love. You will wrap me in your garments a praise. Beauty for ashes. Moses said, Lord, let the beauty of the Lord be upon you. You beautify the humble. You wrap us in your glory with garments of light. You wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. You wrap us in your glory with garments of light. You wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. Wrap us in your glory with garments of light. You wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. You wrap us in your glory with garments of light. You wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. You wrap us in your glory with garments of light. Wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. You wrap us in your glory with garments of light. Light. Eye has not seen. Ear has not heard. No dreamers ever dream the dream of where this is going. Where this is going. In this time. You wrap me in yourself. You wrap me up in beauty and garments. What a great exchange. A divine exchange. You take my ashes and you clothe me in beauty. Every cup of water you'll see it. Every little act of life is not in vain. It's my joy to love you. Wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. You wrap us in your glory with garments of light. Wrap us in your beauty. You beautify the humble. Wrap us in your glory with garments of light. Wrap us You're opposite your beauty, you beautify the humble. You're opposite your glory, with garments of light. You're opposite your beauty, you beautify the humble. You're opposite your glory, with garments of light. Radiating, radiating, radiating glory. Radiating, radiating, it's tonight. I'm going to pray for people tonight. That the Lord's called you to be messengers of the beauty of the Lord. Maybe it's to five or ten people, maybe it's to thousands. But in your heart you're saying, I want to be a steward of the message of the beauty of God. But this is one little facet, longing to encounter beauty, but to make it known to others. Is it song, or media, or poetry, or just in conversation? And if that's you in your heart, you're saying, I know I'm a messenger of this. But I want to go deeper in it, I want to encounter it, I want to grasp it more clearly. I want to make it known to people. Beloved, the world is getting darker and darker out there. And as the children of the King, we have the beauty message. If that's you, and you're saying, I want this, I want to get a hold of it more. You would like prayer. But again, you can always stay in your chair and still receive it. Messengers. The dark world, you will give them beauty, says the Lord. I will use you to awaken their understanding to beauty. For I will give them beauty. I am anointed to give them beauty, says the Lord. Will you be my voice? Will you be a messenger for me? Will you let me teach you more? Holy Spirit, I ask you for the release of your glory across this room, all over the world. Release the fire of the Holy Spirit, I ask. Release the spirit of glory in a greater way. Calm down. Spirit of glory. Calm down. Spirit of glory. Calm down. Spirit of glory. Calm down. Spirit of glory. Calm down. Spirit of glory. Calm down. Spirit of glory. Father, I ask for impartation right now. The darkness is craving beauty, and you have the truth about beauty. The world is craving it, and you have the truth about it. Lord, release the spirit of glory in this room. Release the fire. Release the fire of the Holy Spirit. Fire Lord, release your presence right now across this room. I will give you white garments if you overcome. Spirit of glory, open the eyes of our understanding. Spirit of glory. Liberation. Open the eyes of our understanding. Father of glory, Father of glory, open the eyes of our understanding. Give a voice that can be heard. Like a burning, like a shining light Give us beauty for our shame Clothe us in white Make us ready Clothe us in white Make us ready And beautify and burn Make us ready Clothe us in white Make us ready Beautify and burn Make us ready Clothe us in white Make us ready Beautify and burn Make us ready Clothe us in white Make us ready Beautify and burn Make us ready Clothe us in white Make us ready Beautify and burn Make us ready Clothe us in white Clothe us in white Make us ready Clothe us in white Clothe us in white Make us ready Clothe us in white Make us ready Clothe us in white And feel what you feel, Holy Spirit About the saints Lookin', searchin' The whole world's lookin' Searchin' for beauty Real beauty That doesn't fade away, doesn't fade away But there is a beauty Immortal, eternal Perpetual, never ending Will never fade away The whole world's searchin' For the fountains That bloom on dry Perpetual beauty And eternal unfolding Here is the beauty All of it, it's worth it To stay steady, it's worth it Spirit of glory Spirit of beauty Let us see The little things we do Spirit of glory, glory Come down, Spirit of glory, glory Come down, Spirit of glory, glory It'll never be taken away It'll never fade