Monday, December 29, 2008
Fifth Christmas Day
Jeremiah 23:6 This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
HE SHALL BE CALLED: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
As a boy I dreaded getting new clothes for Christmas. It wasn't that I didn't like new clothes. What I didn't like was the bother of having to try them on for my mother. Worse, if my new clothes didn't fit, they would have to be exchanged. That meant I was in for a long afternoon of trying on clothes at the department store. Mom, of course, wasn't satisfied unless my new clothes fit just right. How relieved I was if my new Christmas clothes fit right the first time.
God Himself has given us new Christmas clothes. In fact, we could even call them "name brand." Their name is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jesus is "The LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Isaiah rejoices over these new, name brand clothes when he writes: "For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness."
These heavenly clothes fit just right. They're exactly what we need. Jesus and His Righteousness are clean, new clothes which cover up the ugly rags of our many sins. Sinful man cannot stand in the presence of God dressed in his own stained and torn righteousness. Only the spotless robe of Jesus' perfect life will do. Only the new coat washed His blood can make the sinner unashamed before God, and allow him entrance into the Great Banquet Feast of Heaven.
These name brand clothes are beautiful and very costly. They are beautiful with God's love. For although they cost us nothing, they cost God the life of His own dear Son. What a tremendous privilege it is for us to put off our "sin clothes" every day, and to start each new by putting on "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Thank you Lord for my new Christmas clothes.
