Paul the Poke

Revelation 3:18b …and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen…

Jesus is recommending “white garments”. This is a priestly garment. The term for garment in the Greek is ἱμάτιον/himation. The garment is a long flowing outer tunic, cloak, or robe (Strong’s Concordance). The color white is indicative of purity.

Heavenly, priestly garments are made of linen. Exodus 28 gives instructions for the priestly garments. The clothing for the priest is to be made of linen. Exodus 28:5 They shall take the gold and the blue and the purple and the scarlet material and the fine linen. The concept is stated seven more times in Exodus 28. Priestly garments are of linen (Exodus 28:6, 8, 15, 39, 39, 42).

Laodicea was a prominent textile producer. It was world famous for its black wool. (Holman Bible Dictionary).

The culture had infiltrated the church with worldly materialism.

The church in Laodicea and locals were proud of their earthly, wool clothing. As opposed to the white garments Christ was offering, Laodicea loved their black clothing.

…you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen…

The locals needed clothes because they were naked. This church thinks they have the finest of clothes. They are hip and trendy.

Job 26:6 Naked is Sheol before Him, and Abaddon has no covering. 

The meaning of Abaddon is “destruction”. Sin and destruction are both naked. Sin is naked before God. In the final analysis, there is no covering of sin apart from the cross work of Christ. God has always made provision for the sin of humanity. Apart from God, sin will be exposed, bare, and raw. Sin’s path leads to destruction.

Proverbs 15:11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD, how much more the hearts of men!

Like Adam and Eve in the garden, the church at Laodicea had an earthly solution for their covering. The Lord has a Heavenly solution with priestly linen. Christ has done the work.

Jesus says they need to cover themselves.  Sin is embarrassing.

This entry was posted on March 3, 2018 at 10:05 PM and is filed under Prophecy, Revelation with tags Abaddon, church, Exodus 28, garments, Jesus Christ, Laodicea, Seven Churches of Revelation, sheol, sin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.