(We first ran this Communion meditation in January 2014.)
By Ronald G. Davis
“What to wear? What to wear?” Millions of Americans echo that question, as seasons change, as holidays and holy days loom. “Should it be the floral print?” “Perhaps little Susie would look good in pink?” “Is it a white shirt and tie day or maybe just a striped henley?” Whatever the answer, for many that is a significant issue.
Christians need not ask the question. We have other, more significant truth to ponder and celebrate. Long ago, God answered the question through the pen of Isaiah. Isaiah 61:10 affirms: “For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness” (author emphasis). The old apostle John picked up that clothing image: “Before me was a great multitude that no one could count . . . standing before the throne and before the Lamb . . . wearing white robes . . . they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9, 14).
At this table we wear our white garments of salvation, his robes of righteousness. At this table we join that innumerable throng to shout, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10). And we raise our voices with the angels standing around the throne of God: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:12).
Were it not for the shed blood and pierced body of our Lord, we would stand here in soiled garments of sin: the grime of greed smeared on our sleeves, the dirt of doubt and deception drooling down our fronts, the mud of malicious, even murderous thoughts oozing from our breasts, the slime of sinfulness and its stench turning the nose of God aside. But . . . but . . . here we stand . . . in white robes, made white by his blood, made whiter still by his righteousness.
What to wear? What to wear? The answer is perfectly clear. Here we stand . . . in white, remembering the full cleansing power of his blood. Amen! Hallelujah!
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Ronald G. Davis, former professor of Christian education at Cincinnati Bible Seminary, resides in North College Hill, Ohio.
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