The word “garment” is used many times in the Word of God, and it has different typical meanings, depending on the context in which it is used. Sometimes, of course, it merely refers to clothing, as when the prophet Ahijah “had clad himself with a new garment” (1 Kings 11:29), or when Ezra says, “I rent my garment and my mantle” (Ezra 9:3). At other times, however, there is spiritual significance to the term. I would suggest that there are at least two main typical meanings to the word “garment” in the Word of God.
Natural Right
First of all, we find the word “garment” used to denote what was a man’s natural right or possession. Under the Mosaic law, it was unlawful to take away a man’s garment as a pledge without restoring it to him by nightfall. “If thou at all take thy neighbor’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?” (Ex. 22:26-27). The garment was his—part of his rights as a man, and it could not be taken from him, even if he owed a debt.
I would suggest that there is at least one application of this principle in the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus says to His disciples, “He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” (Luke 22:36). The disciples missed the typical meaning of the Lord’s words, for they simply supplied two literal swords already in their possession. But perhaps the typical meaning (which they would understand later) is that in order to have the sword of the Spirit, we may have to give up our natural rights in this world. After the Lord’s death and resurrection, the believers in Him would be a despised and rejected company, in a hostile world. They could no longer count on the hospitality and support of those to whom they preached; rather, they must supply their own wherewithal from resources which only the Lord could provide. More than this, they must be willing to give up their rights in order to reach souls, just as the Lord Jesus had given up His rights in order to reach out to a lost world.
Lifestyle
Second, and perhaps more obvious in Scripture, garments are used to denote our lifestyle and the circumstances in which we live and move. Thus, in Leviticus 13-14, we have leprosy in a person, in a garment and in a house. Medically, leprosy does not occur in either a garment or a house, and thus the instruction given must have a typical meaning for us. The instruction about leprosy in a garment is given in Leviticus 13:47-58. If the leprosy was clearly working and spreading, the garment must be burned, showing us that if our circumstances and lifestyle as believers promote sin in us, we must get rid of those things. However, if the leprosy was arrested, it was sufficient to wash the garment or perhaps take out that piece of the garment in which the leprosy was. All this is very important, for in the New Testament Paul could tell the Corinthians that “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33). Sinful associations in our work, education, homes and recreation will have a detrimental effect on our Christianity, and we must remove ourselves from them, or at least eliminate that part of our lifestyle. Our Lord Himself could tell His disciples that if their hand, foot or eye were to offend them, they needed to cut them off, or remove them, in order to enter into life. Nothing must be allowed to come between ourselves and the Lord.
Mixed Standards
Likewise, the Israelites were told not to wear a garment “of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together” (Deut. 22:11). Thus the believer is not to have mixed standards, which come from trying to mix divine and worldly principles in our lives down here. How much harm has been done by believers wishing to live for the Lord, yet at the same time accommodating themselves to the world in order to be comfortable and accepted! In a similar way, a believer can defile his garment (see Revelation 3:4) by mixing with the world and its evil.
Public Display
A garment may have the additional meaning of what characterizes us—our outward public display toward others. Thus Joseph had “a coat of many colors” (Gen. 37:3), while Achan coveted “a goodly Babylonish garment” (Josh. 7:21). Those who wanted to exhibit outwardly an attitude of humility and repentance wore sackcloth, as happened in Nineveh when Jonah preached to them (Jonah 3:5-8) or when Ahab humbled himself before the Lord (1 Kings 21:27).
This thought leads us on to further considerations about garments, when we come to the New Testament, where the garments of the believer are specifically mentioned. First of all, we have garments in which believers are said to be clothed, as a result of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. When the prodigal son came home, his father commanded that they “bring forth the best robe, and put it on him” (Luke 15:22), while the overcomers in Revelation 3:5 are “clothed in white raiment.” Those who wear them are truly the Lord’s, for these are the garments of every true believer—our true standing before God. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, we are made “the righteousness of God in Him.” This can never change, for it rests on the work of Christ and the value of His shed blood before God.
Making the Garment
However, Scripture also speaks of a garment which we make for ourselves. In Revelation 19:8, we read of the bride of Christ, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints” (JND). Here it is not a question of the righteousness of God in Christ, but rather the “righteousnesses of the saints.” It is the public display of what saints have done with their lives down here, for the garment in which the bride will be found at the marriage supper of the Lamb will be formed by what she has been for Christ during the time of His rejection. This is both a happy and yet a solemn thought. If we have spent our time down here in this world for ourselves and been involved with worldly things, there will not be much to show for it in that day. But every right thought and action will be part of that robe of fine linen. As another has put it, “All that the saints have done for Christ and in His name during the time of their sojourn on earth—all the sufferings, reproaches and insults they have endured, every cup of cold water given for His sake — will be remembered in this great day, and be found ‘unto praise and honor and glory.’ The smallest act that has Christ for its motive is a stitch in the garment that will adorn the church when at last it is presented to Christ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”
The Wedding Garment
When it is a question of our fitness to be in the Father’s house, the garment needed is the “wedding garment” (Matt. 22:11-12), supplied by our Lord as the result of His work on Calvary’s cross. When it is the display of the beauty of the bride at the marriage of the Lamb, we have the privilege of making a garment that is “bright and pure,” to meet the eye of our Bridegroom. What a precious privilege this is! But we have only our time down here to stitch that “wedding dress”; we cannot make it or add to it up there. It will be the result of what has transpired at the judgment seat of Christ for believers, when all that is not for Christ will have been burned up. Then only that which is “bright and pure” will remain. These latter two garments will endure for eternity: one which Christ has made for us, and one which we have the opportunity to make for ourselves in our Christian pathway.
W. J. Prost