Isaiah 61:10
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Our verse today is about joy, the kind of joy only a believer in Jesus could have, joy that comes from being set free. In Isaiah 61 the Lord’s anointed, the promised Savior, has good news to preach: freedom for the captives, that’s us – in our sinful nature slaves to sin, still carrying sin with us to this day, still sinning even when we’re trying to do well. We know we’ve hurt people, we’ve let them down. We’ve sinned against the Lord in our thinking, our speaking, our attitude. There’s so much guilt – whether felt or buried down deep, so many regrets, and the ongoing pressure we feel in our flesh, the temptations, the doubts, the despair, the sinful pride – it never seems to let up. What better news could there be for us sinners than this? The Lord’s anointed is telling us we’ve been set free.
It's more than talk. He acted. He piled all of this world’s spiritual mess of sin – all of it - onto his back, together with the guilt and punishment that comes with it. He stood in your place and mine and everyone else’s too, and he made himself the captive to it in our place all the way to the death we deserved, and he won our freedom. Fellow believer, you’re free, and so am I. Not just a little bit free, not just temporarily free. We are fully and eternally free from all punishment for our sin. Jesus signed our pardon papers with his blood, and sealed them with his resurrection from the dead. Our guilty consciences may hardly believe what they’re hearing, but the one giving us the good news is the Son of God; he always tells the truth. We're free.
What joy! By faith in him, we are covered in his righteousness, we’re wearing garments of salvation. Here, these clothes are compared to the clothes a bride and groom wear on their wedding day. Some wedding couples go dancing up the aisle; there's nothing wrong with that. But this couple’s love expresses itself quietly. For them it’s all in how they’re dressed. The groom here shows his joy by wearing the kind of turban that a priest of the Lord wears while serving in the temple. The bride here wears her bridal jewels with great pride and joy. The true depths of their love and joy are hidden away in their hearts.
This is the joy of a Christian, hidden deep in our hearts, whether in happy times or sad. In setting us free from sin, the Lord united us to himself in a bond of love stronger even than marriage. So whatever is going on in your life today, rejoice, fellow believer. You are free from your sin. You belong to the Lord, and you are clothed with garments of his salvation, with robes of his righteousness, wedding clothes you’ll be still be wearing for the eternal banquet feast in heaven.
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Author: Pastor Jon Zabell
Copyright (c) 2024, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Green Bay, WI 54301
Bible text, NIV (c) Biblia, 2011
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