Wrapped in His Robe of Righteousness

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…

Isaiah 61:10

Have you ever struggled with the concept that God loves you as an individual?  Since I was a baby, I have been in church nearly every Sunday. From a very early age, I knew the songs like “Jesus Loves Me” and verses like John 3:16, For God so loved the world…  But it wasn’t until many years later that God made His personal love for me a reality – one I now experience in my heart as well as know intellectually.

            I always believed God loved the whole world.  I never questioned that.  But for a long time, I thought, “Therefore, God loves me since I am part of the world.”  But sometimes when I tried to imagine what heaven would be like, I visualized millions of people crowding around the Lord, leaving me on the edge of the crowd trying to get a glimpse of Him. 

            I was reading the Bible one day, struggling with thoughts like that, and I came across this verse in Isaiah 61:10 He has wrapped me in a robe of righteousness.  I was 45 years old at the time but had graduated from college only a couple months earlier.  I thought about graduation day and exactly how it felt to put on my graduation robe and walk into the stadium with more than 6,000 other students to receive our college degrees.  That day, even though there were thousands of other students robed just like me, I felt like a unique individual, like the ceremony was just for me!  I suppose not all college graduates experience that same magic, but I did. 

            So, when I read the verse in Isaiah, the picture became delightfully clear – Jesus wrapped me personally in His robe of righteousness.  And just as no one can ever take away my college degree, no one can ever take away my salvation, my robe of righteousness, my assurance of His love for me personally.  I also began to understand that no one can ever earn that righteousness. The Bible teaches that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). And Romans 3:23 tells us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The only way to be righteous in God’s sight is to receive the forgiveness of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. He paid the penalty for the sins of the world, and as we receive His gift of salvation, we are wrapped in His robe of righteousness.

I began to really understand that heaven will bring uninterrupted intimacy with the Lord.  It is still difficult to conceive with my finite mind how unlimited numbers of people can all experience intimacy with Him at the same time.  But since I can see clear evidence of it happening here on earth, it can only be even better in heaven. 

Think of the verse that says, Things which eye has not seen, and which have not entered the human heart, all that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). We can’t even begin to comprehend in our wildest imaginations the wonder of what it will be like to be with Him without the limitations of time and space and finite minds and sin.

            If you have not yet grasped the reality of God’s love for you personally, ask Him to reveal it in a way that you can understand.  You may have been a Christian for many years and still not fully grasp it.  But it is truly life-changing when God’s love becomes a reality.  Ask God to let you experience it in your heart as well as in your mind.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Have you experienced in your heart the truth that God loves you as an individual?  Describe how you came to that knowledge.

If you haven’t personally experienced God’s love, or you only understand it intellectually, ask God to reveal it to you in a way that will be meaningful to you and touch your heart.

What does it mean to you to be wrapped in a robe of righteousness?