“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” (Isaiah 61:10a)
We are reminded that the Lord is our source of joy and rejoicing. I will rejoice in Him; I will be joyful in Him. We could probably come up with a long list of reasons about why we should rejoice in the Lord, but here we are given the reasons that go on the top of the list.
God has clothed me with the garments of salvation. God has saved me from my sins; something I could never do for myself. Salvation is His act; it is His acting on us. We were dead in our trespasses and sin, enemies of God, not desiring Him, living under His wrath. The Holy Spirit opened our eyes to our sin and led us to the cross where we knelt in confession and repentance. There Christ paid the penalty for our sins, and He clothed us with the garments of salvation.
The penalty was paid, but that wasn’t all that was required. We are also required to be righteous, to be holy before God. That, too, is something we can’t do for ourselves. The remaining part of the transaction was that while Christ took our sins, He gave us His righteousness. He has covered us with the robe of righteousness.
With our sins covered and with the righteousness of Christ adorning us, we can come boldly into the throne room of grace. We are accepted in the Beloved. Cleansed from sin, clothed in righteousness, we have been translated into the kingdom of God. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Amen.
Pastor Haney
