God sent Moses to the Egyptian Pharaoh with a message: “Moses and
Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, ‘Let my people go’” (Exod. 5:1). But the Pharaoh
wouldn’t do it, so God sent plagues throughout the land, but the Pharaoh still
wouldn’t give in. Finally, God told Pharaoh that if he didn’t let the
Israelites go, all the firstborn would die. To protect the Israelites, God told
them to put lamb’s blood on the top of their front door and on the sides.
“For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when
he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts,
the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in
unto your houses to smite you”(Exod.12:23).
The blood was like a huge body wrap over the whole house, so that
the destroyer would know it couldn’t touch that house.
“And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his
throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and
all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all
his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt;
for there was not a house where there was not one dead”
(Exod. 12:29-30).
The Egyptians were so scared, they rushed the Israelites out as
fast as they could. “The Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might
send them out of the land in haste; for they said, ‘We be all
dead men’” (v. 33). The Egyptians saw that our God is a God of action, and
if he could kill all the firstborn, he could kill them too!
Today, the blood over our houses is not that of lambs, but, the
blood of Jesus, and it protects us same way the blood protected the Israelites
in Egypt. Every day when Jane and I pray, we symbolically spiritually pour the
blood of Jesus over our house, our property, our neighborhood, and our bodies.
The protection of Jesus is always close. It’s kind of like the
inner garment Jesus wore himself, like a body wrap. It was a special
undergarment that was worn next to the skin. It had no seams, so there was no
breach in its protection. It was such a unique piece of clothing that even when
he was crucified and the soldiers divided up his clothes, they were afraid to
cut the inner garment, so instead, they gambled for it.
“Then the soldiers, when they had
crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a
part; and also his coat[undergarment]: now the coat[undergarment] was
without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among
themselves, ‘Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be’”
(John 19:23-24).
In Isaiah 61:1-3, we read this about some
clothing Jesus would give us: “The Spirit of the Lord God
is upon me. . . to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
The “garment of praise” is a protection from the
spirit of heaviness. We put it on with righteous pride like the banner of
victory Moses held up for Joshua when he was fighting the Amalekites. We praise
God and continue to carry the banner of victory, claiming it high in our minds
and in our mouths.
“And Moses said unto Joshua, ‘Choose us out men,
and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill
with the rod of God in mine hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and
fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
“And it came to pass, when Moses held up his
hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and
put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his
hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands
were steady until the going down of the sun.
“And Joshua discomfited [overthrew] Amalek and
his people with the edge of the sword.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Write
this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears
of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under
heaven.’ And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:
The name Jehovah-nissi means “the Lord my banner,
the Lord my victory.” (Exod.17: 9-15).
As God promised, He would wipe out all the
Amalekites, and though they were not all destroyed in this battle with Joshua,
the very last ones were destroyed by Solomon’s sons later in history.
Another important part of our attire is the
shield of truth.
“His truth shall be
thy shield and buckler” (Ps. 91:4).
The Hebrew word for shield indicates that it is a
large shield that covers the whole body. It has fierce, sharp protrusions that
are pointed like hooks. It guards by prickliness and is piercingly cold. It’s
the “cold truth’ and people don’t like it, but we’ve found out that God’s truth
isn’t always the cuddly kind, right? Look closely at the shield in the painting
by Steve Gould, that I’ve included here. I think it’s pretty awesome!
So what do we look like today in our God clothes?
We have the covering protection of the blood, the body wrap of Jesus, the
garment of praise in our mouths to keep us from getting depressed, the powerful
and prickly shield of truth, and we’re carrying the banner of God’s victory
into every battle we enter.
Go get ‘em!
Love, Carolyn
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