I will greatly rejoice in the Lord
The garments of salvation
I. Here is a GLAD RESOLVE. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God.
1. Where there is a will there is generally a way, and sad though you be, something is gained if you will resolve to rejoice.
2. It is always “in the Lord” that we must rejoice. Friends are dying, helps are failing, hopes are being blasted. Rejoice in the Lord.
3. I further admire this resolve because we are by it determining to rejoice “greatly” in the Lord. If He is worth rejoicing in at all, He is worth rejoicing in greatly.
4. We are bidden to rejoice as to our inmost souls. “My soul” shall be joyful in my God. Soul-joy is the soul of joy, and there is no other joy worth the having.
5. The joy is in a personal God. “My soul shall be joyful in my God.” I think the secret lies just there. It is one thing to rejoice in God, the God of nature, the God of providence, or, for that matter, the God of grace; but it is quite another thing to rejoice in “my God.”
II. There are RIGHT GOOD REASONS, the best of reasons, for this glad resolve. “He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
1. “He hath” done it. We may well say “I will,” if we can already say “He hath.” It is because “He hath” that we will.
2. “He hath clothed me.”
3. “He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.” This is an effectual way of saying, “He hath saved me.”
(1) He has made us holy.
(2) We ought also to wear the garment of humility.
(3) Nor are Christians properly attired till they are clad with zeal as with a cloak.
(4) May we not reckon also among the garments of salvatin that “garment of praise” of which we have read in the third verse?
(5) But chief of all the garments of salvation is the one that is here specially named, “He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” But for this we could not know the others; this is both first and last of all. Whose righteousness? Not our own, but HIS. How, then, does it become ours? Just as a garment becomes ours. We put it on, we wear it, we bear it; it envelopes us. Believers are “accepted in the Beloved.”
(6) These garments of salvation are in our text associated with wedding robes. “As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels,” just so the Lord has clothed us with garments of salvation, i.e. He has married us. The Church is His spouse.
(7) There is a reference here also, though it does not appear in our version, to the decking of the priest. The margin reads, “As a bridegroom decketh as a priest,” and I believe the Revised Version refers to the garland or tiara that the priest wears when sacrificing. It is gloriously true that we are made both kings and priests unto God. If these robes are festal and bridal, they are sacerdotal too.
(8) The closing verse of the chapter, though it seems to introduce another metaphor, is very closely allied to our text, “As the earth bringeth forth her bud,” etc. It looks as if what the Lord did for His people is comparable not merely to the arraying of the bride, or the decking of the priest, but to the arraying of this our earth, which at time of spring puts on its beautiful array, its garments of salvation, from whose new-sprung flowers the fresh incense rises, as if a garlanded priest were offering sacrifice to God. (T. Spurgeon.)
He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation
Dressed for eternity
I. THE SACRED DRESS. “The garments of salvation.”
1. Garments are used as a covering. Is a garment for the body more needed than one for the soul? Which of us could stand in the presence of an angel without sinking to the ground in very shame? I draw your attention to the glory of God’s garments of salvation--they completely cover all your iniquity and blot out all your sin.
2. A garment is used to beautify, to adorn. The garment of salvation is an adornment, for it reveals God in you to your neighbours. What can be more beautiful than a man or woman or child who tries to bless another! That is the life of the angels; the life of God--ministering unto others.
3. Garments are used also as a sign one’s condition or occupation. Monarchs, priests, judges, and officers of state wear robes to indicate their real or implied superiority. Shakespere says, “the apparel oft proclaims the man.” You can generally tell something about a man’s character and calling from his clothing. The world judges of Christian people by the garments of their conduct.
II. THE GIVER OF THE GARMENTS.
III. THE PERSONAL APPROPRIATING. “He hath clothed me.” Where is salvation? In Christ, and Christ is in and for us. (W. Birch.)