THE CHANGED RAIMENT. "HAD I an angel's holiness, I'd cast aside that wondrous dress, And wrap me up in Christ." Part Fifth. THE CHANGED RAIMENT. "I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head."—ZECH. iii. 5. EAUTIFULLY does this vision of a saved, BE clothed, and crowned people accord with their restored city, and the glory of God in the midst. It reminds us of what is elsewhere said, "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth." One vision grandly leads to, and melts into another. So graphic is the one before us that it can be used as the delineation of the story of the justification of the sinner. That justification itself, is one and the same for each and all. What we see is the sinner Joshua in "filthy garments," stripped, cleansed, clothed again, and crowned, all in grace-a grace that acts, as from itself, on the warrant of the blood of Christ; while we, like Joshua, are silent before it. To a refined sense what so degrading as a defiled garment? What so miserable to an awakened soul as a sense of sin? Hence Isaiah said, "Woe is me;" and Peter, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." It is because of the filthy garments that Satan appears on the scene to make his accusations. Such is the enemy's diabolical way. He leads to the defiling, and then complains of it; leads into sin, and then levels his fiery weapons against the one whose conscience has been awakened to see it. And true his testimony is so far. The garments are defiled, the sin is grievous. He is the father of lies; but when it suits his purpose he can tell the truth. He can, when it suits him, tell how we are sinners, deserving hell; but never tells how the hell has been taken out of the way. The Lord said unto Satan, "The Lord rebuke thee." God must do this. Hence He did not doubt His personality, or imagine Him to be a mere principle of evil. Ah, no! He knew his greatness of power, his awful depth of evil. He said, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments" (ie. garments suited to one who is a king and a priest). (Chap. iii. 1-5.) The whole of this statement shows how Satan has access to God respecting us, which still indeed he has, as we find in Luke xxii. 31, R.V. The Lord said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath obtained you by asking." It was thus he obtained Job, in both cases to sift them as wheat. But the Lord was with Job as with Peter, to whom He said, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." But there is a limit to his power, as we see in Job. God had put a hedge about Job. I do not believe the devil has any idea of the power that encircles the believer. Unchangeable is the promise, "I give unto them" (My sheep) “eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." The words, "Pluck them out of My hand," shows how desperate may be the effort of the enemy, and how vast the power that keeps us secure. But what saith the Lord? "Is this not a brand ?" Had He stopped there, how sad! Satan himself is "a brand." By nature we are all brands, fit |