Did you know that you must be properly dressed to gain admittance to Heaven — that without the proper wardrobe, you will be turned away?
This outfit cannot be purchased, sold or transferred. It belongs to Someone else, and is shared as a gracious gift exclusively to those who are willing to receive it.
And it couldn’t have happened without Good Friday.
In my book, My Origin, My Destiny, I wrote: “A ‘red cord’ of truth runs all the way through the Bible, connecting the Old Testament and the New Testament as one underlying story — God’s redemption of mankind.
The color red speaks of blood — blood sacrifices of the innocent offered in the place and stead of the guilty.
“From the foreshadowing of the animal skin coverings for Adam and Eve, to the untold millions of animal sacrifices by the Jewish priests, to the final and ultimate sacrifice of God’s Son, the unbreakable ‘red cord’ traces the consistent narrative sweeping across the ages, from the first book of the Jewish Old Testament to the last book of the Christian New Testament, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Foreshadowed in the Old Testament, Genesis 3:21 says, “And the Lord God made garments (robes) of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
Adam and Eve had blown it big time when they sided with the evil serpent/Satan against their Creator God. Profound divine consequences soon followed, in the form of curses, upon all involved.
But, thankfully, for those two infamous human coconspirators, a way out was provided. If they agreed to wear garments provided by God (referred to above) that were made from the skins of freshly killed animals, they would receive spiritual protection in the hostile world outside the Garden of Eden.
More important, if they continued making blood offerings as a means of approaching God, they would eventually be returned to their loving Creator in Heaven.
Fulfilled in the New Testament, Matthew 27:27-29 says, “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him …”
On that dark Friday, an evil coalition of religious leaders, Roman soldiers and ordinary citizens of Israel set upon the gentlest, kindest, truest human being who ever lived before or since.
They scourged Him, spat upon Him, humiliated Him, and clothed Him in a highly symbolic scarlet robe for public display.
Bible commentator Bill MacDonald wrote, “The Creator and Sustainer of the universe suffered unspeakable indignities from cruel, vulgar soldiers — His unworthy, sinful creatures. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, in imitation of a king’s robe …”
MacDonald continued, “… that robe has a message for us. Since scarlet is associated with sin (Isaiah 1:18), I like to think that the robe pictures my sins being placed on Jesus so that God’s robe of righteousness might be placed on me (2 Corinthians 5:21).”
As the Old Testament prophet wrote in Isaiah 1:18:
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
They shall become as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.”
The great exchange: my sin for His righteousness.
And in the fullness of time, according to 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” appeared as the final sacrifice for mankind’s sins:
“He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Ultimately, those countless sacrifices down through the ages pointed to a final offering by our Savior in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit …”
How About You?
On the approach of Good Friday, think about your personal part in that tragic drama.
Was it not YOUR sins that were laid upon Him? Was it not YOUR punishment that He suffered? Was it not YOUR eternal life that He purchased with His precious blood?
But it’s possible to miss out on the benefits of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, as outlined in Matthew 22:11-14:
“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the outer darkness … For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Are you covered?