Clothed In Meaning

“And the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, ‘You will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger’” (Luke 2:12). The swaddling clothes were more than a simple comfort, but a wrap given to protect the perfect, ceremonial, sacrificial lambs from blemish. They were then laid in the manger, safe from the hooves of barn animals, and safe from insects that seek to infest the woolly coat and feed on their skin. They were wrapped, protected, and set apart for an important purpose. 

Baby Jesus was the “Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world.” The place of His birth wasn’t accidental or coincidental, but magnificently Providential. Why the swaddling clothes for Him? Why not His mother’s coat or shawl? It represented a moment in history that the whole earth had groaned in waiting for… The Perfect Lamb of God had come! Not to reign as a triumphant conqueror, but to die for our sins, as our Sacrificial Lamb. The sin was ours, not His… The death sentence was ours, not His… But He came willingly to be our Spotless Substitute. There’s never been a Greater Gift! 

Thirty-three years later, as planned, He died the cruelest of deaths for our sins on the cross. The death penalty was paid in full, never to have to be repeated. “Taking Jesus’ body, they wrapped it with spices and strips of linen...” (John 19:40). These grave clothes binding the body of our Lord, were drenched in His perfect blood, but they did not stay on for long, as our Perfect Lamb rose from the grave, leaving his grave clothes behind. And now… He reigns robed in full Glory (Revelation 19:13), soon to return for His bride.

Only God can transform a sacrificial cloth, to a death shroud, to an eternal Royal Garment. And because He wore it for us, we, too, “shall be clothed in bridal garments white as snow” (Revelation 19:8). “May all praise and glory and power be His, for He alone is worthy to be praised.”

(Devotional by Cheryl Hall-Laos)