Your New Birthday Suit

Yesterday I talked about the “Emperor Has No Clothes”.  Today I want to talk about our birthday suit in relation to “the armor of God”.

The writer of Ecclesiastes, in bemoaning the futility of man’s wealth, writes:

“ He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;

   He’ll leave in the same condition—with nothing.”

I realize that the writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, was the wisest man that ever lived; but, most people, regardless of whether they have ever read Ecclesiastes 5:15, knows this fact; even though they may not live like they know it.  Everyone knows about his or her birthday suit, especially as we get older; we realize that it is not made out of Perma-press.  As we get older, we also become more aware of our mortality; and, whether we like it or not, this suit is wearing thin!

There is another birthday suit that all Christians are given when they are born again.  It is a full set of clothes than covers us completely.  It is not like the clothes that God clothed Adam and Eve with after they sinned. 

“God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them. “

Those were a temporary covering, symbolically covering the nakedness as a result of their sin.

The clothes that God gives us at the time of our accepting His Son, Jesus, are permanent.  They are the garments of Salvation spoken of by the prophet in Isaiah 61:10:

       “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,

        My soul shall be joyful in my God;

        For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

        He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

ALL Christians have on these clothes, regardless of whether they are aware of it or not.  IT IS automatic by virtue of their right standing with the Father.  This is completely different than the “armor of God” that we talked about in my last blog. 

As we continue talking about “armor of God”, it is important to distinguish the two.

If you are a Christian, you are not naked, you are clothed with the “garments of Salvation”.  This is our new birthday suit.  The “garments of Salvation” are sort-of-like the undergarments for the armor.  The “armor of God” must be put on over “the garments of Salvation”.

If you are reading this blog and have not accepted Christ as your Savior and Lord, the armor of God will not fit.  At this time of year, Christ in the manger, is in every nativity scene; but a Christ apart from the cross is meaningless.  The Christ of Bethlehem was born to die.  It is meaningless to celebrate Christmas without the cross!  It is meaningless to celebrate Christmas without the resurrection.  The birth of a baby was and is not unique.  The cross was not unique to Christ.  Many people died on crosses, only one person however arose from the dead!  Jesus, the Savior Christ, the Anointed one!

Celebrate the One who bought “the garments of Salvation” for us with His blood, the ultimate Christmas gift.  When we open gifts this Christmas, keep in mind the original Christmas present.  A Heavenly Father gave His Son to die, so He could give us a new birthday suit!