Every Wednesday, from 12/06/2023 to 12/20/2023, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Mid-Week Advent Series
The Clothing of the King...
Every morning, the sun rises, alarm clocks sound, foggy eyes open, and then, at some point, we get dressed. Socks, underwear, pants, shirts, and shoes; we don clothing that rightly corresponds to our vocation, our culture, and even the weather outside. Our clothing serves as the marker that sets us apart as a species and as an indicator of societal and individual values and traits.
As Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Twain may have been right on that first part, but his statement excludes the first naked people of history, Adam and Eve. And we would argue these two have had quite the influence on who we are and where we are going due to both their lack of clothes as well as their eventual attire. And so it follows that clothing in the Bible is more than a tangential detail. In fact, clothing often has significant implications for revealing God’s plan of redemption, for our Creator is also the first tailor, seamstress, and cobbler. Despite their rebellion, he covered Adam and Eve’s shame and nakedness.
The biblical authors use both metaphorical and actual descriptions of priestly and royal garments to point us to the one true Priest and King, Jesus. And it’s this King, first wrapped in the rags of a swaddle, who then hangs on the cross in order to clothe us in the riches of his righteousness.
1517 produced this Advent Series and if you’d like a downloadable daily Advent devotional go to www.1517.org/advent.
- December 6th at 6:30PM in Bethany’s Sanctuary: “The Foretaste of Fashion”
- December 13th at 6:30PM in Bethany’s Sanctuary: “An Enviable Style”
- December 20th at 6:30PM in Bethany’s Sanctuary: “Clothed in Conviction”