The Garments of the Messiah

            There are many ‘types and shadows’ in the Scriptures – meaning that often there is symbolic meaning imbedded in the narrative. In other words, a seemingly simple story or statement in the Scriptures very often is a metaphor. 

A case in point is the humiliation of the Messiah, by stripping His own garment from Him, and replacing it with another. “And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe.” [Matthew 27:28] This simple statement has rather profound symbolism.

The Messiah’s robe was unusual. In fact it was so special that the soldiers who performed the crucifixion gambled for it. What made it special? It was “seamless, woven in one piece from the neck to the hem.” [John 19:23] To the Roman soldiers it was a novelty. But it was much more than a novelty – it has spiritual significance. The Torah instructed that the robe of the High Priest – the robe of the ephod – should be woven in one piece, instead of being stitched together. [Exodus 28:31-32, 39:23] Yahshua wore a robe that was like the robe of a High Priest in Israel.

But the Romans stripped it off Him. They forcibly unclothed Him. They stole the garment.

And in its place – in place of the robe of an Israelite High Priest – in place of the unique garment whose design was Divinely commanded – the Romans “put on Him a scarlet robe” of Roman design.

The symbolism?

Jesus was stripped of his Jewishness, and dressed up like a Gentile, instead! His own garment – created in the pattern prescribed by Yahweh – an Israelite garment – a robe like what was described in the Torah – was stripped from Him.  Instead, a scarlet robe was put upon Him by the Romans.

Scarlet is the color that symbolizes the church known as the Great Whore, the Mother of Harlots, and the Great and Abominable Church. That blasphemous church which would actually persecute the right way is described as a woman who dresses in scarlet, and sits upon a monstrous scarlet beast. [Revelation 17:1-4; 1^st Nephi 13:4-8] The apostate Gentile Church is described as wearing a scarlet robe. The Romans replaced the robe of the Messiah – the Israelite robe made according to the pattern of the Torah, with a Roman robe of scarlet.

Yahshua was stripped of His Jewishness – so much so that many Christians still today do not really realize that the Messiah was Jewish! The church, especially beginning with the church that is now known as the Roman Catholic Church dressed Him up like a Gentile. And the Protestant churches that split away from the Mother of Harlots perpetuated the sham. They replaced the “garments of salvation – the robe of righteousness”  mentioned in Isaiah 61:10 with the scarlet robe of the Great and Abominable Church!

The Hebrew Yahshua became the Gentile Jesus. The Great and Abominable Church and all her ‘daughters’ have concealed the truth under the scarlet robe. They conceal the fact that the Man from Galilee worshipped on the Sabbath instead of Sunday. That He was a Torah-observant Jew, not an antinomian [no-law] Gentile. That He did not eat pork or shrimp. That He observed the Passover, and Tabernacles, and Hanukkah, instead of the holidays invented by non-Israelite heathens.

Just as the Roman soldiers stripped away the Messiah’s garment and replaced it with one of their own, so did the Roman church strip away His Israelite identity, and fashioned Him into a Gentile idol.

Ponder this. Let the thoughts sink into your mind and heart.

‘The church’ succeeded in changing the true identity of the Holy One of Israel into a pagan god. Stripped Him of the Covering of the Torah, and obscured Him beneath pagan practices, heathen holidays, and cultural conventions.

Seek for Yahshua. Seek for the One who wears the Robe of Righteousness - not for the counterfeit dressed in the extravagantly rich robes of man-made churches. Seek for the "High Priest of good things to come." [Hebrews 9:11] Strive to clothe yourself in the white linen of the Saints, not in the scarlet robes of blasphemy! [Revelation 19:8; 17:4]