Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme. I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How are you today?

Steve: I'm a little bit weary, but happy to be home. How are you?

Scott: I'm good. You said you drove a long way.

Steve: Well, this was our weekend for what we call our getaway. Sandy and I try to take one weekend a month for just the two of us and go up to our lake house and hang out. It also, though, happened to be a time when we really needed to get to

Maine to be with Sandy's sister who’s not well, and when we saw her, we realized it was really good that we were there.

We left on Thursday with the help of our kids and Johnny being taken in by then. We went up to the lake and spent the night. That was about 140 miles, and then got up Friday and drove to Maine. It wasn't as bad as sometimes, but it's not fun driving up in New England. There are a lot of people in a small area and a lot of construction.

We got up to Maine on Friday, checked into our hotel, met with Sandy's sister, and then we were there Friday and Saturday and on Sunday, we drove back to the lake. Then, Monday morning, we got up and drove home and picked up the pups. I calculated between the miles that we drove while we were there pretty much a thousand miles.

Scott: Wow. I don't think Maine's close to anywhere, really.

Steve: New Hampshire and Canada.

Scott: That's a lot of driving, man.

Steve: It is a lot of driving. Fortunately, we were in Southern Maine and I was driving back and forth between New Hampshire and Maine to buy stuff because I had to put up some smoke alarms and fix a couple things.

Scott: God bless you.

Steve: Thank you. Now, we're going to discuss something that is still working its way into my heart, and it's very special. Let's pray.

Father, thank You for being with us in all of our travels. Whether we stay at home or are traveling, we know that You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. We draw near to You this morning and pray that You help us to understand this really special gift from heaven. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Scott: Amen.

Steve: Couple weeks ago, I was on the road in the evening, which is about the only time I listened to Christian radio and listened to this man who was sharing how he had learned something about the garments of skins that God had made for Adam and his wife. This is found in Genesis 3:21, "Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them."

This was after they had sinned. For the first time in their life, they were experiencing shame and guilt, separation from God, all the impacts of sin, but God, in His kindness, slayed an animal. We don't know what kind of animal.

I would guess it would be a lamb to foreshadow Christ, but it was for their skins. As this man put it, "I always assumed that they looked like the Flintstones." Now, I'm going to ask you. What do you think?

Scott: Not far off from that. That's roughly the image.

Steve: When he said that, I almost laughed out loud in the car because that is a very strong image for our generation. I don't know if the younger generation has seen the Flintstones.

Scott: Was that or Tarzan?

Steve: I assumed God took a couple skins and stitched them together, and they were hanging on the first couple. The man on the radio mentioned that this word had some interesting applications in the Hebrew. When I got home, I made my way to my computer, and I looked it up.

It turns out that the word that is used there is Kathoneth or Katoneth and it's used 29 times in the Old Testament. You're going to find this fascinating. It can mean tunic, garment, or robe.

I lean towards a long coat like a tunic, but a stately one after doing this research, but still, let me read some of the applications. It appears the first time in Genesis 3:21, then in Genesis 37, eight times.

Eight times, describing Joseph's garment, or tunic, that his father had made for him. We're going to come back to that in a minute. Then it's used seven times in Exodus, four times in Leviticus, once in Ezra, twice in Nehemiah, all of those describe priest's garments.

For example, Exodus 28:4. "These are the garments which they shall make, a breastpiece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work," which as I looked at that word is probably embroidered work. This is a special tunic, "A turban and a sash, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons that he may minister to Me."

Here we have 14 times talking about priestly garments, eight times talking about Joseph's garments, and then two times found in 2 Samuel 13:18. "Now Tamar was wearing a long robe with sleeves and of various colors, for in such robes were the

king's virgin daughters clad of old." Then there's a couple miscellaneous verses. Once for Hushai the Archite, twice in the Song of Solomon, once in Job, another time in Isaiah. I think this paints a picture that these garments are classy. This is not the way the Flintstones look. These are probably long coats with long sleeves, which set apart the people that wore them as special.

The king's daughters, the priests. These were special robes. I'm going to tuck this in here because I've had a friend that was the one that made me even look at it. If I was 2

to stand up at a Sunday school class and say, "What color was Joseph's garment?" Everybody would say, "Well, it's the rainbow. It's multicolored."

It turns out that the Hebrew word for that particular garment is Pas, which means a long and sleeved tunic. It's only used five times, and two of the times are talking about Tamar's robe.

Three of the times is talking about Joseph's garment, only five times. Pas means a piece. It's like, if you spread out your hand, it would be the flat of your hand or of your foot and I used my hand to measure things. I know that my hand breadth is nine inches.

If I'm ever stuck without a measuring implement, I pull out my palm, and I measure nine, nine, nine, nine. I think that that's what the word is really leaning towards here. It's long. It's a couple handbreadths. It's not a short sleeve undergarment. This is a long sleeve, long tunic, and the word “colors” is a choice by the translators. Once again, I feel a little funny saying that because I know I'm going against thousands of coloring pages that Sunday school children had done, but I don't think it was the colors that set Joseph’s robe apart but the length.

The length set it apart so that his brothers knew that Jacob was saying, "There's something special about your brother, Joseph." We know that Joseph was extremely special. He saved two nations, the nation of Israel, and the nation of Egypt. There are incredible prophecies about Joseph still on the table, you might say, being fulfilled to this day. These are garments for priests and royalty. This is one of the themes that we've been talking about off and on is, is that we are, according to the New Testament, a kingdom of priests and kings.

You have this royal component and you have this priestly component. Now, we go back and read, "Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife tunics, long-robed tunics of skins and clothed them." These garments had a priestly component, and they had a royal component.

Adam and his wife were the first in a whole long line of priests and kings. Royalty was in their veins. Priestliness was in their veins, and they were dressed appropriately. Now is your noodle baked? That's the question.

Scott: Just a bit. I'm starting to think, "What did they kill? An elephant?" Steve: Maybe the animals were bigger in those days.

Scott: Yes. That's a big animal.

Steve: All I know is that it is the same word as the word used for priests, kings, daughters, and for Joseph, all of whom were very special and set apart. God didn't throw a couple rabbit skins together like you're doing the boy scouts and make them some garments. This is consistent with the prodigal son when he returned and his father said, "Bring out the best robe."

He was forgiven, but then he was not given rags, or bring out some of the slaves' castaways. Let's go down to the community aid and get him some stuff until he proves himself." No. He gave him the ring on his finger.

He was restored fully and completely, and he put on the best robe. This is God. This is a precious gift that He gives us. Let me go and touch on some more special passages about the robe.

In Zechariah, I don't hardly ever remember hearing this spoken about, but this is a really powerful portion of scripture. "He showed me Joshua..." Of course, we know that when it says, "Joshua," that means Yah saves. Joshua in the Old Testament is the same as Jesus in the New Testament, so this is a significant passage. "He showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Jehovah said to Satan, 'Jehovah, rebuke you, Satan. Indeed, Jehovah who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?' Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments." I'm not going to go into the detail, but look it up if you want. Filthy is filthy. "Standing before the angel, He spoke and said to those who were standing before Him saying, 'Remove the filthy garments from him.'

"Again, He said to him, 'See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with vestal robes,' and then I said, 'Let them put a clean turban on his head,' so they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments while the angel of Jehovah was standing by."

That is a beautiful picture of our salvation when God takes our filthy garments off, forgives our iniquities, and clothes us with vestal robes and puts a clean turban on our head. This was Joshua, the high priest, and God did it. He stood there like he's standing in a changing room, and the angels took off his nasty stuff and replaced it

with vestal robes.

Isaiah 61:10, says, "I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah. My soul will exalt in my God, for He has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."

That's a picture. Now I'm going to read 2 Corinthians 5:21. "For our sake, He made Him, Jesus, to be sin Who knew no sin so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus not only takes away our sin, He then clothes us with garments of salvation, or robe of righteousness.

Although, I would probably lean now towards a long sleeve tunic of righteousness. This is the kind of God that we have. He not only takes away our sin, and He doesn't leave us naked like Adam and Eve. He clothes us with royal priestly garments of salvation.

There are two verses that are real similar, and they bring out different ideas, and they're both beautiful. Psalm 132:7-9. "Let us go into His dwelling place. Let us 4

worship at His footstool. Arise, O Jehovah, to your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your saints shout for joy."

"Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness." We read in Isaiah, robes of righteousness. In 2 Chronicles 6:41, it's probably the same reference, but it's a little different. "Let Your priests, O Jehovah God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in your goodness."

They're using the words interchangeably, salvation and righteousness, which is what we see in Isaiah 61, garments of salvation, or a robe of righteousness. Now, let me go back to Revelation. This is a new component. As I prayed about this, God pointed this out to me.

Speaking of Joseph’s coat in Genesis 37, "His brothers took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat." In Leviticus, we read about the scapegoat, the goat that took away sin.

The goat, and it's interesting that they specifically mentioned that. They didn't take any other animal. They took a goat. "They took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood." In my mind now, having done some research, I don't picture a cacophony of colors like a rainbow dipped in blood that you wouldn't even notice it.

I picture pretty much a long sleeved, really special tunic dipped in blood. In my mind now, I have a picture of perhaps a white or off-white robe dipped in blood. "They sent the robe and brought it to their fathers and said, 'This we have found. Please identify whether it is your son's tunic or not.' He identified and said, 'It is my son's tunic. It's the one that I made him.'"

Now I'm going to jump all the way from Genesis to Revelation 19:13-14. "He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God, and the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses." This is Jesus, and He is wearing a robe dipped in blood. It's not a coincidence. This is God's word.

Revelation 19:8. "It was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." These are saints with Jesus coming back. They're his army. They're coming back from heaven. They're clothed in fine linen, which we just read about a second ago. These robes, though, the reason that they're white linen, is they were dipped in blood.

Revelation 22:14, "Blessed are those who wash their robes." This is what He said earlier on in Revelation. "They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 22:14. "Blessed are those who wash their robes," that's you and me, "so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates." It does say that their robes are white and they're clothed in fine linen, but

while it doesn’t say this specifically, I think all of those robes have been dipped in the blood of Jesus.

There's a couple scriptures that talk about this. Ecclesiastes 9. "Let your garments be always white." Isaiah 1:18, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Then, Revelation 3:4-5, "You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments. They will walk with me in white."

It's special to be able to wash our robes and keep them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 6:9-11, right in the middle it says, "You will avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest."

These were the souls of the martyrs that have been slain under the altar. I can't hit all the scriptures, but there's a ton of them in the Bible. Now when I look at those robes, I think these are the robes that God gives to His children.

When we enter into His kingdom and are born from above, He not only washes us and makes us clean, takes away our iniquity, He clothes us in His tunic, His robe of righteousness, these garments of salvation, and they're beautiful. What do you think of all that?

Scott: It's a very different picture than the Tarzan and the Flintstone version. Steve: The only other thought I had was about the transfiguration. In the three different gospels that it's in, it talks about His robes shining as white as the light. Steve: The ancient of days, you mean?

Steve: Yes, the ancient of days is also similar. In fact, I read that in Luke a couple days ago. I'm reading my Bible. I noticed that His robes were completely white. Revelation 7:14 says, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. I frequently ask God to wash me in the blood of the Lamb. I want my robes to be white. I'm thankful that He has not clothed me in something from the community aid bin, but He's given me a royal priestly garment. "Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness or salvation, and let Your saints shout for joy and rejoice in Your goodness."

That's why we're clothed with righteousness, so we can worship Him, so we can come into His presence. To know that I am wrapped in the garments of righteousness, which Jesus, Who knew no sin was made sin so that we could be wrapped in these robes of righteousness.

Father, thank You for Your great gifts to us, and this is one of them. Thank You for these royal priestly garments, these tunics. Thank You that we can dip them in the blood of Jesus. Like Joseph's was, like Jesus, the Word of God when He returns, it's a privilege to have robes that have been dipped in the blood of the Lamb.

Thank You for these robes. Thank You for giving them to us. I pray that You'll help us to grasp the impact. That's how You see us, like Joshua came to You filthy and You had the angels replace those garments.

I pray that You'll do that for all of us today, especially those that struggle to believe this, that perhaps don't think well of themselves, that feel like they never measure up. I pray for a fresh dose of the gospel to get to them today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the show, email Steve at spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.