GLORY CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY © {{First updated on 22nd August, 2013}} . FROM REVELATION: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Revelation 12:1-4) . FROM THIS UPDATE . This woman was clothed with the sun, which means she attained a level of glory in the heights of heaven, crowned with twelve stars and moon under her feet: She was a great wonder in heaven to behold. But there was another wonder in heaven, which is the appearance of the dragon. Both the appearance of the woman and the appearance of the dragon were wonders in heaven, according to the reference above. Yet the dragon appeared about to eat the woman’s child, despite the surrounding glory: The devil is not scared of glory, neither does the devil respect glorious men of God. . • The dragon used its tail to drag down one-third of the stars of heaven, even though the stars were covered with glory; the glory of stars could not protect them from the dragon’s tail. • The dragon was about to eat that glorious child of the woman, even though the woman was clothed with the sun; the glory of the sun would not have protected her child from the dragon’s mouth. • The dragon would have eaten the woman while she was yet pregnant, but he could not: rather it was after the woman gave birth that the devil could have eaten that woman or her child. . It would have being better for the dragon to just eat both the woman and her pregnant child within her, without having to wait for her to first be delivered of her baby; but the devil could not touch that woman even though he was standing next to her in that place. Why could the dragon not eat or hurt that woman before she was delivered, but after her delivery the dragon sought to eat or hurt the same woman with vigor? The reason is simply because while the woman was clothed with the sun, she was also clothed with humility which was why she was not a victim of the dragon in the heavenly places. But the fallen stars, who were not clothed with humility, became the dragon’s victims. For the dragon is the king over all the children of pride, even in heaven (Job 41:34) . How was she clothed with humility when she was clothed with the sun? Yes, she was clothed with humility because she was in travail and pain of child birth. Therefore, while the woman was clothed with such immense glory of the sun, stars and moon, she was also bearing pain and travail which kept her humble in such glory. And while she was in that state, the dragon could not touch her. He who has much glory, needs much humility: Paul had so much glory, but Jesus allowed a thorn in his flesh which was a messenger of Satan to keep him humbled in the midst of his so much glory after Paul attain the third heavens (2 Corinthians 12:1-12). . You will discover that after the woman was delivered her child, she was no more bearing the pain that humbled her; neither was she still clothed with sun and stars. Rather she was given an eagle’s wings with which she could escape the dragon, which chased her to hurt her, since she left that first covering and descended into the earth. Eagle’s wings are meant for those who have learnt the humility of waiting on the LORD (Isaiah 40:31). . THE ONLY CLOTH PRIDE NEVER LIKED © {{First updated on 23rd August, 2013}} . FROM ZECHARIAH “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebukes you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you: is this not a brand plucked out of the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spoke to those that stood before him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.” And I said, “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.” So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.” (Zechariah 3:1-5) . FROM THIS UPDATE . Here, it was not about the dragon with the woman clothed with the sun now, but about Satan with the high priest clothed with filthy garments. Though the priest was wearing filthy garments, he was humble before God because he was a brand plucked out of the fire and most especially because he will accept the change of garments which the LORD would offer to him. Now the filthy garments represented the righteousness of the priest or the righteousness which he was able to attain by his own works, but the new clothing and change of raiment given to him is the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is true righteousness. You may ask; had Jesus come by then? In verse 8 of the same chapter, the LORD says, “I will bring forth my Servant called the BRANCH and Stone with Seven eyes, and then the iniquity of the Land shall be taken away” (Zechariah 3:8-10). That BRANCH and Stone with Seven Eyes was Jesus Christ, who takes away the iniquity of the land. He is the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the land; and His Seven Eyes are the Seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth (Revelation 5:6). . It takes humility for a man to accept that his own garments are filthy, and to accept the change of garment God is offering to him through Jesus Christ: God resists the proud (Satan), but gives grace (change of clothing) to the humble (Joshua the High Priest) – James 4:6. • Was Joshua high or clothed with glory? Yes, because he was a High Priest and every High Priest is clothed with glory and beauty (Exodus 28:2); moreover, he was standing before an Angel of God. • Was Joshua clothed with humility? Yes, because he was a brand out of the fire, who was ready to accept the grace (change of clothing) the LORD was offering him in his humility: meaning he was ready to discard his own self-righteousness based on the laws of Moses (filthy garments), in order to accept the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (Fine Linen, clean and white). . If Satan could bring down one-third of glorious stars in heaven, he could also bring down men of God who are not humble in the midst of their own glory. To watch against the devil that walks about as roaring lion seeking whom to devour according to verse 8, one must first be clothed with the humility according to verse 5 of the same (1 Peter 5:5, 8). And, to resist the devil and have him flee from you, one must first be humble and submissive according to (James 4:6-7). . Therefore, do not try to resist the devil unless you are submissive in humility (James 4:7). Humility is not about pain or suffering or wounds or shame or clothing; true humility is about the submissiveness of the heart of man to Christ the Son of God and to His people. A naked man was humble enough to accept Jesus Christ as his LORD and KING, even while he was suffering on the cross; but another man who was in the same condemnation was too proud to see the salvation of God even on the cross (Luke 23:39-43). It is the humble in heart that dwells in a high and holy place with the Most High God (Isaiah 57:15): It was the humble criminal that Jesus gave to be with Him in paradise that day. . God requires the humility of the heart as the spirit behind the dressing of one’s physical body. Remove pride, arrogance and self-righteousness even in your clothing and dressing. Any physical clothing that has no room for pride or glory of the flesh is called Sack-Cloth. . Sack-cloth is any clothing in humility minus the pride. The clothing of sack-cloth is better than the clothing of self-righteousness, respectability and show of pride. • One of the most wicked and corrupted cities of all time, was saved from the wrath of God just because of Sack-Clothes: That was the city of Nineveh, to whom Jonah was sent (Jonah 3:8-10). • When Ahab put on sack-cloth, even the prophecy of Elijah could not come to pass in his own days; for God saw the sack cloth over a humble mind as a wonder to God (1 Kings 21:27-29). • Jesus expected the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida to repent in sack-clothes, after doing so many mighty works in them, but they did not (Matthew 11:21). • The two witnesses had more power than all other men on earth in their earthly days, yet they were clothed with sack clothes all through the days of their witnessing (Revelation 11:3). . Where there is great power and glory in this world, great humility is needed.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 00:43:00 +0000
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