Tabernacle Lectures (9) The Priest’s Clothes

The priest in the tabernacle had clothes which he wore to come out before God. It was a gown. The clothes he wore when he went into the Holy Place to serve God was made of linen. The cloth material that the priest wore was the same linen that surrounded the tabernacle. In other words, the linen curtains of the tabernacle courtyard is talking about the righteousness of holy Jesus. The linen the priest wore has to be the same as the linen curtains, which is the righteousness of Jesus, so God can accept him. This means the righteousness we bring when we go out before God has to be the same as the righteousness that Jesus Christ acted with when he was on this earth.

The righteousness that is better than the scribes and Pharisees is the righteousness of Jesus. How can we have the righteousness of Jesus? The apostle Paul said, (Romans 10:2-3) “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” People do not submit to the righteousness of God because they do not know the righteousness of God, and they are diligently trying to establish their own righteousness.

People find righteousness in two ways. One way is the righteousness of actions, to work hard to live according to the word of God, becoming righteous by not sinning. The other way is, even though you have no way of becoming righteous through any of your efforts, possessing the righteousness that God gives you. If we put on the righteousness that God give us, it does not matter at all how our own righteousness is. Trying to go before God by diligently doing something by yourself to establish your own righteousness means you did not put on the righteousness of God.