“Glory to the Precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Isaiah 61: 10  I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

Hallelujah

The Change of Garment that God gives - a pattern

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the portion of the Bible that we meditated upon in the past days, we meditated on the concept that we should no longer be strangers and pilgrims, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. God showed many instructions to our forefathers and showed them the path to enter into Canaan and we can see that God is showing this to us as a pattern. Also, we are able to read that they separated the land for the father's of the twelve tribes by drawing lots and divided the land and gave it to them. We can read that some of them were given places with mountains,  to cut the forests down and correct them. All these things show how our land (heart) should be ploughed and corrected and how our harvesting of souls should be and how God does his works in our soul and how he draws other souls towards Him. God shows these things in the portion of the Old Testament by explaining and showing it through Moses and Joshua and we see that he is showing this as a pattern.

Also, we meditated few days back regarding why Joseph kept the silver cup in Benjamin's sack.

Next the things which we are going to meditate are, what God gave to the sons of Israel  through Joseph is to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments.

When we say change of garment, the old garment must be removed. We must wear the new garment. The meaning of this is our old life, fleshly lusts, lusts of the eyes, pride of life should be removed and new things should be worn by the sons of Israel. In order to show this, God is giving change of garment and showing this as a pattern.

We are able to read that for Benjamin five changes of garment and three hundred pieces of silver is being given.

The reason for this is God is showing this as a pattern for the things that he is going to do in the tribe of Benjamin.

God, through Moses divided the land and territories for the twelve tribes of Israel. After the death of Moses, there remained seven tribes yet to receive their share. Then Joshua tells the remaining tribes in Israel do not neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God has given you.

We see that seven tribes were neglecting to go and possess the land.

In the same way, in our lives we also should not neglect and now in the time that we have got, we must possess our land, which is Christ.

But Joshua says in Joshua 18: 4 Pick out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them; they shall rise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come back to me. 

Joshua tells them and sends them saying - You shall survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey here to me. They wrote in the same manner and brought it to Shiloh to the presence of the Lord.

Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel. The first lot fell for the children of Benjamin. The land that God gave Benjamin was between the territory of the sons of Judah and the territory of the sons of Joseph.

But, before the lot fell for the sons of Benjamin itself in Joshua 18: 5 And they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall remain in their territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their territory on the north. 

Here we are able to read that Joshua said this before putting the lots.

But, giving to the sons of Benjamin,  in between the territories of both of them, and giving a lot of land means we can realize that God has seen a specific purpose in the tribe of Benjamin. But it is written that those who remain are the tribe of Judah and the generation of Joseph.

In the generation of Joseph, Ephrahim, Manasseh have been mentioned. But God loves the tribe of Benjamin a lot.

Because, initially the first king that was anointed was from the tribe of Benjamin, son of Kish called Saul. But he did not do God's will. So God pushes him away.

When the people asked that they wanted a king for themselves in 1 Samuel 10: 18 God said to the children of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you.’ 

But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

And when all had come near, the lots fell on the tribe of Benjamin, and the son of Kish called Saul was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found, the people inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “There he is, hidden among the equipment.”

We see that God anoints Saul by using Samuel. In this way, God is giving the first royal anointing to the tribe of Benjamin. He did not safe guard that anointing. In this manner, because he did not safe guard it, God is anointing David, the son of Jesse. Though David was anointed as the king of Israel, Bible verse says that his hands were stained with blood. So God did not use David to build the temple, and God says that the son of your womb, Solomon will build the temple for me and he built the temple. But he also, not only did he love the daughter of Pharaoh but he also desired many women, who were from foreign tribes. Therefore his heart slipped away from God. Then in the throne of David, our Lord Jesus Christ is anointed by God.  

Then in Acts 13: 33, 34 God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalms‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’

And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’

My dear brothers and sisters, in this manner, in order that all the sons of Israel should possess salvation, God shows us the explanation regarding the five change of garments that was given to Benjamin, the promise that our forefathers received, today God has given us this salvation. We must safe guard this garment of salvation so that we do not lose it. Those who are not wearing the garment of salvation, in these days we must have a thirst to receive it and if we receive it from God, that will be of great blessing, joy and peace.

Let us pray. May the Lord bless you all

-To be continued