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I’d like to remind everybody again that there is an indispensable principle of Bible Study, and that is total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. It’s the Lord’s book and only God can reveal God. We thank Him that He uses human instruments, but He must be the Teacher.
I want to share this verse before I pray, Isaiah 30:18, and there’s actually three parts to this wonderful verse, “The Lord longs to be gracious to you.” That’s the first part. Here’s the second part, “He waits on high to have compassion on you.” His remarkable patience, He longs to be gracious to you and He’s waiting. And here’s the third part, “How blessed are all who long for Him.” He’s waiting for you to long for Him, and He’s very patient. So, let’s commit our time to the Lord.
Father, we thank You so much for the indwelling Holy Spirit, and we know, Lord, that if You draw us, we’ll run after You. We ask You, Lord, to work in hearts, and give us a responsive heart to long for You. Thank You for being so patient to wait for us. We commit this session unto You in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
We are here again with another opportunity to enjoy the Lord, and we’re coming close to the end of our meditations in John. I know I’ve said that for the last several weeks, but we’ve been looking at John 20 & 21, the resurrection chapters, in other words they’re the clincher chapters of this whole message of John, “These are written that you might know who Jesus is, that you might trust Him and that you might enjoy life in Him.” As always, we’re not trying to be theologians here, or not even good commentators. We’re not trying to make you experts on the contents of the gospel. I hope you know it better than you did at the start, but our point, our goal is the same here as if we were looking at any book in the Bible. Our approach is to know the Lord. The Lord gave us the Bible to reveal the Lord Jesus. That’s our goal in our meditation, to know Him, to see Him in a fresh and living way.
In our last two studies we looked at Mary Magdalene and how she discovered a risen Savior, and then we looked at one part of the Thomas story when Jesus appeared to him in the Upper Room. They brought the unbelieving believer to become a believing believer. I’m not going to review those stories. I want to look at our fresh material. Although Mary Magdalene and Thomas take up most of the chapter, there are other things that I don’t want to leave unsaid. Three other things we’re going to look at in a brief way. We’ll look at them one at a time. Let me mention all three. The first is the linen wrappings. Listen as I read John 20:4, “The two were running together, and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter, who came to the tomb first, and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. So, Simon Peter also came following and entered the tomb and saw the linen wrappings lying there and the face cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up into a place by itself.” I’d like to spend a few minutes on those linen wrappings. Then I’d like to look at Thomas again, but this time at the gathering where he was absent, John 20:19-24. Then, finally John 20:3&4, the foot race when Mary Magdalene came and reported the body of Jesus stolen. Peter and John ran to the empty tomb, and it was a foot race, and I’d like to make a couple of observations about that foot race.
All three of those things I’d like to address, and this morning we’re only going to look at the linen wrappings, and I’m going to introduce Thomas when he was absent and was not there when the Lord showed Himself. Let me begin by reading the verses again. John 20:6&7, “And so, Simon Peter also came following him, and entered the tomb, and saw the linen wrappings lying there and the face cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrapping but rolled up in a place by itself.”
What instruction can we gain by just meditating on the linen wrappings? In a previous lesson I mentioned the first of those principles when we discussed the ministry of the two secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Josh of Arimathea and Nicodemus were secret disciples, and they became public and offered Jesus a ministry. Joseph ministered in a couple of ways. Number one he surrendered his own family tomb to the Lord Jesus, and the Bible tells us that he was the one who purchased the linen, the garments in which His precious body was going to be wrapped. That was love; that was mercy; that was worship; that was ministry.
Nicodemus also ministered to the Lord. John 19:39, “Nicodemus who had first come to Him by night also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about one hundred pound weight.” As we pointed out, that was ministry, and the Lord appreciates and accepts our ministry. But here’s the point I made last time. Jesus didn’t need that ministry. He didn’t need Joseph’s tomb. He only borrowed it for a weekend, and He certainly didn’t need the wrappings. He left them behind in the tomb. He didn’t need that ministry. He didn’t need the hundred pounds of spices. Usually we read that they were given to slow down the corruption process. Well, He wasn’t going to be corrupt, anyway. We have that in scripture. Jesus didn’t need their ministry but He used it anyway. John 20:8, “The other disciple who had first come to the tomb entered and he saw the empty linens, and he saw and believed.” So, their ministry was redemptive; it helped at least one disciple to believe, and since that day probably many thousands. Jesus doesn’t need our ministry, but once again, minister because He accepts it and He uses it redemptively. We can praise the Lord for that.
In addition to the truth that God accepts ministry even though He doesn’t need it, the linen wrappings have another great contribution, and that is that they announce resurrection victory. Those empty garments announce resurrection victory in two ways—resurrection victory in the future as we’re all going to rise again because Jesus rose, and resurrection victory right now as we have the earnest of the resurrection, and so we read about the Christian life as a resurrection life and a risen life.
Let me make a couple of points about the idea there’s future victory pictured in those empty garments. I think it’s behind any reasonable doubt that death is man’s most unsolvable problem. If the Lord can solve man’s most unsolvable problem, wouldn’t it stand to reason that there’s no problem that the Lord can’t solve? If we’re going to appreciate Jesus’ resurrection as a picture of future victory, we need to see His resurrection as unique, different. I say that because in the Old Testament and in the New Testament there were those who came back from the dead. You remember in 1 Kings 17, we have the raising of the widow’s son; God used Elijah to perform that miracle. And in 2 Kings 4 we have the record of the Shulamite’s son; God used Elisha to perform that miracle. And there is a very interesting one in 2 Kings 13:21, “Elisha when he was buried, was buried in a cave. At war time, one of the soldiers, a Moabite, was dead. So, the army just took his body and threw it into the cave where Elisha’s body was laying. When his body touched Elisha’s bones, he came to life again.” I think that must have been rather creepy. I would have run out of that tomb so fast! Anyway, Jesus was not the first to come back from the dead.
The same thing is true in the New Testament. We have at least three records in the New Testament—Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead, and the son of the widow of Naim on the way to the funeral was raised from the dead, and, of course, Lazarus was raised from the dead. Even though we have that Old Testament record of people coming back from the dead, and the New Testament record, we read verses like this, Colossians 1:18, speaking of our Lord Jesus, “He’s the head of the body, the church. He’s the beginning, the first born from the dead, so that He Himself will have first place in everything.” Firstborn from the dead. It sounds as if He’s the first One to come back from the dead. That same expression is used in Revelation 1:5, first born from the dead. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15:20, “Now, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” Since we know if doesn’t mean that He’s the first one to come out of the grave, we have to ask what does it mean? He’s the first begotten from the dead; He’s the first fruits of all who sleep. I believe it means this, that He’s the first One to come out of the grave in a glorified body. All the others, the widow’s son, the Shulamite’s son, the Moabite that touched the bones of Elisha, Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of Naim, and Lazarus, they all died again. They were raised from the dead but then they died again. They did not have glorified bodies.
I think one of the most powerful illustrations of this is the garments. John 11:44 describes Lazarus’ resurrection. “A man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings. His face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him and let him go.’” That’s Lazarus; he was all wrapped up like a mummy in his grave clothes. Sometimes I have to laugh when I think of when Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth,” how did he do that? You’re all tied up head to foot. Did he roll out? Did he hop out? Did he float out? I don’t know how he came out.
John 20:6&7 describes our Lord Jesus, “Simon Peter came following Him and entered the tomb and saw the linen wrapping lying there and the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.” Do you see that contrast? Lazarus rose from the dead in his natural body and he’s still wrapped like a mummy, all bound up. He had to be unwrapped, “Loosen him; let Him go.” But the Lord Jesus when He rose, He came right through those wrappings and He’ll never die again. He came forth in His immortal body, a glorified body. Listen to Romans 6:9, “Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death is no longer master over Him.” He’s never to die again. Lazarus died again. Jairus’ daughter died again. They were raised naturally. Revelation 1:18, the same thing, “Do not be afraid,” Jesus is speaking, “I am the first and the last and the Living One; I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore.”
The truth of the body living after resurrection was new and fresh. They believed in the spirit living after death. They talked about the spirit of man being indestructible and the immortality of the soul. I’m not suggesting that the Old Testament doesn’t give hints of a bodily resurrection, and sometimes it’s even more than a hint. Listen to what Job 19:26 said, “Even after my sin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God whom I myself shall behold whom my eyes will see and not another.” Daniel 12:2, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake; these to everlasting life, others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” But the truth of the immortality of the body was new. Listen please to 2 Timothy 1:10, “But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” By His resurrection He brought immortality to light. Immortality is a word the Holy Spirit has reserved for the bodies. Of course, our spirits live on. If I were to die right now, I would be immediately present with the Lord in my spirit. Ecclesiastes 12:7, “The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” So, that’s new, not that the spirit will live on but that the body will live on and will be raised glorified and never to die again. 1 Corinthians 15:53, “This perishable must put on the imperishable and this mortal must put on immortality.” That’s where immortality fits; it’s the body. 1 Corinthians 15:54, “When this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that’s written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”
Some people wrongly think that it’s only going to be believers, only going to be Christians that will rise with glorified bodies, and they think that the unbeliever is just going to be annihilated, in other words like an animal or a plant; he’ll live and die and that’s the end. No, that’s not the truth. Some sinners wish that were the truth, and some believers who are concerned for their loved ones believe that it’s the truth, but that’s a deception. When I say that the unbeliever is going to rise again with an immortal body, what I’m talking about they’re glorified in the sense that it’s going to live forever; it’s never going to die again. There’s no such thing as annihilation; that is a false teaching. The resurrection of Christ from the dead was a prototype of all resurrections, saved and unsaved. 1 Corinthians 15:21&22, “Since by a man came death, and by a man came the resurrection of the dead. As in Adam, all die, and so in Christ all will be made alive.” All means all, not only the spirits of the wicked will live on eternally but they’re going to live in their immortal resurrection body forever in eternity and torment. That’s a hard truth but it’s the truth of the Bible.
There are some Christians, and a great many of them, when they talk about resurrection, they’ll agree we’re all going to have new bodies, but then they think it’s because God is going to create a new body for each of us, and He’ll call it a glorified body. Brothers and sisters in Christ, there’s a difference between creation and resurrection. When our Lord Jesus rose, He didn’t get a newly created body. He rose in the body he lived in for 33 ½ years, and His nail prints proved it, and the wound in His side proved it. It wasn’t a different body. It was the same body. When the trumpet sounds, and we’re raised from the dead, we’re going to rise out of the grave in our body, the body you are living in right now, the body you were buried in. There will be change, there’s no question they’ll be changed. I like the way Paul tells us about the changes, “It will be imperishable, glorious, raised in power, a spiritual body.” The word “body” there is flesh. It’s “sumer,” and it’s always flesh; it’s not a spiritual body, as if it’s just spirit.
If I gave you an apple seed you might recognize it as an apple seed, or a peach seed, or a watermelon seed, or an acorn. But if had never seen an apple tree or a watermelon vine or a great oak tree and all you had was the seed, could you look at that seed and say, “I know what this is going to become later on when it’s in fully developed form.” The difference and the distance between a seed and what it is in maturity is almost incomprehensible. My mother loved flowers and especially gladiolas. She had a large garden and there were only gladiolas in it. I came to know that garden because I was assigned to care for it. I had to plant gladiolas bulbs. If you’ve ever seen a gladiola bulb, it’s pretty ugly. It’s round in shape and sometimes a little bit oval and it’s all shriveled up like a dark ball with little white hairs coming out of the bottom of it. It’s an ugly bulb, but when you see the flower, you would have never guessed that something so beautiful had come from something so ugly.
I saw a picture recently of a flower called the Passion flower, and I think it’s the most beautiful flower I’ve ever seen. I’ve read that it also has a wonderful fragrance. They say that they are even in parts of Delaware where it’s warm and humid. Their germination period, according to Google, takes a long time. Here’s an amazing thing. I think there are eighteen different blossoms of this wonderful Passion flower, and the life of the flower is one day, and that’s it. That beautiful flower comes out and then one day later it’s gone. The plant is perennial; it will come back again next year for one day. I tell you this because the Holy Spirit uses it as an illustration of our present life and our resurrection change. Philippians 3:21, “We eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power He has to subject all things to Himself.” Those seeds that I described—the apple seed, the watermelon seed, the peach seed, and any seed, the acorn—you plant the seed and then you get the fruit of that. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, I’m going to emphasize one word, it’s the word “sown”, “So, also is the resurrection of the dead; it is sown a perishable body, and it raised imperishable. It’s sown in dishonor, and it’s raised in glory. It’s sown in weakness, and it’s raised in power. It’s sown a natural body, and it’s raised a spiritual body.” We say that we bury our loved ones. We’re sowing them; they’re seeds, and they’re coming back again, and they’re going to live again in new bodies.
You might ask, “Since Jesus rose with scars and wounds, are we going to have our scars and wounds? Are we going to have our deformities and signs of aging and birth marks and all that?” Jesus had the nail prints and the mark of the spear, and that’s true because they are glory wounds. Our scars are wounds of deformities; they’re not glory wounds. There’s not a way we can, on this side, imagine what our glorified bodies will look like. One reason that’s true is that as we’re conformed to Christ, we are becoming the seed that will be sown that will be raised in a glorified body. So, there’s no way to picture it. It’s changing as we know the Lord Jesus and walk with Him.
Let me come back to the point I was talking about, the empty garments of Christ. They certainly proclaim the future victory we’ve been talking about but they’re also an illustration of the victory we have right now, that we’re living in union with Christ, the Living Savior lives inside of us. The empty garments of Jesus give another aspect of that victory. I’m speaking of the present tense right now. Colossians 3:1, “If you’ve been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is at the right hand.” You are already raised with Christ. Romans 6:4, “Therefore, we’ve been buried with Him through baptism in the death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we, too might walk in newness of life.” Do you see how he ties in His resurrection with our present Christian life, walking in newness of life? Romans 6:11, “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” This is our victory right now, the exchanged life. If you wanted to study power, the power of God in the Old Testament, you’d study creation; that’s His picture. But in the New Testament it’s no longer creation that illustrates His power but the power of the resurrection, the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the very power you have to be free from the flesh, and not to sin. It’s His life in us.
As really as I was crucified with Christ, so I was buried with Him. When Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus, do you realize that he was wrapping you, as well, and me? There were two bodies on the cross; there was His body given to Him by the Virgin Mary, His incarnate body, and there was the church; two bodies were on the cross. When he wrapped the body of Christ, he wrapped the church. I was wrapped and you were wrapped. And just so, when Jesus left those wrappings, so did I; I was raised with Him. Ephesians 2:5, “We were dead in our transgressions, and made alive together with Christ, raised up with Him, seated with Him in heavenly places.” The testimony is that we were once dead, wrapped in Christ, but now all that’s left is empty garments; we have gone; we are with Christ, and He is in us. That’s the testimony. John looked in the empty tomb, and when he saw the empty garments, he believed. I’ll tell you, brothers and sisters in Christ, those garments picture you. When someone can look at you and say, “There’s nothing there; they’re empty; they’re gone….” I hope you can look at me and just say, “There’s an empty garment; he has nothing. He has no righteousness, he has no strength, he has no faith, he has nothing. There is nothing; they’re empty garments.” That’s the testimony of life.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are nothing. Don’t try to have a following, and be in the spotlight and be on the stage and be loved by everybody and everybody has to complement you. You are an empty garment. I’m a gladiola bulb. I’m going to be something beautiful some day, but right now the beauty is Christ. So, the garments speak about victory—future victory and present victory as we live the exchanged life.
There’s a lot of speculation about John 20:7, that the face cloth was folded and put in a place by itself. I don’t know if you’ve every heard of an extra-biblical illustration. In other words, it’s not in the Bible, the folded face cloth. I don’t have any confidence in the explanation of the Bible by things outside the Bible. I think the Bible is the only book you need to understand the Bible, with of course, the Holy Spirit. I can’t document the source but I’ve heard that during the New Testament times there was a tradition that if you went some place to eat, like we would call it a restaurant, and you were pleased with the service and the food, you would fold the napkin, and the folded napkin was supposed to say, “I was happy with the service and I will return.” If you just rolled it up and put it in a corner, that means you’re not coming back. So, they say that separated face cloth was Jesus announcing His return. Well, I think that’s fanciful, but it’s true that He’s going to return. I just don’t think that napkin proves it.
Here is what I think. Since the face cloth was neatly folded, and the Greeks says that it was rolled off, it looks like to me His rising was rather casual, as a person would wake up from a sleep. It seems to be deliberate and orderly. When I read the record, I get a sense of calm, and it’s amazing. I speak as a fool, but if that were me, are you kidding me, if I had just conquered death, it would be traumatic; I’d leap out of there and I’d come out like Superman. I’d want a blast of the trumpet. So many of His greatest works, He seems to do in silence. A sunset, there’s no sound to that. A sunrise, so beautiful and so quiet. A rainbow. I’m looking out the window now and there’s dew on the grass; it’s beautiful. The stars at night are set without a voice to declare the glory of God. There didn’t seem to be any fanfare in His resurrection, no flashes of light, no shouts. When Jesus was born, angels couldn’t stop talking and they couldn’t shut up. Luke 2:13&14, “Suddenly, there appeared with the angels a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in highest and on earth peace among men with whom He’s pleased.’” But at His resurrection we read about one or two angels. They rolled the stone away, and then they just sit there without effort. The mighty Sleeper stirs and calmly rises from the dead. What does He do? He makes His bed. He deliberately lays aside His grave clothes, and carefully unfolds the napkin around His head and rolls it up neatly. Everything is calm; everything is orderly. There’s no rush. There’s no hurry. There’s no anxiety. As I said, I would have been dancing all over that tomb. The guards outside would have heard me singing and dancing and shouting. But Jesus just wakes up, makes His bed, passes through the colossal stone as if it wasn’t even there, and goes to the Garden, and begins to talk to Mary like nothing great had happened. Do you realize that He had just conquered Satan and his kingdom, sin, death, hell, the wrath of God, and every evil, and then He rises, so full of rest, control, peace, and there doesn’t seem to be any hurry or excitement and no hysteria. He just sits there. The angels look at the faces of the guard until they grow pale, and fall paralyzed and then in terror they run away. That’s what I mean when I say these empty garments have a message to tell. It talks about future victory, and it talks about His present victory now in me.
Some people think that when they enter into the exchanged life and God opens their eyes to the truth of union with Christ that there has to be fireworks and signs and wonders and profound emotions and hair standing up on the back of your neck. Not necessarily; I’m not going to rule anything out, but resurrection life is just the recognition that He lives inside of me. It’s supernaturally natural and it’s calm, a peace in your heart. I have to admit that when I wake up in the morning I just throw off my blankets, and it weren’t for my Lillian, that bed would never be made. His resurrection to me, these empty garments and this folding up of the napkin, it’s just a call to faith. Empty garments and John saw them and believed.
Maybe there’s another possibility he folded it, because He saw the future. Have you ever heard of the shroud of Turin? Turin is a city in Italy where this artifact, this sheet is kept. It’s an ancient linen cloth that has a strange image of a man that looks like he had been crucified, and you can see the front if you turn it over, and you can see the back. It’s almost like a 3D image. They still haven’t figured out how it was done. They’ve done a ton of tests on it, and they dated it more than a thousand years, and some testing is still going on. They ruled out a painting. There’s no pigment or dye or ink or powder or anything like that. Some believe that it’s the actual wrappings that were around our Lord Jesus. It’s been venerated since about the 14th century. For one thing, I don’t think that’s God’s method, to give us sight. I think if they found Noah’s ark, I don’t think that would cause anyone to believe. If they could prove the shroud was the one that Jesus was wrapped in, I don’t think that would cause anyone to believe. We were told in Luke 16 that even if someone came back from the dead, they wouldn’t believe. You don’t believe by sight; that’s why we need faith.
One reason I’m quite sure and I know it’s not the sheet Jesus was buried in, in Jewish tradition they didn’t have just one sheet like that. They wound it up and they had many. They wrapped the body. Since the head peace was separated from the body, the sheet still has the napkin on the head. In fact, it has scar wounds and even includes where the thorns might have gone in. If you turn it over, the sheet has where He was whipped and scourged, and so on. When Jesus appeared, He didn’t say, “Look at My head and look at My back; He just said, “Look at My hands and look at My side.” Anyway, I think the separation proves that thing is a wonderful piece of art. I don’t know how anybody did that, and maybe it is of somebody crucified. I don’t know.
I told you there were three things. Let me just introduce the second, the appearance of our Risen Lord when Thomas was not present. I’m only going to do the introduction now, and we’ll pick it up again next time. What I want to introduce is just the greeting, John 20:19, “On the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He said this, He showed them both His hands and side, and the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord, and Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, I send you.’”
I want to focus on the first words Jesus spoke. The last words that they heard from His lips were when He was on the cross. They only knew vaguely that in some way He had gone to the cross to atone for their sins. But now picture this. Our Lord Jesus stands before them alive. He’s come back from the dead, and we’re about to hear a voice from the other side of the grave, and what was the first word? The answer is “peace”. I know the commentators say that this is a common salutation, “Shalom, peace.” When you met someone on the street you would say, “Peace, peace be with you.” I’m not saying it wasn’t that but in this case it certainly amounted to more than “hello”. It’s hard for me to believe that a voice from beyond the grave, His first word would be “hello”. One reason I know I’m right is John 20:21, “Jesus, therefore, said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’” If it was just a common greeting, if it was just “hello”, He wouldn’t say it again. When people come into my study I greet them and I say “hello”, and I usually say, “the Lord delights in you,” but I greet them. If I were half way through the study and I looked again and I saw a brother that I had already greeted, and then all of a sudden I said, “hello,” it wouldn’t make sense. It’s not the customary salutation.
This is “Peace”; He had gone to the cross to make peace between the sinner and a holy God. They didn’t deserve peace. These disciples are locked in a room and they’re trembling. They denied Him, they deserted Him, they’d given up on Him; they were guilty sinners. They deserved blame, but the Lord stands before them, the trembling disciples, and He didn’t blame them, and He didn’t rebuke them, and He didn’t shame them, and He didn’t blast them, and He didn’t find any fault. He just says, “Peace,” in other words, “It’s over. It’s done. It’s finished. The work of atonement has been completed.” There was fullness of comfort in those words. The indwelling Christ is now able to give me peace; God is no longer my enemy.
Before I close, I want you to note what verse comes between the double blessing, “Peace,” and He said it again, “Peace.” What’s in between, “Peace,” and, “Peace?” The answer is in verse 20, “When He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side, and the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” “Peace; look at My wounds; that’s why you can have peace. Peace, because I died on the cross for you. At any moment when my eyes are fixed on the crucified Christ, I have peace. If I don’t have peace, I need to refocus again on Christ and the work He has done.
The day before the cross Jesus left a legacy. John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you, not as the world do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful.” Before the cross, He gave the legacy, peace. After the cross, peace. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Father, we thank You so much for Your word, for the Holy Spirit that helps us enter in. Lord, we pray that meditating on these garments and the victory that’s coming and the victory that we have right now, meditating on the peace, the atonement You’ve made, we can be one with God. Lord, we just praise You and ask You to burn it into our hearts. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.