Free Distribution
Encouraged 
Matthew 10:8
Distribute Freely
Freely
you have received
Not For Sale under
Freely give.
Any circumstances.
©
Recently I heard a message from
Henry Gruver.
He made comments about the
garments of overcomers which brought a new clarity
to biblical statements with
which I was familiar. The repercussions of what he said
kept coming in a constant
stream. These thoughts are what I am now sharing with you.
I hope to put some of his video
messages on my website as audio messages,
Unfortunately as I write this
the site has disappeared from the Internet
I cannot say that I am surprised
!!
We concern ourselves very much
with our clothes and our appearance.
Each one of these areas is a
multi-billion dollar industry.
The vast majority of people
including children want designer clothes,
and trainers with named brands.
They are happy to pay
excessively more for clothing which advertise the name
of an organisation, rather than
buy the identical garment without the name emblazoned
all across the item. Many are
prepared to pay to become walking billboards !
The fashions come and go like
clockwork.
Few want to wear anything that
is not ‘in fashion’.
We are pre-occupied with the
physical garments, but ignore the reality of the spiritual,
which often differs from our
perspective of it.
In spite of us buying and
wearing our Sunday/Sabbath best,
Christ makes the following statement
about a section of His church.
Revelation 3:14 And unto
the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;
these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true
witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know
thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then
because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
mouth.
17 Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and
have need of nothing;
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the
fire, that thou mayest be rich;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see.
19 As many
as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold,
I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me.
Here we see a luxurious church,
the Laodicean church, which is prevalent today.
In practice I have not met
anyone who claims to be part of any church except
the Philadephian church.
The fact is that you can claim to
be whatever you feel, but that does make it a reality.
Many are content to live a lie.
In this church we see people who
feel that they are in need of nothing.
They have somewhere to live,
food to eat, clothes to wear, easy transportation
and endless sport and
entertainment of every imaginable type.
Christ’s evaluation of the
church is the very opposite of how the church perceives itself.
Christ says that in reality they
are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked,
regardless of what they think of
themselves.
They think ‘we never had it so
good’.
The Truth is very different.
In spite of their designer
clothes they are naked.
In spite of their riches they
are poor.
In spite of their entertainment,
holidays and every physical comfort, they are wretched and miserable.
In spite of their seeing eyes,
they are blind and utterly unable to recognise truth,
muchless differentiate between truth and lies.
Many of these people go to their
Sunday/Sabbath services, their biblical training courses,
their bible studies, other
church related activities, and their outreach programs.
Often they are as far removed
from Christ as they can be.
They are quite happy to follow
the traditions of men rather than listen to the Eternal God.
This is the answer to the
question of how can they be in this dire condition?
Their physical situation, wealth
and prosperity has nothing to do with their spiritual condition.
This is a huge slap in the face
for the health and wealth preachers.
We are told that there is a
spirit in man.
Job 32:8 But there
is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them
understanding.
Spirit by definition is non-physical.
Therefore our physical clothes cannot cover our
spiritual bodies and its condition.
Things of the spirit are in one realm and physical
things are in another realm.
Luke 24:36 And as
they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them,
and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
37 But
they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he
said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold
my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Christ
did not tell His disciples that they were
speaking nonsense when they thought that
when
they had seen Him, that they had seen a spirit.
Rather He explained to them the difference between a physical human body and a human spirit.
From what He said we can deduce that a human spirit looks exactly the same as a physical human being.
The difference is that a spirit does not have flesh and bones.
When we die our spirit returns
to God, who gave it in the first place.
Ecclesiates 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as
it was:
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Of course the dead know nothing,
we see the physical body lying in a coffin.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but
the dead know not any thing,
neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of
them is forgotten.
The deceased is normally
clothed, yet twice we read:
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s
womb,
and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and
the LORD hath
taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb,
naked shall he return to go as he came,
and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may
carry away in his hand.
Normally
the deceased in Western countries are dressed in their favourite or best
clothes,
yet we are told they return naked as they came.
At some point the
genuine faithfully departed believers nakedness
will be clothed in their
white robes.
Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls
of them that were slain for the word of God, and for
the testimony which they held:
10 And
they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O
Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white
robes were given unto every one of them;
and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet
for a little season,
until their fellowservants also and their brethren,
that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
We also see that these ‘souls’ cried with a loud
voice, they could communicate.
We also see that they could wear clothes.
I believe this is a
literal account and not an allegory.
Revelation 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints.
These white robes are woven from the righteousness of
the saints wearing them.
Herein lies a problem.
Interestingly we read:
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like
the wind, have taken us away.
This verse
specifically links righteousness to garments,
but the fact is that ALL our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
It is for this reason that I have consistently said
that our works/outreach which
originates from us is not what the Eternal requires.
In fact we are to repent of dead works.
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve
the living God?
That is why I am always quoting:
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them.
Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand:
let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and
let us put on the armour of light.
A spirit body that is acceptable to God, is clothed in
the righteous deeds,
which the Eternal God did through them.
It seems that the alternative is nakedness.
It does not seem that a spirit body can be clothed in
filthy rags.
Thus we read in above:
Revelation 3:17 knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked:
Henry Gruver mentioned that in his vision of heaven,
when he saw these white garments,
they were actually comprised of the works which were
of the Eternal and acceptable to Him,
their righteousness.
He said that just by looking at the garment you could
tell what were the acceptable works
that the person had done during their lifetime.
This is very sobering indeed when you consider that
most are wrapped up in themselves.
It seems that there are an awful lot of naked people
about.
As I feel that the physical often mirrors the
spiritual,
I suppose that it is mirrored certainly in Western society
with many people
trying to wear as little as possible.
To me this was an awesome thing to understand.
It is no wonder that Laodiceans are branded as naked.
That is because as far as the spirit is concerned,
that is their precise position.
Matthew 22: 11 And when the king came in to see the guests,
he saw there a man
which had not on a
wedding garment:
12 And he
saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?
And he was speechless.
13 Then
said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away,
and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It is a
fact that the unrighteous feel distinctly uncomfortable in the presence of
someone
who is
even a little righteous, and they want to get out of their company as soon as
possible.
In the
bigger picture, Adam and Eve were so fearful after they sinned that
they tried
to hide from the Eternal.
They did
not realize that there was and is no hiding place.
Once we were in darkness:
Romans 2:19 And art confident that thou thyself art a
guide of the blind,
a light of them
which are in darkness,
Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness,
but now are ye light in the
Lord: walk as children of light:
Being blind, we are unable to see our true condition
of nakedness.
Sadly we often have returned to the darkness, and are
happy to shut our eyes
and close our ears so that we neither see nor hear.
Once this is done, communication is impossible until
they decide to reverse the process.
Matthew 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart,
and should be converted, and I should heal them.
When your eyes are shut you cannot comprehend the
darkness of the state in which you are.
When you cannot see, your nakedness does not bother
you.
You are happy to wander aimlessly in the blackest
night.
John 1:5 And the light shineth
in darkness; and the darkness
comprehended it not.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world,
and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil.
But even worse we were actually darkness.
Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are
ye light in the Lord:
walk as children of light:
When Adam
and Eve were made, they were physically naked but not ashamed.
Prior to their
sin their spirit was awaiting their choice of whether they would
eat of the
Tree of Life or of the Tree of death.
Genesis
2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone
of my bones,
and flesh
of my flesh: she shall be called Woman,
because
she was taken out of Man.
24
Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother,
and shall
cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were
both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
They chose
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, death.
Genesis
2:16 And the LORD God commanded the
man, saying,
Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17
But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil,
thou shalt
not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The result
of their choice which was rebellion and sin,
was not
only death, but also the realization of their nakedness.
This was
far more than becoming aware of their physical nakedness.
As they
were made in the image of the Creator it is more than likely that
they also
had a covering of light, which disappeared when they sinned.
They were
man and wife, but now they were ashamed and frightened.
Their
spirit had been profoundly affected.
Their
relationship with their Creator had been broken.
Spiritually
they were very naked, and could never attend Christ’s wedding feast in that
state.
Christ had
to come, suffer and die in order to repair the breach so that once
again they
could be clothed in the proper acceptable garments
which they
were created to wear in the first place.
For our
spirit to be naked is not a small matter.
It took the
death of our Creator Saviour to correct this disaster.
Sadly many
prefer to continue doing their own thing, rejecting the instructions
of Christ
although they claim to be Christians.
Like a two
year old they are quite content to run around with nothing on.
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked;
and they sewed fig leaves together, and
made themselves aprons.
8 And
they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the
day:
and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God
amongst the trees of the
garden.
9 ¶ And the
LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I
was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 ¶ And he
said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee
that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be
with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
We can clearly see that their idea of resolving their
problem did not work at all.
Their fig leaf covering did not hide their fallen
spiritual condition,
no more than our rituals, works and multitudinous
activities cloak our pitiful spiritual condition.
Physical
deeds cannot hide spiritual conditions.
It is
truly sobering to think that all of our busyness,
rituals,
self righteousness, even pride and arrogance,
with which
we daily diligently concern ourselves,
do not produce
a final result which is a beautiful white wedding garment woven of
righteousness,
but rather
filthy rags which simply expose our spiritual nakedness,
as clearly
as not putting on clothes exposes our physical
nakedness.
As I
stated elsewhere Christ was looking for a chaste bride and he found a
prostitute.
Adam and
Eve had nowhere to hide.
Similarly
this also leaves us with nowhere to hide.
Clever
doctrinal, theological arguments, and words out of our mouths, will not,
indeed
cannot hide the shame of our spiritual nakedness which will be laid bare for
everyone to see.
The
Eternal is not interested in our theology, but rather our humility and
obedience.
The
pertinent questions for us all are these.
Are we
naked?
Are our
clothes simply filthy rags?
Are we
allowing the Eternal to use us and allow HIM to make righteous garments
which are
acceptable to HIM for us?
If the
answer to these questions is no,
then
urgent action is required to swiftly remedy the situation while there is still
time.
Revelation 3: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me (Christ) gold tried in the
fire, that thou mayest be rich;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see.
If we refuse to act we simply will not attend the
wedding feast.
Matthew 22: 11 And when the king came in to see the guests,
he saw there a man
which had not on a
wedding garment:
12 And he
saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?
And he was speechless.
13 Then
said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away,
and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Surely none of us want to be found in the
position of this unfortunate person
who tried to gate crash the wedding feast
!!
I certainly hope not.
There is only way out of this dilemma, it is Jesus Christ.
He is the our
clothing, our everything.
Praise
the Lord.
Come
soon Lord Jesus.
Amen.
(Bible Explanations,
Messages of Life, Hope
& Encouragement)