Tuesday was Ralph’s birthday; he would have been 57.  While reflecting on our time with him, the Lord Spirit said, “Consider the lilies.”

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.   But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you (today and “tomorrow”)?  You men of little faith!  Luke 12:26-28 New American Standard Bible (parenthetic remark added)

          Regrettably, the modern church associates being “thrown into the furnace” with judgment and hell-fire, but this interpretation completely misses the Lord’s point.  The worry of men is for little things that they cannot control, such as what they shall eat and what they shall wear “today”.  The Lord’s point is:  if you cannot control even these little things for “today”, why worry about them?  And “tomorrow”, meaning the hereafter, after this life is over–as it is for Ralph–our worry is equally pointless.  Nevertheless, on what does the modern church focus its “turn or burn” message?  The modern church says, “Heed our warnings, and do what we tell you, or you risk being thrown into the furnace!”   Once again, the modern church confuses Father God with Nebuchadnezzar, the ancient Babylonian emperor, who dictated that all bow down to his golden statue or be thrown into the fiery furnace.  Read the story for yourself in Daniel 3, and note who it is that actually dies.

          Recall the evangelistic encounters/confrontations/arguments which, while seeking to convert some lost soul, begin with the question:  Do you KNOW where you will spend eternity?  The well-meaning believers who use this approach would be much more successful in converting lost souls if they listened to Jesus, and taught as He taught.  If instead of sowing worry about “tomorrow”, they asked, “How much more will He clothe you, you men of little faith?” they would find men drawn to the irresistible love of God and His never-failing mercy!  The Lord’s question deals with the hereafter, “tomorrow”, after this life is over, and is the subject of this post.

          How much more will God clothe Ralph, and you, dear reader, when “tomorrow” comes to  you or vice versa?  And what exactly do lilies have to do with it?  First, how a lily grows is not by effort or hard work.  A lily does not create its beauty by itself, or to say it another way, God is responsible for how it grows and how it “looks”.  King Solomon, the richest king ever to walk the face of the earth, and presumably the best-dressed king ever, had to exert some effort to luxuriously clothe himself.  Not so with the lily–someone else (God) exerted the effort, and the lily is the recipient.

          The lily is a picture, a prophecy–in theology-talk, a type–of something to come.  Lilies were put on the earth for this sole purpose:  to reflect in a pleasing and beautiful way what God has in store for men.  It is God that makes men “white” by the blood of Jesus, not men themselves by their own efforts.  Lilies bloom around Easter, the time of the resurrection of Christ Jesus.  In our area, they grow out of the water, reflecting the newness of life after one’s missing the mark (hamartano) is washed away.  Coming to faith in Jesus is cleansing of a lifetime of wrongdoing, literally a new creation, clean and spotless.  And the aroma?  A single lily is quite aromatic, but try to imagine the smell and the sight of a whole field of lilies!

          Now, what about this furnace?  First, do you imagine that blooming lilies or green grass burn very well?  No.  So initially it should be noted that we are not talking about “today”, but instead afterwards when the lily and the grass have lost the clothing initially given to them by God.  At that point, the initial “clothing” is no longer needed and is disposed of–the same as a dead body.  How much more will God clothe men of little faith, men of great faith, men of some faith, men of no faith, men of right faith, and men of wrong faith?  Dear reader, DO NOT WORRY! God will, according to the word of Jesus, clothe them quite a bit more!

          We believe there will be at least two resurrections, meaning two occasions when previously deceased  persons are roused from whatever condition they are in after death to stand alive before God and before Jesus, our Lord.  (See Revelation 20:4-6)  On the second of these occasions, there will be discipline and correction (punishment, if you prefer, but punishment to correct and not to destroy) in accordance with perfect justice and superceding love.  What happens when the discipline is completed?   Here is where the clothing comes in!

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and  before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”  And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever.  Amen.”  Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”  I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Revelation 7:9-14, New American Standard Bible

           Some will say, “Aha!  They washed their robes, so it’s not all God’s doing!”  We will not argue the point.  Instead, we note that the Greek word for “washed” in the passage above is used only this once in the New Testament.  It is “plyno”  (Strong’s Concordance G4150).  In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, plyno was consistently used in place of the Hebrew word “kavas” (Strong’s Concordance H3526).  Kavas is used frequently, so by looking at the Hebrew uses, we may better understand the single Greek use in Revelation 7:14.  Kavas (and plyno) always refer to washing an inanimate object–never oneself, like washing one’s hands, face, feet, or entire body. Kavas literally means to tread upon or trample upon with one’s feet as the means of washing.  The great multitude in the verses above are not washing themselves to become holy or acceptable to God; instead, they are treading upon their robes to symbolize their submission to the Lamb–Jesus Christ–who is seated at God’s right hand until all things are in subjection under His feet.  1 Corinthians 15:25, 27 and Ephesians 1:22.

          The main point is, the robes are given to the great multitude by God, to men who are in submission to the blood sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah upon the cross.  The robes cover a new body, one that does die or even age, an immortal and incorruptible body made from the dust of the earth–the Promised Land (in Hebrew, eretz–Strong’s Concordance H776).  When a person’s life is cleansed by trusting Jesus to do what He said (and says) He will do, that person will joyfully submit to Jesus.  That is precisely God’s goal in the restoration of all things:  the joyful cleansing and submission of all men to our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus, and clothing them with immortality.  Let it be so, Lord Jesus! 

Blessed are you, O Lord, our wonderful God, and blessed is the Lily of the Valley, Yeshua HaMashiach, the first to be clothed by you with eternity.  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to you for all ages.  Amen.

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