Clothing Optional

“And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:25

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands…” Revelation 7:9

“’Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride, has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure’—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” Revelation 19:7

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” Revelation 22:14

The above parallel never occurred to me before tonight. We often talk about heaven being Eden restored—a new heaven and a new earth and all of that. Genesis makes a big deal about our nakedness being a symbol of our innocence and freedom from shame, yet strangely, Revelation doesn’t mention a restoration to innocent nakedness, and makes several references to our being clothed in robes. Ponder this for a minute.

There are several significant things to unpack here.

A Word Most Underappreciated

Deem: /dēm/  Regard or consider in a specified way.

Redeem: /rē DĒM/  To regard anew, to redefine, to reassign value, to buy back, to recover

In the Eden of Genesis 1 and 2, we were deemed, above all else of Creation, to be very good. Our worth was defined and declared by the very God who spoke into being galaxies bathed in the light of manifold maelstroms of nuclear fusion, the very smallest atoms igniting with the holiest of fire to form the stars of unimaginable size and power. And that declared worth was of a caliber exceeding these marvels.

In the Eden of Genesis 3, a single choice dismantled to naught the declaration of the Most High. We, valued above the wonders we have yet to imagine, made ourselves antithetical to our potential. We fell in ignorant greed. We had not yet grasped the true glory of our position before we casually tossed it aside for a veneered imitation with slightly brighter paint. Our ignorance did not protect us from the consequences of our actions because we chose to ignore that of which we were cognizant—a single command, almost trivial in its burden, until it was disobeyed.