A Biblical Overview of Eternal Rewards – Mike Bickle
Session 4 Heavenly Garments: Glorious, Beautiful, and DiversePage1

Session 4 Heavenly Garments: Glorious, Beautiful, and Diverse

I.Review:Principles or premises mentioned in our last 2 sessions

Tonight we are going to look at heavenly garments as part of our heavenly rewards.They are glorious, beautiful, and they are very diverse. This is a point that I am going to be emphasizing a number of times tonight. Just a quick review, in our last two sessions we looked at fifteen principles, or you could say premises, related to eternal rewards. I want to review six of those fifteen very briefly just to get our minds around this, particularly as we look at some of the details of eternal rewards.

A.Principle #1: Eternal rewards are expressions of God’s grace—His generosity.

Number one, eternal rewards are expressions of God’s grace. We are clear about that from the Bible. It is God’s generosity. We take one step of obedience, and He gives us a mile of reward. I mean the extreme generosity of what He gives us, we could never, ever, with understanding, actually think we earned them in any kind of realistic way.

B.Principle #2: Eternal rewards are given according to works—our faithfulness.

Principle number two, though we do not earn them, and though God gives us far more than we could ever earn, He does give us eternal rewards related to what we do. He responds to the way that we loved Him in this age. Not just an emotional telling Him,“I love You, I love You,” but actually walking it out in faithfulnessand diligence in our assignment before Him.

C.Principle #3: We compare Scripture with Scripture to gain insight.

Principle number three we will use tonight. We compare scripture with scripture to get more insight on eternal rewards. For example, we will see what God says a number of places in the Scripture about garments and that will give us insight into how God views garments for billions and billions of years. Because God never changes, how He views garments now gives us insight to how He views garments forever and forever.

D.Principle #4: We gain insight from the natural—God’s handiworkis seen in creation and society.

28Consider the lilies of the field…29Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Now if God so clothes the grass of the field…will He not much moreclothe you? (Mt. 6:28-30)

Principle number four, we gain insight from the natural realm. We do not gain full insight, but some insight. David said he looked up at the sky and saw the handiwork of God. He saw the thumbprint of God’s beauty and His activity in creation.

We could look at society; that is part of the natural realm. Because people are made in the image of God—we are image bearers. Though fallen image bearers, we are image bearers—what people do and how they reflect core and common values throughout history gives us some insight into what is the image of God being expressed in and through us. It is an imperfect picture, but it does give us a hint.

I love this in Matthew 6, talking about the natural realm. In verse 28, Jesus said to look at the lilies. That is, go stare at them and study the lilies. There are many, many types of lilies actually. There is not just one type of lily. In verse 28, Jesus said that Solomon, the wealthiest king of Israel and the wisest and the most creative and gifted could not array himself better. His garments could not compare to them because the lilies had beauty and diversity beyond Solomon’s scope and grasp.

Verse 30, “Now if God so clothes the grass and the flowers,” then He went on to say,“and they fade away,” they burn up in a moment. Here is the phrase, “Will He not much more clothe you?” Now this promise that, “Will He not much more clothe you?” reaches far beyond this life. When Jesus said that Solomon in his creativity, his wisdom, his wealth could not come up with a wardrobe that could rival the lilies because of the Father’s handiwork in creation, I could imagine Jesus smiling and saying, “Will He not much more clothe you more than even the lilies that Solomon could not rival?” I am imagining the wardrobe in the New Jerusalem that the saints will have as much greater than the lilies which was much greater than Solomon’s. So whatever Solomon’s wardrobe was, we know that God will much more clothe us, much more than that. So that is a hint. That is not a direct statement, but it is like I imagine the Lord would say, “Just go think on that for a while. Imagine where this might go. Do not imagine this promise is limited nor fulfilled in completion in this age, not even close.”

E.Principle #5: Eternal rewards are glorious beyond anything that we can imagine (1 Cor. 2:9).We must be careful not toreduce eternal rewards to something that we can easily imagine. They are commensurate withthe glory of the King and the eternal city; theyare befitting of royalty and express His beauty. The glory of the daughter in Psalm 45 is symbolic of the Bride of Christ.

9Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor. 2:9)

9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation… (1 Pet. 2:9)

The fifth principle I want to review, and each one of these we spent a bit of time on already, is that eternal rewards are far more glorious than anything we could imagine. Paul said that it has never entered the mind of a person the glory, the measure of the glory. So whatever you are imagining of the thrones and crowns and garments and food and fellowship and relationship, whatever you imagine is far lower.Those rewards are far greater than you could ever imagine. Our imagination comes up far short.So we must be careful as we think on eternal rewards that we do not reduce them to something that we can easily imagine because their glory is beyond our reach. So whatever you think, it is greater than that.

Eternal rewards are commensurate with the King of glory because we are relating to Him and He is the author of the rewards. He is generous. He is smart. He is wealthy and very creative. So whatever the rewards are, they are commensurate with His personality, His wealth, and His skill.

They are commensurate with the New Jerusalem, the environment of the city that we will live in forever. A glorious, diamond-like city with a people who are rewarded in a way that fits the environment of the city.

The rewards are befitting of royalty. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood; you are the aristocracy of the eternal city, for real. That is kind of a cute little statement, but it is real. You are literally the royal family. Whatever the King gives His royal family, the rewards are in that vein, it is in that mindset, and they express His beauty.

F.Jesus imparts beauty to His people in various ways, including heavenly garments (Isa. 61:1-3). Moses prayed for God’s beauty to be seen on God’s people (Ps. 90:17). Isaiah spoke of putting on beautiful garments (Isa. 52:1) and compared them to a bride adorning herself (Isa. 61:10).

1The Spirit of the Lord Godis upon Me…3to give them beauty for ashes.(Isa. 61:1-3)

17Let the beauty of the Lord…be upon us, and establish the work of our hands. (Ps. 90:17)

1Awake…Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments.” (Isa. 52:1)

10He has clothed me with the garments of salvation…as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isa. 61:10)

Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,” Jesus would say, “to heal broken hearts, to liberate the captives, to preach the gospel to the poor.” He actually gives twelve details of what the Spirit on Him is to do. One of them that is often overlooked is verse 3, to give beauty in the place of the ash heap of broken lives. He gives beauty. He does not just allow us to see it; He imparts it. The eternal rewards are one way He imparts His beauty.Garments are dynamically connected to beauty. Beauty is bigger than garments, but garments are deeply connected to them.

In Psalm 90, Moses prayed along this very line. He said, “Let the beauty of the Lord be on us.” Not just character, yes character, the beauty of holiness, but let the beauty of God be on us as well. I have no doubt that this is connected in part to our heavenly garments.It is interesting that the very next phrase Moses said was to establish the works of our hands, because we will see in a moment a very well-known verse that the garments of the Bride are related to her works. The beauty of her garments is related to her works. Moses was putting beauty and works together right here in Psalm 90.

Isaiah spoke of putting on beautiful garments. Then he compared those beautiful garments to the way a bride adorns herself on her wedding day. Isaiah 52:1, “O Zion, put on beautiful garments.” Now that has a twofold application. We put on garments, spiritual garments, in this age in character by embracing humility and kindness. Do not imagine that is the end of the story! The garments of kindness, beauty, humility, compassion that we put on in this age are manifested actually as heavenly garments in the age to come.

Because, as I have said over and over in the first three sessions, eternal rewards are Jesus expressing how He feels about the way you loved Him in this age. Eternal rewards are notabout earning anything nor it is about being over anyone. Although there is an element of ruling, that is not the reason. People do not want to rule so they can over someone; they want to rule so they are working in close proximity to Jesus on something that is dear to His heart.

Isaiah 61:10, “He has clothed me with the garments”—plural—“of salvation.” Obviously, there are spiritual truths of being justified by faith, but it does not end there. The garments are beyond that, although they certainly begin there, and that is the foundation of themin spiritual truths of what Jesus did on the cross for us. It has an outward, a fully outward expression, in our body, our garments, our dwelling place, the glory of God in our resurrected body, etc. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness in a way that a bride adorns herself with jewels. Now there is no day on which a woman is more careful about her garments than on her wedding day. I think that is one of the reasons Isaiah focused on this. There is no greater attention, there is no greater willingness to spare no expense, than on the wedding day. That is the day they give their all. The Lord is saying through Isaiah, “The garments you will have–well, think on theselines. They will be glorious beyond what you are imagining.” This gives us insight into the beauty of them.

G.Principle #6: Eternal rewards are given in varying measures. Believers will differ from one another in the measure of God’s glory expressed in and through them. Thus, each will have a varying measure of God’s glory in their garments according to how they lived (Rev. 19:8). The realm of “the resurrection” includes more than our body. It includes garments, thrones, crowns, and more.

41There is one glory of the sun…and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. 42So also is the resurrection of the dead. (1 Cor. 15:41-42)

As I said in other sessions, so I will not spend much time on it, eternal rewards are given in varying measure. Salvation is free, and everybody gets access to the city and are in the family automatically by faith as a free gift because of what Jesus did for us. Our function in the city and our life in the city has a connection to the way we responded to Jesus after He freely gave us His salvation. Paul said that as one star differs from another star in glory, so also the resurrection of the dead. It is not just the resurrected body. I believe the whole realm of the resurrection, the garments, the crowns, the thrones, in all the dimensions of the resurrection there are varying degrees of glory.

All we have to do is look at creation and we see God’s personality, His creative personality.There are millions of species of birds and fish and flies and flowers. I mean, just everywhere there is so much diversity. There are animals and plants that humans do not know anything about; they are on the backside of a mountain. Nobody will ever see them. God might say, “Because I am that creative, I did it, because that is who I am. I did not do it only so that somebody would see them, I do it because I am creative.” Well, His creative genius and diversity do not stop when we get to the resurrection. Without any element of sin to limit our experience, the creativity of God will be released in a way beyond anything we could imagine.

H.There are eight references in Revelation concerning “spiritual garments” (Rev. 3:4-5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 13; 19:8, 14).

I assume, and I think this is a fair assumption, that there will be many different types of garments, many. It is God’s personality. When we look at the Old Testament, we see how God commanded different garments. There is great diversity and color. I believe there will be many different types of clothing. You will have a vast wardrobe. Some will have a far more diverse wardrobe than others, because our garments will, as we will see in one of the foundational verses in a moment, Revelation 19:8, that the wedding garments are corresponding to the faithfulness of the saints in this age.

I believe they will be diverse in design. I love to say that you are not going to have just the basic white gown t-shirt forever for billions of years. It is not like God made this glorious city with diamonds and jewels, then He said, “Oh, I forgot clothing! So, it is all the same white garment. That is it.” No, He did not forget. I believe they will be diverse in fabric, brightness, coloring, fragrance, design, etc.

II.White garments: bright and dazzling

A.White garments are mentioned on six occasions (3:5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 7:14; 19:14). It seems that there are different types of white garments—ones that all believers receive related to the gift of salvation, and various garments given to some believers according to their faithfulness. I assume that there will be different types of clothing with unique design, fabric, brightness, coloring, fragrance, etc. Revelation speaks of white garments (Rev. 3:4-5, 18), white robes (Rev. 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 13, 14), and fine linen that is bright and white (Rev. 15:6; 19:8, 14). I assume that there are some distinctions between robes, white garments, and the fine linen.

The white garment is a common term that is mentioned in the book of Revelation on six different occasions. The term, white garment, has more implications than might meet the eye at a quick read. So do not see the common term and say, “Got it,” and just move on.

It seems to me, and I think it is pretty clear, there are many types of white garments. Again, not just one classic white garment, standard, and a couple billion saints all have the same one forever. I believe that all believers receive a white garment of sorts related to the gift of salvation. I believe there are various garments related to this term called white garments that only some believers will get related to their faithfulness. So I believe it is a term that has a lot of diversity.There are vast implications to this one term.

B.We consider two words that describe heavenly garments—leukos (white, bright; Rev. 3:5) and lampros(bright, radiant, white; Rev. 19:8).The Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon translates leukos as white, light, bright, brilliant (of sunlight or metallic surfaces). Leukos speaks of the shining garments of angels or Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:2; Mk. 9:3; Lk. 9:29).

We will consider two words that describe heavenly garments. Leukos is the Greek word for white, but it is also translated a number of times as “bright.” When it says white garments, particularly when it speaks of the heavenly realm, it means bright garments, not only white. Bright is the stronger idea. It is white, but there is a brightness to it. I do not believe that the garments are only white.I believe the predominant idea is the brightness of the glory of God, of which the seemingly dominate color is jasper-like. It says that God is jasper-like in His appearance, this bright, diamond-like appearance. The New Jerusalem has this jasper-like brightness of glory, but many hues of color in context to the jasper brightness of that diamond white-like glittering-diamond manifestation of the glory of God.

So this word, leukos, does mean white. It is often means white, like a white fence. If they were talking about a natural, white fence, it does not mean bright. When talking about a heavenly object or being it almost always associates it with brightness. So that shifts the meaning to more than what naturally meets the eye.