Stranger Things... From the Bible

[00:00:01] Speaker A: You guys, I am so excited. We have coined a new phrase. Did you realize that yet? No. [00:00:07] Speaker B: Sure. [00:00:09] Speaker A: Gospel threads. Oh, let me tell you a story. So earlier this week, as a family, we've been reading through the Bible, and we were in the book of Leviticus. And after we do our reading, we share, like, what's. What's your God shot? Or what's something that you noticed in the passage? And my daughter Elise, who's 12, you know, she's starting to notice things more. And she goes, mom, I found a gospel thread. Oh, I know. And I was like, oh, my goodness. Okay. Like, you know, it's cool for our listeners, but it's even more cool when our family is, like, catching up to this. And so for her to say that, I was like, okay, tell me what you're. Especially in Leviticus. [00:00:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm interested to see what she. [00:00:49] Speaker A: Tell me what my godshot is not God shot. Tell me what your gospel thread is. And she said, palms. And I was like, oh, interesting. And so it was Leviticus 23. It's the instructions for the feast of booths. And they were instructed to, like, grab branches to make the booths to celebrate and remember them their time in the wilderness. And then they're also supposed to grab palm fronds for the roof of their booths. They're like tent things. [00:01:20] Speaker C: Oh, wow. And she saw that as a gospel thread. [00:01:22] Speaker A: She saw that as a gospel thread. And when she said that, I. You know, I didn't want to, like, I didn't want to question it, but I was like, okay, I'm gonna have to look into this to see. And then you guys. Okay, first, Kings 6, 29 is the building of the temple. And guess what is to be engraved all over the temple. [00:01:42] Speaker C: There's palm. [00:01:43] Speaker A: Palm trees all over. Yeah, it says multiple times, palm trees, angels, and. And opening flowers and, like, all over. Like, even in the door frames and stuff. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. And it's kind of, like, kind of cool, too. I think of. When I think of a palm tree, I think of somewhere great, you know? So now we have, like, the feast of booze, like, right? And then we have the temple, and then we have Palm Sunday. [00:02:14] Speaker C: Of course, that's where I'm made with. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Palm Sunday is coming up here in just a couple days from what we're recording. But then, like, the best of all was Revelation 7, 9 through 12. Let me see. [00:02:26] Speaker C: I know what you're talking about. [00:02:27] Speaker A: I did not. I know. I knew part of this verse, but this was this part of it was new to me, and I was very excited. So Revelation 7. This is 9. 7. Okay. It says, after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and all the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces and they worshiped, saying, amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. [00:03:15] Speaker B: Oh, my word. [00:03:16] Speaker C: That's so cool. [00:03:17] Speaker B: We need to have her on for a second. [00:03:20] Speaker C: Good. [00:03:22] Speaker A: I just love how it's, like, increasing glory with each, like, sighting of the palm branches versus just these, like, booths, these, like, little ramshackle little dwelling places. And then the temple, which is really cool. And then Jesus coming in to Jerusalem in this, like, parade, and them shouting, hosanna. Blessed, you know, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. And then we see the, like, this is the final fulfillment. Yeah. Because I think Palm Sunday is still being a little bit, like, overshadowed by darkness of, like, he's gonna die in a week. Yeah, he's gonna die in a week. But. [00:03:59] Speaker C: But then in the Revelation passage, what did they say? They said, salvation belongs to the Lord, which is such a cool twist on [00:04:06] Speaker A: who sits on the throne. Yeah, yeah. [00:04:08] Speaker C: And hosanna. What they said the first time means save us. Save us. And so isn't that neat? It just comes full circle. That's so cool. [00:04:15] Speaker A: I thought that was awesome. That was really cool. There was also one in Song of Solomon that was relating a woman to a poem, but I'm not sure that one relates as closely. [00:04:28] Speaker C: Oh, thanks for sharing. [00:04:29] Speaker B: That's really cool. [00:04:41] Speaker A: Welcome to the Gospel Threads podcast, where we uncover gospel themes what woven through all of scripture and explore what they mean for our lives today. You guys, we have kind of completed. We've done. Did we do nine episodes? Ten episodes. Nine episodes of clothing. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:02] Speaker A: Right. And there's still so many more passages that we could cover. And so for this episode, we decided that we wanted to bring our favorite verses that we haven't covered to talk about what else there is about clothing in the Bible. Because we couldn't. I don't think we could possibly. [00:05:24] Speaker B: We're not going to hit em all today. [00:05:26] Speaker A: Even today, we couldn't even today. We couldn't. So we're gonna go two rounds, three rounds. [00:05:31] Speaker C: Two rounds. [00:05:32] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. And each share just take turns sharing something that we found. So we'll start with Old Testament. Okay, round one's Old Testament. And Ali, you wanna start us off with what you picked out? We don't know, like genuine surprise that we did not. Yeah. [00:05:49] Speaker C: I am excited to share this one with you guys. I think it's gonna shock you. This is not one that we've talked about. I'm like covering up my papers right now. Cause I want them to see. I wouldn't say this is like my favorite verse or favorite story, but it was one that I was just studying for my Bible class. I teach elementary kids and we are about to go over this in class. So I wanted. It was in my mind. We are going to judges 14. [00:06:16] Speaker A: Judges. [00:06:17] Speaker C: Judges 14. Do you know who we find in judges 14? [00:06:21] Speaker A: A judge. We find a judge. [00:06:23] Speaker C: We find the final judge of Israel and the worst judge of Israel. Samson. [00:06:30] Speaker A: Samson is the worst judge. [00:06:32] Speaker C: He's a bad dude. I didn't realize he was the worst. He's a naughty, naughty boy. [00:06:37] Speaker A: He is. [00:06:38] Speaker B: With long hair and then shorts short here. [00:06:40] Speaker A: Yep. [00:06:40] Speaker B: Okay. [00:06:41] Speaker C: Okay. So there's a lot we could say about Samson. We're going to keep it short because I want to just get to the clothing part. So in, in chapter 14, we have his marriage to a Philistine woman. And on he goes to his wedding feast, which is a seven day feast. And he, he tells this riddle to 30 guests there. 30 men. And he says, if you can figure out the answer to this riddle in seven days, I will give each of you a. I'm going to give each of you clothes. He says, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. Linen garments is basically just like really nice underwear. [00:07:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:28] Speaker C: The word for clothes here is like festive clothes. So like a nice clothes. [00:07:33] Speaker A: Really nice clothes. [00:07:33] Speaker C: So. So he will give each of them one of these. And then he says, if you can't figure out the answer to my riddle, you all have to give me. Each of you have to give me one, you know, fine linen garment and the. The change of clothes. So then he will get 30 nice underwear and 30 nice changes of clothes. Okay. So he tells them this riddle and they can't figure it out. So they go to his bride and they get her to get the answer. It's not Delilah, by the way. [00:08:02] Speaker A: I was wondering that. [00:08:03] Speaker C: Apparently Jud, this is a different one. And they get the answer from her and she, she tells them. And so now Samson has to pay up. So this is the, this is the interesting part. He, he has a little bit of a temper tantrum. Um, I'm gonna read to you. It's a. In verse 19 it says the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. Remember Samson had like this great strength and there were these moments where God gave him this like extra dose of strength. So it said the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. He went down to ash and struck down 30 men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had. Who he had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. So wow. [00:08:52] Speaker A: Okay, that's my story for you guys today. What can we learn from that? Yeah, I know there's a lot. What is the takeaway? [00:09:01] Speaker B: It's making me think of like Bilbo and Dalam and like the Hobbit where there's like the riddle and anyways, total side note. [00:09:07] Speaker C: Go there. [00:09:08] Speaker A: Okay. [00:09:08] Speaker C: Okay. [00:09:09] Speaker B: This is the original riddle. [00:09:11] Speaker C: This is the original riddle. Yeah. So a lot of our clothing stories talk about like how God provides for us and covers us. And this is just a different, different, different take here. So in this story, the clothing I would say represents greed. He getting these clothes would become very wealthy. People back then really only had one change of clothes. So to have 30 sets of like nice festive clothing was very valuable. [00:09:43] Speaker B: So he. [00:09:44] Speaker C: Right now, up to this point, we didn't see it. We don't have time to go through the whole story. But he has already made some really bad choices in this chapter. He is a Nazarite, which means he's set apart for God to use. And he's already broken his vow to God a few times. He's touched a dead animal. That was a big no. No. He's marrying a Philistine woman. That's a big no. The party language here, talks implies alcohol. He wasn't supposed to be around that. So he's already done all of these things wrong. And now he's leveraging these things with his strength to see what he can get. And he's just being greedy. He's being very self serving. [00:10:21] Speaker A: Just utter disregard for God's holiness and his devotion. What should be devotion to God. [00:10:26] Speaker B: That's interesting because we've talked about clothing like being provision from God to people. And here he's really trying to wrestle that away from God saying nope, I can do it myself. Which is what we do all the time. [00:10:36] Speaker C: Definitely. [00:10:37] Speaker A: Okay, great job. [00:10:39] Speaker B: Nicely done. [00:10:41] Speaker A: That Was a great one. Thank you. Totally surprised me. [00:10:43] Speaker B: Okay. [00:10:44] Speaker A: You totally surprised me. [00:10:45] Speaker C: Glad you enjoyed it. There is one redeeming, like, piece of this story. Can I just share? And I think this is another lesson that we can learn that we talk about often. But Samson being the judge of Israel, they were supposed to be getting rid of the Philistine people. They weren't supposed to be marrying them. They were supposed to be removing them from their culture. And so in the end, when it says that the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, he did kill 30 philistine men, which was something he was supposed to do because they were so evil. And so even though his, you know, his motives were a little bit misguided and misplaced, he still ended up fulfilling some of the Lord's will. [00:11:26] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah, that's good. And that's helpful to help us understand too. So cool. Okay, do I go next, or do you want to go next? [00:11:34] Speaker B: Steph, it doesn't matter. [00:11:35] Speaker A: Okay, I can go next. [00:11:36] Speaker B: All right. [00:11:37] Speaker A: Um, Mine is actually about a lack of clothing. My son's name is Isaiah. [00:11:44] Speaker C: I had a feeling [00:11:48] Speaker A: the prophet Isaiah, they have something in common. Well, we both don't love clothes, actually. I don't know how Bible Isaiah felt about clothes, but the prophet Isaiah walks around naked for three years. No shoes, no clothes. Oh, and I mean, that sounds like. Why would God have someone do like God commanded him to? This is from Isaiah 22 through 6. And this is God tells him that. It says, at that time, the Lord spoke by Isaiah, the son of Amos, saying, God, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet. And he did so walking naked and barefoot. Then the Lord said, as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent. What's a portent? Do you guys know what a portent is? [00:12:39] Speaker B: I know what important is, but that's not the word. [00:12:42] Speaker A: Um, I think me. I think a sign. A sign is probably just looking at the context. Anyways, portent against Egypt and Kush. So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives in the Kushite. Exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered. Nakedness of Egypt. Um, they shall be. And this is the. The most important part. Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Kush, their hope, and of Egypt, their boast. So what this is saying. It's kind of confusing, but what this is saying is King Hezekiah love King Hezekiah. Good guy, made lots of really great decisions. But he made some bad decisions, too. One of those was to make alliances with Egypt out of fear. And Isaiah came to him and was like, hey, because you and all of Israel are putting your trust more in Egypt. This is a sign, one, as a warning to Egypt that they are going to be dragged off by Assyria naked and barefoot with buttocks exposed. And it's also a warning to you of, like, don't put your trust in man because man is not sovereign. Like, you can't. You can't rely on anyone else, and especially not these nations, like the Philistine nation, a nation that is very evil with evil practices, who does not worship Yahweh. And so this is like, those people that you're trusting in, it's gonna all topple. It's all gonna crumble. They're not gonna be trustworthy or able to help you and support you in your day of need. So that is Isaiah and his story. [00:14:23] Speaker C: That's quite the visual. [00:14:25] Speaker A: It is. [00:14:26] Speaker B: I'm like a little kid laughing when [00:14:28] Speaker C: you said, I can't help but feel bad for him. I know, but, I mean, if he was living in a. In a place with palm branches, hopefully it wasn't too cold. [00:14:37] Speaker A: Okay. [00:14:37] Speaker C: Hopefully there's a little bit of. [00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But still, I mean, humbling, for sure. Humbling. [00:14:46] Speaker B: Sunburn in some areas that probably haven't seen the light of day. [00:14:49] Speaker A: Like, probably. Yeah, yeah. [00:14:51] Speaker B: That's uncomfortable. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:53] Speaker B: And uncomfortable to look at. Like, that's a very. Like, the imagery that what God did to show this is what you're like. That's intense. [00:15:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm making a little bit light of the story and just describing it, but it was. It was. I mean, yeah, it was a very serious. Very serious warning to both Egypt and. And to Israel, too. [00:15:15] Speaker B: So I think we've all had the dreams of, like, where you're at public speaking, and then all of a sudden you're, like, naked. Like, that's a pretty classic one. That was his reality because he was a prophet. [00:15:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:15:23] Speaker B: He had to go do that. [00:15:24] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:15:25] Speaker B: Glad God's calling. Not calling us to do that. [00:15:28] Speaker A: I know. [00:15:29] Speaker B: A descriptive, not a prescriptive text. [00:15:32] Speaker C: Thank you for the clarification. [00:15:33] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [00:15:34] Speaker A: Specific person at a specific time for a specific reason. Yes. All right, Steph, what do you got for us? [00:15:41] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's interesting. Mine. This one is pretty intense. This one is going to come from Ezekiel 16, and I just picked a couple of verses out of there because the whole chapter actually, like, does talk about clothing or lack of clothing and trying to, like, show something true about what Israel is doing. So I'm just going to read, like, just a couple verses that I picked out of there. Um, but here, Ezekiel 16, as for your birth. On the day you were born, with your cord not cut. Nowhere were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. So he's picturing Israel saying, you are like this helpless babe that was just born in a field, that's mother walked away still covered in blood, no clothes, umbilical cord still there. So, okay, so he's picturing, this is you, this is Israel. You cannot save yourself. But then it says, but then I passed by you and I saw you wallowing in your blood. And I said to you, in your blood, live. I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you. I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. But you trusted your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your horns on any passerby, and your beauty became his. And so this is just this picture of what he's saying. Israel, my people, you needed me. I saved you, I redeemed you, I clothed you. [00:17:12] Speaker C: I did all of this really expensive. [00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Like, this was like, the clothes that you wanted. [00:17:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I would think my brain goes to, like, almost royal clothing. Yeah. That kind of expense. [00:17:27] Speaker B: It's not just like fig leaves. It's not just like the. We're gonna give you the bare minimum. I'm gonna give you the best of the best. Yeah. [00:17:35] Speaker C: Think that the response would be gratitude and loyalty. And that's not. [00:17:39] Speaker B: Which. I mean, those were like, not like verse by verse. I picked it out just to kind of give the picture of what's happening in story. And at first there is gratitude, but then what they do is they take those things that God has given them and they give themselves to another person. They give themselves to another nation. Which I feel like actually ties it really well with the stories that you guys have shared, too. You saw that play out and kind of putting myself in that, you know, initially you're like, oh, I would never do that. But how often do we take God's gifts and then use them and maybe make an idol out of them or do things and say, I did this Instead of saying, no, God gifted me this. You know, we really can do the same thing. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:22] Speaker B: And so it's a very, like, vivid passage. Like, if you read the whole chapter, you're just like, whoa, I cannot believe that's actually in the Bible. [00:18:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:30] Speaker B: But I think we're supposed to feel it deeply because sin is a deep matter, and we're supposed to feel the gravity of what we actually do, and [00:18:38] Speaker A: we can so easily make light of it. Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. [00:18:41] Speaker B: So it's not one that's going to be hanging up on the wall, but it is God using clothing in a very vivid way in the text. [00:18:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, That's. I'm loving that we decided not to tell each other what we were going to share. Okay, round one is done. Old Testament, round two, New Testament. [00:19:01] Speaker B: Go in the same order. [00:19:02] Speaker A: Sure. Allie, are you ready? Sure. [00:19:04] Speaker C: I've got a couple, and I don't know which one I want to. Okay, I. I'm gonna start. We have time. I'll get to another one. I'm gonna start with Matthew 22. [00:19:13] Speaker A: Okay. [00:19:14] Speaker B: Which. [00:19:14] Speaker C: Do you know what that is? [00:19:16] Speaker B: Off the top of my head quiz. I failed. [00:19:19] Speaker A: This is something with Jesus. [00:19:21] Speaker B: This is. [00:19:21] Speaker C: It is something with Jesus. [00:19:22] Speaker A: Is he washing their feet? [00:19:24] Speaker C: It's a. Oh, that's. No, that goes with. Well, never mind. [00:19:28] Speaker B: That does have clothing in it, though. [00:19:30] Speaker A: I think so. [00:19:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Because he, like, ties the towel around his waist. I didn't even think of that one. Okay, this is a parable of the wedding feast. [00:19:39] Speaker A: Oh, okay. I should have known that. [00:19:41] Speaker C: You should have known. [00:19:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. [00:19:43] Speaker C: I'm disappointed. No, I'm just kidding. Okay. This is a parable that Jesus tells, and it is about a king who throws a wedding feast for his son. And pause. I'm gonna pause really quick. Let me. Let's kind of talk about parable just super fast. [00:19:58] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. Also, we should explain why we were like, oh, of course, Ali. Oh, Ali has taught on us. [00:20:03] Speaker C: You're right. Let's back up a little bit. [00:20:05] Speaker A: That's all. [00:20:05] Speaker C: Okay. I have talked about. [00:20:06] Speaker A: Go ahead, tell us about parable. [00:20:07] Speaker C: And you guys knew that, so that's why you should have known. But parable is basically taking everyday language to communicate a. I should have had a definition more prepared. But to communicate, like, a truth using plain language. So Jesus would have taken, like, things that people were familiar with to tell a story. It's not allegorical in the sense where every single thing in the story symbolizes something else. So you want to look for the main things, but we're not trying to, like, see things that aren't there. [00:20:39] Speaker A: So it's not historical where it actually happened. It is a story, and it's not allegorical to the fact that. To the point that every feature of it has some kind of representation. [00:20:51] Speaker C: Yes. So in this story, we have a king throwing a wedding feast for his son. And the guests that he invited, they refused to come. And then they even, like, beat up and kill some of the king's servants. So the king, he kills all of those people who killed his servants. And then he says, well, we still have this feast ready, and I still want to fill up the hall with people. So he sends servants out just to, like, the streets. And he's like, just grab whoever you can find and just bring them. It doesn't really matter who it is. Anybody is welcome. So then it says that the wedding hall was filled with guests, both good and bad. And then during the wedding feast, this is what we read in verse 11 through 14. Let me read it for you. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to his attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called and few are chosen. So he has this pretty, pretty severe punishment for not. Not wearing the wedding garment. [00:22:12] Speaker A: And. Did you say this already? And I. And I blanked out that the king would have provided them with the wedding garment. [00:22:20] Speaker C: I didn't say that. [00:22:20] Speaker A: But you're right. But you taught that. I remember you teaching us that. [00:22:23] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:25] Speaker A: And that makes, I think, all the difference to me. [00:22:28] Speaker B: It's not him being harsh, Right. [00:22:31] Speaker A: It's him being justified because this man refused to wear what was provided in order to show honor at this wedding that he was throwing. Right? [00:22:40] Speaker C: Yep. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was customary back then, too. You would wear. You would wear a wedding garment at a wedding. You couldn't just go. I mean, imagine if. Imagine we talked about the royal wedding a couple episodes ago. Imagine if you got invited to the royal wedding and they were like, hey, we've got this whole, like, closet you can look through and pick out, like, a really nice dress to wear, and you're just like, no, I'm good in my jeans. Well, that would be, like, so disrespectful to them to show up at a royal wedding in jeans. [00:23:10] Speaker A: Also, just to not even accept the kindness, like the Generosity. [00:23:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:23:14] Speaker B: And if you just said too, like, most people only had one set of clothes, so it's like, it probably dirty, like, if you only had one. So that plays into it, I think, too. [00:23:25] Speaker C: And it. [00:23:25] Speaker A: I mean, it gives dignity to the [00:23:27] Speaker C: guest, too, to have something nice to wear. [00:23:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:31] Speaker C: And so when he says. When it says that he was speechless, it's not that he was like. Like he accidentally wandered in and didn't know that he was supposed to change. Like, he would have known that was very customary. He was speechless because he didn't have an excuse. He was blatantly, like, showing disrespect to the king. [00:23:51] Speaker A: So what is. This is a parable. What is it? What is it? Parableing. [00:23:55] Speaker C: Oh, well, that's the best part. [00:23:57] Speaker B: Paraboling. [00:23:58] Speaker A: I love it. I mean, just putting a new term there. [00:24:00] Speaker C: The king is God and his son, whose wedding feast it is. Who would that be? That would be Jesus. [00:24:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:08] Speaker C: And it's. It's our wedding to Christ. The Bible talks about the church being the bride of Christ. And so that's the best part is that this is like, kind of a foreshadowing to our day in heaven when we are just the bride of Christ and we get to just be in his presence and we get to be clothed in clothes that the king provided for us, and they are clean. And, um, they give us a new status. And, you know, we wouldn't want someone there who didn't have the same respect for our king as we did. And so it's also a mercy to the guests that that wedding crasher is thrown out. [00:24:46] Speaker A: Yeah, right. That's good. Another good one. Goodness. There's this. There really is, like, unlimited passages that you could go to. So I have here Luke 12:35 through 40. Is that. There's no overlap here. No, I didn't. No. Okay. Do you guys know what this one is? [00:25:05] Speaker C: The transfiguration. [00:25:08] Speaker B: No, actually, I know my Bible, but [00:25:12] Speaker C: I don't know the references. You probably just found one little verse that we would never guess. [00:25:18] Speaker A: It felt like that, kind of. But it's after. Do not be anxious in Luke. So the Sermon on the Mount portion, Jesus is still talking, and he says, stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. [00:25:38] Speaker C: And then. [00:25:39] Speaker A: This part is so cool. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he, the Master will dress himself for service and have them recline at table and he will come and serve them. [00:25:53] Speaker C: Oh my word. [00:25:54] Speaker B: There's so much there. The fact that you just did yours about and then you just. I know this was not planned. [00:25:59] Speaker A: I know this was planned. Wasn't. Isn't that cool? [00:26:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:26:03] Speaker A: Like, okay, so we've got the dressed, stay dressed for action and that is a word for us as believers to be, to be prepared to share our faith with people, knowing that the Master's coming back, that our time is limited. To be clothed in righteousness, to be doing, obeying God, to be putting on the armor of God, putting on, you know, humility, compassion, all those things that we've talked about in the past. And to be ready and eager to, you know, for the day of the Lord when he does return. And we get to celebrate that. He's coming now to like make this wedding official. But the other part that's beautiful about this is they're ready and they're waiting for him to return. Not so that they can serve him. In the end, he's serving them. He's the one who's getting dressed. Because it says he will dress himself for service and have them, the servants recline at table and he will come and serve them. And just what a beautiful picture of how rewarding it is to be dressed and to stay dressed and ready because in the end we are going to be able to rest and be him serving us. [00:27:17] Speaker C: So that reminds me of like you said, of him washing the disciples feet. [00:27:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:27:23] Speaker C: It's a very clear example of that. [00:27:25] Speaker A: Yeah. So I. [00:27:27] Speaker C: That's amazing. [00:27:27] Speaker A: I think that we were. I don't even remember it was on a Sunday that I was during a Sunday sermon. Sometimes, sometimes I read more of the passage and what the sermon is about and I end up kind of coming across. I just, I'm curious about context, you know. [00:27:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:41] Speaker A: And I came across that and was like clothing. So that's so okay. [00:27:45] Speaker B: Is that also like in Matthew when it's talking about. Is that part included in Matthew as well? I don't know. [00:27:51] Speaker C: I don't know. [00:27:52] Speaker B: I don't, I don't remember reading it in Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount and so that. But just because it's recorded in one place doesn't mean that. [00:27:58] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:58] Speaker B: It's just a different account of. [00:28:00] Speaker C: So that's so cool. [00:28:02] Speaker A: Stay dressed, guys. Don't be like Isaiah, don't be Isaiah. He was supposed to be. But we are supposed to be dressed. Yes, yes, we are. [00:28:11] Speaker C: This Is this is prescriptive, that. [00:28:13] Speaker A: Yes, this is prescriptive, not just descriptive. So, Steph, I'll pass it to you. [00:28:18] Speaker C: Yeah, cool. [00:28:19] Speaker B: Mine's all actually also in Luke. And so I think we said earlier that we're recording this, like, and this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. So I was reading the account in Luke, and you guys. It talks about clothes on there, which I hadn't really connected before. [00:28:36] Speaker C: Well, you're going to talk about Palm [00:28:38] Speaker B: Sunday Palm after you talk about palms for the opening. [00:28:41] Speaker A: That's a gospel thread. Yes. [00:28:43] Speaker C: Did not plan this. Yes, it is. [00:28:44] Speaker B: No, no. So, okay, so this is Luke 19, verses 35 and 36. And they. The disciples brought it, meaning the donkey, to Jesus. And throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as they rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. And so you see the disciples putting their cloaks on the donkey like a makeshift saddle for Jesus, which I had never actually picked up on that before. I had remembered that they, like, spread their cloaks on the road with the palm branches. But as I was reading it, I'm like, oh, my word. [00:29:18] Speaker C: It's verse to verse, the disciples doing [00:29:19] Speaker B: it on the donkey, and then the disciples and then the followers in general doing it on the way to Jerusalem. [00:29:28] Speaker A: Okay, this is going to sound like a random question. Have y' all ever been to Mackinac? [00:29:33] Speaker B: Yes. [00:29:35] Speaker A: Would you want to put your one pair, one change of clothes down in the road at Mackinac Island? [00:29:43] Speaker C: No. That's what I was just thinking about, too. Like, we've been talking about them not having very many clothes, so that'd be pretty valuable. A valuable thing that you had. Right. Your cloak. Was that, like, a coat, like, the outer thing that you wore? [00:29:55] Speaker B: That's what I didn't look up specifically, but that was my understanding, because they're not standing there, then. Naked. [00:30:00] Speaker C: Naked. Right, right, right. [00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:01] Speaker C: So it'd be, like, in there, too. [00:30:03] Speaker A: Thanks for clarifying. [00:30:03] Speaker C: Yes. [00:30:04] Speaker B: Yes. No, you would not. Because the horses go to the bathroom very frequently. I don't know about horses. I know goats do. Every 30 minutes. I don't know about horses. It seems that way when you're on a trail ride. [00:30:15] Speaker C: Oh, they sure do. Yeah. [00:30:17] Speaker B: They go a lot. And so the chances of your cloak getting. [00:30:21] Speaker A: Are you getting it back or are you. [00:30:23] Speaker B: You might get it back, but it might need to be washed. [00:30:27] Speaker A: So this is just a picture, then, of, like, humility? [00:30:30] Speaker B: I think it's a couple different things. So, like, specifically, the saddle. Jesus has always showed. I'm Gonna be the savior, but not in the way you want. Like, they would have expected the savior to ride in on a white horse with a great saddle, ready to, like, conquer, but here he is. And I think it shows humility. [00:30:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:48] Speaker B: That he's gonna be the savior, but he's going to just be different than what they expect. And so the fact that it's not an actual saddle, the fact that it is a cloak sitting on instead of a saddle just points to his humility. But then also, like you guys were saying, too, it's a sign of respect for people. So it's almost like when we say roll out the red carpet for somebody or, like, I don't know if they do it anymore. They did when I got married. They have the white fabric that you, like, roll down the aisle before the bride comes down. It's the same kind of idea. [00:31:19] Speaker A: The runner. Aisle runner. [00:31:20] Speaker B: The aisle runner. [00:31:21] Speaker C: Yes. [00:31:21] Speaker B: You have people. Yeah. It's always a stretch. Make sure they pull the string at the same time. But that's what it is doing there, too, is. It's showing respect on our gu. Pay attention. Something great is going to be coming. [00:31:32] Speaker A: Yeah. That is so cool. Yeah. How appropriate to. Yeah. [00:31:38] Speaker C: I love that you talk about donkeys, too, because I. I tell you guys, this has been on my radar lately. I think donkeys are another theme. They are in the Bible. And I have been seeing donkeys a lot lately. [00:31:49] Speaker B: I've been trying to convince my husband that we need a mini donkey. And maybe this is the sign, Johnny, Biblical. That's prescriptive. That, Yes, I needed a donkey. [00:31:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:00] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll see. [00:32:01] Speaker C: Stephanie and I, I think we talked about this at the very beginning of the season. But one of the reasons why we fell in love with tracing a theme through the Bible is because we heard the story of the Bible told through different themes and to. And to sit and to hear the whole narrative told through one theme is just so cool and so powerful. So we asked Stephanie if she would do that for us today. Yeah. [00:32:22] Speaker B: So this is not going to be perfect. It's not going to hit everything, but this is going to be my best shot at it. [00:32:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:32:27] Speaker B: All right. [00:32:28] Speaker C: I can't wait to hear it. [00:32:28] Speaker B: Well, okay. So before I start, though, I felt very inadequate to do it because, Allie, you actually wrote a children's book on this. Do you want to share? Because I'm sure there's so many listeners. I'm going to throw you on the spot here. There's so many listeners that are like, I love this. I Want to dive deeper. I want to include my kids in this. I honestly think that's such a good resource for them to get. Do you mind sharing a second? [00:32:48] Speaker C: No, I'll share, I think. [00:32:49] Speaker A: Love to. [00:32:49] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:32:50] Speaker C: Well, I wrote this story for our women's conference because I wanted to do this from. I wanted our ladies at the conference to hear the whole story of the Bible told through clothing. And Stephanie was the one who was like, you should make this into a children's book. And so I kind of rewrote it a little bit. I'm not artistic, and so I. Creative, though, did my best with the illustrations. [00:33:12] Speaker A: The illustrations are great. Thank you so much. She, like, took pictures of her kids and my kids and a few other kids dressed in different clothing. And you put it through, like, a. [00:33:25] Speaker C: A watercolor filter. [00:33:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So you couldn't really tell who it was. [00:33:29] Speaker C: It was a fun project. [00:33:31] Speaker A: It was a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. [00:33:33] Speaker C: So, yeah, that's out there. It's called Clothed from Garden to Glory. [00:33:36] Speaker A: You can find it on Amazon by Ally Mullenkamp. [00:33:38] Speaker C: Thank you, Stephanie. [00:33:39] Speaker A: Yeah, cool. [00:33:41] Speaker B: Awesome. All right, so I will attempt to share the gospel through the lens of clothing here. So in the beginning, humans didn't need clothing, right? We read that Adam and Eve were naked, and they were unashamed. There wasn't anything to hide. There wasn't anything that needed to be covered. They lived in perfect harmony, not only with each other, but God, their creator. But then sin entered the world. And the first thing that Adam and Eve realized was that they were naked. But now they were ashamed of that fact. And so they tried to cover it themselves. They sewed fig leaves together, attempting to hide what had been explained exposed. And then they hid from God. But God sought them out. And rather than casting them out naked out of his presence, God actually clothed them. Not because Adam and Eve deserved it, but because God loved them. And God made garments for them. Clothing made from animal skins, a covering that did require sacrifice. And then all throughout Scripture, we see this theme continue. We see people standing before God guilty of their sin, trying to hide themselves. They feel shameful. They feel guilty. They feel unclean. They're standing before him clothed in filthy garments. But God, being rich in mercy, removes those garments and replaces them with clean ones. Not because they deserved it, not because they earned it, not because they cleaned themselves up first. But God does it because he's gracious and because he loves them and because he's good. And then Jesus enters the world, a baby wrapped in swaddling. Swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And God himself is clothed in human flesh. The promised Savior steps into humanity not to condemn it, but to save it. He's the one that that first sacrifice and Eden pointed to. It's by his blood that we can be clothed and stand unashamed before God once again. And throughout Jesus's ministry, clothing actually even continues to tell this story. The sick are healed when they touch the edge of his garment. Jesus tells his followers not to be anxious about what they will wear. And as Jesus enters in Jerusalem, people lay down their cloaks before him, honoring him as their king. But not everyone receives him, right? Some reject, some mock and some betray. And Jesus is brought before the people and a crown of thorns is placed on his head. They clothe him in purple not to honor him, but to mock him. And they beat him and they strip him and they nail him naked to a cross while his garments are taken away and gambled. And this is where the great exchange happens. The perfect sinless Savior hangs exposed, bearing our shame so that we who are guilty might be covered. We're washed in the blood of Jesus and clothed in his righteousness. And we're no longer defined by what we wore or tried to wear. We're not but defined by our works, by our attempts to cover our sin and our shame. We're now defined by what Christ has done for us. And because of that, everything changes. When Jesus rose from the dead, the tomb had clothes left in it. The linen burial cloths were left in the tomb. They were a promise that the Savior who would come has come, and God has accepted that sacrifice. And so we're called now to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience and love. Not to earn our salvation, but we've already been made new. See, we don't dress differently to become new. We dress differently because we are new. And one day, the story is going to be complete. We're going to stand before the Lord clothed in white robes, perfect, clean and pure. Not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us. And we'll stand washed in the blood of the Lamb. [00:37:27] Speaker C: Oh, that was beautiful. Well done. [00:37:30] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:37:31] Speaker C: I love that. [00:37:32] Speaker B: So love that. Impactful to be able to write it. It just. God's so good. He's so gracious. [00:37:38] Speaker A: I can't believe we get to do this. To just like, bask in the beauty of this true story from beginning to end. And we're not like we're in part of the best part of the story. But, like, there's even. There's better best. This is not better best. Yeah, there's not. This is not a word. But ahead. And just how. Yeah. And then we get to talk about it. And this is cool. Oh, I hope it's a blessing to our listeners because that was a huge blessing to me, even just listening to you wrap all of that together. [00:38:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And there's so much more. I mean, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Like, God is just so good. [00:38:17] Speaker A: Well, that's part of the point of this episode was just to say, like, hey, there's more and there's a lot more that, you know, we didn't even cover. Didn't even have time to cover. So hopefully people will be. Have eyes looking for that. Especially, I know a lot of people are reading through the Bible in a year or just at least trying to power through reading the Bible in whatever amount of time that they'll have those eyes looking for that story. Tracing that Gospel thread. Yeah. [00:38:41] Speaker C: Well, guys, I think that's a wrap on season one. [00:38:44] Speaker A: A wrap on season one. Wow. [00:38:46] Speaker C: It's been a great season. It has been so much fun. [00:38:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:49] Speaker C: Thank you, listener, for joining us for this conversation. And we will see you on season two.