Thank you all for coming out tonight. This week's study is called "A Shining Robe," and it looks at what the Biblical pattern is for humility. This may be something of a surprise to some people, because of how unlike true, Godly humility is from how the world sees that virtue. And this shouldn't surprise us... the world gets everything wrong.

Yesterday (the 21st of June) was a New Moon. That day was kept by Israel as a very special occasion. Does anyone know what the significance was? For one thing, it's the first day of every Hebrew month, Rosh Hodesh, and all the timing of the feasts like Passover, Feast of Tabernacles and so on were dated from this lunar reckoning.

Much is said of this day in the Old Testament. It was a day of reverence: "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." (Psa 81:3)
A day of gathering: "Then Jonathan said to David, 'Tomorrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.'" (1Sam 20:18)
A day of atonement, to some extent.. "And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish." (Eze 46:6)

It even appears as if the New Moon will be kept again in the restored Creation after Christ's return. "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD." (Isa 66:22-23)

This makes sense, because it's also declared in the New Testament to be a coming attraction: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." (Col 2:16-17)

So what did it mean, anyway? Well, paganism has certainly adopted it. Looking around on the net for information yielded an alarming about of magical ceremonies to be carried out at that time. It DID, however, have a true and holy significance at one point, and in certain places, like www.biblestudy.org, I've found some information on that.

We don't have time to really get into the details of it tonight, but the significance is easy enough to understand, and not only for Hebrews, but Christians as well. Let's see if we can't get at the significance here. There are three things to keep in mind:

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." (Mal 4:2) "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." (Rev 22:5) That's the first thing... for us, Christ is as the sun.

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Rom 6:4) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20) We are as dead bodies. We have life therefore only through Christ who died so that we can live. That's the second thing.

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee." (Isa 60:1) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Mat 5:16) So you see, we are to "shine," but the only light we have is that which Christ has shone upon us from the Father. The third thing is this: that we reflect the light.

So a Christian is a dead body that reflects the light of the spiritual "Sun." Does that sound familiar? The moon does just that. It is a dead body, moving around in a pattern etched out from the foundation of the world, and it reflects the light of the sun. It is not the light, it reflects it, and bears witness to the true source.

Now, once a month, the moon falls into the shadow of the earth; it reflects no light. To someone who understands the significance of the moon analogy above, the new moon is a sobering symbol of what we are without Christ - dead, dark, lonely and just about pointless. Once a month, the New Moon (grouped there with the "appointed time," which probably meant the Full Moon)was a "solemn feast" as the Psalm I quoted above indicates. The Israelites had a reminder of their condition without the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the same God who sent His Son to later die for all the world. The New Moon was a time of great humility before our Heavenly Father.

And do notice that the path of the moon was etched out by gravity from the foundations of the world. Christ also was slain "from the foundations of the world" as it says in Revelation 13:8. In fact, from the very beginning, the pattern of the slain conqueror was set in place, and has been faithfully followed even down to these days, when we "die to self" so that Christ can give us victory.

In the beginning, we have the story of two sacrifices offered to God by the children of Adam and Eve: "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." (Gen 4:3-5)

Abel's attempt was approved of by Heaven, and Cain's was rejected. I wonder why. Maybe this had something to do with it: "And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." (Gen 4:2)

So does God have something against farmers? We know He likes shepherds, but this is taking it a bit far. Well, if you look at verses 3 and 4 again, Cain offered a sacrifice from his labors, and Abel's from his. But Abel's sacrifice was a lamb, and Cain's was "the fruit of the ground." It is not that our Almighty One has a taste for death, but there was a REASON why a lamb was to be slain as atonement for sins. It pointed to Christ, and because Cain (who obviously knew about his parents' fall, the coming Messiah and the meaning of the sacrifice) did not follow this pattern, God could not have respect unto his offering.

See, it doesn't matter how much we put into our work. Our motive is only so important... we can have the best intentions in the world, but if we do not do what our Father tells us to, what good is that? We can wear ourselves out with good works, but if we have not faith, if we have not a "slain lamb" all our offerings will be rejected. Pride alone would make us arrogant enouth to try and say, "look at all I have DONE, God. Won't you bless me in payment?"

'But Cain didn't HAVE a lamb,' one might protest. No, but his brother did. Surely they could have traded some goods there. I am sure that kindly Abel would have just given his brother a lamb for his sacrifice in a heartbeat, had the tiller of the soil humbled himself to ask. Cain was being tested: would he try to force his own efforts on the Father, or would he offer up a gift that he did not earn? It's the same way with us: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Rom 12:1)

But WE cannot of ourselves be a sacrifice to God... a sacrifice to the Most High must be perfect! We must be born again, in the image of Christ, the one true and fitting Lamb, and THEN we can do as Paul "beseeches." Would Cain admit that his own efforts were useless, and ask for a lamb from his brother? Sadly, that isn't what happened. God warned him: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." (Gen 4:7)

But Cain chose not to "do well," and he did indeed offer up a sacrifice by death, and gave us an even greater example of he "slain lamb" analogy. "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, 'Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, 'I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?' And He said, 'What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.'" (Gen 4:8-10)

I tell you, pride will kill. That New Moon may have been useful to Israel after all... because a reminder to be humble can't hurt, can it? :) But notice that even AFTER Cain was called on his sin, and even after sentence was passed, he said only this: "And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear." (Gen 4:13)

Even then, Cain was not repentant. He was only worried about himself. His brother lay dead not far away, and he was worried about his own safety. Even from the very beginning, we see the difference between the humble and the proud. Abel was the forerunner of Christ, for our Redeemer also was slain by those who were to be His "keeper," and the New Testament compares them this way: "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Heb 12:24)

The blood of that slain "Lamb" was the fulfillment of the pattern set out from the foundation of the world, and victory was won - not by conquest, or might, but by the Spirit of God, a spirit of peace and humility. The New Moon, the books written by Moses for the Israelites containing this story and others... all of it was to teach the extreme importance of remaining humble before God.

Now there are some interesting things spoken of about humility in the Bible. We've already seen its most obvious applications - being willing to do what God tells you, and to have a disposition to want to serve others rather than rule them. To not force our own efforts on others, but to rejoice in the gifts we have, and to desire to SHARE them. But there are other things as well, that can be applications of "humility."

"(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)" (Num 12:3) Oh, that's nice, isn't it? :) But um... let me ask you all a question. Who wrote the book of Numbers? [Moses did] Interesting, right? We can't go up to someone and say, "I'm the most humble man on the face of the earth!" They probably won't believe us.

Here's another one: "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all." (1 Cor 14:18) Now Paul was writing to the Corinthian church to help them, and here he is saying, "I'm better at this stuff than you guys are!" That's not humility as the world sees it either.

Let's consider something... the Bible says: "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face." (Deu 34:10)

Quite a statement... you think that maybe Moses was just telling the truth when he said he was the most humble man on the face of the earth? Maybe he wasn't just boasting... maybe he just knew! True humility isn't always to keep yourself quiet and let people walk all over you. We are told to be humble, but we are also told to be bold. There must be some kind of a harmony in those concepts.

"And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, 'If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.' And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty." (2 Kings 1:10) You can't get bolder than that, yet Elijah, in that very verse, declares (and rightly) that he is a man of God, a servant of Heaven and men. If there was any presumption at all in the prophet, maybe that deluge of fire would have missed those soldiers and hit him! A man must be humble before God can work through him in any way, much more so for a miracle of this magnitude.

We have three proverbs that say almost the exact same thing: "The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility." (Pro 15:33) "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility." (Pro 18:12) "By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life." (Pro 22:4)

Before honor there is humility. Just as the fear of the Lord is the "beginning" of wisdom, but when we really get to know him "perfect love casts out all fear," (1 John 4:18) But this means that the reverse is also true... if we humble ourselves, there WILL be honor afterwards. And we won't be ashamed of it either.

"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." (2 Tim 2:21) We must be free of pride before we will be able to be honorable vessels for His use.

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal 6:14) When we can come to the place when we are able to look at ourselves and be happy with what we are - remembering (most important) that WE are not responsible for our merits, then we can both have true humility and boldness. How can we not be bold? We are made in the image of Christ! At the same time, HE made us, we did not make ourselves, so our only boast is in the Gospel. Seems there can be harmony after all. Moses said he was humble, but he did it realizing that his only true worth was as a servant of God and all those placed in his care. Maybe he was right after all :)

Let's look at a nice example from the New Testament. It's a pretty clear one, and in fact it has an anti-hero too, for a wonderful (if tragic) contrast. I speak of two apostles - Peter and Judas. Both followed Christ from the very beginning, or close to it... both had their flaws of character that were pointed out to them by both the words and actions of Jesus. Both stumbled in Christ's last couple of days on earth. But there the similarity ends.

Looking at the two "points of rebellion," we find: "Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him unto them." (Luke 22:3-4)

"And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly." (Mat 26:73-75)

Both made mistakes, but notice that only in Judas' case did it say that Satan entered into him. Judas allowed his _spirit_ to be changed, and for that reason, whereas Peter wept when he realized his actions, Judas went out and killed himself.

And who told Judas it was too late? Who told him that Christ would not forgive him? Was it the Holy Spirit? Couldn't have been... that spirit was not IN him. We do find a repentance of sorts...

"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.' And they said, 'What is that to us? see thou to that.' And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."" (Mat 27:3-5) He did show remorse... but look at the fruits of it. He FELT remorse, but he did not ASK for forgiveness. His own pride and lack of true, active faith are what condemned him, not his betrayed Master.

Paul later explains the two kinds of sorrow, one was in Peter, the other in Judas. "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." (2 Cor 7:10)

Peter wept. That's okay. Judas went out and hanged himself. That's not okay. And you know, we can learn a lot about humility from Peter's progress as a Christian. I've heard it said, and I agree with it, that protestant Christianity has shied away from Peter as sort of a reaction to the overexposure he gets in Catholicism. I think that this is a mistake. We can learn a lot from this disciple's actions and words. He started as the most noisy, arrogant and outspoken followers of the Messiah, and he ended up a meek and willing martyr.

Some think he was highly favored, because he was in the three (with James and John) who were witness to Christ's most spectacular miracles. The raising of a dead girl (Mark 5:37), the agony in Gethsemane (Mark 14:33) and of course the transfiguration in Luke 9:28. If you look at what these three had in common, however, with Peter always talking before thinking, and James and John striving to be "first in the Kingdom," it leads me to think that they saw Jesus' most dramatic triumphs for the express purpose of making them see how weak and "human" they were. It's the same reason Judas was put in charge of the treasury...

"For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor." (John 13:29)

Christ put His followers in a position in which their flaws would be made manifest, so they could realize them and repent, if they chose to. If they would humble ourselves to. He does the same thing with us today.

Of course, Peter, James and John learned their lesson well, and the three each assumed highly important roles in the development of Christianity. Of Peter in particular Christ said: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Mat 16:18)

With true Apostolic-succession-o-phobia, theologians have tried to say that the word Christ used there was "petra," and so the "Rock" upon which the church was built was not Peter (who would have been the male form "Petros"). However, Christ spoke Aramaic mostly, and that language has no gender distinctions. I personally have no problem with conceding that Christ considered Peter one of the earthly foundations of His church. Now, I do not say he was the first "Pope" or any such thing; that's just silly :) But even though James the Messiah's brother seems to have held the highest office in the Jerusalem church (as recorded in Acts and other places) you have to admit that Peter did a LOT of work in getting the Bride established.

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, 'Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.' Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:14,41)

I'd like to see something like that done today! No one can deny the force of the Spirit's outpouring on this individual. There was much honor in Peter's ability to convert the sinner to the truth... but before honor, as the proverb says, there must be humility. Before we can work for our Savior, we must first humble ourselves at the Throne.

Even AFTER his full conversion, even after the Holy Spirit was working with him, Peter never lost this humility. Bold as he was before men, as was Elijah and Moses... he was nevertheless willing to admit his flaws when they were pointed out.

Paul writes: "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation." (Gal 2:11-13)

Now, we have no record of any bitterness, any rebellion in Peter after the newer apostle pointed out his inconsistency. Had Peter resisted, and started an argument, I do believe it would have been mentioned. As it was, it seems that the once proud and impulsive follower recieved the correction with graciousness, perhaps even gratitude, and eventually went on to write the verse that probably best sums up this study: "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1 Pet 5:5)

You know the world has a saying that "the clothes make the man." That's not entirely an unBiblical principle! :) Look at these verses: In Esther (and I've been waiting a while to quote from that Book), Mordecai couldn't go into the palace... "And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth." (Est 4:2)

Here are some others: "I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem." (Job 29:14) "Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty" (Psa 104:1) "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." (2 Cor 5:2-3)

And we do indeed need to be wearing the proper attire when Christ returns! Here it is expressed in forceful fashion: "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, 'Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 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. For many are called, but few are chosen.'" (Mat 22:11-14)

So let us therefore be wearing the right clothing, lest He come and find His Bride ill-prepared for the ceremony. We must wear true humility as a robe, but it is not a dark, plain garment either. True humility is to admit your faults, to receive correction graciously, but then to take what you have learned and to be BOLD before men. True humility is not a drab, forgettable outfit.

"And the son said unto him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.'" (Luke 15:21-22)

True humility, the mark of the sincerely repentant, is a sparkling, shining robe.

David.