If you want to get to heaven, wash your clothes

In sin I wander'd sore and sadwith bleeding heart and aching head,'Till Jesus came and sweetly said,"I'll take thy sins away."

That washes white as snow.
I gave my heart, my life, my allTo Him who drank the cup of gallTo raise the guilty from the fallAnd take their sins away.

The water, Spirit and the blood

Agree, if we but understood,In making sinners pure and good,And take their sins away.

We cannot know, we may not tell

How we are sav'd from death and hell;Thru faith we know that all is well - He took our sins away.

CHORUSThank God for the blood!Thank God for the blood!Thank God for the blood! 

 When I was growing up, there were some stains that were especially hard to get out of clothes: grass, grape-juice, and especially blood.  If you didn't pre-treat a blood stain carefully, the garment was marked for life.  Yet in the Old Testament, God commanded animal sacrifice; blood was shed to wash away the stain of sin.  Similarly, in the new testament, particularly in the book of Revelation, the redeemed were said to have washed their garments with the blood of the Lamb of God.  The result of this washing is that the garments worn by the redeemed appear as white as snow.

In the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation, John sees a vision; he is taken by the Spirit of God into the very presence of God.  There are sounds like a trumpet, and sights of all different colors, but everything is centered on the throne in the middle.

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders.  They were dressed in white, and had crowns of gold on their heads. (Revelation 4:4)

 The elders represent either the whole company of believers in heaven, or an exalted angelic order worshiping and serving God there.  The number 24 is often understood to reflect the twelve tribes of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New Testament.  Let's pause a moment to reflect on these elders:

• Their purpose was to praise God.  Revelation 4:10 says, "The twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever."
• Their position allowed them access to God.  Revelation 5:6, 8, and 14 say: "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders....And when he had taken it (the scroll), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.  Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints...The four living creatures said, "Amen!", and the elders fell down and worshiped."
• Their purity is represented by the white robes that they wore.  Revelation 3:4,5 says, "Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.  They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.  I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels."
• Their perseverance is rewarded by God.  Revelation 6:11 says, "Then each of them (those who had been slain because of the Word of God) was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."

Martyrs and missionaries will be dressed in white, standing before the throne of God.  So will all who overcome evil, who do not fall prey to sin.  Those who worship Him in word and truth will be found worthy by Him to come into His presence, clad in white robes.  Too drab, you say? Remember, all the colors that catch our attention are surrounding God and His throne.  He is the one who stands out, not us.  All attention will be focused on Him.

Okay, you say.  How do I know that we will be there in the presence of God, dressed in white?  Doesn't John say he saw only 24 select elders there?  Where will all of the rest of the believers be?  Look at Revelation 7:9, 13-14: "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?' I answered, 'Sir, you know.'  And he said, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb'."

Now, I could be wrong, and this multitude of people from every corner of the globe, speaking every known dialect on earth--they could be the ones who survived the Great Tribulation described later in the Revelation.  But I believe that every one who elects to clothe himself with the righteousness of God will be rewarded with a heavenly home in close proximity to the Savior.  Those who clothe themselves in sin will be forever separated from Him:

• Psalm 109:29 "My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak."
• Psalm 109:18-19 "He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.  May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him."
• Psalm 35:26 "May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace."
• Psalm 45:3 "Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty."
• Psalm 73:6 "Therefor pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence."
• Psalm 104:1,2 "Praise the Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.  He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent."
• Psalm 132:9, 16, 18 "May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy....I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy....I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent."
• Job 8:22 "Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more."
• Job 29:14 "I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban."
• Job 40:10 "Then adorn yourselves with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty."
• Proverbs 31:25 "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come."
• Isaiah 59:17 "He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak."
• Isaiah 61:3, 10 "And provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair....I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
• Ezekiel 7:27 "The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them.  Then they will know that I am the Lord."
• Ezekiel 26:16 "Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments.  Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at you."
• Ezekiel 31:15 "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it was brought down to the grave I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained.  Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away."
• Zechariah 6:13 "It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne.  And there will be a priest on his throne.  And there will be harmony between the two."
• Romans 13:14 "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
• 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 "For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the moral with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory'."
• Galatians 3:27 "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ."
• Colossians 3:12 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."
• 1 Peter 5:5 "Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older.  All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

I urge you to clothe yourselves in the white garment offered by Christ to cover you nakedness and shame.  Put off the sin that separates you from Him, and be washed in His blood.

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow'r?Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

• Are you washed in the blood,
  In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
  Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
    Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
  
  Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
  Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
  
  When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white!
  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
  Will your soul be ready for His presence bright,
  And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
  
  Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
  And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
  There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
  O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.