Clothing of the Saints

...I still remember the first time I heard her sing special music, my jaw dropped open and said, I didn't know she could sing! And this morning I'd have to say, I didn't know she could sing that well, even though I'd heard her sing really well before. So I know that's what happens sometimes when mothers get busy taking care of small children. Suddenly they don't have time to practice singing and to present the way they would like to. So I'd say I can pass on all of our thanks to her for making the time to prepare for that. And I thought it was a good lead-in. I didn't realize that song when Don Acapella had such a Celtic feel to it. You might have guessed I have an affinity for Scotland's heritage and its culture. And my ancestry is Scots-Irish, and so is my wife's. So my affinity for kilts and bagpipe music and single malt scotch, they come honestly and naturally. And I learned a little bit more about all of those things. I had the great privilege to serve at the SEP in Scotland for a number of years, starting when I was an Ambassador College student. And I tell people I got hooked. I'd been to camp as a teenager, but when I served on staff, it's like, wow, now you know what camp is really all about. And getting to go over there, I tell people that's how I got hooked on camp. I made it my goal to never miss a summer again as long as I lived. So far, I've managed to do that. But I fell in love not only with the camp program, but with Scotland itself. It's a beautiful country. Wonderful with an amazing culture and heritage. Wonderful people. And as you heard the announcement, the feast is going on in Stirling this year, which makes me a little bit wistful. Five years ago, my wife and I were blessed to attend the feast in Stirling, Scotland, which is where I was able to finally obtain a kilt of my own.

Now, all those years in Scotland as a poor college student, I saw them and said, that'd be neat to have one of those, but they're not that cheap. And I'll mention, you might have seen another fellow dress likewise. The Cobbs attended the feast there with us that year, along with their oldest daughter was in utero at the time. He probably doesn't have much memory of it, but we had a really enjoyable time, so I appealed to Mr. Cobbs to join me so I wouldn't be the only kilted person here today. But I want to point out that wearing a kilt is not just a matter of fashion. It's a visible symbol of heritage. A visible symbol of culture. When I wear the kilt, it's a way to honor my ancestry and my heritage. Now, I won't deny, also, Sue likes the way it looks on me. But I don't want to talk about that today. I want to talk about the fact, I want to talk a little bit about culture. Not just about, or not really very much about Scottish culture, or that of any country. We want to talk about the culture of God's kingdom.

Now, some particular garments have become not only part of the culture of certain nations, but indeed symbols of those nations. And that's one of the reasons I wanted to wear my kilt when I gave this message. A kilt has become a symbol of Scottish and Irish culture, and I was reminded also of Welsh. There are other cultures that have particular garments. If I'd come up here wearing a grass skirt and told you I was from Polynesia...

Well, I don't think I would have done that, but the grass skirt serves as a symbol in that sense. Or, to Americans, we visualize a large sombrero as a symbol of Mexican culture. And of course, around the world, good old Levi's blue jeans are a visible symbol of American culture. Let me pose this question for you to think about, and I'll come back to it later. Is there a garment, a particular garment that represents Christian culture? Is there something a person would wear that symbolizes the culture of the world tomorrow, of the millennium to come? Now, every society has a culture, and we have a certain culture, or we could say a subculture, within God's Church. A subculture is that within a larger culture, but it has its own particular practices and traits. In the millennium, there will certainly be a distinct culture. And I like the way this fits. Mr. Squaggarty earlier talked about economics in the world tomorrow, contrasting the economics of today's world with what will come. So I want to step away from economics and look at culture. Let's consider this idea, and think about what can we expect? What type of culture do we try to establish now in the Church, and what will it be like in the millennium?

Now, before I go further, I should probably address the question, well, what exactly do you mean by culture? One definition of culture that I looked at in an anthropology textbook, called it a set of attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a group of people. Or a simpler definition would be, if culture is how people live. Culture is about how we live.

All people need the same basic things. We often group it as food, clothing, shelter. We all need food, but different cultures cook differently, use different recipes and ingredients. All people need shelter, but different cultures have different types of architecture, ranging from high-rise apartment buildings, skyscrapers, to grass huts, igloos, certain types of tents.

Different people wear different types of clothing. Over the years, it's ranged from loin cloth, we saw a picture of perhaps Cain using his digging stick, to various robes, if we'd see Bedouins out in the desert today, to things like a kilt, which aren't common anymore, to, of course, the suits and ties, dresses and skirts you're all wearing. Let me break down some of the more basic elements of culture, the way anthropologists like to describe them.

There are some other groups, but they largely focus on language, music, food traditions, religion and clothing. And as I said, we do have a somewhat distinct type of culture in God's Church, defined by our practices in these, among other areas.

Because of our desire to live God's way, we try our best to make the culture within God's Church now reflect and be as close as possible to what we believe will be the culture in God's Kingdom when Christ reigns on Earth. Now, but I can attest, certainly it will be much better when Christ is here.

But let's consider our practices in some of these areas. What we do, why we do certain things, and do we think they'll be that way in the millennium? I'll start with the one that might be the easiest, religion. That one seems pretty obvious. That's why I wanted to deal with it first. Right now, we're striving to live by God's Word. We want to worship Him exactly the way He instructs. As Jesus said in Matthew 4 and verse 4, I'm going to turn there, but I'm going to bet that more than half the people in the audience have that memorized.

Matthew 4 and verse 4, of course, is taken from Jesus Christ's confrontation with Satan the devil after he fasted 40 days. And Satan tempted him, saying, well, if you're the son of God, make these stones bread. But he answered him from Scripture. And he said, it's written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Yes, a basic part of our culture is that we believe that God's Word is authoritative, that we should live by the words in this book. Not some other religion, not necessarily truths handed down by the fathers, or what they call truths. But I want to add to that, because we would say a very important part of the culture of God's church, our religion, is that we teach not just strict obedience to what the Bible says to do, but we believe that there's more to it, that there's a spirit underlying.

Let's look at James 1 and verse 27. This is another Scripture I imagine many of you have memorized. What is the religion that typifies our culture? This is a very important part of it. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Our religion goes beyond strict obedience to the thou shalt nots, although we do think those are very important.

But a part of our culture is that we worship God in spirit. And I'm certain that's going to be the culture of the world tomorrow. John 4 and verse 24 brings that out in the words of Jesus Christ. John 4 and verse 24 simply says, God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. That's a vital part of a religion. That's not something everybody understands. Not that they don't want to, but of course, to worship God in spirit and truth, you have to have God's Holy Spirit.

That makes our religion a bit different than that of most of mankind. And it includes what we call the spirit of the law. We strive to follow Jesus' teaching, that where He showed that if it's wrong to do something, it's not right to think about it. It's wrong to spend our time dwelling on certain things, even if we somehow refrain from physically doing them. The best example comes in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and verse 27. Matthew 5, 27 and 28. I'll warn you, I had a lot of scriptures early on, and then I'll talk and tell some stories a little later.

Let your fingers rest. But Matthew 5 and verse 27, Jesus said, You've heard it was said of old, you shall not commit adultery. But here's the spirit of the law. I say to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If we let ourselves think about something we shouldn't do, if we get...we could get too close to it.

We could get so close that when the temptation comes, we might not have the willpower to resist if an opportunity arises. Now, I'm not saying that any time a fleeting thought goes through your head, that that's automatically a sin. But it's the idea of keeping that thought and toying with it, turning it over in your head. Jesus also made a point another time that hating your brother amounts to being as bad as murder.

Don't we look forward to the millennium when it's going to be much easier for us to do these things, to live by the spirit of the law? Let's face it, one of the toughest things about living this way now is that all of society with Satan's influence behind it is pushing us the other way.

In the kingdom of God, everybody will be striving to worship God in spirit and in truth. Now, of course, those in the first resurrection will be spirit beings, not subject to the poles of the flesh. And the human beings living at that time will be taught properly, and they will not have Satan tempting them.

Let's turn to a millennial prophecy in Jeremiah 3. Jeremiah 3 in verses 14 and 15 to remind us both of what humans will get to experience and what we expect to be doing at that time.

Jeremiah 3 in verse 14, Return, O backsliding children, says the Eternal, for I am married to you. I'll take you, one from a city, two from a family, and I'll bring you to Zion. This is referring to that second Exodus when those who are left and remain are brought back to what is the Holy Land. And I'll give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you, not only feed you with physical food, but feed you with knowledge and understanding. We're preparing now to be those shepherds. And the culture and the kingdom of God will be that there will be free education. People will be taught God's way. We'll feed them knowledge. Of course, we will also help Christ to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 30. I won't turn there because we read it so often. That's the one that says you'll hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way. Walk you in it. And I remember, I don't remember who it was sometime not that long ago. I heard saying, you know, when we were younger, we sort of thought it'd be like if you're starting about to sin and suddenly this voice booms out, hey, this is the way. Walk in it. You know, pull you up short. I don't think it'll be quite like that. It might be more like continually we'll be hearing those voices. This is the way. Walk in it. Not necessarily jerking you back by your shirt tail, which I've had some experience doing in recent years. Not me, but when you have a little one, sometimes that's the easiest way to get him to walk the right way. But we'll hear that voice guiding us. It'll be part of the culture to know that that education is available to teach us the right way. It won't be pondering and wondering. I noticed that in our visit to the Creation Museum the other day, there was that film early on where it showed, it depicted a woman camping out in the desert and having all these questions. Is there a God? Was all this made or was it random chance? And the film fancifully pictured as though Michael and Gabriel came and were trying to teach her. But in the millennium, people might ask the questions and they will know where to get answers. It's going to be the culture that you go and get answers, which is a culture we try to have in God's Church. We know that we can go and ask educated and experienced people for answers. And that's not only the ministry, although people come to the ministry. Certainly all of you have experienced having younger, newer people in the Church. I shouldn't say all of you, but many of you have many decades in God's Church. And you are some of those that people hopefully do come to. And they say, can you tell me what it was like or tell me your understanding of this? We're all preparing to be teachers. And of course, in addressing this, I'm pointing out that in the culture of God's Kingdom, education and religion will not be separated. We won't have to worry about separation of church and state in government nor in education. So I'm not even going to address education separately. Education and religion will be married together very closely in God's Kingdom. And in the millennium, all will know and live by the one true religion.

So let's consider another aspect of the culture of God's people. What about language? Now, you know, we strive to live by Ephesians 4, verse 29, and how we use language. I'm going to turn there. Ephesians 4 and verse 29. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. So let nothing corrupt, nothing vile come out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers? So those are the type of words we strive to have come out of our mouth. Now, recently, I've had more opportunity than I would like to conduct funeral services. And we always read the section in 1 Thessalonians 4, where it says that the Lord will descend with the shout of an archangel, the sounding of a trumpet, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And those who are ali...let me slow down... Those who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet them with Christ in the air. But I always like to focus on the Scripture that comes next. If you want to turn there, you can, but I know you've heard this. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 18, after saying that, tells us, Wherefore comfort one another with these words? Words of comfort. And this Mary fits very well in with the point I just made about true instruction and worship, that we live by every word of God, and they are words of comfort. That voice behind us, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, will be a comforting voice. I'm also reminded of a Scripture in Malachi. Let's turn to Malachi 3 and verse 16. Malachi 3, 16. This is a Scripture that some 20 years ago, it always shocks me. It seems to shock me that that was that long ago. It seemed just yesterday. But in the mid-90s, when the church was going through a crisis, many people turned to this Scripture as we were discussing what was happening. Malachi 3 and 16 says, Then those who feared the Eternal spoke to one another, and the Eternal listened to them, so a book of remembrance was written before him, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name. So I'm saying it's a big part of the culture of God's church that we talk about our beliefs. We talk about prophecy, about God's law. We talk about our hope of eternal life and of what we call the world tomorrow. That's funny. That phrase comes to me without thinking, although I realize it's not specifically in the Bible that way. It's one that Mr. Armstrong coined years ago, but it means something to us. It's a certain phrase. In the millennium, of course, it will be here. It will be the world today. It will just be the world, and everybody will be living that way. But we won't be concerned at that time about what unbelievers might think or do when they hear us talking about our weird religion. We'll be teaching that true religion.

Now, the academic aspect of culture focuses less on what people talk about, and it tends to focus on their actual language. Now, I didn't want to delve into that too much, but I think it's interesting. We sometimes forget when we fellowship so much in the Church that we have somewhat of a jargon. An anthropologist would be interested coming into our group, and he would pick up on phrases that aren't common outside of our group. Where else do people talk about keeping the feast, spending their 2t? Or have you read the latest G.N.? Are you going to the Winter Family Weekend? What's a Winter Family Weekend? Well, it's part of our culture. If you keep a garden, you also keep track of the land Sabbath. And you know when it's time to offer your first fruits. And in the spring, we make plans to get together for the night to be. I like that. Well, I think that's a younger person's, because I've heard it's the night to be much remembered, the night to be much observed. Some of us, we came along and said, let's just call it the night to be. It'll be observed or remembered, but either way... That's why I keep pushing that back there. I'll just talk loud. Either way, we get together in fellowship. That's a part of our culture. And what do we do when we spend that time keeping the night to be much observed? We're talking. And we use those phrases that might be a mystery to people now, that are outside of our church, but they won't be a mystery at all in the world tomorrow. Everyone will have that language. Of course, we could also turn back to Zephaniah 3, verse 9, because we're near there. Just a few pages towards the front. Zephaniah 3 and verse 9 reminds us of another prophecy of Jesus' rule on earth. For then I'll restore to the peoples a pure language. So that does talk about the words we use, a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the Eternal to serve Him with one accord. Now, we could debate, and rather than me discuss it right now, I'll put it to you. Some people have presumed that we'll all speak pure and perfect Hebrew in the world tomorrow. That might be. I couldn't disprove it. But I'm certain at least that whatever language or language is we're speaking will be pure. We won't have corruptions that come from profanity or from the names of false gods or things like that, that are such a part of our language and culture today. And when this happens, certainly if there's something that a person ought not to say, it won't be said. Before I move on to my next point, I almost forgot to say that another important part of our culture that has to do with language is prayer. We are a praying people. And in the millennium, praying will be as normal a part of people's language and culture as sending text messages is for teenagers today. I didn't realize how hard that would be to say. Sending text messages. So, prayer will just be as commonplace, and prayer will be in schools, no doubt. Prayer will be at all public functions. Prayer will be a central and a vital part of the culture. As much as it is for us now today in God's Church, but even more so in the world tomorrow. Let's move on to talk about music. The culture of God's Church today includes efforts to avoid vulgar music, especially that with foul lyrics. But it's not just about the music that we don't listen to. We are a people who sing. We sing praises to God. Let's look at Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 and verse 19.

No wonder I was in Galatians, and it doesn't say the same thing in Galatians 5. Ephesians 5.19 says, We understand that God was the creator of music, of beautiful music. We appreciate a variety of different musics, and I'll say that something as I've gained years, I've gained appreciation of different types of music. When I was 14 years old, I thought if it wasn't rock and roll, it wasn't real music. I'm glad I grew beyond that stage, and I learned to appreciate beautiful music. Let's turn back to the Psalms. I want to read a couple sections. Psalm 149 first.

Because while I want to say I don't think God's culture will include a lot of Death Leopard or Led Zeppelin or any of those bands that I listened to when I was younger, the music in the world tomorrow won't all be soothing harp music or only the liar. It might well have some upbeat types of music. Psalm 149 in verse 1, Dancing goes with music, and every culture has a certain amount of dance. So it will be in the world tomorrow. And let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and the harp. For the Eternal takes pleasure in His people. On opening night, I spoke about how God rejoices that we're here, and God takes pleasure in His people. And I believe He will take pleasure when people are singing and dancing in a way that's proper and that honors Him. He will beautify the humble with salvation. Let's skip down to Psalm 150 and read a few verses from there.

Praise the Eternal! Praise God in His sanctuary! Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty axe! Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet! Praise Him with the lute and the harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and the dance! Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!

Praise Him with loud cymbals, with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Eternal! Praise the Eternal! I think the old King James says, praise you the Eternal! I don't know if God likes any type of rock and roll music, but I'm certain that He likes some music with loud clashing cymbals and that is upbeat. It made me wonder the other day when we were competing with a band next door, you know, their hearts were right and there might be some of that music I couldn't hear much other than the bass and the drum.

But I would say, in the world tomorrow, there will be good music that makes you want to tap your toes. There will be soothing music. There will be beautiful music. None will be improper. But I'm certain there will be variety. And I can tell you a story about learning variety. When I was a student at Ambassador College, I gained an appreciation for choir music, really from selfish reasons. It was during orientation week of my freshman year in Big Sandy, and my older roommate at one point said, hey, let's go down and try out for choir.

I don't know if I want to do this choir thing. And he says, well, at spring break, the choir is going to go to Pasadena. I said, oh, I'd like a free trip to California. So I went and I tried out and I actually got in.

And that year, the plans were that the two college choirs, that's when Big Sandy and Pasadena were both operating, would combine during spring break and sing the oratorio of the Elijah, composed by Felix Mendelssohn. And I fell in love with Mendelssohn's music. And being in choir was one of the best experiences I had for those next two years.

We met at the last class of the day, four days a week. And no matter how trying or tiring the week was or the day, at the end of the day, we would come together and sing beautiful music with harmony, and we would be lifted up, and we'd come out walking almost above the sidewalk, going down to dinner. It made that big of a difference. And believe me, as I said before that, I was listening to rock and roll music and thinking that was it.

My eyes were opened. And of course, some of it was soothing, some of it was upbeat. There was great variety. Oh, I'm thinking also, of course, in the world tomorrow, well, remember Solomon's reign was a type of the millennium. And Solomon went out of his way to establish large temple choirs with the Levites learning musical instruments, and some people whose full-time job was to sing and prepare music.

Why won't it be that way in the world tomorrow? Perhaps even some of us will be devoted to making beautiful music. Beautiful music will be a part of our culture in the world tomorrow. We can be sure the world tomorrow will be filled with beautiful music. I better move on. I've got a couple more elements I want to discuss. Now, it could almost be, go without saying that, of course, in God's Church, when we look at the aspect of food as part of our culture, and God's Church, we obey the dietary laws given in Leviticus 11.

And certainly, in the world tomorrow, everyone will do that. Part of that education will be, you know, God made some plants to be eaten and some not to be eaten. Well, the same goes for animals. They have different purposes. I'm fairly certain, as Mr. Swagarty pointed out, we'll be able to obtain foods produced without pesticides and antibiotics. We won't have to worry about hybrids and genetically modified foods ruining our health.

I shouldn't say ours. We're planning to have spirit bodies. But the health of those who are in human form, with godly principles of producing and preparing foods, no doubt people will be able to enjoy the taste probably more than ever in history. Now, we could speculate whether any particular styles of cooking will prevail. I'm hoping that lasagna will still exist in the world tomorrow, and even hamburgers and french fries. I worked six or eight years at Wendy's through high school and part of college. When you've got brand new shortening to cook those french fries in and they come out hot and fresh, sprinkle a little salt, there's almost nothing better.

Now, if I'd described that on the Day of Atonement, people would have been giving me dirty looks. But, of course, when anthropologists talk about food, they focus more on what you do with your food than the actual recipes.

What we do with food, when and how we eat, is the aspect of culture. Let's turn to Acts 2 and see that food and sharing, it has been a part of God's church and the culture of God's church from its start. Acts 2 and verse 46.

This is, of course, shortly after Peter gave that powerful sermon and the Holy Spirit was poured out and 3,000 were added in one day. And God continued adding to the church daily, such as he would call. And it says in verse 46, That's something that's continued in God's church through the ages and down to today. And even this afternoon, a large number of us plan to gather together and break bread, that is, share a meal together with gladness and simplicity of heart.

And I'm certain that will continue into the millennium. And it won't be just when church members who are scattered far and wide have an opportunity to get together, and the millennium neighbors will be church members. People will get together all the time with the people across the street or down the road, and they'll enjoy sharing those things. One of our all-time great food traditions in God's church, and maybe other people do it too, but I know in God's church we have potlucks.

I love potlucks. I have a memory of when I was a teenager. It was actually right after the end of the receivership crisis of the 70s. Some of you weren't around long enough to remember that, but Mr. Armstrong called for a celebration throughout the church, and he set a Sabbath aside for potluck meals. And I know in Columbus Church, I still remember this. I don't remember if I was 14 or 15, but we had the best potluck I've experienced in my whole life. And I've been to a lot of good potlucks since then, but boy, was that good! Lots of food, lots of good food, and lots of rejoicing. As I said, it's what you do with the food that makes the culture. And of course, since strong families will be the basis of society in the world tomorrow, the family meal together around the table will be part of culture. It won't be something we strive to tell people we'll try to remember to have a meal together with your family. That's obvious it'll happen.

The last aspect of culture I want to talk about, because I want to expand on it to make a special point, is clothing. Our culture in the Church does not have us wear anything as distinct as kilts on a regular basis. But we, both men and women, try to follow the guideline of 1 Timothy 2. I'm going to read 1 Timothy 2 and verse 9.

And I want to point out what it says we should do more than emphasize on what not to do. It says, And like men are also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, rather than with braided hair, gold, or costly clothing.

He's not saying braiding your hair or wearing gold or costly clothing is a sin. But our primary goal is to wear appropriate clothing in moderation. And that applies to men and women. Moderation, well, modest is always modest. But sometimes we want to put an emphasis on appropriate as much as modest. In other words, beach wear that's still modest still isn't appropriate in every occasion. So we want to wear something that's modest and appropriate.

And it's a long-established tradition that when we come together before God, we wear the best clothing that we have that fits within our culture. Now, we live within the culture of this region. And that means for men, it's generally suits and ties, or jackets and ties. Women usually wear dresses and skirts, sometimes an appropriate pantsuit.

But in different cultures, you know, in the Philippines and parts of Africa, our brethren would dress differently, but they're wearing their best formal wear. Well, I should say the best formal wear that's appropriate, because as you can see, I don't normally wear a jacket like this and a bow tie to church services. Some things are for special occasions, like a wedding or special things. I say I've got a really nice Hawaiian shirt that right now it's main function is to wear to the dances at summer camp.

But sometimes there's other appropriate times. What about the world tomorrow? Remember that question I posed earlier in my introduction. Will there be one standard of dress for the whole world? I'm not certain of that. Whatever we wear will be modest and tasteful. We don't have a scriptural basis to say for certain what people will physically wear during the millennium. As I said, we can be certain it will be modest, it will be appropriate. But we can make the point that at least symbolically, there is one type of garment that is a symbol of something that's vital within God's kingdom on earth.

And it won't be a kilt, maybe unfortunately. Now, to move on to that point, I want you to allow me to take a diversion to lead up to that. And I want to tell you the story about the first time I wore this kilt. Well, no services can go till noon today. I'll probably end early, but I just cursed us because... Well, I don't believe in curses, but every time I publicly say we'll probably end early, I usually end right on time. But, this incident happened during the Feast of Tabernacles in Scotland in 2008.

As I said, that was a time when my family and the cobs were able to visit there. And I had just bought this kilt the night before, so I wore it to services that day.

And, of course, as happens every time I wore it to church services, people come up and they comment and they ask questions. And there was an American woman there who began asking me questions. And I explained to her, actually, since you can't see my kilt very well, I've got... This is... Isn't this cute? This belongs to my son. I bought it a year and a half ago, knowing sooner or later he would get large enough to wear it.

But she was asking about the tartan. The tartan is the color pattern. I spotted this and bought it because it matches my kilt, the same color pattern. When she asked about it, I explained that this is a black watch tartan. It's not a family pattern. The black watch is the nickname for the 42nd Highland Regiment, which was the first Scottish regiment formed within the British army.

This happened after the rising of 42. If you're familiar with the romantic stories of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the rising of 42, where they tried to bring back the Stuart dynasty, but at the Battle of Culloden, the Scottish hopes were crushed. And the House of Hanover, now known as the House of Windsor, and surprise... Well, not surprisingly, the Stuarts and now the Winzers were both descended from King David, of course. But there was fighting. The Scots wanted to have their preeminent family on the throne.

Well, after that uprising was crushed, the English government made it illegal to wear a kilt in Scotland or to play bagpipe music. They thought if they could suppress the culture of the Scots, they could also suppress that part of their personality that wanted to keep fighting. Part of Scottish culture was that if they weren't fighting an enemy, they'd fight each other.

So the English thought, if we can get them out of those weird kilts and take away their weird bagpipe music, maybe they'll stop fighting. But they said there's one time it's okay to fight if they're in the army. So they allowed this regiment to be formed, and their uniform was the kilt, as I'm wearing today. So I explained this all to this woman kind of in short form, and I said...explained to her that my father's name before he was adopted was Andrews. And so I'm not wearing...and there is no Andrews, Tartan. They're a sub-cept of the Ross clan, and so I would be wearing that. And she was fascinated for a while until I got too verbose and she got bored.

But a short time later, she bumped into me again with her husband, and she asked me, can you explain this to him? He's interested in history. And as she was introducing us, I realized that she had mistaken me for being a native-born Scotsman.

In my explanation of history, she thought, oh, this fella must be from Scotland. She didn't see me for being a Yankee who happened to buy a kilt in a shop on...

Okay. Now let me make a contrast, though. Also at Stirling that year... Now what happened is the cops and I stayed in a hotel a few miles outside of Stirling, and we had a rented car, but it's hard to find a parking place near the auditorium. Keep this in mind if you go to Stirling in the future, because it is a fabulous fee site. But you either want to stay in a hotel within walking distance, or if you stay over in Dunblane, as we did, go to a place that...

there's a parking ride. We parked our car, paid a small fee, and got on a shuttle bus that took us in and dropped us off outside the auditorium. Well, there was a fellow who ran the parking ride named Ronnie. Ronnie... I call him Ronnie the Station Master, because for the life of me, I can't remember his last name now. But he was a very friendly fellow.

He was a retired firefighter who oversaw this station as a part-time job to keep him busy. Now, as soon as he saw me wearing the kilt, I remember he gave me the thumbs up. And then, he proceeded to teach me how to wear it, because I didn't have some things quite right. And that was great! I wanted to learn. My point there is that Ronnie never would have mistaken me for a native-born Scotsman. He saw me for what I was right away.

He could easily tell the difference. It wasn't my own culture, and so I had to learn. Now, it was okay for me to learn and make mistakes. It was okay in that circumstance to not have exactly the correct garment worn exactly the right way. A kilt is one part of Scottish culture. It's not the only part. I was attending a church service to what he thought was a weird religion.

But, with this story in mind, I want to turn to an example of a prophecy that shows when we should wear the correct garment. And keep in mind, is wearing a particular garment in the world tomorrow going to be very important? If so, what is that garment? And, of course, I'm not talking about whether or not you're wearing a suit and tie, or whether or not women should wear makeup. We know that when Jesus Christ returns to earth, God's people will join him.

They'll be wearing a particular type of clothing. Let's turn to Revelation 19. I've led up to this so much, some of you are probably way ahead of me, but bear with me as I go through this. I think I still might bring out something interesting, even if you are ahead of me. Revelation 19, verse 11. Now I saw heaven open, behold, a white horse.

He who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire on his head where many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. As I read this, thinking of this message, I learned that it's one of a surprising number of times that the Bible refers to God's people wearing white.

White linen and often specifically white robes. Is it more than just a poetic element in a prophecy? How important is it that we wear the proper garment? To give us some insight, let's turn to Matthew 22. Matthew 22 will begin at the start of the chapter. Now this is a parable, but I think it does fit with the story of Christ's return in Revelation very well.

Matthew 22, verse 1, Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables. And he said, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. He sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they weren't willing to come. And he sent out other servants, saying, tell those who were invited, see, I've prepared my dinner.

My oxen and my fatted cattle are killed. All things are ready. Come to the wedding. But they made light of it. They went their way. One to his own farm, one to his business. The rest seized his servants and treated them spitefully and killed them. Now we know in this parable, Jesus is explaining the habits of ancient Israel, who God revealed his way of life and his religion. He sent prophets to them, and instead of obeying and listening to them, the prophets were killed.

When the king heard about it, he was furious. He sent out his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their cities. And of course, the Israelites were taken into captivity. And he said to his servants, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go out into the highways. As many as you find, invite to the wedding. Of course, this picture is the time when God doesn't work specifically only through the children of Israel, but those who are called directly to Jesus Christ.

Most of whom are descended from the children of Israel, but their calling is through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. And anyways, that's going on to a side point from the point I want to make. So the servants went out into the highways, gathered together all who they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.

The king said to him, friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. It was sort of like, what do you think you're doing? Do you realize you're coming to a wedding? And the king said to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him and cast him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For as we know, many are called, but few are chosen. Perhaps this man in the parable was wearing something that seemed good enough to him.

Maybe he thought that people would see him and they'd be like that American woman who saw my kilt and just automatically assumed that I was a Scotsman. But in this parable, the king is more like Ronnie, that station master, who recognized me right away for what I truly was. Now, the king in this parable sees the man with no wedding garment. He knows immediately he's not authentic. He has not adopted the culture, made it part of his practice. Now, as we know, this parable is not about just any wedding.

It symbolizes the time when Christ returns to earth and he marries his church to begin the millennium. We're among those who are sought as guests and actually to become part of the bride. But to be included in this special occasion, we must put on the proper garment. We don't want to be like the man in the parable cast into outer darkness, so we'll have to learn to gnash our teeth and weep. So it is important. So how do we get a proper wedding garment? Notice it doesn't say what the proper garment is. I'm pretty sure it's not a kilt. I keep referring to the kilt because you can't see it even though you know it's back here, right?

Should I address that question? What do you wear under your kilt? Well, your shoes, of course. Let's turn back to Revelation 19, though. Let's focus on the more important garment, the proper wedding garment. Revelation 19, and we'll read verses 7 and 8. Revelation 19, 7 and 8 speaks of a marriage and a wedding supper. It says, Let us be glad and rejoice, give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.

It was granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen, white, or clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. She's granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, and then we learn what this fine linen is. It's not just properly prepared cloth. It's a symbol of the righteousness of the saints. Let's read verse 9. He said to me, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. These are the true sayings of God. This is about us.

We are the ones who are blessed. Our understanding of God's way, which we're showing that we understand God's way because we're here keeping this feast. This is an indication we've been called by God into his church. We are called to the wedding. Of course, more than just a wedding, we're called to be in God's family, his children. So we need to not be like the man in the parable who was called to the wedding but did not wear a proper wedding garment.

And as I said, we can see the proper wedding garment is not a colorful kilt or a coat of many colors. It's a white robe. And we understand. This is a symbol. So please don't rush out to Coles to see if they have a supply of white robes. The fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

Although I wonder, God likes to do things with symbols and impress them on our minds, I wouldn't be surprised if, at least for an occasion, he has us literally wear white robes at the beginning of his reign on earth. What better way to remind us and remind all people who are brought back to Jerusalem what those robes represent. But I still suspect that over the course of a thousand years, we might be able to pull out our blue jeans or our dockers and other things, various types of clothing.

But I have to ask myself, rather than focusing on if and how often we'll wear white robes, if the white robes picture the righteousness, how confident am I of my righteousness? Is my righteousness up to the standard of fine linen, white and clean? Because that's what's required. And in answer to that, we can find in Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah 64 and verse 6. In Portsmouth, they always give me two glasses of water. That's what happens when they know you. Isaiah 64 and verse 6. We are all like an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. It's interesting. The righteousness of the saints is pictured by pure linen, white and clean, but it says our righteousness is pictured by filthy rags.

The best we can do. If that's my best, and that's my best is like filthy rags to God, how am I going to meet the requirement of wearing the proper wedding garment when the time comes? You know, I don't want to have to weep and gnash my teeth. But I've got an answer. Let's turn back to Revelation chapter 7. Because although the best I can do is as filthy rags, if I want to stick with the symbolism, we could say that God has a very good laundering service.

Revelation 7 says, Don't harm the earth, the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their forehead. Now I want to skip ahead to verse 9 because I don't want to read all the tribes that are listed here. But in verse 9 it says, After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palm branches in their hands.

And probably the 144,000 listed earlier, I suspect, are also wearing white robes. Let's go to verse 13. One of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes? Where did they come from? Where did these people come from? And maybe the question includes, where did those white robes come from? And John answers smartly. He says, sir, you know. In other words, you tell me. So he said, these are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ.

This isn't a trick for doing laundry, by the way, as they say. Don't try this at home. If you've got a white garment, you want to get clean. Don't dip it in blood. We're talking symbolism here. But what a great truth this symbolism reveals. Now, we don't necessarily have to suffer in the great tribulation, as those specifically mentioned. But for all of us, it is Christ's sacrifice that makes our robes white. The righteousness we have to have on that symbolizes the culture of the world tomorrow is only possible through God's grace, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

That's the only way we can have a proper wedding garment. But the good thing is, we can have that. Jesus Christ's righteousness can be imputed to us if we will repent and accept that sacrifice. And of course, repentance doesn't mean just calling on His name. It means turning and living His way of life. And we can wear linen white and clean. Let's turn into an Old Testament proxy to show that this analogy comes up more than once. In Zechariah chapter 3, Zechariah, near the end of the Old Testament, Zechariah 3... I'll admit, I had most of the sermon prepared and came across this and said, Well, Frank, you can't give the sermon and not read this passage of Scripture.

It fits perfectly. And this vision that Zechariah is seeing, it says, Then He showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of God, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. The eternal said to Satan, The eternal rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?

Now, the brand plucked from the fire is Joshua because he says, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments standing before the angel. Joshua is like us when we say, All of our best, all of our righteousness is as filthy garments. But then He answered and spoke to him who stood before saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said, See, I have removed your iniquity.

He didn't say Joshua could remove his own iniquity. Only by Christ's sacrifice can our iniquity be covered, and only by God's Spirit can we begin to live His way of life. But you know what? The culture of the world tomorrow, that's exactly what will be the case. Everyone will accept Christ's sacrifice, and God's Spirit will be freely available. He says, Then I said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. They put a clean turban on his head, and they put clothes on him.

And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, If you will walk in my ways, if you will keep my commandments, then you shall also judge my house. And likewise have charge of my courts. I will give you a place to walk among those who stand there. Here again, the clothes are a symbol of righteousness, of walking God's way and keeping His commands. This is a way of life.

It's about how we live. God's grace is the start, but we must grow to be righteous, as God is righteous. His kingdom will be that way of life. And that brings us back to the subject of culture. As I said, a definition of culture is how we live. And what will prevail in the world tomorrow? People will live God's way. They'll live in righteousness. And I like to think circularly sometimes. Circular, cyclically, one of those words. But it brings us back to where we started in discussing culture, that element of religion.

We live by God's law. And that means by the spirit of the law, not only by the letter. Our way of life is the way of give, the way of love. Because culture is pretty much how people live. And how we live will be symbolized by the white robes that we'll wear upon Christ's return. As I said, I know symbolically we'll wear white robes. Will God literally hand us a white robe? Perhaps. I'm not saying that dogmatically, because it's not certain to me. But if He hands me one, believe me, I'm going to put it on. Of course, it's part of our way of life to continue to repent.

Knowing we can have our sins covered by Christ's sacrifice. We don't have to depend on our righteousness alone. How much more will that be a dominant feature in the culture of the world tomorrow? Now, to make sure that we don't presume that the whole white linen thing is only some metaphorical thing that applies only to people just at Christ's return, let's read a direct command that we need to get those white robes.

If you'll turn to Revelation again to chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. And of course, this is part of the message to the seven churches. And I'm going to read from the message to the church of Laodicea. And I'm not trying to imply anything about your righteousness or which group is this or that. I don't like to get involved in those things. I think this message applies to all of us if we'll listen to it.

Revelation 3, verse 17 says, You can see, this is a command from Jesus Christ. He is the one from whom we can obtain what we need, including the white raiment. We can obtain the righteousness that that symbolizes from Him. So I would say, if you don't have white raiment, go to Jesus Christ and get it.

Get what you need. Even if it's getting late, you don't have to be like the man who showed up at the wedding without a proper wedding garment. If he'd have read this, he would have said, Oh, I need to go to Jesus Christ and get white raiment. Get the proper wedding... Slow down and say that again. Get the proper wedding garment. It's easy to put it on paper, then it's harder to get the words to come out. But Jesus Christ can fit us out right now. I think of that when I bought my kilt.

There are specialty shops on what's called the... the mile something. The Royal Mile. The Royal Mile, thank you. It goes from Edinburgh Castle down to Holyrood Palace. And there are a lot of shops down there. And if you go into the right one, they can fit you out right then and there.

You can walk out with a full outfit. And some people might mistake you as being a real Scot. So anywhere you go in the world, you can see distinct marks of culture. As I said, when I visited Edinburgh, I was a little surprised to see so many shops selling the kilts. Of course, they largely are there to cater to yanks like me.

They don't call us Yankees, just yanks. They know that we come over there having money to spend and that we think will look cool. So we can afford to spend it on something that we'll wear once in a great while. I typically get this out one time a year and wear it during the feast. Because I bought it with second tithe, I feel obligated. Still, the kilt is a clear and distinct expression of Scottish heritage and culture. Likewise, in our Bibles, we might be surprised, but we won't be surprised after today, to see several references to God's people wearing white and needing to wear white.

I bought my kilt because I wanted to honor an aspect of my culture and my heritage. And as I said, Sue likes the way I look in it.

Some people like kilts, some people hate them, and that's okay. How much we adopt many aspects of a culture is a matter of personal preference and choice. But when it comes to white robes as a symbol of God's culture, that's not a matter of personal choice. Not for any of us. Wearing white robes as the wedding garment when Christ returns will be a requirement, at least symbolically. As I said, I'm not going to go beyond that. I know they are a symbol, and a very important one, because they symbolize righteousness. If there's one element of culture we can count on during the millennium, is that all will live in righteousness. All will live by the spirit of the law, by the way of give. The way of love is going to fill the world, because culture is about how we live. And in God's kingdom, we will all live the way God lives. The way of give. The way of love. If a white robe symbolizes putting on the righteousness of God, then I hope you'll join me in making every effort to put on and proudly wear that particular garment at the wedding of the Lamb. Let us be clothed in righteousness throughout the duration of the millennium.

Thank you.