If you ask Google to define attire, it will tell you it is a dress, clothes, business attire, splendid or decorative clothing, especially describing the “attire of a king or queen.” If we look at the attire of Jesus on an average day, it would be very similar to that of any other Jewish man. Yet if we look at His attire just before and during the crucifixion it will be different.
When they found Jesus in the garden He was clothed like other Jewish men. Yet, because of what He knew was to come, He was in agony. His clothes would have been wet with sweat and possibly blood-stained. In Luke 22:44 it says, “His sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground.” In research, I found that blood can seep through the skin. There is a condition called Hematidrosis that happens when a person is suffering extreme levels of stress. This would be so extreme that the capillaries would burst open, and the blood would seep through the skin. Jesus was certainly experiencing the greatest stress of mankind.
As the Son of God, he knew everything that was about to happen. He knew the physical pain He would feel from the beatings and the cruel execution on the cross. As a man, He would feel everything any other man would feel, possibly more intensely. He also felt the despair of having our sins placed on Him. This holy God would be looked upon as a sinful man by His own Father, as He bore our sins. This would be the only time in history that the Father and the Son were separated. Because He was God and man, He would not be spared any emotion, spiritual, or physical pain. His robe would be evidence of His suffering in the garden.
When Judas led the soldiers to Jesus in the garden John 18:12 we are told “Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him.” The first attire Jesus would wear was the leather ties that bound his hands. He was treated like a common criminal. There was no need for this John 18:7-8 teaches us Jesus went willingly with them.
John 18:7-8 “Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:”
The next thing added to His attire would be their spit and the print of their hands on His face. They took Him from the garden to Annas who had been a high priest but was still influential. Then they took Him to Caiaphas the high priest where He was questioned and spat upon and slapped.
John 18:13-14 “And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people”
Matthew 26:67 “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands.”
Now He goes before Pilate and he found no wrong in Jesus. Then the soldiers took Him and stripped Him of His clothing and placed a scarlet robe on Him. This was put on Him to mock the Jews as the Romans referred to Jesus as their King. The Jews refused this and were irritated that Pilate would proclaim Jesus was the King of the Jews. While this was done as a mockery there was truth in this title. However, He was not only King of the Jews, He was King over everything.
Matthew 27:28 “And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.”
Now the attire of a King must have a crown. In Matthew 27:29 they plat a crown of thorns. Palestine was a country thickly set with brambles and thorny bushes. The crown was made from a bush with long thorns strong enough to push down into the scalp. They made a scepter from a reed, which was a straight slender stick that grows on the banks of the Jordan River. Kings would carry a scepter made of ivory or gold. As they mocked Him further they bowed before Him.
Mat 27:29-31 “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.”
When Jesus was on the cross they took His garments and cast lots for them. It was common to crucify criminals naked for further humiliation. Artists have rendered a loin cloth around Jesus to cover the private areas of His body, but in every other way He was treated as a common criminal, and I believe He was naked as the others being crucified would have been.
John 19:23 “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top through.”
His last attire while on the cross was the cruelest of all. The sinless Lamb of God wore our sins. With the robe of our sins on Him, He experienced the greatest pain of the crucifixion. His Father turned away from Him. Since sin cannot exist in God’s presence, we hear the cry from Jesus in Mark 15:34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Because Jesus endured the separation from His Father for this time we can be forgiven and spend eternity with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forever. He will be clothed in the royal holy attire of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Every knee will bow before Him and every tongue will confess Him. Because of His willingness to bear the robe of sin and endure the cross, we too are robed in His righteousness. At the marriage supper of the Lamb, our attire will be fine, clean, white linen!
Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
