Especially in the ancient world, a coat or a cloak used as a covering had special significance for the one who wore it. The first mention of a covering for the body is found in Genesis 3:7, when, after disobeying the Lord, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves. That covering was not acceptable to the Lord, so He killed a lamb and clothed them with coats of skin. (Genesis 3:21) By doing that, He taught the first man and woman that an innocent substitute had to be provided by Him in order for them to be acceptable in the sight of God. That was the first declaration of the Gospel of grace to the human race.
A term ‘coat’ was also used to represent the position or rank of an individual such as Joseph. He had ten older brothers, but even though he was only seventeen years old, his father made Joseph overseer of their flocks and placed him in charge of his brothers, because Jacob knew Joseph was trustworthy and very wise.
That position of leadership became obvious to Joseph’s older brothers when his father gave him a beautiful long coat of many colors, and, in contrast, his brothers wore shorter coats and were shepherds. Joseph’s brothers became very jealous of him, and when their jealousy turned to hatred, they rejected his authority over them and sold him to some passing Ishmaelite traders for twenty pieces of silver. They kept his beautiful coat, and then to cover their evil deed, they killed a goat, dipped the coat in its blood and took it to their father. They lied to Jacob and told him some wild beast had killed Joseph, and their father believed the lie.
When the traders arrived in Egypt, they sold Joseph to a man by the name of Potiphar, who was an officer of Pharaoh. Even though Joseph was a slave, the Lord was gracious to him, and because he found favor in the sight of his master, he was placed in authority over Potiphar’s entire household. Joseph held that position for nine years, and then one day Potiphar’s wife arranged for them to be alone in the house, and she attempted to make love to Joseph. He refused her advances and ran out of the house, leaving his coat in her hands. Of course, she was furious, so when her husband came home she showed him the coat and lied about Joseph to cover her own actions. Instead of investigating the facts, Potiphar believed the lie his wife told him, and he cast Joseph into the prison where the king’s prisoners were kept.
Through all of this unfair treatment, Joseph continued to trust the Lord, and soon after he was put into prison, the warden placed him in charge of all the other prisoners. Two years went by and then two of Pharaoh’s servants were cast into the prison with Joseph. They were the Pharaoh’s chief baker and his cup-bearer. One of them had made a conspiracy against the king, so he put them both in prison while he made an investigation to see which man was guilty, and Joseph was assigned as their body slave.
One morning when Joseph came in to serve the two men, he found them very sad, because they had dreams that troubled them. The Lord gave Joseph the ability to understand and also interpret dreams, so he asked them to explain their dreams. The baker’s dream revealed him to be guilty, but the cup-bearer’s dream proved him to be innocent, so when Joseph realized that the cup-bearer would be restored to his position of serving Pharaoh he stopped trusting the Lord and said to the cup-bearer, “I was treated unfairly when I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews and brought to Egypt. Now, even though I did nothing wrong to Potiphar, he put me into this prison, so when you stand before Pharaoh, please tell him about these things and ask him to release me.”
However, when the cup-bearer again stood before Pharaoh, he completely forgot about Joseph, because the Lord was disciplining Joseph by leaving him in prison for two more full years. At the end of those years, Pharaoh had two troubling dreams, and none of his wise men were able to interpret them. Then the cup-bearer remembered how Joseph had interpreted the dreams he and the baker had while they were in prison, so he told Pharaoh, and Pharaoh sent for Joseph. After listening to Joseph, Pharaoh was so pleased with him that he made him his Prime Minister. Joseph began to rule when he was thirty years old, and he served as Egypt’s Prime Minister for eighty years. Here again, Joseph was clothed with robes that identified his authority.
The next significant coat mentioned in the Bible was worn by Tamar, one of David’s daughters. She wore a long-sleeved coat of many colors to indicate that she was a daughter of the king and also that she was a virgin. (2 Samuel 13:18)
A cloak can also be used to conceal something, as in John 15:22 when Jesus was telling His disciples that the cloaks worn by the religious Scribes and Pharisees no longer could cover their sin of rejecting Him as the Son of God, because he had personally proved it to them. Also, Peter warns believers not to use their liberty as a cloak to hide their own evil actions. (1 Peter 2:16)
The most significant robe was the one worn by Jesus. After His arrest, He was in Pilate’s palace, and the temple guards removed His cloak and then covered Him in a beautiful purple robe and abused Him. (Mark 15:17) Before soldiers put Jesus on a Roman cross to crucify Him, they took His robe and gambled for it at the foot of the cross. (John 19:23)
Revelation 19:13 tells us about a future event when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back to this earth in judgment and be revealed to mankind as “the Son of God”. He will be clothed with a garment that has been dipped in blood, and on that cloak and on His thigh will be the name, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS”. (Revelation 19:16)
When the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to the earth, He will sit down on a Great White Throne, where all unbelievers who have ever lived will be raised in a body and will stand before Him. Two books will be opened … the Book of Works and the Book of Life, and out of them the Lord will judge those unbelievers according to their deeds … NOT THEIR SINS!, because ALL sin was judged on the cross. Then Satan and his angels and all mankind whose names are not found in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire where they will burn forever. (Revelation 20:11-15)
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COLOSSAL MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID MAKING THEM
If you really think about it, aren’t we foolish to suffer for our bad decisions if we can use alternative decisions and not make those mistakes in the first place? Well, there is truly a way to avoid being disciplined for bad choices if we look at what some others have done and see how they suffered for their foolishness.
I’m talking about some of the examples that have been set forth for us in God’s Word! The Bible is “chuck full” of events regarding the disastrous effects of bad decisions. Some of those decisions were the result of sinful acts and others because of wrong-doing. Did you ask, “What’s the difference between those two categories?” Here’s what God says about them … SIN is what we think or do that is contrary to the KNOWN will of God. When we commit sins, we know full-well that what we are doing is wrong, but we do it anyway. Wrong-doing may be something that is generally considered by society to be good, but our own mental attitude is what counts when the Lord evaluates our thoughts and actions.
Let’s take a close look at the lives of a few prominent people who appear on the pages of scripture, and after considering some of their failures and the reasoning behind them, we should be better able to look at our own lives and profit from their COLOSSAL MISTAKES:
ADAM AND EVE … (Romans 5:2; 1 Timothy 2:14) Adam deliberately disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that was in the middle of the Garden of Eden, but Eve was deceived by Satan. She was guilty of sin as well as Adam was, but he KNEW what he was doing!
As a result of Adam’s deliberate sin, both he and the woman received a sin nature, and through Adam, everyone who is born into this world inherits his sin nature with one notable exception, and that is Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus had no human father; therefore, He did not receive a sin nature at birth.
CAIN AND ABEL … (Hebrews 9:22) When Cain killed his brother Abel, it was because of his mental attitude sin of jealousy. Cain was a farmer, and he brought a beautiful sacrifice to the Lord in which he used some of the produce he had grown. Abel was a shepherd, and he offered a lamb from his flock as a sacrifice. The Lord accepted Abel’s offering and refused Cain’s, because only a blood offering was acceptable to the Lord.
ABRAHAM … (Genesis 21:9-11) Abraham suffered as a result of failing to wait for the son God had promised to give from his wife Sarah. At Sarah’s bad suggestion to solve their problem of no heir, Abraham took his wife’s handmaid, Hagar, as his wife, and Ishmael was born. Much trouble and heartache came to Abraham because of his bad decision.
ESAU AND JACOB … (Genesis 27:34) When Esau, the eldest son of Isaac, exchanged his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup, he lost the inheritance that would have been his to his younger brother Jacob.
ELI, the PRIEST … (1 Samuel 3:13) An elderly priest by the name of Eli served the Lord in the tabernacle for a number of years. While he executed his priestly duties well, he failed to do what was right in the matter of training his two sons … he did not use good disciplinary action toward them. When they were grown they also became priests, but they greatly displeased the Lord, because they took bribes from the people and also became involved in adulterous activities with many of the women who came to the tabernacle to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Eli knew that his sons were involved in those gross sins, but he never said a word to reprimand them. As a result, the Lord killed those two young men and told Eli why He had to do it.
KING SAUL … (1 Samuel13:13, 14; 1 Chronicles 10:13,14) Saul was a very likeable, handsome young man who stood head and shoulders above the rest of the people. He began to rule well, but when the kingdom was fully established in his hands, Saul deliberately disregarded the Word of God and did just as he pleased. His failure to obey the Lord time after time cost him not only his kingship over Israel, but also his life and the lives of his sons as well.
KING DAVID … (2 Samuel chapter 11) Most Bible students are aware of David’s sin of adultery, but many do not realize what his mental attitude was prior to his sin. David knew that he should have gone to war with his troops, but instead he decided to pamper himself by staying in the palace and sleeping until noon. In the cool of the evening, David took a stroll through his garden on the palace roof and saw beautiful Bathsheba bathing on her roof nearby. He inquired about her and was told that she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. However, David sent for her and committed adultery with her. A few months later, Bathsheba sent word to David that she was carrying his child, so David had Uriah brought home from the battlefield and attempted to get him to spend time with his wife. Being a faithful officer, Uriah reasoned that he would be deserting his responsibilities as a soldier if he spent time with his wife, so he slept in the barracks. David became very angry when his plan to cover his sin had failed, so he gave Uriah a secret message to carry back to General Joab … the message read, “Set Uriah on the front line of battle where he will be killed.” David’s discipline was fourfold. First, the child that Bathsheba bore died when it was about a year old. Then, three of David’s older children encountered disaster, and those events nearly broke David’s heart. By his actions, we can see how one sinful act can have a “domino effect” upon a bad situation and destroy the lives of many innocent people.
MOSES … (Numbers 20:7-12) No one can deny the greatness of Moses, but he wasn’t perfect. He became very angry with the Children of Israel after having put up with their constant complaining for nearly forty years, and he disobeyed a direct command from the Lord. He was told to SPEAK to the rock to bring water for the people, but he took his rod and STRUCK the rock twice saying, “Must we bring water to you out of this rock, you rebels?” The Lord provided water for the people to drink, but as a result of his disobedience, Moses was not permitted to go into the Promised Land.
KING SOLOMON … (1 Kings 11:4) Solomon had everything this world could offer. He made peace treaties with many other nations in the world, and as a result of those treaties, he acquired seven-hundred wives! In his old age, Solomon tried to please his wives by bowing down to their idols in the temples he had built for him, and the Lord was very displeased.
KING REHOBOAM … (1 Kings chapter 12) Solomon’s son Rehoboam listened to the advice of the young men with whom he had grown up about how to tax the people. He should have heeded the wisdom of the older men who had served his father; however, as a result of his foolishness the kingdom was divided into two nations … Israel and Judah.
ELIJAH the PROPHET … (1 Kings 10:1-19) Elijah was a great prophet who had been used by the Lord to take His Word to the people of Israel for many years. At the height of his greatest victory, Elijah received a threatening note from a woman by the name of Jezebel, and he became so frightened that he ran and hid in a cave like a hunted animal! He failed to trust the Lord to protect him in that situation, so he was replaced by another prophet.
KING ASA … (2 Chronicles 16:12-14) Asa was a good king and greatly blessed by the Lord for many years. However, when he was old, he made an alliance with an enemy nation which was contrary to the will of God. The Lord struck him with a disease in his feet, and for five years Ada suffered but refused to confess his sin and get back in fellowship with the Lord. He died as a result of not confessing his sin.
KING HEZEKIAH … (2 Kings 20:12-27; 1 Chronicles 32:22-33) Hezekiah was also a very good king who loved the Lord and did many wonderful things for the people of Judah. However, he too had a weakness of making friends with his enemies. When he was dying because of his sin, he asked the Lord to extend his life, and he was given fifteen more years to live. The lord kept Hezekiah alive to show him all that was in his heart. (2 Chronicles 32:31)
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Many other examples in God’s Word can show how and why some of the greatest people of the past failed. If you will consider the ones we’ve briefly examined in this study, I’m sure you will see that there was one basic reason for their COLOSSAL MISTAKES, and the reason was PRIDE! Pride is the sin God hates most, and it is our worst enemy!
Written By Lois Delnay
Fallbrook Ranch Productions
2007
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