The Provision
Luke 24:49
'Remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.'
I hated my school uniform - it was a dirge-y green. For years as an adult I avoided green clothing. Ironically, I became head of a school with a green uniform. Ugh! However, colour aside, I came to realise the value of it: my pupils came from disparate cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds but wearing that uniform brought them together, gave them an identity, a sense of belonging, a unity amid diversity. 'We belong together' was a big theme of my school. Clothing as identity.
Clothing as authority. For some years I had a role assisting in the selection of candidates for officer training in the Royal Navy. One minute I'd be chatting informally to a nice ordinary chap in civvies; the next he was presiding over a panel resplendent in navy blue decorated with gold braid. He positively oozed authority as his uniform declared him a representative of the power of the state.
Now hear this:
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Eph.3:26-7)
That is beyond astonishing! In your simple act of surrendering your life to Jesus Christ you have received - you have been 'clothed' with - the identity and authority that belong only to him. He is Son of God; through him, you are Child of God. You share in his identity.
He has all authority (Matt 28:18) He 'clothes' you too with authority to represent him, to live out his truth, to speak in his name, to exercise the gifts that the Holy Spirit endows you with. You have his authority in different situations to declare - 'In the name of the Lord Jesus I pray against this evil, I pray for healing, I pray........
Prayer — I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:18-20)