Articles
They Shall Walk With Me in White
Revelation 3:4-5: “But you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments, and they shall walk with Me in white; for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” Thayer defines the Greek word translated white here as meaning “light, bright, brilliant” as in “brilliant from whiteness, (dazzling) white.”
The same description is used of Jesus when He was transfigured in Matthew 17:1-2: “And after six days Jesus took Peter with Him, and James and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart, and He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.” Mark describes His transfiguration in Mark 9:3 writing, “and His garments became glistening, exceedingly white, like no fuller on earth can whiten them.”
The reference to white garments implies a purity that belongs only to deity, only to the cleansing of one’s sins by Christ’s blood, only through forgiveness, and only through His sacrificial death for the sins of many. (Peter told the believers at Pentecost, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins...” Acts 2:38). The description of Christ and of the saints who have not defiled their garments reminds the reader of Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9 where he said, “I watched until thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit. His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire.” Daniel’s vision was of God sitting in judgment, holy, pure, attired in raiment that was white as snow. His hair was also white like wool. Daniel was shown God in His purity and power.
Isaiah prophesied against the wickedness of Judah many years after Daniel’s visions. He called for God’s people to wash themselves clean, put away their evil deeds, and seek justice as they learned to do right and not wrong. He called them to judgment. He spoke as God’s messenger in Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land…” God spoke of forgiveness, a forgiveness He would bring to fruition through His Son Jesus, and a forgiveness longed for by those who love Him.
David wrote, “Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean: wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psa. 51:7). David needed what only God could give him, a forgiveness that would make him worthy in God’s eyes, a joy that could come only with that forgiveness, and a clean heart that could only be supplied by his Father in heaven. He continued his appeal in Psalm 51:8-9: “Make me hear joy and gladness, so that the bones that Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.”
Such forgiveness or remission of sin was made possible only through the coming Servant of God, the Branch mentioned in Isaiah 11:1-2: “And there shall come forth a shoot, out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD will rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” Isaiah prophesied of one who would be born with the full measure of God’s Spirit. Zechariah prophesied later of this one, of Messiah, and of the day when men would live in peace with God in Zion. The imagery in Zechariah is of God cleansing His high priest. Zechariah wrote of his vision in Zechariah 3.
He sees Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD. Satan is at his right hand, and he is rebuked. Joshua is clothed in filthy garments. A command is given, “Take the filthy garments off him” (Zech. 3:4). Then the angel told Joshua, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel (Zech. 3:4).” Zechariah appears moved by the things he is seeing, and he says, “Let them set a clean turban on his head” (Zech. 3:5), and they put a clean turban and garments on Joshua. Another command followed his cleansing and fresh attire.
Zechariah 3:7-10: “Thus says the LORD: If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My charge, then you will also judge My house, and will also keep My courts, and I will give you a place of access among these that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you; for they are men that are a sign: for behold, I will bring forth My servant the Branch. For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; upon one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, says the LORD of hosts, you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.”
The cleansing of man’s sins, of man’s garments, and the glistening white attire of those who overcome the world, as we see in Revelation 3, is a picture of the fruition of the work of Christ who died for our sins and in whose blood, we are washed. It is He who makes us clean and worthy and gives us the hope of eternal life. Let us then strive to walk with Him in white.
