Judges 6:33-35
Immediately after Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal
33 Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
Today’s passage in Judges 6:33-35 is small, just three verses. However, it is powerful in truth. Some may overlook this passage as insignificant; they assume its only purpose is to set the stage for the more well-known passage that follows, the sign of the fleece. Yet, we still see a structure in the passage’s outline that may help and give us clarity and purpose. We pray the Holy Spirit may enlighten our hearts and minds to the truth of God’s Word that He has in store for us. The first event in the outline, is the gathering of “the Midianites and the Amalekites and the peoples of the East” in verse 6:33. They cross the Jordan to meet Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. The turning point, or rather, the main focus of the passage is in verse 6:34, “But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon.” This is crucial. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon! This is essential for the remaining events that follow. Howbeit, it is essential for all believers in Christ. Therefore, from our text, our focus in today’s Bible Study lesson is on being clothed by God. Just to wrap up this introduction, the final event is parallel and opposite to the first event, the gathering of the Israelites. They both gather and come for the battle that follows.
From our study, some may say that after the call of God, then a man is ready for service. However, in addition to the call, which is truly imperative, we see from our text in Judges 6 there is a progression of equipping. In other words, it has been said that God does not call a servant to work for which he does not prepare them. Gideon had to be equipped by God for the task at hand for which he is being called. In the same way, you and I who are called servants of God are being equipped by Him for His glory alone. God through His providence works in our lives to make us fit for His kingdom. Pompous is the man who thinks God is fortunate to have him working for His kingdom. And as we know, God hates pride but gives grace to the humbled. Therefore, we are seeing how God worked in the life of Gideon. And how God prepared him for service. Yes, there was the call of Gideon, and every child of God has that effectual call from God upon them by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We see in verses 6:11-24 that God chose Gideon who was governed by his humility as he stood before God, face-to-face. Then, in verses 6:25-32, Gideon showed his obedience by restoring the worship of God, beginning with his father’s household. Gideon obeyed because he feared God, in spite of persecution from his father, his kinsmen, and the townspeople. And now, in today’s passage of Judges 6:33-35, we see how God equips his servants for this mission by clothing them with the Spirit of God. This is metaphorical. Gideon is not dressed in the physical garb of a suit of armor. No! Instead, Gideon, a born sinner from the tribe of Manassa, is being dressed in the righteousness of God’s Spirit. The Apostle Paul includes the breastplate of righteousness as a crucial component in the complete armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. Therefore, this is a great message for all of us from the Word of God, This is the great doctrine of the church called, the Imputation of Christ’s righteousness for all believers.
This is not a full and concise treatise on this precious doctrine. This is too great of a message. Just like the prophet Isaiah who stood before God and said, “Woe to me! … I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5), I also feel totally inadequate and inept to articulate God’s truth at times. But for the purposes of this daily devotion and Bible Study, I am humbled every time I think of this great doctrine. Therefore, to pull myself up by my bootstraps, “to gird up my loins”, I say like the Apostel Paul who said to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain…”
Being clothed by the Spirit of God is not a work that we are capable of doing. This, indeed, is a work of God. No child of God can go and walk by faith except they are clothed and protected by the cloak of Christ and His righteousness. This is actually a significant part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ died for sinners. Yet, the acts of imputation in the salvation of mankind paint a picture of a divine purpose that truly surpasses our hopes and dreams that could ever be imagined. For example, when a man is saved by the grace of God, all we know is the bare minimum of the Gospel message: that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worse. Romans 10:9-10 says it all,
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
But now that we are children of God, we are taught by His Spirit so we can be changed into the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. The components of this great salvation are broken down and presented in Scripture. First, we are sinners and we are ‘bad to the bone.’ Our whole nature, which was once perfect in our union with God, was destroyed when Adam, our representative, chose to sin and rebel against God. Secondly, from that moment on, sin came to all, for all have sinned (Romans 3:11-18). Then, with sin, there came the penalty, which is death. Death came to all because all have sinned. This death is not just physical death, while that is important. At Christ’s return, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). But more so, this is a spiritual death. Ephesians 2:1-3 says,
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”
Therefore, according to the gospel message, we are objects of God’s wrath because we are clothed with sin. God cannot look upon sin and our sin must be dealt with. According to God’s plan and purposes, Christ took upon himself all our sins. This is the imputation or the exchange of our sin upon Him. Christ took our sin to the cross at Calvary and paid our sin debt that we could not pay. Additionally, Christ imputed or exchanged His perfect, sinless righteousness with us. Now because of what Christ did for us when we stand before God, God sees only the righteousness of Christ and not our sin. This is the doctrine of imputation: we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ by the Spirit of God, just like Gideon was in our passage today in Judges 6:34. Isaiah 61:10 says,
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
In the same way, we also need the righteousness of God to make us holy and acceptable before God. The righteousness of God makes us children of God, for now, we are born again in Him. We are His and He is mine! In application, all we can do is come in reverence and awe of God, to worship Him who died for us!
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My Jesus, I come to worship You in gratitude and awe. I am left speechless as I ponder and meditate on Your amazing work of imputation. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking on my robes of sin and paying the sin debt that I could not pay. Thank You for clothing me with Your righteousness in Christ. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
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His Robe for Mine, by Chris Anderson in 2008:
