Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Monday March 23 2026
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Isaiah 61:10-I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful 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 with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Several years ago, I was blessed to work with a young man from eastern Kentucky. He was smart, respectful, had a great sense of humor, and we became friends. As we studied the Bible together, he realized that he had not been saved as Scripture teaches, and he greatly desired to be baptized into Christ. We went to the church building, probably around 10:00 p.m.
I went into a room and put on a baptismal suit, and Dave went back in another room and changed into some baptismal clothes. (Back then, the church had several sets of clothes that were specifically made for persons desiring to be baptized). As Dave came out of the changing room, he looked a bit self-conscious.
In a solemn and yet whimsical voice, he told me:
“Brother Mark, I look like an Apollo astronaut from the sixties about ready to blast off.”
He actually did!
😂
But that night, and even now, I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote:
Galatians 3:26-27-For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
It doesn’t matter what kind of clothes we are wearing when we are baptized. We receive “the garments of salvation” from the Lord Himself as we “put on Christ” in baptism. We are cleansed and made holy by the blood of the Lamb of God as we rise to walk in newness of life with Him (Romans 6:3-4). The early church actually had a tradition that symbolized this.
Barclay explains:
“(2) H. B. Swete thinks that the white garments stand for the vow made at baptism, and that the phrase described those who had not broken their baptismal vows. At this stage in the Church’s history, baptism was adult baptism, and at baptism individuals took a personal pledge to Jesus Christ. This is all the more likely because it was common for those who had been baptized, after they had emerged from the water, to be clothed in clean white robes, symbolic of the cleansing of their lives. Those who are faithful to their pledge will, beyond a doubt, some day hear God say: ‘Well done!’” (William Barclay, The Revelation of John, Volume 2 (The New Daily Study Bible Book 1), 132-133 (Kindle Edition): Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press)
Baptism is a reminder to us of salvation that we cannot experience without the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. Not only are we saved by His blood when we put Him on in baptism, but we continue being cleansed by Jesus’s blood as we walk daily with Him.
1 John 1:7-But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Lord, thank You for the garments of salvation. Amen.