For those of you who enjoy seeing a mystery solved, today’s mini study should be a treat, for we will solve one that has eluded scholars for thousands of years. Actually, we will learn the hidden secret of several unresolved Biblical mysteries. Although I could write chapters about these ”shadows,” I will attempt to cover them here extremely briefly. Let’s first go all the way back to the story of Joseph and his master’s wife, and a verse which says, “She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ but he left his cloak in her hands and ran out of the house.” Genesis 39:12.

        She then lied to her husband, telling him that Joseph had tried to seduce her, and that the cloak he left behind was the proof. As we might imagine, a few verses later we find that, “Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.” Genesis 39:20.

        There have been a lot of sermons preached and books written about this episode, but never have I found any mention of the deep meaning of this story. Unfortunately, it is so easy to get caught up in the surface stories of the Bible without ever looking at the deeper and more important spiritual things that I believe God truly wants us to understand. This one actually is quite simple if we just go back to the beginning where we find Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit. They realized that they were naked and tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Their nakedness represented sin. This picture is consistent throughout God’s Word.

        In Joseph’s case, the same is true. When Potiphar’s wife was left holding his cloak, he was naked. Joseph, of course, is a “type” of Jesus. Much has been written about that. But what has escaped any that I have read or heard was that this entire story is a complete shadow of what was to happen to Jesus, for like the Savior, though sinless, Joseph was accused of sinning and thrown into the king’s prison (the king being a “type” of God, and His prison representing hell). Obviously, this was what happened later to our Lord.

        Let’s fast forward now to one of the most seemingly out of place and mysterious passages in the Bible. When Jesus was arrested that monumental night in the garden, we read, “Then everyone departed and fled. A young man wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” Mark 14:50-51.

        Quite honestly, I read that scripture countless times and I never knew what it was there for. The only time I had ever heard it mention was with the idea that the young man was Mark himself, and he was just trying to tell us that he had actually seen what had happened. That could be true. We don’t know. But I still felt there must be more to it than that.

        We are told that the Holy Spirit will instruct us, and I personally have come to rely on Him to do just that. With that in mind, a few months ago I asked Him to explain this scripture to me. I told Him that I wanted to know what the Father wanted us to understand about it. A few hours later the surprising answer came. The young man was a picture of Jesus himself. The moment He was arrested, just like Joseph, He was accused of sins He did not commit. His linen cloak was stripped from Him. The fact is that He took on Himself all of my sins. He took on Himself all of your sins. He was then going to be beaten and have to die a gruesome death because of our sins. And for three days He would have to go into hell, the King’s prison, as a just punishment for our sinful lives.

        Yes, clothes make the man. Complete nakedness speaks of sin. A white robe, which we will receive in heaven because of our making Jesus our Lord, tells of righteousness. And a linen robe goes even one step further and expresses total holiness. In Jesus case, His garment was linen. He was totally holy. But even more than that, we read of the soldiers casting lots for His clothes at the foot of the cross, and we read a word that God explicitly put in His description of that garment that He wanted us to pay attention to. It is spiritually even more meaningful. For we are told, “This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another.” John 19:23-24.

        Yes, the garment of Jesus was linen, He was holy. So holy that there was not even a stitch on His garment. It was seamless. Not one sin that He died for was His. They were all yours, and they were all mine. He was divinely holy. His linen garment was seamless, and I believe that word speaks of a holiness that is so far above what we have previously considered that it is completely unimaginable to us. Beyond that, His garment was not torn. Praise God, that is right. And once He did what had to be done for us, His garment remained the same. It was not torn. Today He sits on high, in total, unimaginable holiness, adorned in a seamless linen garment. There is none like Him. How could we possibly not worship such an awesome Savior?