Revelation 3:4 (S. Conway)
But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white.
[King James Version]
4Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
[CEV]
4A few of you in Sardis have not dirtied your clothes with sin. You will walk with me in white clothes, because you are worthy. 5 Everyone who wins the victory will wear white clothes. Their names will not be erased from the book of life,+ and I will tell my Father and his angels that they are my followers. 6If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
[NET]
4But you have a few individuals in Sardis who have not stained their clothes, and they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy. 5The one who conquers will be dressed like them in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels. 6The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
[Korean]
4그러나 사데에 그 옷을 더럽히지 아니한 자 몇 명이 네게 있어 흰 옷을 입고 나와 함께 다니리니 그들은 합당한 자인 연고라 5이기는 자는 이와 같이 흰 옷을 입을 것이요 내가 그 이름을 생명책에서 반드시 흐리지 아니하고 그 이름을 내 아버지 앞과 그 천사들 앞에서 시인하리라 6귀 있는 자는 성령이 교회들에게 하시는 말씀을 들을지어다.
12:1/13:1/14:1/15:1/16:1/17:1/18:1/19:1/20:1/21:1/22:1]
* [Before<--- ---> After]
*[click -> Music: 예술랑_Revelation]
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그들이 흰 옷을 입고 나와 함께 다니리니: 이는 그들이 합당함이니라. 오늘은 오순절(성령강림대축일) 주일이며, 그 이름 자체는 초기 기독교 교회가 오순절 동안 위 본문을 해석하는 데 사용했던 문자적이고 인상적인 방식을 상기시킵니다.
사도행전은 회심한 사람들의 수확 첫 열매가 그리스도와 그의 교회를 위해 모인 것은 이 절기 동안이었고, 장차 올 시대에 그리스도의 사역자들을 불러들일 그리스도와 그의 교회를 위해 거두어졌다고 말합니다. 그날 약 3,000명의 영혼이 교회에 추가되었고, 성 베드로의 말에 따라 그들 모두는 즉시 세례를 받았습니다. 너희는 성령의 선물을 받을 것이다."
그러므로 오순절은 초대 교회에서 기독교 신앙으로 개종한 사람들이 세례를 받기 위해 선택한 날이 되었습니다. 그 날에 지금까지 유대교나 이교에 속한 사람들이 흰 옷을 입고 교회의 세례당에 많이 모여들었습니다; 그곳에서 그들은 음악, 거룩한 시편, 그리고 많은 상징적인 의식과 함께 기독교 교회의 입회식을 받았습니다. 그러나 이날 가장 기억에 남는 것은 흰 가운을 입은 후보자들의 행렬이었습니다. 이 특징은 교회의 기억 속에 깊이 뿌리박혀 있어서 오순절을 기념하는 날은 오늘날에도 여전히 우리에게 알려진 것처럼 Whir 또는 White Sunday, Alba Dominica 또는 White Lord's day로 알려지게 되었습니다.
그날 세례를 받은 사람들은 이교나 유대교에 대한 이전 믿음을 버리고 그리스도에 대한 믿음을 고백하여 기독교 공동체의 일원에 합당한 자로 간주되었습니다. 그리하여 그들은 "걸을 것이요...합당하다"고 기록된 대로 흰옷을 입고 있었습니다. 이 새로 세례를 받은 사람들은 자신을 그리스도께 바치겠다는 서약을 상기시키기 위해 흰 예복을 자주 입었다고 합니다. 그들이 죽으면 다시 흰 옷을 입고 장례를 치르곤 했습니다.
그러나 고대 교회가 이 개념에 대한 이해를 표현하기 위해 어떻게 상징주의를 사용했는지 주목하는 것도 흥미롭지만, 오늘날 우리 자신을 위해 은유를 더 깊이 탐구하고 그 의미를 이해하는 것이 더 중요합니다.
그리고 그 의미는 분명히 이것입니다. 그리스도께 봉헌된 삶은 복된 삶이라는 것입니다. 세례 받은 자들의 흰옷은 의심할 바 없이 그들에게 그런 삶의 특성과 책임을 나타냅니다. 그 성품은 거룩해야 하며, 그들의 책임과 의무는 거룩함을 추구하는 것이며, 그것 외에는 아무것에도 만족하지 않는 것입니다. 그러나 본문에서 의미하는 것은 많은 책임과 의무가 아니라, 그리스도인의 삶의 축복에 있습니다. 그러므로 그것에 대해 이야기합시다.
II. 흰 옷 그 자체. 다음을 의미합니다.
1. 순결에 관해서. "마음이 순결한 자는 복이 있나니." 오, 이 기쁨! 유혹이 닥쳤을 때, 비록 힘든 싸움을 한 후일지라도, 유혹을 붙잡아 처리하고, 승리할 수 있다는 것은 좋은 일입니다. 비참하게 굴복하여 "사탄의 뜻대로 사로잡혀 가는" 것보다, 오, 이것이 얼마나 더 좋은 일입니까! 그러나 이것조차도 흰 가운이 의미하는 행복에는 훨씬 미치지 못합니다. 그것은 "이 세상 임금(사탄)이 올 것이나, 내게는 아무 것도 (유혹할 만한 것이) 없느니라"고 말한 것과 같은 내면의 순결을 말해주기 때문입니다. 그분에게는 유혹자의 힘이 붙잡을 수 있는 것이 아무것도 없었으며, 이 순결한 마음으로 일어나는 것은 흰옷의 상징되는 약속된 영광과 기쁨입니다.
2. 승리에 관해서. 흰색은 승리의 상징이자 순결의 상징이기도 했습니다. "이기고 또 이기려고" 나가신 분이 백마를 타셨습니다. 큰 환난에서 나온 사람들은 "흰 옷"을 입었고, 다른 곳에서는 그들이 "어린 양의 피로 이기었다"고 합니다. 그래서 봉헌된 영혼이 누리는 승리의 축복입니다. "죄가 그를 주관하지 못하리라". "범사에" 그분은 "정복자보다 더 크신" 분입니다. 기독교 신앙의 가장 큰 축복 중 하나는 약한 자에게 힘을 주고, 그리스도를 믿는 믿음은 힘 없는 자에게 힘을 준다는 것입니다. 그리스도인의 일상적인 경험에서 얻은 사실은 그것이 사실임을 증명합니다.
3. 기쁨에 관해서. 흰 옷은 또한 기쁨을 상징합니다. 진정으로 헌신한 마음은 "주님의 기쁨"을 알게 될 것입니다. 모든 시대의 하나님의 성도들은 "그분이 밤에 노래를 주신다"는 사실을 발견했습니다. 진실한 마음을 가진 그리스도인이 아니라면 누가 그런 기쁨을 가질 수 있겠습니까?
III. 우리가 승리하고 이런 흰 옷들을 입을 수 있는 방법.
그리스도께 완전히 굴복함으로써. 다른 방법은 없습니다. 우리가 우리의 뜻을 유지하고 그 요구를 계속 주장한다면, 이 흰 옷들은 우리를 위한 것이 아닙니다. 봉헌된 삶, 오직 그것만이, 이런 흰 옷들을 입습니다.
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They shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. This is Whit Sunday, and its very name carries us back in thought to the literal and impressive manner in which the Christian Church of the early centuries was wont to interpret our text when she celebrated the Feast of Pentecost.
For it was at this feast - so the Book of the Acts tells us - that there were reaped for Christ and his Church those famous firstfruits of the harvest of converted men, which in the ages to come Christ's ministers should gather in. On that day there were added to the Church some three thousand souls, who were all straightway baptized according to St. Peter's word, "Repent, and he baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
The Day of Pentecost, therefore, became a chosen day in the early Church for the reception by baptism of converts to the Christian faith. On that day they who had lived heretofore in Judaism or in heathenism were clothed in white robes, and gathered in numerous throngs at the baptisteries of the churches; there, with music and holy psalms, and with many elaborate symbolic ceremonies, they received the initiatory rite of the Christian Church. But the most striking feature of the day was the procession of white-robed candidates, and that so fastened itself on the mind of the Church, that the day which commemorated the Feast of Pentecost came to be called, as it is amongst us still, Whir or White Sunday, Alba Dominica, or the white Lord's day.
Those who were on that day baptized had been counted worthy - for they had renounced heathenism or Judaism, and had confessed Christ - to he numbered amongst the Christian fellowship. And hence they were arrayed in white garments; for was it not written, "They shall walk... worthy "? And it is told how not seldom these baptized ones would ever afterwards carefully preserve their white robe as a perpetual reminder of their vow of consecration to Christ, and at the last, when they lay down to die, they would have it put on once more, and in it they would be buried. But whilst it is interesting to note how the mind of the ancient Church expressed by such symbolism its understanding of this word before us, it is more important to us to get beneath the metaphor, and to ascertain its meaning for ourselves today.
And that meaning is surely this - that the consecrated Christian life is a blessed life. The white robe of the baptized told them, no doubt, of the character and responsibilities of that life; that its character was to be holy, and that their responsibility and obligation were to strive after holiness, and to he content with nothing less. But in our text it is not so much responsibility and obligation that are meant, but the blessedness of the Christian life. Let us speak, therefore -
I. OF THE WORTHINESS WHICH WINS THE WHITE ROBE. The few in Sardis who are to be counted worthy are they who, unlike the rest, "have not defiled their garments;" that is, the character, which is the vestment of the soul, and which they had received, they had kept undefiled. For a new character is given to him who truly comes to Christ; he is a new creature, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth him from all sin. This is no mere doctrine of theology, but a fact in Christian experience. For the mind in which we come to Christ is in nature, though not in degree, Christ's own mind - that mind of which his atoning death was the expression; the mind that condemns sin, that trusts in the forgiving love of God, and desires above all else the love of God. Such was the mind in which Christ died, and which was the real atonement. For the mangled flesh of the Lord and the bleeding body had no atoning power save as they declared the mind which was in him. And it was a mind that could not but be infinitely acceptable to the Father, could not but have been a full, true, sufficient atonement, ablation, and satisfaction to his heart, the Father-heart of God. And because, whenever we come really to God in Christ, the movements of our minds are in this same direction, and we come clothed in this mind, though it may be but imperfectly, yet because our mind is like in nature, though not in degree, to the perfect mind of Christ when he died for us, therefore are we accepted in him, and for his sake pardoned, and made possessors of a new character - his mind - which is the garment we are to keep undefiled, and which those who are counted worthy do keep undefiled.
II. OF THE WHITE ROBE ITSELF. It tells:
1. Of purity. "Blessed are the pure in heart." Oh, the joy of this! It is good, when temptation comes, to be able to grip and grapple with it, and to gain victory over it, though after a hard struggle. Oh, how far better this than to miserably yield, and to be "led captive by Satan at his will"! But even this falls far below the blessedness which the white robe signifies. For it tells of an inward purity, like to his who said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." There was nothing in him on which the tempter's power could fasten, and to rise up to this heart-purity is the glory and joy promised by the white robe.
2. Of victory. White was the symbol of this also, as well as of purity. He who went forth "conquering and to conquer" rode upon a white horse - so the vision declared. They who had come out of the great tribulation were clothed in "white robes," and elsewhere we are told they had "overcome by the blood of the Lamb." And this blessedness of victory the consecrated soul enjoys. "Sin shall not have dominion over" him. "In all things" he is "more than conqueror." One of the very chiefest blessings of the Christian faith is that it makes the weak strong, and to them that have no might the faith of Christ increaseth strength. Facts of everyday Christian experience prove that it is so.
3. Of joy. White garments are the symbol of this also. And the truly consecrated heart shall know "the joy of the Lord." The saints of God in all ages have found that "he giveth songs in the night." Who should have joy if not the true-hearted Christian man?
III. HOW WE MAY WIN AND WEAR THESE WHITE ROBES. Through entire surrender to Christ. There is no other way. If we retain our own will and keep urging its claims, these white robes are not for us. The consecrated life is clothed thus, and that life alone.
S. Conway
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