What will you wear when winter sets in?

There is an old saying that greatly assists us in understanding the unity of scripture.  It goes as follows:

"The New (Testament) is in the Old concealed.  The Old (Testament) is in the New revealed"

The purpose of all scripture is to show how God is at work in space and time.  Because the Bible's ultimate subject is the Lord Jesus Christ, we should expect to see even the most obscure texts pointing to him in one way or the other.  Proverbs 31: 10-31, while by no means obscure, is no exception.

Let's look at what this "woman" does when tough times (winter) set in (vs 21 and 25 Amplified)

21She fears not the snow for her family, for all her household are doubly clothed in scarlet.

25Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure; she rejoices over the future [the latter day or time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it]!

I can't believe I'm writing this worn out cliche but Robert Schuller's "tough times never last, tough people do" comes to mind.  Does this mean our Proverbs 31 "woman" might have leaped straight from the pages of a self-help manual?  Heaven Forbid.  So where does her strength come from then?

The clue is that when winter (tough times) comes, her household is doubly clothed in scarlet.  We've already established in an earlier post that this woman is a dealer in royal and priestly fabrics (namely linen)...we've seen how her beds are even clothed in linen.  But now we see that in addition to this priestly fabric, her family puts on "scarlet" in winter.   

"Scarlet" was not only a colour or hue...it was yet another sort of rare and expensive fabric made from wool.  On top of this, the wool has been dyed in a special colouring made from the eggs of an exotic insect found only in Spain.  The thermal qualities of wool coupled with this richly coloured dye produced the "double clothing" mentioned in the proverb.

In Romans 13:14, Paul encourages us as follows:

"But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).

It is only because of the Blood of Jesus that we can stand before the wrath of God.  Even in the depths of scarcity, need and hardship, the blood of Christ is a "double clothing" that declares us righteous and which qualifies us to come before the throne of God in our hour of need.   The blood of Jesus not only saves us from our sins but, as we grow in the likeness of Him, gives us strength, dignity and empowers us to rejoice regardless of the circumstances.