There were two austere white garments, the gown for the anointing and the Colobium Sidonis.  There were two made of cloth of gold, richly embroidered, so exquisite that a gasp was heard when the Robe Royal was lifted up for Her Majesty to don.  So for us … there are glories seen and unseen in the Kingdom of God and of His Son.

The white anointing gown had been replaced by the Colobium Sidonis, the under-tunic.  Now the Queen was clothed in threads of gold, woven into the “girdle” and the “Supertunica.”  The Dean of Westminster and the Mistress of Robes assisted as the Byzantine garment, with its wide, flowing sleeves, was fastened in place by the “girdle.”

Elizabeth appeared to be dressed in a robe of beaten gold.  As if her exquisite, ornate Coronation gown had been but a petticoat, bishops and peers began to dress her in her rightful majesty, each piece symbolic of her royal and national highness, and of her place of spiritual value to her peoples.  To them, she was chosen of God.  Not divine, but Queen by divine choice, and most assuredly with a divine responsibility.

With every piece, with every clasp fastened, she was putting on the Sovereignty that was hers in Christ Jesus.

What can we say?  Where can we go to hide from the truth that defines us, and the majestic obligations that are ours, in the Lord our God?  The symbols of righteousness and power were many, tokens and reminders of valid Scriptural duty, man-made tokens of the authority that defends our high position in Jesus Christ.

Many, too, are the references in the Word of God to the “putting on” that is ours.  In some things we are “clothed upon,” and in many we must “clothe ourselves.”  God Himself clothed Adam and Eve in skins, the first bloodshed.  (Genesis 3:21)  In their humiliation, this was a glorious clothing!

In baptism, we have put on Christ! (Galatians 3:27)  We are to put on “bowels of mercy” (Colossians 3:12,) and In Ephesians 4:24, we are admonished to “put on” the “new man,” being created in righteousness and true holiness after God!

Oh that we would be as cognizant of that day when Majesty became our rightful and responsible adorning!  For Elizabeth, she was there; it happened.  So, too for us!  Perhaps she can still recall the weight of those golden robes … we still walk in the weight of the glory which is our redemption, and which is Christ in us, the hope of glory!

We are clothed with Christ.  There is no greater adorning.  Nothing in heaven or on earth can compare with it.  Apart from Him, all that took place on that day was paper dolls and pagan pretense.  In Him it was a celebration and an honest expectation, that God would support and defend Her Majesty, and that she would support and defend the dominions, lands, and peoples there placed in her charge.

Whose life, whose redemption, whose future and hope do we defend this glorious day?  May we uphold them in all the majesty of the compassions and the authority and the splendor of the love of God.

The Supertunica with the Robe Royal

Wikipedia