Two Robes

The room was rectangular in shape and consisted of four walls, with a wooden door on one end that appeared to have a blackened window and several wooden chairs lining two of the walls. The fourth wall was empty. The room was dimly lit but there were no apparent lights. Two men sat in chairs across from each other. The man on the left was dirty, unkempt with a ragged head of gray hair and a scraggily, gray beard. The man on the right was well groomed but both were as naked as the day they were born. Each seemed to be in a state of confusion, not speaking but looking around as if they didn’t know how they got there.

The man on the right asked the unkempt man if he knew where they were. He replied, “I haven’t got a clue. I just seemed to wake up here.” “Me too”, the first man stated. “Do you think we were abducted by aliens?” “Probably not”, the bearded man answered, “they wouldn’t be interested in the likes of me.” “I wonder why they took our clothes”, the first man wondered out loud. The old man on the left just shrugged and said, “They didn’t take anything but rags off of me.”

Suddenly, the door opened and a blinding light filled the room. Standing in the doorway was an imposing figure dressed in a glorious white, shimmering robe. Light seemed to be emanating from just his presence alone. In his hands he held two non-descript gray robes. “Here”, he said, “put these on.” The well-groomed man began to bombard the figure with questions. “Where are we? Why have you taken us? I demand to know what’s going on! Who do you think you are just abducting us this way?” Who are you anyway?”

The glowing figure just stood there, silently, looking back and forth from one man to the other for a moment as if he was thinking how to reply. Finally he answered while they were putting on the gray robes and said, “My name is Michael and you weren’t abducted. You are in what we call, the waiting room.” The gray haired man asked in a somewhat whispery shaky voice, “Are we dead?” Michael smiled at him and replied, “Yes you both are! You, James Ferguson froze to death in the alleyway while you were sleeping and you,” looking at the well-groomed man, “Thomas Moore, were killed by a drunk driver on your way home from church last night. James, the Judge is ready to see you now.”

A look of fear and dread came upon James’s face and he yelled, “No, I don’t want to go! I’m not ready!” Michael looked at him with pity and said, “The Judge is fair and you won’t get a sentence you don’t deserve”. James, in tears said, “That’s what I’m afraid of!” Michael pulled a pair of dark glasses from a hidden pocket in his robe and told James, “Put these on, they will protect you from being blinded by the Judge’s appearance. Let’s go! “What about me?” Thomas asked. Michael replied, “The darkened door window will protect you for now and you may watch what happens but you will be unable to hear anything.”

As Michael escorted James through the door he had to half carry him as James seemed to collapse with fear as he went through the doorway. Finally, he was standing before the Judge and James just fell to his knees and cried out, “Be merciful to me a sinner, Lord!” A voice boomed out, “Why should I let you into my kingdom?” James just knelt silently, not answering.

Meanwhile, Thomas was looking through the glass portion of the door but all he could see was a bright light and James kneeling before it. He couldn’t hear a thing. “Stand up!” the voice told James, “and give me an answer!” Finally, James stood and spoke and in a soft, wavering voice said, “I guess you shouldn’t. My life has been wasted on alcohol and drunkenness.” The Judge was silent for a moment then He said, “You’re right! Let’s review that life shall we!” The area surrounding James became like a 3-D scene and James saw his whole life from childhood until his death.

As the Judge went through every evil, sinful thing James had done, the robe James wore began to get stain upon stain on it. It started to tatter and tear with the weight of all the stains appearing on it until it looked like something that had been buried in the ground for a hundred years. James started crying as tears of remorse fell down his face. He saw his life for the worthless thing it had been. Finally, James cried out, “Enough Lord, I am deserving of the sentence of hell you are going to pronounce on me!”

The Judge looked at Him sternly and without mercy but suddenly a smile appeared on the face of the Judge. In a soft voice the Judge told James, “However, you do have something in your favor.” James looked upon the Judge with just a fraction of the beginning of hope on his face and said, “I do Lord. What would that be?”

The Judge replied, “Do you remember what happened on the night you died?” James furrowed his brow with thought as he tried to remember his last moments of life. “Oh, I remember now”, James said, “I was at a church service they held at the soup kitchen where I ate last night.”

The Judge’s voice boomed out, “What happened there?”

James answered, “When the preacher was done and he asked if anyone wanted to get saved, I raised my hand.”

“Then what?” the Judge asked.

“I went to the front and the preacher prayed for me as I asked you for forgiveness and accepted your son Jesus as my personal Savior!” Hope started to take over James’s voice, “I really meant it Lord! Truly I did!”

The Judge said, “Well, let’s take a look at your life again.”

The hope that had started to appear on James’s face started to fade and he asked, “Why Lord?”

Thomas, as he witnessed James’s robe getting dirtier and filthier thought to himself, “Oh that poor soul. Thankfully I’m not such a sinner as he was”, as he looked briefly back on his life with more than a little pride. “I think I’ll be okay,” he said to no one in particular.

As the Judge started the movie that was James’s life and started to list out loud all the sins again, this time and each time, He added a single word…FORGIVEN!” After each time the judge pronounced forgiveness, James’s robe started to get a little cleaner. The stains started to disappear and the tatters and tears mended themselves until finally it was in the condition it was when he first put it on.

Thomas witnessed the transformation of the robe and wondered out loud, “what in the world is going on in there?” As James looked down upon the robe that had changed back to its original state he fell to his knees and bowed down before the Judge with great joy and humility and said, “Thank you, Lord but I’m really not worthy of such a great deal of forgiveness.”

The Judge replied, “My Son who shed His blood for you is worthy and his righteousness and His willingness to pay the price for your sins is what covers you.”

With those words, James’s robe started to change again. It began to lighten in color and the material of the robe began to change. The robe turned from its somewhat rough woolen nature to a luxuriously soft linen texture. It got whiter and whiter until it had the same bright, shimmering look of Michael’s robe.

As the robe changed so did James’s appearance. The grayness of his hair and beard got darker. The craggily lines that covered his face started to fade and James began to look younger and younger as each second passed. James looked at his hands and saw the signs of age fade away. He got up to his feet and started to dance around in joy.

“I’m forgiven, I’m forgiven,” he shouted as he whirled around in circles.

“James, you don’t need those dark glasses any more,” the Judge said with a big smile, “welcome into the Joy of the Lord and into my and now yours, kingdom for eternity!”

James handed the glasses back to Michael as a large portal opened up on the left side of the throne and James could see throngs of people and beauty beyond belief on the other side. He even recognized a couple of the faces as he slowly walked towards it. He looked back to the Judge and proclaimed, “Worthy is the Lamb that has taken away the sins of the world!”

As he looked back towards the portal he saw the most wonderful thing he had ever seen in his life. There was Jesus standing there with open arms ready to embrace him as he walked through. The portal closed.

“Michael”, the Judge said, “bring in Thomas.”

During the time of James’s judgement, Thomas had witnessed the miraculous change of his robe and he saw James dance around with joy then suddenly disappear from site. “This should be a piece of cake,” Thomas said to himself as he rubbed his hands together with anticipation.

He saw the figure of Michael walking towards the doorway. As Michael opened the door, he said, “Thomas, the Judge will see you now” as he handed the dark glasses to Thomas that James had returned to him.

Unlike James, Thomas strode towards the Judge full of confidence, ready to look the Judge in the eye and claim his reward. As he stood in front of the Judge an unseen force drove him to his knees! James thought to himself, “Well I guess I should have bowed on my own, He is God after all.”

The voice of the Judge boomed out, “Thomas, why should I let you into my kingdom?”

A slight tinge of doubt started to creep into Thomas’s mind. “Well”, Thomas answered, “I never drank alcohol or used drugs.” Thomas nervously glanced down at his robe to see if it had started to stain as James’s had. “I went to church almost every Sunday and brought my family with me”, Thomas continued while still glancing down at his robe.

“So far, so good”, he thought.

“I provided well for my family and gave money to the church.” While there was still no change in his robe, Thomas beat back the doubt that had crept in then proudly went on to describe how well he had done in business, how he never let anything get in the way of his success. How he was admired by friends and family for his business acumen.

The voice of the Judge thundered again, “All that you have said is true, but let’s take a look at how I remember your life!”

The area around Thomas took on that same 3-D appearance as it has with James. Thomas started to stand but that unseen force kept him on his knees. As Thomas’s life unfolded around him, he saw his time as a child when he was the schoolyard bully. He saw all the times he had cheated academically and on the athletic field. He nervously glanced down at his robe and saw that stains were beginning to cover it from top to bottom.

He witnessed again all the times he was rude at work and treated his co-workers with distain. He watched as his wife and children looked on with sadness as he told lie after lie on the phone in order to make great business deals. He saw all the times he was at church, not paying attention to the sermon but figuring out ways he could network with his fellow church-goers.

He relived all the less than innocent glances he gave to his female co-workers and the wives of his fellow church members. He heard again every single off-hand and rude comment he had made about them to others. He looked down at his robe and saw that it was crusting with stains and tears and tatters were everywhere.

As the movie of his life went on, Thomas kept waiting to see the time when he had went to the altar to pray and seek forgiveness. He kept wondering when he would be shown the times he had read the bible, but he couldn’t remember any of those times himself. He did remember thinking to himself while he was alive that there would be time for all that religious stuff later.

Finally, the movie of Thomas’s life was over and the robe that Thomas wore crumbled into a pile of dust around him and there he was naked and ashamed before the Judge of the Universe!

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself now?” the Judge ordered.

The same unseen force that had kept Thomas on his knees now seemed to lift him up to his feet which was the last thing Thomas wanted to have happen in all his nakedness! As Thomas tried vainly to cover himself, he stuttered and stammered, “Where were all the t-t-times I went to the altar, read my b-b-bible and p-p-prayed?”

“You were too busy to do all that religious stuff, don’t you remember that Thomas”, the Judge’s voice rang out!

And Thomas did remember that and much more. Suddenly, into Thomas’s mind came all the times and opportunities he had for those things. Fear and desperation started to take over and Thomas’s body began to shake and quiver.

“But surely I wasn’t as big a sinner as James was!” he cried out. “My parents never took me to church,” he exclaimed as he carelessly sought to shift the responsibility for his life upon others.

“I’m sorry Lord, I repent of my sins and ask Jesus into my heart,” he yelled as tears of regret started to pour down his face.

The Judge just looked at him sadly as a tear slowly fell from the Judge’s eye.

“It’s too late, my child,” the Judge softly replied.

Then the sternness and authority returned to the Judge’s voice, “My angels are waiting to take you to the place of Torments where you will await my final Judgement.”

A large dark portal opened up on the right side of the throne and there was no light emanating from it at all. As Thomas was led screaming to the portal all he could hear echoing over and over in his mind was, “it’s too late, it’s too late!” and Thomas knew that phrase would haunt him forever. All that remained where Thomas was, were the dark glasses laying on the floor just in front of the dark portal that had closed quickly behind Thomas.

Rev. 16:15 – “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

Rev. 3:18 – “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear…”