Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Ever wonder what makes movies so mesmerizing? It’s color, new movies are so much more enjoyable than older films because of the HD (High Definition) quality. It’s not that the new movies have better stories or ever better plots, but the fact is that, the colors are so amazing. The story of Joseph and the coat of colors is similar to new movies; the coat is bright and filled with color, but the story is deeper than the bright Technicolor dreamcoat.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. – Genesis 37:3 (NIV)

The coat that Joseph was given is symbolic. Joseph’s coat had two different things that a normal coat did not.
1. It was expensive (because of the colors).
2. It had long sleeves.

The part of the coat deals with the cost of the coat. Think about this, coats back in the day were never really colorful. They did not have the technology or the machinery to have colorful clothes, but when they did have a colorful coat, it was expensive.

The NIV version says, “coat of many colours,” whereas the Amplified adds something different.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a [distinctive] long tunic with sleeves. – Genesis 37:3 (Amplified)

The Amplified describes the coat as a long tunic with sleeves. This is interesting because the long sleeves have a deep meaning. Do you remember the scene of Jesus building a table, in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ?” This scene shows a joyful Jesus building a table with a sleeveless shirt. Almost anyone who has to work hard outside is not going to wear a big fury jacket, but they will wear something light and without sleeves. The reason Israel gave Joseph a coat with long sleeves was because he did not want his son to work (out in the fields) like his other brothers.

You can see how this angered his brothers. Here they had been working hard in the fields while Joseph is resting with his dad. This coat symbolizes our coat of righteousness. Jesus had a robe of righteousness that was given to him from God. Jesus took off his robe of righteousness (on the cross), and he swapped it with our filthy coat.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

Our new robe of righteousness means 2 things.
1. It is expensive (Jesus paid a heavy price for our right standing with God).
2. It has long sleeves (Jesus has already done it all, “It Is Finished!” All we have to do it believe.)

Also, people think that we must put on this coat, daily, but the truth is that God placed this coat on us, without us even realizing

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. – Isaiah 61:10

For He (God) has clothed me with a robe of righteousness! Whether you know it or not, you are right with God. Our good or bad works have nothing to do with this gift of righteousness. This gift does not ask, “Are you a good person?” It is given to us because of Jesus. What kind of gift would this be if we were perfect? And yet, people think they must be perfect to keep this robe. If all of your past sins didn’t keep you from becoming righteous, how can one sin make you lose this robe of righteousness?

You are righteous; God has placed on us a robe of righteousness because of Jesus’ finished work. This coat is a coat of rest (it has long sleeves). This is the ultimate dreamcoat! Our robe of righteousness gave us right standing with God. This gift is not about how good you are. It is about how good was the man who bought it for you!

Bibliography:

The Passion of the Christ. Dir. Mel Gibson. Perf. Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, and Maia Morgenstern. Icon Productions, 2004. DVD.

Photo By: James Donaldson/ creationswap.com