Well, in some sense, as I said,
I'm trying to tidy up some of the loose ends of Nehemiah and
to examine some of the books that are around. One of the things
that has intrigued me and troubled me, and I've been waiting for
a long time to have a bit of light on it, is in Nehemiah and
Ezra, if you have a look on your sheet there, you actually have
a sentence that's repeated. by God the Holy Spirit. And it's
actually a remarkable sentence. It's in Ezra and Nehemiah and
it's the last mention of these two extraordinary things. I'll read the Nehemiah one. And
the Tertiary, which is the governor, Nehemiah, said unto them that
they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood
up a priest with the Urim and Thummah. And of course the question
is what on earth are the Yoram and Thamman and what did it mean,
what did it mean for Nehemiah to say that? The reality is it's
an extraordinary thing that we actually see in the book of Nehemiah
and we see in these books around Nehemiah, Zechariah, Haggai and
Malachi and Esther and Ezra. And as we saw in Nehemiah, we
have the most remarkable picture of God gathering His peoples,
gathering His people out of all of those provinces. When Simon
read Esther, there's 127 provinces in the Babylonian Kingdom and
the Jews were scattered throughout all of them. Jews from Judah
and Benjamin and Jews from the northern 10 tribes. So the nation
was scattered because of their sin and rebellion and then the
nation miraculously, marvellously by the providence of God according
to His promise were actually gathered back together again.
The gathering of God's people is pictured in the scriptures
of course as It's just testament to the faithfulness of God that
He gathers His people together in church, He gathers His people
together around the temple, He gathers His people around the
Lord Jesus and it's all a picture of Him gathering all of His people
right now around the throne of God and it's all of course picturing
the gathering of God's people. in the new creation will all
be gathered as one together, scattered throughout time, scattered
throughout the world, but never out of God's sight and gathered.
But the remarkable thing is that in, we turn just briefly to Exodus,
to actually come before God under the old covenant, you needed
And to have your sins dealt with, you needed to be in that company. You needed to be in the company
of the people of Israel. You needed to have a representative
go into the very presence of God, bearing a sacrifice for
your sins, your particular sins. To meet with God and to deal
with God, you needed a representative. Let's just look briefly at some
of the words in Exodus 21. Aaron, of course, is a chosen
and appointed. He's appointed from the tribe
of Levi. He was chosen before his birth. and he was chosen from among
the children of Israel. In verse 2 we have this beginning
of the dressing of Aram, which goes right through almost to
the end of the chapter. Aram is dressed in holy garments,
they are called, and as designed and ordered by God. And these
garments, of course, picture the work of the Lord Jesus in
the Holy of Holies in Heaven. And to cap it all off, we turn
over to verse 36. Aaron was clothed from head to
foot, but in verse 36 he actually had something that was like a
crown. You make a plate, pure gold engraved on it, like the
engravings of a signet. Holiness to the Lord. And so Aaron went into this,
the holy of holies, as a priest and as a king. He so well typifies
the Lord Jesus. And he went in to make atonement. And he went in on the appointed
day. that the appointed hour in the
appointed way And we go back into verse 29 of Exodus 26 and
it says these remarkable words. And Aaron shall bear the names
of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon
his heart when he goes into the holy place for a memorial before
the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate
of judgment the urim and the thummim. And they shall be upon
Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. And Aaron shall
bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before
the Lord continually." And we have in Leviticus 16, we have
that great picture of that particular day. Remarkable book, Leviticus. But he goes in there, he goes
in with the blood. for his own sins and then he
goes in with the blood for the sins of the people. And then
he lays his hand on the scapegoats and the sins of the people are
laid on the scapegoat and a fit man takes the scapegoat, effectively
showing the people of Israel that the sins were taken away
and they were taken away outside of their knowing. They were taken
away completely, taken away perfectly and it was a wonderful work,
wasn't it? And what did the people of Israel
do on that day? What was their job? While all
this remarkable thing was happening, someone was taking their names
into the Holy of Holies with a blood sacrifice. Someone was
taking their sins away. In Leviticus 16 it tells us their
job was to do nothing. It's a great picture of salvation. It's a great picture of redemption. All of this typifies the Lord
Jesus. But to go back to the issue in
Nehemiah is that, as you can see, without all of this on the
breastplate, without all of this a tome without all of these things,
how do you make peace with God? If you turn back in your Bibles
and want to look at it, you can read what happened. I don't need
to do it now, but read in Leviticus 10 and 8 what happened to Nadab
and Abihu. They thought they could go into
God with a censer, with their own censer, and they died. a
fire came out from the Lord and killed them. You will approach
God in His terms and in His terms only or you will not approach
Him at all until the Day of Judgment. And yet we read in Nehemiah,
don't we? We read in Nehemiah, especially
in chapters 8 and 12, we read these remarkable pictures of
God gathering these people together, of God accepting them, of God
causing them to rejoice, of God saying to them, this day is holy
unto the Lord, do not mourn, don't weep, And then they're
told, the joy of the Lord is your strength. But in chapter
7 of Niyamaya, it says of these people that they were not to
eat, the priests, were not to eat of the most holy things until
there stood up a priest with the Urim and the Thummim. The
reality is they had no Urim and Thummim, they had no breastplate, they had no appointed high priest,
they had no Ark of the Covenant. None of those things were there
and yet God causes these people to come before him at a temple
of His building, in a city of His designation, gathered people
moved by His Spirit, gathered together to worship Him, gathered
together to celebrate Him. And you can read in Chapter 9
that great description of the character of God. And God, in
Chapter 12 of Nehemiah, they rejoiced because God, had made them rejoice and the
joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. And yet they had no Ark
of the Covenant. They had no Urim and Thummim. The answer of course, brothers
and sisters, is a beautiful answer. In Haggai you see He says in
verse 9, he says, the glory of this ladder house. You remember
that when the foundations were laid some of the older people
were there and there was weeping. The young people were rejoicing
when the foundations were laid and the old people who had seen
it in its glory of Solomon's temple and had been away for
those 70 years, they came back and they saw this and they wept
because it wasn't as big and it wasn't as good as the other
one. It was going to be but a mere
weak looking thing compared to the magnificent structure they
had. And yet Haggai said, the glory of this latter house shall
be greater than of the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in
this place will I give peace, says the Lord of Hosts. The answer is a beautiful answer,
isn't it? The answer is, of course, and
I've got it down there in Hebrews 10 verse 9. Then he said, Lo,
I come, this is the Lord Jesus, our God. Lo, I come to do thy
will, our God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. It's a beautiful picture, isn't
it, that all of these things in the Old Testament were but
pictures of the Lord Jesus. They were shadows and they were
types. And when the reality comes, we
don't need the shadows and we don't need the types and we don't
need the legal obedience. And of course that process began
600 BC almost, when Jerusalem in 586 was destroyed by the Babylonians
and they took the Ark and they took all of those things and
Ezra brought back a vast quantity of the gold and the vessels and
things. But these things, the Urim and
the Thummim, the Ark of the Covenant, those things were not there because
people were to look away from the things of this world and
they will look to God who is faithful. He takes away the first
that He may establish the second. In fact that word to establish
means to make stand. See our God is in the business
of taking away the first always that He might establish the second. He takes away our first love
and establishes another love. He takes away this body of flesh
that we might have a resurrected body. He's taking away this creation
that He might make another creation. They're just glorious pictures,
aren't they? For those of us who know the
Lord, we know something of our flesh, for Him to take away that
heart of stone that we are born with and to establish the second,
the heart of flesh. For Him to take away our bondage
to sin and satan in this world and to give us hearts that long
for Him and love Him. It's wonderful, isn't it? He
takes away the first. You think of them all. There
are so many in scripture. He takes away the first that
he can establish the second. And so, of course, what Nehemiah
is saying in chapter 7 is that these men are to operate in this
priestly way, but they are not to eat. They are not to eat. They don't have the right to
eat. The Urim and Thummim was not there and the Urim and Thummim
would never be there, because the Urim and Thummim is but a
picture of the Lord Jesus. He takes away the first, that
He might establish the second. Let's just briefly this evening
together look at what these words mean. We have no idea, and the
commentators don't have a clue what the things were physically. We just don't know what they
are. All the guesses you could make only make the issue confused. What we do know is the words,
and the words are beautiful. Ura means light, plural light. Thummum means perfections, plural. And they were placed alongside,
as we read in Exodus 28, alongside the names of the children of
Israel on the breastplate. And they were worn on the heart
of God's appointed priest. And they were there for guidance,
for wisdom, for direction in matters of judgement. You can
read it in Numbers 27-21. And he shall stand before Eleazar
the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of
the Urim before the Lord. And at his word they shall go
out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and the children
of Israel with him, even all the congregation." In Exodus
28 it talks about the fact that it's the breastplate of judgment,
the Urim and the Thummim, and they were lost. and they are
lost. They are taken away by God. Like the Ark of the Covenant,
they are taken away, but they speak of someone so much better. And their absence is something
that causes God's people to look from the shadows to the reality. The Lights will replace the Father,
that in Him should all fullness dwell." Colossians 1.19, Colossians
2.3, "...in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
This was the true light, says John. True light which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. Jenny gave me a little
plaque that sits on my desk and it looks at me every day and
says, for thou wilt light my candle, the Lord God will enlighten
my darkness. Of course we have been to 2 Corinthians
often, but I'd like us just to go to Ephesians chapter 1 just
briefly and just look at what is meant by lights and look at
how it is A picture of the work of the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians,
that verse that we read often, it says that God who made light
to shine out of darkness, out of a creative miracle of God,
life exists. Out of a created miracle of God. Light shines out of the darkness
and it's shined in our heart to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You want to
see the glory of God, you want to see the light, you look to
Him. Let's just look in Ephesians
1. Paul is praying, isn't he? When
he's heard of their faith, verse 15, in the Lord Jesus, and your
love unto all the saints, he ceases not to give thanks for
you, make him mention you of you in my prayers. And this is
his prayer for these people in Ephesus, that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, And
then he says in verse 18, that the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. And that's a remarkable word,
a remarkable structure in Greek. It's having been enlightened
by God and God himself cannot undo it. It's a very particular
form of expression in Greek, a very particular way of rendering
it. God enlightens his people's eyes. And he enlightens them in such
a way that nothing in heaven or hell and nothing in us will
ever undo it. And if God does things, why would
he want to change what he's done? But the eyes of your understanding,
so there's an understanding, there's an eye that we see this
world, a natural eye, that gives us some light, gives people enough
light to know that there is a God, that they are accountable, that
they are responsible. You can read it in Romans 1 and
chapter 2. But the light that Paul's talking
about is the light that he's spoken of in all of this chapter
down to here, and it's the most beautiful exposition of the glory
of God, the glory of the grace of God, choosing His people in
eternity, loving His people, predestinating His people, accepted
in the Beloved, He says in verse 6. That's what the understanding
being enlightened means, that we actually see these things
that God says about God and we see these things that God says
about His people. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, and this is the end result of it, isn't it?
That you might know what is the hope of His calling. When He calls, there is great
hope that comes with His call, isn't it? My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. What does He
do then? He gives them eternal life and
no one can pluck them out of His hand. The Father who has
given them to me is greater than all. No one can take them out
of the Father's hand. They're safe in my hand. They're safe in the
Father's hand. That's the hope of His calling. And what is the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints." His inheritance, brothers
and sisters, isn't it remarkable? This is what happens when eyes
are enlightened, eyes of understanding are enlightened. His calling
His glory, His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the
working of His mighty power. And then he gives this wonderful
example, isn't it? This is where that mighty power
was revealed. Which He wrought in Christ, when
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
has put all things under His feet. He rules over all things,
and He rules them for a purpose, and gave Him to be head over
all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him that filleth all in all." That's light, brothers and sisters.
That's light. That's the light that we need. Christ is that light. He provides that light. He reveals
that light. He shines a light, the light
of His grace. And we see for the first time,
when we see through the eyes that He gives us, we actually
see what we are, that we're lost, we're captive. Captives, we're
enemies, we're guilty, we're blind. We're enemies in our minds
through wicked works. Eyes of our hearts enlightened
to see that there is a great need of a redeemer. And then the eyes of our heart
are enlightened as these people saw that there is one perfectly
suited to every particular need. A prophet a priest, a king. No wonder God's children are
called children of light. This is what the high priest
wore on the breastplate. And Christ is the thumbnail. It's all perfections. There are
no perfections outside of Him. All of the fullness in the Godhead
bodily. All fullness of God dwells in
Him. We use that word omni, don't
we, which means all. He's all power. The eternal counsels of God are
just revealed as time rolls on, and God has written it all, and
God controls it all, and God rules it all. As the Lord prayed
on that night, He was betrayed. That night that He was to go
to Calvary, He says, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh. He has power over all flesh.
He has always had all power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. omnipotent, omniscient. He sees all, He knows all. He is both light and perfection. He is the father of lights, isn't
He? The father of lights and there is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning. He is unchangeable, immutable. He is omnipresent. isn't it remarkable
that he can be here amongst his gathered people, perfectly, completely,
fully here according to his word of promise and his word of grace,
and perfectly and completely be in gatherings on the other
side of this world. where two or three are gathered
in my name, there I am in the midst of them, throughout this
world, brothers and sisters. They are gathered, aren't they,
at the same time, in the same time zones, and He is present
with them all, perfectly and completely. It is all perfections
of everything else, isn't it? It's all perfections of grace.
The grace that justifies us. The grace that sanctifies us. The grace that preserves us. The grace that glorifies us. He is all wisdom, isn't he? God has made him. to be unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. His perfection in His promises,
His covenant promises. You go to His promises and look
to His promises in His Word and you'll see them fulfilled perfectly
in His own good time. Perfection in promises. Perfection
in spiritual life. All that we need, He is. All
that we need, He supplies. His perfection in comfort. His
perfection in consolation. He comforts us in our troubles. and this great high priest carried
this Urim and this Thummim, these lights and these perfections,
he carried them into the holy of holies. He carried them close
to his heart. On his heart he carried his people
into the very presence of God. Just think about being carried,
brothers and sisters. It's a great word for those who
have found themselves in need of carrying. For those who can
walk in their own strength and their own wisdom, being carried
is a very humbling experience. For those who have been humbled,
being carried is a very comforting and rewarding experience. You
grow older and you grow weaker in all sorts of ways and you
grow more and more aware of how frail you are. I like the idea
of being carried, brothers and sisters, I like the idea of being
carried into heaven. To be carried means that you're
not walking in your own strength anymore, are you? If you've been
carried, you're not walking in the way or the path of your own
determining. If you've been carried, you'll
go where the one who carries you goes. I love John 12.26.
He says that where it's the inverse of what we would think, so often
in grace everything is inverted. He says, he that loveth his life
shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall
keep it unto eternal life. If any man serve me, let him
follow me. That's fair enough, we can understand
that. And then he says, and where I am, there shall also my servant
be. Isn't it wonderful that it's
back to front. We think if we go somewhere,
the Lord Jesus will follow along behind and he will catch up and
be with us. Not this shepherd. This shepherd
goes before his sheep and he leads his sheep. It's a beautiful,
beautiful verse, isn't it? Where I am, there shall also
my servant be, if any man serve me. Him will my father honour. So we don't walk in our own strength.
We don't walk in the ways of our own determining. To be carried
is to be lifted up. above the earth. To be carried
is to be lifted a little closer to heaven. To be carried is to
be carried in his arms, closer to his face, closer to
his heart, closer to the place where you can feel his heartbeat
and feel his breathing. certainly a place where you can
feel His arms. To be carried is to be lifted
up above the things of this world. It's to know, to see a bit further
ahead and to see more clearly the things that are coming. It's
to see more clearly the things around. If He's carrying, He
can carry you above and carry you through the things of this
world. Most of all, and finally, to be carried in a sense means
to be accepted. I loved carrying my kids around.
There are all sorts of different ways of carrying them out there,
but it was delightful just to hold them. And you just had an
intimacy of relationship with them, didn't you? They were safe. They were secure. The Lord Jesus, in His perfections,
He carries our judgment. He carries our verdict. He carries people on his heart
in eternity. Just follow him through his life. In eternity, they're on his heart. When he came into this world,
they were carried by him. When he went to Calvary, he went
there, carried them and their sins because He loved them. He carries them now into Heaven. He carries them on His heart
in the new creation. These perfections, He carries
us with all of His perfections into the Holy of Holies. If He's
acceptable by the Father and He perfectly is, then all of
those He carries on His heart and carries in His arms are perfectly
acceptable. He's our representative. He's
our substitute. And as I said to you a little
while ago, in Leviticus 16 you have that great picture of the
Day of Atonement, that one great day, a great Passover day. Aaron was busy, Israel was at
rest. He says, doesn't he, that he's
obtained eternal redemption by his own blood. He has it, and
it's his, and if it's his, it's ours. And he's headed into the
holy of holies, in heaven for us, and he carries us into God's
presence. He does it with joy, for the
joy set before him. He does it with satisfaction.
he will be satisfied. And right now, in that place,
carrying us, carrying our names on his heart, he speaks on our
behalf in the holy of holies in heaven, perfectly accepted
we are. And he's on his way home. He's
on his way back. The other thing that the Urim
and Thummim picture is, of course, is guidance. You can read it
there in Numbers 27-21. He shall stand before Eleazar
the priest and shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of
the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out,
and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children
of Israel with him, even all the congregation. John Gill has
a paraphrase of this. He says, Let thy urim and thy
thummim, thy perfections and thy lights, O God, be with thy
Holy One, Christ Jesus, whom thou, O Levi, with the rest of
the tribes of Israel, did tempt at Mattah, and strive with at
the waters of Meribah. He says he provides guidance. Only the high priest could ask
counsel after the judgment of the Euron before the Lord, and
we can only come to God through a mediator, a priest with a suitable
sacrifice. And to ask for counsel was to
stand before the high priest, and then you would have direction
to go out and to come in Simon likes those words in John chapter
10. He says, I am the door. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved and shall go out, go in and out and find pasture. Our great high priest guides
us to a place where we can go. You can go out and find pasture. So we go to him. for wisdom. We go to Him for light. We wait upon Him in faith and
we will be led, we will be fed, we will be comforted, we will
be vindicated. In faith we go to Him as sinners
and in Him we find all of our perfections. Upon His heart loved,
safe, free from the snares of Satan, sin and death." Moses
finished his days, and we can read it there in Deuteronomy
33, and he earlier talked about the underneath him with these
everlasting arms. He, like David, died acknowledging
God's eternal covenant and purposes. But then he said, to Levi, said
of Levi the priest, Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy Holy
One. Be with thy Holy One. They are
with that Holy One. They are just a picture of that
Holy One's light and perfection. Let's pray brothers and sisters.