The High Priest And The Priests

Q: What does the Bible say about the role of the High Priest?

The High Priest acts as a mediator between God and His people, symbolizing Christ's intercessory work. In the Bible, particularly in Exodus 28, the role of the High Priest is established as one of mediation and representation. The High Priest, exemplified by Aaron, serves in a unique capacity, bearing the names of the children of Israel on his shoulders and heart, reminding us of Christ, our High Priest, who continually intercedes for His people before God. This role is vital as it highlights the need for a mediator in our relationship with God, as noted in 1 Timothy 2:5, which states that there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Q: How do we know Christ's priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priesthood?

Christ's priesthood is eternal and perfect, unlike the temporary and imperfect priesthood of Aaron. The priesthood of Christ, as described in the book of Hebrews, is fundamentally superior to the Levitical priesthood. While Aaron and his successors had to offer sacrifices repeatedly for their sins and those of the people, Christ offered Himself once and for all, thus fulfilling the law completely. Hebrews 7:24-28 emphasizes that Christ 'continues forever' and has an unchangeable priesthood, allowing Him to save to the uttermost all who draw near to God through Him. Consequently, His priesthood is not only eternal but also flawless, as He is holy, harmless, and undefiled.

Q: Why is the role of the priest important for Christians?

The priest represents the believer's access to God and their need for intercession. The role of the priest is crucial for Christians as it illustrates our collective identity as priests before God. 1 Peter 2:9 calls believers a 'royal priesthood,' emphasizing that through Christ, each believer has direct access to God. This calling implies that our worship, prayers, and life are offerings to God. Additionally, our High Priest, Christ, continuously intercedes for us, illustrating our profound reliance on His grace and mediation. Understanding this empowers Christians to approach God with confidence, as expressed in Hebrews 4:16, which encourages us to 'draw near to the throne of grace.'

you. I don't know. I can't So I'm going to show you how to do it. I'm so afraid of the dark. I needed a good reader this morning. You know those ouches? No, there's a bunch on your Bible I forgot to change the date. You have to read that whole thing. The way I'm going to handle it. I'm as good as chunks. I can't go exactly where I want to go. But if you read it, the whole thing, it'll put together. I'm going to play a little bit of this. I don't know if you can see it. Good morning, everyone. If you would please turn with me to Exodus chapter 28. We're going to start in verse one and read the entire chapter. That's Exodus 28.

And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother. and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest office, even Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar, Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wisehearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest office. And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, and a miter, and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.

And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, and fine twine linen with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof, and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof, even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twine linen.

And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of the names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in the stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the Ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

And thou shalt make ouches of gold, and two chains of pure gold at the ends of wreathed works shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathed chains to the ouches. and thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. After the work of the effort thou shalt make it of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twine linen shalt thou make it.

Four square it shall be being doubled. A span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set it in settings of stone, even four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, a carbuncle, this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a barrel, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their enclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. Every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.

And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the end wreathed in work of pure gold. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and thou shalt put the two rings on the end of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreathed in chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreathed in chains shalt thou fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them on the two ends of the breastplate, in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And the other two rings of gold shalt thou make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with the lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.

And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart. when he goeth unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put the breastplate of judgment in the Urim, in the Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goes before the Lord, and the Lord shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.

And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue, and there shall be a hole in the top of it. In the midst thereof, it shall have a binding of woven work round about the whole of it, as it were the whole of a that it shall not be rent. And beneath, upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet round about the hem thereof, and bells of gold between them round about. a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about it. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth into the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not.

And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it upon a blue lace, that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront of the miter shall it be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.

And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the miter of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with them, and shalt anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even until the thighs shalt they reach. And they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons, when they come into the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord, our great Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us through another week and bringing us here to worship your name to start a new one.

Lord, we ask during this service today that you be with us, that you give John the words to preach and you give us hearts to love and praise and worship you, Lord. Let our worship be genuine. Let it be from the bottom of our hearts. Give us the ability to love you, Lord. And we ask that you forgive us of our sins, Lord, and that there are many trials and tribulations that people in this congregation and your people across the world are going through, Lord. Help us to remember to pray for them and keep them in our hearts, Lord. Thy will be done in all things. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Let's stand this morning for number 62, crown him with many crowns. Number 62. Crown Him with many crowns, Noel, upon His throne.

Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns All music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing Of Him who died for thee. Hail him as thy matchless king through all eternity Crown Him the Lord of love, Behold His hands and side, Rich wounds yet visible above, In beauty glorified. No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight, The downward wind is wandering us, that mystery so bright. Round him the Lord applied, Who triumphed o'er the grave, Who rose victorious to the strife, For those He came to save. No stories now we see, Who died and rose on high, Eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die. Crown Him the Lord of Heavens, one with the Father known. One with the Spirit through Him give, from yonder glorious throne, to Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us hast died, Be thou, O Lord, through endless days adored and magnified. You may be seated. Number 36. A mighty fortress is our God. Number 36. A mighty fortress is our God, Of our walk never failing.

Our helper He amid the flood, Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe, Thus seek to work us woe, His craft and power great, And all with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal, Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing? Were not the right men on our side, The men of God's own true losing?

Thus canst who that may Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Saviath, His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle. And though this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. This rage we can endure, for the histam is sure. One little word shall fell him. Backedward above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abided.

The Spirit and the gifts are ours, through Him who with us sided. Let goods and kindreds go This mortal life also The body they may kill God's truth abideth still His kingdom is forever Going back to Exodus 28, let me say a word about Thursday night's message.

You know, I'd touched on that young man who said to the Lord, let me go home and bury my father. And the Lord said, let the dead bury the dead. You come follow me. And I commented that the dead ought to bury the dead. But when I got home, I thought, that might have sounded a little insensitive. And I thought about it, you know. And the reference I was making that was in my mind was a few years, well, some years ago, I was asked, two different times to preach a funeral of an unbeliever, and both families, none of them had anything to do with the gospel. They didn't go anywhere. They all just ate at home. And I did the first one, the second one, I turned down. But when I got home and I got to thinking about it, I thought, well, you all didn't know all that.

You know, if the Lord took one of yours, loved ones, who didn't believe, I'd be glad to preach the gospel. But if anybody outside of here who doesn't believe the gospel and has nothing to do with the gospel, I'm going to say no. Because I did it once, and it was just a very uncomfortable situation.

Playing country music at the funeral home, and I thought, I'm not going to do this again. so but what i was making reference to has nothing to do with you as a church member and a body of christ believers here your heart aches my heart ache all right chapter 28 when i looked at that i've been looking at it over and over and over And I wanted to read all the verses this morning, but I thought, somebody younger than me needs to read all these verses.

And you did a very good job. And all of this that was read this morning, all of it is Christ. All of it is Christ, in every detail. Now I'm not going to go verse by verse, detail by detail, because it would take a long time to do that. But I'm going to go in chunks and cover this, Lord willing. That's what I hope to do this morning. And this morning we're going to look at the high priest and the priest. There's two different priests mentioned here.

The high priest and the sons of Aaron who are priests. They were made priests. They were many priests but there was only one high priest and all this speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and it speaks of us in Christ. You see Aaron's sons who were priests represent the children of God who are priests. Listen to Revelation 5 10. It has made us unto our God kings and priests. Christ has made us kings and priests.

DO WE NOT OFFER UP THANKSGIVING? DO WE NOT OFFER UP PRAYERS? DO WE NOT OFFER UP PRAISE? OUR SINGING THIS MORNING, WAS IT NOT PRAISE TO GOD? THAT'S THE WORK OF A PRIEST. WE ARE PRIESTS IN CHRIST. HE'S MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD. NOW WE SEE HERE IN VERSE 1 THE CALLING OF THE HIGH PRIEST. FIRST, HE'S A MAN. OUR LORD was and is a man, a real man. He's a real man.

And his name is Aaron, Moses' brother. And he says here, Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel. See, these are among the children of Israel. Aaron and these priests represented God's people. They didn't represent the Philistines. They didn't represent anybody else but God's Israel, God's people. That's who they represented. And he says here, Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.

You see the high priest's ministry was first to God. He's God's servant. And this is what the Lord says in Isaiah 42, BEHOLD MY SERVANT. Christ came into this world to SERVE, that's what He said. Not to be ministered unto, but to MINISTER. He ministered the things of God, He took care of the things of God. The things that God required, He provided. He provided. He's the MEDIATOR.

You see this high priest is standing between God and Israel. He's the mediator and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men. It's very evident in the scriptures that you have to have at least two things to come before God. You have to have a blood sacrifice. And you have to have a high priest. You cannot, you cannot, I cannot deal with God on my own. I have to have a go-between. I have to have a mediator. Job called him an umpire. He said, I need a go-between. I need someone to stand between me and God and mediate for me.

And we have that someone in Jesus Christ. We have it in Him. This is all fulfilled in Christ. Listen here in Hebrews 5 verse 4 and 5 and I'll quote a lot out of Hebrews this morning. And no man taketh his honor to himself, being the high priest. No one made themselves a high priest. God did. God chose the high priest. But he that is called of God, as was Aaron, so also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest. But he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today I begot thee. He's the one that made him a high priest. He made him our high priest. He made him our high priest.

In Hebrews 3.1 it is said of Christ, He's the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. We have a high priest that stands before God on our behalf. We have a high priest who intercedes for us continually. And we need continual intercessory prayer, don't we? And our Lord does that. He does that.

Just as Aaron was chosen of God, Christ is divinely chosen and appointed by God to be His high priest. This is God's high priest. God's high priest. and he was chosen to be the high priest in things pertaining to God. Now in verses 2-5, holy garments are mentioned and it says for glory and for beauty. There was no one in any nation that was dressed and had such beautiful garments like the high priest of Israel.

And I've been looking at a picture of him all week on the internet. I actually copied one this morning, because I was going to bring it, I was going to blow it up. I couldn't find out where I copied it. I thought, where's Donna when I need her? I couldn't find it. But I'd been looking at it, and all the different garments and what their names were. It's been really easy to point that out by just having a picture. See, see? And all this is Christ. All this, from the man to all the garments, it all speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have these holy garments for glory and for beauty, it says. And these holy garments represent the holy nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's the Holy One of Israel. That's what He's called, the Holy One of Israel. The angel said, that holy thing, speaking of Him as a child in the womb, that holy thing which shall be born of you. It speaks of His holy nature. Our Lord was holy and our Lord is holy. He's holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. That's who he is. And the garments are made for glory and beauty and consecration.

They set him apart from all others. Nobody else wore what this priest wore. Even the other priests, Aaron's sons, they didn't wear all this. They had four garments they wore. The high priest had eight garments he wore. He had eight pieces that he wore.

This set Him apart for glory and beauty. There is nothing compared to our Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing and no one compared to Him. Go over in the Song of Solomon, and that Shulamite, she describes Him from head to toe, and she said, He's altogether lovely. Have you seen Him? Is He altogether lovely to you? Is there anything about Jesus Christ you would change? If so, you've never seen Him. If so, you've never met Him. If there's anything you'd change, you've never met Him. There's a lot I'd change about me, but nothing about Him. He is absolute perfection. He's absolute perfection.

Hebrews 2 9 we see this fulfilling Christ, but we see we see Jesus Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death so that he could die He didn't come into this world to live he came to die he's the only person born into this world whose purpose was to accomplish death and That's what He spoke of on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah. They spoke of the death that He should accomplish and He accomplished it for us on our behalf. We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor. Where is He right now?

Seated at God's right hand. Our High Priest is seated at God's right hand. He's the King Priest. You see, our High Priest is the King Priest. In Hebrew language, listen, this linen is spoken of here for glory and beauty and consecration. This linen, you know what it meant in Hebrews? Separation. It means purity, it speaks of His righteousness, but it also speaks of His separation. I'm not of the world. He's not of the world in any way, shape, or form. In His birth He was begotten by the Holy Spirit. The seed of Adam did not enter into His birth. He was born of a virgin. How in the world can that happen? Only God can do that. There's a lot of things that only God can do. A lot of things only God can do.

Listen here in Hebrews 7.26, For such a high priest became us.

He became one of us. Chosen from among the children of Israel. He had to be from among the children of Israel. God chose His high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, from among His brethren. We are His brethren who believe, all who believe. All who believe are the Israelites. Not all Israel is Israel, Paul said. Those who have confidence in the flesh, we be Abraham's seed. He said they're not Israelites. But it's those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the circumcision who have no confidence in the flesh. We trust Him. We trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But listen, for such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate. See I told you that in Hebrew language Lennon meant separate. It means separate. Separate from sinners. That does not mean he had nothing to do with sinners. Everything he did, he did for sinners. He saved sinners. He died for sinners. But he never was one himself. He never sinned. He knew no sin. And he's made higher than the heavens, none compared to him. The outward beauty of the high priest points to the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect holiness and divine glory. And then in verses 6 through 14 we have the ephod and names on the shoulders. This ephod, let me see if I can find these colors. In verse 5, they shall take gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, and a fine linen.

Now every one of those by themselves point to the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet they're all woven together because Christ is not divided. All of this is Christ. Now, all these collars were used in the tabernacle to make the curtain, to make that, it's made right here too. Except for one thing, there's one added, gold. Gold is threaded into this, into this ephod. It's gold. That's the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let's go back here. The two stones, the two onyx stones with the name of Israel engraven by an engraver was put on those stones and it was in the order of their birth. What does that mean? What does this show us? These two stones with their names, six on one side, six on another, and on this ephod. And this ephod, if I could get it in your mind, it's like an apron, but it's on backwards.

You know, it covered down through here and had two straps come up to here, and they landed right here on the top of his shoulder. And on top of his shoulder were those two stones. Now there's going to be two golden chains and there's two golden rings that's in the straps and they're going to reach down to that breastplate. Two golden! Because there's no separation in Christ. There's no separation of His manhood from His deity. He's one. He's the God-man. He's the God-man. But listen here. These two stones are where? They're on His shoulders.

Run to us, Isaiah 9.6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. The government of the church, the government of the whole elect of God are upon his shoulders. He bears us. and the government of the world. Now He governs this whole world right now.

I don't care what it looks like. It may look like chaos, but it's orchestrated chaos. It's going according to God's eternal purpose. But these names show this. Here's what it shows us. That Christ carries His people. He bears them up on His shoulder before God. And in our life He bears us up. He carries us. Listen to Luke 15 5.

Remember when the shepherd Went out after that one lost sheep. He didn't put a rope around his neck and lead it back to the fold. He didn't get it to follow him. It says he put it on his shoulders and carried it back to the fold. You and I are actually being carried on the shoulders of Almighty God. He's burying us up. He's burying us up. There's times we feel like He's nowhere around. The trials sometimes can get so heavy. The clouds so dark that we cannot even see. Remember this, that He's carrying you even when that's going on. Even when that's going on, He's got you on His shoulder. He's carrying you. He never lets His people down.

And then we have the breastplate with 12 stones. We have two stones on the shoulders. He bears up His people. But now we have the breastplate in verses 15 through 21. The breastplate with 12 stones now. That breastplate is right here. And it's of the same color that the ephod is. And there's a chain, like I said, from the two shoulder straps attached to a gold ring down to this ephod, down to this breastplate. It's made out of the same material, and it's got 12 stones on it. And as Matt read, all these stones are different stones, every one of them different. They're different. And each of these stones represent a tribe of Israel. But here's what it also represents.

That He always bears us on His heart. He bears us on His shoulders, He carries us. But He bears us in His heart. We're never off His heart. You know, our children are on our hearts all the time. Not like, I mean, we do forget them. You know, we do go about the day, get busy, forget. Our Lord never does that. He's God.

He constantly has David said, Thy thoughts to usward can't be reckoned up in order. It says that He knows the very hairs of our head, they're all numbered. Vicki and I was talking about that the other day. That our hair, the hair on our heads is numbered.

Our Lord knows, He knows His children. They're on His heart. He says in John 10, 14, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep. and am known of mine." They know me and I know them. Now we don't know Him like He knows us, but we do know Him. We do know Him. John 13 1, Having loved His own, He loved them to the end. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.

You have a friend you'd actually die for? Well, we would say yes, because we're not dying for it. You know, it's easy to say that kind of stuff when you're not acting. But if you're actually getting ready to be executed, or your friend's ready to be executed, you say, no, execute me. He said, oh, I'm sorry, I hate you have to do this. But our Lord didn't do that. Having loved His own, He loved them to the end.

It says in Hebrews 4, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, but he feels our pain. You remember when he was at the grave of Lazarus and Mary and they were weeping and crying and people weeping and crying, and it says Jesus wept.

He felt their pain. He felt their pain. He felt the effects of what sin did to them. Sin breaks the heart. It's hard to lose a loved one, but the Lord felt it. As John Matthew Henry said, and I love this, He felt everything He took away. He felt everything He took away. He's not cold and calloused. Our Lord carries His people on His heart with personal love and knowledge. He knows all about me, and still loves me. It's amazing.

But I thought of this too, and I went back over and I think it's in Genesis 49, when Jacob takes each one and gives them gifts and tells them what's going to happen. Judah is a lion's whelp, and he goes down through all 12 of them. And I thought, all these different stones, they're all different, every one of them.

Every one of us have different personalities. And the Lord loves every one of His children with all their different personalities the same. We're all loved the same. We're all saved. No one is more saved than another. We're all precious to Him. Precious.

And then it says in verse 29 concerning the high priest, And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment, upon his heart. When he goeth in unto the holy place for memorial before the Lord continually. Brother, here we have representation. When he goes into the holy place to perform his service, the whole Israel of God goes in with him doing the service in him.

What Christ did, we did. What he did, we did. Did He keep the law? In Christ we did too. In Christ we kept the law. Whatever He did, we did. That's what it says. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel and the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goes in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continue. When he goes into the holy place and he trims the lamps and they change the showbread. When he does all of that service to God We did it too. Just like it says Levi paid tithes in Abraham. Levi wasn't born. That was many years later. But by representation, he paid tithes in Abraham. Levi, you know, the priesthood of the Levites.

Listen to 1 John 4.17, Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.

Here's our boldness in the day of judgment. Here it is. Because as He is, so are we in this world. That's our boldness in the day of judgment. We want to stand before God just like His Son Jesus Christ. Is He holy? So are we. Righteous? So are we. Love God? So do we. Everything Christ did, we did in Him. He represents us constantly before the Father. Constantly.

Now you have verse 30. You have the Urim and Thummim. Now, it's not easy to exactly say what these are, but from everything I've read, the Urim is light and the Thummim is perfection or completeness. They were used to discern God's will. And this is fulfilled in Christ. Christ is LIGHT, and it says in John 8, verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto him, saying, I am the light of the world.

He's LIGHT! He's the Urim, He's LIGHT! He's our LIGHT! He's our LIGHT! He's TRUTH! It says in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, He said, I am the way, the TRUTH! THAT'S MORE THAN TELLING YOU THE TRUTH! I CAN TELL YOU THE TRUTH! BUT I'M NOT TRUTH! JESUS CHRIST IS LITERALLY, ACTUALLY TRUTH! AND EVERYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF HIS MOUTH IS TRUE! IT'S TRUE! THERE'S NO LIE IN HIM! NO LIE! COLOSSIANS 2, 3, IN WHOM ARE HID ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. ALL THE TREASURES OF GOD, ALL THAT GOD IS, IS IN THAT MAN JESUS CHRIST! CHRIST IS GOD'S FINAL AND PERFECT REVELATION. That's what it tells us in Hebrews 1. He spoke to us by the prophets of days past, but now He has spoken to us by His Son.

There are no more revelations. He's it. He's the revelation. And that's what we see going on here. Christ is the revelation. He's the High Priest. Everything that priest has got on is Christ. It's Christ. Now we come to the blue linen, the blue robe, and that's Christ's heavenly character. Blue, the sky above, that's His heavenly character. And there's bells and pomegranates around that blue robe. And this is fulfilled in Christ. He that cometh from, John 3, verse 31, He that cometh from above is above all. Christ is from above. HE THAT IS OF THE EARTH IS EARTHLY, AND SPEAKS OF THE EARTH. HE THAT COMETH FROM HEAVEN IS ABOVE ALL.

THE HIGH PRIEST, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE HIGH PRIEST IS ABOVE ALL OTHER HIGH PRIESTS WHO WERE BEFORE HIM. THERE'S NO COMPARISON. THEY WORE THE ROBES, THEY WORE THE GARMENTS. CHRIST WORE IT IN HIS PERSON. THAT'S HIS CHARACTER. THAT'S HIS CHARACTER. I was thinking of this, and I think this fits. The bells that were around the bottom. Now we know that when the high priest was going about his work, the bells were going all the time. They were going all the time. The bells is the sound of the gospel being proclaimed. All making one sound.

And the pomegranates. are the fruits of Christ's ministry. You are the fruit, you who believe, all who believe, are the fruits of His ministry. And you know if you cut a pomegranate open, there's hundreds of seeds in that pomegranate. You have a bale of pomegranate, a bale of pomegranate. You have the gospel priest, you have fruit. You have the gospel priest, you have fruit. And it's His fruit, it's His fruit.

And I thought this, I thought seeing that they are on the bottom of His robe, this is Christ's ministry in the church all over the world, all over the world. His bells went all the way around and at the bottom, that's His church on earth, the ministry that's still going on right now. And the fruits of His ministry are you who believe. You're the fruits of His ministry.

And then we have this in verse 36 through 38. We've got the forehead. We have His forehead and there's this golden plate that has written on it, engraved on it, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. HOLINESS TO THE LORD. His thoughts were holy. They were always holy thoughts. His mind was upon nothing else but the will of His Father. There's a lot of thoughts, our thoughts since we came into this place. But you know, He never had a thought like that. It was always thoughts of holiness and righteousness. No sin in His thoughts.

In verse 38, And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that frontal lobe, I started to write that out, print it out this morning. I had to look it up and say, what's the purpose of the frontal lobe of the brain? But there's all, man, look it up when you go home. All the thoughts and controls, the actions. It's right there on the front of his forehead. But here's something that really stood out to me.

And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. How does that go together in a sentence? Iniquity of the holy things. How can it be called a holy thing if it's got iniquity? That's kind of like a paradox, isn't it? Which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord."

There is SIN in all that we do. There's enough sin in this service this morning that would send us to hell. But Jesus Christ makes it accepted. He makes our worship accepted. You know, in Christ you're holy, but in yourselves you're sinful, you still sin.

And He bears that constantly and He puts it away. He puts it away. We sing praises. Sometimes with the heart, sometimes our mind somewhere else while we're singing. You know that. You're trying to listen. Next thing you know, you'll be thinking about something else. Then you try to listen. You'll be thinking about something else. Then you try to listen.

That's the iniquity of the holy things. You're holy in Christ. He takes that iniquity and puts it away and God doesn't see it. He sees this service this morning as a holy worship service in Christ. He makes it that way. Isn't it beautiful? My soul. This also shows the purity of our Lord, as I said, His thoughts and the things of God. John Gill said this, This has respect to Christ, that the persons and services of the people of God are accepted with him through the holiness and righteousness of Christ, who is always in the presence of the Lord, ever appears in heaven for them, and is the Lamb of God, to whose person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice they are directed to look for the removal of their sins of every sort, all the time.

Second Corinthians 521 FOR HE HATH MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN, THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM. It says in Hebrews 10 14 FOR BY ONE OFFERING HE HATH PERFECTED FOREVER THEM THAT ARE SANCTIFIED. I have to finish this, it's not going to be that much longer. I knew when I was doing this it would stretch it a little bit.

Our Lord not only represents us, He appears He bears our sins and makes us accepted of God. And then the fine linen coat, that fine linen robe, is a garment of purity and righteousness and separation. In Philippians 3.9, And be found in him, Paul said, ought to be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Jesus Christ is my righteousness, and faith lays hold of that. Christ is perfect purity and His righteousness is ours. Now you have the garments, I've come to a close here in 40 and 43.

We have the garments for all the priests. You see all these other priests are clothed for the ministry. And those priests wore undergarments, they wore a tunic, they wore that white linen robe. They wore a sash, that's what they tied around their waist to hold everything together. But theirs was white. Aaron's was made of that blue, purple, and gold. His was a different color. But they wore that. And they wore a turban. But the high priest, he wore all of the above, plus blue robe, ephod, blue breastplate, and a golden crown. But here's the point.

In Christ we are priest unto God, Aaron's sons were all priests. Aaron represents Christ and his sons represent us. First Peter 2.9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, all believers now share in a priestly role in God's Kingdom. And then they covered their nakedness, and in verse 42, 43 and 42. I guess that would be 42 and 43. And they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons these garments.

I want you to notice something, they were NEVER, EVER, EVER to do anything in the priesthood without these garments on. What happened to that man that came to the wedding without the wedding garment on? They kicked him out. We never do anything apart from Christ. Nothing. Nothing. Christ covers our guilt so we can stand before God without fear. He's our dress before God and in Him we are priests.

And in closing, closing, Aaron's priesthood was SYMBOLIC, it was TEMPORARY, and it was IMPERFECT. Christ's priesthood is REAL, it's ETERNAL, and it's PERFECT. Now I'm going to read this in close in Hebrews 7, 24-28. But this man, because he continues forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the people's? For this he did once when he offered up himself.

For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity. but the word of the oath which was since the law makes the son who is consecrated forevermore he is our high priest that's so beautiful when you when you really read it and understand it that's so beautiful all right We'll close with the little flyer I put out this morning. To make it work, I had to combine a couple of verses and we'll repeat where it says five. We'll repeat that last one in total.

The tune is Jesus, lover of my soul. Please stand. Jesus is my great high priest, bears my name upon his breast. And that we may never part, I am sealed upon his heart. All my sins were on him thrown, He forgave them once atoned He did all my debts discharge And has set my soul at large By His own atoning blood He my wounded spirit cured Washed and made me white as snow, Cleansed me well from top to toe. He the veil has written twain, Though his flesh I enter in, ♪ And with him forever rest ♪ ♪ In the Lord's most holy place ♪ ♪ He has bought me with his blood ♪ ♪ Reconciled my soul to God ♪ ♪ Made me meet for glory to God ♪ and will bring me safely through. He has bought me with His blood, reconciled my soul to God, made me meet for glory to and will bring me safely through. We're dismissed.

The High Priest And The Priests

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the role of the High Priest?

How do we know Christ's priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priesthood?

Why is the role of the priest important for Christians?

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The High Priest And The Priests

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the role of the High Priest?

How do we know Christ's priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priesthood?

Why is the role of the priest important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

Comments

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