We've seen the prophet Moses,
he was given all the instructions to build the tabernacle, and
Moses was the prophet in Israel. The prophet speaks for God to
men, and he's a picture of Christ in himself, Christ came And priests minister to God for
men. Now, the prophet ministers to
men for God, but the priest ministers to God for men. And he was a
type of Christ. If you care to look at Hebrews
chapter 5, Christ, just like Aaron, was chosen by the Father
to be the priest. Hebrews 5 verse 4, and no man
taketh this honor unto himself. glorified not himself to be made
a high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today
have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." So
just like Aaron, Christ our Lord was chosen by the Father to be
the high priest for his people. Now Aaron was a sinful man, chosen
to be the high priest for sinful And if you remember from John's
study in Genesis, the tribe of Levi was under a curse by Jacob. Remember, as Jacob was dying,
he told Levi and Simeon that they're under a curse for killing
a man in their anger. And here's this man from this
cursed tribe, still chosen to be the high priest, even though
he's from that cursed tribe. Well, that's a picture of Christ,
our high priest. He was not a sinful man. He knew
no sin. He did no sin. But he's the high
priest for a sinful people who are under a curse because of
the sin of our father Adam. And there's so many pictures
of the priesthood, pictures of Christ we can look at. And I'm
really going to, after these opening comments, confine myself
here to the garments of the high priest. Those garments of the
high priest are a picture of Christ. And Exodus 28, most of
this chapter is given to the garments of the high priest. And in Exodus 28 verse 2, Thou
shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and
for beauty. The garments of the high priest
were to be holy and they were for beauty and glory. All that is a picture of Christ
who is holy, His glory is not compared to anything, and to
the people of God who have been given eyes to see, He is altogether
lovely. Now, if you look at verse 42,
the first thing that the priest would put on his garments were
linen breeches and a linen coat. In verse 42, here's the instructions
for the breeches. He says, and thou shalt make
linen breeches to cover their nakedness, from the loins even
unto the thighs, so they reach. Back in verse 39, thou shalt
embroider the coat of fine linen. holiness and righteousness of
Christ, His sinless perfection. But these were inner garments,
and all the other garments were put on top of these inner garments. These inner garments were the
foundation of all the other garments. All the other garments hung off
these inner garments. And that's a picture of God's
holiness. Everything Christ did, He has
done in holiness, in perfect holiness. And even sinful men
had to admit that. Three times Pilate said, I find
no fault in this man. Herod, I mean a wicked man, said
nothing worthy of death is done unto him. The thief on the cross,
who even men said was so wicked he had to die, he said this man
said nothing of men. Even sinful men could see the
beauty of holiness in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what
these garments are for, for beauty and holiness. So the first thing
he put on was the linen britches and coat. Now in verse 31, we
see the robe of the ephod. In verse 31, 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 hole of it, as it were the hole
of a habergon, that it be not rimmed. And beneath the hem of
it thou shalt make pomegranates. 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. And
it shall be upon Aaron to minister, and his sound shall be heard
when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when
he cometh out, that he die not." Now, the robe of Ethan, and you
can see it hanging here below the garment there, that blues
with the tassels on the bottom of it, that's the robe of Ethan.
It was all blue, and it was all one piece, one woven piece with
a hole in it for the head to go through. And it's interesting,
this is the first time in Scripture that the word robe is used. The
first time we see the word robe in Scripture is associated with
the robe of the high priest, a picture of the spotless robe
of righteousness of Christ our high priest. But this robe is
not white, it's all blue. It's the color of heaven, as
we've seen throughout our study of the tabernacle. Blue is the
color of heaven. And this stands in stark contrast
to man. The first man, Adam, was of the
earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. That's the color of this blue.
Christ is not like Aaron. Aaron was a high priest on earth
in a tabernacle made with hands. Christ is a heavenly high priest. And on the hem of the robe of
the ephod, there were bells. And when the high priest went
into the holy place, or he went into the holy of holies, he was
out of the sight of men. Other men weren't there. Other
men couldn't see him ministering. He was out of their sight. And
that's alright, because men didn't need to see what he was doing.
He wasn't ministering to men. He was ministering to God for
men. But, as he moved around, Men
could hear the sound of those bells ringing. Every time he
moved, those bells would clang together and ring. And what the
people would know is the priest is still moving. He's still alive. And as long as he's moving and
still alive, they know that God is accepting what that high priest
is doing for them, on their behalf. They know what he's doing is
being accepted of God. And the sound of those bells
is a form of communication in them, like words are a form of
communication. Well, today, we don't have a
high priest wearing this getup today, do we? Well, how do we
know that Christ, our high priest, is ministering for us in heaven?
He's out of sight. None of us have ever seen him.
How do we know that Christ, our high priest, is ministering for
us right now in the presence of God? I can tell you why. The sound of the gospel still
rings. God's still sending out His priest. Because the gospel is still sounding.
That's the sound that we hear today. The sound of the bell
is the sound of the gospel. And between the bells were these
pomegranates. Now pomegranates were known as
the perfect fruit. And that's a picture of the perfection
of Christ. And how we're made perfect. How
we're made complete in Him. But this little interesting fact
about pomegranates. The seed of a pomegranate. flows
in a crimson fluid inside that fruit. And that's a picture of
the seed of Christ. That seed shall prosper. And
you know where you find that seed? The seed of Christ? You
find it in the blood. Then above the robe of the ephod,
there's the ephod, that's this colorful tunic here, and beginning
in verse 6 of Exodus 28, we see the instructions for it. And
they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple,
of scarlet, and fine twine linen, with cunning work. And it shall
have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges
thereof, and so shall it be joined together. And the curious girl
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 honored
stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel,
six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the
rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work
of the engraver and stone, like the engravings of a singlet,
shall 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 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."
Now this Ephod was a sleeveless tunic. It came down, you can
see how it came down just below the waist of the high priest.
It had two different pieces, and they were fastened together
by these onyx stone buttons on his shoulders. And, as we read,
the buttons have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel inscribed
on them, and they're put on there by birth order. Now, believers,
how is a believer brought into the family of God? Well, it's
by birth, isn't it? By the new birth. And no matter
what your birth order, no matter what order we've been born in,
Where do you find every child of God? Where do you find the
names of the tribes of Israel? Regardless of their birth order,
where do you find them? On the stones, on the shoulders
of the high priest. Where do you find God's children?
Regardless of their birth order, where do you find them? On the
shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ, our high priest. He is the one
that bears the burden. He will carry every child of
God into the presence of the Father on his shoulders. We don't
do any of that. We don't take care of any of
that travel. He does it all. We're just like
that lost sheep that the shepherd finds. Where does he put that
lost sheep? On his shoulder. And carries it all the way home.
And that's where you find the children of God on his shoulders.
And there's such security in knowing that a believer is on
the shoulder of Christ. Messiah said of the coming Messiah,
the government shall be upon His shoulder. The government
of the whole creation is upon His shoulder. That shoulder has
the strength to bear the weight of the world. I mean, sometimes
we go through life and we think, you've got the weight of the
world on your shoulders. They're just crushing it. Christ our
Lord has the weight of the world on His shoulder, and it's light
work to Him. world, I think they carry you
and me, don't you? Because of his strength. Peter
said, we're kept by the power of God. The power of God is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, this is what I'm confident
of. He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. He's able because of
his strength. And this Ethan, held together
by those two onyx stones, was a beautiful garment. I mean,
this garment was something else. It's called the curious ephod
because of how it was made. It's called the cunning ephod
because of how skillfully it was made. And the way they made
this thing was they beat gold into very thin plates and they
cut that gold into wires. And they took those golden wires
with the fine twine linen and blue and purple and scarlet threads
and they wove this ephod. And you remember, as we've gone
through the whole tabernacle, all these things are all the
same pictures. The gold is a picture of the deity of Christ. The linen
is his sinless humanity. The blue, the color of heaven. The scarlet, the color of the
blood. Or it could be the color of man. Adam was made from the
red clay. And purple, the color of royalty. And God gave instruction that
this ephod was never to be torn, just like the robe of the ephod.
He said that it be not torn, do not tear this garment. And
he said that because you cannot separate the deity and the humanity
of Christ. You cannot have two personalities,
two distinct people through natures, but one Savior, one man. If Jesus Christ was only a man,
that he was an imposter because he claimed to be God. But if
he's only God and not a man, then he has no power to accomplish
his purpose. He can't be our representative.
He cannot be our substitute if he was not a man. But together,
you have the God-man that cannot be separated. And together, he
is the savior of sinners, the high priest. God gave instruction here, now
this is not to be torn. There came a day when this ephod
and the robe of the ephod was torn, when the high priest's
garments were torn, in Matthew 26, verse 63. But Jesus held
his peace, and the high priest answered and said unto him, I
adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou
be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast
said it. Nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye
see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and
coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his
clothes. God gave instruction for him
not to do that. The high priest rent his clothes, saying, The
Son of God, He hath spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of
witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his testimony. Why did
God let him do that? Tear his cloak? Tear that ephod? That glorious garment? The robe
of the ephod? Why did he do that? The priesthood's
over. Christ is going to the cross
to offer the sacrifice for sin. There's no more sacrifices. There's
no more need for a priest to offer sacrifices. of the glorious, cunning creation
of God that is God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They say if
the priest would turn one way, his ethan would look like it
was made of solid gold. But if he turned the other way,
it would look like it was made of all threads and no gold in
it whatsoever, just depending on which way he turned. Well,
you look at Christ, the man, Jesus Christ, sitting there at
Jacob's well. sent his disciples off to get
supplies because they're hungry, they need meat. He sits there,
Jacob's well, midday, hot, he's thirsty, and he's asking this
Samaritan woman to draw him a drink. There's a man. Then look at him,
tell that Samaritan woman everything she ever did. There's God. He's so tired that even the fierce
storm that scares these experienced sailors to death does not wake
him up. He's exhausted. He cannot be woke up. There's
a man. Then, after the disciples come
down and say, Master, it's General Perry. He comes up on top of
the deck and says, Peace be still. And the sea is like glass and
the wind's gone. And they say, Behold, what manner
of man That's who he is. He's God. Look
at the Lord Jesus at Lazarus' tomb. He stands outside Lazarus'
tomb and what does he do? He weeps. There's a man with
real emotions. He's a man standing there weeping.
But then look at him. Cry, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth
bound in grave clothes. That's God. Only God could do
that. Look at our Lord hanging on the
cross in bloody agony. The blood and the painful agony
of a man who suffered and then died. And a lifeless body is
hanging there on that middle cross. Look at him. That's a
man. God can't die. That's a man that's
hanging there dead. And as he died, the sun refused
to shine. When he died, he gave up the
ghost. The earth did quake and the rocks
rent. What happened? It's God. The centurion and the thief saw
it, didn't they? What did the thief say? Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. God. The centurion
said it best, surely this man was the Son of God, the God-man
hung there and died. That's what that ephod is a picture
of. Now, the girdle was made of the same materials as the
ephod was, and the girdle is not a girdle like we think of
a girdle. It's a sash or a belt that went
around and tied at his waist. Now, look over at Luke chapter
17. This girdle is a picture of service, of a servant. But which of you, having a servant
plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when
he is come from the field, Go and sit down to me? He will not
rather say unto him, Make ready, wherewith I may sup, and gird
thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten, and When our Lord washed the disciples'
feet, before He washed their feet, what did He do? He girded
Himself with a towel, and He left us an example of how we
should serve one another by doing what He has done, how to serve
one another. Now, let me ask you, is there any service that's beneath
you and me? Is there anything that we could
do for our brothers or sisters that's beneath me? Isn't there? Think of our Lord. He said, you
do as I've done. You serve each other as I've
served you. Our Lord made Himself of no reputation and took upon
Him the form of a servant. How far did He come down to serve
you and me? And us serving each other is never beneath us. He
made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of
a servant. He told His disciples, the Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many. He came as a servant. And way
back there in Isaiah, 700 or 800 years before Christ came,
God gave the prophecy that his Son, he's not coming as a king
to set up an earthly kingdom the first time. He's coming as
a servant. Behold my servant whom I uphold. This servant of pain with the
power of God. came with the power of God, he'll
accomplish his purpose. Now, verses 15 through 29, we're
only going to read all those verses for time sake. You can
read them this afternoon at your leisure. But we have the instructions
for the breastplate. And all the writers say that
this is the most important garment. Certainly, it's the most costly
garment that the high priest wore. It was made of the same
materials as the ephod, the threads and the gold and so forth. And
it was a square bag about a handbreadth's width, just about that square. It was doubled over, it was a
bag. And on the front of it there were twelve precious gems set
in it. And on each gem you found one
name of one of the tribes of Israel. And they were arranged
on the press plate by the same order that they were ordered
in the camp. golden chains that went up and
hooked on those onyx stones on his shoulders. Now, no matter
where you are, no matter where your tribe is, in the order of
the camp, where are you? Your name is on the heart, over
the heart of the priest. Well, no matter where you are,
and each of us has our own place in the camp of spiritual Israel.
God's given each one of us a place of service. No matter where God
puts you in the game of spiritual Israel, where are you? You're
over the heart of Christ our High Priest. Over the heart of
Christ the Lord, who has loved you with an everlasting love.
And everywhere the High Priest went, he carried the tribes of
Israel over his heart. Everywhere Christ He did in love for his people,
to redeem his people from their sins. And just like the onyx
stone, there's such security that's pictured for the believer
here. The names were not written on the stones and put on the
breastplate, were they? If they were just written there,
they might could be erased. Maybe you get mad at somebody,
you just erase that stone. You know, maybe this gets rubbed
off, you know, and used over the years. They weren't written,
they were engraved on the stone. Just like they were on the onyx
stone, they were engraved. They were there permanently.
And those stones were held in place over the heart of the priest
by the chains that were attached to the stones on the shoulder
of the priest. A child of God is held secure
by both the love of God and the power of God. God has enacted
His power and his love to keep those whom he's redeemed. Then
brethren, we're going to be kept. Now we're going to be kept by
the love and the power of God. And these precious gems, Moses
didn't go out and find those things at the base of the mountain
or someplace. Those stones had been gathered
from all over the world. I reckon they brought them with
them from Egypt. Everybody gave, all the Egyptians
gave the people their precious gems and so forth. world, and they ended up being
mined from all different countries of the world. They ended up over
the heart of the high priest in the Holy of Holies. That's
where they ended up. Well, God's elect in Malachi
3 are called his jewels, and they shall be mine, saith the
Lord of Hosts, in the day that I make up my jewels. about those stones, they're precious
in the sight of the Lord. Now that is amazing grace. That is amazing love that we
can never understand. How God Almighty could love me,
I'll never know. I see myself as worthless, just
worthless. God's made me precious in his
sight. Only God could do that. And put
on the heart, breastplate of the high priest. And inside that
breastplate, that bag, were two stones, the Urim and the Thummim. I don't know a lot about this. I've read some things about it,
and Scripture didn't make a lot clearer, honestly, about it to
me. But there's a couple of things I'll tell you. The Urim means
light, and the Thummim means perfection. Well, those two stones
put together can only be Christ. He's the light of the world.
He's the only perfect man that ever lived. And when the priest
wanted to inquire of the Lord, what way should we go? What should
we do? Should we do this or this? Should
we go this way or this way? He would inquire of the Lord.
And he'd reach in that bag, and he'd draw out one of those stones.
And that would be his answer, which way to go or what to do.
Now, the way that we can know the will of God is by looking
to Christ. Both those stones are a picture
of Christ. The way we can know the will of God is by looking
to Christ. We look to Christ to find the
way of salvation. We look to Christ to find the
way we should go. We look to Christ to find our
message in preaching. When Dan was looking for a message
this morning, he already had the message. It's the message,
you just need a text, didn't you? We look to Christ. He is
our message. If you want to know the Father,
look to Christ. See Him in the Word. He is the
manifestation of the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, He said. So that's the Urim and the that he wore, wrapped around
his head. And the Hebrew word is actually translated in other
places in scripture, diadem. This miter is a diadem. Now, we know no priest was ever
king. Could not be. The only priest
who was ever king was Christ. He is the king priest. Because
he wasn't a priest after the order of Aaron, he's a priest
after the order of Melchizedek. And who was Melchizedek? God. He's a priest, a king priest,
after the order of Melchizedek. Now, look at verse 36, and we'll
mind this up. On that mitre, from ear to ear,
was a golden plate. In verse 36, And thou shalt make
a plate of pure gold, and engrave upon it, like the engravings
of a signet, Holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on
a on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mire, upon the forefront
of the mire it shall 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 hollow in their holy gifts.
And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted
before the Lord." And here's his golden plate, holiness to
the Lord. right where we began. Remember
the first garments the priest put on was the white breeches
and coat, a picture of holiness. The last thing is that golden
plate that says, Holiness to the Lord. Everything from the
beginning And everyone who ever looked
at the high priest saw that. They saw that shining gold plate
on his forehead. And if you're going to look at
him and talk to him, you look him in the eyes, talk to him,
you see that right on his forehead. Holiness to the Lord. Testifying
of the holiness of God. For the Lord Jesus Christ, our
high priest, he is the holiness of God. God offered the blood. God didn't
see Aaron. He couldn't accept Aaron. His
sinfulness couldn't. But what did he see? Holiness
to the Lord. He saw that plate. Holiness to
the Lord, which is a picture of God's Son. And the same thing
is true today. When God sees any believer, He
doesn't see us. He sees us as holy in Christ. Holiness to the Lord. And you
see here, how is it that we're going to be accepted? How is
it that we can be made holy and be accepted by God? What says
here in verse 38, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the
holy things. How is it that we're made holy
and accepted by God? Because Christ our high priest
bore our iniquity. He bore it away through the sacrifice
of himself. Aaron offered a goat and a bullock
and a lamb. Christ offered Himself, His own
precious blood, and bore our iniquity away and made us holy.