As the Lord will enable me, I
wanna talk to you for a little while tonight about the beauty
and glory of our priest. Our text will be found in Leviticus
chapter eight, verses seven, eight, and nine. The beauty and
glory of our priest. If we would come to God, if sinful
man would come to the Holy Lord God, We must have a sacrifice
worthy of God's acceptance. That sacrifice is the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must have an altar, an altar
where God has promised to accept the sacrifice. We're told in
Hebrews 13 that Christ is our altar. And we must have a priest. A priest capable of approaching
God and being accepted, able by a sacrifice to obtain atonement,
reconciling us to God, bringing man and God together. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, is our great high priest. Now these things are clearly
set before us in the book of God. The book of Leviticus is
a book sealed and closed. You'll never understand anything
about it until you understand that the things here spoken of
refer to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our Savior, our God, our Prophet,
our King, our Great High Priest. Let's read Leviticus 8, verses
7, 8, and 9. Moses put upon him, Aaron, the
coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with
the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the
curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith,
and he put the breastplate upon him. Also he put in the breastplate
the urim and the thummim, and he put the mitre upon his head,
also upon the mitre Even upon his forehead did he
put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded
Moses. Now we're told in the 28th chapter
of Exodus that these garments were made specifically for Aaron. And they were made for Aaron
to show forth the glory and beauty of his work as Israel's priest. These garments show that, but
they show more. They were made for and put upon
Aaron to show forth the beauty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom Aaron was but a type and a picture. I found something
interesting and instructive that I don't think I had clearly seen
before as I was preparing this message. Actually, Aaron had
two sets of priestly garments. I've told you that many times.
This glorious apparel, which he wore before Israel and before
the Lord in his common day-by-day daily functions in the tabernacle. And then those holy linen garments
described in Leviticus 16, which he wore only once a year on the
day of atonement. On that great day of atonement,
when he went in to make sacrifice to offer the Paschal lamb in
the Holy of Holies, appearing in the presence of God alone,
Aaron was robed clean white linen garments, spotless white linen
garments portraying the personal righteousness and the personal
holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ. That personal righteousness,
that personal holiness of the God-man by which he is worthy
and able. worthy and able to obtain eternal
redemption for us by the sacrifice of himself in the shedding of
his own precious blood. Now this is what struck me today. Those garments, those white linen
garments, those white linen britches Aaron wore in the Holy of Holies
were seen only by God. They were for God's eyes alone. They were for God's eyes alone. The priestly garments described
in our text were specifically ordained of God to show forth
Aaron's glory and his beauty as our priest, not so much to
God as to the people he represented. Aaron shows in these gorgeous
priestly garments his outer apparel that he wore day by day as he
went about his business. Were garments for the worshiping
Israelite to see. But this man Aaron, while he
is a specially chosen, ordained man, he is a public figure. He's a public man. So walking
around in the tabernacle yard, going in and out, all through
the day, they would see Aaron with his gorgeous, gorgeous outward
priestly attire on. And they ought to have been able
to see That's what God says, he'll make me. That's what God
says, he'll make me. These things were just for the
eyes of the people. The things we had before us here
are garments ordained of God for us to behold. and beholding
these garments to see what we are made to be as we are made
accepted of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Aaron wore seven specific,
highly symbolic garments. We'll look at each one just briefly. He wore a coat. The coat refers
to his inner garments. And he wore a girdle, a golden
sash and a robe. An ephod, an outer apron that
hung over his robe and his inner garment. A breastplate with the
names of the tribes of Israel. A mitre, a turban, a headdress,
and right in the front of that, a holy crown. Let's look at these
seven things together. First, the coat. Moses was commanded
to put a coat upon Aaron. Now this was not a coat as we
generally think of it, but rather an inner garment. It's described
in Exodus 28 and verse 4 as an embroidered coat. In Exodus 28,
39, it's described as an embroidered coat. of fine linen, this special
embroidered coat of fine linen, along with the linen britches
or pants were Aaron's undergarments. They were not commonly seen by
the people. I rather suspect that Moses actually
did not put these on Aaron at all, but rather simply gave them
to Aaron in public and Aaron put them on, but they were held
forth for the people to see. Aaron wore these white linen
garments as our priests. and were held before the congregation
because they were of typical significance, of something very
important. The linen garments, these fine
white linen garments, represent, we're told in Revelation chapter
19 in verse eight, the righteousness of the saints. These white linen
garments portray that which John saw the church of God in glory
arrayed in white linen garments. He's, what is that? And he was
told, this is the righteousness of the saints. And the word righteousness
in Revelation 19, eight is in the plural. I have to deal with
that because if you look up commentaries on it, almost everybody will
tell you that's talking about Christ's righteousness and then
the righteous things that we do as if you actually do some
righteous things. No, no, no, no. It's talking
about plural righteousness. In both cases, the righteousness
of Christ. The righteousness of Christ established
for us, given to us in free justification by his obedience unto death.
And the righteousness of Christ imparted to us in regeneration,
in the new birth, in the new creation, his righteous nature,
that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. These
are the things represented in the white linen garments that
Abraham wore. This embroidered linen coat was
a seamless garment like that worn by our Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus. It was worn next to Aaron's body
as he went about his priestly functions. And here we see these
two things. Our need, if we're to come to
God and be accepted by him, we must have complete sin atoning
righteousness. Righteous obedience and righteous
satisfaction. Our Lord's work of righteousness
was finished when he cried, it is finished, by which we are
justified before God. And this is God's supply for
us. It is righteousness imparted
to us and righteousness given to us. Imparted to us, our record
before God, our just record before the law of God, right at law. Every sinner for whom Christ
died has been made right with God's law. The law requires nothing,
nothing, nothing from us. Christ surrendered all, and Christ
obeyed all, and Christ fulfilled all. and the law of God declares
us righteous. And then God in his grace makes
us partakers of the divine nature, imparting to us the very righteous
character of Christ, the righteous nature of Christ in the new birth.
Second, Moses was commended of God. to gird Aaron with a girdle. This was not just an ordinary
sash or an ordinary girdle worn by the other priests, Aaron's
sons. This was the curious girdle of
the ethnic. In verse 39 of Exodus 28, we
learned that this sash, this girdle was made of needlework.
It speaks of our Savior's readiness to serve the needs of his people
for the glory of God as a man would tie the girdle, this broad
girdle around himself. Our Lord Jesus came ready and
willing to do the service of God for us. With willing hearts,
with willing heart, he came and said, lo, I come to do thy will,
O God. With willing heart, he came to
save sinners from their sins. With willing heart, he came here
to bleed and die for us because we are the objects of his everlasting
love. This is the joy set before him,
for which he endured the cross, despising the shame, the salvation
of the people he loves with an everlasting love. It is written,
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness,
the girdle of his reins. While he was in the world, our
Lord Jesus took a girdle, took a towel and girded himself. and
washed his disciples' feet. Today, he stands in the midst
of his churches. Brother Mark just read about
him. Gird about the paps with a golden girdle, ever ready to
serve his people on earth. What a picture. What a picture. God the Son serving the people
who are his subjects. God the Savior, serving the people
who are saved by him. God, our God, girds himself in
our humanity and forever serves his people with his grace. The
Lord told Moses, it shall be of the same according to the
work thereof. The girdle of Israel's high priest,
was of the same materials and the same splendorous colors as
the ephod, again indicating a picture of our Lord's present priestly
work in heaven. As well as the work he performed
upon the earth, it was according to the perfection of his character
as the God-man, our mediator. Though glorified as Jehovah's
righteous servant, the Lord Jesus has gone into heaven to appear
in the presence of God for us, having obtained eternal redemption
for us, and there he ever lives to make intercession for us according
to the will of God. Well might we sing, arise my
soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears. Third, in Leviticus chapter
eight and verse seven, The third garment Aaron wore was a robe. Moses clothed Aaron with a robe. This was the robe of the ephod,
the outer apron that hung over his shoulders, worn under the
ephod. That was a robe that was worn
under the ephod, and the ephod hanging over his shoulders, and
that robe had a hymn of golden bells and pomegranates. by which
Aaron was continually heard in the holy place, ministering before
the people, accepted of God, accepted of God, all through
the day. They could hear those bells and
pomegranates ringing. Oh, God, forgive me for not hearing constantly
the sweet sound of acceptance from my high priest through the
day. How we rob ourselves how we rob
ourselves of delight and joy and comfort, allowing things
that are ordinary. Now listen carefully to what
I'm saying. Ordinary experiences, ordinary mercies, ordinary love,
ordinary goodness, things that you have every day. and ignoring
them. Ask somebody who's ever had a
problem breathing how often they take a breath and don't think
about air. How often do you think about
it? How often do you think, what
a wonderful thing it is to be able to see? You have no trouble. Most of you don't even wear glasses.
But when you're in danger of losing your vision, oh, that's
another story. That's another story. We take
the love of a wife, faithful companion, the love of a husband,
how we take it for granted. Just take it for granted, because
every day, everything she does, she does for me. Everything she
does, everything she does, all day long, every day, everything
she does, she does for me. She used to do it for faith,
but faith's gone. When they come to visit, I get
ignored a little bit. Sometimes she'll forget to bring
me some coffee, but not much. All through the day. Oh, forgive me. I don't often
think about it, because it's commonplace. Oh my God, forgive me. How little we think about our
high priest. Can you hear the bells and pomegranates?
Ringing as it moves about before the Father's presence in the
Holy of Holies, ruling the universe! Just for me. Just for me. All the time interceding for
us. This magnificent robe was blue
in color, woven of gold. Gold that was beaten out into
threads, woven of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, made of fine
linen. Speaking of our Lord's divinity,
his heavenly glory, his royalty, his precious blood, and his purity. Again, this robe represents the
righteousness of our Savior. It's that with which Christ himself
is clothed. and that with which we are clothed
in Him. Can you get hold of this? His
righteousness is your righteousness. Did you hear me? If you're God's,
His righteousness is your righteousness. His righteousness is my righteousness. The name of our Redeemer is Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. And the name of his church is
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Those golden bells,
I remind you again, portray the perfection and sweetness of our
Lord's intercession. And they speak of the fruitfulness
of his priesthood. If you slit the pomegranate open,
You would find the pomegranate be full of seeds in a red fluid. Oh, how fruitful, how fruitful
is our Savior's intercession as our priest. By the merit and
efficacy of his sacrifice and his intercession, all gods elect
have eternal life. We have by the merit of his righteousness,
his obedience, his intercession, his sacrifice, by the merit of
him, we have faith in him. By his merit, we have all grace
in this world and all glory in the world to come. That's called
salvation. That's called the gift of God.
That's called the work of God. Moses put the ephod on Aaron's
shoulders. He puts this ephod upon him as
an outer apron which hung over this robe I've been describing. It was made of two parts covering
both his back and his chest. The two pieces held together
with a golden clasp on his shoulders. Those clasps were the setting
for the onyx stone. Like Aaron's robe, the ephod
was made of gold and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen. The breastplate with the names
of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel and the lights, the
Urim and the Thummim, the lights and perfections were all on the
ephod. Try to get the picture. Here
is Aaron wearing this gorgeous, costly, costly robe. strapped
over his shoulder, held by those gold clasp. This costly apron
has the children of Israel hanging on a breastplate on Aaron's heart. The precious stones engraved
with their names and somewhere are those mysterious lights and
perfections, the Urim and the Thummim. What does all of that
mean? The Lord Jesus Christ constantly
has us on his heart. There's never a time when he
hasn't had us on his heart. Never a time when he doesn't
have us on his heart. Never a time when he will not
have us on his heart. He carries us upon his omnipotent
shoulders. He guides us according to the
light and perfection of His own purpose and grace with the sparkling
jewels of His glory and His beauty. In a word, we are totally safe
beyond the reach of any enemy, beyond the reach of any harm
by anyone. We, I've said this enough. I ought to at least halfway believe
it. You've heard it enough. You ought
to at least halfway believe it, but I fear we don't half get
it. Nothing shall injure you if you're
God's. Nothing shall harm you if you're
God's. But rather all shall only do
you good. And when we see things as they
really are in their true light, there'll be no weeping for anything. Our God and Savior will not only
redeem us, satisfy justice for us, and bring us to heaven, He
will totally undo all the evil, all the havoc that had been wrought
by Satan and wicked men in this world and bring it at last to
the praise of his glory and the everlasting joy of his people. Oh my soul, what grace I'm talking
about. Here's the fifth thing. Moses
put this breastplate on Aaron. I won't say much about the breastplate.
I've described it to you many, many times. But this breastplate
not only was on Aaron's chest portraying our Savior's constant
love and care for us, it speaks of our constant, perfect, immutable
acceptance with God in him. These Israelites, Read their
history. Read about them. We recognize
that the physical nation perished in the wilderness. Most of them,
almost all of them died in the wilderness because of unbelief.
They were not genuine believers, but ceremonially. And I think
perhaps that's given to us in the history of Israel to make
us understand these things were only ceremonial, pointing to
something that's real. Ceremonially, they were accepted
of God in the priest. Now hear this, you and I are
not ceremonially accepted of God. It is not as though we were
accepted of God. It is not as though God pretended
that we were righteous, pretended that we were holy, pretended
that we had no sin, but in Christ, we are accepted of God, one with
him. The names of God's elect are
known to our great high priest. They're engraved on his heart. He says, I know them, I give
them eternal life and they shall never perish. For them, he makes
intercession for all the host of God's elect continually. He constantly bears the judgment
of his people. He bears before God five bleeding
wounds that ever plead for me. Acceptance, acceptance, acceptance,
acceptance, acceptance they demand for Don Fortner perpetually. The Savior is ever before the
throne bearing my judgment. He bears his people's judgment
and intercedes for them personally. I can't begin to understand what
I'm telling you. How can he think of all of us? And we're not many. All his elects,
all his people living in this world, let alone those who have
or those who shall. All his elect, he thinks of them
all at one time and intercedes for them all collectively and
individually, personally. Individually, as though nobody
existed but you. He had his eye on no one but
you. And he does so effectually, so that everything he seeks for
us, we shall have from him. He pleads for nothing that he
does not obtain. He asked for nothing that is
not accomplished. Read the 17th chapter of John
again. Read your name in every petition
and put amen beside it. His intercession is effectual. Can you see our priest yonder
in heaven? My name and yours on his heart. Not only are you,
my brother, my sister, beyond the reach of the enemy, in Christ
we're beyond the influence of any foe or any evil. What consolation this is to this
poor sinner. The Lord God Almighty always
sees me and only sees me in his son as a sparkling jewel shining
in him gloriously. In his eyes, in his eyes, Don Fortner shines
with all the brilliant beauty of his darling son. In his eyes, If you're His, you
shine before God with all the brilliant beauty of His darling
Son. Is He precious? We're precious
in Him. Is He accepted? We're accepted
in Him. Does he live? We live in him. There in heaven's glory, before
the dazzling brilliance, brightness, and purity of the white light
of God's holiness, things are seen clearly as they really are. That my tempted, tried, tempest-tossed,
heavy-hearted, sinning, falling, weeping brother. That my tempted,
tried, tempest-tossed, heavy-hearted, sinning, falling, weeping sister. That very thing ought to comfort
our hearts. God sees us. always in His Son. The triune Jehovah beholds us
only in His Son as His Son. Jewels of God in Christ. The more brilliantly the light
shines on a diamond, the more it sparkles with radiant beauty.
And Christ, who is the light, shines upon us His jewels, showing
forth His own radiant beauty. He sent us as a seal upon His
arm and upon His heart. What grace! What mercy, what
joy, what peace, what a cause for devotion to him. Sixth, Moses
was commanded of God to put a mitre upon Aaron's head. The mitre,
the turban, was made of white linen. Fine linen, a symbol of
both honor and humility. It's still worn today by Arabs
in various parts of the world. Shelby was asking me the other
day about the turbans they wear in Saudi Arabia and other places.
Both the kings and the poor folks wear them. It's a symbol of both
honor and of humility. And our Lord Jesus is portrayed
here with Aaron wearing this turban, this white, white turban. You recall when the Lord Jesus
stood, or Joshua stood before the Lord Jesus in Zechariah chapter
three. The first thing the Lord commanded
after he put away his filthy garments was to put this holy
mitre upon Joshua's head. Set this holy miter on his head. And so it was done. The Lord
God has given us his own dear son to be for us a helmet of
salvation. This miter made of white linen,
like Aaron's robe, portrays the perfection and the righteousness,
the holiness and the purity of our Redeemer. set upon my head, portrays the
perfection, the righteousness, the holiness, the purity of the
sinner saved by his grace. Set a fair miter on his head. I took away his iniquity in one
day. Set a fair miter on his head. There's no accusation to be charged
against him. One last thing. Moses, the law,
put a crown upon Aaron's head. The very law and justice of God
has crowned Christ as our great high priest, king forever. He's the only priest who was
a king. He's the only priest who was
a king. He must be king for he earned
the right to rule over all things by his priestly work. He earned
the right to rule over all things by his priestly work. Now these
things are described in detail for us in the book of Hebrews
and I would encourage you as we continue studying this book
of Leviticus to read the book of Hebrews frequently. Hebrews
chapters 2 through chapter 10. Give us the Holy Ghost's own
interpretation of our Lord Jesus being portrayed here as our great
high priest. The very law and justice of God
has crowned him king forever. And he puts this gold crown in
front of the turban, right in the front of his headdress, emblazoned
on his forehead. Holiness to the Lord. holiness
to the Lord. So that everything Aaron did in all his priestly functions,
every sacrifice he received, every sacrifice he offered, all of those people he represented,
as he offers sacrifices, making symbolic, making symbolic, be
sure you get that, making ceremonial, making symbolic perfection, perfect
obedience, perfect righteousness, perfect satisfaction, perfect
atonement. All those things being portrayed
symbolically are fulfilled in Christ. But Aaron did this with
holiness to the Lord. Holiness to the Lord. Holiness
to the Lord. Remember those for whom he offered these
sacrifices. Remember what they were? Remember what they'd done? Again,
I repeat, their acceptance was just ceremonial, just symbolic. Those sacrifices could never
take away sin. That holiness put on gold didn't make anything
holy. It was just symbolic. Oh, but
it pictured something real. It pictured something real. We
go about our day-by-day living with Christ. Our day-by-day worship
of our Redeemer. Our day-by-day living for him. Our day-by-day living in this
world. Living in this world. In the totality of our lives. And God accepts everything in
the perfection of holiness. Because our Aaron, our great
high priest, has borne for us the iniquity of our holy things. So that now we come to God and
we weep over our prayers, and weep over our best deeds, and
weep over our corruptions. Weep over the coldness and blackness
of our hearts. Weep over the hardness of our
hearts. Weep over our indifference. Confess our sin. And God accepts
it. God accepts us in the totality
of our lives by the merit of Him. who is God, our savior,
our high priest. And all his beauty and glory
is ours in him. Believe him. Oh, if you believe
him right now, all his beauty and glory, he tells us in Ezekiel
16, he puts on you. so that you are made beautiful
in his eyes. So much so that he says, you've
ravished me. One of your eyes. There's no
spot in you. I see no spot in you. You're
holy, unblamable, unapprovable, perfect. That's what Christ is. And that's what we are in Christ
the Lord. That's called free grace. That's
called God's salvation. Oh, may God make it yours. Ladies
and gentlemen, we're talking before the service, finding a
song about the priesthood. There's one good one. Arise,
my soul, arise. Let's sing that. I forgot the
number. I think it's two. I don't know. You can look it up. Arise,
my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears.