Let's begin tonight in Leviticus
chapter eight, verse six. The eighth chapter of Leviticus,
the sixth verse. Moses brought Aaron and his sons,
and washed them with water. And he put upon him the coat,
and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe,
and put the effort upon him. and he girded him with the curious
girdle of the ephod and bound it to him therewith. This washing
of the priest preceded them being clothed with their holy garments. And as such, in the sweet experience
of God's saving grace, first we experience the washing of
regeneration by God the Holy Ghost, effectually applying the
word to our hearts, giving us life and faith in Christ. And
then in the experience of grace, believing on the Lord Jesus,
we are clothed with the garments of salvation. We have the righteousness
of Christ declared to be ours by God himself, sprinkling our
consciences from dead works. And we are made kings and priests
unto God. Verse eight, Leviticus eight,
verse eight. And he put the breastplate upon
him. Also he put in the breastplate
the Urim and the Thummim. And he put upon the mitre, or
put the mitre upon his head, also upon the mitre, even upon
his forefront. Did he put the golden plate,
the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses? I'm reminded here of the
blessed interest all true believers have in this spiritually symbolic
clothing. As Aaron, Israel's high priest,
represented the Lord Jesus, our great high priest, wearing the
breastplate, and in it, the Urim and the Thummim. So all true
believers, being clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness,
have their loins girt about with truth. And as we are His, as
that breastplate is upon His heart, so we are constantly on
His heart, bound to His almighty arm. As you well know, Aaron,
in all his work, in his office, in all his clothing, was a magnificent
representation, a type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is our great high priest, ordained for our behalf as a priest and
mediator unto God. He is an high priest after the
order of Melchizedek, Having neither mother nor father, neither
beginning of days nor end of years, this high priest is himself
a God, God in our flesh, and such a one as we need, able to
save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. Only the
priest made atonement. Only atonement made by the hands
of the priest was accepted of God. And all that the priest
did was effectual for a particular people, He did it only for the
children of Israel, and all the children of Israel benefited
and were blessed ceremonially by the sacrifice of the priest.
So it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. We were represented by
Him. He represented a specific people,
God's elect, the Israel of God. and all that he has accomplished
and is accomplishing is effectually made ours by his omnipotent grace,
so that all the blessings of God flow to chosen redeemed sinners
by the merit, power, the blood, the righteousness, the omnipotence
of the God-man, our Savior. The garments the priest wore.
were put on him to symbolize our Savior, all that he is and
all that he's done. He didn't wear these garments
ceremonially like Aaron did. He who is our high priest made
his holy garments. He made for us the garments of
salvation. The priest also wore something
that seems a little odd. The priest's garments were never
complete until he had put on his head this golden crown Moses
spoke of. And yet there was never a priest
in Israel who was also a king. But he represented a priest to
come who would be both God's king and God's priest. Jesus Christ is the king priest,
our royal priest. And God has made us in him to
be a royal, a kingly priesthood. The saints of God sing at his
throne, thou has made us kings and priests under God. Now there
are many things about Aaron's garments, his clothing, with
which we're very familiar, his breastplate, his linen breeches,
that effort with the crown and the blazing right in the front,
holiness to the Lord. Those things we're very familiar
with. But not much is said about the Urim and Thummim. And that's
what I want us to look at this evening. The Urim and the Thummim
here in Leviticus 8. Right in the breastplate, the
Lord God commanded Moses to put the Urim and Thummim. Now there's
a lot of speculation as to what those were, but we're never told.
We're never told anyway in scripture. Now to give it a hint at what
represented the Urim and Thummim, what physical things did. Mr. Gill suggests the Urim and Thummim
were the stones engraved with the names of the children of
Israel engraved upon them. That's as good as anything else.
But we won't speculate. Historians and commentators have
imagined many things. But we know what the Urim and
Thummim represent. The word Urim means lights. It's always plural. The word Thummim means perfections. It too is always plural. This much we know from the word
of God. The Urim and Thummim were placed
in the breastplate of God's high priest, along with the names
of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, worn constantly by
Aaron as he went about his priestly functions. Specifically, they
were worn upon his heart. And it was by these, through
these, the Urim and Thummim, the lights and perfection, the
intercessory work of the high priest, through these lights
and perfections, that God gave direction to the children of
Israel and settled important matters of judgment and justice. Turn back to Exodus chapter 30.
Exodus chapter 28, I think it is. Yeah, Exodus 28, verse 30. This is the first time we see
mention of the Urim and Thummim. And thou shalt put in the breastplate
of judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be upon
Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord and Aaron shall
bear the judgment. Now that word judgment means
verdict and it means discernment. The Urim and Thummim, as Aaron
goes in to seek the mind and will of God for his people. God
speaks to Aaron and shows him the verdict of a matter. And
he gives him discernment to judge a matter. The leper. would have a verdict made. When
he was clean, the high priest would declare him clean. He would
give a verdict. And the high priest gave direction
to Israel according to the direction of God by the Urim and Thummim. Joshua, we're told, was required
to follow the direction of God's priest who sought God's counsel
by the Urim before the Lord. You don't need to turn there,
but here in Exodus, or in Numbers 27, in verse 21, He said, he shall stand before
Eliezer the priest, Joshua shall, who shall ask counsel for him
after the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word,
at the word of the priest, by the judgment of the Urim before
the Lord, 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. but the Urim and Thummim were
lost during the Babylonian captivity, taken out of Jerusalem along
with the mercy seat and other things and never recovered. But
Nehemiah gave a prophecy. after the temple began to rebuild,
saying that the children of Israel would never again eat of the
most holy things, until there stood up a priest with Urim and
Thummim, until there comes another priest who carries in him the
true Urim and Thummim, the true lights and perfections of God
Almighty. Those words, The Spirit of God
showed the deficiency and imperfection of the Levitical priesthood and
the great need of one of whom Moses prophesied, a prophet and
a priest out of Levi. God said, let thy Urim or thy
Thummim and thy Urim be with the Holy One whom thou didst
prove at Mesa, that Holy One. Spoken of in Exodus 17, whom
the children of Israel tempted, proved at the bitter waters of
Mesa. Jesus Christ is that Holy One,
the Holy One of God. holy as God, but the Holy One
as the God-man in His incarnation and birth, in His life as He
walked upon this earth, when He died at Calvary as our substitute,
the Holy Lamb of God, that Holy One in all the deeds He performed. He's the Holy One who carries
in Him the lights and the perfections of God. The Holy One from whom
we have light and perfection from God. Now that's what I want
us to look at this evening. These two things. First, Christ
is the true Urim and Thummim. The true lights and perfections
of His people. And as Aaron the high priest
carried the Urim and Thummim in his breastplate upon his heart,
so our Lord Jesus Christ, God's true high priest for Israel,
carries his people upon his heart in all his priestly functions.
First, turn to Colossians chapter one. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
true Urim and Thummim. the true lights and perfections
of His people. All light and all perfection
are found in Christ, only in Christ. When you think of light,
think of Christ. When you think of perfection,
think of Christ. Spiritually, the only light there
is, is Christ. The only perfection there is,
is Christ. Look at Colossians 1, 19. For
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Chapter two, Colossians two,
verse three. In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. The Lord Jesus Christ our Savior
is our Urim. He is our light. All the light
we have. All the light any man can have. Remember the word Urim is a plural
pronoun. Christ is the light in whom all
light is found. From whom all lights come. He is the light. All the lights
there are. As the light of creation from
the first to the fourth day was in the sun. So all the light
of the new creation is in Christ, the son of righteousness. as
all the light that is in the world is but the reflection of
the sun. So all the light that is in us
is but the light of Christ in us. That was the true light,
John said, which lighteth every man which cometh into the world. Now, how does Christ give light
to every person who's born in this world? What's that talking
about? Some folks have the idea that
means that God gives all men an opportunity to be saved, gives
all men the light, and so on. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Obviously, God doesn't do that. He doesn't even send
the light of the gospel to all men. So how is it that Christ
lights every man in the world? By natural light. All natural
light comes from our Redeemer. The whole book of Romans in chapters
one and two, those first two chapters of that great epistle
are taken up with natural light. Some folks refer to it as natural
revelation. God reveals himself in creation
so that men look into the heavens and looking into the heavens,
the wonders of God's creation. No man can with any rationality
or reason look at the sun and the moon and the stars, the clouds
and the heavens, the roaring of the sea, the flowers in the
field, the mountains and the hills and the valleys. No man
can look at God's creation and question that God made these
things. No man can. I do not believe
for a moment there's such a thing as an atheist. Every atheist
is a man who lies against his own conscience, because Paul
tells us so in the second chapter of Romans. Every man not only
has the light of creation around him, He has the light of creation
in him. It's called conscience, a God
consciousness. So that every man and woman by
nature has a sense of right and wrong. By no means perfect, by
no means full, but a sense of right and wrong. So that no matter
where you go in history, no matter where you go in this world, no
matter where you go in our Dark, dark, dark enlightened society. And the more light folks have,
seems the darker society gets. Nowhere you go among men will
you find men who do not know it's wrong to steal. It's wrong
to rape. It's wrong to commit murder.
It's wrong to do things. And men all are aware that they
will face God in judgment because of sin. All men throughout history
had been fully convinced there must be some kind of an atonement,
some kind of a sacrifice by which man can be reconciled to God
because of his sin. But the light of creation will
never save anyone. The light of conscience will
never save anyone. The light of natural revelation
is sufficient only to render men and women everywhere without
excuse. Because the fact is, no one walks
in the light God gives him by nature. Nobody. Nobody. Men everywhere violate their
own consciences, and thus they live in guilt all the time. Christ is the one who gives that
light, for certainly we speak of him the light. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that one who gives the light of grace. Oh, the blessed
light of grace. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God shines in our hearts in the face of Christ,
our crucified Redeemer. You hold in your hands. I think
everybody here has one in their hands. And by this time, you probably
are aware that I have all of my references to scriptures on
this computer here that I use in the pulpit for my convenience.
And I'm sometimes asked, why do you carry your Bible with
you? Because I want every one of you to carry your Bible with
you all the time. And I want you to look to see what's in
this book. Do you know what you have in your hands? You have
the greatest standing miracle in the universe. God's Word, supernaturally given
by divine inspiration, breathed of God. But the Word of God itself,
given to us in this physical form, will never profit anyone
spiritually. I've chosen my words with great
care. This book, in its physical form,
just ink on paper will never profit anyone spiritually without
the light of grace in your soul. Without the spirit of God shining
upon the pages of scripture from within to open your eyes that
you may see wondrous things in God's word. Any understanding
we have in this book is given by God's saving grace, God's
continual operation of grace in us. Without it, I'll tell
you what this book would be to you and to me. It would be a
book full of contradictions, full of gins and snares, full
of moralisms, full of antiquated stories with nothing of spiritual
benefit to our souls. It is only when we read this
book in the light that God gives us in his saving grace that we
come to see what this book teaches about ourselves, about our God,
about our Redeemer, about God's salvation. Many women know God
only by the light that God gives from within, by His Word, by
His Spirit, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God. So that believing sinners, enlightened
by Christ, enlightened with the light of grace, testified with
the man in John 9.25, one thing I know, whereas I was blind,
now I see. Like that blind man, the Lord
Jesus spit and touched his eyes and he saw me and his trees walking
and then the Lord touched him a second time and asked him if
he saw anything and he said, the scripture tells us he saw
every man clearly. So God's people see the things
of God clearly. Clearly. I don't mean by that
that every one of you or the one talking to you understands
everything written in this book distinctly and clearly. This
is a marvelous book. I've been studying it every day
for, oh, my soul, 51 years. And I have the privilege that
you don't have. I get to spend my life studying it. And David,
the more I study this book, the bigger it gets. It just gets
bigger and bigger all the time. I open the book and it just,
it's a marvel to me how things pop out fresh and new. The book itself, I don't pretend
to understand in its details. But I'm gonna tell you something.
I understand clearly, I see clearly, I see clearly the revelation
of this book, God's all the attributes of God shining gloriously in
the sacrifice of God's darling son. I see how that God can be
absolutely just, unbendingly just, strictly just, and yet
forgive sin, totally, completely, altogether forgive sin. How did
God, by the sacrifice of his son, by his obedience and death,
is able to be just and the justifier of this sinner believing on his
son, and of you who believe on his son. I see clearly how the
salvation's accomplished, not by what men do, but by what God
does. God's saints are called children
of light because we've been called out of darkness into light. Out of the darkness of depravity,
death and sin into the marvelous light of grace and righteousness
and life in Christ. Wherefore he saith. Awake thou
that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give
thee light. He gives us the light of the
knowledge of God by his obedience unto death. Unbelieving, heathen
and pagans know God is their creator, as we've seen. Believers
are men and women who know God in Christ. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. This light we have from Christ
is His own light. It's in His light that we see
light. In His light, we see the brightness
of the Father's glory and the express image of His person.
In His light, we see Him as the God-man mediator. In His own
light, we see Him as our only all-sufficient substitute and
advocate. In His light, we see Him as our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The light of
the knowledge of the gospel and the glorious truths of the gospel
come to us from Christ who is light and truth. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our light and he gives us light. By the Urim, he makes
the verdict and declares us just. By the Urim, by the light of
Christ, We have direction so that God opens His Word that
we may behold wondrous things out of His law. We cry, would
David show me thy ways, O Lord? Teach me thy paths, and he does,
giving us light. And soon we will behold him in
glory, and Christ is the light of glory as well. Turn over to
Revelation 23. I want you to see this. All the
light of heaven's glory is Jesus Christ, God's Urim. Revelation 21, verse 23. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. I sat back
in my chair a good while this afternoon after reading that
and tried to think of the light awaiting us.
Soon, my brother. Soon, my sister. We will safely
arrive in our glorious, heavenly, eternal home with Christ. And
once we have reached Canaan's fair and happy land, we will
walk perfectly in perfect light forever. All the lingering darkness
of infidelity. All the lingering darkness of
doubt and fear. that vexes us here will be completely
dispelled when we see Christ. Our very souls will be radiant
with the beams of light from Christ, which shall forever strike
through our hearts with wonder, joy, and praise. And we shall
forever see things, all things. things that now perplex us, things
that now frustrate us, things that now cause us so much trouble. We will see all things in Christ's
light. Let's look at another text. You
need to look at this, Isaiah 60, Isaiah 60. Listen to what the prophet says
about this light. Verse 19. The sun shall be no
more thy light by day, Neither for brightness shall the moon
give light unto thee. Watch this. But the Lord shall
be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun
shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself,
for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light. What does that mean? and
the days of thy mourning shall be ended. All right, Christ is
the Urim. He is our lights. Second, our
Lord Jesus Christ is the truth of them too. All perfections,
all perfections. What can that be talking about?
All the perfection of God is His. All the perfection of God,
the perfection of God, His perfections, we commonly call His attributes. Eternity is a divine perfection. The Lord Jesus says, I am He
which is, which was, and which is to come. Omnipotence is a
divine perfection. Our Savior is the Almighty. His name is the mighty God. Omniscience,
all knowledge, is a divine perfection attribute. And our Savior knows
the thoughts of men. Peter acknowledged this. He said,
Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest all things. Omnipresence. That's a divine perfection. And
Christ is everywhere present. Oh yes, he's seated in a body
on the throne in heaven, but he's here with us. He walks in
the midst of the golden candlesticks. He's with his church in the valley
of myrtle trees, where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst of them, and he is ever with
you, always with us. Immutability. is a divine attribute,
the perfection of God. And the Lord Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. He is our God. and all the perfections of grace
flow into us by the merit of Christ and by the work of His
Spirit are in Him and come from Him. It comes to us through His
blood, through His righteousness, through His intercession, by
His Spirit. All-justifying grace, all-redeeming
grace, all-saving grace, all-sanctifying grace, all-preserving grace,
all the grace that ultimately ends in everlasting glory we
have from Christ. Our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. All the perfection. of the blessings
and promises of God to sinners in the covenant of grace are
in Christ and flow to us from Christ. All the promises of God
are in him are yea and amen unto the glory of God by us. We can't
come to any circumstance or any condition But what there is a
blessing and a promise of God in Christ to meet our need, if
only we had faith to see it. All the perfection of life is
Christ himself. With him is the fountain of life
and it all flows to us from him. He asked life of thee, the psalmist
said, and thou gavest it him even length of days forever and
ever, not life for himself, life for his people on the merit of
his accomplishments and it's his to give to whomsoever he
will. It was for this purpose. that
the Son of God came into the world to remove all obstacles
out of the way, that the streams of life might flow to his people
forever, and remove them he did. So that Christ is the perfection
of everything to us, even the perfection of strength. So that
he says, my grace is sufficient for thee. We're poor, weak, helpless
creatures of flesh. Without him, we can do nothing.
But Christ is the man of God's right hand, whom he's made strong
for himself and strong for us. And we can say confidently with
Paul. We can say confidently with Paul. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me. This is what that means, Bill
Raleigh. Whatever it is that he has ordained for you, you
can do. Whatever it is he has ordained
for you, you can do. Someone was asking me, as a matter
of fact, several folks in the last few weeks asked me about
various things with regard to the work of the ministry, and
I acknowledged to them my utter inability. But since I was 17
years old, I have never thought about saying no when a door was
opened to me to preach the gospel. Never thought about it. I never
thought about it. God opens the door, I have an
opportunity to tell somebody about my Redeemer and the grace
of God I've experienced. Who are you to preach? Nobody.
Who are you to tell us anything? Nobody. But if God's ordained
it, God's purposed it, I can do it. John Newton put it this
way. The Lord has promised good to
me. His word my hope secures. He shall my strength and portion
be, as long as life endures. All the perfection of wisdom
is in Christ for us, who is wisdom. The whole 8th chapter of Proverbs
describes him as such. So that he's made of God wisdom
to teach us. to protect us and to guide us. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him and He shall direct your paths. All perfection and all light
is in Christ. He is our perfect satisfaction
and redemption, our perfect righteousness and justification, our perfect
holiness and regeneration. In fact, the love of God is made
perfect in us, John tells us, and tells us twice. How so? God's love finds its perfect
fulfillment when God gives us life by His Spirit in the perfection
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, let me show you one more
thing and I'll wrap this up. Turn back to Exodus chapter 28. Exodus 28. Let's look just a minute at this
first place where the Urim and Thummim are mentioned. Verse
29. Aaron shall bear the names of
the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment. upon
his heart, when he goeth in into the holy place for a memorial
before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put the breastplate
of judgment, the Urim, and the Thummim, and they shall be upon
Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord, and Aaron
shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart
before the Lord continually. As Aaron, the typical high priest,
carried the Urim and Thummim upon his heart, so Christ, God's
true high priest, carries his people upon his heart in all
his priestly functions. Yonder he is, sitting on the
throne of the universe. Our mediator, our advocate before
the Father, and he carries our verdict. Father, here are my
people. your righteous people. Defend
and care for them as a people who deserve your defense and
your care. He carries our judgments, our discernment, so that he gives
discernment to us by his spirit from his throne. These were carried
upon Aaron's breastplate as God's high priest, specifically for
the children of Israel. Even so, God's elect are ever
upon the heart of Christ, our great high priest. He took us
on his heart from eternity. He came into the world with his
own heart. He lived in this world in obedience
with us on his heart. He went to Calvary with us on
his heart. He went to the grave with us
on his heart. He rose up to glory with us on
his heart, and yonder he sits with us on his heart. Everything
he has done, is doing, and shall hereafter do as our great high
priest with the Urim and Thummim, with the lights and perfection. He does as our representative
and our mediator. That's the very language of scripture. Our Lord Jesus is our Passover,
our sacrifice, our altar of worship, our reconciliation, consecration,
atonement, sacrifice. And Christ, the true Urim and
Thummim, is that one by whom we are guided and instructed. Joshua, would you know where
to go and when to go? Go consult the high priest, and
he will tell you where to go and when to go by the lights
and perfections of the high priest. You would know the will of God.
You don't come to me or to another man or to any flesh, but you
go to God, our savior, our great high priest, and by his lights
and perfections, he shows you the will of God and directs you
in it. That person for whom counsel was asked was
to stand before the high priest. And that's what we must do. Each
taking his place before Christ, our high priest. We cannot come
to God any other way, but by faith in his name. And we cannot
be directed by God in any other way, but through the light perfection,
the lights and perfections of the God-man, our mediator, revealed
to us in his word by the gospel. And being led by him, his light
and perfection, we walk with God in his way. If the true Urim
and Thummim, all lights and perfections, are found in Christ, let us go
to Him for them. If we are God's elect, engraved
upon the very heart of the Son of God, how dear we must be to
Him. How dear he ought to be to us. If Christ is our Urim and Thummim,
our light and perfection, we ought to confidently trust him
to manage all our affairs. Oh God, give me grace so to trust
your son, to manage all spiritual, eternal affairs. all temporal
earthly affairs, all domestic family affairs, I'm on his heart. How safe I must be. Upon his heart, how free of fear
I ought to be in every circumstance. This is no trivial matter. It's
of such great importance that one of the very last things of
which Moses spoke as he was leaving this world, God told him, Moses,
you're going up to the mount and there I'm going to kill you.
That's the spot. One of the very last things Moses
said, let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with the Holy One. Let all light and perfection be in Him, and seek to it that
you look for none anywhere but in Him. who is our great high
priest standing in heaven with all the lights and perfections
of his infinite being as God and man, our Savior. Amen.