as Moses records for us in Exodus
chapter 39, the finishing of the tabernacle. He was inspired
of God to give us a description, a very detailed description of
the holy garments that were made for Aaron. For Aaron and for
his sons, those garments that the priests were required to
wear whenever they went into the tabernacle doing service
for God as the representatives of God's people, Israel. These
are called clothes of service. And so I take that for the title
of my message, Clothes of Service. We're going to look tonight at
these 41 verses of Exodus 39 at these clothes of service for
the sake of brevity. Let me just read the first verse
now and then we'll come to the various highlights of the passage
dealing with these clothes of service. Exodus 31 verse 9, or
verse 1 rather, Exodus 39 verse 1. And of the blue and purple
and scarlet, they made clothes of service to do service in the
holy place and made the holy garments for Aaron as the Lord
commanded Moses. These clothes of service were
very significant. They're highly, highly symbolic. They are listed for us in Exodus
28, listed again here in Exodus 39, and they're listed even briefly
in Leviticus chapter 8, where the sons of Aaron, Aaron and
his sons, were consecrated for the priesthood. They're called
holy garments. They're called garments of consecration. And we're told specifically in
Exodus 28 that these garments of consecration, these garments
by which the sons of Aaron were made to stand consecrated before
God with the holy anointing oil are described as garments made
for glory and for honor. These garments, I again stress,
were made specifically for Aaron and Aaron's sons who were God's
high priest. They were made to show forth
the glory and beauty of God's priest as Israel's high priest
before the Lord. But they also show us the beauty
and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest,
in the symbolic teaching that's set before us here. Now actually,
Aaron had two sets of clothes, two sets of priestly garments. These glorious things that are
described here in Exodus 29, or Exodus 28, and again here
in Exodus chapter 39, these glorious, gorgeous, expensive, costly garments
that were worn by him in his day-by-day public service as
Israel's high priest. Every time he went to the tabernacle,
he was required to go as he went serving God, serving Israel,
wearing these gorgeous garments we're about to look at. But on
the Day of Atonement, he had other garments, very simple garments. He had a white bonnet. and white
garments, a white cloak, white breeches, breeches as you have
it in the scriptures. And those are the things with
which he did service on the day of atonement in the Holy of Holies. So that when he took the blood
of the lamb, representing Christ our Redeemer, going into the
holy place as our Lord Jesus did with his own blood, having
obtained eternal redemption for us, Aaron wore those white garments,
He went in and made atonement, came back out, took off those
white garments and put on these gorgeous robes again and came
out to bless the children of Israel. The garments described
in our text were specifically ordained by our God to show Aaron's
glory and his beauty to the people, just as they are specifically
ordained to show the glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus to you
and me. If you See the Savior as he set
forth here. You see something of his glory,
something of his beauty, and you're compelled to trust him.
And that's the reason I bring the message. I pray that God
will be pleased now to make you and me again to see the glory
and beauty of our Redeemer as our great high priest and compel
our hearts, seeing him to trust him. First, Moses puts an ephod
on Aaron's shoulders. Look at verse 2, Exodus 39. You
just stay right here in Exodus 39. We'll look at a couple of
other passages along the way, and you can just jot those down.
Exodus 39, verse 2. He made the ephod of gold. Now, if you want to write somewhere
in the margin of your Bible, apron. That's what the ephod
is. It's just an apron. He made the ephod of gold. blue
and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen. And they did beat
the gold into thin plates and cut it into wires to work it
in the blue and in the purple and in the scarlet and in the
fine linen with cutting work. They made the shoulder pieces
for it to couple it together. By the two edges, it was coupled
together. Now, this effort was the outer
apron that hung over Aaron's shoulders. It was an ephod, an
apron that covered both his chest in the front and his back. These
two pieces were joined together by the shoulder straps. At the
shoulders were golden clasps, and these golden clasps were
the place where God commanded Moses to set the onyx stones.
Like Aaron's robe, the ephod was made of gold and blue and
purple and scarlet and fine twine linen. the breastplate with the
names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel and the
Urim and Thummim were placed on this ephod and Aaron wore
these before the Lord. Try to get a picture of it if
you can. Aaron wears this gorgeous costly ephod, his robe that The
Lord commanded Moses to make and over that robe is strapped
this effort, this apron on him and the breastplates with the
names of God's people engraved in precious stones on Aaron's
breastplates. And these emblems of light and
perfection, the light and perfection, the light and wisdom of God in
Christ Jesus called the Urim and Thummim by which the children
of Israel were guided throughout their days while they had Aaron
as their priest. What does all this mean? I can't
begin to describe what all it means because I don't know what
all it means, but at least these things, at least these. The Lord
Jesus constantly has us on his heart. Aaron, as he ministered before
the Lord, always wore this effort with his breastplate over his
heart, bearing the names of the children of Israel. And the Lord
Jesus, since he stood forth as our surety and became our high
priest in old eternity, bears us incessantly upon his heart. Never less and never more. Always, constantly, perfectly,
we're on his heart. He carries us. Like Aaron wore
this priestly garment. Can you imagine the weight? Can
you imagine the weight of this thing? It was it was a these
these robes all constantly put together were heavy robes with
which to work, especially especially in the wilderness, in that hot
climate day after day after day. But he bears all this on his
shoulders with these on this effort that Aaron had to wear
that God made for him to wear. strapped to his shoulders. And
so our Lord Jesus constantly carries us. He carried in this
world all the weight of our responsibility. And he carries on his shoulders
all the weight of our care. No wonder we're bitten then.
Cast your care on him for he careth for you. He guides us
continually. As the Lord gave direction to
Israel by the Urim and Thummim on the high priest breast. So
the Lord Jesus is the Urim and Thummim of his people, the light
and perfection by which we are guided, the light and perfection
of his wisdom and his grace. And we are. like those stones,
those precious gems on Aaron's breastplate, sparkling jewels
of glory and beauty to our Redeemer. One more thing, we're totally
safe here, totally safe on our Savior's heart, on our Savior's
shoulders, safe from all possibility of harm. And next, Moses was
commanded of God to make a girdle and gird Aaron with the girdle. Look at verse 5. Now, this was
not just any ordinary girdle worn by other priests. Aaron's
sons, this girdle was particularly for the specific high priest,
Aaron, and those who would succeed him in the priesthood. This is
a girdle of curious, a curious girdle of the effort. Look at
verse 5. and the curious girdle of his ephod that was upon it
was of the same according to the work thereof of gold and
blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen as the Lord
commanded Moses." This girdle, that with which men in ancient times
would wrap up their garments and tie them about their loins.
It speaks of readiness. When a soldier was about to go
into battle, he would gird up his loins and so he was ready
for battle. The girdle speaks of our savior's
readiness to serve our soul's needs for the glory of God. Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh my God. I had just a little thirst. I'm
ready to have a drink. Just suppose I hadn't had anything
to drink in several days. I'm burning up with fever and
I find that glass of cold water there. Now you reckon I'd be
ready to drink? That's no readiness to compare. The son of God, our Redeemer,
came here Rex Bartley ready to suffer and die, ready to bring
in everlasting righteousness. And he still is ready to serve
the needs of his people. When he was on this earth, on
one occasion he took a bowl of water and a towel, and girt himself,
and stooped down, and washed his disciples' feet. You can
read about it in Luke chapter 13. And our Lord Jesus today
is in the midst of his churches, girt about the paps with a golden
girder, we're told in Revelation chapter 1, ready to serve, always
ready to serve his people. The Lord God commanded Moses
to make this girdle just as he had made the effort. It shall
be of the same according to the work thereof, we're told. Indicating
in the picture that our Savior's present priestly work, his work
as he is now ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father,
is exactly the same in its perfection of character as his work on this
earth. And his work on this earth was
exactly the same in the perfection of its character as his work
in heaven. He is now glorified, but still
Jehovah's righteous servant. And he's our great high priest.
And having entered into the presence of God for us, he has obtained
eternal redemption for us and ever lives to make intercession
for us. When John describes this, he
says, these things have I written unto you that you sin not. I tell you about your sure eternal
life, your absolute forgiveness in Jesus Christ. I tell you that
God Almighty has forgiven you all your transgressions, all
your iniquities and all your sins, that you sin not. And if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ
the righteous and just as he was ready to serve when he came
into this world Ready to serve doing his father's will while
he walked on this earth ready to serve when he washed his disciples
feet Ready to serve when he laid down his life for us. He is ready
now as our advocate in heaven and Constantly serves the interest
of our souls. Hmm Here's the third thing. Look
at Exodus chapter 39, verse 8. Moses put a breastplate on Aaron.
And he made the breastplate of cunning work like the work of
the effort of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine
twine linen. He tells us in verse 9 that it
was four square. In verse 10, they set in it four
rows of stones. Down in verse 11. I'm sorry, verse 14. And the
stones were according to the names of the children of Israel. Twelve according to their names,
like the engravings of a signet. Every one with his name according
to the twelve tribes. And then down in verse 21. And
they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of
the ephod with a lace of blue that it might be above the curious
girdle of the ephod and that the breastplate might not be
loosed from the ephod as the Lord commanded Moses. I can't
say much about this now or I wouldn't get finished. But in verse 30
of Exodus chapter 28, turn back there for just a second. Verse
30 of Exodus 28. There's something added. And thou shalt put in the breastplate
of judgment. This breastplate is called the
breastplate of judgment. In it along with these names
of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel are the Urim and Thummim. Don't have any idea what those
things were. I've read all kinds of conjectures, but none of them
make any sense. They simply were something that
represented light and perfection. That's what the word means. Urim
means lights. All light is in Christ. And perfections,
all perfection is in Christ. And they shall be upon Aaron's
heart when he goeth before the Lord. That is the name of the
children of Israel, his lights and his perfection with this
breastplate of judgment. Judgment being discernment, judgment
being the wrath of God satisfied, judgment being direction. Aaron wears this breastplate
of judgment with the lights and perfections with the names of
the children of Israel on his heart before the Lord. And Aaron
shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart
before the Lord continually. Not only does this breastplate
on his chest portray our Savior's constant care and love for us,
it speaks of our constant, perfect, immutable, I keep saying this, and I would
to God I half believe what I preach to you in this regard particularly. Our immutable acceptance with
God. Can you get hold of that? God's
acceptance of you, no more changes than God changes. God's acceptance
of his people varies no more than Jesus Christ, who is the
same yesterday and today and forever. Our acceptance with
him is a perpetual acceptance in Jesus Christ the Lord. We
are here told that he wore this breastplate with the names of
Israel on his heart continually. We're continually before the
Lord, accepted in Christ Jesus. He wore their names personally,
each of the twelve tribes, each individual name written on these
stones so that the care was personal care. Aaron was the personal
representative of each of the tribes of Israel, each man and
each woman in those tribes. He bore their names collectively
as one before the Lord. And as he bore their names before
the Lord continually, He bore the Lord's judgment of Israel
continually before him. This man who had gone in on the
day of atonement and made atonement for sin ceremonially made atonement. Every day of the year, 365 days
of every year, bore continually before the Lord. And a reminder to God himself
of Israel's judgment finished. No judgment for my people. Remember
the sacrifice. That's what Christ bears in heaven
on our behalf. Before God continually the judgment
of his people. Can you see your priest yonder
in heaven? with your name upon his heart." What a consolation. What a consolation. He bears
our names continually before the Lord. Now watch this. God
made special arrangements to attach this breastplate to the
ephod. He attached it in a way as to
make certain that it not be loosed from the ephod. so that the breastplate
is attached by God's decree, by God's order to Aaron's effort
on his shoulders so that the breastplate never come loose. And we are so fixed in the purpose
and decree and will of God by the person and work of our Redeemer,
one with Christ and in Christ on His shoulders, on His omnipotent
shoulders, that we shall never, never, never be broken loose
from Him and never be broken loose from His hearts. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? Who shall separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord? Next, we look
at the robe. Back here in Exodus 39 verse
22. Moses was commanded to clothe
Aaron with his priestly robe. And he made the robe of the ephod
of woven work, all of blue. And there was a hole in the midst
of the robe as the whole of a habergen, that is a habergen, a piece of
a coat of mail, a sleeveless coat of mail, piece of armor.
This holds in there like the whole of a habergen with a band
round about the whole that it should not rend, could possibly
be torn, this robe. And they made upon the hems of
the robe pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet and twined
linen. And they made bales of pure gold
and put the bales between the pomegranates upon the hem of
the robe round about between the pomegranates, a bale and
a pomegranate, a bale and a pomegranate round about the hem of the robe
to minister in as the Lord commanded Moses. Now, this robe. made of blue, was woven of gold,
blue and purple and scarlet, fine twine linen, all these things
representing the divinity, the heavenly source of our salvation,
the royalty of our great redeemer, his precious blood, all those
things, the fine linen representing his purity. But this robe, we're
told, also speaks something else. Aaron was required to wear this
robe with bells and pomegranates, even numbers, all the way around
the hem of the garment. And we're told in Exodus 28,
when the description is given, wear this robe with these bells
and pomegranates that he die not. That he die not. The bells, the
golden bells speaking of joy. The pomegranate, I'm told, I've
never seen one, you may have. If you split it open, it's full
of seeds and it has a reddish fluid in it. The pomegranate,
speaking of fruitfulness, abundant fruitfulness, and the bells,
constantly the sound of it as Aaron goes about his business.
I'm sure you've all heard the fable, and it is just a fable,
that when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the
Day of Atonement, they had a rope tied around his waist, leading
outside the Holy of Holies or around his leg, so that if he
did something wrong in there and died in the Holy of Holies,
then they could pull him out of that place. And as long as
they heard the bells ringing, then they knew that Abram was
all right. No, not so. Not so. No such rope existed.
No possibility of God's priest with God's sacrifice in God's
order being rejected at God's throne. No possibility of that
happening. No, no. And besides that, before Aaron
went in to make atonement, he pulled off this robe. This robe
was not even there. He was in his white linen britches
then. And he came back out and puts this robe on. Well, what's
the significance of these bells and pomegranates with which Aaron
must minister continually so that he die not. He ministers before God continually
with the joy of finished redemption, with the joy of salvation accomplished,
with the joy of perfection done as our great priest. and the
joy is continually sounded all the time. He's about his business.
All day long, everywhere he goes, the constant gentle ringing of
the bells with the pomegranates. The constant gentle ringing of
the bells and the pomegranates. This he does as our representative. The bells and pomegranates representing
the perfection and the sweetness of our Lord's intercession for
us and our acceptance in Him. The bells and the pomegranates,
can you hear them? His blood and His righteousness,
Christ who is our propitiation, His sweet incense before God
as the children of Israel, Just day by day, Aaron goes about
his business, and they go about theirs. Women doing their cooking
and gathering this, that, and the other, and men out doing
their labor, preparing for the evening. And Aaron, you could
hear something all through the camp. You could hear the sound
of bells ringing as the pomegranates beat up against them, saying, everything's all right.
God's well-pleased, God's satisfied, atonement is accepted, justice
is satisfied, sins put away, iniquities purged, transgressions
forgiven. That's the sweet sound of our
Savior's acceptance in heaven. And Larry, you are accepted in
the beloved. the bells and pomegranates on
the robe of him who is our great high priest, the robe of perfect
righteousness, the robe of perfect obedience, the robe the Lord
God puts on his sons when they come to him in repentance and
faith. Bring hither the best robe and
put it on him. All right, let's move on. Back
next to this 39. Here's the fifth thing. Moses
is commanded to put on a coat. This is not a coat as we generally
think of it. It's described in Exodus 28,
in verses 4 and verse 39. Here in Exodus 39, verse 27,
it's just mentioned, this coat. It's a coat of embroidered work,
an embroidered coat of fine linen of woven work. See that in verse
27? This special embroidered coat
of fine linen was really not an outer coat at all, but it
was Aaron's undergarments. I rather doubt that Moses actually
physically put them on him, as we're told in Leviticus 8, but
rather when we're told that Moses put them on him, he simply gives
them to Aaron before Israel, significant, because Moses gives
Aaron this coat to put on him underneath his ephod, and underneath
his robe, and underneath his breastplate. The fine linen represents
purity and righteousness. You remember what we read in
Revelation 19 verse 8? The fine linen with which the
bride is arrayed, with which the saints of God are arrayed.
The fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. But that word
righteousness in Revelation 19 verse 8 is in the plural. The fine linen is the righteousnesses
of saints. And from that fact, many have
suggested that what John is telling us in Revelation 19, 8 is that
the saints of God had the righteousness of Christ and then the righteousnesses
of their own works that they performed upon the earth. Well,
you know better. You know better. You don't have
any righteousness and you can't perform any righteousness. And
everybody who knows God knows that. Everybody who knows God
knows that. But what's it mean, then, this
fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints. Not only do we
have the righteousness of Christ in justification set before us
in this outer garment that Aaron wears, this outer robe of his,
this glorious thing that's seen by all men, that righteousness
that is ours by imputation, Christ's righteousness being made ours
in free justification, we also have a garment that nobody can
see. A garment of perfect righteousness
nobody can see except God himself. An undergarment, if you will.
It's called Christ in you, the hope of glory. A new nature,
a righteous nature put in you the imparted righteousness of
Christ and regeneration. I hear people talk about folks
who I, you know, I know so-and-so's a Christian because I see this.
Oh no you don't. Oh no you don't. You can only
judge outwardly. Outwardly. So quit trying. Accept your brethren on the basis
of what they profess and forget your notion that you can see
what's inside a man. You can't. You can't. This righteousness
is Christ formed in you by the grace of God. The linen is that
which the Lord God gives us, this purity and this righteousness. I see three things here. Our
need. If we're to come to God, we cannot
come and be accepted of God, except we have the complete clothing
of righteousness. Christ, who is our righteousness.
Second, not only our need, but God's supply. Christ is our righteousness. And third, covering. Those linen
britches were specifically to cover the priest's nakedness. So we're told in chapter 28,
nakedness representing shame and sin, corruption, evil. Remember Noah's sons, Shem and
Japheth, went in backward to cover their father's nakedness
because they would not look on their father's nakedness? That's
not suggesting somehow or another that if a little boy and his
daddy take a shower in the same shower, that's a shameful thing.
No such implication, none at all. The teaching is highly significant. They refused to look upon their
father's evil. They would not. Ham, the reprobate,
delighted to do so. Sham and Japheth refused to do
so. They were born of God, and they refused to see Him in any
light except the light in which God declared Him to be. God teach
me that. God teach me to look at Alan
Kibbe in no other way than He is in Christ. And thus esteeming
Him, we will esteem each better than himself, all right? Then sixth, Moses was commanded
in verse 28 to put a mitre, a mitre of fine linen on Moses' head. Now, this mitre was exactly what
you see in much of the Islamic world today. The fellows wear
these turbans. The mitre here was made of white
linen. It was significant. It symbolized
both great honor and great humility. And those who are robed with
God's salvation, with the garments of salvation, having Christ the
helmet of salvation, having Christ our righteousness, Christ our
Redeemer, are honored. Is that what God said? Because
you were precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable. I have honored you. Oh, how we
are honored of God. And any man, any woman, any sinner
in all the world who's consciously honored of God with God's salvation
is humbled by that honor. Not a pretense humble. You know,
you hear These politicians get on television, they spend millions
of dollars to get elected to office. Doesn't matter whether
it's a dog catcher or a president. And then you elect them and they,
well, I am so humbled by your honor you put on me. Not any
humility there. It's just words, that's all.
Those who are honored of God. having obtained the salvation
they never sought nor desired until God sought them and brought
the desire to them. Honored of God with His grace
and His salvation, bow before Him with broken hearts, truly
humbled before Him, knowing who they are and whose they are,
broken before Him. The miter Just as soon as the
Lord took from Joshua in Zechariah chapter 3, remember, took from
Joshua the high priest, those filthy garments, and put new
garments on him, clean garments on him, garments of salvation.
The first thing he did is he brought forth a miter and put
it on his head. All right, now look at verse
30. And they made the plates of the
holy crown. Here we are, priest, wearing
crowns. made the holy crown of pure gold
and wrote upon it a writing like the engravings of a signet, holiness
to the Lord. And they tied it under the lace
of blue to fasten it on high upon the mitre as the Lord commanded
Moses. Thus was all the work of the
tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished. What a
strange way to finish the work. Moses, you take this plate of
pure gold that I commanded that you make and you put that on
the mitre, on Aaron as a crown, a priest with a crown, a crown
that says holiness to the Lord, honor to the Lord. sanctification
to the Lord, hallowedness to the Lord, distinction, glory
to the Lord. And thus the tabernacle was finished. When the work represented in
this tabernacle was finished. The Lord God poured out on his
people his spirit on the day of Pentecost. But before he did,
as the work was finished, The Lord Jesus being raised from
the dead, ascended on high, and the Lord God set on the head
of the God-man, our Redeemer, a crown. A crown! King of kings and Lord of lords! And this is the crown he wears.
Holiness to the Lord. Redemption finished by Christ. By His obedience and His blood.
by His righteousness and His atonement. Redemption finished
by Him. Salvation accomplished in and
by the Lord Jesus fully and completely. The Lord God Almighty now is
sanctified. The Lord God Almighty now is
hallowed. The Lord God Almighty now is
declared holy. And thus, He accepts us in the
Redeemer who constantly stands in our stead before God, our
advocate and our high priest with all the perfection of redemption
accomplished, and he stands before God bearing the iniquity of our
holy things for the glory of God with holiness to the Lord. And as Israel was accepted of
God, continually, day by day, accepted of God ceremonially,
so we are accepted of God in Christ Jesus. Go thy way, eat
thy bread with joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart, for
God now accepteth thy works. How much so? How fully? To what degree can we declare
this? To what degree can we be certain
God accepts our works? I've been stumbling around here
now for 38 minutes trying to preach this message to you. Been
working all day trying to prepare the message. Been working on
it for two weeks now. And there it is. What benefit is this? How can I dare presume with all
my mingled thoughts of pride and ambition and self-serving
and self-gratification and hope somewhere in there, some interest
and desire to serve your soul and the souls of God's people
who hear this. The glory of God. How could I dare imagine God
accepts this? Well, turn to Ezekiel chapter
16, I'll show you. Ezekiel chapter 16. this description
of our Savior in his gorgeous array as our great high priest. Ezekiel 16, verse 13. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and brooded
work. And thou didst eat fine flour
and honey and oil, And thou wast exceeding beautiful. And thou didst prosper into a
kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty. Thy beauty. Not my beauty. Thy beauty. My beauty. Really? Mine? That's what he said. Thy
beauty. Thy beauty. For it was perfect
through my comeliness, watch this now, which I put upon thee. Perfectly beautiful before my
God. Perfectly beautiful. As perfect,
as beautiful, as accepted, as pleasant, as Christ himself,
his beauty put on you. But that's not all. I said this
word to you and I'm done. Believe him now and this beauty
is yours. For he declares that he shall
beautify the meek with his salvation. Amen. Lord, God bless your word
as only you can. For the good of these who've
heard it and those who shall. For the glory of your son. Amen.