Our subject tonight is God's
priest and God's priest, God's priest singular and God's priest
plural. The Lord Jesus is our one and
only sin-atoning high priest, our only advocate, our only heavenly
intercessor. We adore none but him. We reverence none but him. We
worship none but him. We call upon none but him. Christ
alone is our mediator, our representative, that one who stands in our stead
before God, representing us to God, and stands before us, representing
God to us. Yet every saved sinner, every
saved sinner, this is so very, very important. I want you to
get it. Every saved sinner is made a priest unto God in Jesus
Christ. We are what Peter calls a holy
nation and a royal priesthood, a royal priesthood. Our Lord
Jesus has redeemed us with his blood out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue, and hath made us unto our God kings and priests. Priest. Believers are priest. If God's people have understood
that statement, God's people are priest, it would do away
with the business of pastoral counseling and pastoral psychobabble
and all the stuff preachers do by which they call themselves
doing the work of the ministry. I hear preachers talk about pastoring
people. That means they keep their nose
in your business all the time. That's not a pastor's business.
If you do business with God, you don't need to do business
with me. If you speak to God about your soul's needs and seek
counsel from his word by his spirit through Christ the Redeemer,
you don't need counsel from me. My purpose as your pastor, as
your friend, as God's servant preaching to you, is to so instruct
you in the word of God that you don't lean on me, but you lean
on the Redeemer. Preachers, somehow by and large,
have it instilled within them from the beginning of this thing
that is called the work of the ministry, that somehow we are
to function as priests. And we like for people to look.
We're Baptists, so we don't dare call ourselves priests. But we
like for folks to treat us like we are priests. That's never
to be the case. If you belong to Christ, you
are a priest before God. What's a priest? A priest is
someone with direct access to God on his throne. A priest is
someone with the sacrifice that God will accept. A priest is
someone who comes to God by the merit of that sacrifice that
God has ordained, confident of acceptance with God, whom God
will hear. A priest is one who does business
always in the holy place. Where do you find priests? You
find them in the house of God. And I'm not talking about this
building. No one, I don't think, has higher regard for public
worship and the assembly of God's saints. and the need that you
have to be here this hour than your pastor. I can't stress sufficiently
how much you need to be under the ministry of the word, in
the fellowship of God's saints, in the house of God continually.
But that's not what I'm talking about now. I'm talking about
day after day after day, day in and day out, from morning
to night, from night to morning. God's priest live in his house. We live continually before God
Almighty, consciously walking before God in this world as priest
unto God. In Exodus 28, Aaron represents
the Lord Jesus Christ as our great sin-atoning high priest. Aaron's sons represent believing
sinners. you and me, sinners whom Christ
has made priest unto God forever. The Lord Jesus is called by the
Spirit of God the apostle and high priest of our profession
in Hebrews chapter 3. An apostle is one who comes out
from God with a message to men. A priest is one who goes into
God on behalf of men. Christ Jesus is both. He is the
apostle who came out from God with a message for us. And he
is our priest who goes in before God, representing us before God. He came from God and went back
to God. And the great work of the priest
is to minister unto the Lord. Our Lord Jesus said, I delight
to do thy will, O my God. That was the word continually
on his lips. And we who worship at God's throne
delight that it's so. He did God's will on our behalf
and now represents us accordingly before God. Now before I try
to talk to you about God's priest and God's priests. Let's read
Exodus chapter 28 together. I have tried my best to divide
this up, and I'm going to come back to it, Lord willing, and
pick up some things in it. But I want you to see the whole
chapter at one reading, and I will be brief in my preaching. The
chapter will be longer than the message, but let's read it together. It's so very, very instructive.
Exodus 28. If I had time, I would read at
the same time, Leviticus chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 7. So I
encourage you, while the message is fresh on your mind tonight
or tomorrow, sometime while it's fresh on your mind, read Leviticus
28 again. I'm sorry, Exodus 28. Leviticus
chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 7. But for now, let's read beginning
at verse 1 in Exodus chapter 28. And take thou unto thee Aaron
thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children
of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office,
even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's
sons. And thou shalt make holy garments
for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt
speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit
of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate
him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And
these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate,
and an ephod, and a robe, and a brodered coat, a mitre, and
a girdle. And they shall make holy garments
for Aaron, thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto
me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And verse 6,
they shall make the effort of gold, of blue, and of purple,
of scarlet, and of fine twined linen with cunning work. It shall
have the two shoulder pieces thereof, joined at the two edges
thereof. So it shall be joined together,
and the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall
be of the same, according to the work thereof, even of gold,
of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twine linen. And thou
shall make two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the
children of Israel. six of their names on one stone
and the other six names on the other stone, according to their
birth. With the work of an engraver
in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave
the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Thou
shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold, and thou shalt
put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of a
memorial unto the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear
their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. Verse 13. And thou shalt make
ouches of gold. And two chains of pure gold at
the ends of the wreathed work shalt thou make them and fasten
the wreathed chains to the ouches so that nothing be loose, nothing
be lost, nothing fall out of place. Verse 15. And thou shalt
make the breastplate of judgment. With cunning work, after the
work of the ephod, thou shalt make it. Of gold, of blue, of
purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twine linen shalt thou make
it. Four square it shall be, being doubled. A span shall be
the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.
And thou shalt set in it settings of stone, even four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardis.
a topaz, and carbuckle. This shall be the first row.
And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row, a ligure,
and an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row, a barrel,
and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in
their enclosings. And the stone shall be with the
names of the children of Israel, 12. According to their names
like the engravings of a signet Everyone with his name shall
they be according to the twelve tribes verse 22 and Thou shalt
make upon the breastplate Chains at the ends of the wreath and
work of pure gold and thou shalt make upon the breastplate two
rings of gold and shall put the two rings on the two ends of
the breastplate and And thou shalt put the two wreathing chains
of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate.
And the other two ends of the two wreathing chains thou shalt
fasten in the two ouches and put them on the shoulder pieces
of the ephod before it. And thou shalt make two rings
of gold. And thou shalt put them upon
the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof which is
in the side of the ephod inward. and two other rings of gold thou
shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod
underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other
coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they
shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings
of the ephod with a lace of blue. that it may be above the curious
girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed
from the ephod. And Aaron shall bear the names
of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon
his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial
before the Lord continually. 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 of the children of Israel upon his heart before
the Lord continually. Aaron shall bear the judgment
of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. And thou shalt make the robe
of the ephod all ablue, and there shall be an hole in the top of
it. And in the midst thereof, it shall have a binding of woven
work round about the whole of it, as it were the whole of a
habergen, that it may not be rent. Verse 33. And beneath,
upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue and
of purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof, and bells
of gold between them round about. A golden bell and a pomegranate.
a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe round
about, 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. And thou shalt make
a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings
of the signet, holiness to the Lord. and grave upon it like
the gravings of a signet holiness to the Lord. Now shall put it
on the blue lace that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront
of the miter it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's
forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. When the children of Israel shall
hallow in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always upon his
forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. Verse 39, and
thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt
make the miter of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle
of needlework. And for Aaron's sons, thou shalt
make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets
shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty. And thou,
Moses, Moses, that man who represents God's law, thou, Thou shalt put
them upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with him. And shalt
anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify them that they may
minister unto me in the priest's office. And thou shalt make them
linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even
to the thighs they shall reach. And they shall be upon Aaron
and upon his sons. when they come in unto the tabernacle
of the congregation, or when they come near to the altar to
minister in the holy place, that they bear not the iniquity and
die. It shall be a statute forever
unto him and to his seed after him." All right. First, let's
take a careful look at God's priest as he's set before us
here. Aaron is typical of the Lord Jesus, our great high priest. Now the priests, as you might
imagine, had to be ceremonially perfect. There could be no blemish
in him. He could not minister in the
priest's office if there were any kind of deformity, any kind
of crippling in his body, any kind of scar or any kind of mark
on him. He was disqualified from being
a priest. And that clearly is the case
representing our Lord Jesus Christ. He must be the perfect God-man,
our Savior. Our high priest, the Lord Jesus,
was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Man
could find no fault in him, and God could find no fault in him.
But there's much more about this priest which signifies and typifies
and shows us pictures of our Savior than just the perfection
of his physical appearance as well as his moral character.
Everything we're told about Aaron in Exodus 28, every single thing
we're told about him is typical of our Savior. The first thing
mentioned is God's call and appointment of Aaron. It is God himself who
said to Moses, you take Aaron and his sons out of the people,
and you set them apart to be priests unto me. The Apostle
Paul takes that this way. No man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. Every high priest is ordained
of God. No man takes this honor on himself,
not even our Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ was called
to this work by the triune God in covenant grace before the
world began. And this honor is bestowed upon
him as the God-man, our mediator, that he may be our high priest
in all things pertaining to our salvation before God, that mediator,
the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Not only was Aaron called in Leviticus chapter 8, We're told
that he and his sons were washed with water. Washed. Obviously, the Lord Jesus didn't
have to be washed with water. There were no uncleanness about
him. But Aaron's sons, being representative also of God's
priest, must be washed, showing that you and I, though we are
accepted of God in Christ, though we are one with Christ, though
we are ourselves united with Christ, we must also be washed
before God with the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Spirit, because we are born by nature, dead in trespasses
and in sins. Third, God commanded Moses to
clothe his priest. We'll look a little bit more
at the garments, but he is clothed with such magnificent garments
as are described in this chapter for specific reasons. In chapter
28, verse 2, this garment is made for Aaron, or these garments
are made for Aaron, and Moses is told to put them upon him
for his own glory. and beauty. His glory, the psalmist
said, shall be great in thy salvation. He shall be great, the angel
told Mary. I'm sorry, Elizabeth told Mary
when she brought him into the temple. He shall be great. Our
Lord Jesus is great in his glory and beauty because of his accomplishments
as our Redeemer. We're not talking now about his
character as God. When I'm talking now about him
as the eternal God, nothing adds to or diminishes from that glory
that he possesses as God, but in everything pertaining to his
mediatorial character, his greatness and his glory depend entirely
upon his success in his work as our mediator. So that anyone
who suggests any possibility of failure in him, Any possibility
of him trying to do what he did not accomplish, trying to save
people he did not save, is to rob him of his glory and his
beauty as our mediator. Second, these garments were put
on him to consecrate him, to consecrate him as one worthy
to minister before the Lord in the holy place. so that these
garments he wears as our high priest in heaven, garments that
he earned by virtue of his obedience as our mediator on this earth,
he now wears before God as our high priest in heaven as one
worthy of God's acceptance so that he, as our mediator and
intercessor, doesn't beg for anything. He doesn't grovel for
anything. He doesn't make a bargain for
anything. But everything he pleads on our behalf, he pleads with
God on the basis of perfect obedience. And so he stands worthy of God's
acceptance. Now hear me, children of God.
Our worthiness in all things is our connection to him. Our worthiness in all things
is our connection to him. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
Paul said. Eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself. What's that mean? Does that mean
that if a man or a woman comes to the Lord's table and eats
that little bite of bread and drinks that little thimbleful
of wine that we have at the Lord's table he's not in the right frame of
mind, or he's got some secret sin, or he's got some unconfessed
sin in his life, then he's going to be damned eating that piece
of bread and drinking that wine. No. No. Which of you do not have sin,
confessed or unconfessed? I should say confessed and unconfessed. sins of which we are not even
aware. Our worthiness is our connection
with Christ. We eat and drink worthily because
we are worthy in the Redeemer. Those who go through the exercises
of religion without faith in Christ, with every exercise of
their religion, saying their prayers, going to church, devoting
themselves to this work or that, do but eat and drink damnation
to themselves, pretending that they are accepted of God when
they have no acceptance with God. Our acceptance with God. is all together by virtue of
our connection with Christ. Here's the third thing. Look
at verse 12. These garments were made for the priest that he might
bear the names of the children of Israel before the Lord continually. He's always bearing on his shoulders
the names of his people. He carries all the weight of
our souls. All responsibility, all care
is on His shoulders. Oh, how free of care I ought
to be. I'm on His shoulders. You understand
that? Bobby, we're on His shoulders.
He carries us all the time, all the time. Look at the scripture
again. In verse 30, we're told that
he has these garments that he might with light, that is with
Urim, and with perfection, with Thummim, bear the judgment of
the children of Israel upon his heart continually. Now, I don't have any doubt there's
a whole lot more there than I have yet to understand. But I understand
this much. He who bore all the wrath and
judgment of God as our substitute never forgets. He never forgets the justice
he satisfied, the wrath he endured. The vengeance he took away. The fury he swallowed. The horrible judgment of God
upon him. He bears it continually before
the Lord. And by his knowledge, prophet
said, shall my righteous servant justify many. Because he knows
whom he's redeemed. And in verse 38. He wears these
garments that he might bear the iniquity of the holy things and
yet be accepted and die not. He brings our gifts. our feeble efforts at worshiping
and serving our God, our gifts, whether monetary, or a gift of
praise, or a gift of time, or the giving of ourselves to him
day after day, as we seek to worship and honor and serve our
God, he brings you and me continually bearing the iniquity
of the holy things, that is all the evil that's involved with
our worship and devotion and faith and consecration, and it
bears it that he die not. Well, that he die not? That none of his own should perish. No possibility of him dying.
We are one with him. No possibility of us dying. The
coat, the robe, the effort were put on him. He was robed with
the garments of glory and beauty. And these holy robes typified
not only his character as the God-man, our mediator, but they
typified the garments of salvation that he bestows upon us. And
then the priest was crowned. There was a mitre put on his
head. This priestly dress wasn't complete without the crown. You
can read it in Zechariah chapter 3 when Joshua stands as the high
priest and Joshua there picturing you and I, clothed with his filthy
garments and then he's stripped of those filthy garments and
clothed with the holy garments of the priesthood. And then the
Lord stands by and he says, now put this crown on his head. The priest must be one fit to
wear a crown. The mediator between God and
men must be able to wear and worthy to wear this glorious
crown. The crown of holiness is his
by right. And then Aaron was anointed.
Moses poured out the holy anointing oil on Aaron, we're told in Leviticus
8. The psalmist says the oil runs
down Aaron and upon his beard and upon his garments. And so
it is that we were anointed with Christ Jesus our Lord. God poured
out his spirit upon him without measure, and he pours out his
spirit upon his redeemed. He bought us, redeeming us from
the curse of the law, that we might receive the promise of
Abraham, the blessing of God by the Holy Spirit. The promise
is to you and to your children, the scripture says. And then
Aaron was sprinkled with blood. and thereby consecrated to the
work. And his hands were filled with
work." Turn over to Leviticus 8, just for a minute, Leviticus
8. With this blood sprinkling, God
claimed him as his priest. You remember in Isaiah 63, he
stains his garments with blood. is claimed by God as his priest.
And when God claims him as his priest, God fills his hands with
the work to perform. Leviticus 8, verse 24. He brought
Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their
right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon
the great toes of their right feet. And Moses sprinkled the
blood upon the altar round about, and he took the fat and the rump,
And all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the call above
the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat in the right shoulder,
and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the Lord. He took one unleavened cake,
and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the
fat, and upon the right shoulder. Now watch this. And he put all
upon Aaron's hand. and upon the hands, upon his
son's hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the Lord. The voice from heaven said, this
is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, and the father
claimed him. And the Lord God gave his spirit
to him without measure, and his hands were filled. This is the
work he must perform. Everything represented in these
sacrifices. That is the full redemption and
salvation of his people. That as the priest, now listen,
he weighs before the Lord. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the father. Everything is all right. Everything's
all right. Oh, God, teach me to understand
this. Everything's all right because the advocate is continually
waving the sacrifice before the Lord. Now, what must I do? What must I do? What is it for
me to repent of my sins? What is it for me to turn from
my ungodliness? What is it for me to turn again
to God and trust Him and look to Him and rejoice in Him. It
is to take that same sacrifice and wave it before the Lord.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ,
the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. In Leviticus 8, verse 31, you'll
notice that Aaron, the priest, fed on the bread of consecration.
The holy bread was his. What no one else could touch
was his by right as the priest. And the Lord Jesus once said
to his disciples, I have meat to eat you know not of. And yet,
this same bread, Christ Jesus the Lord, is that one on whom
we feed continually. That which satisfies him. as
a just God and a savior, is that which satisfies us, that which
meets every demand of God for us, meets every demand of our
consciences before God. All right, now, look for just
a minute at God's priests, plural, Aaron's sons, and watch what the book here
teaches. I promise you, we'll come back
and get more. First, the names of Aaron and his sons are constantly
united. Constantly united. Twenty-eight
times, twenty-eight times you read these words, Aaron and his
sons. Aaron and his sons. Aaron and
his sons. What's that mean? They were chosen
at the same time, together. They were ordained priests at
the same time, together. They were accepted before God
and by God at the same time, together. They stand together
or they fall together. Aaron and his sons were themselves
clothed together with the same garments at the same time. Oh,
the tips. We were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world, called, clothed, and accepted
with him, one with him from eternity. As our Aaron, the Lord Jesus
had certainly special garments that were all his own. Those
white linen garments representing God's salvation by Christ Jesus.
called the righteousness of the saints are the same garments
worn by the Savior and worn by the sinner saved by his grace.
Aaron's sons and Aaron were called with the same calling and their
hands filled with the same work. I don't have any idea how to
even begin to think, much less explain this statement. Lindsay
Campbell, God Almighty sent you into this world for the same
reason he sent his son into this world, for the saving of his
people. Our Lord Jesus said, as the Father
hath sent me, so have I sent you. Aaron and his sons stand
together before God with these white linen garments The hymn
writer put it this way, with his spotless garments on, holy
as the Holy One. They had the same anointing,
the same spirit by which Christ was given acceptance as our mediator
and given power as our mediator is the spirit by which we stand
accepted before God, given power as the sons of God to call ourselves
the sons of God. Both Aaron and his sons had their
hands filled with the same offering. obedience, perfect righteousness,
and satisfaction, complete atonement represented in those sacrifices.
Both Aaron and his sons fared upon that sacrifice, fared upon
the perfect satisfaction of God in our room instead. And they
were priests by the same authority. to as many as believe on His
name. To them gave He power. Power to become the sons of God. Power. I remember a good while
back, Brother Darwin Pruitt, we came out of the office one
night, he had his Bible open, John 17, that thou hast given
him power of all flesh. He said, Brother Don, does that
word power, does that mean Authority or might? I said, yeah. That's
what it means. Authority and might, so that
when God Almighty comes to a chosen sinner, redeemed by his blood,
and gives him grace to believe, the sinner now has the right
stamped on his heart through the blood of Jesus Christ, and
the power given in his soul by the renewing grace of God the
Holy Spirit to lift his eyes to heaven and say, God is my
father. That means Joe Blakely has the
same right to enter into heaven, into God's presence as Jesus
Christ himself. It's called free grace in a blessed
substitute. We're priests by the same authority.
Now, very briefly, go back to Exodus and Leviticus. You don't have to look at them.
I'll give you the garments that are mentioned here. The priest's
coat, worn next to his body, was made of fine linen, white
and clean. This white linen is called the
righteousness of the saints in Revelation 19. White, not to cover uncleanness, but to cover nakedness when you
come to the altar of Christ so that our nakedness, our shame
not be exposed. The uncleanness our Redeemer
has taken away, and we wear the garments of perfect righteousness
because we dare not come before God in our natural nakedness. The robe, robe that was worn
over the white linen, was all a blue, curiously wrought without
a seam. obviously speaking of our Lord
Jesus Christ in his everlasting divinity, curiously wrought in
his incarnation with no seam in it and impossible to tear
because he is himself God our Savior. Attached to the hem of
the robe are bells and pomegranates, a bell and a pomegranate, a bell
and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate. that he may go
into the holy place. Now, you've heard preachers refer
to this saying, well, the bell of pomegranates is when the high
priest would go in on the day of atonement into the holy of
holies where no man was allowed to go but him. As long as they'd
hear the bell of pomegranates, they knew everything was all
right. That's not the case. He took this outer garment off
when he went into the holy of holies. This he wears when he
goes about the holy place. in his daily ministry, that he
die not. What? How is it that a bell and
a pomegranate, ringing bells, keeps a fellow from dying? The
bell and pomegranate represents the willingness and the joy of
the priest. Our Lord Jesus, while he goes
through this world, Obeying God in all things. Doing the will
of God in all things in our room instead. Bearing all our responsibility
before God. Does it with joy. With joy. As a willing sacrifice and a
willing substitute. The effort. This part of the
priest attire was worn above the robe of blue. It was made
of the same materials as the veil, blue and purple and scarlet.
We have the same water here as in the curtains. The white coat
representing Christ's righteousness, his perfect character, in that
effort to determine the lights and the imperfections. And then
he has this girdle connected, this girdle binding up everything,
this girdle to which everything was attached, the girdle speaking
of that with which one labors, that with which one goes to war,
that which binds up and gives strength. And in Revelation 1,
verse 13, we see this same great priest, our Lord Jesus Christ,
wearing the golden girdle still. And then he's got this breastplate,
nine inches square. formed with cunning work of gold
and blue and purple and scarlet. It was not to be loosed from
the ephod. It was typical of something that belongs to Christ
as our mediator, something that can't be lost, because this garment
remembers for his glory and his beauty. This garment is his glory
and his beauty, and the ephod is bound to the breastplate and
the breastplate to the ephod, because here are the names of
the 12 tribes of the children of Israel as they were born engraved,
represented in 12 different stones, all of them precious stones,
stones by which God gathers his jewels for his own crown. And not one can be lost. Because
Christ's glory and beauty as the priest depends on my salvation
and yours. It depends entirely on the salvation
of his people. And then on his head is a mitre,
a mitre that reads holiness to the Lord right in the front.
So that as our high priest goes in before God, He wears this mitre and he goes
about all the work of the sanctuary, keeping everything trimmed, all
the lights working, all the candles burning and all the bread fresh,
everything functioning just properly. He goes about all the business
with this mitre and this writing. Holiness to the Lord. Holiness
to the Lord. holiness to the Lord and as a
big sacrifice. Holiness to the Lord. And as
he sprinkles blood on the altar, holiness to the Lord. And as
the fire concerns the sacrifice, holiness to the Lord. And as
he puts this same mitre back on after going into the Holy
of Holies, he comes out and he lifts his hands and he blesses
the people in the name of Christ, the Redeemer, the Savior. And
he does so saying, holiness to the Lord. For in all our great
salvation, God Almighty is displaying to wandering worlds the perfection
of his holiness in saving a people for himself. And that's the work
of the priest. And that's the salvation of the
priest. Amen.