Turn with me, if you will, to
Leviticus chapter 8. Leviticus the 8th chapter. I went to bed late Friday night.
I thought I'd finished all my studying for today, and I'd just
get up early Saturday and write up a message and be done. But
the more I worked yesterday, the more I found in these verses
that we're going to look at this morning. And I finally wrapped
things up about 4.30 this morning. I'm going to give you the digest.
So if you will follow me closely, we'll be looking back at Exodus
28 a good bit. But our text will be Leviticus
chapter 8, verses 6 through 9. Moses brought Aaron and his sons
and washed them with water. And he put upon him, Aaron now,
not his sons, Aaron, the coat, and girded Aaron with the girdle,
and clothed him with the robe, and put the effort upon him,
and girded him with the curious girdle of the effort, 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 forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown,
as the Lord commanded Moses. Now as we read in Exodus 28-2,
these garments were made specifically for Aaron. His sons wore some
garments that were similar, but these garments were made specifically
for him as God's high priest as he went about his daily ministry
in the holy place before the Lord. These garments were made
for him to be for him glory and beauty, to show to the children
of Israel the glory and beauty of their great high priest. more
particularly, these garments were made for Aaron and worn
by Aaron to show us the glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus
Christ as our great high priest before God, as he represents
us continually in the holy place. Now, Aaron had two sets of garments. The other is described in Leviticus
16. We'll look at that sometime down
the road, That set of garments, his holy linen garments, his
linen breeches, and his linen garment over his breeches, were
worn as he went into the Holy of Holies once a year on the
Day of Atonement to make atonement for Israel by the sacrifice of
the blood of the Paschal Lamb sprinkled upon the mercy seat
upon the Ark of the Covenant. These garments, however, are
those garments that were worn publicly by Aaron. These are
the garments by which he was seen continually, day after day,
before the children of Israel as he went into the holy place
and did the day-by-day business of a high priest before God,
making daily sacrifices and daily offerings. Daily he would walk
about in these garments, and they were constantly before the
view of the children of Israel. Now these garments As they're
described in this passage of scripture, are seven. Seven representing,
of course, grace and perfection. You can make too much or too
little of that, but that's commonly what the number seven represents.
If you'll look at the text with me, you'll see the outline in
the garments themselves. First, we're given the description
of a coat, and then a girdle, then a robe, and an effort, a
breastplate, a miter, and a holy crown. Let's look at them one
at a time. The clearer we see the Lord Jesus
Christ and his glory and beauty as it's represented in these
seven pieces of his holy garments, the more comforted, the more
delightful, the more encouraged we will be, and the more fully
we will trust him. Look first at the coat. Moses
was commanded here to put a coat Now, if you're like I am, reading
these things in the King James and the Old English, it becomes
a little difficult to distinguish one thing from another, so you
might want to jot down some things. The coat here is not a coat like
we commonly think of it. It's not a coat like this. It's
not a coat like you wear a top coat in the wintertime or a raincoat.
But rather, it is an inner garment. It's talking about Aaron's undergarments. It is an embroidered coat, we're
told in Exodus 28.4. And in Exodus 28.39, an embroidered
coat of fine linen. Now, this special embroidered
coat of fine linen, along with the linen britches, or trousers,
were worn as Aaron's undergarments. Now, I rather doubt that Moses
put these things on him, literally, before all of Israel. But rather,
he probably held them up before Israel to behold them. And Aaron
in a secluded place went in and put on these garments and came
back out before Israel in public. These linen garments are made
of fine linen. Hold your hands here and turn
to Revelation 19. You'll see what that represents. Revelation
19, verse 8. It's a description of the bride
coming down out of heaven adorned by God's own grace for her husband
and the marriage feast. We read in verse 8, to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen. But wait a minute,
these garments are garments of Christ our priest. Yes, this
fine linen, clean and white, is the righteousness of the saints.
You see, these undergarments spoke of Christ's personal righteousness
as our representative. They were linen garments, fine
linen. Linen is a man-made material,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, while he walked on this earth, as our
representative in obedience to God, worked out a perfect righteousness
as a man. A righteousness which is of infinite
worth because he is God Almighty, but God in human flesh. A righteousness
with which he has clothed his people, and this is the righteousness
of God's saints. Now listen to me carefully. God's
saints all recognize that. We have no righteousness but
him. That seems so simple. Looks like anybody over there
will see that. Any honest man ought to acknowledge, any honest
woman certainly knows, there is in us nothing good. not before
God saved us, not after God saved us, not today, not tomorrow,
not ever while we live in this flesh, nothing really good. In us by nature, in this flesh,
there is no good, no propensity for good. Our Lord told his disciples,
and he speaks to the whole world in saying so, except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. You must
have something better than righteousness, which men look at and men approve
of. You must have this fine linen,
clean and white, which only Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has performed. The righteousness of the saints
is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. This embroidered
linen coat was a seamless garment, like that worn by our Redeemer,
as is described in John 19. He was worn next to Aaron's body
as he went about his priestly duties day after day. Now here
are two things. First, our need. If we are to
come to God, if we who are sinners by nature, sinners by choice,
sinners by habit, sinners by practice, if we are to come to
God and find acceptance with him, we must have perfect righteousness. Here's God's supply. The Lord
Jesus Christ is called Jehovah's-seeking-you, the Lord our righteousness. And his righteousness is made
to be ours so that it is described in Revelation as the very righteousness
of the saints, our own righteousness, as really and truly ours, as
our sin was made to be his. All right, secondly, our text
speaks of a girdle. Moses was commanded of God to
gird Aaron with a girdle. Now, this was not just any ordinary
girdle. It was not the same as the girdle
worn by the ordinary priest, Aaron's sons. But rather, this
was a curious girdle of the ephod. Look in Exodus 28, verse 8. And the curious girdle of the
ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same according to the
work thereof. blue and purple and scarlet and
fine twined linen. In verse 39, we learn that this
girdle was made of needlework. Now the girdle speaks of our
Savior's readiness. You remember the girdle is that
with which a man would gird up his loins and go to battle, gird
up his loins to work, that which he would tie about his waist
and prepare him for the work before him. The girdle speaks
then of our Savior's readiness. his preparedness to serve our
God, his preparedness to do the work of our great high priest,
his preparedness to make himself a sacrifice unto God, his preparedness
to make intercession for us for the glory of God and for the
good of our souls. And so our Lord, as our great
priest, is girt about with this curious girdle. this wondrous
girdle, this well-made, gorgeous girdle, this girdle of strength,
and he says, Lord, I come to do thy will, O my God, by the
which will we are sanctified through the offering of his body.
Our Lord Jesus is that one of whom the scripture says, righteousness
shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of
his reins. what a servant he is. Turn to
Luke chapter 12 for a moment. Luke 12. Walking on this earth in human
flesh, with this girdle of fine needlework, our Lord Jesus was
Jehovah's servant. And as Jehovah's servant, he
served God's glory and the souls of his people. Look here in verse
37. The master says, blessed are
those servants whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he
shall gird himself and make them sit down to me, and will come
forth and serve them. I recall years ago, he's now
begun to experience Brother Hubert Montgomery read this verse of
scripture, this parable back in the office. Tears running
down his cheek, and he said, imagine that. Imagine that. When the Lord Jesus
comes in his glory, he will gird himself still and serve our souls. While he was on this earth, he
girded himself with a towel and took a basin of water and washed
his disciples' feet. The Lord Jesus, today we're told
in Revelation 1.13, walks in the midst of his churches, and
he walks with his paps, girt about with a golden girdle, and
serves the needs of his people. And here, in Exodus 28, the Lord
tells Moses, It shall be of the same according to the work thereof. That is, the girdle of the priest
was of the same materials as the spotless covers of the effort
itself. The Lord Jesus, our great high
priest, though glorified in heaven, is still Jehovah's righteous
servant. And he is still serving the needs
of our souls, ruling providence, ruling the world, ruling the
universe, ruling all things for the everlasting good of his people.
There he is, our high priest. He lives forever in heaven, having
obtained eternal redemption for us with his blood. And now he
makes intercession for us according to the will of God. I can't help
but think of 1 John 2. If any man sins, We have yonder a priest, girded
out with a golden girdle, an advocate on high, who makes intercession
for us. His name is Jesus the Christ,
the righteous one, and he is the propitiation for our sins. All right, thirdly, Aaron had
a robe. Moses was commanded to clothe
this man, Aaron, with the robe. This was the robe of the ephod.
Now the ephod, we'll look at in a moment, but the ephod was
a sort of an apron, a beautiful, gorgeous, costly apron. And it
was draped over Aaron's shoulders, covering his chest and his back.
And it was hanging over this ephod, this robe that he wore. So the robe here, the ephod,
was worn underneath This robe, rather, was worn underneath the
ephod, and it had on it a hymn, a rather strange hymn. Golden
bells and pomegranates. A bell and a pomegranate. A bell
and a pomegranate. A bell and a pomegranate. In Exodus 28, 31, we won't read
the whole thing again, but look at verse 31 and 35. Thou shalt
make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And it shall be upon Aaron to
minister, and his sound, the sound of the bell and the pomegranates,
shall be heard when he goes in into the holy place before the
Lord, and when it comes out that he died not. The sound of the
bells ringing against the pomegranates gave declaration to the children
of Israel as Aaron went into the holy place. Now remember,
this is not talking about the holy of holies. When he went
into the holy of holies, he pulled off this gorgeous array and there
was no sound heard at all. He was in there alone making
atonement for the sins of the people, but here in his day-by-day
functions in the holy place and in the court of the sanctuary,
as he went into the holy place where none but the priests could
go, Aaron walked about and they'd hear the sweet sound of these
bells. And this is what it said. All
is well. God accepts your priest. The
priest is alive. He's not died in here. God Almighty
has accepted him. This robe, curiously wrought,
was blue in color so that you look at it and you see it I presume
sort of like the suit yours is wearing right there. Only it
was woven with gold and blue and purple and scarlet and made
of fine linen. The gold, speaking of our Lord's
divinity. The blue, directing our hearts
toward heaven. The purple, speaking of his royalty
for this great priest, unlike any other, is a king as well.
The scarlet speaking of his blood, the blood by which he finds acceptance
with God and we find acceptance with God. The fine linen, again,
speaks of his purity. The robe is the righteousness
of Christ. It is that with which Christ
himself is clothed. Now, don't miss this. Our Lord
Jesus entered into heaven He ascended to the Father because
of righteousness finished. And that God-man who sits in
glory has on him this spotless robe of righteousness. It's his,
it covers him from head to foot, covers his entire body, and it
is the same righteousness which we have before God. As a man,
Father Estes, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Where's the same
righteousness you do? His righteousness. Remember in
the parable of the prodigal son? When he came home, bring hither
the best robe and put it on him. It is a robe of fine linen made
by Christ himself and made according to the law of God. The golden
bells portray the perfection and sweetness of our Lord's intercession.
As they were moved about, the bells ringing. sounded sweet
to the children of Israel, and the bells ringing declared his
acceptance with God. The Lord Jesus Christ, can you
hear him, Father? I pray for them. I've kept them. You keep them. Sanctify them through your truth.
Your word is truth. Father, the glory you gave me,
I've given them. Father, I will that you keep
them from the evil. Father, I will that they also
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. The pomegranates. I read this somewhere years ago.
I hadn't thought about it in a long time. I don't guess I've ever
seen a pomegranate, so I've just read about it. The pomegranates
speak of Christ's fruitfulness as our priest. If you take a
pomegranate and split it open, when you open it up, a red liquid
will gush out. And in that red liquid, you'll
find the pomegranate full of seeds. You don't have to guess
much about that, do you? Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
great high priest by virtue of his shed blood brings forth life
from countless innumerable multitude of centers chosen by God's grace. I'll write forth. There's the
effort itself. Moses put the effort on Aaron's
shoulders. Look at verse 7. Leviticus 8,
7. And he put upon him the coat
and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe,
and put the ephod upon him." Back in Exodus 28, verse 6. They shall make the ephod of
gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, of fine twine linen,
with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulder
pieces thereof. joined at the two edges thereof,
so it shall be joined together. Chapter 39 of Exodus, verse 3. This is how the effort was made.
And they did beat the gold. They did beat the gold. The gold,
you remember, speaks of our Lord's divinity. They did beat the gold
into thin pieces 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 cunning work. This great priest is God and
man in one glorious person. He is represented continually
through the scriptures. as God and man in one glorious
person. And as the road was woven together
with cunning work, the beaten gold with all the various colors
of this road, and none could be separated from the other without
destroying the whole thing. So the divinity of our Lord Jesus
Christ is joined to his humanity and cannot be separated. And
yet, it's distinct. He is God, fully God. and fully
man. Behold him as he sits at Jacob's
well, weary and thirsty, a man, a man, asking a woman for a drink
of water, a man. And behold him as he speaks to
this woman and declares himself to be the water of life, declares
himself to be God Almighty, God out yonder on the storm-tossed
sea with his disciples, the man lays in the ship sound asleep,
because like us, he grows weary and tired, our dear, while he
walked on this earth. And yet, the next moment, we
see him standing on the bow of the ship, speaking to the wind
and the storm. He says, peace, be still, and
God commands the wind and the storm to be calm. There he is
at Lazarus 2, the man weeping. The only time in scripture we
ever see him weeping. Weeping. Weeping because this
man felt as never a man felt the pain that these women were
going through. This man sympathized as never
a man could sympathize except the God-man with the agony of
Mary and Martha whom he loved. And the next word we see the
God. command the dead to live, and
Lazarus comes forth. Jesus Christ is the God-man. It is his divinity that gives
merit and worth to all that he does, and it is his humanity
that is accepted of God as our priest and as our sacrifice.
Try to get the picture if you can. Here is Aaron, wearing his
gorgeous costly robe, strapped over His shorir is the breastplate,
the ephod containing the breastplate. It's held together with golden
clasps, which were set in the onyx stone. On the breastplate
is written the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel,
written in precious stones. And Aaron carries somewhere in
that breastplate those mysterious lights and perfections called
the Urim and Tummim, by which he bears judgment and gives guidance
to Israel. Now here's the picture. The Lord
Jesus has us continually on his heart. I think about my wife almost
continually, but not continually. I think about you almost continually. Bear your name before God continually. Almost, but not quite, not quite. I have friends I think about
almost continually. Pray for them continually, not
quite, almost, almost. I have those grandbabies, my
daughter and son-in-law, they're on my heart almost continually,
but not quite, not quite. He bears us on his heart continually. Can you grasp that? He has from everlasting. He does now and he shall to everlasting. He carries us not only on his
heart, but on his omnipotent shoulders. He guides us according
to the light and perfection of his purpose, his grace and his
goodness. And we're sparkling jewels on
his breast. Sparkling jewels before God. And there, on his heart, engraved
on his heart, on his shoulders, in the presence of God, listen
now, we are totally safe. Totally safe. Now then, let's
look at the breastplate just a little bit. Moses put this
breastplate on Abraham. You have it in verse 8 of our
text. Turn back to Exodus 28, verse 30. I won't say much more about this
breastplate, but I want you to see how it's described here.
Thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the urim, the lights,
and the thummim, the perfections, 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." Not only does the breastplate
upon Aaron's chest portray our Savior's constant love for and
care of his people, it speaks of our constant, immutable, indestructible
acceptance with God in him. Ron, the names of Israel were
well known to Aaron. He warbled his heart all the
time. The Lord Jesus says, I know my
sheep. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hands. My Father which
gave them is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand. The Lord Jesus wears our names and makes intercession
for us continually. He bears our judgment before
the Lord continually. You remember how the hymn writer
put it? Five bleeding wounds he bears. They pour effectual
prayers. The Lord Jesus does not continually
offer himself as a sacrifice. Oh no, he did that once for all
at Calvary. He, with his one great sacrifice
by the merit of his blood, obtained eternal redemption one time for
all his people. But he bears our judgment continually
before God so that God Almighty, looking on him and looking on
us in him, cannot and will not impute sin to his own. I hope
you can get a picture. Yonder in glory is the Son of
God, the Son of Man, wearing our names engraved upon his heart. Not only are we there, beyond
the reach of the enemy, we are there beyond the influence or the touch
of evil. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with the righteous.
Oh, what consolation for this poor sinner. The Lord God Almighty
always sees me. And He only sees me in Christ,
His Son. And seeing me in His Son, He
sees me as a sparkling jewel. of glory and beauty on his heart,
shining in him gloriously, shining in him with such splendor of
beauty, with such splendor of perfection, that in him and because
of him, I am in him worthy of God's smile. Can you get that? I remember when I gave Shelby
her engagement ring. I was pretty sure she was going
to accept it or I wouldn't have spent the money. But I'll never
forget the look on her face. Now, I was poor as Job's turkey,
but it's the best I could do. Man, she got that thing. And
I just thought the diamonds sparkled in the light. You ought to have
seen her eyes. God Almighty looks on us in his
son. with a sparkle in his eyes that
no woman has ever shown. Oh, how pleased the pastor yonder
in the white light of God's brilliant, dazzling holiness and purity. Sure there, everything is exposed
as it really is. That's our comfort. That's it. That's it. God sees
us as we really are. You can't see me that way. You
ought to try, but you can't. We ought to look on one another
in Christ, see one another that way. Try best you can, but you
can't. God sees us as we really are,
as sparkling diadems of beauty. You take a precious stone, no
matter which stone it is, the brighter the light shines on
it. Put all the light you can on it. I mean, I mean just throw
every, throw such light on it that you have to hold your eyes,
to hold your eyes and stand back. And the brighter the light, the
more perfectly, brilliantly, lustrously the stone shines in
the light. And in the brilliant light of
God's absolute perfect holiness, we stand before him accepted
in Christ. Perfect. And the brighter the
light shines, the more perfect we appear. Now, children of God,
tidbits tossed, tried, falling, errant, sinning men and women
we are. Look away from yourselves. and
look to Christ alone in the bright light of God's holiness and find
peace for your soul. With his spotless garments on,
I'm as holy as God's own Son. All right, six. Moses was commanded
of God to put the mitre on Aaron's head. Put a mitre on his head. This miter is what we today call
a turban. You see these on television. I haven't seen it around town
here, but you see them over in Lexington and other places. Arabs
to this way, many of them still wear these turbans. But in these
days, the turban was a symbol of something. It was a symbol
of two things particularly, honor and humility. It was worn both
by kings and by servants. Turn over to Zechariah chapter
3. Zechariah chapter 3. You'll remember the story. When
Zechariah saw the vision of Joshua the high priest standing before
the Lord, and the Lord took away his filthy garments, the first
thing the Lord commanded after he did so was that he put a holy
mitre on his head. Look at verse 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments, that's us, and stood before the angel, the angel of
the Lord, the angel of the covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ. And he
answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying,
take away the filthy garments from him. Oh, I would to God. He would
so speak by me to your heart that this very day he might take
away the filthy garments from your soul. Oh, he took them away
long ago. But in the experience of our
hearts, there comes a time In the experience of our souls there
comes a time when he speaks peace by his word and takes away the
filthy garments. Take away his filthy garments
from him. And he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee, and I will close thee with change of raiment. And I said, let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre on his
head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord stood
by. The Lord God has given us his own dear son to be for us
a helmet of salvation, completing the garment so that covered from
head to toe with perfect pure, clean men and garments in spotless
righteousness. One last thing. Turn over, if
you will, to Exodus 28 again. Moses put the holy crown on Abram's
head. Now notice this. Moses, the symbol
of the law, is commanded of God to take this holy crown and put
it, this golden plate, upon the miter, right in the forefront
of Aaron's miter, this holy crown, it's called. And it is the law
of God, beholding the obedience of Christ as our substitute,
that has crowned him with glory and honor and made him to have
power and dominion over all flesh, because he has earned it by his
perfect obedience. Back here in Leviticus, I'm sorry,
Exodus 28. In our text in Leviticus 8 and
9, it's called the golden plate, the holy crown. Here in Exodus
28, 36. Thou shalt make a plate of pure
gold, engrave upon it like the engravings of a signet. What's
written on that plate? What's written on Aaron's brow? What's inscribed here, right
in the front, that which leads the way, that which is constantly,
constantly seen, right here, holiness to the Lord. How come? And thou shalt put
it on a 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. What strange language. You see, our holiness, our righteousness
is full of iniquity. It's just filthy rags, Bob. That's
all it is. Just filthy rags. Our best deeds,
our noblest thoughts, our highest aspirations, just fill up their
eggs. That he may bear the iniquity
of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow
in their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon his
forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. Oh, what a blessed,
weighty revelation. get it, and you'll get something
to help your soul, I promise you. It is this holiness that
made it possible for our Lord Jesus to bear our iniquities. He has not only put away our
sins and washed them away forever into his blood, but the Lord
Jesus, by his blood, bears away the iniquity of our most holy
deeds. Here we are singing his praise
with wandering minds, dead, cold, empty hearts. We call on his
name and call on his name, Ron, seeking things according to the
lust of our flesh. Here we are. I'm trying to preach
his word. Speak as God's ambassador to
your soul. With such sin as would cast me
forever into hell, you're trying to hear God speak. Read his word and your mind is
so corrupt and vile that you wouldn't dare want anybody here
to see what's going on inside you right now, much less God
himself. our holy things. Christ has borne away the iniquity
and now God accepts our sinful efforts at doing him honor through
the merits of Christ's perfect righteousness. This holy crown
is always on our Savior's head. And he wears this crown before
the holy Lord God, emblazoned upon his head. Emblazoned upon
him. Holiness to the Lord. Holiness
to the Lord. That we may be accepted of the
Lord. Now, this is his beauty. And this is his glory. And Rex Bartley, this is our
beauty and our glory. Read Ezekiel 60. He speaks of
us being made beautiful through his beauty that has been put
upon us. Comely through his comeliness. Would you have the beauty and
the glory of Jesus Christ himself to be your own. Would you? Would you stand before God as
glorious as his son, as holy as his son, as beautiful in his
eyes as his darling son? Would you? Believe him. Believe him. Believe him. Oh, believe him, and this beauty
is yours. He said, he said, he shall beautify
the meek with salvation. He said he has come to give poor
sinners like us beauty for ashes. He'll take away the ashes of
your morning and give you the beauty of His salvation. Oh, God give you grace now to
trust Him. Amen.