concerning the garments or the
clothing of the high priest. God told Moses how his garments
were to be made, the material with which they were to be made,
and all of that. And you notice in verse 2 it
says, And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother,
for glory and for beauty. These garments that were put
upon the high priest were to serve for glory and for beauty. And when we think about that,
that Aaron being a man, he needed something put on him, something
outward to show forth glory and for beauty. But we cannot help
but remember that our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is in
himself glorious and beautiful. He doesn't need anything put
on Him like this man did, who was a type, a picture of our
great high priest, this Aaron of old. He needed something put
on Him for glory and for beauty. But our high priest, I think
of the passage in John chapter 1 where we read, the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, His
glory. The glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. You know the scripture
says the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth
forth his handiwork. We were talking before the service
about the moon, the eclipse of the moon this morning and going
out to see it. It was called a super blue There was another word in there,
too. I forget. I know it turned red. Well, we
could see it when we first went out, but then it went down behind
some houses and we couldn't see it anymore. The eclipse was just
starting. But the heavens declare the glory
of God. It amazes me, doesn't it you,
how that men can look up into the heavens the sun, the moon,
the stars, and see God's handiwork, and just not be overawed at the
greatness of God. The psalmist said, when I consider
the heavens the work of thy hands, what is man? What is man that
thou art mindful of him? But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
didn't need any garments put upon Him to give Him glory. John said, We beheld His glory,
His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He is the God-Man. The God-Man
who is full of grace and truth. Think about that. Full. He's
overflowing. He's like a reservoir that's
just overflowing. Sometimes because of the tremendous
rains, you know, the lake up here at Conroe, the dam just
starts running over, doesn't it? They have to open up the
gates to let the water out. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He's
a reservoir. He's full, full of grace and
truth. And when we think about Him as
being full of grace, we think about justifying grace. He's full of it. Would you be
just with God? Look to the Lamb of God. That's
what we say. He's not only full of justifying
grace, but forgiving grace, sanctifying grace, preserving grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus,
full of grace. They don't need to make any garments
to put upon Him. He's full of glory. And then
when we think about Him being full of truth, if we consider
that word truth there to mean faithfulness. When He's full
of truth, He's faithful. He's faithful to His Word. And
in Hebrews chapter 3, the apostle said, consider the apostle, now
listen, and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus who was
faithful to Him that appointed Him. So here this chapter 28
of Exodus it begins God giving instructions to Moses how that
the garments were to be made when they were put upon the high
priest for glory and for beauty. And we read on through this chapter
and we see there was a breastplate, there was an ephod, there was
a robe, there was a coat, there was a mitre, there was a girdle,
and all of these, beautiful, and they were for glory and for
beauty. What a beautiful person, his
person that is the high priest when he was dressed in this beautiful
garment that God designed. And God gave the wisdom to the
men who made the garments. And how beautiful this garment
was and how beautiful was Aaron when he stood to minister in
the tabernacle. But there are three things God
told Moses that Aaron would do. when he went into the tabernacle,
and he would go in there every day, someone had to go into the
tabernacle. Now, only once a year did they
go into the Most Holy Place, but in the Holy Place, every
day there was lamps that had to be trimmed, there was incense
that had to be offered, and once a week there was bread upon the
show bread table that had to be changed. So there was always
work, priest ministering in there. And the high priest, let's look
at these three things that we read here in this chapter. The
first thing in verse 29, the high priest, he would bear the
names of the children of Israel upon his heart. Notice that in
verse 29. 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. Every day
when he went into the holy place, he would bear the names of the
children of Israel upon his heart." Now remember, he's a picture.
He's a type. And what we see that Aaron did
tells us that our high priest is doing. Now the breastplate
that was made for Aaron, it had four rows, three stones in each
row. And on each one of those stones,
12 stones, the name of one of the tribes, the 12 tribes of
Israel was engraven. And so when the high priest went
in ministering in the holy place, he went in there as a representative
for all the nation of Israel. And notice how that verse reads.
And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel. Now
he wasn't bearing the names of the Hittites and the Jebusites
and all the other ites that were around at that time. He was bearing
the names of the children of Israel. He represented the people
of God, the children of God. And in this he was a type, he
was a picture. of our great High Priest, who
is now tonight. Isn't this wonderful to think
about this? Right now, if we could somehow see into heaven,
beloved, we would see there's our High Priest, and He has our
name upon His heart. He bears our, He's a representative
there of all the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel of God.
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ, He represented His people, the
Israel of God, in eternity before God created the heavens and the
earth. He stood in that covenant of old as our head. And when He came into this world
in time, He represented us. And now in heaven, He ever lives,
the scripture says, He ever lives to make intercession for all
them that come unto God by him. In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
20, the writer said, Whither, and he's talking about heaven,
Whither the forerunner is for us entered. The forerunner is
Christ, our great high priest. And he's entered into heaven,
and he's entered there as the forerunner for us, Even Jesus made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now the high priest would do
this when he went into the holy place, and the scripture here
says, for a memorial before the Lord continually. In other words,
when he went in there bearing the names, he would be reminded
to pray to intercede for all the children of God, the Israel
of God. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them, for such an high priest
became us. He bears your name. The scriptures
tell us that our names are engraved upon the palms of his hands.
He bears the names, that is the persons, the persons, that's
what we mean by names. He bears the persons of all of
his people On his heart. On his heart. Now, sometimes
we may think, well, he's forgotten us. You say, well, I never would
think that. Well, David, the psalmist, did.
He did. Psalm 73. He said, surely God
is good to Israel, but as for me? Yeah. Sometimes we may think that he's
forgotten us. That he's forgotten to be merciful. But that cannot be true. Remember,
we walk by faith, not by sight, not by feeling. And this is what
the Word of God teaches us. This is what the Word of God
tells us tonight, that there's a man in glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our high priest, and he bears our names upon his
heart. He said, can a woman forget her
sucking child? that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Now that seems impossible, but
God said, yea, they might. They may forget, yet will I not
forget thee. He's not going to forget one
of his. He's bearing the names of all of his children tonight
upon his heart. before God Almighty. He's there
as the forerunner. He's taken possession of heaven
for us. And as the forerunner, He's entered,
but there's others to come. Now the second, that's the first
thing. God told Moses, this is what Aaron's going to do. He's
going to bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate
of judgment upon his heart. Number two, in verse number 30,
he would bear the judgment of the children of Israel. Notice
verse 30, and thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment
the urim and the thummin, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart
when he goeth in before the Lord. And Aaron, now notice, Aaron
shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart
before the Lord continually. with the Urim and the Thummim
in the breastplate. And notice that seems to be specific
to me. Thou shalt put in the breastplate
of judgment. Evidently it was not always in
the breastplate. Now some differ. Some believe
the Urim and the Thummim were the actual stones. But it seems
to me that this was something separate. And the only thing
for sure, listen, the only thing for sure that we know about the
Urim and the Thummim, we know what those words mean. We know
that, there's no question. We know that Urim means lights
and Thummim means perfections. And we know that. And we know
that from this verse of scripture, that when the high priest went
in and the Urim and the Thummim were put into the breastplate,
that he was bearing the judgment of the children of Israel upon
his heart. Now what did the Urim and the
Thummim serve? We have this example, keep your
place here, but if you want to look in 1st Samuel, chapter 23. And this is not the only place
that we have this, but this is the only place we'll look at
tonight. But in 1st Samuel 23, from other scriptures, this scripture
and others, we know that the high priest with the ephod And
we believe with the Urim and the Thummim in it could discern
God's will. In other words, when there were
cases, there were problems, and the king especially, our judge,
needed to know God's will in a particular matter, that the
priest with the Urim and the Thummim could discern the Lord's
will. You see that here in 1st Samuel
chapter 23 and verse 9. And David knew that Saul secretly
practiced mischief against him, and he said to Abathar the priest,
Bring hither the ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of
Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come
to Killah to destroy the city for my sake. Now here's a question. David wanted to know the answer.
His life seemingly depended upon his actions. Will the men of
Kielah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as
thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech
thee, tell thy servant, and the Lord said, he will come down. Then said David, Will the men
of Killa deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the
Lord said, They will deliver thee up. Now how did God speak
to David? He spoke to him through the priest
with the ephod, in which the breastplate, in which was the
urim and the thymine, lights and perfections. He would inquire, the priest
would, of God as to what was right for them to do in a particular
matter. Now, for you and I tonight, He
was a type of our High Priest, and when He had the Urim and
the Thummim in the breastplate, then He was bearing the judgments
of the children of Israel. Christ, the great High Priest,
Remember that passage in Isaiah, the government shall be upon
his shoulders. The judgment or the government
of all things really, but especially God's people, His church is upon
His shoulder. All judgment is committed to
Him. And I see this tonight as another
assurance for you and I as God's people another assurance to us
that he will lead us, he will guide us in this life, through
this world, when we come up to many difficult situations and
we don't know whether we should go to the right hand or the left
hand, we have an high priest Whoever lives before God and
He, by His providence and His Spirit, God the Holy Spirit,
will guide us and direct us in the way that we should go. Now here's the third thing that
the high priest would do. First of all, he would bear the
names of the children of Israel, the people of God, upon his heart.
He bears our names, our persons, upon his heart. He can't forget
you. He's not going to forget you.
Secondly, he bears the judgment. The judgment, the government
is upon his shoulder. He's the one who's working all
things. This is the reason he can assure
you that all things will work together for your good. To those
who are called according to his purpose. Those who love God and
are called according to his purpose. Why? And we can be assured. We can have that confidence and
assurance. And this gives us comfort, doesn't
it? And takes away the anxiousness
with which we all seem to be blessed, to be anxious over things
that come in our life and we don't know which way to go and
how. and what God's got for us, and
what's going to take place, we may rest assured that we have
a High Priest who bears the judgment of His people upon His heart. And He's too wise to make a mistake. And there's nothing impossible
with Him. But third, notice this third
thing God told Moses that the High Priest would do. He would
bear the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel. Let's read verse 36 through 38. And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold, and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet,
holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on a blue
lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of
the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's
forehead, that Aaron, now notice, that Aaron may bear the iniquity
of the holy things, which 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. That turban-like
matter that he had on his head and then there was this plate
of gold that was attached with a ribbon of blue and this gold
engraved on it was holiness to the Lord. And we are told, and
this speaks of our sanctification, Christ, He is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification. He is our sanctification. He
is our holiness. And we're told here that by bearing
this upon His forehead before the Lord, that He would bear
the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel. When
an Israelite, when he would bring a gift, when he would bring a
sacrifice to the priest, well, he was just like you, and he
was just like me. Now, his animal that he brought,
if he brought a sacrifice, if it was an animal, it would be,
as far as he could tell, without defects. But what about him? Is there any man upon the face
of God's earth that is pure without any sin? I know before God, yes,
we're justified. But would any of us here tonight
stand up and say, well, I tell you what, I never have any sin.
I never have any covetousness. I never have any jealousy, envy,
malice. I never have any problem with
pride. I don't think so. And so when
the Israelite brought his gift, he would come as a man with sin. the priest by bearing the iniquity,
that means that the gift God would accept and the iniquity
of the person would be taken away. Now for you and I, this
is so important for you and I, what a comfort for us tonight
to know that our high priest bears the iniquity of our holy
things." You say, what are our holy things? What about prayer? What about prayer? You know,
there's a verse in, I think it's Revelation chapter 12, that speaks
about that angel that came, and he had much incense, and we believe
that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the covenant. And
he mixed, he had much incense he offered with the prayers of
all the saints upon the golden altar. Here's my prayer, and
it's mixed with selfishness, with sin. How's God going to
accept that prayer? we've got a high priest. We have
a great high priest who bears our iniquities, the iniquity
rather, of our holy things. What about our praises? Can any
of us say that when we praise God and sing and rejoice in the
Lord that there's no tincture of evil in anything in us? We wouldn't assumed to say something
like that. What about the gifts that we
give? And I think about myself, what about the sermons that I
preach? What about all of our worship
service? There's sin mixed with everything
we do because we have sin in us. And thank God we have a high
priest who bears the iniquity of our holy things. Look with
me at this verse in Hebrews chapter 13. This shows it. Hebrews chapter 13. In verse 15, the apostle says, and
notice it, by Him. By Him. Who's Him? Christ. by Christ, by our high priest. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. Would God accept our praise if
it were not by Him? Of course not. Of course not. Even in our holy things, there's
iniquity mixed. And thank God By him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that
is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Well, I pray that the Lord would
impress upon all of us here tonight, those of us who know Christ as
our Savior, we have a great high priest. And he's bearing our
names upon his heart, our persons upon his heart. He's bearing
our judgment upon His heart. And He's bearing the iniquity
of our holy things. He's taking them away. May the
Lord bless this word to us here this evening.