The garments of the High Priest

Exodus 28, and we'll read at verse one. 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, Eliezer and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. So that was a total of five.

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, an ephod, that was a type of like a bib arrangement, and a robe, that was the robe of blue, and a broidered coat, that was a linen coat, and a mitre, a bonnet upon his head, a turban type thing, and a girdle, a belt.

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 twined linen, fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen with cunning work. It shall have two shoulder pieces thereof, joined at the two edges thereof, and so shall it be joined together.

And the curious girdle of the ephod, that is an artistically woven belt of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same of those colors, according to the work thereof, even of gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones and grave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone and on the other six names of the rest 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.

That's the holder of gold that would hold the stones, like the gold on an engagement ring holding the diamond, that type of an arrangement, filigrees of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And thou shalt make ouches of gold and two chains of pure gold at the ends of wreathen work shalt thou make them and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment, notice how it is described, the breastplate of judgment, with cunning work. After the work of the ephod shalt thou make it of gold, of blue, of purple, scarlet, and fine twine linen shalt thou make it. Four square it shall be being doubled.

A span shall be the length thereof and a span the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones. The first row, a sardius, a topaz, a carbuncle, this shall be the first row and so on, the various stones are named.

Now, verse 22, and thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. Verse 28, and they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof onto 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 onto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the urim and the thummim, the lights and 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.

And the Lord will bless to us the reading from his word. So in the book of Exodus, in this section, we're dealing with the tabernacle system and the priesthood that would serve in that tabernacle. You remember how the tabernacle was arranged.

There was an outer court, 100 cubits long by 50 cubits wide and then within that, you had the tabernacle tent itself, 30 cubits long and 10 cubits wide. So you had two main areas, if you will, and there were two orders of service connected with those two areas. In the court, you could have Levites, but they were not permitted to serve within the tabernacle.

That was for the priests. So you had two orders of service in the tabernacle, the priests and the Levites. The priests are of the family of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi.

So it was a narrower group, a smaller group than the Levites who would act as servants in the tabernacle system. Later on, there would be others in the Old Testament. There were prophets, you remember, and kings.

So you had four spheres of Old Testament service, if you will, for God. You had the priest, you had the Levite, you had the prophets, you had the kings, and you can readily link those with the four gospels. The gospel of Luke is looked upon as the gospel of the priest.

I'm not taking time to develop it, just mention it in passing. Then the Levite, the servant, would link with the gospel of Mark, and the king, of course, the gospel of Matthew, and the prophet would link with the word that told of the heart of God, the gospel of John. Within the tabernacle tent itself, the veil divided it into two areas as well.

So you had the holy place, and you had the holy of holies. Now, only the high priest could go into the holy of holies. Priests could serve in the holy place.

So again, those two areas, you've got two orders of priesthood, if you will, or two types of priesthood. You have the high priest only in the holy of holies, and then the regular priests, the sons of Aaron, in the holy place. Now, when we come to the book of Hebrews, we find from chapters five through chapter 10, we find that the Lord Jesus is our great high priest.

He is a priest forever. He is after the order of Aaron. So the Old Testament teaching about Israel's high priest instructs us about the Lord Jesus and his present ministry.

And that is true as well when you come to these garments that were specified for the high priest in the Old Testament. They also instruct us about the character, the person, the value, the worth of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's my interest in coming to this scripture this morning, Exodus 28, to read about these garments that were specified for the high priest.

There are three chapters that deal with those garments mainly in this portion of our Bible. Chapter 28, where we've read, you've got commands for the garments. The prescription is given for those garments.

Then in chapter 39, you have the construction of the garments when they were actually made and the production that was the work of Bezalel and a whole liab and men that were filled with the spirit. Then in Leviticus chapter eight, you have those garments actually put on Aaron. He's clothed in the garments.

So that's the placement of the garments actually upon Aaron. Verse two of our chapter says, thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. So Aaron is the high priest, had specific garments that were specifically for him, uniquely for him.

That set him out as one who was above the other priest. He is the high priest. Unlike our exalted Lord, he is exalted far above all, far above all.

So we have one who is high and exalted. There are contrasts, of course, between Aaron and our Lord Jesus. Aaron needed those garments to represent the glory of the Lord, the God of Israel.

But Aaron himself just remained a man. However, he typifies and he pictures for us the glorified man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Aaron was given dignity with those garments that he put upon.

But when we think of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, he is glorified manhood in the presence of God. He radiates himself glory and beauty in his own blessed person. Full of dignity, full of grace, full of beauty, full of honor, glory.

It's intrinsically his. And so, whereas Aaron, he was given dignity by these garments, our Lord Jesus himself is intrinsically marked with dignity, honor, glory, and beauty. And we have that little contrast there with Aaron.

The Lord himself gives dignity to the office of the great high priest. I was asked recently, when did our Lord Jesus become our high priest? And I answered that it was at his ascension, at his ascension. When he accomplished the work of atonement at Calvary, that was a high priestly act.

But officially, he is our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary. So we read in Hebrews chapter five, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. He's called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews five, six, and verse 10. Wisehearted men had to manufacture those garments for Aaron, men that were filled with the spirit of God. And so you and I, as we come to think of him, we need to be guided by the spirit of God as to his own blessed person, as we're meditating upon him.

You'll notice that there were seven items in these garments for glory and for beauty. I think that's significant, seven of them. You might ask why seven? Well, you'll tell me again that seven is the number of perfection, perfection.

And that's fitting in relation to our Lord Jesus. I don't know if you have a copy of Helen Sparrow's eloquent translation of the Old Testament scriptures, but when you come to Song of Solomon chapter five and verse 16, she puts it this way. His speech is the very perfection of sweetness and himself, the concentration of loveliness.

He is altogether lovely, the concentration of loveliness. I think it's lovely. And we might expect then that his garments for glory and beauty will speak to us of the same eloquent perfection, the one who is our great high priest in heaven.

So these seven garments, you'll notice, first of all, there is the ephod with its curious girdle. That is, as I mentioned in the reading, a type of a bib arrangement that had a belt around it, this curious girdle or artistically woven belt, a beautiful thing. Blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, and interwoven with gold threads.

So startling in its beauty. Then you had the breastplate with its 12 stones that the high priest would wear upon his chest, close to his heart. That ephod and breastplate were placed over a robe of blue.

And then you had underneath that robe of blue, the broidered linen coat next to his flesh. And on his head, that linen mitre with the gold plate, holiness unto the Lord. And around his waist, I take it over the broidered linen coat, he had a linen girdle of needlework.

So two belts, if you will, on a high priest. And then his undergarments, the linen breeches. So those seven garments for glory and for beauty.

Did you notice that as you move inward from the outside in, there's more color on the outside until you get to the white on the inside. Now that is similar to the tabernacle itself, where God is coming out to man. You remember the Lord spoke unto Moses, he called unto Moses out of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And he gave instructions about approach. So God had taken up residence within the tabernacle and that was marked in there in the Holy of Holies. Think of the gold, think of the silver, think of the fine twine linen curtains.

Think of the blue and the purple and the scarlet that was in there. But then as you move outward, you come to the fence on the outside, a white linen fence. So as the world looked on, they saw the white linen fence, but they couldn't see within the glory and the beauty of that sanctuary on earth.

Now, when we think of the Lord Jesus, the one who came out from heaven to man, man only saw the outside. They could discern something of his faultless purity and his intrinsic holiness, but they could not see the inner glory. They couldn't see that.

And so the Lord Jesus, as a man here on earth, he was marked by purity, but he had veiled his glory. But in heaven as our great high priest, we have a man that is going in to the presence of God. And fitness to go into the presence of God is not merely outward, but it must be inward.

If you think of that which is outward, we learn that Satan himself even can be transformed into an angel of light and can appear something other than he is. But it requires inward purity of holiness through and through to actually enter into the presence of God. And the Lord Jesus is uniquely qualified as our great high priest in spotless purity to go in as a real man now in glory, glorified manhood in the very presence of God for us.

So that is typified. Those things are typified in these garments. You remember when Aaron would make atonement on the day of atonement, Leviticus chapter 16, he took off the garments for glory and beauty and he put on other holy linen garments, of which there were four.

There was the mitre upon his head, there was the coat, there were the breeches, and there was a belt, a girdle around. So he served in those holy linen garments on that great day in Israel's year. And when Aaron was all done with that work of atonement, then he went into the sanctuary again and he changed out of those linen garments and put on the garments for glory and beauty.

And it was a tremendous moment when Aaron appeared again before the people wearing those garments for glory and for beauty. It was a testimony to the fact that atonement had been made, that he had survived the presence of God and that his ministry was effective before God. And so again, he appears before the people.

When our Lord Jesus came from heaven to earth to make atonement for our sin, he veiled his outward glory. He laid aside, as it were, the glory and the beauty, the outward insignia of his majesty, as Mr. Vine puts it. And once in the end of the age, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And literally at Calvary, you remember, they stripped him. None was so as sensitive to shame as our Lord Jesus. Shame has covered my face.

Reproach has broken my heart. And I am full of heaviness. They stripped him.

But when his blood was shed and he went back into the immediate presence of God, we read that now he appears, he comes to view in the presence of God for us. But it doesn't end there. The book of Hebrews goes on to say that unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, having dealt with that matter altogether, without sin, unto salvation.

Speaks to us of his coming again when our Lord Jesus will appear in his glory, in his beauty, at the manifestation. And interestingly, it will be the time when Israel will appreciate that the work of atonement is complete. And Isaiah 53 will be the confession of their hearts.

We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. And Israel will be restored in that coming day, coming into the good of the atoning work of Christ.

Now, I want to look for a moment, for a few minutes with you, just at the onyx stones and the breastplate, the stones that were in the breastplate. We obviously don't have time to look at all the garments, but I'm going to zero in on those two things and then say a word or two and sit down. The onyx stones were upon the shoulders of the high priest.

They were held in place by those golden clasps, filigree clasps, like lacework, made out of gold that held the stones in place, like the setting for an engagement ring. On those stones, you had six tribes named on one side and six tribes named on the other. It began with Reuben and went right through until you got to Benjamin, according to their birth, according to their birth.

That is significant. These two identical stones with the same splendor if you will, and the tribes are mentioned and engraved upon them according to their birth. That is the birth of the head of the tribe.

So that was representation of the people. And there was no difference. They were all named the same.

They were all found on the same stone. And those stones were of equal brilliance and splendor. And they were there by order of birth.

That would speak to us of all those who are in God's family by the new birth. So what's our position in Christ by virtue of the new birth? There's no difference made, no difference made. It is interesting to notice that while we are not Israel after the flesh, yet in the New Testament, we are called the Israel of God.

And that's in the new creation. Galatians 6 verse 15 is what I'm thinking of. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

And as many as walk according to this rule, that is those who have died with Christ and are a new creation in Christ and are walking that out, he says, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. So all who are in this dispensation, part of the new creation are called the Israel of God. So there's an application then with these stones upon the shoulders of the high priest to us.

They speak to us of our position in Christ. The onyx stones, literally, the translation of the word means a flashing forth, flashing forth of splendor. So let's apply that then to our position in Christ, a flashing forth of splendor.

God has made us, God has made us that in Christ, all equal and all in need of being born by him, that is with our interests upon him, in the presence of God, in the presence of God. And it's absolutely secure. You'll notice the settings for those stones are settings of gold so that the stones would never move off of his shoulders in that way.

I would link that with our eternal security as believers. I give unto my sheep eternal life. They shall never perish.

No man is able to pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all. No one is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.

I and my father are one. Double security, double security. And carried on his shoulders before God indissolubly linked with him, the great shepherd of a sheep who has gone the distance to take that sheep and put it on his shoulders to bring it home.

He will never lay that sheep down to be picked upon by wolves or by other predators. On his shoulders of omnipotent strength, they are born all the way home. That's a lovely thought.

You know, it's borne out in the doctrine of the New Testament when you think of our salvation. Even in a legal way, in the book of Romans, the apostle, he's setting out there in that epistle the legality and the legitimacy of salvation. And we are carried right through from chapter one, right through to the glory being absolutely guaranteed in chapter eight.

And there is pictured there as well, the day of manifestation, the day of glory in manifestation. So all of that links in there with the onyx stones as we're carried upon his shoulders. When you think of the breastplate now, there's a difference and there is a contrast with the onyx stones.

Because the breastplate held 12 stones, again, one for each tribe. But each of those stones are different, different in beauty, different in splendor, different in character. Those stones have a different personality.

And yet, they are also born by the high priest. So what do we learn from that? Well, you and I, each one of us are different. We're different physically.

Physically, you don't look like me. You can be thankful for that. And I don't look like you, different physically.

We're different in personalities. We have different likes and dislikes. We have different gifts.

We have different abilities. And in God's order of things, in God's assembly, there's a different role for brethren and sisters. So there's differences among the people of God.

And yet, it's lovely to see that they're still born by the high priest. Each one of us, while we have all those different things and different gifts and abilities and so on, yet we all have one desire, don't we? And that is to bring glory to his name. And to reflect something of his character in our lives.

The glory and beauty of Christ should be seen in us. And it's our responsibility to reflect him in whatever our calling is. To use every power that he has given to us, not in rivalry, but recognizing we have a place and we have a purpose, and that is to reflect the beauty and the glory of Christ in our lives.

Others have their responsibility. We have our responsibility. And oftentimes, we're very conscious of failure, aren't we? We don't live up to what we ought to be.

And we're not as faithful in our service as we should be. Even service that God himself has appointed for us. But you'll notice that regardless of the differences in those stones, they were all equally close to his heart.

Equally close to his heart. And even if you and I fail, he bears us still upon his breast, upon his heart. We're still in that place of nearness, of affection and love.

And he would desire the very best for us. And what is the very best for us as believers? It is to reflect his character. And he may work in our lives in discipline, even, to bring that about.

But he has our very best interests upon his heart. And in love, discipline is administered. It is not always punitive, but it can be formative and it can be preventative when we experience the discipline of God in our lives.

To preserve us from falling into sin or into things that we shouldn't be involved in. And you'll notice as well that that breastplate was held in place with wreathen chains of gold. Not just chains of gold, but wreathen chains of gold, twisted for added strength.

And that reminds us of the divine strength of his omnipotent power that holds us on his own strong shoulders for the sonic stones and binds us to his breast so that you and I are constantly, indissolubly linked with our Lord Jesus Christ. It was the function of the high priest to intercede for the people. Intercession, the intercession of the high priest.

Intercession means entreaty in favor of another. It is to petition God on behalf of another. And that's what our great high priest does as well.

In the presence of God, he intercedes for us representatively by his person being there in the presence of God. And so when we have an interest to give him glory in our lives, he has an interest to plead our cause before God. So when we act in his interests, when we ask in his interests, he pleads our cause before God.

And no request that he has ever made will go unanswered. He asks perfectly according to the mind of God. So dear believer, even though you have prayed and it seems that there's no answer, remember this, if we have asked in his interests, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

John 16, 23, hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name. Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full. There are prayers that seem to go unanswered.

But I take it in the measure that we have been pleading the cause of Christ, asking in his name. That cause will ultimately triumph. So that when we come to the book of Revelation, we find before the throne in chapter five, there are 24 elders and they have golden bowls that are full of the orders of the prayers of saints.

So I learned this, that God has not forgotten every whispered prayer from the heart of a dear believer that is longing for the day of redemption and with a burdened spirit has brought that request before God, those things have not been forgotten. God's purpose will be carried out and the Lord Jesus will triumph and the purpose of God will be fulfilled in all its fullness. Now, another thing about the breastplate, just before I sit down, it was doubled over, sort of like, well, my tie doubled over like that.

I take it, so there was a pouch, there was a pouch within the breastplate and in that pouch, there were two things called the urim and the thummim. We're not told exactly what they were, but perhaps they were stones. Literally, the translation is lights and perfections.

They were held in the breastplate for judgment. You notice that in the reading. So the point of it is this, that those stones, if that's what they were, the urim and the thummim, they were used to guide the people of God.

They were indicators of the will of God. They indicated the will of God. So, Exodus 28 and 30, thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the urim and thummim.

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. You remember when Joshua was going into the land, Eleazar the high priest was to ask counsel for Joshua after the judgment of the urim before the Lord. So there it is.

They were to give indications as to the mind and will of God. Now Christ, our Lord Jesus, is the great antitype of the urim and the thummim as he is for all the rest of the parts of the high priest's garments. Who is it that told out perfectly the will of God? But our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in his life on earth, he did always those things that pleased the Father. He came as a light into the world. He lived his life in absolute perfection.

Lights and perfections is seen purely in him. He proved what the will of God for his life here on earth was. And at the same time, he told out the very heart of God to men.

So you and I, we are called as well to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, aren't we? Romans 12 and two. And we are to put into practice what is that perfect and acceptable and perfect will of God. And sometimes, brethren and sisters, that's not easy.

The pathway for some dear saints is a rough one. Difficulties of health and other trials that come into a person's experience. I was touched a while back when, remember the Smith family out east had that terrible accident and there were two little daughters that were killed when that van plowed into the park truck.

And on the obituary, they quoted a verse from the psalm, Psalm 18 and 30. What does it say? As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried.

He is a buckler, a shield to those that trust in him. God's will is perfect. Even in such dark, trying circumstances as those.

And as you and I bow to the will of God in our lives, we bring glory to him. So that which speaks of his perfect will for us, again, you'll notice it's carried closest to his heart. Closest to his heart.

And even in those dark circumstances, that sometimes come the way of God's people, we're still upon his heart. You may not be able to trace his hand, as one has put it, but we can trust his heart. We can trust him in every circumstance in our lives.

So with that, we'll leave it there. Our great high priest, the garments for glory and beauty that were upon Aaron, they point us to Christ and to our place as carried upon his omnipotent shoulders. That place of strength, we're carried.

He'll never let us go. And in our lives and in our experience, we're upon his heart as those that are the objects of his love. The Lord bless his word.