Garments of Priests

The Tabernacle — Steve Gregg

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Consecration of Priests

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Garments of Priests

The TabernacleSteve Gregg

Steve Gregg delves into the topic of the garments worn by priests in Exodus chapter 28, emphasizing their significance in symbolizing the true character of a priest. These garments, including the breastplate, ephod, and robe, were intricately designed with engravings and enclosures of gold, reflecting the holiness of the Lord. Gregg draws parallels between the priestly garments and the spiritual armor mentioned in the New Testament, highlighting the importance of righteousness and faith in a Christian's life. Through this exploration, he emphasizes the call to bear one another's burdens, echoing the servant-hearted nature of Jesus as the ultimate high priest.

Transcript

Let's turn today to Exodus chapter 28. We've been studying the tabernacle and there are, there's still one piece of furniture of the tabernacle that we have not yet discussed. And for some reason, there are two chapters sandwiched here, chapters 28 and 29, sandwiched in between the discussion of the bulk of the information about the tabernacle and the remaining few details, which are found in chapter 30.

And why God has done this, why he spoke to Moses in this order, I don't know. It is conceivable that over the years the chapters were rearranged in a different order. That wouldn't in any way, that wouldn't in any way diminish the inspiration of the scripture if we could, if we would see that maybe at some point a scribe changed the order of the chapters for some reason.

Still, all the words are still there. It doesn't really much matter, but it is interesting that we have studied about the furniture and the walls and the roof of the tabernacle to a great extent, but we have not yet come to that portion of scripture chronologically in the Bible that discusses the golden altar of incense or the labor of cleansing. Now we discussed the labor of cleansing yesterday because it was tied into what we were talking about, but we had to jump to chapter 30 to get into that information.

Now between what we've studied and that information about the golden altar and the labor of cleansing, we have these two chapters about the priests, the chapter 28 has to do with the vestments of the priests or the garments that they wore, the special robes and such that had to do with their office. And then chapter 29 talks about the consecration of the priests. And I hope that these two chapters will have special meaning to us as we see scripturally from what the New Testament writers tell us, especially the book of Hebrews, but also statements in the book of Revelation and 1 Peter, that we are a kingdom of priests, that is to say that we are not like the Jews under the old order who had a priesthood to whom they went and the priests would appear on behalf of the people before God, but we are priests, everyone.

We all have the privilege of coming before God and we have sacrifices that we are to offer and we have intercessions that we are to make, even as the priesthood did. And tomorrow when we discuss the consecration of the priests, I expect that we will talk about some of these New Testament concepts of priesthood, what our duties as priests are, what the function of a New Testament priest involves. Today we're talking about the vestments of the priests and we need to see also that not only are we a kingdom of priests, but the scripture says that Jesus is our great high priest.

In the Jewish order, Aaron was the first high priest. His sons, and I think there were five of them, we'll see in verse one, let's see, yeah, there were five, no, four of them, were other priests and they were of the tribe of Levi. Now the Levites had special separation under God for the holy service, but not all the Levite priests.

Sometimes we don't see that clearly. Some of the Levites did not serve as actual priests. Some of them were, for instance, in charge of setting up the tabernacle and tearing it down when they had to move it from place to place and they had various functions.

Some of them were musicians and led in praise and such, but it was the actual sons of Aaron who served in the priesthood who were the priests. Now as the years went on and generations passed, of course, the descendants of Aaron were very numerous. It was always the firstborn of the family of Aaron in each generation who succeeded Aaron as the high priest.

The other descendants of Aaron, besides the firstborn, were the other priests and by the time of Jesus there were hundreds and hundreds of descendants of Aaron and they were divided into several courses and they would have to each take turns one week out of every two years. They get to take turns going around and doing the service of the priesthood because there were so many descendants of Aaron. And of course at that point in the time of Jesus, that priesthood was abolished by Jesus.

Jesus fulfilled that priesthood and the old priesthood of Aaron was done away and replaced with the new priesthood of the new covenant, which is after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron, as Hebrews chapter 7 goes into great detail to describe. So we now see that we are beginning to read about the priesthood. Before this time there was no priesthood.

We talked when we were in Genesis chapter 14 about Melchizedek because it was interesting. It said about him that he was a priest of the Most High God and he came out and met Abraham. Well, it's very obscure how this man could have been a priest of the Most High God because priesthoods are associated with religious systems.

And there was no religious system of God at that time. God had one man in the world that he was especially working with and that was Abraham. Abraham didn't even have any children yet.

And here this man meets him who is described as a priest of the Most High God. And we talked about Melchizedek. My particular view is that Melchizedek is what we call a theophany, an appearance of Christ before the incarnation in Bethlehem.

But before the time of Aaron there were no actual priesthoods. It was the oldest member of each family, usually the father or the oldest son, who was the priest of the family. He would offer sacrifices for his children.

This is illustrated in the book of Job, especially how Job in the first chapter tells how he'd offer sacrifices on the birthdays of his children to cover for their sins just in case they'd done any sins secretly that he didn't know about. He would function in the office of a priest for his children. And it was at this point, well actually in Exodus 19, that God called the people who he had brought out of Egypt and said, now if you will obey me completely, you will be a kingdom of priests.

Well, that's exactly what we are said to be in the New Testament. That's what the Jews were supposed to be. They were to be a kingdom of priests.

To the world they were supposed to stand, that is on behalf of the world, they were supposed to stand before God. A nation of holy people who knew their God, who stood before God and were intercessors and evangelists for the rest of the world. That's what the Jewish nation was expected to be, but never was.

The Jewish nation never became that because of their limited obedience to the commands of God. Right from the beginning when God gave them his laws, they said, we will obey everything that you say to us. We'll do it gladly.

But what really happened is they immediately broke even the first two commandments. Even while Moses was still on the mount receiving the law, they made a golden calf and broke the commandments. So they never really did fulfill the conditions of Exodus 19, verses 5 and 6, where God said, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me and a kingdom of priests.

They never did that. So they had a priesthood among themselves that was separated to serve in the office of a priest for them. Even the Jews, who were supposed to be a kingdom of priests, had to have a segment of their own company, the Levites, one of the twelve tribes, and especially the family of Aaron who were set aside to stand before God on their behalf.

And one man in particular, the great high priest, Aaron himself, and afterwards in the succeeding generations, the firstborn of his family. This was the priestly system that was set up in those days. And it's very much to be contrasted with our present system in the New Testament, because Jesus is our great high priest.

And of course, the high priest was the only one who could go beyond the veil. And yet Jesus, who has gone beyond the veil, as the scripture tells us, and he was not only has gone beyond the veil, but has prepared a new and living way by which we can follow him behind the veil. The sons of Aaron could never do this.

The other priests, the Old Testament priests, could never follow their father into the Holy of Holies, but that's to be contrasted with the present system, where we also go before the mercy seated with the same boldness that the high priest does. So in some ways, our function resembles that of the high priest. But we have to see that there's always a distinction between the high priest and the other priests.

Jesus is our great high priest. We are priests in general, and we will talk mostly tomorrow about what the priestly office of the New Testament priest involves. But today we'll look at these vestments.

And I want to read the whole chapter. It's somewhat lengthy and there will be parts of it that are a little dry. But I want to read the scripture with as little comment as possible, and then we'll bring up some important points.

Chapter twenty eight of Exodus and take thou. Now, God is still speaking to Moses. Moses is still up on Mount Sinai receiving the law this time and God speaking to him, giving these instructions and take thou unto the 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 and his son's names Nadab and Abihu, Eliezer 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 or skilled, 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 and a robe and a broidered coat, a miter 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. Now, first we have a description of what they call the ephod, which was a tunic, a sleeveless tunic that extended from the shoulders down to just below the knees.

It was in two pieces, as we'll see, a front piece and a back piece connected at the shoulders. It says, they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and of purple, of scarlet and fine twine linen, with cunning work. And it shall have two shoulder pieces thereof, joined at the two edges thereof, and so it shall be joined together.

And the curious or embroidered girdle of the ephod which is upon it shall be of the same, according to the work thereof, even of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet and fine twine linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones, engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of the names on one stone and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. According to Josephus, the stone on the right hand shoulder had the names of the oldest six sons and the stone on the left shoulder had the names of the youngest six sons.

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, or settings 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 memorial. And thou shalt make ouches or settings of gold, and two chains of pure gold at the ends of wreath and work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreath and chains to the settings or ouches. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment, and this is another piece that has to be considered.

This hangs on those two golden chains, hangs down on the breast of the priest. Thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work after the work of an ephod, of the ephod, shalt thou make it of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, and of fine twine linen shalt thou make it. Four square shall it be, being doubled.

A span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. A span being the, if you stretch your hand out the distance between the tip of your thumb and the tip of your little finger, what is that, about eight inches or something like that? I suppose that's how big a span was. So it was a square.

After it was folded in two, it was a square pouch that contained something, as we'll see. And it was maybe a six to eight inch square being doubled over. Verse seventeen, and thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones.

The first row shall be a sardis of topaz and a carbuncle. This shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

The third row, a ligure, I don't know what that is, an agate and an amethyst. And the fourth row, a beryl and an onyx and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their enclosings.

Or their settings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. Every one with his name shall be according to the twelve tribes.

And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathed work of pure gold. Thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreathed chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate.

And the other two ends of the two wreathed chains thou shalt fasten to the two ouches that's on the shoulders of the ephod. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them at 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 shalt thou 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, or the embroidered sash 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 unto 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. And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all blue. This is the second piece of clothing.

This goes under the ephod, the robe. It's a little longer than the ephod was, down a little below the knees. It will be made all of blue.

And there shall be a hole at the top of it, and in the midst thereof it shall have binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a habergeon, that it be not rent. There were no seams. It was a seamless blue garment that went under the ephod.

And beneath upon the hem of it shall thou make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet round about the hem thereof, and the bells of gold between them round about. A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, round 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 come out, that he die not.

So this blue robe around the bottom border had embroidered emblems of pomegranates, and between the pomegranates were little golden bells attached that would make a sound while the high priest moved around. And as we mentioned before, as he went behind the veil, the other priest would have to listen outside to see if he was still moving. They listened for the bells, and if they stopped tinkling, they figured that the guy was dead, and they pulled him out because he had a rope tied around his leg, because if he went in there unprepared, he'd be stricken dead.

It's a pretty mighty experience going into the Holy of Holies. Verse 36, we start talking about the mitre, the crown that was on his head. 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 shall it be. And the mitre, by the way, was like a turban of linen, as we'll see. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, 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. And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen. Now this is the undergarment.

What we're seeing here is the description of the garments in order from out to in, toward the skin. Now, as Aaron put the garments on, he put them on in reverse order to what they're described here. The coat was actually the undergarment of linen that went up against the body.

Then the robe of the ephod, the blue robe, went over it. The undergarment probably went down to about the foot, the white linen undergarment went down to the foot. Then the robe of the ephod, being totally blue, hung down not quite as far.

And then the ephod hung down a little less far, and it was a blue-purple and red. And then you had the breastplate. So basically that's what we've got.

And then we've got the turban on top with the gold plate on the front that says, holding us under the Lord. And that's the description of his garments. It says, Thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, which is the undergarment, and thou shalt make a miter of fine linen, and shalt make a girdle of needlework.

And this sash, three-colored girdle that went around to bind it around the waist. And for Aaron's sons, now we just talked about Aaron's clothes as the high priest. Now the other priest, for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, like the one we just described, the undergarment.

And thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. And 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 thee in the priest's office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches, or underwear and boxers, to cover their nakedness.

From the loins even to the thighs they shall reach. And they shall be upon Aaron and his sons when they come into the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come nearer unto the altar to minister in the holy place, and that they bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him and to the seed after him.

Okay, the garments. It's very clear that a person couldn't just go into the priestly office without having special equipment. They had to have special garments on.

And, you know, the Bible compares garments with character very often, as we'll see in a moment. Now, there are three figures in the New Testament that talk of special clothing that have to be worn. One is the figure of a bride, one is the figure of a priest, and one is the figure of a warrior.

And in the New Testament in various places we find reference to these different things. Now, I want to talk first of all about the garments that pertain to a wedding, because the Church is seen at once as a bride, the bride of Christ, also as spiritual arming, so the warriors have to wear special equipment, as Ephesians 6 talks about, and then of course as the kingdom of priests, and so they're priestly garments. Now, obviously, as Christians, we're not expected to wear different clothing than other people wear.

It's not talking about literal clothing. It's talking about being clothed in other things, like character. Like it says in one place, be clothed with humility.

I think that's in 5 Peter 5, be clothed with humility. So, there is our character that is being described here. A person's holiness is portrayed in these garments.

Aaron, wearing these garments, was outwardly wearing things that were symbolic or types of what Jesus was innately. Jesus is the antitype or the fulfillment of the type which Aaron portrayed, and Jesus was inherently all the things that Aaron was pictured as being through all these clothes that he put on. The colors we talked about, the ephod, we've talked about them, they're the same colors that were on the ceiling of the tabernacle and on the veil and the gate and the door of the tabernacle.

They are the colors that typify probably the double nature of Jesus, the dual nature. The blue representing his heavenly spiritual side, his God deity side. The red being his human side, Adam, meaning red.

And then the purple being a blending of the two, which also signifies royalty, as he is the rightful king because he is the perfect blend of deity and mankind. He is Emmanuel, God with us. So, these three colors of the ephod probably typify that.

The blue, which are under the ephod, is partly covered, is the heavenly nature of Jesus. And the white linen speaks of the purity and the holiness. And the crown and all this, of course, all have correspondence to Jesus, too.

Now, Jesus was all these things inherently. Aaron was not. We find as we read the story of Aaron's life, he was not extremely holy in character at first.

I imagine that as time went on, he became more of the holy man that he was intended to be. But in the early days of his ministry, he was just as carnal as anyone else and not a very good spiritual leader. But nonetheless, he was selected to wear the garments that would outwardly portray the things that would be the character, the true character of the one who would later come to be the eternal high priest with an unchangeable priesthood.

Now, using the figure of a wedding garment, we have a couple of statements in Scripture that are worthy of note. One is in Matthew 22. And that is that parable where Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a king that would make a marriage for his son.

And he invited a lot of guests and they made excuses and didn't want to come. And so he went out and invited all the rabble off the streets. And this is a picture of what Jesus was doing in his earthly ministry.

He came to the Jews first and they made excuses. They didn't want to believe in him. So he went out.

I should say he came to the religious people. He came to the temple. The religious leaders refused him.

So he went out to the streets and invited the rabble to come. And they received him gladly. And so the house was furnished with guests.

However, the rabble that came to Jesus had to come with repentance. They had to be truly changed in their heart. He didn't just accept them in their sin.

He accepted them in spite of their sin, but he expected them to turn from their sin. That was part of the conditions, to repent and believe the gospel. So it was found in this parable that there was one who was in the wedding party who didn't have a wedding garment on.

And that's in Matthew 22.11 where it says, When the king came to see his guests, and I believe that this is a picture of the church in our present age, we are in a wedding celebration, I believe. That's my opinion on this. And when the king came to see his guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.

And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. No answer to that question. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are called, but few are chosen. Now that's scripture we could talk about all day because there's some interesting mysteries attached to it. But what we see in general is that there at the wedding feast, those who had been called and had responded to the invitation of the wedding, there were some among them, at least one, who did not have a wedding garment.

Now from what I'm told from commentaries and such, it was customary for the host to provide special garments for the guests. It was like just special apparel that was for the wedding guests. And we see what that special apparel is, spiritually speaking, in Revelation chapter 19.

It tells us right what it's talking about there. Revelation chapter 19, starting with verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. Now the priest's garment also had fine linen, a garment very similar to this, clean and white.

For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints, of the holy ones. Now the word righteousness there, in most new translations has been improved upon, it's actually the righteous deeds. You might have that in the margin of your Bible, or if you have a newer translation you might see something about the righteous acts, the righteous deeds.

The white linen that is worn at the wedding feast is righteous acts, righteous conduct, a life of righteous deeds. And when the man comes, the king comes and looks at the wedding guests, that is those who have responded to the invitation of Christ, those who are in the fellowship of the church, he is looking to make sure everyone is wearing one of these garments, making sure that righteous life is what characterizes each of these people. That is the fine linen that is given to them to wear, a righteous life, righteous deeds.

And he finds some in the church who don't have this garment and he casts them out, binds them in the head of foot and casts them out into outer darkness, so they can't come to the light in the same sense, they can't enjoy the fellowship of the saints in the light that is there, they're in outer darkness, outside the fellowship. So this is what we see then, the fine linen is righteousness, the righteousness of the saints, and it's used in the picture of a wedding, it's also used here in the picture of the priesthood. All the priests wore this, the fine linen, they didn't all wear the other pieces that the high priests wore, but all the priests wore the fine linen, that was their coat, that was their basic priestly garment, the fine linen.

Then we have the picture of a warrior in the Scripture, and that is in Ephesians chapter 6, which we are familiar with probably, none of us here are brand new Christians, we've probably heard some kind of a message on this before. I'll just read a few verses to basically remind you of the detail of it. We're looking at Ephesians 6 and starting with verse 13, Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, having your breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take in a shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. So we see then pieces of armor.

Now again, these are not literal pieces of clothing that we put on, this is spiritually speaking, and we even have a description of what they are, the helmet of salvation, and in 1 Thessalonians it says, for a helmet the hope of salvation. But it's interesting, some of the correspondence between the warrior's garments and the priest's garments. In both cases you have a girdle, and headgear, and a breastplate.

The soldier wears a breastplate, very different from the breastplate of the high priest, but nonetheless both have a breastplate. And so there are correspondences between the special equipment. Now, the priesthood that we are engaged in, it does not involve walking into a literal building, a literal tabernacle and offering literal sacrifices.

We are engaged in spiritual worship, where we offer up intercessions and prayers and spiritual sacrifices for the people of God and for ourselves on our own behalf. And this is a warfare for us. And so the garments of the soldier and the garments of the priest overlap for the Christian in the spiritual sense.

And so we need to see that a person has to have special equipment to minister in the various functions that God has called us to, whether as warriors or as priests, or whether it's simply as members of the wedding party. The equipment is provided for us. Just as Aaron did not have to provide this garment for himself, it was made for him and given to him free of charge, and it was passed down to his sons.

And so the garments of the man represent his character. We said the white linen, the fine linen that they were given was the righteous deeds of the saints. The Bible talks about being clothed with humility.

And so it's very clear, the clothing. In fact, women in 1 Peter chapter 3 are said to have the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. And here the man's wearing jewels and ornaments and things.

So these all have to do with character. A meek and quiet spirit, humility, righteousness. These have to do with character.

And we see then that the high priest garments represent quality of character and characteristics of his function. Now I want to talk a little bit about each. Let me again, I briefly did so, but I'll just again briefly describe the garments so that you'll have a mental picture.

As Aaron was preparing in the morning to get up and go to the priestly office, he would put on first his linen breeches, I imagine. That would be the first thing I'd put on. He puts on his underwear.

And then he put on this linen coat that hung down to the ground. It was the priestly garment. Now Jesus was seen by John on the island of Patmos in a vision, in his glorified sense.

And he was clad with a garment down to the foot. And that was not the customary garment of people who walked around the streets. It was not convenient to have your garments dangling around your feet.

Normally the garments were somewhat shorter. But the priests did wear a garment down to the foot. That was his undergarment.

And that's perhaps what is alluded to when John saw Jesus there on the island of Patmos, saw him as the great high priest. And we don't have a complete description of all he was wearing. All that's referred to is his glistening white raiment clad down to the foot with it.

And it may be that what John saw was all the equipment of the high priest. He may have even seen the ephod and the breastplate on Jesus. We don't know.

That's totally conjecture. Nonetheless, the man would put on this long linen garment, after which he would pull over his head this seamless blue robe called the robe of the ephod, which we read. And then the ephod would go over it, which was a sleeveless tunic attached to the shoulders, hanging down a little less far.

The blue robe, by the way, would have the pomegranates and the bells at the bottom of it. It wouldn't reach quite to the ground. And then he'd put on the breastplate attached by golden chains from the onyx stones on the shoulders of the ephod.

These gold chains hung down to hold this little pouch, which had twelve precious stones upon it, twelve gems, twelve jewels of different types. And they had the names of the children of Israel, that is, the sons of Jacob, on them, the twelve sons. On the shoulder pieces there were onyx stones.

Each of them had six names of the sons of Jacob also. So all twelve of them were born on the shoulders. So the high priest wore upon him the garments which represented holy character and divine nature, because he was a picture of Christ.

Aaron himself was not particularly divine. And then also the breastplate and the onyx stones. And I think that the greatest attention belongs to those and to the mitre, which had the gold plate that said, Holiness unto the Lord on it.

Now, I think these are symbolic. Later on in the next chapter, we see how the anointing and the consecration of the priest involved the taking of blood and putting it on the right ear and the right thumb and the right big toe of the priest. And this has symbolic value too, because we see the parts of the human body are used symbolically having to do with what they do, the washing of the hands and the feet at the labor of cleansing.

We talked about it yesterday, that the hands represented the works of a man and the feet represented his ways and his path and the way he walks and his direction. But here we have reference, tomorrow we'll talk about the ear and the right thumb and the big toe. There's some overlapping there of what we talked about, the hands and the feet.

But then here we have the breastplate worn over the heart and the onyx stones upon the shoulders and the golden plate on the forehead. And you can see that various parts of the body were covered or associated with various pieces of vestment. And I'd like to talk a little bit about those.

And then we want to talk a little bit about the urn and the fulminum, a couple of objects which are shrouded in mystery for all who studied them at all. There's not much information given about the urn and the fulminum in the scripture. Well, we see then that the breastplate, let's look at the onyx stones, since they're described before the breastplate.

Verse 11 and 12, with the work of an engraver and stone like the engravings of a signet, thou shalt engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Thou shalt make them to be set in the ouches or settings of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel.

This was not worn by the priests generally, but by the high priest only. And it says, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. Now, whenever Aaron would go into the Holy of Holies, as rare as that was, he would be carrying with him upon his shoulders and upon his heart the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, which for us just represents the whole of the people of God, because the twelve tribes was the complete number of God's people.

All the people of God were of the twelve tribes. And so he bore upon his shoulders and upon his heart the people of God before the Lord. The priest would carry the burdens of the people of God on his shoulders before the Lord and beseeched God for mercy on their behalf.

Let's look at some cross references there that have to do with Jesus. In some cases, Isaiah chapter nine, Isaiah nine, six, unto us, a child is born reference to Jesus unto us, the son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace and of the increase of his government and peace. There shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it, etc.

Now, it says that the government shall be upon his shoulder. The kingdom will be upon the shoulders of Jesus. Now that is, of course, a picture of bearing the burden, bearing the authority, bearing the weight.

The shoulder is the image of strength. Putting your shoulder to your work is an image of personal strength and power and by implication of authority also. And so the authority of the kingdom of God is upon Jesus' shoulder.

The people of God are carried upon the everlasting arms, the Bible says, leaning on the everlasting arms. So we are in a secure place and Jesus carries our burdens before the Father into the Holy of Holies and that is why we don't have to be carrying them ourselves. Look at Psalm 89 for an interesting statement that may be relevant to this point.

Psalm 89 and verse 19. It says, Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

There is reference here to God laying help upon the shoulder or upon one who is mighty. That means that our burdens, as difficult to bear as they may be for us, are laid upon one who is mighty and who can bear them. And so Jesus bears our iniquity.

We'll see also later in Exodus chapter 28 there is reference to Aaron and his sons bearing the iniquity of the people. Now this is the burden that most of us carry. The burden that separates man from God.

The burden that keeps people crouching under a heavy load that keeps them from walking upright. See, God wants us to walk uprightly, but we are under a burden so we are bent over. We are not upright.

So Jesus said, Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden or burdened and I will give you rest. And he says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. So Jesus takes our burden off our shoulders which is the burden of our guilt.

And that statement by the way was found in Matthew 11 where he said, Come unto me you who labor and are heavy laden. Matthew 11 verse 28 I think it is. So Jesus takes our burden upon his shoulders.

Now look at Isaiah 53 on this map. This is what the high priest had to do. Now in Hebrews it says he had to do this for his own sins as well as for ours, but Jesus is different in that he had no sins of his own.

So he was able to carry ours only on his shoulders. He did not have to have his own sins to speak for. Isaiah 53, 6 All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned every one to his own way. And Jehovah has laid on him, that is on Jesus, the iniquity of us all. So it is our burden, our iniquity has been laid upon him, on his shoulder.

In verse 11 of the same chapter, He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Again, bearing upon his shoulder the iniquity and the burden of the people.

John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world, bearing our sins in his own body. As it says in 1 Peter 2, 24 1 Peter 2, 24 says, Who his own self bear in his own body our sins on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes shall we be healed. So in his own body he bear our sins.

He carried our burden of sin. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, He that knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So Jesus who had no sin of his own bore the burden of our sin.

He became sin for us to relieve us of that burden to make us the righteousness of God. So here the people of God are being borne upon the shoulder of the high priest. Another interesting thing in Zechariah, that's the second to the last book in the Old Testament, just before Malachi.

Zechariah chapter 6 I think, verse 13. We'll read verses 12 and 13 because 12 shows us it's talking about Jesus. It says, And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch.

This is a designation for Christ in other places. Jeremiah 23, for instance, calls him the branch. And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.

This is what Jesus is now doing, his church, building the temple out of living stones. That's us. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

I don't know who them both is, but we'll skip that part for now. And we'll see that it says, He shall sit on the throne, he will operate in the function of a king, and he shall be a priest, and he will bear the glory. Now the garments of the priest were said to be for beauty and glory.

They were to be for dignity and for honor for the priest. That was the glory that he bore upon his shoulders. Now upon his heart also the breastplate he bore.

And this may be a reference to that. Jesus, the high priest, would bear these things upon himself, the glory of these vestments, the stones upon his shoulders, the rocks. So then we see the whole counsel here is that he bears upon his shoulders our burden, the burden of the people.

He carries it before the mercy seat. He doesn't go for himself only, but he takes with him all the people of God. That is why Jesus, our forerunner, has entered for us.

We go in too. We go in on his shoulders. He carries us on his back.

We don't go in our own strength, our own merit. We go in, borne on the everlasting arms, his strength. Now in Galatians 6.2 it says that we then should bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

We don't have to turn there. That's Galatians 6.2. That is our function as priests to also bear one another's burdens. As Jesus bore our burden, so we also bear each other's burdens.

We know of someone who's burdened with some kind of a circumstance that we have power to relieve. It could be as easy as contributing money or time or labor to help, or else nothing more can be done than to intercede for them. But nonetheless, the burden is assumed by the priests.

We as a kingdom of priests then bear the burdens of others, as Jesus bore ours. Now we need to talk about the breastplate, which had the twelve stones in it. The twelve jewels represent the people of God again, the twelve tribes of Israel, which comprise the whole people of God.

In the New Testament, the twelve tribes, of course, are replaced, in a sense, by the whole church, in whom there's no distinction anymore between tribes or families or anything like that. There's no distinction in Christ. All are one.

There's no male or female, bond or free, Jew or Gentile in Christ. So the whole people of God are represented here. They're carried upon Aaron's heart.

He wears them over his heart. Now the breastplate was a pouch that had these stones on it. By the way, I want to just show you an interesting cross-reference here in Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.

Malachi chapter 3 and verse 17. I will read verse 16 also to pick up the context. Malachi 3, 16 and 17.

Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name.

And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. It says in the day that God makes up his jewelry box, we will be among them. That is, those who fear his name and speak often of him will be among his jewels that he collects and gathers together.

And so we are seen as jewels. And we talked about that before, how our characters described as gold in the Old Testament. And we are precious stones in his sight.

We are the living stones of the temple. And it happens that he's making the temple out of precious stones, not out of granite or something else, but out of jewels. And he speaks of his people, then, as jewels.

And so we see the priest wearing jewels on his breast, representing the people of God and our preciousness to him. Each one different, too. Not just all one kind of jewel, not just the twelve diamonds or twelve rubies or twelve emeralds, but there's distinction between them.

But they're all very valuable to him. And there are individual characteristics that each of the people of God have, but nonetheless, they're all of great value to him. And they're worn upon his heart.

He carries them upon his heart. And in the breastplate, in that pouch, there was what is called the Urim and Thummim. That's verse 30, talks about that.

Now, the words Urim and Thummim are two plural words, meaning lights and perfections. Urim means lights. The letter I am at the end of the word makes it plural.

Urim means lights and Thummim means perfections. And it is not anywhere described for us what the Urim and Thummim, or the lights and the perfections, were. It is generally understood that they were stones.

Now, some have believed, Josephus and other Jewish writers have believed, that the Urim and Thummim was simply a designation for the twelve stones on the breastplate, that they were called the lights and the perfections. Others believe, and I think it's more generally believed today by most Christian scholars, that the Urim and Thummim were not the twelve stones themselves, but were another two stones that were kept inside the pouch. Now, it's not clear, and either position could be taken, but Leviticus 8.8 seems to suggest the latter position, that they were a second couple of stones that were kept inside the pouch apart from the twelve stones.

And let me show you just the verse that we get that from. Leviticus 8.8 says, And he put the breastplate upon him. Also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.

So it seems like the Urim and the Thummim were separate, put in the breastplate. Now, that is assuming that the twelve stones were affixed permanently to the breastplate. Now, if on the other hand, the twelve stones were in such settings that could be taken out, when they took out the breastplate, they took out the stones too, and then put the stones back in, then the Urim and the Thummim could be seen as the twelve stones.

He put on the breastplate and he put in the lights and the perfections, or he put in the twelve stones. We don't know. I've always had the impression, I think most scholars agree, that the twelve stones were permanently affixed, though the Bible doesn't say so clearly, I think.

So it could be that the twelve stones are the lights and the perfections. We know that the Urim and the Thummim, whatever they were, were used to inquire of the Lord. We'll see some scriptures on that.

And I'm afraid that even after we've discussed everything the scripture says about the Urim and the Thummim, there will still be a great amount of mystery that doesn't tell us much about them. Now, Joseph Smith had his own ideas of what the Urim and the Thummim were. How many of you have heard what he thought they were? Joseph Smith was the founder of the Urim and the Thummim.

The angel Moroni, or the exalted being Moroni, took Joseph Smith to a mountain in Palmyra, New York, showed him a chest which was buried and which contained golden tablets inscribed with writing of Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics, which is a language that no archaeologist has ever heard of. Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics is a non-existent language, but that's what was found. Golden plates, Joseph Smith said.

And in the box also were the Urim and the Thummim. So he's the only one who ever really knows what they were. Now, as he seemed to see the Urim and the Thummim, there was a pair of glasses that he put on, and they immediately translated the Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics into Victorian English, King James English, for some reason.

Even though King James English was not spoken in his day, very interesting mysteries are involved with the Urim and the Thummim in this case also. It seems highly unlikely that the Urim and the Thummim known by the high priest were spectacles that he put on his face to read Egyptian writing. Much more likely that they were stones, either the stones of the breastplate or other stones.

Many scholars believe that they were two stones that represented a yes or a no answer from God, and that when people would inquire a yes or no answer from God, one of them would light up, one of them would supernaturally glow, and this is how they'd inquire of the Lord. That is what is held by many scholars today. Let's look at a few scriptures where there's reference to the Urim and the Thummim being inquired of.

First of all, look at 1 Samuel 23. Well, before we look at 23, look at 1 Samuel 28, even though it's later in the book. We'll get more of a general idea of what was done here.

1 Samuel 28, 6, and verses 5 and 6, When Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Now, the Urim are the like, are considered in the same realm with dreams and prophets, special revelations from God.

Saul sought guidance from the Lord in the conventional ways that the kings and priests had done so before, and he didn't get it from the, he didn't get any dreams, he didn't get it from the Urim and the Thummim, and he didn't get it from the prophets. How he inquired by the Urim, who knows? The Bible doesn't say. Now in verse 20, chapter 23, I'm sorry, of the same book, verses 9 through 12, we read, And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him.

And he said to Abiathar 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 Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up to 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 Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. Then David said, David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah.

Now, it says that he had the priest bring the ephod, which was of course attached to the breastplate, and the Urim and the Thummim. And probably this was a reference also to using the Urim and the Thummim. Look at Ezra 2, verse 62 and 63.

Ezra 2, 62 and 63. There were certain people when the temple was restored in the days of Ezra, they had to restore the priesthood too. But the records of genealogy, many of them had been destroyed when the temple was burned down 70 years earlier.

So it was very hard for people to prove that they were really of the descendants of Aaron and really entitled to the priesthood. It says here, there were some who sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found. Their genealogies could not be found to prove that they were descended from Aaron.

Therefore were they as polluted and from the priesthood. They were not permitted to be priests because they couldn't be proven to be direct descendants of Aaron. And the Tirsathot, which is a Persian word for governor, said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with the Urim and Thummim.

In other words, that these people whose legitimacy of their priesthood was in question, they could not minister as priests or eat the most holy things until someone would find the Urim and the Thummim, and then of course by the help of the Urim and the Thummim they could determine whether they were really descendants of Aaron or not. But how that would be determined, who knows. Nonetheless, it's clear that the Urim and the Thummim were used to get guidance from God and get confirmation from God.

So when the priest went before the Ark of the Covenant into the presence of God, he bore on his shoulders the burdens of the people of God, and he also had on his heart the preciousness of the people of God, and also the Urim and the Thummim. It was his heart to inquire of the Lord. It was on his heart to inquire of the Lord, which is what the Urim and the Thummim were used for.

Now, I want you to see Paul's heart and how similar it is to the heart of a priest here, and I think that though Paul is not a great high priest in the sense that Jesus was at all, nonetheless we are priests and have some of the character of the priesthood to our ministries also. In Philippians chapter 1, verses 7 and 8, Philippians 1, verses 7 and 8, Paul says, Even as it is appropriate or meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, it is much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

So we see then that Paul had the people of God on his heart, and he longed after them. As a priest, he was supposed to carry the people of God on his heart. He wasn't supposed to go in with a bad attitude toward the people of God.

He was supposed to go out of his love and the burden on his heart for their well-being. I want you to see also in 2 Corinthians, a verse that occurred to me when I was reading this this morning. 1 Corinthians 11, 28.

Paul has been in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians describing some of the things that he suffered for the cause of Christ. He mentions in verse 27, weariness and painfulness, losing sleep, hunger and thirst, fastings often, cold and nakedness, all these things on the outside, all these external circumstances coming against him. But also in verse 28, it says besides those things that are outside my body, without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is offended and I burn not? So what he's saying is that besides the fact that he's suffering a great amount of outward afflictions for the gospel sake, he also has the inner struggle, the inner turmoil that comes along with having the people of God on his heart, the care of the churches. He says when he hears of someone who's weak and stumbling, he himself feels that weakness and that stumbling. He says, who has stumbled and I don't burn? I have this burning in my heart for people who stumble and I have this burden.

So Paul then has the heart of God toward the people of God. The priest has to bear the people of God on his heart before the people. He's not the man who is angry at the people of God like sometimes the prophets were, but the priest is the man who has a tender heart toward the people of God.

And it's interesting that Jesus functioned as a prophet and a priest and a king. The anointed ministries of the Old Testament, he had all these things characteristic of his ministry. Now, one other thing really needs to be discussed about this in regard to this, and that is the crown that he wore.

He wore on his shoulders, on his shoulders he carried the burden for the people. On his heart he had the care of the people also. They were on his heart.

But also there was something on his head. There was this turban, this mitre as it was called, made of linen. And on the front of the mitre there was this golden plate that covered his forehead.

It came halfway around his head and then the rest of it was attached behind his head with a blue ribbon. And the gold plate had on it written or engraved, Holiness unto the Lord. This is described in verse 36.

And it says in verse 38, And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. We talk about him bearing on his shoulders for people, the burden. He's able to bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts.

The reason he's able to bear it on their behalf is because he himself is holy. His head, his forehead is marked with holiness. Now, I believe that the forehead has to do with the thoughts.

In the law of Moses there were commands made and also exhortations in the book of Proverbs that the people should bind the law of God to their right hand and to their forehead, again symbolizing their deeds and their thoughts. The law of God should order their actions and their thoughts. They had it bound to their forehead and bound to their hand.

You remember the Jews of Jesus' time had taken this so literally that they had what they called phylacteries, these little boxes which contained portions of scripture. And they'd bind them on their hands and on their forehead. They'd walk around with these boxes on their forehead that had scripture quotations in them, you know, in order to keep the command to bind the word of God to their forehead.

So these phylacteries actually represented the thoughts and the action of the people. Now, it's interesting that in the book of Revelation there's a description of people who have the mark of the beast on their right hand and on their forehead, or on their forehead. And this could refer to an actual tattoo that's going to be placed on the hands or foreheads of people.

And there are many things shaping up in our world today which give us the impression that such an economic system is about to be instituted where marks will be given to people. But whether this is what is implied in Revelation 13 or not is disputable. If it goes along with the symbolism of the rest of the Old Testament, it could refer to thinking the thoughts and doing the deeds of Antichrist.

The Bible says there are many Antichrists out in the world. It says that in 1 John. And anyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is Antichrist, the Bible says.

So, a person who has the thoughts and the deeds of Antichrist are said to have the mark on their forehead and on their right hand. Again, symbolic of deeds and thoughts. Well, the high priest then was the man who had the golden plate on his forehead, holiness unto the Lord.

His thoughts were sanctified. His thoughts were holy unto the Lord. The only reason he could bear the iniquity of others is because he had his own mind cleansed and set apart for the Lord.

That's how Jesus was able to bear our sins. If he had sins of his own, if he were not holy, he could not bear our iniquity. He would have to bear his own, just like we would.

But because he was sinless, because he was holy unto the Lord, not only in his actions, the Pharisees were somewhat holy in their actions, but what Jesus pointed out was they were not holy in their deeds, in their thoughts, in their motives. Jesus was holy both in his actions and in his motives, and therefore he was pure in and out, overlaid with gold within and without, as the Ark of the Covenant was, and therefore was able to bear the iniquity. This is what was symbolized by Aaron.

We know that Aaron's thoughts were not totally sanctified and holy, but this was just an outward symbol, which would later be fulfilled in the actual innate character of Christ, the great high priest. So the thoughts have to be holy. Now let's look at two verses in Hebrews before we close here concerning this holiness, this being set apart for the Lord.

Hebrews chapter 7, and verse 26, it says about Jesus, "...for such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." Now Jesus is described as a high priest who is holy, holiness unto the Lord, as the golden plate indicated, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He didn't live his life separate from sinners geographically, but his whole character was so separated under God, his whole thought patterns, his actions, everything was different than sinners. There was no sin in it.

And therefore he is described as separate from sinners, separate in the sense of spiritually separate, not physically separate. And then also in chapter 12 of Hebrews, verse 14, it says, "...follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. We need to have this personal holiness if we're going to stand in the office of priest also.

Now we are not going to be a high priest, but we are going to minister as priest to the people of God, and it is necessary for us to be separated unto God also. We need to have our thoughts cleansed, or else we can't properly represent the burdens of the people of God. We will have our own hang-ups to deal with.

Every time we go to prayer, we'll be confessing our own sins. Every time we go to prayer, we'll be having to deal with condemnation about our own actions. We need to get these things straightened out.

We've got to get our own backyard cleaned up, and then we can carry the burdens of others. And so many times, it is the experience of Christians that in their priestly function, they go before God, they don't even have any time to intercede for others. They have so many things, so many defects in their own character to deal with in prayer, and to confess, and to repent of, and everything, that they never really fully function in the office of the priest.

Their own thoughts have never been separated unto God. They have not become holiness unto the Lord. And that is what has to be done.

That is what was required of the high priest, that his thoughts, his forehead, be crowned with holiness. And the pure gold, of course, represents that holiness which is purified through the fire, as gold is purified. So, of course, that personal holiness is something that is wrought in us through the trials and through the fire of the dealings of God in our lives.