The Tabernacle – Part 7

The Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, is a key part of the story of the Children of Israel. God designed it to be a visible sign of his presence with his people and as a focus for worship. Every detail was significant and looks beyond the Children of Israel to Jesus Christ, the more perfect tent (Hebrews 9:11). In part 7 we move to the priests and the garments they had to wear in their service of God. Just as the design of the Tabernacle was intricate and had significant meaning, so to with the ephod, robes, breast-rice and turban the high priest had to wear. As you look at the design the High Priest was a mini Tabernacle, walking among the people. Once again we see echoes of Eden, but more importantly we see the fulfilment of the Tabernacle in Jesus Christ.

Transcript

So part seven of what has now ended up being an eight part series. This is a probably a little bit of left field coming in here. We maybe didn’t think we were going to be looking at outfits and costumes. But there is much part of the story and what God wants to teach us as the Tabernacle is. And then next week we’re going to try and see if we can tie it all into a bow for us to see what really, why is it important to have spent eight weeks in the Tabernacle?

Looking at this for seven weeks, looking at why is the Tabernacle that ancient place of worship? Why is it still relevant? To us today. We’re looking at the priestly garments this evening and I’m sure I say I’m sure maybe I shouldn’t be so presumptuous But we probably all give a little bit of thought as to what we wear when we come to church  I know I do because I never try to wear the same tie two weeks in a row Because I can’t have people talking about me.

So you probably, and you know I have the advantage, I can go back and look at the live stream and see what I wore, so  I can see exactly what I wore if I don’t remember. And then I often think if I don’t remember, then will anyone else remember? But anyway.  That’s what I do. We know because we’ve been brought up, growing up as a child, one suit was bought or one item of clothing was bought for Children’s Day, which where I grew up was the third Sunday in May, and that was what did you for the whole next year at church.

I don’t know if that’s how people around here did it, but that’s how we did it. And it was always something. You always had your good Sunday go to church suit or dress or frock or hat or whatever. My father had two suits, his good Sunday go to church suit and then his funeral suit. Always two had to be kept.

So that’s how it worked in our house. I’m sure we all have our own way. We all know the good clothes that we have for maybe not just church, but for special occasions. And then we know the clothes we have for going out into the garden, or doing something outside, or simply just being in the house.  We choose our clothes based on what we think we’re going to be doing.

And we base our clothes on a little bit of preference as well. What we like, what we think suits us what colors we particularly enjoy. The ancient priests of Israel had no choice.  There’s a very valid reason for this.  Because what is given to us in Exodus 28, and we’re gonna read a we’re gonna read most of this chapter this evening, but we’re gonna do it in chunks.

They had absolutely no choice because it was clearly given to them by God.  It’s not a uniform. You have to get that out of your head. This is not a uniform. This is what they were required to wear by God. It wasn’t just to identify them, it was to identify God.  Because what we have already seen, everything we’ve seen in the building over six weeks so far, we now see again repeated in these  garments that the priests had to wear.

So let’s turn there to  Exodus chapter 28, and we’re going to read the first 14 verses to begin with, and then we’ll dabble  throughout the rest as we make our way this evening. So Exodus 28. Versus 1 to 14.  God says this to Moses, then bring near to you Aaron, your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve me as priests, Aaron and Aaron’s son, Ned Dab and Abba.

Who Eleazar and Imar  and you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful whom I have filled with a spirit of skill that they make iron’s, garments to consecrate him for my priesthood.  These are the garments that they shall make.

A breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban and a sash.  They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests. They shall receive gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen.  And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked.

It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together, and the skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it, and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen.  You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in order of their birth.

As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel.  You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree, and you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.

You shall make settings of gold filigree and two chains of pure gold twisted like cords and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.  Amen. This is

That’s only one part of it.  There’s so much to this and you have an image there on your handout to look at. We’ll come back to that in a moment. But I just want to take us back to the image that we’ve seen over these past number of weeks. To that of the actual temple court. And the reason why I do that is because you don’t have it on your handout this evening.

And I just want you to look at it.  And I want you to notice a couple of things. First of all, I want you to notice  Someone who’s dressed very much like what’s on your handout. And then two others. And we’ve learned something important.  We learned that it is Aaron and his two sons who will take on this responsibility of high priest and priests.

To mediate for the people before God,  and of course, as we know, this will be a family line.  And everything that we look at this garment for the priest tells us that this is not an office that can be bought. It can’t be  earned, or it can’t be politically voted for. This is a divine appointment.

This is God’s call on the house of Levi, on the house of Aaron, so that they will be priests forever before the Lord.  So they’re serving, but whenever you look at the high priest,  and what he’s wearing, and you reflect it on what is behind him in the tabernacle itself, Look at the colours, they’re all the same.

From the curtains, to the walls of the tabernacle, to the covers going over, the colours are replicated, because everything is as God requires it. We were with friends on bank holiday Monday there, and they’re building a new house.  And they’re pretty well up, the roof’s on, and they’re You know, hoping to be in the new year whenever everything’s done and things like that.

But the guy said to me, it’s gonna, it’s gonna have built this house three times over so that I’ll be happy with it. You have your first idea of what you want it to be and then you realize, no, I don’t like that there. I would have preferred it to be there, but there’s nothing you can do.

God didn’t need three times to get this right.  From the first moment it is recorded to Moses, through to these garments that we’ll be looking at tonight. God makes no mistake, because as we will see, everything points towards Jesus. Even though it was going to be thousands of years later before Jesus Christ would come, everything points towards the Messiah to the Savior.

So what we learn in those first number of verses, as I’ve said, is that it’s Aaron’s family who are going to be the line of priests. But as I’ve said this is not going to be something that you can hijack as an office for yourself.  Even though the Romans did do that, in the times approaching Jesus, if they didn’t like the high priest, they would simply get rid of him.

And they would replace him with his own, with their own choice. Someone who was more sympathetic to the Roman way. But that’s not how God wanted it. This was to be a family line. This was God’s appointment. And the garments that the priest would have worn, the high priest would have worn, demonstrated that this was someone who was representing the people before him.

Now, verse 2 tells us something. And  so we’re down there in the third paragraph of your handout.  And just for your benefit as we think of this, there’s that image up on the screen.  Before giving detailed instruction for the priestly garments, God tells us.  what they are to be.  He has a purpose for they will be they will be glory and they will be beauty.

And whenever we look at what God has done, whenever we started with the tabernacle,  who were the people who were going to build it? It was the people whose hearts had been moved by the Spirit of God, who were willing to do it, who were willing to provide for, who were willing with their own skills, recognizing them to be God given, were willing to serve in this way.

And it’s the same with this.  This was going to be a beautiful thing which teaches us God appreciates beauty in our worship. And we’re not talking about, the best dress, you pull off a rail, we’re not talking about the outward. If there’s anything we’ve learned, particularly in 1 Samuel, in our evening services, it’s not that God doesn’t look in the outward, he looks in the heart.

And this garment wasn’t to look nice, although it did. And God appreciates beauty because that’s part of his creation, but it’s what it signifies. And what it signifies on the man who’s wearing it.  So God has given a spirit of skill  to seamstresses and whoever would make this. Not just them, but there’d need to be metalwork, and you heard the engraver there, and stones as well.

And the precious jewels that will come to in the breast piece. This was going to be an effort of all of the God given skills across the children of Israel. But again, it’s those whom the Spirit had moved who would be doing this. Because God wanted this for his glory and to demonstrate his beauty.  So that’s where we begin.

This is God’s design for this garment that the priest will wear. And the first thing that we have is the priestly ephod. And that’s what really then verses 4,  oh sorry, 6 through to 14 teach us. And whenever you look at it there on your handout on the first page, again, it’s the colors that are important.

It’s made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarns.  And these, of course, should sound familiar to you, because they’re the same instructions that were given for the curtains in the tent.  Not just for the covering, but for the veil, and for the entranceway. These are royal colors. These are regal colors.  This was, in the tabernacle tent, it was teaching the people that you are approaching royalty.

And so now as the high priest wears it, it shows that he is the mediator between God and man. He can only approach God, and remember it was only once a year to approach behind the veil into the most holy place.  But he would go as the emissary. The mediator between God and the people.  And so this fully clothed high priest was supposed to resemble the tabernacle.

That’s the whole point of why the design and the colors are there.  He was there to be seen as the association with the tabernacle. Again, it’s not a uniform, although we probably could slip and say it was a uniform. People identified him by what he wore.  But it wasn’t simply to know that this is who he was in the community.

It was to recognize his position before God and before the community. In many ways, the priest was to be like a mini tabernacle, a place where the Lord would dwell among them and walk among them in the courtyard of the tabernacle.  Now, go back where, what’s kept coming, creeping up? This is for your pop quiz next week, to see how much you’ve taken in.

What keeps coming up? Eden restored. When did God walk among his people?  Eden.  What’s God doing now with a fully clothed high priest in priestly garments? Walking and moving among his people. But only in the court of the tabernacle. And so here we once again get an image of Eden restored, so that God is once again, through his mediator, And so in light of the fact that God became incarnate as the Lord Jesus Christ to be our great high priest, it’s easy to see how the priest resembles him to the Old Testament tabernacle.

God’s dwelling place, because it anticipates the incarnation in Jesus. God dwells most fully and perfectly among us, because this is what we read every Christmas. It’s beautiful, because it says there that the Word, that is Jesus Christ, became flesh, and he dwelt among us, he moved among us,  and we have seen his glory.

Glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. What did God want out of these garments? Remember, glory and beauty. How is Jesus often described in the New Testament? The glory of God and the beauty of God.  You see what God’s doing? He can’t make it more simple for us to see. And maybe it’s easy for us because we’re looking back.

Maybe it was harder for the people because they couldn’t look forward. They thought this was it and they were overwhelmed with what this was.  But can you see how good God has been to us?  That we can see this,  and we can see it all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But it’s not just in the opening of John’s Gospel that we read about this, because Hebrews 6, 19 to 20, goes further to show us that the priests in the Old Testament point us to Christ, but also point us to his work.

It wasn’t that simply Christ was to be the glory and beauty of the Father among, walking among mankind, once again even restored. He had a role, and it was the same role as the high priest, only greater because he was the son of God. And so there in Hebrews 6 and verses 19 and 20, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the place behind the curtain, the image of the tabernacle, speaking here where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

That’s who Jesus is.  That’s why we say that Jesus fulfills everything of the Old Testament,  of the Old Covenant. It’s all fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  The law is fulfilled. It doesn’t mean that the law is not important, but the law is no longer a means  of training us of what worship is, because we don’t worship by the way of the law anymore.

We worship through Christ, who fulfills the law,  because he is our priest forever. He is our mediator forever before the throne of God,  because remember, where did the high priest mediate?  In front of the mercy seat.  What did he do once a year? Sprinkled the blood. And what way was the mercy seat designed?

Sitting on the Ark of the Covenant like a throne.  And that’s the role of Christ in our time, here and now. Mediating for us.  before the father’s throne.  And so whenever we look at what it was, practically speaking the ephod was like an apron. I grew up with these kind of aprons, no sleeves, over the head, almost like a large bib.

Tots have them upstairs. They’re fashionably pink. Don’t think they suit me, but my mom still has one from our shop in our bakery because that was our uniform that we had there and she still uses it.  And that’s what it was like. It was like an apron.  Because what work was the high priest doing? It’s not as if it was an apron like baking.

There’s going to be blood splattered. There’s going to be mess because of what needs to go on. But that’s not the kind of apron it was. But it was an apron to demonstrate the work that the high priest would do. Now it would have been square or rectangular, and it wore over his robe. Didn’t have sleeves, but it covered his body from his shoulders down to his thighs, so it was long enough.

And a woven band or tie secured the ephod around the priest’s waist.  And now we come to the shoulders. Did you pick up on what was going on in the shoulders? On the shoulders there were to be onyx stones. Yes. Set into gold filigree, so that was just with a gold bracket around it, and then affixed to the apron.

And on one stone would be the names of the sons of Israel, and on the other would be the other six. So six on each side. So what’s the significance of this? The significance of this is, it shows us that the high priest represents the entire covenant community before the Lord.  He’s not just representing Judah, he’s not just representing Benjamin,  or he’s not even representing just Levi.

He’s representing every part of the community, the covenant community of the Lord. And when the high priest carried the blood into the most holy place on the Day of Atonement, which you can go and look at Leviticus 16 and that’ll tell you all about it. The high priest carried when he carried out this duty,  he was standing in for the entire nation.

He was there on their behalf with their names clearly seen. He knew, and I suppose in one way it was like the weight on his shoulders.  of bearing the whole nation, the whole covenant community before the Lord, interceding on their behalf.  And of course we know that in the covenants that God makes, one person can represent others most beautifully seen in Jesus Christ.

Because when Christ mediates, he just doesn’t mediate for me, he mediates for all of us in this room.  So the one  covers the many, or represents the many.  So the ephod,  beautifully colored, beautifully woven, an image of the tabernacle being worn before the people,  but yet knowing the weight that was on that ephod, not physically by the gold and the onyx stones, but the weight of bearing the covenant community.

Let’s move on to the next thing, and that is the breast piece of judgment. And we’re going to read from verse 15 down to verse 30 to learn about this. You may think this is a bit of a strange thing, a breast piece. Why does he need that?  Be careful of your words here. It’s a breast piece of judgment.

Not a breast plate. It’s not armor. It has a very different purpose than armor. So verse 15 of Exodus 28 says, you shall make a breast piece of judgment in skilled work. In the style of the eod, you shall make it of gold, purple, sorry, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen shall you make it.

It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth. Ye shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row, and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond, and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.

They shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name for the twelve tribes. You shall make for the breast piece. Twisted chains like cords of pure gold and you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece.

And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of gold filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod.  You shall make two rings of gold and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece on its inside edge next to the ephod.

And you shall make two rings of gold and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. And they shall bind the breast piece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod so that the breast piece shall not come loose from the ephod.

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breast piece of judgment, on his heart, when he goes into the holy place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord. And in the breast piece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thumim,  and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the Lord.

Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart. before the Lord regularly.  Now you can understand why it’s easier to build a replica of the tabernacle as opposed to an outfit for a high priest. You can buy an outfit, by the way, online. If you go onto Amazon and want to walk around and along a high priest of old, feel free to go and look for that.

But over this ephod, over this apron, was a breast piece.  And notice what it is. It’s a brass piece of judgment. And I’m actually, it isn’t in the notes, but I’m going to begin where it finishes. What is the judgment? The judgment is the Urim and the Thummim. Those, we don’t exactly know what they were, if they were little oval stones or if they were more like dice, but they would be used to determine what the will of the Lord was.

And did you notice where they’re kept? As well as where the stones  One stone for each tribe of the children of Israel. Where are they? What does God say? Twice placed over the heart.  That’s not just a physical location.  Whenever scripture talks about the heart, it’s not talking about the physical. It’s talking about what lies on the heart emotionally.

So we’ve already got the weight on the shoulders of bearing. Now we have the aching of the heart for the nations. Or for the Covenant people, sorry, as the high priest goes in with that blood to make atonement  in front of him, on his heart he is burdening, or unburdening perhaps, before the Lord the sins of the people.

And so that’s demonstrated there. But the Urim and the Thummim, they were to know the will of the Lord, the judgment of the Lord on what was to be made.  When he used them, we don’t know. We actually know very little about them. We do find them, as we know, in 1 Samuel, a wee bit later on. But we don’t know that much about them.

But like the ephod and the curtains for the tabernacle, this breastpiece of judgment was made of gold. But look at the colors of it again. The colors are blue, purple, and scarlet yarns. And again, you can’t miss the similarity between the tabernacle and these priestly garments that made, once again, even more so now, The high priest, a mini tabernacle for walking among the people.

So God’s presence in the tabernacle was associated in a special way with the high priest himself.  And so as we see that figure of the High Priest, we can anticipate the coming of the Savior, our Great High Priest, who in the very incarnation of our Creator, as Hebrews 2 verses 5 to 18, but we’re only going to read verses 17 and 18, show us this in its fullness.

Because there we read, Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

There’s that word, propitiation.  All the high priest of Israel could do was bring the lamb, the blood of the lamb that had been slain. Christ makes propitiation  by his own blood.  Not only the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, but now.  The propitiation. The one time, but for all time, blood that was shed.

And so the breastplate,  or the breastpiece of judgment has those twelve precious stones in four rows. And I’ve listed there for you the sons, the twelve sons of Israel, and that’s who they represented, each with their tribes.  Now,  whenever you go back and read I shouldn’t say go back, go forward a wee bit as well, and read through scripture, each of these stones Throughout scripture we’re told we’re found  in the Garden of Eden.

Once again, the Garden of Eden coming back. Eden restored, now over the very heart  of the high priest.  Who represents the people in this tent that is Eden restored  before God. Who, what have we just learned? Through the high priest walks among his people in the courtyard of the tabernacle.  I’m sorry, if that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will, because it blows my mind.

What is our God doing? He is doing absolutely everything to restore his people to himself.  But we know, because of our eyes of the New Testament, we are being pointed to Christ, who is the only one  who can fulfill what we’re reading here.  And as with the ephod and the engraving of the names on the stones, the high priest now represents Israel  on the breast piece.

He carries the names on his heart, pointing to the fact that Christ, the great high priest, has his people on his heart. And this is what the great commentator Matthew Henry says.  The high priest had the names of the tribes both on his shoulders and on his breast,  intimating both the power and the love with which our Lord Jesus intercedes for those that are his.

He not only bears them up upon his heart, as the expression here is, but carries them in his bosom  with the most tender affection. How near should Christ’s name be on our hearts, since he is pleased to lay our names so near his.  And again, we’re seeing what the High Priest represented as we see Christ now, the High Priest forever.

It’s not the twelve tribes of Israel that are on Christ’s heart,  it’s every believer.  However many billions there are,  however many billions there have been, and however many billions there will be, those names are in his heart because once again, he has gone behind the veil.  The only one who can,  to not only be the mediator, but also the intercessor for us.

And so the breastplate of judgment is that serious moment, once again representing the tabernacle and its colors and its design and everything it stands for. Showing us again Eden restored by those twelve stones that are placed into the gold,  but also pointing us to Christ.  This breastplate  piece of judgment.

Where someone stands before God on our behalf,  and the judgment does not fall on us, but it has already fallen on Christ. And once again, it is possible for one  to represent the many. The last section we’re going to look at this evening is that of the priestly robe and the turban.  And we’re going to read this then in verses 31 to 38.

And this will be the last section we’ll read. So 31 to 38 say,  You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment, so that it may not tear. On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns around its hem with bells of gold between them.

A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell, and a pomegranate around the hymn of the robe  and that, and it shall be on iron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out so that he does not die,  you shall make a plate of pure gold and in engrave on it like the engraving of a segment.

Holy to the Lord, and you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall be regularly be on his forehead that they may be accepted as

Very little is given to us by way of design of the turban, but we’re certainly told about the priestly robe. And once again, the importance of how it’s designed  should stand out for us because the high priest wears a seamless robe and on it are small pomegranates on the bottom and these signify abundance.

Once again, pointing us to where ultimately humanity knew abundance. And the  robe also had bells on it.  Now, these are truly a more sobering reason.  Did you notice what the Lord said? That the bells were there so that the people would hear. That as the high priest once a year went in behind the veil, they would hear him move.

And it was important that he kept moving so that the bells would be heard. Because if the bells stopped,  it means the high priest was dead.  Now, what would bring that on? Perhaps the high priest had not prepared himself, or maybe he had done something that he shouldn’t. And later we learned that there would have been a cord tied around the high priest that if he did die, because no one else can go in, he could then be pulled out.

And some would believe that’s what that gold cord is, that tied around the apron, that if he did die, the body could be retrieved by pulling out the cord.

I’m very glad this doesn’t happen today.

But remember, the most holy place,  the Ark of the Covenant, the very presence of God,  demanded  that the high priest, as best as human terms could be, would be perfect. Now  do you understand the weight on the shoulders? The burden on the heart?  This job as high priest was not one of status.  This was one of great bearing.

Because you were bearing the sins of the people before God. And if you were not right as high priest,  then that was it.  You were done. Not sent out to pasture but to die. Because no unclean thing can stand in the presence of the Lord.

Isn’t it interesting, pomegranate and bell. The richness and fullness of Eden. But the sound that had to be made because once it went silent, as with Eden, death  enters in.

Who’d want the job of the high priest?  Many wanted it, but never got it.  Because their motives were wrong.  Because the weight that they would bear before the Lord would be sudden death if it was not if it was not done as the Lord had said.  Now the turban is given. We’re not told how the turban is designed but what we do know is there’s a gold plate on it.

And on that gold plate it’s written, we’re told there in the passage, a plate of pure 36 and it shall say on it, holy to the Lord.  And this inscription tells us two things. First of all, he had to wear it all the time. But it tells us first that it serves as a reminder that God set apart the high priest for his service, and by extension that the whole nation of Israel was set apart unto the Lord.

It reminded, again, it’s a weight this time on the head, but it reminded the high priest and it reminded the people of the seriousness of this job. But the second thing is the forehead plate of the high priest also functioned as a call to faith.  Because the mere presence of the gold plate did not make the sacrifices effectual.

In other words, it wasn’t a ritual.  We have to remember that we may think if something happens once a year, it becomes a ritual. No, that’s not what it was. And this is why we have this gold plate,  as God says in Exodus 28.  It’s to remind the high priest and the people  that this is not by some good luck charm.

It’s not by some magic that this happens. As so many of their neighbors believed in the magic of rituals.  But no holiness is the quality of being set apart. The purity of gold.  But the people are not truly holy in scripture unless they trust in the Lord and demonstrate that trust by following his commands.

Amen. By trusting, it’s a step of faith that you’re trusting that this man, this high priest, he trusting himself, can stand before the Lord and make that atonement for the sins of the people.

So there’s another way of looking at it obviously there’s different people have come up with what it should look like, and it’s just another way, and sometimes here we have a different way of being told what’s what. Maybe perhaps a little bit different in its ornateness, but we get the idea of the onyx stones in the shoulders, the breastpiece with the twelve stones, the turban with a gold plate on it.

Does this not just look like a walking tabernacle whenever you look at what we’ve already seen and not just in our pictures, but also in the colors?  Again, telling us of what God’s design for this was.  But as we finish for this evening, what is the application for this? From Exodus 28, and the detail of the priestly garments, we can see the care that God takes in detailing proper worship under the Old Covenant.

From the choice of the priests themselves, down to the very clothes that they would wear.  And so we learn from this that the church and its worship are matters that should be taken seriously.  We cannot just make things up as we go along. That’s why we have an order to worship.  It’s because God takes worship seriously.

It doesn’t restrict the work of the Spirit.  The Spirit can work six months in advance, as well as six seconds in advance, as well as in the moment.  But as we approach worship sincerely,  we come to,  to understand that God has a design for it.  And maybe it’s not. The Presbyterian way is the only way. And by the way, if you go to other Presbyterian churches, they do it all differently.

But what it is about, we know that when we approach God, we know what we’re doing, whatever format it takes.  It’s still done sincerely and seriously before the Lord.  From a call to worship,  to a hymn that reflects that we can sing out what we believe, that we can sing that to each other,  as well as on to the Lord.

That as we come with prayers of intercession, we know that we are coming before the God who hears. That there’s a mediator who is working between us and the Lord, interceding for us. And so God takes worship seriously, and so must we. If I’m honest, the thing I struggle with most, I grew up, the thought of missing church on a Sunday never came into our house.

I can never remember a Sunday of missing church. We had one week holiday, and even then, we had to stay in church on the Sunday and then go.  It’s a brave new world we’re living in. I struggle. I genuinely struggle with the choice people make to do something else  on a Sunday that isn’t of necessity.  And the reason why I say that is because God takes worship.

Yes, we worship every day. Everything we do, Roman 12 tells us, is our spiritual act of worship. But when it comes to publicly, we only do it once a week.

Should it be a priority? Yes, it should,  because God takes worship seriously.  And so the priests in general, and the high priest in particular, were mediators between God and his people. And if the ultimate goal was for Israel to be a kingdom of priests, then they first needed their own priests to mediate between God and their community, so that their worship would be acceptable.

They’re seeking of forgiveness of sins. sins would be pleasing unto the Lord. They’re singing of whatever songs they would have sung pre Psalms, that it would all have been acceptable unto the Lord.  And they never had a hymn sandwich. We don’t even know what they would have sung as early as that.

Certainly we have Psalms of Moses. We know songs that were in the Exodus. Would they have sung those? We simply don’t know.  But as we look into the New Testament, the book of Hebrews repeatedly describes the work of Christ.  as the one who mediates through prayer for his people. He’s not praying for his people in the abstract,  as the old covenant priest had the specific names of the children of Israel on his breast as he prayed, so Jesus has the names of his people on his heart when he prays.

He is interceding now specifically for all those who trust in him,  and you know that’s a very comforting thought.  We’re not left In our own wee corner, we have someone who  intercedes for us on our behalf. And Romans 8, 34 says, Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Christ said that he would never abandon us,  that he would never leave us nor forsake us. We know that the first part of that is the coming of the Spirit working in us and through us, but the second part of this is his intercession for us, that he is the one, another word, could be mediating, the one who stands between us and God so that we will be accepted before him.

And so as we consider what we learn from the priestly garments, the only garment that will keep us safe in the presence of God is that very righteousness of Christ. His perfect obedience given to us in our justification by faith  in him alone.  And if we are trusting in anything else to be right before God, then we will perish.

But if we are resting in Jesus alone, then his righteousness gives us eternal life. Because it’s John who writes in 1 John 2, verses 1 2, my little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And I’ve given you that wee line drawing there without the colors  because I think, for me anyway, it stood out.  We know, we’ve learned what the tabernacle is about. We’ve now understood  what the role of the high priest is and what his garments mean.  I just thought this was quite nice.

Standing there as the mini tabernacle, standing as the gatekeeper, the only one who could enter beyond the veil. To stand before the Lord on behalf of the people. I thought that was a lovely picture that, that tells us in a nutshell what is going on with this this whole idea of the tabernacle and particularly this evening, the garments of the priests.

Let’s finish with some questions for you to take home and think about. What greater understanding do you have of Christ as you reflect on the design of clothing for the high priest and what each part what each part meant for the worship of God’s people? What does this mean for you today?

How do you understand each of this as you approach God for worship through Jesus Christ? Secondly, how do the priestly garments in Exodus 28 fit in with the overall design of the tabernacle and how do they point forward to Jesus?  That question is there to really say, are we getting it? Do we see the grace of God displayed throughout scripture?

And then that good old catch all question, how can greater understanding of the garments of the high priest draw you closer to God? as you live for him.  Something to think about and something to learn about. But let’s pray as we finish this evening.  Our Father God, once again we come to what seem to be long and laborious passages of detail in scripture, be it each detail is important because you teach us what is your priority and what is your way of worship.

And so Father as we think about what the high priest did for the covenant community, Thank you that in the new covenant through Christ’s blood we have a mediator. We have the once for all great high priest who stands between us and you mediating on our behalf so that the judgment does not fall on us but has already been settled through Jesus Christ.

May this burn our hearts with great joy knowing that we are safe  because of Christ.  So Father help us as we live out faith to understand what this means for us each and every day as we live for you and as we seek to serve you. So be with us we pray as we continue to learn in these things in Jesus name.

Amen.