THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 2..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Then bring me 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 sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 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 the spirit of skill, and they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. These are the garments that they shall make, a breast piece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checkerwork, a turban, and a sash. Thou shalt 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 the fine twine 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, purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine 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 the 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 piece 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. You shall make a breastpiece of judgment in skilled work. In the style of the ephod, you shall make it of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. It shall be square and doubled, a span in its length and a span in breadth.

You shall set it in four rows of stones, a row of sardis, topaz, and cubicle. shall be the first row, and the second row of emerald, and sapphire, and a diamond, and the third row of jenkinth, and agate, and an amethyst, and the fourth row of beryl, and onyx, and a jasper. Thou shalt 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 signet, each engraved with its name for the twelve tribes.

You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chain 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 attract to one to two settings in filigree and so attach it in front of the shoulder piece of the ephod. You shall make two rings of gold and put them at two ends of the breastpiece and 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 seams 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 in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the holy place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord. And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, 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 the heart before the Lord regularly. He 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 around the hem of the robe. And it shall be on Aaron 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 engrave on it like the engraving of a signet, 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 regularly be on his forehead, and they may be accepted before the Lord.

shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make it a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework. For Aaron's sons, you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons with him and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them that they may serve me as priests. You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh that they shall reach from the hips.

to the thighs and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place, lest they bear guilt and die. This shall be a statue forever for him and for his offspring after him. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Well, as we've said on previous occasions, we've been working our way through the book of Exodus now, and we're up to Exodus chapter 28.

But I've said in previous weeks that when we got to Exodus chapter 25, we hit a pivotal point in the book. And now the book from this point on, from 25 onwards, is going to very much focus on the tabernacle, the instructions Yahweh had given Moses on the mount as to how exactly the tabernacle is to be built. This tabernacle, which is the tent of meeting, a moving tent in the wilderness. But this is no ordinary tent. Because as we all know, it's in the tabernacle that God, Yahweh, was pleased to manifest His presence amongst His people.

And thus, it was very important that every single detail He had given Moses on the mount be carried out exactly, exactly as He said it should be carried out. that Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the whole universe, no other God besides Him would privilege the people of Israel by saying to them, I will be your God and you will be my people and I will dwell among you. This is an incredible privilege for these people. But also we said in previous times that this tabernacle in the wilderness generation, it served a purpose. For them, in that time, 3,500 years ago, but it was also a shadow.

It was a prefiguring of something much greater to come. The temporary nature of the tabernacle, the moving tent, was in fact a teaching tool for the people back then, and also for us even today, of something more permanent, something more glorious that Yahweh has prepared for his people. And as New Testament Christians, we have the privilege to have holy Eret here before us, and we're able to look back and know exactly what that glorious, permanent tabernacle was spoke of, or what that tabernacle spoke of, that which is glorious and permanent. He was speaking of the antitype, the word who became flesh and tabernacled among us. He speaks of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

He is the fulfillment of the tabernacle, and beloved, he is the fulfillment of everything that tabernacle stood for. We've seen already in the furnishings in the last three weeks how that is so. We looked originally in the first week, which was in chapter 25, we looked and we briefly examined the golden lampstand and the light and how Christ is the one, is the antitype, and how that lampstand typified or foreshadowed what was to come in Christ. And then we looked at the table of presents and the bread that sits on that table. And then beyond that, we briefly looked at the Ark of the Covenant and also the mercy seat, the cover of the Ark, which is where propitiation happens, where God, where the Yahweh would be appeased, His wrath would be appeased by the sacrifice, the sprinkling of the blood on that mercy seat.

And of course, it is not the blood of goats and bulls, but it was what He was typifying, what He was pointing to, Jesus Christ Himself. And last week our brother also took us through the last chapter, 27, and the point of 27 that he so elegantly explained to us was on the brazen, or the bronze altar. It's the altar, it's there where the animals are sacrificed and burnt unto the Lord. And it showed the people of Israel that their sin is serious indeed. That the transgression against Yahweh, against God, and their iniquity and their trespasses, they are infinitely offensive to Him, and they are worthy of death.

And the picture of those animals that were sacrificed on the altar and burnt before them is a picture of how serious their sin was. But in fact, our brother took us a step further and said that the flames, the fire, was also a symbol of God's wrath. that the perpetual flame that they would see day in and day out was a reminder that their sin or the sin of the people is worthy of the wrath of God and the wrath of God is kindled against sin every day. There is another lesson. There's another lesson that these people in the wilderness were to learn when they looked upon the tabernacle, and that is, beloved, that God is holy.

You see, sinful man cannot enter or approach a good and holy and righteous God unmediated. The meticulous construction of the tabernacle made sure that even, and we said this the other week, even if they could peer over the outer court, the fence that stood about 2.2 meters high, even if they could look into the tabernacle, the actual structure, the fabric was so overwoven over the edges that they could not even see anything in the holy place, let alone the most holy place. And if everyone tried to go in, they would surely die. That was the message.

So the message is that God is holy. God is holy, and man, you are not holy. You cannot enter his presence without being destroyed. However, by the grace of God, he instituted the Levitical priesthood. A system that Yahweh had instituted that they would become the mediator of His covenant people, Israel, and that they would be able to enter into His presence.

In particular, it is that the high priest would be able to enter into His presence only once a year and with blood in his hand on behalf of the people. and he would be able to supplicate and mediate on behalf of those who are outside the tabernacle. And see, this brings us to chapter 28 where we are here this evening. Because this chapter speaks of these mediators, these priests that Yahweh has instituted. And although we don't have the time to actually look at all the aspects, and there's actually quite a bit in this one chapter, we will meditate on maybe one or two points.

And in particular, the chapter does speak to the garments that these priests are to wear. In particular, the high priest Aaron, and what garments he is to wear when he is on duty in the temple. Because, beloved, we have to be careful not to think that it is actually Aaron who's in the center here, but rather what he represents. and he comes before God on behalf of the people. You see the priest was a mediator and he came before Yahweh on behalf of his people into this dwelling place which by nature was a temporary dwelling place.

And what he did in that temporary place was very much a representation, as I said earlier, of something greater to come. And it's clear in the context that he's here in that place representing the people, not on his own, he's not there of his own name, but he's representing those of Israel on the outside. Because if we remember what we read here this evening, we would remember that he had the name of all the tribes of Israel on both his shoulders. He had six on one side, on one shoulder, and then he had six on the other. And on his chest—that's verses 9 and 10—and on his chest was the breastplate with 12 stones.

Remember that? 12 stones, one which represents every tribe of Israel, and they were probably precious stones, and we can see here scratching our heads to figure out what they were exactly, but that's not the point here. It's not the colour or the rarity or the value, but rather the emphasis is on what's written on these stones and where they are. You see, the stones were the six tribes on each of his shoulders were sitting on the shoulders of Aaron and that's symbolic of him coming before God and carrying that burden, the burden of the people before Yahweh. He brings to Yahweh the burden of their sin and he represents them before a God who cannot look upon sin.

And the breastplate, well that sits on his chest. Oh, thank you. That sits on his chest. And it says here it actually sits upon his heart. He said the priest could not be indifferent.

A priest could not be one who just did things because he was ordered to do them, but rather those people, the people he represented, were meant to be a people that he loved. A people who he had affection towards, that he was burdened deep in his heart for this people, he was concerned for them. And the duties he held in the tabernacle were to be reflective of this. But in particular, when Aaron, the great high priest, entered into the Holy of Holies, when he entered in behind the veil, it's interesting because it's written of this in Leviticus chapter 16, that when he did what he did, he didn't speak a word. It wasn't as though through his words he could bring about forgiveness of sins.

That's not what it is. But what we need to take special care and attention to is what he actually did. You see, he entered into the immediate manifest presence of Yahweh with all his priestly garb on behalf of the people of Israel. so that he would offer the blood of a sacrifice on the mercy seat, so that he could appease the wrath of God. It's a sacrifice that was necessary, but this is the thing.

Aaron lacked the substance to achieve his office perfectly. He could be a mediator because that's what the Lord, that's what Yahweh had commanded him to do. However, he was only a picture of what was necessary to truly appease God. And we know this for sure because what is written on his head in verse 36. Because on his head was written, holy to the Lord.

Aaron's office as high priest required perfect holiness, a complete set of partners for God, because God demands perfection. God demands perfection. Aaron represents the ideal, but he's not the reality. He's not the perfect holy to the Lord. How do we know this?

Well, in the very next chapter, and we'll find this out next week, Aaron needs to sacrifice, and that sacrifice needs to be a sin sacrifice. And in Leviticus 16, we read also, before he brings a sacrifice to the Lord, before he comes into the holy place and offers a sacrifice to the people or for the people of Israel, Aaron needs to sacrifice a bull for his own sins. He's a sinful human being who himself requires atonement for sins. He is a mediator, yes, but this mediator needs a mediator. Brothers and sisters, can you see how the Levitical priesthood could never be the permanent solution to the sin problem?

No, Aaron was an ideal type, a shadow of the great high priest to come. His role was representation of the true substance to come, Jesus Christ. You see, Christ is not the ideal. He's the actual. He's the sum and the substance of all the tabernacles spoke of and all that the high priest symbolized.

His priestly work is accomplished through his perfect love on behalf of his people. He has a genuine concern and a love for his people, as we see so clearly in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17. And unlike Aaron, he is perfectly holy to the Lord, perfectly committed, perfectly doing the will of the Father. That's what he came to accomplish, and that's what he did accomplish. Listen, and we'll end on these to Hebrews 7, verses 26 and 27, that so beautifully explains how it is that the Levitical priesthood could never have accomplished true redemption for God's people, but how Christ can.

He says, "...for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest." Hear this. innocent, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. You could never say that about the Levitical priesthood.

And it continues. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of his people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself for the law-appointed men in their weakness as high priests. But the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect." Forever. Beloved, this is our great High Priest.

And for those who are trusting in Him and in Him alone, they find redemption, they find forgiveness, and they find that God is no longer against them, but for them in love. Let's pray.