Well, we are continuing today, brothers and sisters, with our look at the fascinating high priestly garments. I thought I would complete all of chapter 28, all of the high priestly carments in a nice little, just one sermon, wrap it up, move on. And if you actually, if you look at, I'll at least plan out the texts I'm going to use. I said chapter 27, one sermon, chapter 28, one sermon, chapter 29, so on and so forth, okay? Except as soon as I began to actually study and go into the high priestly garments, as is sometimes happened to me, I realized there's way more here to be unpacked. There really is so much more in these priestly garments than can be done in one sermon. And in fact, as I discovered last night, there's actually more than can be done in two sermons. Not three though, I will be done by the third sermon, but there really is just so much here. so much to glean. Last week, we saw that these garments, these high priestly garments, are no mere garments. They are not just fancy clothes for the sake of fancy clothes. They are not just nice clothes because the priest is in a great position of honor among the people of Israel. In fact, what we saw is the high priestly garments are crucial to the priesthood. Perhaps you've heard the old phrase, it's actually a very, very ancient phrase, that the clothes make the man. Ever heard that? The clothes make the man. It's actually very, very ancient. There's a lot of different versions of it. We use that phrase to mean that the clothes you wear, for better or for worse, affect the way people see you, right? Guys, Perhaps your wife says to you, are you really going to wear that to the store? What will people think of you? You're wearing pajamas and it's 2 p.m. What do you think you're doing? Maybe you don't have that problem. Some of us do. But the clothes we wear affect the way people think about us. But also, when we say the clothes make the man, there's also something more that sometimes the clothes we wear even affects our own behavior, right? Maybe if, and I guess this happens if you're dressed fancier, right? You might feel fancier, you might feel like, I feel good, I feel good about myself right now, right? All that to say that clothes are almost somewhat transformative in a certain sense, right? Well, with the High Priest of Israel, that becomes true on an even greater scale. It is particularly garments which make the High Priest, not the other way around. I said, if you remember, I read from Calvin, he says, Aaron was defiled by his own corruption and therefore unworthy to appear in the presence of God. In order then that he might be a fit peacemaker between God and man, he put off his ordinary garments and stood forth as a new man. That's very much what these garments enable him to do. They kind of like transform him into on the symbolic level, God's ideal priest, right? Furthermore, we saw that these garments are not just transformative, but they're also revelatory. They're revelatory. By them, God reveals the qualifications, the nature, and the duties which God requires of one who is to be a priest between God and man. For example, we saw that the garments indicate that the one who is to be priest must be spotlessly, unqualifiedly, unconditionally holy. This was intimated by the fact that the garments are said to be made for glory and for beauty, which corresponds to the glory and the beauty of God's holy presence in the tabernacle, indicating that whoever is going to be a fit high priest, if he is going to enter into a place that is gloriously holy, he must likewise himself be spotlessly holy. Otherwise, you have no high priest. And ultimately, the great hope for us, as we saw, is this points us to Christ, who, as the author of Hebrews says, is just such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners. Additionally, we saw that these garments reveal not just what a priest must be in terms of moral standards, in terms of holiness, but they also reveal what in many ways is the underlying essence of the priesthood. If you remember, I asked the question, what happens there by the priest inside the Holy of Holies? How does what happened there a benefit to sinners on the outside, right? And if you remember, as we saw through the gems, the precious gems with the names of the tribes of Israel on the breastpiece of the high priest, we saw that it is ultimately by representation. What happens in there can be a benefit to those who are outside because the high priest is their representative. Although the main duties of a priest are to make atonement and to make intercession, yet none of those acts would be beneficial to sinners if that priest were not their representative. That's the underlying essence of priesthood itself, okay? Again, We saw that this, too, points us to Christ, who is our representative before the Father. And we considered the very beautiful analogy that we, too, are like so many precious gems written on the heart of Christ before the throne of God. Well, today, as we continue with the garments, we will see an aspect of the priesthood which, in many ways, we actually don't typically associate with the priesthood. If anything, we typically associate it more with the prophethood of Christ and not His priesthood. What I'm referring to is the fact that not only does Christ represent us to God, but he also represents God to us. He reveals in many ways what God is like and what the will of God is, and he can do that because he doesn't just represent us to God, but he also represents God to us. One of the words, an ancient word for priest, which I think it so perfectly illustrates this, I love this, is the ancient Roman word for priest, which is pontifex. Pontifex, you ever heard that? Sometimes you'll hear the Pope referred to as the Roman pontiff. pontiff. Sometimes he's even called the Pontifex Maximus, which actually was the title of the high priest of ancient pagan Rome, and he's the bishop of Rome, so he kind of took that title to himself, right? Make of that whatever you will. But he's essentially saying, I am the high priest. I'm the Pontifex Maximus. The word pontifex, interestingly though, most likely means bridge builder. Bridge builder. If you know any Spanish, you know the word for bridge is puente. You can kind of hear that, ponte, fex. Fex means to make. One who builds a bridge. That's actually a very fitting picture of what a priest does, isn't it? Just as a bridge builder, by building a bridge, connects two sides of a river that were formerly separated from one another, allowing them now, the parties on both sides, to now come and meet with one another, so also a priest, in effect, builds a bridge between God and man. God and man were formerly separated by the gulf of man's sin, but now a high priest comes along who builds a bridge so that they can actually come now and meet together in the person of the high priest. For us, this means then that while Christ definitely, of course, and this is such a great truth as we saw, He represents us before God. Yet Christ is also the perfect and ultimate representative and revelation of God Himself to us. If you want to know what God is like, as we shall see, look to Christ. He is the high priest sent to represent God on the other side. If you want to know what the will of God is, look to Christ. He is the ultimate revelation of the will of God. And so while we typically associate revelation more with prophets, right, not priests, this too, as we'll see today, is an important function of the high priest. And it is actually, as we'll see, a great comfort, a very great comfort and joy for Christians. Well, let's turn now, let's look at our texts. We only have two verses. Let's look at our text, beginning again in verse 29. 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 his heart before the Lord regularly. All right. Well, here we come to what in many ways is like the most, one of the most fascinating and mysterious things, not just in the Old Testament, but in all of scripture, the Urim and the Thummim. And I'm just letting you know now, I am gonna say Urim and Thurim. I just can't, I said it so many times when I was preparing for this. Urim, it's Urim and Thummim, but that's what it is. But what were the Urim and the Thummim? Well, first, just note, if you remember, I said last week, when it says the term judgment here, as in the breastpiece of judgment, or that Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people on his heart, that should not be understood as a reference to God's judgment, like his wrath and punishment for sin. Rather, it should be understood as a judgment in the sense of a ruling or a decision, okay? It's actually an indirect, or as we'll see, it's a fairly direct reference to the Urim and the Thummim themselves. Now, let me just say something at the outset here. There is a lot that we don't know about the Urim and the Thummim. This is partly because it seems like the passages that speak of them seem to basically assume that the people of that time knew what they were, and so they don't go into big, detailed explanations, which we might find helpful, but they weren't necessary at the time because people tended to apparently know what they were. There's actually no commandment to build or to make or fashion the Urim and the Thummim. They're just mentioned, okay? Furthermore, In the history of Israel itself, the Urim and the Thummim were rather mysterious, and they seem to have been lost after the Babylonian captivity. In fact, there's a mention in the book of Nehemiah that says they're trying to determine who are legitimate priests and who are not, because some of them, their names are not in the priestly records. And whoever it is, the governor, maybe Nehemiah, says, well, let's wait until a priest arises with Urim and Thummim, who can help us determine that, indicating they didn't have them at the time. And it seems after that, everyone agrees that they didn't have them. This means that even the Jews of Jesus' day We're somewhat in the dark and speculating about what the Urim and the Thummim were. How much more so for us who are 2,000 years farther, all right? So all that to say, while there is definitely things we know, we will come to some good conclusions today. We still need to be kind of circumspect and admit there's several options on certain matters, although some things are clear, OK? Well, what can we say about them? Well, first, let's simply consider the words themselves. Obviously, urim and thumim are not English words, but are transliterations of the Hebrew. So what do those Hebrew words mean? Here, again, we have several possibilities, some better than others, but we're not 100% sure. Historically, the most common adopted translation of these words has been that they mean lights and perfections. Lights and perfections. Urim, being the plural, meaning lights, and thummim, meaning perfections, okay? That seems to be the predominant interpretation of Christian and Jewish scholars of almost most of history, I would say, okay? Additionally, some translate it as light and truth, because the Hebrew word for perfect or perfection, depending on the context, can also be translated as truth or true. So some people say this means light and truth. And interestingly, if you were to Google the seal, the insignia of Yale University, you'll see a picture of a book, and on one page in Hebrew it says Urim, and on the second page it says Tumim, and then in Latin it says Lux et Veritas, Light and Truth. And that just kind of goes to show, you know, it was founded in the 1700s. That was kind of one of the common interpretations even up to that time. I would say probably even up until the 20th century, okay? Now, I personally am less convinced of those translations because I think there's others with more explanatory power. On the other hand, I have to admit, I can't throw them out entirely. Well, what are these better alternative translations? Well, before we can answer that, we need to provide a bit more context in order for those to even make sense. So let's continue looking at what we do know about them, and as we go along, we will refer back to some of those alternative translations, okay? What else do we know about the Urim and Thummim? One thing we can say fairly confidently, this might sound obvious, but it's a point to make, is that they were objects of some kind. Again, that might sound obvious, but we'll see why it's not necessarily. This is seen in the fact that whatever they are, they are put inside of the breastpiece. If you remember, the breastpiece is said to be doubled. And this most likely signifies it's a pouch of some kind. And in that pouch, the urim and the thumim were placed. So for example, verse 30 of our own chapter, and in the breastpiece of judgment, you shall put the urim and the thumim. Leviticus 8.8, and he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the urin and the thummin. So obviously, whatever they are, they are objects of some kind. Now, like I said, that might sound overly obvious, but that has been contested in the history of interpretation. For example, there were some ancient Jews, Josephus, for example, who believed that the Urim and the Thurim were actually different ways in which the gems, the 12 gems on the breastpiece, that they were different ways in which those would light up and glow. And so if God gave Urim, they would glow a certain way. If he gave Thumim, they would glow a different way. I think he argues that it was not until the second temple period that they stopped glowing, okay? However, what we see here is whatever they are, they're not the 12 pieces because they're put inside of the breast piece, okay? So they're objects of some kind. Next, we can say with a great degree of certainty, almost 100% certainty, I would say, the reason why God gave them, what was their purpose? They were given as a means of revelation. They're a means of revelation. So, for example, 1 Samuel 28, 6. After Saul had been rejected by God, it says, Now obviously the first and the last one, dreams or prophets, are ways that God would reveal and communicate to his people or the king. And so Urim is placed in the middle of that and that likewise was a means of God to reveal his will to his people. Now, basically, or I'm saying, hold on one second. Okay, I got lost, sorry. Now, the next thing that we know with a great deal of certainty, what we have the most evidence about is how they actually worked, how they functioned. So turn with me, for example, to Numbers chapter 27. You know, in many ways, if you wanna know really what something is, you ask, what does it do? Have you ever heard that? If you want to know what a hammer is, it's not just a hunk of metal with rubber around the bottom. It's something that hits nails. We know what the urim does, and so in that sense we know what it is. Numbers 27 verse 21. Speaking here of Joshua's succession of Moses, it says, And he, Joshua, shall stand before Eliezer the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. Basically, the way it worked is that whoever was the leader of the people of Israel at that time, here it's Joshua, later it would be Kings. They would have a question of some kind and they would bring it to the priest and it says, he shall inquire for him. The priest would inquire on behalf of the leader. Now, two things to note about these questions. First, they were never just any old questions. The Urim and Thummim were not to be used to satisfy your curiosities about the most whatever crazy, it wasn't Google, okay? They were specifically used when the leader of Israel needed insight into making a certain decision, a larger decision that would probably impact the welfare of his people. And so in this sense, it was given ultimately for the welfare of Israel. Okay? Second, and this is important, these questions were never open-ended. They typically asked for guidance between two options, option A or option B. So it wasn't like they said, God, what is your will for my life? And then God would tell them what God wants them to do that year. He would say, God, should I do this or should I do that? or is this person guilty or is that person guilty? It's kind of a binary answer you would get. That's always the questions that were asked, okay? And so what would happen is the ruler would tell the question to the high priest, and then most likely the priest would go into the tabernacle and stand before the altar because it says he shall ask and inquire before the Lord, meaning he would go in before the Lord's presence. The priest would then ask the same question to the Lord, and then reach into the breastpiece, and whatever he pulled out, whatever that would be, whether Urim or Thummim, would give the answer to that kind of option A or option B question. Okay? That's kind of how it functioned. In many ways, it's very similar to casting lots. And in fact, we'll see the language of casting lots is used to describe using the urim and the thumim. Actually, what's really interesting as we go on, I think we'll see this in Exodus, but especially in Leviticus, which is where we're gonna go after this. There are several passages which speak of the priest casting lots, okay? For example, on the Day of Atonement, When the two goats are before the priest and he is to choose one that will be the sacrifice and one that will go into the wilderness, we are told he is to cast lots to determine which one is which. That most likely would have been done by the urim and the thumim. So a lot of times when we read casting lots, they're not just like throwing something, they're using the urim and the thumim. Interestingly, the result of casting lots, the outcome, is referred to in scripture as a mishpat, a judgment, or a decision. So, for example, Proverbs 16.33, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision, judgment, is from the Lord. That's why it's said in first, where was it? In Numbers 27, 21, it speaks of the judgment of the urim. It really means the outcome of the kind of casting of lots and pulling and reaching out, okay? Now, as far as an example of this actually being used, turn with me to 1 Samuel 14. Really fascinating example. 1 Samuel chapter 14. beginning in verse 40. Now for context here, the Lord will not answer Saul whether he is to go and attack the Philistines or whether he should stay, and he won't answer Saul because there is sin in the camp. So Saul goes to inquire via Urim and Thummim to determine whose guilt it is so that then the Lord will answer him, okay? So verse 40. Then he, Saul, said to all Israel, You shall be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. So note, you have two options. Israel standing on one side and Saul and Jonathan on the other. An option A and an option B. It continues. And the people said to Saul, Do what seems good to you. Therefore Saul said, O Lord God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O Lord God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim. And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped." So notice, He said if it's for Israel give to me, but if if it's in Jonathan or him give Urim well apparently it was Urim because Jonathan and Saul were taken and Next it says in verse 42 then Saul said cast the lot notice the language of casting lots cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan and this time Jonathan was taking taken implying that it was Thummim. Thummim for Saul. One of those. It revealed that ultimately the guilt was in Jonathan at that time. Okay? And so you can see how this would work then. If the priest pulls out Urim, whatever that was, it signifies whatever option that was. If he pulls out Thummim, it signifies whatever option that was. And it's because it's in this way that God would give answers and reveal his will to his people. Now, as far as better translations of the words urim and thurim, because of the binary nature of the questions, some have suggested that actually urim and thurim should be rendered as light and dark, or maybe lights and darks. And there's some evidence that this could be the case. And what they argue is that perhaps the Urim was something white, maybe like a white stone, and the Thummim was something black, black stone. And the priest can't see which one is which. He would reach in, whichever one he brings out is the answer, right? It's a very probable interpretation of all these. The most interesting one that I found that is not entirely crazy, it's a little too complicated to give the full explanation of it, and so I won't. In my original version, I had that, and I was like, oh, no. People are going to start going to use the bathroom or something. It's that actually, urim and thumim means odds and evens. Odds and evens. You can't go into why, but there's actually some legitimate reasons why that would be the case. And what is envisioned then is that it's maybe a good number of objects are in the pouch. The priest reaches in his hand, pulls them out, and whether the things he pulls out is in the number of evens or odds gives you the answer, right? That's one scenario. If you're interested, I can send you the article. It's even a little bit over my pay grade, but there is some substance to that claim. At the end of the day, while there is so much that we don't know about the Urim and the Thummim, and there's so much that we would love to know about, right, this and that, whatever was pulled out of the breastpiece, whatever the precise meaning of the words, the result was the same. God gave a revelation of His will to His people through the high priest. His will was represented then to the people of God. Well, let's take a step back now. Let's take what we've just learned and let's do the harder task of kind of asking the bigger questions, the so-whats, if you will. Namely, what does this teach us about Christ? And specifically, what does this teach us about Christ as our High Priest? How do you get from Urim and Thummim to something comforting about Jesus, our High Priest? Well, as I said at the beginning, if we understand that Christ Himself is indeed our Pontifex Maximus, He is our great High Priest, our bridge builder between God, we can understand this and bring a lot of meaning to this. Christ truly represents us to God, but He also represents God to us. In effect, He reveals God to us. If you want to know what God is like, look to your great high priest. With Christ, you and I have the ultimate revelation of God, brothers and sisters, more than dreams, more than prophecies, more even than Urim and Thummim. What you and I have in Jesus Christ is the most crystal clear revelation that God ever gave of himself. Christ also is the most fitting one to be a bridge builder. Why? Because if He is indeed to bridge the gap between God and man, it is particularly helpful that He is actually both God and man. As a man, He can represent sinful men to God and take their names before God into His presence and receive benefits for them because He is their representative. As God Himself, He is the best representation and revelation of God to men. With Christ, you truly have God in the flesh. The author of Hebrews says it this way, long ago, and at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He, the Son, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. You see, prophets Priests who had the Urim and the Thummim, whoever might have dreams from God, those even who wrote scripture in the Old Testament, they indeed had true revelation from God inspired by the Spirit. But what none of them could say is that they were the exact imprint of the nature of God. None of them could have that claim. Though they gave very good, clear, true revelations, none were the exact imprint of the nature of God. Philip says to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father. It is enough. Oh Lord, show us what God is like. Let us see God. Let us know what He's really like. Let us have a true revelation of God. Jesus says, have I been with you so long and still you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Christian, would you like to know what God is like in His nature? Look to Christ. The words of Christ are the words of God. The loving actions of Christ are the loving actions of God. The heart of Christ is the heart of God. What further revelation could you want than the Son of God Himself to come? And that is our High Priest. This is so incredibly important, brothers and sisters, because, you know, it's so funny There are so many things in which we are prone to wander. You know that, prone to wander? You say that? I think one of those that we just, it's like part of our fallen nature to fall back again and again and again into is trying to find acceptance with God by our works, right? Even the most seasoned Christian who just, totally just stands so strong in the doctrines of justification by faith alone. Even them, there are moments when their hearts tend to doubt God's acceptance of them because of their own works, right? It's just built into our heart to kind of, whenever we're not swimming, we're going backwards, if you could say that, right? Well, there's something similar that we do in terms of how we view God. There are moments when we view God aright. when we understand Him by His Word. And yet, the bent of our heart is to understand God apart from the gospel. To understand how very strange, very scary thoughts of who our Heavenly Father is, thoughts that do in no way correspond to who He actually is, right? What's interesting is we can especially do this when we consider that Christ is our High Priest, right? What do I mean by that? Well, on the one hand, we know that apart from Christ, if we entered into God's presence, we would be vaporized in an instant, right? And that's true. Our sin does separate us, or at least it did before Christ separate us from God. Furthermore, we read passages that speak of the fact that Christ is our advocate with the Father. He's our defense attorney. And yet, perhaps subtly in our heart, we read into this that the Father is an icy cold judge. He would love to throw the book at us, but thanks be to God, we have an advocate who stands for our defense, who's actually on our side. Or we read passages that say, we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, and we think, oh, thank God Jesus can be sympathetic to me because I'm such a weak sinner. If I didn't have him, God would throw the book at me. What we forget is that it was the Father who sent the Son. It was the compassionate Father who sent the compassionate high priest. It's the compassionate priest Jesus that has the same heart as the compassionate Father. So if you want to know God's heart and disposition to you, look to Christ and you will know it. There was a lesser known Westminster theologian named John Aerosmith. John Aerosmith. He wrote a cool little book. It totally needed to be written, and it's simply an exposition of John 1. John 1's so cool, it's so profound, it's like that's his whole book is just one exposition. It's called Theanthropos, God-man, okay? But he comments on John 1, 18, that says this. No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. He comments on the fact that the Son makes known the Father to us. Listen to what he says. It may help us to conceive of the Father according to what we read of the Son, and to conceive of the Son according to what we read of the Father, because the Son is the exact imprint of the Father's person. Therefore, it is of great use for poor, penitent sinners who with the publican stand afar off and dare not lift their eyes up to heaven. For though they conceive some hope in regard of Christ, yet they are afraid God the Father will never pardon them. They look at Christ as a Savior, all of mercies, but have strange apprehensions of God the Father, as if He were altogether a consuming fire. But here is for thy comfort. Christ, whatsoever He is, is the exact imprint of the Father. Therefore, what you find in Christ, you may find in the Father. Was Christ so full and free-hearted and ready to help every poor sinner in the days of His flesh? He is but the Father's image, and you may find the same disposition in the Father. You see, Christian, if you want to know what the God is like whom you serve, look to the high priest whom He sent to build the bridge between you and Him. Christ is indeed our advocate with the Father. Indeed, He is our sympathetic, merciful High Priest, but we should not understand that the Father is any less compassionate, or merciful, or kind, or that the Father any less wants to do you good, and be merciful, and be gracious to you. Because after all, who sent the merciful High Priest? But the Father Himself. And that shows the Father's heart. That is, first, how Christ is the representative and revelation of God towards us. Furthermore, not only is Christ the perfect revelation of the Father Himself, but just as the high priest by the Urim and the Thurim revealed the will of God, so also Christ is the perfect revelation of the will of the Father. Now this revealed will of God that I speak of is not a revelation of God's will whether you should take one job or take another. It is not necessarily the will of God for how many kids you and your spouse should have. It doesn't tell you who or who you should not marry. It's not necessarily that kind of will. It's actually something much bigger than that. We could say, in a certain sense, it is God's ultimate will. Now God doesn't have multiple wills, right? And so He doesn't have one will for this and another lesser will for all these lesser issues. But when I say Christ is the ultimate revelation of the will of God, that means Christ is the ultimate revelation of the main thing that God is doing. The main thing that God the Father has planned to do from eternity past. If you want to know what that is, And His will for every other thing that comes to pass ultimately serves the purposes of that will. Everything that happens in your life, everything that happens in mine, everything that we are to be and to do as a church is to ultimately be subservient to this main thing. That's what I mean is revealed in Jesus Christ. But what is this purpose and will? Let me tell you. Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 7 through 10. The main part is really verses 9 through 10, but because it's a run-on sentence, we're going to start in verse 7. Ephesians 1, 7 through 10. In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will. according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven, and things on earth." That is God's mysterious will from eternity past revealed now in the coming of Christ to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things on earth. What does that mean? Thomas Goodwin explains, the whole and all and utmost of what God purposed in Himself was namely this, listen to what he says, the whole, the all and utmost of what God purposed in Himself was namely this, to gather all in Christ, the good angels as well as us men, thereby to show the fullness of Christ's glory. Do you want to ask the main thing that God is up to? The main thing that came into His heart in eternity past, which He therefore created and set everything into motion, for which He saved us and our whole life and existence is heading towards this one goal. What is that? It is that Christ be the head of all creation, men and angels underneath Him, with all things under His subjection, receiving glory to the glory of God the Father. That is the main thing. This is sometimes referred to as the doctrine of recapitulation. Any of you ever heard that before? Recapitulation? Recapitulation simply comes from the Latin version of the Greek word used in Ephesians 1.10 for uniting all things. Uniting all things together. Sometimes translated as gathering all things together. This doctrine of recapitulation refers to the fact that God's ultimate plan was to send Christ as the new head of all humanity, the new Adam of all creation, who not only undoes the destruction caused by the failure of the first head of humanity, but takes humanity on into glory, and thus unites all things in Christ, and thus unites them to God himself. John Owen says, In particular, the Lord Christ is glorious in this, in that the whole breach made on the glory of God and the creation by the entrance of sin is hereby repaired and made up. All is restored. repaired and made up in this recapitulation of all things in one new head, Christ Jesus. Yea, the whole creation is rendered more beautiful than it was beautiful before. Hence, the whole of creation groans for this full restoration and recapitulation of all things under Christ. This is what Goodwin calls the whole, all, and utmost of God's will. And it is ultimately through Jesus Christ that you and I, brothers and sisters, have received the knowledge of what that is. It might be nice, I don't know, be careful what you wish for, right? But it might be nice if Pastor Ryan actually had Urim and Thummim, and when you needed some counsel, you could come to me, and I could tell you what to do, right? Who to marry. I could give you those insights into those specific questions you had. That might be nice on one hand. What I can guarantee you, though, is those high priests who had the Urim and the Thummim What they wouldn't give to know what you know about God's will accomplished in Jesus Christ. They think, yeah, I have the Urim and the Thurim. It tells me whether to go after the Philistines or not. You know God's eternal purpose from eternity past. The main thing that God is doing that has been revealed to you. They would trade the Urim and the Thurim in a second to know what you know, brothers and sisters. You know the will of God. And you know what? You want to know the will of God in those other little things? I can tell it to you. You want to know who to marry? You want to know whether or not to take a certain job? Just so you know, all the little girls stopped and looked at me when I said, you want to know who to marry? It's kind of funny. Anyway. You want to know whether to go to college? What college to go to? You want to know all that stuff? I can tell you the answer. Choose the option that most tends towards God's great will. Choose the option that will most manifest and praise Jesus Christ and be to the glorifying of Christ and putting all things into subjection underneath Him. If you do that, I guarantee you, you'll be in the will of God. And you'll have to use wisdom to determine which one that is, of course. But it is ultimately that will of God which our will is to be subservient to. And this has finally been revealed in Jesus Christ. Well, brothers and sisters, take great courage from the fact that we have a great bridge builder in Jesus Christ, the God-man. There were many typological bridge builders before him, many high priests. None of them were God-men. They were all just men, and they passed away We have a bridge builder who is both God and man, and therefore is fitting on the one hand to be a representative of sinful men to God, but on the other hand, a representative and revelation of who God is to sinful men. I pray you'd be encouraged by this, brothers and sisters. When your heart tends to, as John Aerosmith says, conceive of God the Father as a consuming fire, but Christ is the one freely receiving sinners, understand that that is also the Father's heart for you. When you have fallen into sin and you need to come to the Father to repent, to confess your sins to the Father, know that He has the same open, gracious, merciful heart towards sinners as the Son does. And you know Jesus does. Just read the Gospels. He goes to the rejects, the sinners, the publicans, the very worst of the worst, and these are the ones He calls to repentance. It's the same with the Father. you will be received by a loving father. Also, brothers and sisters, glory in the fact, as Jesus told his disciples, blessed are your eyes, for you see the things that many prophets and righteous people wish to see and did not see. We finally know the big thing God is doing in the world through Jesus Christ, the recapitulation of all things. And one day, when every enemy is put under the feet of God, we will finally see the end goal in the new heavens and the new earth, standing at the foot of Jesus with the elect angels, worshiping Him, saying, this was the end goal the whole time, and we will not be dissatisfied, brothers and sisters. I pray, if you do not know Christ today, I pray that you would know that He is the friend of sinners, but know also that the Father is the friend of sinners as well, since He sent the Son who is the friend of sinners. Apart from Christ, you could never know God. Your sins create an impassable gap. A grand canyon of sin you can't even imagine the size of, and yet God sent his son from his side of that gap to come become a man, to build a bridge to take you to that side. All you have to do to have your sins forgiven is come to that great priest who receives sinners and believe in him. Ask Him to be your great high priest, to represent you before God and to represent God before you. And as He has done with millions of sinners beforehand, so He will do with you. You simply have to come to Him and trust. Let's pray. Father, Lord, You're so good. What can we say, Lord? the riches of the gospel, the riches of Christ, the riches of your wisdom, Father God. They leave us dumbfounded in many ways. Father, I pray for the saints of sovereign joy and for myself. You would help us to take courage. Though we do have a merciful high priest, we also have a merciful God. You are our loving Father. I pray that you would strengthen us in that. You would help our hearts to grab hold of that truth, Father God. Lord, would you help us to marvel in your great purpose revealed from eternity past, the exaltation of Jesus Christ as the new Adam. May we seek to live, to do everything we do to accomplish and further that goal and that plan, God. Father, I pray for any here who don't know you. God, would you be merciful? Through the power of your spirit, would you show them their sins that separate them from you? Would you show them that Jesus is the merciful one who will forgive their sins because he died in the place of sinners on the cross and his blood is powerful to wash away sins that they might come to him and be forgiven? Father, would you do this today in Jesus' name, amen.