Take a look at verse 1 and 2. Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto thee in the priest's office, even Aaron Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. Verse 2, pay attention to this. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. Holy garments for Aaron. As I said, this is the last of this series, and we're going to look at our great high priest's garments. How utterly insufficient is a mere mortal man to speak upon, to describe, attempt to describe the character, the person of the altogether lovely Son of God. How utterly insufficient to describe the glory and the beauty of the Son of God. Not only are we so very ignorant of the true glory of the Son of God, so very ignorant, but this is kind of like a blind man trying to describe a rainbow. It really is. We know in part, we know so very little, of the vast ocean the depth of this knowledge of Christ, that vast ocean of his fullness. It's like we've only stuck our little toe in the water. We know in part we see through a glass dimly. It's like a very nearsighted man beholding something from afar without his glasses. When we do get a rare glimpse, and I emphasize these glimpses are rare. And we do get a rare glimpse of the glory, the beauty, the majesty, and the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We're a little bit dazzled at times by it. Yet, as Queen Sheba said to Solomon, the half has never been told. That's the reason I believe that we're going to spend, we're going to be singing of his glory and beauty throughout eternity in heaven, throughout eternity. Never going to quit singing after we behold him, kind of like one who can never see enough of or say enough about the most beautiful view he has ever seen. You remember that passage over in Revelation 7, where it said that people stand before his throne? I think we're going to stand there for I don't know how many years just with our mouths wide open and gazing in awe and wonder at this wonder sight. I'm not talking about heaven. I'm talking about him who is heaven. Do you remember, and I'll give you a little illustration of this, a little example. Do you remember what it was like when you courted your wife or your husband? Do you remember what it was like, how you could never get enough of them? Just being with them and looking at them among other things. Or heaven. Heaven is the believers honeymoon. With his bridegroom, heaven is going to believe be the believers eternal honeymoon, but we can't get enough of being around and seeing the bride. He's that wonderful. And in closing out this series on the tabernacle we're just going to touch some of the highlights we're going to go through all the way through chapter twenty-eight. We're going to touch the highlights of this chapter to speak of the high priest garment. Now it's providential that we've been dealing like Sunday morning both in the Bible study from Hebrews six and the message Sunday morning. We've been dealing with the believer's conduct and personality lately, and the garments of the common priest are described here as well. Look down at verse 40 of chapter 28. Verse 40, the garments of the common priest. Now the believer, remember the believer is called a priest unto God, that's because we minister unto him, we serve him, we minister about the things of the gospel. We're taken up with the tabernacle. That's the reason a believer is called a priest. We're taken up with Christ, the tabernacle of God, among others. And the garments of the common priest, the sons of Aaron, and we're sons of God. They are mentioned here, verse 40, and for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, make for them girdles and bonnets, or headdresses shalt thou make for them. because they are to have glory and beauty. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with them, and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, just like Aaron, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office." They've got to be dressed properly too. And thou shalt make them linen brooches to cover their nakedness. From the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach. And they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And whenever they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, they've got to have these white linen britches or covering on that they bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him, an everlasting covering. All right. Now, look down at verse 3. Let's begin. Chapter 28. Now he says, Thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, all that God has revealed the Scriptures unto, that am able to make you wise unto salvation, all that know and see Christ as their wisdom. Is that you? Speak unto all that are wise-hearted. Do you have Christ in your heart? Is he your wisdom? Are you wise unto salvation? Do you know him? Speak unto those who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom." There he is. "...that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office." Tell them, speak to them that are wise-hearted, that they may make Aaron's garments. Now, this is typical. We are to appropriate—that's an old Puritan word for put on—Christ. We're to put on the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ by faith, Paul said. We're to make his garments. He is made unto us. God made him unto us. And we're to make him as our own by faith. This is what we do by faith. We make the blood and the righteousness of Christ our own by faith. Make these garments and consecrate him. It says to consecrate him. You remember where Peter said over in chapter 3, verse 15, to sanctify the Lord God in your heart? Sanctify, set apart, consecrate, set him up, exalt him, worship him in your own hearts. Sanctify, consecrate him. Now, these are the garments that they are to make. This is the high priest's garments, verse four. These are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a broidered coat, a miter, a girdle, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen." We've been over these colors before, the coverings. But the gold there stands for his holiness, his deity. Blue stands for his deity, God. Blue, like the heavens, God. Purple is royalty, royal robe, purple. Scarlet is his blood, of course. And in this linen, this fine white linen, is his holiness and his righteousness. Did you notice there it said, cunning work. Cunning, that's in verse 6. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, in a fine twine linen with cunning work, curious or wonderfully made up. This ephod, this is the first thing, God's going to start, begin with the coverings on the outside and work his way in, from the outside in. Now here's, he didn't bring it, I'll show you my picture. Here are the various coverings that he wore. Now this ephod right here is the outermost covering. Here's the breastplate, and then this ephod right here, kind of a shoulder a sleeveless garment that's worn on the outside. This is the girdle that ties around the waist. Evidently, it connects the bottom part of the CVOD with the top. And then underneath that, immediately under that, is this blue robe. And then the last thing, the innermost garment, is this white coat that he wears. This is the miter. And here's the robe with the bells and the pomegranates on it. Remember that? Now the ephod, verse six, they make an ephod. This is the first thing, an ephod. This was a multicolored, like I said, multicolored, finely twined, cunning work. This is the outermost garment that this high priest wore. Now this tells me, this speaks to me of the multifaceted, infinitely glorious character and personality of the Lord Jesus Christ, His outward person, His manhood, and all of its beauty. Who can describe it? Full of holiness, righteousness, mercy, love, goodness, gentleness, meekness, kindness, temperance, longsuffering, faith, love. Let's go on and on about this, the outward man, the man Christ Jesus, this glorious, curiously wrought, cunning work. The angels said it about him, this cunning, this curious, cunning work of God. It's a holy thing. God made it. It, this holy thing that came out of that woman's womb, is the God-man. And what a glorious being he was, his outer appearance. Verse 8, Now the curious girdle of the ephod, the girdle of the ephod which is upon it shall be of the same. That is, according to the work thereof, it is curiously wrought even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. This girdle, this curious girdle, this was the thing, as I showed you, that held it all together, the girdle. Some of you may remember girdles. It holds everything up. Holds it in place. Keeps it from falling. Keeps it together. Holds it up. Joins together. Listen to this. This is great. That which held it all together was this golden, this curious girdle. It's that which joined together the upper part of the ephod with the lower part of the ephod. You want to guess what this girdle is? It's the gospel. The gospel that joins the deity of Christ, God, and man. This gospel. The manhood of Christ brought together with the deity of Christ brought together by the gospel. It's the word of truth. Didn't Paul say over in Ephesians 6 that we're to be girt about the loins with this truth? Have your loins girt about with truth? The gospel is what holds everything together, right? It's what holds this universe together. It's the very reason for the existence of this universe, because God is going to save the people. If it were not for the gospel, there would be no more earth. God would have destroyed Adam and the whole world with him if there was not a gospel, if it was not for the gospel. The gospel is what holds this thing together. The gospel is what gives meaning and purpose to it all. It's called the word of truth, the girdle of truth. And he said here, it's made of the same. It's made of the same. That is, the gospel is—that ephod represented the very person of Christ, his personality. And that's what the gospel is. The gospel is not merely doctrine, a system of beliefs. The gospel is not for mere intellectual curiosity's sake, theories and so forth. The gospel is made up of the same thing as the person. The gospel is a person, the person of Christ. It's his person and his work. Christ is the substance. the substance of the message. It's the gospel, Paul said in Romans 3, one concerning God's Son. It's the good news concerning who it was that came to earth. Verse 9, And thou shalt make two onyx, take two onyx stones and grave on them, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel. Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth." These stones were what you might call birth stones. Birth stone. According to birth, with the names of the children. And these birth stones, I thought about this. I thought about Christ the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense. These two stones. If you're in Christ, you have your name written on that rock. You have it engraved by God in the palms of the right hand and the left hand of Christ himself. And according to birth, according to the new birth, is whether or not your name is written on his heart and on him, in him. Now, with the work of an engraver in stone, this must be another curious or cunning, crafty, wonderful work of an engraver in stone. Now, you all have seen—and Nancy works at the Jewelers—she's seen the beautiful work of an engraver. It's quite an art, isn't it? Well, how about the work of the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit, the great engraver? the work of God, the work of God's engraving in stone, the Holy Spirit who sculpts us out of Christ the rock. And this is to be on the shoulders of the epod, the work of an engraver like the engravings of a signet. And thou shalt put the two stones, verse 12, upon the shoulders of the epod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. In other words, these two stones sat right here and right here and connected the ephod. They kind of held it together up here on the shoulder. And Aaron shall bear their names, Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. The Lord hath laid on him our great high priest the iniquity of us all. And he bears us upon his shoulders, and they're strong shoulders. They're able to hold us all up. Every one of us—six on the right, six on the left. Verse 13, And thou shalt make ouches of gold, and two chains of pure gold at the ends of wreath and work shalt thou make then. This is another curious or crafty work here. this wreath and work of gold and fastened the wreath and chains to the ouches. In other words, these two ouches, what they call ouches, were settings. Like you ladies have a ring and there's a setting in which the stone is set down in the ring. That's what these were, these ouches. And the robe, everything hung upon these ouches and the stones were set down in these settings. And there were two chains that hung from these ouches. And I believe that this represents the person and the work of Christ, God and man, upon which the whole thing hangs. The whole thing, all of salvation hangs upon him, doesn't it? On his person and work, what he did. All right, now, look at the all-important breastplate, verse fifteen. Let's read down through twenty-one. Thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. Another beautiful work. After the work of thee, Fa, thou shalt make it of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, of fine twine, of linen, shalt thou make it four square. It shall be being doubled. A span shall be the length thereof. A span is about the length of a man's hand, or the width of a man's hand. A span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof, and thou shalt set it in settings of stone," even four rows of stones, three stones per row. The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, a carbuncle. That's the first row. The second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. The third row a ligure, an agate, an amethyst, and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, a jasper, and they shall be set in gold in their enclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. Everyone with his name shall be according to the twelve tribes." Now, these stones are of uncertain color and meaning. I looked up various different writers on these stones, and they're uncertain as to what all these stones are, but the various colors and so forth could represent, and the stones, they could represent the blessings given by Jacob to the various tribes of Israel. You remember when Jacob gave the different blessings to each of his twelve sons? Now, these could be in some way representative of those blessings, and it could be representative of the blessings we have through Christ. which number much more than twelve, at any rate. But we don't know all of God's purpose for us, just like we don't know what these stones are all about. I was listening to a message by my pastor this morning, and he said one thing a man needs to come to understand, a preacher that is, is that he doesn't have all the answers. And so don't try to give all the answers. And we don't know all of God's purpose for us, his plans, We don't know how he'll use us or what he has in store for us. We don't know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future. And we do know this. I do know this about these stones. They were on the breastplate of this high priest, and they had names and people on them. I do know that. There were names written on these stones, and they were all on the high priest's breastplate. And I do know this about us, about God's people. We are on the heart of our great high priest. I'm in him, and I'm on his heart. And I don't know what God has in store for me, or for you, but I know if I'm in Christ, I'm okay. I'm okay. And I'll leave that secret things to him. But notice this. He said the stones will be the names of the children of Israel. Twelve. According to their name. Not thirteen, not eleven. Twelve. Children of Israel, too. There were particular names, particular names on this breast blood. Particular names. These were the only people that that blood atonement was for. These twelve names, these twelve tribes and all the people, the families, the children of Israel, they were in these twelve tribes. These were the only people that that blood applied to. Right? Right. Now, this is the heart of this thing we call particular redemption. This is where it all—this is where it starts. From the beginning, when God instituted the blood atonement for the remission of sins, it was particular and it was effectual. It was particular. It was for God's chosen and called people, for them and them only. And it kept them all the days of their life through that journey and through the wilderness. And the blood of Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith. The fact that the blood of God's Son cleanses us from all our sin, and that if I'm under that blood, I am safe. I am saved. I am saved. And that blood is for a particular people, a chosen generation. and elect people. This is something that God instituted from the very beginning, that he has a particular people, and it's for them and them only that the blood of Christ was applied. Now, there are people more than the number of the stars in the sands of the seashore, and they're identified by saving faith. Look over at Revelation 21. Keep your place back there in Exodus 28. Look at Revelation 21. This is marvelous. The Church is God's people. The Church is represented throughout the Old Testament by children of Israel. The Church is in Christ, like these names on this birth plate. The Church, God's people, are in Christ Jesus. there. Of God are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? The church is always been, always will be, in Christ. He is our great high priest who wears our names on his heart. He is the book of life that the scriptures talks about, wherein our names are contained. He is the temple that we dwell in, that we live in. And look here at Revelation 21 with me in verse 10. This is beautiful. Notice the similarity of this and Texas 28. He carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me that great city, holy Jerusalem. Now that's the church. That's the church. Descending out of heaven from God. having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a great wall, a wall great and high, and had twelve gates. At the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." Now, the foundations, verse 19, "...the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth enamel, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprysis, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amphithys, and the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. Now, and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light of it, the light thereof. And the notions of them which are speeved shall walk in the light of it." and the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, but in no night. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it." Now look at this, verse 27, "...and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth," no sin, "...neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. The only people that are in this place are they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You see that? That's particular redemption. Particular redemption. Nobody is going to be saved apart from the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all whom he makes that blood sacrifice for will be saved. Every last one of them. As in Adam, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, as in Adam all die, that is everybody represented by Adam, that's all, all people. We die, we were dead spiritually, dead in trespasses and sins. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. That is all who are in Christ shall be made alive. Any problem with particular redemption? The book, people say it doesn't teach you. My soul. It's the very heart of the gospel. The fact that Christ's blood is effectual. It actually saves his people. The blood before the Lord. All right, back to Exodus 28, verse 29. Now stay with me. Exodus 28, look at verse 29. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment," or justice, or justified, upon his heart. It's God that justifies. Christ died upon his heart when he goes into the holy place. Their names are on his breastplate when he goes into the holy place for a memorial. before the Lord continually. You know, he tells us to do this in remembrance of him. Well, he does this in remembrance of us, in remembrance of me. My great high priest has my name written upon his heart. And I thought about that thief on the cross when he looked over at Christ and said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And I can just hear Christ now say to him, remember you. Well, I've had your name right here all along. Never did forget you, and never will. Remember you. I've got you on my heart and on my mind. Verse 30. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the urilum and the thummum. And they shall be upon Aaron's hearts when he goes in before the Lord." Now, this Urim and Thummim, nobody rightly knows, really knows what this is. The words translate, as best they can translate them, they translate into lights and perfections. The lights and perfection, truth and understanding, are in Christ. Knowledge and wisdom are found in Christ. But nobody knows for sure what this is. But somehow this was in the breastplate. Whether or not it was hidden by it or in it, I don't know. Nobody knows. Like the Scripture says, Deuteronomy twenty-nine and twenty-nine, the secret things belong to the Lord. So we'll just leave that right there. Someday we'll know. Someday we'll know. But just under, now let's get to this. Under this And under this epod, this outer garment, just under that, verse 31, was this robe of blue. The outer garments, what does that represent? The manhood of Christ, his person, his outward person. Well, just beneath the surface, just beneath this ephod, just beneath this covering of flesh, there was a royal robe. Just beneath this outer robe of flesh was the Son of God himself. King of kings, the Lord of lords. Verse 32, And there shall be a hole in the top of it, and in the midst thereof it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a habridgen. That is, this was double-sewn and woven for strength around the neck. That it be not rent. Remember how the priest of old used to, when he'd get all upset about something, would rent his mantle? This was never to be rent. This robe. That it be not rent. Never to be rent. Christ never laid aside his deity when he came to earth. It was just covered. It was just veiled in flesh. But every now and then, Every now and then, he would lift up that ephod, like on the Mount of Transfiguration. He'd lift up that ephod, and everybody'd get a little bit of a glimpse of that royal robe, of who he really was. Every now and then, they'd drop it, and they'd just see the manhood. But underneath his manhood, underneath that robe of flesh, was this God-man. Christ Jesus, verse 33. And beneath this robe, beneath, at the very bottom, upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof, little round things that look like fruit, and bells of gold between them round about, a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate. And it shall be upon Aaron the minister, verse 35, And his sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place, and when he comes out. These bells have to be ringing. Bells have to be ringing. A bell and a pomegranate. A pomegranate and a bell. This pomegranate was a fruit, and this fruit and this bell remind me of the fruit of Christ's life, his works. He said, The works I do, they bear witness of me. Christ came first working the works of his Father, didn't he? And then at thirty, or whenever, he began preaching his word. The bell is the voice of the Son of God that rings forth, the fruit of his life, his action, and the sound of his voice, his word, on the robe of his deity. Verse thirty-six, And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and engrave upon this plate like the engravings of a signet. This plate was to go on the head of this miter. Holiness to the Lord, it was to say. Holiness to the Lord was to be on the forehead. Thou shalt put it on the blue lace that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront of the miter, this cap, this headdress that he wore. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, this miter, that holiness to the Lord, his headdress. What is that? That's the crown of Christ's righteousness. His crowning glory is his holiness. That's what it is, that golden crown of his holiness. That's what sets him apart and above all others and declares him as Lord, our righteousness, as King, our righteousness, is his holiness. It's the crown of perfection that he wears. And he's crowned, the scripture says, with glory and honor. He's the only one that wears this perfectly holy crown of dignity. Yet, yet, Paul said, there is yet laid up for me a crown of righteousness. But it's a borrowed one. It's a little crown, made up like his, that he puts on my head. But the scripture says we're going to cast those at his feet. You don't deserve it. You must be crowned. Crown him the Lord of life. Crown him with many crowns. Verse 38, And it will be upon his forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy thing. Always upon his forehead. Christ said, I must always be about my Father's business. Always. I do always those things which please my Heavenly Father, Christ said. Always. Always. The holiness, the glory, the service of God Almighty was always before his eyes and on his mind and in his walk. Always holiness, glory unto God. And because of who he was and what he was like, he could bear the iniquity of the holy things. He could bear that glory that we came far short of. He didn't. He could bear it. the holy things and those holy garments that appear before the Lord in them for us, that perfect holiness that man approved of God. He's God to satisfy the law, and he's man to suffer the punishment of it. And he'll always be. He said he wore this engraving that says, Holiness to the Lord. He'll always be our holiness before the Lord. Always. The holiness that we have is imputed to us. It's not ours at all. When we get to heaven, if we get to heaven, it's because he is our righteousness. It's because we bear his righteousness, his imputed righteousness through our account. He is our head. He is our head, and we are the body. Now, beneath it all, verse 39, beneath it all, It shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord." Christ must be our righteous Lord before God, always, that we may be accepted. And beneath it all, verse 39, this last garment, and the first garment, the last is first, it's the first put on, it's the last mentioned here. Thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen. Fine white linen. Fine white linen. What's that? That's God. His very essence. The very essence of Christ himself is purity. The immaculate God who is light. God who is light. And when our high priest got dressed, when Christ got dressed, he put on white. First thing. The Scripture says, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Well, and thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and make the miter of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. There you have it. There he is, beautifully and wonderfully adorned. great high priest, ready to go in before the Lord, our great high priest, to go in beneath that veil, to spiritualize a little bit. Have you seen him? Have you seen him go in within that Holy of Holies, beneath that veil, with that all-important life-saving, soul-saving, sin-cleansing basin of substance, blood. Do you see him? Curiously adorned, beautifully adorned before the Lord. Do you hear the bells? Do you see him? Hear the bells? Do you see the smoke rise? When the high priest poured that blood over the mercy seat and the fire and the smoke rose out of that tent, indicating that it was accepted. Did you see Christ hanging on that cross, and the earth shaking, and the sky get dark, and the dead rise out of the grave? Did you see that? Did you hear him come out of there? Did you see him coming out of there, holy of holies? And do you hear him say this? He's done. God's grace. Went in with that one sacrifice. These men offered many, year after year. They could never make the comers there unto perfect. But this high priest, this great high priest, this tabernacle, he went in once, in the Holy of Holies, and offered up not the blood of bulls and goats, but his own precious blood, and he obtained eternal I mean, he obtained eternal redemption for all of God's people. Well, I hope it's been of some help to you. Tabernacle, I enjoyed it. Long and laborious study, but my, my, my, what a picture of Christ. And we may just do that again someday. Our Lord, say these words and make them more than these words. Make them a part of our lives. Adorn us by this adorned doctrine. The doctrine of Christ our Savior. Let us wear, like the sons of Abraham, let us wear these holy garments, in view of the righteousness of Christ us, coming up from the shed of the mother of Christ, who put us in the fabric of Christ Jesus, and clothed us with holiness and righteousness, so that someday we would have no more chastity. and make us look like Him throughout our days, to perform us the blessings of Christ. And let us see more of His beauty as days go by. If someday we're transported to that place where we'll see Him as He is, we'll call Him by that name. God bless His name, and we pray that He's the same in all of us. Amen.