Amen. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Hancock Reformed Baptist Church Adult Sunday School Hour as we continue our series on the tabernacle. And as always, before we delve into God's holy word and pick up where we left off last week in this study of the tabernacle and now the high priest, let's go to the Lord and ask his blessing on our time. Please join me in prayer. Gracious Father, we come to you this morning in Jesus' name, and we thank you and praise you that we have such a high priest as you have given us, Jesus Christ the righteous. We praise you and thank you for him. He truly is our righteousness, and he has done all things to reconcile you to us and us to you. And we just come this morning to thank you and praise you, to give you honor and glory, and gather together as your redeemed people and to worship you together as brothers and sisters in the Lord. You've brought us together from every tribe, tongue, language, nation into one body with one spirit and one Lord. And we thank you and praise you for that. There's nothing like the church in all the world. And so, Father, we just thank you that you've blessed us with this, that you've built this church here, you've brought us here. We would not be here today if you did not save us and make us spiritually alive from the dead and give us faith and eyes to see and ears to hear. And you bring us to Christ that we would see that he is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the light of the world. He is our salvation. And so, Father, thank you for that today. We have nothing else in this world, we have that, and nothing can take that from us. And so, Father, thank you, and we just ask that you would, but Lord, as we think about Thanksgiving, we have so many more things that you have given us and blessed us with that we should always praise you, we should always be thanking you. And so help us today, fill our hearts with gratitude, with worship that flows out of a humble, grateful heart that loves you and adores you and thanks you. And Father, just teach us today, bless the teaching and the preaching, bless thy word that it would go forth with clarity and help build up and edify your church to the glory of your name. And we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, let's continue on in our series on the tabernacle. And before we delve into the subject, just a kind of logistical administrative topic. I am planning to take the month of December off from teaching. And so I've got this Sunday and then next Sunday will be the last Sunday. And then I'll take the month of December off and plan to come back in January to pick back up. So just wanted to give you all a heads up on that. I try to do that once a year, maybe twice a year. I'm lucky if I get once a year and I just don't think about it. And usually it takes Pastor Dennis or Greg to remind me and say, hey, you need to take a month off. talked about that a couple months ago and so was planning to do that in December. So I wanted you all to know that was coming. So we'll continue today kind of starting on our study of the high priest garments. We'll probably get, we started last Sunday and then we'll get one in today and one in next week and then we'll pause and come back and pick up on the rest of the high priest garments and take our series then to the conclusion. So that's the plan, Lord willing. So, as I mentioned last Sunday, we started to look at the high priest's garments, and we're just following the order of the instructions that the Lord gave for the tabernacle to Moses when he was, remember, this all took place when Moses was up, you know, up on the top of the mountain on Mount Sinai. And God had come down in his glory on the top of Mount Sinai. Heaven had come down to earth on the top of Mount Sinai, and God called Moses to go up into the Holy of Holies, up into the very presence and glory of God on the mountaintop. And he was there for 40 days and 40 nights, and during that time the Lord gave him the covenant. and especially the instructions for the tabernacle form of worship, which was an integral part of that covenant. And part of the tabernacle system of worship instructions was the instructions for the garments for the high priest. And so, again, we're just following the order of the instructions as the Lord gave them to Moses in Exodus 25 and following. And so, last Sunday we started to look at the, the next set of instructions up is the high priest garments, and we started to look at that, but before we got into the details, we wanted to look first at Hebrews chapter, Hebrews chapters 4 to 10, I believe, and we just wanted to walk through that, and we spent pretty much the whole class reading through Hebrews chapters 4 through 10, because we wanted to see how the New Testament very clearly says that the high priest Aaron, and that the order of the Aaronic high priesthood is a type of Christ, it foreshadows and pictures him, and that Christ is the true high priest, right? And remember when we talked about types and the type is a picture, it's like an illustration or a parable almost, and it points to something greater than itself. And so Aaron pointed to the greater and true high priest and that is Christ. And so all of these garments that we're gonna now look at, very peculiar garments, very specific. You'll see as we go through them, the instructions are remarkably specific and everything has a purpose and it's all because it's all symbolism. It all points to different aspects of the person and the work of Christ. And so, again, I wanted to read through Hebrews chapter 4 to chapter 10 last week because it's kind of like a commentary on the Old Covenant, especially on the tabernacle and the high priesthood. And so, I wanted us to all be convinced in our minds that when we look at this, we're to see a picture of Jesus Christ our Lord. Alright, so having looked at that last week, we want to now go ahead and delve into the instructions as they're given. So, let's turn to Exodus chapter 28, Exodus chapter 28, and we'll start with verse 1. Exodus 28, verse 1. And again, the Lord speaking to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. 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 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 a spirit of skill, that they may 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 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. So, I'll stop there. So, first the Lord gives Moses a summary, right? This is a summary of the garments, right? He goes through and speaks about a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checkerwork, a turban and a sash. It's kind of an overview statement of all the garments that were going to be made for the Aaronic high priesthood to wear. And we're told that they are holy garments, for glory and for beauty. And so, first and foremost, all of these, this depicts, as again, going back to Hebrews, this is why I wanted to do that, it depicts the holiness and the glory and the beauty of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the true High Priest. It all points to his beauty, that the garments are designed you know, the summary statement of them is that they are holy garments and they are for beauty and glory. And so, again, taking what we know, that Aaron was a picture of Christ, the true high priest, we go back and we say, well these garments depict the beauty and the glory and the holiness of Jesus Christ, the true high priest. And it all points to really his beauty and his glory and what makes him so well pleasing to the father. And I think, you know, as I stopped and thought about this, it's as if God the father is saying, behold, he's putting a picture of his son out and saying, behold, this is my son. Behold his beauty and his holiness and his glory, right? That's what these garments depict, the true high priest. And as I think about that, the Father setting forth the Son, he's setting him forth here on the stage of history right here, and he does this at many points throughout the scriptures, but he does it when Christ finally comes in reality. He does this in the gospels in a few different places, but one that stands out to me is at his baptism in Matthew 3, 16 to 17. we're told that when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold the heavens were open to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven said so it's as if the heavens are open the the veil is pulled back and a voice from heaven the father's voice says this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased right the father wanted us to see him behold my son look at him, this is the one with whom I am well pleased. And again, I think that with these garments that are for beauty and for glory that depict the true high priest, it's as if the Father is saying, behold my son, see his beauty, see his glory. Another place in the New Testament is on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17 5, where we have basically the same thing that happens again, and I think I actually have a something of what the Mount of Transfiguration might have looked like, where Christ, when we just studied this from in our series on Mark recently, where the Lord shows his glory, the veil is pulled back for a moment, and the glory of Christ is truly seen. And it's as if heaven came down on earth. We have Moses and Elijah there on the top of this mountain, very similar to Mount Sinai, where heaven came down on top of Mount Sinai. You have, you know, Elijah was taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire. Moses is certainly in heaven. These are two saints of the Old Testament, who are in heaven, who are now down on the top of this mountain talking with our Lord as His true glory is being shown. And something similar happens in Matthew 17, 1-8. After six days, Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, His brother. And remember too, in our series on Mark, where Pastor talked about how the right before that the lord had said to his disciples that there are some of you standing here who will not taste death before you see the kingdom of god come in its in its glory or in its power and pastor pointed out how he was referring to his transfiguration and so this is something of a of a glimpse at the kingdom of god which will come with christ when christ comes in his glory but um so peter james and john Jesus led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when behold, and of course that was not the right thing to say as Peter often His motives were right. He recognized that something very holy was happening. He was on holy ground. And I think his reference to making a tent for each one is almost thinking like, I need to make a tabernacle because this is the glory of heaven. I need to separate this from us. And so his motives were right, but he was wrong in that he put Elijah and Moses on the same level as Christ, as if they all needed the same you know, had the same kind of glory and holiness. And as soon as, no sooner had those words come forth from his mouth than this, we're told that while he was still speaking, he hadn't even finished saying it when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And I just imagine Peter going, oh no, I said the right, I know I'm wrong, I know I said something wrong. A voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them saying, rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And so, right, in both of these instances, God the Father was saying, there's none like my son. There is none in a category with him. He is above all others and he pleases me truly more than any other servant has ever pleased me. He is the true servant. He is the one to whom all previous servants pointed, to whom they were but shadows. And he's saying, behold, his beauty and his glory. And that's what these high priestly garments were to depict first and foremost, the holiness and the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ, the son, God's true high priest. And before we get into it, I just wanted to make another point too. Think about when the Lord gave these instructions to Moses about these garments that were to depict his son, that Aaron was going to wear. Aaron and those that came after him, whoever would be anointed high priest after Aaron, they would wear these garments. That as the Lord was giving these instructions to Moses during those 40 days and 40 nights on Sinai, what were the children of Israel doing down at the foot of the mountain? Right? No sooner had this whole covenant been finalized and solidified and the instructions given, the children of Israel were down at the foot of the mountain creating a golden calf to worship. And who did they call to make that for them? Aaron, the high priest that these garments, that was going to wear the garments that depict his son. And of course, the Lord knew this. The Lord knew that that was going to happen. He knows all things. He ordained all things. And I just was thinking this through and I think that the Lord ordained that to happen that way so that there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that what these garments depicted was not Aaron, not the one wearing them, right? He was not. perfectly glorious, perfectly beautiful, perfectly holy. I mean, before he even took the priesthood upon himself, was consecrated as a priest, he led the people in this great idolatry festival. where they worship this golden calf, he's the one that told them, well, bring me your, you know, your gold earrings and everything, and maybe we can, maybe I can do something, we'll see. And I threw him in this pot and out came this calf, Moses. You know, he's blaming, you know, the people that I can't, they're stubborn and I couldn't do anything else, I had to do it. It's almost just like Adam and Eve when they blamed, you know, they were blaming the other one. Aaron was, you know, it was almost like that all over again. As no sooner had this even, had these instructions been given, and no sooner had the covenant been finalized, it was, the people were down at the foot of the mountain breaking the covenant. And Aaron himself was leading that. And then Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's two sons, They offered strange, unauthorized incense, strange fire, and the Lord destroyed them in fire, in judgment, because they broke His commandment. They drew near in an unauthorized manner as priests. And so, again, I think these two things happened so that the people would know that these garments don't depict this very imperfect and tainted priesthood that is wearing the garments. It's not them that we're to be looking to, it's another. And so, just something to kind of keep in mind too. All right, so a summary is given of the garments at first. We're told its purpose, for beauty and for glory. Again, we're told that it will have a breast piece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checkerwork, a turban, and a sash. There are other pieces of it, but these are the primary ones. And again, this all reveals the person and the work of Christ, who he is, and what he would do. And again, it's as if the Father was saying here, this is the one that you should be looking for and listening to. And it's not this imperfect, these imperfect men that wear these garments. It's the one that will embody what the garments symbolize. All right, so that's a look at the summary statement. So, let's move on then and look at the ephod and the two stones of remembrance. And I think we can get through this today and hopefully have enough time for any questions or comments. So, the first set of instructions to Moses is for the ephod and the two onyx stones of remembrance. And so, let's read verses 6 to 14, verses 6 to 14, Exodus 28, verses 6 to 14. 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. Now I think this skillfully woven band is the belt, the sash. And I didn't, I missed that when I was putting together, so I don't have a section in here to look at that, but it's part of the ephod. It's a skillfully woven band on on it shall be made like it, like the ephod, and be of one piece with it. So I think that's what he's talking about there. I have to look back at that and confirm that. But verse 9, 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 pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. 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 Okay, so we'll stop there because it moves on the next to the breast piece and so So we have first this ephod, which was of the same blue, scarlet, purple material as we find in the tabernacle. It also had gold. You'll find when they construct it that they actually made gold fibers of some kind and wove them into this. So there was gold woven into it too. But this is, this is basically the efid right here. It's this, this first layer was kind of like a, almost like an apron that went over the, the torso and the back, the back and the front of the torso. And it was a common priestly garment in those days. It was kind of like, again, like a cloth with a hole in the middle of it for the head. And this was actually, I think, two pieces that were joined together and held together by the stones that were mounted onto it in settings of gold on the shoulders. But again, it would have been draped over the front and back of the torso. And in terms of what it symbolizes, again, we have the colors. And so I think, again, as I've said with the tabernacle material, and this is, again, the same material that the tabernacle was made out of. The innermost layer, remember, had the same blue, scarlet, purple material, but it had cherubim woven into it. The veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place had the same material, but it had cherubim woven into it. Right? And then the veil separating the outer court from the Holy Place was the same colorful material, but no cherubim. Same thing with the gate going into the outer court, colorful, but no cherubim. This is colorful. The high priest garments are colorful, but no cherubim. But there was gold woven into it. So just an additional, again, for the beauty and the glory of it. But as I said with the tent material, I think the colorful gold and gold is kind of in the same category as this colorful material, but it symbolizes affiliation with heaven and God's eternal redemptive purposes and the beauty and the glory of it and the eternal nature of it. That's kind of, it's in that separate category from earthly things, where it's of heavenly quality and character, of eternal quality and character, you know, directly associated to God's eternal redemptive purposes. That's my best explanation of what I think the gold and the colorful materials symbolize, really heavenly nature and quality. And as I thought that through, Jesus often said, especially in the Gospel of John, that he came down from heaven. And Paul calls him the man of heaven in 1 Corinthians. But John 6, 38, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Or John 3, 13, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And so again, remember that the, as I've tried to bring out a few times with the tabernacle itself, this symbolized entering into heaven itself, right? The throne of God is in heaven. His dwelling places is in heaven. Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. The high priest went behind that curtain one time a year on the day of atonement. And, you know, again, that pointed to, and we'll look at this, but that pointed to Christ's ascension up into heaven. And remember last week when we read Hebrews, how it says Christ has not gone into, you know, tents, tabernacles made with hands, which are, you know, symbolize the heaven, there are copies of the heavenly things, but he has entered into heaven itself. And so, again, I, that's, excuse me, why I believe that that multicolored material symbolizes heaven, heavenly nature and quality. It's the best way I can explain it. And so I think that's what the ephod means, right? He's the man who came down from heaven. As Jesus said, I have come down from heaven multiple times. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15, 1st Corinthians 15 47 to 49 the first man was from the earth a man of dust the second man is from heaven as Was the man of dust? So also are those who are of the dust and as is the man of heaven So also are those who are of heaven Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust. We shall also bear the image of the man of heaven right and so I think This is what the multicolored ephod depicts. His priesthood is from heaven. As God the Son, his dwelling place is with the Father and with the Spirit in heaven, but by becoming a man, he would come down from heaven and walk amongst us. And so, that's my understanding of it. But then we're told about these stones of remembrance and these two onyx stones that were to be placed upon the shoulder pieces of the ephod. And you can see those, you can kind of see them right up here. There's two black stones that were mounted on the shoulders of the priest. And you can kind of see them right there too. in settings of gold. Remember, gold is this sort of heavenly eternal quality, this incorruptible quality that is separate from earthly corruptible things. And so he had these black stones mounted on his shoulders. And, of course, onyx was a black stone, as we all mostly know. These black stones were to be fixed, again, in settings of gold. And, as I said, gold in the tabernacle was connected with heaven and the eternal things of God. And on these black stones, set in gold, were to be engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And we're told in verse 12 that these were to be stones of remembrance, or some of your Bibles may say memorial for memorial, remembrance and memorial are essentially the same thing, stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, and that Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance. And I think the symbolism to me here is very obvious, especially when we know from the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament how Jesus would bear the sins of his people. The stones are black because they represent the fallen and sinful people of God. and they're fastened to the shoulders of the Lord's Son in settings of gold from all eternity because he would bear this sinful people upon his shoulders, he would bear their sins and this was ever to be before the Lord. this picture of his own son bearing the sin of his people upon his shoulders, constantly crying out that sinful men can only stand in the presence of God because of Christ, who would come one day and bear their sins when he would come. And so that's what I think the black stones mean. And I'll jump ahead just a little bit too. You've also got these colorful stones with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel engraved upon them. And so you've got the people of God on black stones, and then you've got the people of God on colorful stones over the priest's heart. And we'll talk about that there's the bearing of the sin, but then there's also the what he would accomplish for them, the glory that he would give to them and share with them, symbolized by the colorful stones. But we'll look at that in more detail in a minute. But for now, let's just think about these onyx black stones of remembrance with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel engraved upon them, that the high priest was to have upon his shoulders, that he would, again, these stones of remembrance, that he would bear their names, bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance and we have passages like Isaiah 53 Verses four to six, and we all know Isaiah 53 about the suffering servant is unquestionably about our Lord Jesus Christ, right? It's 800 years before Christ ever came. It so vividly and beautifully depicts his crucifixion, his sufferings, many of the, in such detail that was fulfilled perfectly in his death. And so, no commentator worth his salt doubts that that's about Jesus Christ, right, and his crucifixion. And Isaiah 53, four to six says this, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. And you can kind of go back and forth between the black stones and the beautiful stones, right? With the piercing and the healing and the wounding and the healing. Verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And again, that's what I believe these black stones on the shoulders of the high priest represent. And again, they're in settings of gold. And the gold is meant to communicate the eternality of this, the incorruptibility of this and the purposes of God and his plans and his designs. From eternity, the Lord laid upon the shoulders of his son the iniquity of us all, of all the fallen elect of God, all that the Father gave to the Son to represent. Think about all the places in the New Testament, high priestly prayer, other places where the Lord spoke about all of those whom the Father gave me. Right? That's what's depicted by the two stones with the names of the 12 tribes upon them. It is all that the father gave to the son and their fallenness, their iniquity, and the father's laying of that upon the shoulders of his son for his son to bear it. And this was a great symbol that was always to be present there in that tabernacle. Again, this great picture of God's work of redemption through Jesus Christ. So, Okay. A couple more passages. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. And that's a very important passage, and it must be handled very carefully. But was he actually sinful? What does it mean that he was made to be sin? Was he actually sinful? The answer, of course, is no. God the Father made him who knew no sin to be sin. And how did he do that? Well, he did that by laying upon him the iniquity of us all, as Isaiah said. And so this is a picture of Christ's taking our blackened sin and misery upon his own shoulders and burying it before the Lord. Our high priest would do that. God's true high priest would do that. And so this is about union with Christ, the people of God's union with Christ. We, the sinful people, are united with Christ, our high priest. And again, I think the fact that it's in settings of gold is a picture of how this is from eternity, right? This has been God's plan and his purpose. From eternity, Christ has, his Christ, his anointed, has taken upon his shoulders and agreed to bear us, bear us up, bear our sins. And he came down from heaven, again, this is part of this ephod, Right? It's given as instructions with the ephod. It's to be seen as part of it. It's what connects the two pieces together on the shoulder. He came down from heaven to do that, to bear our iniquities. Okay? A couple more passages, Hebrews 9, 28. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. So he came the first time, came down from heaven the first time to bear the sins of many. And he's gonna come the second time not to do that because he's already done that. He's gonna come the second time to bring the glory, to save those who are eagerly awaiting for him. And then another passage, 1 Peter 2.24, again, just these passages that speak about how Christ would bear the sins, and I think that's what's depicted here. 1 Peter 2.24, "...he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die of sin and live to righteousness." So, again, this ephod with these two black stones, with the people of God engraved upon them in settings of gold symbolizes God's eternal purpose for the sun to come down from heaven and become a man and bear his people's sins in his own body on the tree. And so again, I think this is why they're called stones of remembrance. This purpose of God's was to always be present there in the tabernacle, this great symbol of God's plan of redemption, reconciliation of all things through Christ, the sinful people whom the great high priest would carry and save. Okay? So let me pause there and see what you think. Any questions, any comments? I just threw a lot at you. Yeah Yeah Amen yep Yeah, the people the elect of God are united to Christ. And he's, like you said, he's constantly bearing them up before the throne of grace. Yes. I don't think so. I think they're mostly just kind of I don't honestly know if there's symbolism in the Catholic priest's garments or not, if they intend there to be symbolism or not. I've never heard of that. I think it's really just to look ornate and special and holy and sacred is what they're trying to do. Yeah Yeah, and forget what it was meant to symbolize yep, yes Questions does that make sense Okay I'm trying to, you know, trying to be consistent again with the goal and I think in all of it I think the multi-cut, again there's been different, you can get out there and that's the thing, you can get out there and read the commentaries and you'll find all kinds of different takes, and from many good people, different takes. And, you know, I've taken bits and pieces of those in my own studies, and this is kind of what I think. But I try to be consistent. I think that the gold and the multicolored material is consistent throughout. I think it has a meaning throughout. And I think that meaning is present there in the tabernacle. One thing I think you'll find a lot of as you read the commentaries is a lot of commentators will take the John 1 passage where John says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. They'll say, that's my interpretive hermeneutic. Everything here is Christ. The tent is Christ. The pegs are Christ. That's all telling me something about Christ. So you'll find that a lot out there. where, you know, the lampstand is Christ, the gold covering the ark is Christ, the acacia wood tells us something about Christ, you know, every little material tells me something about Christ, and I can't fault anyone for that approach at all. But I don't think the tent symbolizes Christ. I think it symbolizes, again, as I've said, There's a it does in the the crystal or the there's the Christological meaning that I've talked about in the general sense that the tabernacle is God's Reveals God's plan to dwell in the midst of his people and Christ is God dwelling in the midst of his people But I don't think we then go back to the tent and say it all depicts Christ. I think the high priest depicts Christ and so This depicts what he's going to do. It depicts, as we've talked about, how he's going to be the one that is going to go into heaven itself fully and finally. He's going to be the one that's going to remove the veil. He's going to be the one that brings together heaven and earth. He's going to be the one that maintains the people which I think the bread of the presence represents, the people of God and the presence of God. He's the one that maintains the altar, and as Esther said, intercedes, and is the one that opens up that concourse between God and man, which we'll talk about when we get to the altar. But the lampstand, He's the one that's going to open the way back to Eden. He's the priest, the last Adam that will bring the people of God back to Eden, and so on. But I think this depicts more those cosmological realities and those redemptive historical realities and the things that he's going to do, whereas the priest himself, I think, is him, right? his person, his work, and what he would do more in his office as priest. And he's the one that's then walking in to this way of mediation. He's the one that has the right by God to go and accomplish all this. So that's where I guess I differ from a lot of the commentaries. But again, I hope it makes sense. I just wanted to sort of state that there. Yep, yep, and some do take those to be Christ and yeah No, no, I mean as yep This is my view But yeah, you don't you know there are there you know I don't think anybody can be dogmatic and say this is this is is what it is and But I can do my best to try and show you why I have that view but yeah, go ahead Yeah, he is yep It's not like one is right and the other is wrong. Right, and that's that's what I've been and there's different layers. Yeah, and that's I guess what I've been trying to say and I again have taken more I I think this is more a cosmological picture and This is the tree of life and it's also I mean, it's also I You know, the light of God's, as I said, the light of God's blessing and His Word. It's His Word and His blessing upon His people, and the people are there in the presence of God. And the reason why I take the view that this isn't Christ, this is the people of Christ, is because the high priest was to come in there, and every Sabbath day, he was to eat the bread. And so, again, I see Christ Himself, or the high priest is Christ, And He's not coming in and He's not eating Himself. He's coming in and He's having communion with His people. We have communion with Him. He has communion with us as God's priest, too. And so, again, but, you know, I see your point, too. And there are many commentators that say that, too. But I'm trying to be consistent with just how I see it. And either way is not wrong. And all of it points to Christ and glorifies Christ. All right. Any other thoughts or questions? We've got maybe two minutes left, three minutes left. Yes, sir. You say the gold represents the purity of Christ. I mean, you talk about the symbolism there. Well, why did God stress that it had to be pure gold? Again, the purity and the holiness of Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everything's covered in gold. And, um, okay. I just wonder if when you get down, can you leave that picture of the garment on the screen for a few minutes? I'd like to come up and look at it where I can read the words that are beside it. Yeah, absolutely. Um, Yep, but we'll go through each one of these in detail. Next week, we'll look at the breastpiece of judgment, as it's called, and what that means. And it has these urim and thumim inside of it, which is very interesting. And then we'll look at the blue robe, which has pomegranates, yarn pomegranates, and bells, golden bells, all the way around the hem of it, and gold around the hem. And then this checkered white tunic. And then the turban, which has this plate, golden crown, as it's called elsewhere, that says, Holy to the Lord, or Holy to Yahweh on it, with a blue cord tying the white turban to the gold. So again, all of it symbolizes something. So, something of Christ and who He is and what He would do. So, alright, well let's go ahead and pray. Gracious Father, we thank you for this time. Thank you for your many blessings. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your people here. And Father, for their desire to know you and to know your word and what you've said. And we just pray that you would speak to us through it and use it to help us be more like Christ. And pray that you'd please prepare our hearts now to worship you in the hour to come. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.