Turning your Bibles please to the book of Exodus, the book of Exodus and chapter 28. As we continue with our studies, chapter by chapter, verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the book of Exodus and we are into the section of Exodus that deals with the tabernacle and the priesthood and so we dealt with Christ in the tabernacle over a number of sermons and we will come back to that because we haven't finished all the furniture yet. We're going to get to more furniture soon or the last pieces of the furniture. But in chapter 28 and 29 we have the details of the priesthood and so our theme is Christ, our great high priest and I hope that you've picked up that theme from our new memory verse in Hebrews 4 and read the book of Hebrews it really emphasizes the high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus I trust you picked up that theme in some of our hymns today a great high priest whose name is love whoever lives and pleads for me and so it's a wonderful truth we look at the the high priest of the Old Testament and understand how he typifies the Lord Jesus Christ in so many different ways and you can see that the priesthood was just intimately connected with the tabernacle even just the flow of the text you have details about the tabernacle then you have the priesthood and then you have more details about the tabernacle it's all meshed together without the priesthood the tabernacle could not function the high priest was really the most important person in the priesthood there. He was the representative for God to the people and for the people to God. He was a mediator. We can see how he pictures Christ there because the Lord Jesus as our High Priest is our mediator. And so here in Exodus 28 the focus is primarily on the clothing of the High Priest. we will get to the general priesthood towards the end of the chapter but the primary focus in chapter 28 is the clothing of the high priest and then chapter 29 it focuses in chapter 29 the focus is on the consecration of the priesthood so we could say chapter 28 in chapter 28 we have the clothing of the priests in chapter 29 we have the consecration of the priests and Well let's pray, actually let's read the text first, Exodus 28 and reading from verse 15 down to verse 30 then we'll pray and ask for the Lord's help as we get into the message this morning. Exodus chapter 28 and reading from verse 15. Thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. After the work of the ephod thou shalt make it. Of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen shalt thou make it. Four square it shall be, being doubled. A span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. Thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle. This shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, and a gate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their enclosings. And the stones shall be with names of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. Everyone with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. Thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. Thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. Thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod, underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof, under the rings of the ephod, with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed. It's got to be securely fastened there from the ephod. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. And they shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. Don't miss the heart in all the details here, the heart of our High Priest. Let's pray. Thank you Lord Jesus that we can study these things and what a blessing to see and type the ministry, the High Priest's ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray this morning that you would take control of these moments together. Lord, that you take control of the preacher. Lord, that he might be an empty vessel that you can fill and use. And then Lord, for each hearer, that you might take control of every thought and every heart. Lord, the emotions, and that Lord, your Spirit might just operate upon us, as it were, by your word, taking the sword of the Spirit and applying it to every need and to every heart we pray for those who bear burdens today may they see this morning afresh the love of their high priest for them and how he carries us upon his shoulders and upon his heart so bless us now we pray we commit this time of preaching into your hands amen we mentioned the clothing of the regular priests was a lot simpler as you can see portrayed in the right-hand image here okay versus the high priest whose clothing really set him out apart as being extra special because of his role again there's another little artist's impression of the regular priesthood and their white clothing and as we mentioned at the emphasis in this chapter is really upon the garments of the high priest verse 4 and these are the garments which they shall make there's six of them listed here a breastplate and an ephod and a robe and a broided coat a mitre and 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 so The clothing of the priesthood was essential for them. They could not serve a holy God without being properly clothed. And so, as we think about an application there for us as New Testament priests, we need to be clothed in Christ. We need to be clothed with Christ's righteousness in order to appear before God, in order to serve God. And so, to give you a bit of a diagram there, showing the various components of the high priest's clothes, so it's nice and clear. You can see that there, starting from the top, you have the golden crown. We'll get to that later on, not in today's message, but another time. You have the mitre, this turban-like thing up here, the onyx shoulder pieces, the ephod, which is this apron-like garment that went over the top of the blue robe, the breastplate, that's going to be the primary focus of today's message, the blue robe underneath and then at the bottom of that blue robe you had the bells and the pomegranates and then the white inner robe. So hopefully that helps you to make sense of the high priest garments that are mentioned in the text there. And these garments consecrated Aaron. He was consecrated by his clothing for holy service. And there were three main purposes for the priestly clothing. They were for glory, verse 2, and is not our Lord Jesus glorious, indescribably glorious. They were for beauty, is not our Lord Jesus, altogether lovely in his character and his person. Every aspect of Jesus Christ's character, every aspect of His work is beautiful and wonderful. There is no darkness in Him. There is no imperfection in Him. There is no sin in Him. When you look at Jesus Christ, you are looking at perfection incarnate. He's the very embodiment of all that is good and all that is wonderful and all that is wholesome and all that is beautiful. And that they were also for sanctity, holiness, consecration, our Lord Jesus is holy and pure in his character. As we've mentioned, we see that the writer to the Hebrews really picks up this theme of the Lord Jesus being the high priest, so we know as we look at the high priest of the Old Testament, we can see very clear types of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called a merciful and a faithful high priest there in Hebrews 2.7. We have a great high priest, Hebrews 4, that's our memory verses at the moment, Hebrews 4, 14 to 16, a great high priest and that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God and we see there that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin and so we get a sense for the heart of our high priest, that his heart is towards us, that his heart there desires to bear our burdens and his heart is full of love for us as his children. having an high priest over the house of God Hebrews 10 verse 21 let us draw near Hebrews 9 24 for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands that's a reference to the tabernacle and the temple aren't you thankful that the Lord Jesus did something so much superior to that he did not enter into an earthly tabernacle or into an earthly temple which are the figures of the true but into heaven itself the now to appear in the presence of God, and don't get over the glory of these two little words, for us. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord Jesus is in heaven right now for you, to appear there for you as your great High Priest. And of course that's the emphasis of Hebrews, that Christ is better, he's better than the Old Testament system, he's the better High Priest, he's the better prophet, he's the better king, and so on. So we've been studying, we started last message with a study of the e-fod and I just want to briefly recap, we didn't quite finish off our study on the e-fod and then we want to get into the study of the breastplate this morning. And so the instruction was given for an ephod to be made of gold, blue, purple, scarlet and fine twined linen. As we mentioned, the ephod is this apron-like garment that would go over the top of the robes. And really, when you think about it, a lot of the sacred elements of the priest's garments were in some way attached to the ephod. Now, every aspect of his garments were important, but there were some very special things on this ephod, or attached to the ephod. The breastplate right over his heart there, and of course the shoulder stones there, each of those elements engraved with the names of the children of Israel. Here's another artist's impression of the ephod. So we looked at the fabric for the e-fod. It was made of those five key colours, five key materials that we see reoccurring in the tabernacle. Gold, blue, purple, scarlet and fine twine linen. We've talked about the symbolism of those. There was a join in the e-fod. It was joined at the shoulder, the two panels. one on the front, one on the back. We talked about the girdle of the ephod, this belt or sash that was fastened around the ephod to hold it together and how that symbolizes the servanthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. And then we got up to the stones of the ephod. The stones were located upon the shoulder pieces there of the high priest. set in ouches of gold, the Bible says. So there were these gold settings, gold clasps, in which these two stones were placed and six names were inscribed on one, six names on the other, making 12 in total there, the 12 names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. And so there we have the artist's impression of the onyx stone. We're not really 100% sure what the onyx stone was. Strong suggest it was possibly a beryl stone. We don't know exactly though what it was, but it was a particular stone here, precious stone, that was then engraved with the names of the 12 tribes in birth order. They were then placed, as I mentioned, in gold settings on the shoulders of the high priest. And the gold depicts Christ as really the foundation of our salvation. He is the God-man. Gold speaks of deity. And I love the picture of these beautiful stones, these precious stones, being held securely those gold settings and are we not secure in our High Priest? He holds us securely there and the picture is of the High Priest bearing the weight of the nation, bearing the nation of Israel before the presence of God. They had to rest, as it were, upon the shoulders of their High Priest. And in like manner, we have to come to that place where we rest totally and completely in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross for us. Do you realize this morning that there is absolutely nothing that you can do that will make you right in the presence of God or make you fit for God's presence? The only one who can carry you into the presence of God is Jesus Christ, our great high priest. So the picture there is one of rest in his sufficiency. The shoulders are the places of great strength, they are the places where burdens are often carried there on the shoulders and of course we see our Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd and how he carries the lambs on his shoulders there and so you must allow the Lord to carry you, you must come to the place in your life where you're willing to rest completely, willing to trust holy in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for you through His death, burial and resurrection. But not only is it important for you to rest upon the shoulders of the High Priest there for your salvation, it's important that you come to rest in Him for every aspect of the Christian life. That's the picture. Carried by Christ. You say, how am I going to make it in the Christian life? Well, you're not going to make it on your own, you're going to have to learn to rest in the unfailing, unwavering, eternal strength of your High Priest. We're kept, aren't we, by the power of God. Now these stones were called stones of memorial for the children of Israel, what a precious picture. It means that it symbolizes the fact that God's people were never forgotten, they were never forgotten by God for the high priest brought their names into the presence of God. And of course, they were never forgotten by their high priest. The names of the 12 tribes were there upon his shoulders, very close to him. And as we're going to see, upon the breastplate as well. And so the whole picture here is of a high priest who is intimately interested in the people he represents. A high priest who carries the names there, carries the identities of his people upon his shoulders and upon his heart. And so we are never forgotten by the Lord Jesus, our high priest there. the stones were for a memorial. Two wreathing chains of pure gold were also fastened to these ouches or these sockets and this artist's impression from the Temple Institute gives a good impression of that. Okay, so you had these wreathing chains that were fastened to the shoulder pieces and also connected to the breastplate as well. And the picture here is one of security. Now notice they are called wreathen chains. So they were not designed so much like the links in the typical chains we see, but a wreathen chain was like a woven chain, almost like a rope-like chain, okay? So it's woven together, okay, and then twisted together like a rope is twisted. But the picture here, and you're gonna see this again and again as you look at the symbolism here, the picture is one of security. And I love this, as we go through, there's rings, there's ropes, there's chains, and all of that really just speaks to us of the security of our position in Christ. Everything is securely fastened. These stones are not going to be allowed to fall off the shoulders of the high priest. The breastplate is not going to be allowed to fall to the ground. You see the picture there, the breastplate securely fastened over the heart of the high priest. The shoulder pieces bearing those names securely fastened in the gold enclosings and held in place by the chains there, securely fastened and not allowed to fall. there is a wonderful theme of security here, our security and our safety is all wrapped up in our Savior. So that's the ephod. We come now to the breastplate and this will form the focus of our study this morning. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it. So it was to have a similar, it was to be designed out of similar material. You notice the key elements there again, gold, blue, purple, scarlet, fine twined linen. So, the breastplate. Let's look at a number of points about the breastplate. Firstly, the purpose of the breastplate. What was the purpose of the breastplate? Well, it's called more than once, a breastplate of judgment. Verse 15, and thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. Verse 29, the breastplate of judgment for a memorial. Verse 30, the breastplate of judgment Very interesting. So the breastplate there was carried upon the heart or over the heart of the high priest. It was the breastplate of judgment. So he carried the weight of responsibility for the whole nation. But also, as we will see in our next study, the breastplate contained those mysterious stones called the Urim and the Thummim and we don't know really a lot about them and so don't go on YouTube and find some wacko interpretation of that. Just focus on what the Bible does reveal rather than what it does not reveal. and so often Christians spend hours trying to find what God has not revealed but if God did not reveal it then you don't need to know right now at least. So focus on what God did reveal and what you will find as you study the Bible on the Urim and the Thummim is they had a specific function in really helping God's people to make certain decisions and for certain judgments to be reached. And so that's why it's called a breastplate of judgment. It actually had the function, through the ministry of the high priest there, of determining certain things and actually pronouncing judgment on certain situations. So it was used to discern God's will in key times. It was also used there as an instrument of judgment there, the high priest discerning before God with the use of the Urim and Thummim, God's mind on certain things. So that was the purpose of the breastplate was to be a breastplate of judgment, but also memorial. So you see the same symbolism there in the shoulder pieces and the breastplate. The people of God were not forsaken, nor were they forgotten by their high priest. So that's the purpose of the breastplate. Then let's look at the particulars of the breastplate. Let's look at the particulars and we'll get to the typology more specifically in a moment. The particulars of the breastplate. Firstly, notice the textiles and the same five materials are used in the breastplate. So you have basically a pouch of sorts, a square pouch made of those five key materials which we've talked about a lot already. The gold, the blue, the purple, the scarlet and the fine twined linen. Then consider the dimensions of the breastplate. The Bible tells us there in verse 16, four square, it shall be being doubled. Four square simply means with four equal sides. So it's a square shape. Okay. Being doubled, a span shall be the length thereof and a span shall be the breadth thereof. So perfect square. and you say, what's a span? Well, just look at your hand for a moment. A span is approximately the distance from your thumb to your little finger. If you have your hand stretched out like that, a span was roughly that distance there from your thumb, from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your finger. So that gives you a bit of an idea of the size of the breastplate. Not huge, okay, but they're in that very important, area where the vital organs are and in particular the heart, the seat of the affections, the place of love, the place of security. Then we come to the stones of the breastplate, the stones. There were four rows of precious stones with three stones per row. In row one you had the sardius, which is a blood red colour, a topaz, yellow, green or gold, and the carbuncle, and the carbuncle apparently is supposed to be like a deep red. Then in Row 2 you had an Emerald, Bright Green, Sapphire, Blue and Diamond. Then in Row 3 you had the Ligure, which is supposed to be like a yellowy colour apparently. The Agate, the Amethyst, which is Purple. Then in Row 4, Beryl, which is a Sea Green, Onyx and we're not sure 100% what the Onyx colour was and Jasper, which is White. So even though some of these stones we may not be able to definitively nailed down, even though with some of these stones we may not be able to definitively nail down their exact color, you can certainly get the idea there of this multi-colored breastplate. That's from the Temple Institute, so perhaps that's an accurate portrayal, the Jews having often a more in-depth understanding of some of these things from some of their history, but that gives you an idea there. So, each stone was encased in gold, there was a gold setting. Look at verse 20, verse 20, "...and the fourth row, a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper, they shall be set in gold in their..." what? "...enclosings." So again, you see this picture of these precious stones held securely in place by a gold encasing, a gold enclosing, so that they would not be lost. So the picture is again one of security. And then on each of those stones, you had one of the names of the 12 tribes inscribed there. Now, The Bible uses stones in the New Testament as a symbol of us as New Testament believers. 1 Peter 2.5, ye also as lively stone. You say, what does lively mean? It means alive. If you're saved, you are a living stone and you are precious to God and are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2.5. Ephesians 2 19 through 20, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He's the most important stone, isn't he? In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2 19 through 22. Now as you look at that breastplate, there's a very practical lesson. Because each stone was different, each stone had a different color, each stone represented a different tribe, and so there's a unique aspect to each stone, there's an individual aspect to each stone, and yet they needed to all be together so that the glory of each individual stone would complement the whole picture. And as you think about our lives as Christian, no two believers are exactly alike. Now we all need to follow the same book, but I'm just saying each one of us are beautifully crafted by God, every living stone that belongs to the Lord Jesus upon his heart as a New Testament priest there is unique, each has its own color as it were, each has its own personality, and each one is precious, to God. Just bear that in mind this morning, that each and every individual believer is precious to God, just like each tribe of Israel was precious to the high priest represented on the breastplate there, so each individual believer is special to the high priest, our Lord Jesus. And so there's an emphasis on a practical level here on the individuality of the saints, but also the interdependence of the saints. we need a balance of both those things. We need to acknowledge that God has crafted each believer in a unique way, each has his or her role in the local church, but We don't want the stone, an individual stone, set out by itself somewhere. That stone needs to be placed right up close with the others so that the glory of all the stones can contribute to the overall picture. Make sense? So bear that in mind. We need to have both of those things in view when it comes to the New Testament saints, because we are called living stones. There's definitely a picture here for us to learn from. You are unique and you are special to God just how He made you as one of His stones. Embrace that. At the same time, don't have an independent spirit and say, well, I'm just special to God. I don't need anybody else. No, acknowledge that your high priest wants you to be close to other stones, so that as Christ shines through your particular color, as it were, and shines through the colors of others, there can be a combined picture there that brings joy and glory to the heart of the high priest. Does that make sense? And so embrace your uniqueness in Christ as an individual saint. Don't try and be another stone. Don't try and be somebody else. Allow God to use you as you are and allow God to place you just where you need to be in the local church. But also remember that you need to be up close to and connected with other living stones. something wrong in modern culture where many believers do not see anymore the importance of assembling with other believers. And they're just out there, we won't get back onto the free-range chicken one, but I remind you of that illustration, okay, you must be in the hen house to do some laying for the Lord. But you know, I'm just saying, you know, a lone stone is not a good situation. You need to be together with other beautiful living stones and they're close to the heart of the high priest, close to him in fellowship. There's a picture of closeness here, isn't there? Oh my God, help us to draw close to the heart of our high priest and to know our high priest. And then together, as he shines through our individual colors, as it were, there can be a beautiful glory created that brings honor and glory to him, not really to ourselves. That's a practical lesson there. Not only do we see the stones but we also notice the chains and the rings and there's quite a bit of detail given to this but just to summarize there was to be a ring at each corner of the breastplate At the top, at the top of the breastplate, there were two rings and then those wreathing chains connected to those rings and then in turn on the other end of the chains, they're connected to the shoulder pieces. At the bottom, you had a lace of blue that was used to, that was tied to the bottom rings and then fastened securely to the ephod. So let's see here. Look at verse 28 for example. See that? This is now looking at the bottom of the ephod, so at the bottom of the breastplate. So at the top of the breastplate you've got two golden rings on each corner and you've got these little wreathed in chains of gold connected from that ring to the onyx stone pieces on the shoulder, the shoulder pieces. At the bottom of the e-fold you have another two rings on each corner and then you have a blue lace. Blue is another key colour isn't it? bottom of the ephod securely, sorry, the bottom of the breastplate, pardon me, securely to the ephod and notice at the end of verse 28 that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. So you see there's an emphasis there again on security. God wanted the breastplate there, representative of his people, to be securely and safely fastened over the heart of the high priest. Make sense? we've emphasized this a number of times, haven't we? The position of the breastplate, it's over the heart, okay? Verse 29, it's stated three times in the passage here, upon his heart, verse 30, upon Aaron's heart, verse 30 again, upon his heart, before the Lord, underscore, continually. So God's people are were always upon the heart of the high priest, make sense? So the message is very clear, the high priest's office was to be one of compassion, one of love for the people, a role of mediator between God and man. So with that understanding of the breastplate in mind, let's consider some pictures of the breastplate or the typology Some lessons we can learn as we think about our Lord Jesus now as our High Priest. Lesson number one, we are precious to Christ our High Priest. Can you see that? These are precious stones, they were valuable. We are precious to our High Priest. Now, they were inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel. We do need to note, within the context of the Old Testament here, and our understanding of the Bible as a whole, that Israel is God's special treasure. Before we get to the application to the church, we see here the names of the 12 tribes inscribed upon the shoulder pieces and upon the breastplate, and Israel is God's special treasure, reads Psalm 135 verse 4. And Israel occupies a central place in God's plan. But then the church is precious to God. We are purchased, aren't we, by His own blood. That makes us just indescribably precious. He's purchased us with His own blood. He purchased us with a price. So we are precious to Christ, our high priest. Number two, closely related to that, we are loved by our high priest. We are loved by our High Priest. You think about the heart, the heart is the center of the person. It's the seat of affection. It's the seat of emotion. It's the place of love. And it is emphasized in the passage here three times that the breastplate was over the heart of the High Priest. He carried those names upon his heart before God. Beautiful picture. And that breastplate held over the heart of the high priest by those chains, rings and ropes, fastened as it were by cords of unbreakable love. And so in the breastplate we see again God's love for Israel. We have to note that, absolutely. God does have a special love for Israel. They are his chosen people and we need to remember that in a day where honestly the poison of Jew hatred and the hatred for Israel is on a level that I haven't seen in my lifetime. Now, God will judge Israel the same way he judges for their sin, the same way he judges the rest of the world. But do not get caught up into this wave that's sweeping the world, that the Jews are behind every evil, that they are the ones that are orchestrating every disaster in the world. That is just anti-biblical, anti-God. You better read Romans 11 as a Gentile and just simmer down a bit and be humble. Read Romans 11 where Paul instructs Gentile believers, non-Jewish believers, to not be high-minded. Don't be puffed up over Israel because God has temporarily placed them to one side at this point in time. Because in Romans chapter 11 Paul makes it very clear that God still has a plan for his people and God does still have a love for his people there, Israel. And we have to, I'm just, it's distressing actually to see how many even commentators I used to enjoy listening to on the conservative side are turning on Israel. they take things out of context and I know Israel doesn't do everything perfectly, they're a sinful nation and like I said God will hold Jew and Gentile accountable before him, he'll judge them by the same standard for their sin but don't miss the big picture that God still has a plan for Israel and you better remember as a Gentile believer you would not have a Bible to read, you would not have a Savior to worship had it not been for Israel. God loves Israel, he still loves Israel, he doesn't love their sin but he loves them and he is going to bring them to repentance, that's one of the primary purposes of the tribulation period, God's going to take the church out of the picture and guess what he's going to do? He's going to turn his attention to bringing Israel to repentance and so all Israel, there's going to be a national turning. Israel, Romans 11. So for the so-called theologians out there that are saying that dispensationalism is heresy and saying that any sort of love for Israel or loyalty to Israel is heresy, they're wrong. They need to read what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11. God, Romans 11, Paul says, has God basically done away with his people? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. There's the Apostle Paul, who was the Apostle to the Gentiles, saying, don't forget, I'm a Jew too. And God hasn't finished with us. So God, you have to see that, that the 12 tribes inscribed upon the shoulder pieces, inscribed upon the breastplate, God has a love for Israel. What a day it's going to be when Israel finally realizes that Jesus is their Messiah. That's going to be just an amazing thing. Because right now they think that their Messiah is still coming, which is what is preparing them for the Antichrist. They're just wide open to being deceived by the Antichrist. They're looking for their Messiah, but he's already come. And his name is Jesus. And if you understand the Daniel 9 prophecy, you know that Jesus Christ is the only candidate who fits the exact timeline of the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 there. He came exactly on schedule according to God's timeline. It can't be any Messiah afterwards. So Israel occupies a special place in God's heart and a central place in God's plan for the ages. Absolutely a central place in God's plan for the ages. So don't worry about Tucker Carlson and Candace Owen and some of these people who are just tearing down Israel and spewing out hatred really against Israel. They're wrong. They are wrong and be very careful about that. We also see, though, in the breastplate, as we think about Jesus Christ as our High Priest, our Lord's love for his Church. That's a very valid application, that's a very clear type, because the High Priestly ministry of Christ is seen in the passage here. So, God loves Israel, he has a special place in his heart for them, but God has a special place in his heart also for the Church. He loves the Church. Do you feel unloved this morning? You know, some people feel very unloved and very unworthy. Maybe you grew up in a home where there wasn't a lot of love, not much love from your father perhaps, not much love from your mother or maybe not much love from either. Do you have any comprehension this morning of how much the Lord Jesus loves you? You can be secure in that love. It's an everlasting love. It's a pure love. It's a love that goes beyond human comprehension. I love the hymn writer, how the hymn writer put it there, and we're the sky of parchment made. every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure! What a wonderful hymn that is. How can we even begin to comprehend the love of the Lord Jesus? And if you're here today and you've never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have not known love yet in your life. You may have a loving relationship with your wife, you may have a loving relationship with your husband, you may know human love on a certain level, and that's a wonderful gift from God, but let me tell you, you have not yet experienced love in its fullest term, in its fullness there, until you are willing to come to the Lord Jesus, who is love incarnate. You say, how much did the Lord Jesus love me? Look at the cross. and see his hands nailed, see his feet nailed, see the blood running down, see the crown of thorns upon his head and the spear wound in his side, hear his sighs and see his cries and you will see something of the love of God for you. So God loves the church. Now what's very interesting is when you come right to the last book of the Bible in Revelation you'll find a very close parallel with these same stones in the 12 foundations of the New Jerusalem. So it's fascinating actually when you look at the New Jerusalem you see Israel and the church, you see Israel in the 12 gates and pearls, then you have these foundations with the names of the 12 Apostles, 12 tribes, 12 Apostles, see how God has a plan for Israel, plan for the church and united in his heart there in eternity somewhere and even in eternity there'll still be a distinction between Israel and the church and we'll be reminded of it all the time because we'll see those gates inscribed with one of the names of each tribe and and we'll see the foundations with the names of the 12 apostles. God has a plan for Israel, plan for the church, and he will bring that all together in his own divine and amazing way. So amazing how you can see that. So we certainly can see in the breastplate and the colors of these stones a clear symbol there of Christ's love for the Jews and Christ's love for the church. And the same, as I said, it's a fairly close parallel, not exactly, but very close parallel in the different stones here of the foundation of the New Jerusalem. So we think of how we are loved by our Lord Jesus. He's called a merciful and faithful high priest, Hebrews 2.17. We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You carrying burdens this morning? Did you realize our Lord Jesus' heart is touched and moved? He's not a cold, disconnected, uninterested high priest. His heart is towards you. His heart is full of love for you. And his heart is touched with your burdens and with your griefs. Jeremiah 31 verse 3, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Ephesians 3, 17, that shouldn't say 10 there, 17 through 20, I think it is. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Did you know Christ's love passes knowledge? You know what that means? Your mind cannot comprehend the depths of his love. You take all the understanding of the love of God amongst all the beliefs of the world and put it together, God's love goes way beyond all of that again. It's unfathomable. It's eternal. It's an indescribable love. A love that was manifest at the cross. Interesting, isn't it, how the high priest was to bear the breastplate of judgment. Did not our Lord Jesus, our High Priest, carry our judgment on his heart when he walked up Calvary's hill? Can we even begin to imagine the weight of our sin that was on his heart? The weight of the judgment that he bore, we get a sense for it because when the soldier came and put the spear there into our Lord Jesus' side, the Bible says that blood and water flowed out. Medical experts tell us that the blood and clear fluid mixture there is a sign of a ruptured heart. Do you realize this morning that Jesus Christ's heart was literally broken under the weight of your sin at the cross? that's how much he loved you, he bore your judgment on his heart to the cross and his heart was broken under the weight of your sin so that you could be forgiven. Can you see how much he loves you? Have you come to him for salvation? So as we look at this breastplate how it typifies Christ, we can see we are precious to our High Priest, the Lord Jesus. We are loved by our High Priest. Number three, we are prayed for by our High Priest. The High Priest would offer incense at the Altar of Incense, we're going to get to that right before the curtain, before the Holy of Holies, a symbol of prayer. And we know from the New Testament, Hebrews 7.25, that the Lord Jesus makes intercession for us, it's a part of our eternal security. Hebrews 7.25, So how can I be secure in Christ? How do I know that I'm going to make it all the way as it were in the Christian life. How do I know that my salvation is eternally secure? The high priestly prayers of your high priest. His prayers are going to preserve you. His prayers are going to see you through to the end. He ever lives to make intercession for us. You say, what does he pray? I don't know, but I'm sure it's exactly what we need. Here's just a little thought, you're not sure how to pray for someone? Maybe ask the Lord Jesus to pray for them for you. Say, Lord, I don't know quite how to pray for this person, would you pray for them? Would you intercede for this believer and the needs that they have? So we are prayed for by a high priest. Number four, we are secure in Christ, our high priest. We are secure in Christ, our High Priest. I've emphasised this already. We see ropes, we see rings, we see chains, we see gold settings. All of these elements speak to us of security. the breastplate was securely fastened to the shoulder pieces, so there is no doubt of the believer's secure position in Christ. Nothing can separate us from his love." I can't think of a place more secure than to be bound with cords of love to the heart of the Lord Jesus. I hope that thrills you. There is no place more secure than being carried on the heart of the shoulders of our high priest and there is no place closer, no place nearer. To be near to his heart of love is safety indeed. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. Yea, in all these things for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." No matter what you're going through this morning, the love of Christ holds you securely. Because you know, it's not really about how much you can hold on to Him, it's about the fact that He's going to hold on to you in the Christian life. And that takes the pressure off me to realize I am held securely by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm held securely by the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. My preservation, my security is in Him. We believe in eternal security here. That once you're truly saved, you cannot be lost. Now you can have your ups and downs in the Christian life, but you cannot be lost because you're held securely by the great High Priest. I hope that encouraged you today because there are going to be times in your Christian life where you're going to think, I'm not sure if I can make it. I'm not sure if I can really last the distance. Do you ever feel that way? There's a man by the name of Robert Harkness from Bendigo, Australia. And at the age of 22, in June 1902, he went to hear the famous evangelist R.A. Torrey there in Bendigo, holding gospel meetings. And Robert had been raised in a godly Christian home, but had not yet been converted, had not yet trusted Christ. And that night, as he heard R.A. Torrey preach, He came under conviction of sin and Torrey's assistant spoke to him after the service and on his way home, Robert was gloriously saved, converted. He was a musician, a very gifted musician. And so Torrey, recognizing this young man's musical abilities, invited him to come on his evangelistic tour of the world to be one of his main pianists there, to be the main music man. And so he became a very proficient, or became quite a famous in his time, famous gospel musician and playing for these great evangelistic crusades. And it wasn't long after his conversion there, as he was traveling the world with R.A. Torrey to play therefore the meetings that he encountered a young man, a young convert in Canada who came up to him and opened his heart and unburdened to Robert and said I just don't know if I'm going to be able to hold out. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to last in the Christian life. And Robert was very burdened for this young man as a hymn player and as a songwriter. And so he wrote a letter to a lady by the name of Ada Habeshaun. She was a hymn writer in England and a personal friend of the great preacher C.H. Spurgeon. And he said to her in this letter that there was a great need for songs to encourage, quote, definite assurance of success in the Christian life. Well, Ada was encouraged and burdened by this request, and so she wrote seven hymns on the theme of security, of our preservation in Christ. And one of those hymns that she wrote was she entitled, When I Fear My Faith Will Fail. now commonly known as He Will Hold Me Fast. Robert, Robert Harkness, wrote the original tune for that hymn and it was sung all over the world in R.A. Torrey's crusades, bringing encouragement to many that they were secure in Christ. The words read, When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He can hold me fast. I could never keep my hold, he must hold me fast. For my love is often cold, he must hold me fast. I am precious in his sight, he will hold me fast. Those he saves are his delight, he will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost, Christ will hold me fast. Bought by him at such a cost, Maybe you're here this morning you say, I just don't know how I'm going to get through this next week. I don't know how I'm going to face the trial that I'm facing right now. I don't know how I'm going to make it, as it were, in the Christian life. I feel like this situation I'm faced with is going to just destroy my Christian life or just destroy me. Listen to me this morning. You are held securely by the love of your High Priest. Held securely to his heart. held securely upon his shoulders and he, he will hold you fast. Let's close in prayer, we'll have the men put that song up on the projector so we can sing that this morning to a well-known tune. Dear Lord, we thank you for this wonderful picture of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our High Priest. We thank you that your heart is full of love for us, How we see that love displayed on Calvary's cross. When the Lord Jesus, our Savior, bled and died, carried the weight of our judgment, carried our sin, and under the pressure of that sin, his heart was broken so that we could be forgiven, so that we could receive new life. Lord, help those who feel unloved this morning on earth to know how much they are loved in heaven. Lord, bring us, we pray, draw us closer to your heart that we might know your heart more, that we might know more of your love. Lord, we cannot possibly know all about your love for it passeth understanding, it passeth knowledge. But we want to know more of it, we want to understand something of its dimensions, its breadth, its depth, its height. And Lord, we thank you. Lord that you love us and that you will indeed in our Christian life hold us fast in Jesus name...