Good evening. Before we go into the teaching of the word, I would like to spend a little bit more time in prayer for the needs of the church. So would you join me for a moment? Let's bow together. Our gracious father, we come before you in the powerful and strong and mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our author and perfecter of our faith and who is the conqueror of all sin. who is the master of the universe, who is the soon and coming and returning king and judge. We come before you because we know that he, as our great high priest, is able to sympathize with us and able to take our prayers and present them before you in a perfect manner. We come boldly to the throne of grace because you have given us access through Christ. And on behalf of our brother Jeremy, we lift him up to you and ask that you would continue to strengthen him and get him ready for this elder examination. We give you thanks for our church giving us an opportunity to be served by a man who is committed to honoring you and loving the saints. We give you praise for his whole family. We ask that you would give the Angs much peace and joy through this time. Lord, we give you thanks for our brother Ben and James and their faithful progression this semester through their studies so that they would and encourage the Saints that they would be equipped for future ministry. We give you thanks for the opportunity that we have to support them in prayer and other ways to encourage them through their training process. We give you thanks for our brother, Matt, and his faithful ministry at EBCT. We continue to lift him up in prayer, ask that you would strengthen him and humbly use him to serve the body there. We continue to lift up our sister, Sani, ministry to Matt and to the Saints as well. And we give you thanks for the house. We give you thanks for our brother J.M. and another challenging semester that he has to equip the Saints in evangelism and apologetics and and all the way that he serves the body. We ask that you would be glorified through our brother J.M. Keep him humble and always fixed to the cross and dependent upon your spirits. Lord, we give you thanks and praise for our sisters who are diligently serving in various ways in Taiwan through their tent-making ministry. We thank you for Clara. We thank you for Gina. We thank you for Jane Liao and the way that they minister to the body there and encourage the saints. We ask for your continual blessing on their ministry. physical and spiritual health and emotional well-being and overflowing joy and peace as they minister to others. We thank you for our extended family at EBCT. We thank you for Celina and Greg and their recent visit. We ask that you would continue to build them up and help them to grow in their faith. And we pray for our brother Leo that you would give him a spirit of humility and spirit of understanding and cooperation that he would continue to support ongoing growth there at EBCT and support Matt and his labors. We pray for our brother Kevin. We ask that you would give him much joy as he serves and as an example to the college students and even older people. And we pray for our brother Ben, Estella, and so many others, Lisa, and so many others who are faithfully serving there. We ask that you would richly bless the ministry and cause them to grow qualitatively and also quantitatively. We give you thanks for our campus outreach at ECF. We thank you for our covenant flock group servants who have volunteered not to serve, not just so that they would rejoice in the service, but because that it is the right thing to do, an act of sacrifice and love and joy. We ask for your rich blessings upon all of the classes and all the instructors and a wonderful and faithful ministry this semester. As we get ready to kick off our welcome night next week, we ask for your blessing upon each of the presentation. the message, through the music, and through the overall presentation that we will give to the incoming freshmen, transferring juniors, and all the new folks who are checking out ECF, that they would understand the gospel, that they would fall in love with Christ, that they would marvel at your beauty and majesty, and they would turn to you. You would save some, you would strengthen others, and you would continue to build your church. We give you thanks for so many of the wonderful things that's happening with the children's ministry and all the teachers. And we thank you for our pregnant moms who are ready to give birth to two new members of our families and pray that you would Bless the Kims and the Yous and keep Kathy and Tammy healthy as they go through their pregnancy together. Lord, would you watch over them and give them so much joy through this time. We thank you for our youngsters of our church, and we continue to ask you to richly bless the education ministry and discipleship ministry of our church for the young people. We continue to pray for your strengthening of the ongoing missions outreach that we would reach the nations with the gospel and our community as well. We thank you for the privilege of coming before your word tonight. We ask that you would be glorified in the proclamation of your word and that you would bless the saints as they hear and apply these things into their lives that deeply appreciate the work of Christ and that they would fall in love with Jesus all over again. And as we worship you, would you receive our worship and be honored and glorified in this place? In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, again, I have a little show and tell that I didn't finish last week because of time. Hopefully, we'll get to finish it and end with Chapter 28. And normally, I don't have PowerPoint, but because we have some pictures that would be helpful if you see how the tabernacle proper and the worship and priestly garments, how all these things work in exemplifying the beauty and the majesty of Jesus Christ's personhood and His work. Also, there's a lot of parallels between a New Testament believer who is called to be a priest unto God before the nations. We are representatives before God in the world, reconciling sinners to a holy God that they would come to Christ. It is God who is doing the work of saving, but it is not apart from His agents, His people. And as God desired Israel to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, the same wording is used for the church, for the New Testament saints. And so we are so privileged to play that role. And we can see the parallel here and be richly blessed by that. We're enamored by the pyramids. And we look at the architecture of the pyramids, especially the Great Pyramid of Giza. You know, there's three major ones. in Egypt, and one being the Great Pyramid of Giza, which basically stands out from all others. One of those stones, they say, are over 20 tons. 20 tons for one stone. And no such stones are to be found anywhere near that area. As a matter of fact, the nearest quarry would be over hundreds of miles away. And so we scratch our heads and say, how did the ancients build such a fantastic edifice? We don't know. It's still a great mystery. There's a lot of conjecture. But it's a fantastic monument of human achievement. We marvel at the Colosseum. even though it's half broken down, hadn't been used for centuries, it's definitely a living architectural museum piece. It was a place of gory bloodshed, including the martyrdom of many, many Christians, and it was at the height of Roman civilization, and we marvel at such things. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is another architectural blunder, yet a marvel. We look at the Great Wall of China, And they say the only two edifices that are visible are the Great Pyramid of Egypt and the Great Wall of China from outer space. We look at its structure and the tenacity of an empire to build such a thing to ward off enemies and to protect its borders. Of course, it utterly failed from doing that, but it's still a marvel. We know so much about these buildings and these edifices, but even as Christians, we know so little about the tabernacle. And how important is the tabernacle? It is the centerpiece of the worship of God. As a matter of fact, the picture of the pure worship of God is not the Solomonic temple or the temple that Herod built, that Jesus even said, this house is my father's house and it should be a house of prayer for many nations. Jesus even called it my father's house. And yet even that, was not the model of pure worship. The model of pure worship was the tabernacle. And it was daily sacrifice from its very inception. There was daily sacrifice. There was ongoing Levitical responsibility. There was a continual celebration of the Lord's presence. And the Lord continued to manifest Himself every day until they reached the land of Canaan. And until manna stopped falling from heaven, God was very visibly present with them. It was a fantastic time of pure worship. And yet, even then, we find that the whole tabernacle system really dealt with the basic depravity of man. It wasn't the happiest place, because there was the scent of blood everywhere. And you could tell that the priests have been very, very busy because they would be soaked in spots and dripping with blood all over because they would constantly be reminded of sin and the sacrifices that had to be offered because of sin. And it was a solemn place. You did not mess around the tabernacle. You were visually cut apart from even seeing what's going on inside. And the only time that you would go in is when you had an animal. And it was checked outside for its condition. And only when it was unblemished, it was entered in and only escorted by the Levite or priest who would sacrifice it on the altar. And that's as far as you went if you were a male Israelite over the age of 20. The whole system was about separation and distance. And yet, we didn't start from the outside going in. The Bible starts from the inside going out. It's from God's perspective. The glory of the inner sanctuary with all of its gold and its utensils. There are seven pieces, major pieces of furniture inside the tabernacle. We've already studied that. The ark and the cover for the ark, the most important piece there. The mercy seat where the blood is sprinkled once a year on the day of atonement by the high priest. The menorah or the candlestick that radiates its light. There's no ambient light from outside at all. It is from within. It's from the candlestick. and it bounces off the glorious gold furniture and the beautiful tapestry on the ceiling, the table of consecrated bread that the priests got to eat and change, the table of incense that was a sweet-smelling aroma unto the Lord. It was specifically designed, custom-tailored, so that God would call it to be used in worship and worship alone and nothing for human pleasure. The whole thing was theocentric. It was God-centered. and it was nothing of man. It started from God and it begins to go out from the inner sanctuary to outside, to tabernacle walls and to the lives of people. Men and women are invited to come in a certain way, at a certain time, in a certain manner so that they would be accepted before God. And the goal for man was the approach to God and their access to Him. And it was the goal of God to keep Himself locked in, only allow access of the privileged few and only one person per year in the Holy of Holies. God locked Himself in and the people locked themselves out. That was the picture of the tabernacle. Now what are we to study about that? Well, our goal for tonight is to understand now the outer court and what's outside the tabernacle. And again, these things point to Jesus' personhood and His work. But there's a parallel because we are God's people just as Israel was God's people. There's also a parallel that can be applicable to us, at least in principle, and I want us to be blessed by that. Just take a look at this. All to hear this again, it's fabrication based on conjecture, based on the description of the scriptures. In our measurement, it's about 7.5 feet by 7.5 feet. It's a perfect cube and it stood about 4.5 feet off the ground. There was no ramp to it, but it was suspended a little bit by rocks. And so that it was on a stand where the priest would look at it and it would be up to about his chest and he would be dealing with it right at his chest level. He would take an animal and he would usually take the animal and tie it by the horns there while he is slitting the animal's throat and getting the blood out. Then he would cut the middle, take the entrails out, take the skin out and the priest got to keep the skin and he would cut the animal and then he would burn it to a crisp. Part of the animal, if it's a fellowship offering, would be shared as a ceremonial meal with the offerer. And that's why the offerer, the sinner who would offer this offering, would go in there up to that point. So this is the first piece of equipment that a worshipper would see as he goes in. And it's the largest piece. And it would be constantly be used to sprinkle blood and to burn sacrifices. So, you would constantly see fire and smoke coming out of this area. Alright, so this is what he would see as he enters this one huge fabric door. It's about 13 feet long. And as soon as he enters, this is what he would see. What you could see from the outside is basically fire and smoke coming out. That's about it. Its position just inside the gate made it easily accessible, unavoidable, and unmistakable. Every Israelite knew exactly what was going on. Work was being done to try to deal with their sins. There was only one altar So there was only one way of salvation. There was absolutely no other way you can deal with your sin except this way. There's only one. The horns here not only serve a utilitarian purpose of holding the animal there, but also they symbolize atoning power and help because the horn, the idea of the horn in the Hebrew thought, in ancient Near Eastern thought, is of power. Blood was first sprinkled on the altar and then poured out on the base of the altar. Again, without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. God sought to it from the very beginning of human civilization. After man's sin, there must be blood sacrifice. Now you know why Abel offered a righteous offering unto the Lord. He purposely took on a job description that he would have to raise animals for sacrifice. The first offspring, Cain, of the fallen couple, Adam and Eve, did not choose that path. He chose a career path that identified itself with the cursed earth, the fruit of the field. Abel offered a righteous sacrifice, the sacrifice of blood. Interestingly though, the first sacrifice that Israel offered was not for sins, but for dedication. Let's take a read of the scriptures, chapter 27, verses 1 to 8. Exodus 27, 1 to 8. This is the reading of God's word. And you shall make the altar of acacia wood five cubits long and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horns on its four corners. Its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make its pails for removing its ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its forks, and its firepans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall make for it a grating of network of bronze, and on the net you shall make for your bronze rings at its four corners. Make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it beneath, under the ledge of the altar, so that the net will reach halfway up the altar. You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. Its poles shall be inserted into the rings, so that the poles shall be on two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow with planks, as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it. Notice in verse 8, again it follows a pattern that was shown. There is no room for ad-lib, no room for ingenuity, creativity. It had to be according to a pattern. So God gave a very specific pattern. It says it had to be bronze. The Hebrew word here could also point to copper. Most likely it was copper. Bronze, as you know, is a mixture of copper and zinc that would be the kind of bronze that we know of today. Copper and tin was also used to make brazen instruments. This more or less would be more like copper. It could have been a mixed alloy but it was used specifically to continually burn things so it had to be very strong and its melting point had to be very high. Now why this substance? Why this brazen material, bronze material? Well, this material has to do with the concept of judgment. Because as soon as you saw what would happen, then you know that that's the kind of only picture that you would get. The soul that sins, he must die. Why do they kill an animal in such a gruesome way? It's because that's a picture of the punishment of sin. This is a little scale modeling, as you can tell, but that's going on. This is a rated G version, you can tell. The utensils, these are all bronze or supposed to be some sort of copper-based metal. So that's what it looked like. That's about the scale and the size of it. And it pointed to judgment. You could not approach the tabernacle, which represents the presence of God, without first going through the sacrifice. That's the idea. Sin must be paid in order for there to be an approach to God. And so we know that in the New Testament, Christ took our judgment on the cross, the ultimate judgment. And that's why he was a perfect sacrifice and it needed no longer to be repeated over and over again as they did in the Old Testament. We can approach the throne boldly. Let's take a look at Hebrews 4, verse 16, and look what the writer of Hebrews says, who is a Jew, writing to other Jews regarding the Old Testament picture and how it is perfectly resolved and fulfilled in the work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4, verse 16, after saying verse 14 and 15, which we'll read a little later. He says, Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That time of need is the time for forgiveness, right? Look at verse 14 and 15. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. And that's why in chapters 28 and 29, God specifically describes the vestments and the role and the consecration of the high priest. The high priestly office and all the priestly offices that flow from the high priest, first high priest being Aaron, was an important figure and job description, but it is inherently tied with the tabernacle. Without the tabernacle, he's got no job. It's very interesting that if you look at the Roman Catholic religion, they completely ignore the great high priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is our mediator. There's only one mediator between God and man, and man Jesus Christ. And yet, the Roman Catholic Church continues to insist on the necessity of a priest and the priesthood. Remember what I said. Without the tabernacle, the priest and the priesthood have nothing to do. Unnecessary. Now you see why, in the Roman Catholic religion, the altar is central. The Mass is essential. The dispensing of grace, according to their theology, is through the priesthood and is through the Mass. It is not through free will gift of God and appropriated by faith. And so they completely ignore the high priestly role of Jesus Christ. Even if they say they believe in it, they ignore it. They suppress it by emphasizing their own earthly priesthood. Not negating the fact that we're all priests before God. Holy nation of priests. Christ took our judgment on the cross. The altar points to judgment. Because Christ based judgment we can approach God boldly. That was never the attitude of a worshipper back in those days in the wilderness. He never approached boldly. He always approached with fear and trembling. For one thing, if he just gave anything, his offering could be rejected and he would be rejected. So you would have to ensure that your offering was blameless. And you would have to come and as a humble worshipper you would have to ask God to accept this offering and forgive of your sins. We can approach the throne boldly because of what Christ has done. What fantastic news for believers today, right? Jesus had to be lifted up like the brazen serpent. Interestingly enough, that the serpent was told to be made of the same material that the altar is made, and later on, labor is made. And that is not of gold and not of silver, but of bronze. in this case, copper-based metal. Again, pointing to judgment. Jesus himself said, John 3, verse 14, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. He pointed to his death that had to be lifted up so that he would face the full judgment of God. Salvation, in the ultimate sense, is the escape from the judgment of God. It's being saved from the coming judgment of God. and it's a wonderful news because of what Christ has done. Let's take a look at a bird's eye view of the Tabernacle Courtyard and then let's read this passage. One more thing, the sinner can have fellowship based on the sacrifice. I'm a little too fast for my fingers and PowerPoint. Let's take a look at this. You'll notice that there is a definite symmetry here. It's twice as wide as it is long. depending on your vantage point. 150 feet long way and the width 75 feet. And you notice that there's only one door. That door is about 13 feet wide. There's only one way in and one way out. And if you're a worshipper, you're not a Levite, you can only go in right to where the altar of burnt offering is and where the animals are kept. Never pass the laver or the sea right where the altar area is and only when you have a sacrifice. That's it. that tells us this is a picture of tremendous narrowness and of tremendous grace. In the New Testament, we know that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father. No one can approach me, approach God, except through Christ. There's only one way in, one way out. Jesus said a lot of things that's very, very interesting that we're going to study just a little bit. But now, let's take a look at the text, verses 9 to 19. of chapter 27. Let's go back to Exodus 27, beginning with verse 9. You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen, 100 cubits long for one side. You'll notice that the cubit, we're taking a measurement of about 18 inches, so a foot and a half is a cubit. So you just multiply that by 1.5 and you get the the measurement in feet so you can kind of visualize how big it must have been. And its pillar shall be 20. With their 20 sockets of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. Likewise, for the north side, the length there shall be hangings 100 cubits long and its 20 pillars with their 20 sockets of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of 50 cubits with their 10 pillars and their 10 sockets. The width of the court on the east side shall be 50 cubits. The hangings for one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits with their 3 pillars and their 3 sockets, and for the other side shall be hangings of 15 cubits with their 3 pillars and their 3 sockets. For the gate of the court there shall be a screen of 20 cubits of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen and work of a weaver with their 4 pillars and their 4 sockets. All the pillars around the court shall be furnished with silver bands with their hooks of silver and their sockets of bronze. The length of the court shall be 100 cubits and the width 50 throughout and the height five cubits of fine twisted linen and their sockets of bronze. All the utensils of the tabernacle used in its service and its pegs and all the pegs of the court shall be of bronze. All right. Let's take a look at this one more time. in a different perspective. You can see the aerial view inside, there's a top view there. Holy of Holies, you see a clear curtain that separates Holy of Holies and Holy Place. Now let's take a look from this angle. The theme, obviously, is of separation. The door, which is 13 feet long, or wide, is constantly closed. It's only open when a priest comes out to meet the worshipper. He meets him at the gate and only lets him in after he inspects the animal. That's the only time he gets to go in. There was a barrier that prevented unlawful approach. Anyone who tried to get in, the law of God says he must die. Immediate death penalty. And it was a positive line of demarcation. Not only keep the animals out or young children out, it was to keep the people out. Because there was a line of demarcation, a barrier between a holy God and the world as well. Everybody were encamped around it, but they were outside. And only the Levites and the priests can go in there. A single gate pointing to a single approach. It's interesting that Jesus not only said that he was the way, the truth and the life, he also claimed that he was the door for the sheep. That's found in John chapter 10 verse 7. I am the door of the sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Why would he even use that kind of imagery? He's saying that he not only allows the sheep to go in and out and help them find pasture, but he protects them at night. It's a wonderful picture of protection as well. Jesus claimed also in John chapter 10 verse 9, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Jesus equated his protection with provision and salvation, ultimately salvation. And so this is a wonderful picture of Jesus's ministry as the only entry point to the access of God. Furthermore, the height of the tent here looks pretty shallow from this angle. However, it's actually quite high. It's 7.5 feet tall. Which means, no matter how much you really wanted to see what's going on inside there, you couldn't. God ensured that no one could peek in there. The only way I guess you could is one guy goes down and he gets on someone's back to peek in there. But if you did and you touched, you would die. God was very serious about that. So this height blocked indiscriminate view of all persons. So the theme of separation just continues throughout this passage and the way the tabernacle was built. Remember what I said in the beginning, God locked himself in and the people had to lock themselves out. That's the condition of the relationship between a sinful man and a holy God. It is a ridiculous nonsense for a sinful man to say, we believe in the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, and they don't go through Christ. It's ridiculous nonsense, and it's a blasphemous joke. God doesn't take lightly. There's only one way, or no way. There is a complete separation, and there is no other way. Let's take a look at a concept here, the order of worship. This whole picture is not only access to God, but it's an approach to worship. There is no worship unless there is acceptance first. Remember, this is a very simple but a very important statement. The world's religion is man's attempt to find and worship God. The biblical worship is God's revelation of himself reaching out and allowing sinful men to have an access, to give them an access to him. He accepts them and he invites them. But it must be his way. A sinful man cannot approach God unless he is granted entrance into the place where the sacrifice takes place. We call that grace. Only through the sacrifice can the sins be dealt with. Only through the sacrifice. Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Only after sacrifice has been made can there be a deeper approach to God. Without the sacrifice first, the priest can do nothing. Nothing further. And only through mediation could there be an encounter with God. That's the role of the high priest. There's no such thing as an individual approaching God at will. No such thing. And even today, even with Christ's finished work, a man cannot approach God on his own. He must come humbly, repentant, through one narrow way, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ's finished work. So let's be very clear about that. A couple of other pictures, Here's a little model of what it would look like. It's a pretty close model. You see the pillar of cloud. This is a day picture. You see the sacrifice going on over there. You see the animals. You see the priest in white coming out to meet the worshipper who brought his animal. The door closed. He's going to take that in, usher him in, and take him in and offer the sacrifice and escort him out. That's how it was done. Here's an evening photo of the pillar of fire. continual sacrifice, while the Israelites camped on all four sides, north, south, east, and west. And the central, right, the central edifice there, of course, is the tabernacle proper. And when the pillar of fire moved at night, they would have to take up and get up, take up all their tents, pack up, and start following. They did that for four years in the wilderness. And this is the purest form of worship described in the Old Testament. Interestingly enough, the New Testament writer John uses the very word. And he, that is the Lord Jesus, dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us. So what we find in the next couple of verses is in verses 20 and 21 of chapter 27. Let's close that off. It says, You shall charge the sons of Israel that they bring you clear oil of beed and olives for the light to make a lamp burn continually. We already studied that. That's the menorah. In the tenth of the meeting, outside the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel." Of course, Jesus Himself claimed that He is the light of the world, that he who comes to Him shall never walk in darkness. The light not only bounced off the walls and illuminated the beauty and the majesty inside the tabernacle, but it was a sign of God's every present illumination over His people. And it was a glorious thing that the priests, especially the high priests and the Levitical priests scheduled to serve in the temple, only a few days out of a year, by the way, got to observe this glorious sight. And the light had to be continually, perpetually lit. So there must be a very pure oil of olive oil that produced very little smoke that was constantly filled in this seven-branch lampstand called the menorah. Alright, so that's that, and let's take a look at chapter 28 now. As we talk about the priesthood, let's read a few passages of scripture and we get a feel for what we're looking at. First thing that God tells Moses to do, it's interesting that God tells Moses and not Aaron, even though he and his sons are directly implicated. That's one of the questions that I have for your discussion after this presentation. You'll go into your Bible study discussion. What's Moses' role? We know what Aaron's role is. He's a high priest. What's Moses' role? And how is that reflected in our understanding of New Testament reality? Chapter 28, Then bring near to yourself Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, to minister as priests to me, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. We know what happened to Nadab and Abihu. They offered unauthorized fire. Fire came down from the altar and just consumed them. God killed them. They made one mistake. They're dead. God did not mess around with worship. There was no room for creativity in the worship of God. They were warned. They were clearly trained. It was their fault. You get a picture of God's justice and His divine wrath and His holiness. in the Old Testament like you never do. It's interesting, though, that in the New Testament, Jesus Christ talked about hell. And hell is not even mentioned in the Old Testament hardly. But Jesus warned people about the impending doom of hell for unbelief. Jesus spoke in the harshest terms of those who will be judged. And so, don't get those things wrong. Think that God is overly harsh in the Old Testament. That is not the case. God is the same. His character doesn't change. He is a holy God, and we must fear Him as such. Scripture teaches that there were four sons that Aaron had, and yet we only find two of them in action after a while. After Leviticus, we only find two of them in action. And they're not the oldest two sons, they're the younger two sons. Eleazar basically took over after Aaron died, and Ithamar and his descendants are still found in the genealogical records in the book of Ezra. That's post-exile. That's a fantastic reality that shows that God is faithful to whom He has chosen. So here we find these four men. Aaron's son, he says, bring near to yourself. Aaron your brother, and set them apart. That's the idea. Verse 2, you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother for glory and for beauty. It's very interesting that God doesn't instruct Moses to teach Aaron and his sons their job descriptions and give them assignments, start their training. It says, no, first thing you do is make clothes for them. So now Moses is going to be a designer fashion guy. He's going to make some clothes. Notice it says, for glory and for beauty. Those are two reasons right there. For glory and for beauty. Alright, so now we know where we're headed. Now let's talk about the priesthood a little bit before we go into the text further. The priesthood has two major parallels. The first parallel is between the high priest and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has the supreme priesthood. It's not like Aaron. But Jesus had a very different kind of priesthood in the order of Melchizedek. Very different from the Mosaic high priesthood. The high priest is God's chosen mediator. Jesus is our true and one super mediator. The high priest has the burden of serving people and representing the people of God to God. Jesus said to Peter, After Peter denied Jesus three times on the shores of Galilee, Jesus said, Simon Peter, do you love me? Peter said, yes, Lord, you know I love you. Then what did Jesus say? Serve my people. Feed my sheep, tend my lambs, feed my lambs. For those of you who are thinking about going into Christian service, those of you who want greater opportunities for service in the Church of Jesus Christ, You do it as a virtue of your love of the Lord, not because it's a good thing and it's pleasing to you and it looks like a wonderful thing to do. What happens when that desire wanes? No, it must be based on the love of God. The priesthood has always been God selected and it was a privileged position. They were told to love God with all their hearts and they were told to teach that to other people. So the priests, had a very, very serious and important role. So let's remember when God calls us to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, he's not just calling us to certain tasks. He's calling us first to love him with all of our hearts and begin to teach that and transmit that to other people. It's a relationship of love. All right. Another parallel between the New Testament believers and the priesthood is that we have a privileged access to God. God hand-selected us to be His people. That's just magnanimous grace. We also lead others to God, as the priests led people to God. They're the teachers, and Levites, which was a non-priestly description of spiritual teaching. They knew the law, they were supposed to study law and teach it to the people to lead them to God. We're also endowed with honor and glory from God. As the priests were, they were given special vestments that separated themselves. When they put that on, they knew that they were a consecrated people for a special task. It wasn't the same clothes that they used to wear every day. It is a raiment of glory, honor, of beauty, and a privileged position. Who gave them that position? God did. We're called to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood. Therefore, our actions, our demeanor, our approach to life must be holy. It can't be secular. It can't be of the world, when the worldliness is marginalized, normalized, and comfortable. So, this section of Scripture now begins with priestly garments. And you know garments have a very theological meaning in the New Testament, and it does in the Old Testament as well. So let's take a look. Let's take a look at some of the pictures here. Way at the top, you see a model of the headdress, the turban, that the priest is supposed to wear, the high priest. And you see a gold ring around it. If you look very carefully, you see some etchings. And that says, Holy unto the Lord. Okay? Then you see a... big round jewel pendant there, it has basically six lines of Hebrew writing on it, and it basically starts with Re'uven and ends with Yosef there, six names of the sons, Re'uven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Issachar, Yosef. So there's six on that, and so that's on one shoulder, it goes over one shoulder, it's basically a clip, All right? And there's another one on the other side. So, there's two. And each one has six tribe names on them. So, they make the 12. And on his breastplate, in four vertical lines, in three horizontal lines, there are 12 kinds of stones with name of each one of the tribes on them. That's the breast piece. And you see that big old apron that he's wearing? That's called the ephod or ephod. So the ephod, or ephod, the breast piece, and those two pieces, and the headdress, and later on, urim and thumim, we're going to study those things. Verse 2 says, they are for glory and for beauty. Notice what God does. He puts the high priest at center stage, in a very dignified, honorific position. He does that. And look at verse 3, "...you shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to me." That's an important phrase right there, to me. First, the priest is not supposed to be man-directed, he's supposed to be God-directed. He better not forget who his boss really is. It's the Lord. He serves the Lord first. And from the outflow of the ministry that he has with the Lord, he goes and ministers to people. He is God's servant first before he serves men. for consecration, in verse 3, and in verses 3 and 4, for priests to me. Look at verse 4 again. Let's take a look at some of these components of the garments. First, the breast piece. Hebrew idea of the heart is the gut. It's not the organ that pumps the blood right here. The Hebrew idea of loving the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Hebrew idea of heart is the gut. That's where the emotions come. It is the seed of emotion and of all your strength. And so they said that this is the heart. So where is the effort? It just hangs right over the chest and to the upper abdomen. It's where the heart is. And so, what's the message here? Well, the message is clear. We're going to read that in chapter 28 a little bit. That the high priest is always supposed to have God's people close to his heart. That's the idea. The second piece, it's the ephod. The ephod goes over the shoulders as a sleeveless apron, but is connected by a gold ring and chains, as you see in the back there, and it continues And these two stones would have the name on it, and so it goes over the shoulders. So the key idea in the ephod is the shoulder. It's hung right over the shoulder. Again, those names of the twelve tribes on his shoulders. He is supposed to hold up the burden of the people's burdens on his shoulders. He is a mediator. Their problems is his problem. Their needs are his needs. He brings them before the Almighty God. That's the idea of the effet. The breast piece close to the heart. Effet upon his shoulders. The weight, the responsibility of the ministry. That's the idea. Now the next view, I'm making some conjecture, because the Bible doesn't specify. But based on what we kind of configure, I think this is an educated guess. The robe, pointing to integrity, uprightness. The tunic, That's the inner clothing. Righteousness, because many times in the New Testament, a linen, a clothing, a robe is considered righteousness. So, the Lord clothes us with His righteousness. That kind of imagery is there as well. The turban, honor, maybe something else. The sash, the belt around, faithfulness. In Isaiah 11, verse 5, let me read that. points to the Messiah as one who is of great faithfulness. Isaiah 11.5 says, also righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness the belt about his waist. Pointing to the Messianic character. So the garments point to his role, his character and his ministry. So they are very important. So let's take a look at some of the verses here. Chapter 28, verse 7, "...it shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its two ends, that it may be joined." Look at verse 12 of Exodus 28, "...and you shall put the two stones on the shoulder piece of the ephod as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial." Verse 29 of chapter 28, And Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment." That's an interesting term, isn't it? Breastpiece of judgment. "...over his heart when he enters the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually." In the New Testament, Apostle Paul says something interesting. Philippians 1, verse 7, "'For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment And in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers of grace with me." Paul had the people of God in his heart. He had the same heart and responsibility and love of a high priest that flowed from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest. This is the way, in the perfect way, he ministers to us. This is what the writer of Hebrews says. He is a great high priest who is able to sympathize with your needs and mine. He knows what's going on. Unlike the high priest here, he has to basically kind of figure out what's happening with the individuals. Jesus knows exactly what's going on, and He sympathizes, and He presents these requests before the Father. What an incredible ministry. As much as human beings can be of encouragement, there's no one who can encourage more. than our great high priest who knows exactly what's happening with us and yet who loves us and it presents us before the Father. Well, the priestly garments are inherently part of the tabernacle. Again, a priest, the high priestly role, his garments, everything, they're inherently part of the tabernacle system. It's for the purpose of representing people to God in the very presence of God's tabernacle. There's another interesting passage in verse 32 of chapter 28, if you'll read that. It talks about the kind of sewing of the clothing. Verse 32 says, "...and there shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it," that is the ephod, "...around its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn." Look how specific that is. God describes what kind of sewing must go into it, and how sturdy it must be, and for the purpose so that it won't be torn. So the garments are to be prepared, the high priestly garments, in such a way that it won't tear. So the tearing of the garment signified a very specific emotive and spiritual response. As a high priest, he represents people before God. He is a representative of God to the people. He is the mediator between people and God. And so when he tears his robe, it is because the name of God, the character of God has been maligned and blasphemed in his presence. That's the time when he can tear, because that is an outward expression of what must be happening inside, that it's like his heart is being ripped into, that pain that he would have to suffer emotionally because he is hearing the name of God being maligned in his very presence as he is a representative of God. And this is why when Jesus said, It is as you say, when the high priest Caiaphas put Jesus under oath and said, Tell me if you are the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One, Jesus said, It is as you say, and you will see the Son of Man. coming down, sitting at the right hand of glory, and coming down with the angels with great power and glory. And he just ripped. Do we need any more witnesses? This man is blasphemed. And they start beating him and spitting at him. So the high priest and the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus flat out. Jesus said that he is the Son of God, the Christ. Very interesting. There is another very interesting passage in Leviticus chapter 10. Open up your Bible there to verse 6, Leviticus 10.6. Now this is when Aaron's two sons died at the same time by offering unauthorized fire. Now Moses goes up to his brother Aaron and he tells him to do something. Technically he tells him not to do something. And it almost seems heartless because Look at verse 6, Leviticus 10, verse 6. Alright? So if you read, beginning with verse 10, here's where Nadab and Abihu dies, because they offer a strange fire, unauthorized fire before the Lord. Verse 6, And Moses said to Aaron and to his two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, Do not uncover your heads, nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die, and that he will not become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has brought about." I mean, look how serious this is. Here Aaron, on a single day, is bereft of his two sons. He is the oldest and the second son. And he can't even mourn for them. Why? If you do, God's going to kill you. If you don't have a good theological lens, this will become very, very strange and absurd, if not repulsive to a fleshly thinking mind. Let me tell you what's happening here. That's how important the high priestly role is. You know why? Because once a year, he goes into the very presence of God, where he is beholding the Shekinah glory of God, suddenly appearing in the midst of the Ark and on top of the Mercy Seat, the cover for the Ark, in a glorious state, where it illuminates the Holy of Holies. Because, see, the Holy of Holies, 364 days a year, is pitch black. There is no outside ambient light that's coming in. There's a curtain. At least in the Holies, there's the lamp that illuminates constantly. In the Holy of Holies, there's nothing. It's pitch black. So first you go in there, illuminated by the light and the holies, you go in there and as soon as that curtain goes down, it's pitch black. And you need to know what you're doing. Or God needs to illuminate and appear so that you, as you sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, His glory appears, that means He accepted that sacrifice for the entire nation for that year. You are the only one who gets to behold that. You're the only one. Ever. And the only thing that people can go by is your own personal experience. And for the New Testament believer, the Scripture says God Himself, in the Holy Spirit, lives inside each one of us. Jesus said that if we believe in Him, that He will come in and dwell with us. It's because God is omnipresent He can not only occupy all space, but he can come and have an intimate relationship with our soul. Now, don't ask me to explain that any further than the way that it's mysteriously described in Scripture. There is an intimate spiritual relationship that the New Testament believer has because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's why he can never be at a point where he is hopeless. Even the death of his own sons and family members cannot tear him inside, because he is in the presence and is beheld the awesome glory of God. That is a biblical understanding and teaching of Scripture. So the Word of God didn't even allow Aaron to express his emotion in a public way, in outrage, because why? God's glory is at stake. He represents God before the people. And if he fails to recognize his role, he dishonors God and God removes him from service. It is an incredible picture. The high priest is not to tear his garments on purpose. That's why it is doubly, triply sewn to ensure no accidental tearing. The high priest has the most privileged access to God, and therefore must not express emotions as if the name of the Lord has been maligned, or defiled, or blasphemed. That's the only time that he could do that. Not even for the death of his own family members, in such a tragic way. There's something that we can identify there, because we have such an intimate relationship with God. What circumstance in life will give us such hopeless state of mourning. What circumstance in life? Life? Death? Illness? Tragedy? Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, right? And if you don't know that kind of joy and comfort and hope and peace, perhaps you really don't understand the access that you have with God. and the intimacy that he affords you and me because of Christ. And perhaps you need to get your life right. And if you don't sense the intimacy. There is also a solemn warning to the high priest. That he must dress appropriately, because this is not about style and beauty. He is a visible representation of God and what God has done for him. God's the one who exalted him. God selected Aaron. God endowed him with this honor. God gave him this magnificent raiment. God gave him and his sons a privileged access. There's a warning. Look at verse 35 and verse 43 of Exodus 28. It shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its tinkling shall be heard when he enters and leaves the holy place before the Lord, so that he will not die. There is a metallic pomegranate and bells, golden bells, are supposed to be attached to the bottom of his effort. So when he moved around, there's a constant sound. So he's constantly moving around doing things. Even when he moves just a little bit, there's a tinkling of a sound. So the Levites are outside listening to it, the priests are. They dare not go in. As soon as they go in, they're zapped. God kills them, right? He only goes in once a year into the Holy of Holies. He goes into the Holies to do his thing, right? Get the oil ready and things like that. And even then, they wait for him outside, and the tinkling sound... If he makes a mistake, he dies. They tie a rope around his waist and they pull him out. They dare not go in to rescue him. There is no rescue mission for a high priest. There is no such thing, because you die. So they ensure these things. So God told him that he should wear these tinklings, these bells, to make the sound. Look at verse 43. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of the meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him." And that is what? Sashes, caps, proper clothing. Why? Verse 41, "'You shall put them on Aaron, your brother and his sons with him, And you shall anoint them, and ordain them, and consecrate them, that they shall serve me as priests." They shall serve me as priests. Let me close. Just a couple more slides and we're done. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. Confession of faith, right? Our allegiance to God. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 9 and 10, And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. What an incredible role that our Lord Jesus Christ has. And what an incredible role that He has given to us, extended to us in the world. He is the mediator between God and man, but we are his agents, priests unto God in the world. That's a privileged access. Let's take a look at one more verse here. The Urim and Thummim. Urim and Thummim are supposed to be inside, behind the breast piece. And these are two objects of some sorts. And Urim means lights. The "-im-" ending, of course, is plural, and perfections. Thumim. Thum. Or and Thum. So, singular. Orim and Thumim. All right, so, what's going on here with these two objects? Well, if you look at verse 30, they were supposed to be used for certain things. Verse 30 says, You shall put the breastpiece of judgment in the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. And Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. He is not only supposed to have the Urim and Thummim with him, he is supposed to put them to use when he makes very important decisions, national decisions, as he seeks the will of the Lord in that area. There are two objects. We don't know quite what they are. They could have been jewels. They could have been golden tablets. They could have been sticks. We don't know what Urim and Thummim are. They're just called lights and perfections. According to Jewish tradition, they said that the Urim and Thummim would miraculously light up when the high priest would pray and it would light up the stones and it would give direction, yes or no kind of an answer. That sounds pretty Amazing, but I don't doubt that that did happen. But we don't know exactly what they were. There's not a lot of description. We know that Urim and Thummim were used, not frequently, but sometimes in the Old Testament. They're used to discern God's will on national matters. And Urim and Thummim point to the Lord's internal leading. Because, just like the believer, depends upon the Lord through prayer and asks the Lord for guidance, trusts in the Lord's leading. And just like the scripture points to the full access, if not the clear principle whereby which the believer must act or not act, the scripture becomes sufficient because it is sufficient. And the Lord's internal leading through the believers dependence in prayer, each believer has the clear will of God available to him. It's an amazing reality. So today we can rely upon the Lord's guidance through scripture and prayer. We have the scripture, the objective evidence of all that God intends for us, and we have prayer for moment by moment. decisions and needs that we can trust in him. What a blessed way that the Lord has blessed the New Testament believer in Christ, right? All this is possible because of Christ's finished work. Let me bring all this back to a close tonight. The tabernacle was all about access to God, even though its primary message was one of separation. It kept people out. It locked God in. And yet there is a hunger and a need of a sinner to have his sins forgiven. That humility and that desire to approach God has been given by God, invited by Him, empowered and energized. And then when the believer comes in the right way that God prescribes, God deals with him, meets with him, forgives his sin and fills his heart with joy. And then he goes off and lives his life for the glory of God. That entire tabernacle system given in the wilderness is just a shadow of what we have in Christ. It's just a mere shadow. And what we have is so much more. It is therefore imperative that the New Testament believer understands the deep truths of the Old Testament revelation. Without it, our faith and our understanding, our life and joy and peace will be shallow. 78% of the entire Bible is the Old Testament. There's a reason why God put so much So much in the Old Testament so that we would get the fullness from the New Testament as we see How God dealt with the Jews we see so much how he deals with the church the people of God in the New Testament era One day when Christ comes he's going to restore Israel to her complete full allegiance to into a state that is more pure and far greater than the wilderness journeys. They will be wholeheartedly worshipping God according to the exact prescriptions of the law, minus the complete aspects of the Lord's fulfilment. Yes, they will even offer animal sacrifices, certain ones, not the ones for sin offering and all these other things that Jesus has finished, but even as a memorial to what Jesus has done They will then get the full sense of what all these things mean, as they see Jesus' finished and complete work. Then they will rejoice. Then they will read other nations. They will lead other nations to God. There will be a kingdom of priests, indeed, in the Millennial Kingdom. That is a fantastic time for us. We, who are in Christ, shall already be His priests. We will be like the high priest, if you will, in a privileged role, serving the Lord during the millennial kingdom, as God works out his theocratic kingdom plan through Israel. That's going to be a time. It's going to be a fantastic time. And we see these pictures coming into vivid reality, working in the people of God, Abrahamic descendants. What a joy it is for us to share in that. and to receive the full benefit of that here and now. May the Lord bring so much joy and closeness in your personal walk with him as he reminds you of who you are. You're a privileged person if you're saved. You're invited into the very presence of God. You're called to serve before him. You're his servant before your servant of other people. But he also calls you to bear the burdens and have God's people close to your heart and minister to them. That's your role and mine. And this is a very privileged thing. May the Lord be glorified in your practice of such things. Let's pray. Father, thank you for reminding us of who we are in Christ and what privilege and access we have through him. Now would you propel your people into the mission field, which is life, and allow them to exercise their God-given roles as kingdom of holy priests unto you, ministering before you and loving people as their response of love that they have received from you through Christ. We give you thanks and praise, and we ask that you would be honored in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.