Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1922

Narrator: Chris Genthree

Exodus 28:15-29¹⁵And 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. ¹⁶Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. ¹⁹And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. ²⁰And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. ²¹And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. ²²And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. ²³And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. ²⁴And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. ²⁵And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod before it. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷And 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. ²⁸And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto 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 from the ephod. ²⁹And 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. (Exodus 28:15‑29). The Breastplate.

THE breastplate comes next, and is made of the same materials as the ephod, so we will not repeat these, but there is this in addition, and that is, there were twelve precious stones which were arranged in four rows.

The names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel were engraved on these stones, but only one name on each stone. You will remember that there were only two stones for the shoulders, and six names were on one stone and six on the other; but in the breastplate, which was to be upon his heart, there had to be a precious stone for each tribe. The lesson to be learned from this is that it would do to link the names together when the strength of the high priest was to be considered; but when his heart was in question, each one had to have an individual place.

So it is with all those who are believers in the Lord Jesus, and therefore have Him as their Great High Priest. They have their individual place in His heart, just as the mother is interested in, and loves every one of her children, no matter how many she may have.

Think of this, dear young believer, the Lord bears you up before God according to His unchanging love, and not according to your unfaithfulness and changing love. The measure of His love is that He gave His life for you, and what more can one give than his life? In all your difficulties and trials, remember that you ever have an individual place in His heart, and He will not allow anything to take place with you, but that which will be best for you.

The next thing we shall notice is that these stones were set in gold, and so were the stones on the shoulders, thus bringing before us the fact that our standing before God is in His righteousness. The breastplate was bound with chains, and rings of gold to the ephod at the shoulders, and the girdle, so that it could not be loosed from the ephod, thus teaching us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. (Rom. 8:35³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35)).

All this should cause us to seek to be like Christ in all our ways, and seek to please Him in everything. What love to show to us.

“Love that transcends our highest powers,

Demands our soul, our life, our all.”

ML 07/02/1922

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