We have seen man fully tested under law, as symbolized by the ribbon of blue, and found him only guilty. We have also seen that to go back to the institution of the ribbon of blue is to give up grace, and to make the death of Christ of none effect.
We now desire to consider the priesthood of Christ and the lace of blue. “And they shall bind the breastplate by 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. 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 thou shalt 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 continually. And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue.”
Here, in this chapter, all points to Christ, the great High Priest passed into the heavens. The ribbon of blue showed what we ought to have been to God, and were not; the lace of blue, what Christ is to us, having first glorified God on the cross.
Whatever excellencies and glories of Christ we see shadowed in the dress of the high priest, let us not forget that gold, the emblem of divine righteousness, has the first place. “Gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen.” He is all this for us. What Jesus was in the flesh was typified in the materials of the veil—as the royal Sufferer, as the Messiah, as the One in whom the Father delighted; all was perfect. But He was not a priest on earth; He must first suffer; the fine gold must pass through the fire. As our Substitute, He must bear the judgment due to us once, and then pass into heaven, our great High Priest. “Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image, of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
There is another fact of all-importance to Christians expressed in two words—“we have.” “We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” We have not to come and pray that He would be our Priest. Whatever tender sympathy, whatever security—all, all we see in our great High Priest—is ours, whether we know it, or not (Heb. 3:1; 4:14-16; 8:1; 10:21.)
It is, however, important not only to look at and learn the precious lessons set before us in the dress of the high priest, but also to seek to understand the contrasts between Aaron and Christ.
There were two places on which the names of the children of Israel were set in gold—on the shoulder, and on the heart. (Exod. 28:12, 29.) “Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial.” Thus we see all Israel represented before the Lord on the two shoulders of the high priest. Is not this a striking picture of every child of God placed in security and strength, like the sheep that He laid on His shoulder?
The Priesthood of Christ is not to meet us when we sin, but rather to preserve us from sinning, our names being ever on His shoulders, and He having an abiding, unchangeable Priesthood. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost [evermore] that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” What a contrast this is to putting ourselves under law, or taking the pledge, to save ourselves from sin!
But not only were all Israel written, nay, engraved, on the shoulders of Aaron, we must pass on to the lace of blue and the breastplate of judgment. The names of all Israel must also be engraved like the engraving of a signet, and placed on precious stones in that breastplate of judgment on the heart of Aaron. Why did the Lord give such minute instructions as to the materials and the security of the breastplate? What a place gold has in all this! It is like the glad tidings of the revelation of the righteousness of God. What chains of gold and rings of gold! “And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the ephod with a lace of blue.” Blessed security! fastened on the heart of the high priest with a heavenly tie—the heavenly color, blue. Thus, whilst the ribbon of blue reminded Israel of the heavenly, holy claims of God on them—claims which they never met—the lace of blue points to those who are given by the Father, and ever accepted in the Son. And how secure the fastenings: “that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.”
What a sight! Look at our great High Priest. Who are they engraved on His tender heart? Let us hear Him tell., He says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out... And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
Do you not see the lace of blue in all this? All is of the Fathers will. Perhaps you say, How am I to know that the Father hath given me to Christ? Have you come to Him, or are you trusting in your own resolutions? He says further, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life,” &c. Have you by faith seen the Son of God, and believed on Him? Then rest assured you are bound on His heart with the lace of blue. It is the Fathers heavenly hand. Again, He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 6; 10) Thus have we the answer—all that the Father has given to Christ are placed in abiding security on His heart. Rings and chains of gold, and lace of blue—all, all are of God. Now read Rom. 8:29-39. What a chain of pure gold! What rings of everlasting love! Predestinated, called, justified, glorified. Who shall condemn? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Yes, all is the lace of blue; all is of God—from eternity to eternal glory. Engraved like the engraving of a signet—bound with a lace of blue in everlasting security, that they be not loosed.
It may, indeed, be asked, How can such lost sinners as we be placed on the heart of Christ, never to be separated from His love? On what ground can this be in righteousness? For an answer to this question, we ask your careful attention to these words: “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.” (Exod. 28:29.) Still more: “And thou shalt 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.”
Here, then, is the ground of our security on the heart of Christ. He who bears our names on His heart has first borne the judgment due to us; yea, bore that judgment according to Urim and Thummim. He has met the claims of the light and perfection of God. Other foundation for my soul than this would I have none. Before He sat down in the radiance of the glory of God, He purged our sins. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He was delivered for our iniquities. He made atonement for sins. Christ died for the sins of many. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Yea, if we turn to the epistle, on this subject, we shall find this pressed more than anything else. The infinite value of that one sacrifice, when He offered Himself as the ground of the immutable security and perfection, as to the conscience, of those sanctified unto God by that one offering. We hope to refer to this especially in our next.
To return, then, to our chapter, and type of our great High Priest, two things are evidently set forth in that breastplate, bound by the lace of blue. Christ, the Substitute, bearing our judgment, and Christ, our Representative, in whom we are immutably accepted.
In the principle of the ribbon of blue we see man tested, and proved utterly guilty, under judgment. In the principle of divine righteousness and grace, set forth in the lace of blue, we see the Substitute taking our place, bearing our judgment? both as to sins and sin, so that we can say, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” Now mark the order: “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Rom. 8:34.) We say, how beautiful the order: first, He died on the cross; He bare our judgment; God has raised Him from among the dead for our justification. So that God is our Justifier! Then, next, He is even at the right hand of God. There we see Him our High Priest: He maketh intercession for us. So that all is removed that unfitted us, and we are accepted in the Beloved. We now see Him who was our Substitute, bearing the full judgment of God due to us, now our Representative, bearing our names upon His heart in the full light and perfection of God. Bound by a lace of blue, to be unloosed no more—engraved there, to be never effaced. The robe of the ephod all of blue. Yes, all this of God. If the ribbon of blue shows what we ought to have been, and failed; the lace of blue, and the robe all of blue, reveals what God has made Christ to be to us. And He never fails.
We can only, in this short paper, dwell on one thing more. “And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront of the miter it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.”
Who is worthy, we ask—who in His own Person is worthy to wear the blue lace before the eye of God? It is that glorious, peerless Man who sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high. He whom God has made to be righteousness unto us—He who has established the throne of God in righteousness, yet perfect grace to us. Oh, Holy, Holy, Holy One, Thou alone art holiness to the Lord, Thou alone art worthy to wear the lace of blue. We bow and adore Thee, and cast the ribbon of blue at Thy feet. Thou hast borne the iniquity of the things of Thy people, and now they are accepted in Thee before the Lord.
What a wondrous picture! all the redeemed people of God accepted, and presented in the holiest, immutably on the heart of Christ, bound there by the lace of blue.
In our next we hope to further consider “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession—Christ Jesus”—as revealed to us in the Epistle to the Hebrews.