(Ex. 28)
We are told in Hebrews that " we have a great high Priest, who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God;" and again, " We have such an high Priest who is set on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens;" and again, " If he were on earth he would not be a priest." The place of the exercise of the priesthood of Jesus is the heavens; and He has gone there as priest, " when he had by himself purged our sins." His priesthood follows redemption for us. He is gone as a priest there to sustain, according to the light and perfections of God's presence, those whom He has redeemed. " We see not yet all things put under him," says the apostle, " but we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor." The same words (see LXX.) as those in verse 2 of our chapter, when speaking of Aaron's garments of " glory and beauty," or " honor;" so we find that what Aaron was typically and officially, when clothed in these garments, Christ is personally. But before we see Him thus as represented in our chapter, let us look on Him in His life down here, before the way into the holiest was made manifest. We read in Ex. 26:3131And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: (Exodus 26:31) of a vail which separated the holy place from the most holy, and concealed the glory of God within. A vail composed of " blue and purple and scarlet and fine-twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made." This vail figured to us the flesh of Christ, as we are told in Heb. 10:2020By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:20). The materials which composed the vail tell us of the purity and graces of Christ. We find that the " blue" was the first of these things, the heavenly color. Heavenly was He in all His ways, walking through the world as " the Son of man who is in heaven." (John 3) Truly perfect in His humanity, yet with a savor of heaven in all His ways. The royal color, the " purple," was there too; born a king, as we read from the Gentile mouth, " Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" And then the " scarlet" which conveys to us the human glory of Jesus. (Psa. 8) And " fine-twined linen," His own perfect personal spotlessness, and inherent righteousness. With the cherubims added, for God the Father had " given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man," as we read in John 5 The cherubims are always the companions of the throne, the judicial executive of the throne in government. (See them in Gen. 3, Ex. 25, 2 Chron. Ezek. 1-11, Rev. 4, &c.) Thus we have in the vail that which concealed God within, and in it the figure of Christ's flesh. And He was thus presented to man, and He put forth His claims; but one after another they were refused, rejected and set aside. His earthly claims being thus refused, He must die and rise again that He may have a heavenly people, and bring them in divine righteousness before God. In verse 4 of the chapter before us, we find certain garments which were to be made: a breastplate, an ephod and a robe, a broidered coat, a miter, and a girdle. Now the ephod was that which peculiarly characterized the priesthood. In 1 Sam. 22 we read of Doeg the Edomite falling upon and slaying fourscore persons who wore the linen ephod. David, when he inquired of the Lord, put on the ephod. (1 Sam. 23:9-129And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod. 10Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. 11Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come down. 12Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. (1 Samuel 23:9‑12).) The ephod was composed of the same materials as the vail (without the cherubims), hut there was one material added to those composing it, which was gold. Gold is the figure of divine righteousness in Scripture. The inner part of the tabernacle and the furniture and vessels were of gold. We learn from this, that while God's Son had come down in divine and perfect love, and " had taken not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham he had taken hold;" He who was " in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him." God took Him up and set Him, in divine righteousness, in His presence. He is " with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." And we find Him thus set there in divine righteousness before God, and girded with the girdle of service for His people: to wash their feet and cleanse them practically according to the purity of what God is, not merely according to what they ought to be. We find Him thus in John 13, All His earthly claims had been put forth before this and refused-as Son of God, Son of David, and Son of man. (See John 11;12) He looks beyond it
all into the heavenly glory; and, in the washing of the disciples' feet, we learn that which He girded Himself to do in the glory into which He was about to go. He had come from God and went to God. In the end of chapter xiii. He speaks of His work that gives them a title to be there, " Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him." And in chapter xiv. He enters into the Father's house, now as a glorified man, upon a title that brings others in too, and we find those others in our chapter, His people, associated with Him. (Ver. 9-29.) Their names are borne upon His shoulders and His heart; on the " stones of memorial" and the " breastplate of judgment;" and they are set in their places in GOLD! Brought in and set in divine righteousness in Him in the presence of God, " who hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21).) He bears the weight and burden of His people on His shoulders before God Himself; and more, He cannot
be there without representing them, for we read in verse 28, " 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. 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, more than this, He bears their judgment according to the light and perfections (the Urim and Thummim) of God's holy presence. The robe of blue was under all the official garments-the personal, heavenly character of Christ. But when He went into the holy place, to " heaven itself," He left them behind to a " holy Father's" care. As the Father had sent Him into the world, even so does He send them into the world (John 17) to bear testimony to Him, and for His name; and to manifest the savor of His life on earth, to bring forth fruit to the praise and glory of God. Thus, as at Pentecost, as our great High Priest went into the holy place to heaven itself, He sent down the Holy Ghost to His people; and as the golden bells and pomegranates were on Aaron's robe, that " his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord." So was the sound of Jesus, the testimony and fruits of the Spirit (the golden bell which made the sound, the testimony; and the pomegranates, the fruit), heard upon earth at Pentecost, when He went in to the holy place.
But the precious fruits are often mingled in their purity with something of the flesh and the natural man; and we read that, " 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 (the testimony and fruits when mingled with anything of the flesh or the natural man) which the children oil Israel shall hallow, in all their holy gifts: and it shall always be upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord."
Precious and varied and beautiful are the offices He thus sustains for His people-sustains, not merely according to their inconsistencies, but according to the light and perfections and holiness of what God is, to whom they have been brought in Him. F. G. P.
Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.