“Special Stones” – FBC Morning Light (2/6/2024)

Good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're in the book of Exodus and chapters 27 through 29, and these chapters contain primarily the garments that were designed for the priest, and all the parts of those garments, what they were to wear, and how they were to be made, and what they were to be made out of, and so on and so forth.

The Priestly Garments in Exodus 27–29

And I want to zero in on some stones. So one of the garments that the priest, the high priest, wore was this linen ephod, and we read about it in chapter 28 verses 5 and following, and it says there to take gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, and they're supposed to make this ephod out of the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the finely woven linen, and all of this was to be very artistically done.

But on the shoulders of that ephod, verse 9 says they were to put two onyx stones, one stone on each shoulder, and it says that on those stones were to be engraved, in verse 9, the names of the sons of Israel.

Six of the names on one stone, and six of them on another stone, so the twelve sons of Jacob. Those names are to be put on these stones, and the reason for that is explained in verse 12. It says, you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel.

In other words, so that their names are remembered by Aaron, the high priest, as he goes in before the Lord and does the work of the priest, it says in the last part of verse 12, so Aaron shall bear the names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial, or as a way of remembering, remembering the names, that is, keeping the names of the twelve tribes of Israel constantly before him as he carries out his priestly duties.

And these stones were to be on his shoulders, so you get the sense that the high priest is bearing the weight of the entire nation of God's people on his shoulders. The weight, the burden of God's people is placed on the shoulders of the high priest.

The Breastplate of Judgment and the Twelve Precious Stones

There are some other stones, though, that are brought out here in these garments for the priest. He's not only to have an ephod, but also a breastplate. And this breastplate, in verse 15, is described as a breastplate of judgment, it's supposed to be artistically woven, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, and it gives the dimensions and so forth.

But then the important thing I want us to see is, in verse 17, it says, you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones, three stones in each row. They're all, you know, precious stones, some of them we recognize, some of them may not be so familiar to us, but a sardius, a topaz, emerald, turquoise, sapphire, a diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, jasper, and each of these stones is set in gold, so there's a gold setting around the stone.

And then we're told in verse 21 that the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name, they shall be according to the twelve tribes.

Okay, so get the scene here. The high priest is wearing an ephod, and on the shoulder piece of the ephod there are two onyx stones, six names of the tribes of Israel on one stone, six on the other. The high priest is bearing the burden of God's people as he goes in to the Holy of Holies to offer an atoning sacrifice for the people of Israel, and those are on his shoulders.

And then on the breastplate, close to his heart, are the twelve precious stones, each one with a name of one of the tribes engraved in that stone. This is communicating that the people, God's people, are to be close to the heart of the high priest as he carries out his priestly duties.

Christ Our Great High Priest

Now, what's the significance of all this? I mean, this was Old Testament, Old Covenant stuff. Well, remember that all of this sacrificial system, the tabernacle and all of its components, and the priest and his garments and these things are all symbolic of the heavenly tabernacle, and our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What can we gain? What can we learn from these stones? I think two key ideas. One is that the Lord Jesus, our great high priest, bears us on his shoulders. He bears the burdens of his people on his shoulders.

We have a high priest who cannot...we don't have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who is in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, we can come boldly before the throne of grace.

He bears those burdens for us. And furthermore, we who are his people are near and dear to the heart of our Redeemer, priest, Savior, King. He bears our names close to his heart. We are his people. Well, this is certainly an encouragement to me.

I trust it is to you to know we have such a wonderful, great high priest, Savior, King. And so our Father and our God, thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his priestly ministry in our behalf, and we pray that we would rejoice in who he is and all he does in our behalf.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a wonderful Tuesday. May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.