The Garments of the high priest - The Character of Christ - Part 2 — Mark Sweetnam

So I thought I'd have to sort of whip you down through this section and get over the explanations of what these barrels and these onyxs and so are, but brethren you've disappointed me, you seem to be happy with my explanation.

So we'll, we have the various, again the various connections and I think we've emphasised the idea of security, again there may be further thoughts on that and we'll be glad to hear it. I mean I must confess that just visualising how this all would have connected together is something that does stretch me a little bit, but do we have anything else on these verses before we come to think about Brother John's question?

What about it being doubled from verse 16, did we say anything about that?

Well I had my whimsical suggestion about the three dimensions that were involved.

So it wasn't to contain anything within it? Well I think it was.

Okay, so we'll say it now. Yes, we'll maybe go there now, it's quite a large section of verses but the clock is moving quickly so if the brethren are happy with the way we've covered….

God frequently doubles things doesn't he? He does. John 10, they're in the hand of Christ and they're in the hand of God, so you've got a double security there as well.

What about the weight of the breastplate?

It must have been, in fact the whole regalia, if I can use that term, must have been quite something. Our brother has asked about the weight of the breastplate in case anyone didn't hear. Aaron, when they put it on him, he must have felt a little bit like David did when they put the armour on him and again it was a ministry, it was a burden and that was very clearly brought before Aaron.

Every morning when he got up and he put these things on he would have felt the weight of the responsibility that was his, his responsibility to God and his responsibility to the people. So, we have, we come to verse 29, this has been introduced to us as the, back in verse 15, as the breastplate of judgement and we come to verse 29 and Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgement upon his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually and it's interesting to think about the things that are continual in relation to the tabernacle and its service.

And so, it's the breastplate of judgement and we need to think a little bit about what that means and as our brother John has suggested I think we perhaps find the answer when we come to verse 30 and it also helps us with our brother David's question, this doubling over.

Now, I take the view that it was doubled over to act as a pouch or a receptacle in which the urim and the thummim could be placed. Now, there's potential for great differences of opinion on these urim and thummim.

Were they nothing in the sense of is it just a term for the breastplate? That's a view that some of my brethren take. Was it one thing with two names? Was it two things? Or was it more than that because both urim and thummim are, it has been suggested, plural names.

So we have quite a few things to think about these urim and thummim and I'll just keep my, is it inappropriate in a bible reading to say keep my cards close to my chest? It's probably no worse than saying keep my powder dry and brethren help us with the breastplate of judgement and the urim and the thummim.

So, if we suggest, because judgement seems to be quite an extreme word, if we suggested to use the word discrimination here and possibly to show the mind of God, I think there are contexts where at least the thummim is used.

Did you mention the septuagint? Isn't there somewhere that the septuagint is used in one of those passages to show us 1 Samuel 14 that this is how this was used? Do you want to develop that for us?

Yeah, I think discernment would be perhaps a better word for judgement here. This is not punitive judgement. This is the sort of judgement that you would need in deciding an issue. And you're right, I mean, the urim and the thummim is certainly one of those subjects where the wise man feels no shame in saying I don't know because there is a great deal about them that we don't know.

But when we put together the evidence that we have in the scripture, it does seem to be that these were used in some way to determine the mind of God. For instance, you'll remember that in Ezra when they came back into the land, there was the whole business with the genealogies and that was really designed to make sure that the priesthood was, that the responsibilities of the priesthood were being carried out by those who had the qualification.

And there were some people and there was a question. Now you and I might have thought, look, the numbers are few here and we could really do with all the help we have, so let's not worry too much. No, they were put out of the priesthood until such a time as there would be a priest with the urim and the thummim who would be able to determine whether they were qualified for that or not.

So we can, I think, say with a measure of confidence that the urim and the thummim were used in some way to determine the mind of God. How that happened, however, is really just an area of conjecture.

Some suggest that what you had was like the voting stones that were used in some ancient cultures and that there was a yes and a no and that you would come to the priest with your issue, with your question, and he would stick his hand into the pouch that was formed by the doubling of the breastplate and he would pull one out and it was either a yes or a no.

The difficulty with that is when you look at, again, the fairly scant Old Testament references to the use of the urim and thummim, it doesn't seem to be just as simple or straightforward as that. The other difficulty is that we also have the casting of lots and if that's effectively what the urim and the thummim were, well, why would you have a separate thing that involved the casting of lots?

As I say, some brethren have suggested that this was just another description for the breastplate and they point out that the preposition in can also be rendered on. I'm less than convinced by that, I have to say.

But I think we have to say that really we don't know. But what we can say, and we were just discussing this before we came out, we're not quite so sure whether we can say with the certainty that earlier generations had, the meaning of the names of these two nouns, you'll all have been hearing the plural names, lights and perfections, or lights and completeness, is what we have often been taught.

There are some more recent work that perhaps questions just whether the lights bit is right, but if we take it that lights and perfections is right, I think we have a term that very accurately describes for us the word of God.

Certainly, we know that when we want to know the will of God, there isn't a priest to whom we can go, there isn't a urim or a thummim that we can consult, and so we're very thankful that we have the revealed word of God that has not only rendered the urim and the thummim obsolete, but it has rendered the prophecy and the knowledge that were used, for example, in Corinth, it has rendered those obsolete.

That we have the perfect revelation of God, a complete revelation, and that gives us all that we need. It's precious to think of them in the breastplate, and we have the idea of one whose affections are governed by the word of God.

We think of the words of the Psalms, thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not send against thee. The Lord never needed it in that preventative sense, and yet he was one whose heart was governed by the word of God.

We've sort of gone in a slightly jumbled way about that, Brad, I do feel.

Christ as the Perfect Revealer of God’s Will

So evidently, it was some kind of mechanism whereby God would convey his mind and will to the people, using these items, whatever they were. But as it speaks of Christ, the one who came as a light into the world, he told out the heart of God to men perfectly, and at the same time, while I was thinking of that reference in Numbers 27, Eliezer the high priest was to ask counsel for Joshua after the judgment of the urim before the Lord.

So, there again we see it in use. The Lord Jesus, he told out the will of God for his life on earth, he lived that out, and at the same time he made a statement by his life of the mind and will of God.

So it's nice to think of it in terms of the Lord Jesus. It is.

And it's also, and I think it's very important, but in the debate and in the uncertainty about the details, we don't lose sight of this, isn't it good to see that God's desire for his people is that they should know his will.

God isn't interested in us having just sort of fumbling around in the dark and sort of staggering our way through life just with the best we can guess. It is a remarkable thing that we have a God who makes himself known, a God who reveals himself.

And when we desire to know his will, then he will communicate that to us. And of course he does that through his work.

Brother. I was just thinking that it would be an outward expression that the answer was coming from God and not necessarily the opinion of the priest. Absolutely.

Thank you. That's very helpful. So that the man who came to the priest and he had a problem or an issue, he didn't really care in a sense what Aaron thought. He wanted to know, well, what does God think?

And brethren and sisters, it's good for us to be like that because it's very easy for us to be concerned with. There are some brethren, I'm sure it's not the case on this side of the Atlantic, but there are some brethren and they could take any of the subjects that we like to discuss in Bible readings and they could tell you what five different brethren think about them.

They couldn't maybe tell you what the Bible teaches about it. And it's good for us to know that what we have is not human wisdom. It's not the human wisdom that the priest could have given because that would have been limited.

But there was an assurance that this was a revelation that came from God.

So just to explain what I mentioned there, 1 Samuel 14 is a problem between Saul and Jonathan. And they're on two sides of one and they're waiting for God to show his wisdom in that. And in the Septuagint text of 1 Samuel 14, verse number 41, the thumb is used.

But just to repeat something you have said here, the main point is this, isn't it? It's the man in the sanctuary that is showing forth the will of God. And I think that that for us is the main thrust that we need to get out of this.

That for us, the direction in our life comes from the man in the sanctuary through the Holy Scriptures. That's very helpful.

And you can even take that further and say, if we are to be able to communicate to others the mind of God, well, we will need to spend time in the sanctuary as well. We'll think maybe a little bit about that when we get down to the pomegranates.

Anything more, brethren, on the urn and the pomegranate?

Thank you.

You know, it is lovely, as I say, to take that term and to apply it to the volume that we have on our knees. Light and perfection. God's word is a light. And it is marked by completeness and it's marked by perfection.

And we need not to lose sight of that or to lose our confidence in the word of God that is inspired by him and preserved by him and still, through his grace, available to us when we need discernment, when we need wisdom.

It is nice to see that his perfect will for us is carried closest to his heart. Thank you, yes.

Very good. And again, we have this idea of continually. He shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. And that gets back, you know, just in a practical way to the point that I was making at the beginning of the Bible reading.

You know, we're very good at fits and starts. Let's be honest. That's true of all of us, I think. My first serious Bible was a Thompson Chain reference Bible. It had all these very interesting things at the back.

But when the speaker wasn't, you know, sort of getting away with it, you could pass the time by looking at them. One of the things that always appealed to me was a chart. It's done like a mountain range of the sort of the spiritual condition of the nation under the kings of Judah.

And you know, it's up and it's down. And it's up and it's down. And it's more down than it's up. And I've always thought that if we were to chart our spiritual experience, it would be like that. There's peaks, but they don't last that long.

And it just very quickly goes back down. And maybe we, you know, we get a week of ministry and we perk back up. But there are things here that are continual. And here, the judgment of the children of Israel was upon his heart before the Lord continually.

And it's lovely to apply that to the perfect man. And there were no ups and downs. There were no peaks and troughs with him. He was continually in the will of God. Morning by morning, his ear was opened.

And in every day and in every moment of every day, he did always those things that pleased the Father. And we should strive, brethren and sisters, to be more like him. We should not be satisfied with a Christianity that fits and starts.

The Blue Robe and Christ’s Heavenly Dignity

We do need to do better than that. So we'll come then to the robe of the ethod. Now, as we get into the end of the section, we'll be learning about a coat. And I think it's useful just to emphasize the difference between a coat and a robe.

When we're thinking about a coat, we're thinking of covering it. It's a garment that you put on to cover. You put on your coat because it's cold and you want to be kept warm. But the idea in a robe, I judge, is something rather different.

I teach in a university, and on certain feast days and high days, you can see me walking around in a gown of scarlet with primrose silk facings. And I tell you, it would be worth crossing the Atlantic just to see that sight.

Now, that gown or that robe, you don't put it on because you're cold. You put it on as an indication of rank. Her Majesty the Queen, when she opens Parliament, you don't have her over here, of course.

She puts on these special robes, not to keep her warm, but because those robes are an expression, again, of rank and of dignity. And so when we're thinking about the robe of the ethod here, I think that's the idea that we have in mind.

There's a rank, there's a dignity associated with this garment. So it's a robe, and we'll need to think about that. It's of blue, it's linked with the heavenly. This is reminding us of a heavenly man.

It's very interesting, but we don't know what it's made of, except that it's made of blue. There's a very, I think, instructive contrast between this blue robe and the white coat that we'll come to in a little bit.

When it's this blue robe that we're thinking about, we have quite a bit of detail about its construction. We've got the binding of woven work round about the whole of it. We've got the hem. We've got the pomegranates, and we've got the bells.

And we have a certain amount of detail about its construction, but we don't really know anything about its composition. When it comes to the white coat, we know what its composition is. It's made of the fine linen, but the details of the pattern that was woven into it, we'll think about that when we get down there, they're not clear.

And when you apply it to the heavenly body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the body of his glory, well, you know, we don't really understand what that's like. That has not been revealed to us, and there's much about the body of his glory that we don't understand.

But when we think of his human body and his incarnation, we know the stuff of which it was made. Made of the same stuff that you and I were. But how it was made. Well, brethren and sisters, without any controversy, great is the mystery of the that God was manifest in flesh.

And I think it's nice to see the contrast here. But we have, as I say, quite a bit of detail about the construction of this robe. It speaks of dignity. It speaks of the heavenly character of the great high priest.

And so let's have some help on the various features that are brought before us here.

The idea of woven work.

Chapter 39 indicates the whole robe was of woven work. So that would indicate to a strength, permanency. It wasn't something that was easily torn. So whatever this robe is indicating to us, it's permanent.

So if we're thinking of the heavenly man again, this woven work takes you very clearly to John's gospel, doesn't it? And he had a coat. The saviour had a coat. And John says it was without seam. And it was woven from the top throughout.

And I judge that we're getting the same picture here. John, of course, the gospel of unbroken things, unread things. And here, I think, is the same teaching. This is the deity of the Lord Jesus.

Yes, and it clearly had to be. This wasn't a front and a back joined together. The fact that this whole was woven. It was, as you say, woven in one piece.

Do you think, Mark, it was opened at the front? Do you see that? Or did it go over everything else completely?

I thought perhaps the latter, the opening, the mouth of it. I thought that was the opening for the head. With this reinforced section around it. And we don't perhaps know exactly what that was like. But there was this binding of woven work, as it were.

The whole of a harpergeon, whatever. Whether that's a coat of mail or whatever, we don't really know. And so, I had taken it that it went over and the head came through this opening.

The only problem, then, is logistically. How would he have accessed the pouch for access to the Urim and Thummim? And how would others have seen? I don't believe that the breastplate was for others. I don't think that the breastplate was for the nation to look upon.

I think that the breastplate was primarily for the eye of God. God knew what was on the breastplate. But logistically, it may make it a little difficult.

You have a little picture here. I saw it.

So you don't agree with Thor. Yes, well, I was virtually inspired. Yes, that's right. It was good enough for Paul. Good enough for Moses. Well, that sort of arrangement would give access to the breastplate.

Does it say that it covered? Is there a detail that said that the rope of the ephod covered everything else? No, I don't think so. I don't think it does. No, I doubt it. So how could he not have had the access to the pouch?

We seem to be moving inward with the man inside. I mean, the broider coat was inside.

The breeches were outside. This will be fun on the recording, but I had in mind something like this. So, if it were a woven garment that were really sort of longer than it was wide, as it were, with a hole in the middle.

The head would have passed through the hole. It would have hung down in the front. It would have hung down in the back, perhaps open up the sides. But we've got the ephod on top of it. We've got the girdle of the breastplate on top of it to bind it in.

But we don't know.

Let's be frank. On the thought of blue again, I hate to take you back to the colours, but we talk about the heavenly colour because that's standing on earth looking up to the sky. Looking heavenward, we see blue.

But also, since the age of space travel, from the perspective of an objective look at earth from out there, it's the blue planet. So, from the perspective of heavenly beings, I take it that they would see something that would indicate to them what human life on earth should be for God, in terms of the person of the Lord Jesus.

He was a man that came into this sphere and he lived a life that was perfect before God and displayed God's goodwill to men. He had come with the purpose of bringing salvation. Angels look at that and wonder.

I'm trying to decide whether that falls into the category of more intelligence or more imagination. I'll think about it. We'll leave that for each individual to make up their mind. Thank you. So, Brother John has reminded us of the un-wrent robe of the Saviour, of the cross.

The soldiers did not rent it. It was not torn. They cast lots for it. Do we see a particular, and of course it has the binding at the top, it has the hem at the bottom. Do we see an application in that?

And if so, what is it?

Strength again, isn't it? So, you tell us. Do you think it's the strength of the heavenly man?

I think it's the strength of the heavenly man, certainly. The truth of a risen Christ in glory is a truth that has often been attacked and assaulted. There's an assurance here that this is something that is going to withstand the test.

You have the idea of it coming under pressure. Again, that is a decided step off into application. But the emphasis is this. There is something essential about it, but it should not be rent. And it has a hem.

Might we glean anything from the hem? Why the bells, or do you want the hem first?

Well, let's see if there's anything on the hem and then we'll get to the bells and the pomegranates.

Isn't the hem always, they always tell us that the hem is added when the work is complete. Isn't that what they always preach with the woman that touched the hem of the garment? So, it's the fullness of a finished work.

I think so.

The hem has to bear the weight of what's on it, right? That's true.

And when we think of a heavenly man, of course, his, again, we're in Hebrew truth here, that his being in the heavens is in the good of a finished work. That is the proof of the completion of that work, that he is, again, in heaven.

Fruitfulness at the Feet of Christ

So, Father David has brought us to the bells and to the pomegranates. Except, of course, first of all it's pomegranates and bells, and then it's bells and pomegranates.

So, are we learning, Mark, that there was different colours of pomegranates, blue, purple and scarlet, and as these are given in order around the border or the hem, then there's a golden bell which is interspersing those.

Is that what we're learning from that?

Yes. I mean, as it says, it's a pomegranate, a bell, a pomegranate, a bell, or a bell, a pomegranate, a bell, a pomegranate. So, why pomegranates? Why pomegranates, indeed? Well, pomegranates are, in Scripture, they come up in an interesting variety of places.

There are literal pomegranates, and there's metaphorical pomegranates, and there's figurative pomegranates. But the common thread that sort of connects the uses of the idea together seems to be the idea of fruitfulness.

And of course, at the break, we'll not perhaps give him time to do it now, but at the break, ask William about pomegranates. He is full of fascinating information about pomegranates and pomegranate seeds.

I've no idea whether it's true or not, but he said it with great conviction, so I believe that it must be. Think about it. So, I take it we have here the idea of fruitfulness. And it just appeals to me in a very simple way, that the place of fruitfulness is at his feet.

And I think that's such an important lesson for us to learn. Remember, Mary, she chose that good thing that could not be taken from her, and Martha was occupied with service. And it's good to be occupied with service, but it's so easy that our occupation with service would cause us not to spend the time at his feet that we ought to spend.

And really, that's the secret of fruitfulness for him. That's the place of fruitfulness, that it is at the feet of the Savior. Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting that this hem actually came right down to his feet, but certainly, it would have been in that region.

Could I ask you about the bells? Did they make a tinkle? It says, well, his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not.

So, verse 35.

Whether it's a tinkle, or a jangle, or a jingle. What was the purpose of the sound? Well, as you know, that's an interesting question. I don't know if any of the brethren would like to weigh in on that.

Well, I will say this. It was in order that he die not. I suppose we might be helped to answer that question. We went straight to the easier one. We talked about the pomegranate and the fruitfulness. Brethren, what do the bells speak of?

Because I think if we can figure out what the bells speak of, we might perhaps be helped in your question.

Well, there's a touchable, tangible system as a whole. There's this visual beauty. There's also the thought of incense, and so on. And now we have the sound of these bells. So, here's a man going into the presence of God, and he's fitted for the presence of God.

And he's fit to be heard in the presence of God. So, bringing that over to our Lord Jesus, he is fit to be heard. His very presence there is a ministry of intercession on our behalf.

Fit to be heard. It was a reminder to the people when they couldn't see him that he was acting for them because they could hear him.

I agree with that. But the problem then comes up that he die not. I personally wonder if it's not so much that this was so much a reminder to the people as a reminder to the priest himself. In the sense that the bells reminded him that he was dealing with holy things in the sanctuary of God.

So, how do you apply that to the person of Christ? I had given it a practical application. I thought these Bible readings were meant to be practical. But, logistically and practically, that's how I personally remember it.

Because, was he wearing that when he went into the most holy place? I don't think so. Correct.

On the day of atonement. Right. You see, I have a third angle on this. I haven't seen it as being particularly for the people. I mean, I know it's often said that we have this idea of the people waiting wrapped with bated breath.

Has the sacrifice, has the atonement been accepted? Will the priest be coming out? And they were straining their ears and then they would have heard just the faintest tinkle and they would have thought that's alright.

Sin is dealt with for another year. That's nice and fine. And perhaps when he changed, they might have heard that. But, I think the emphasis of the passage would almost lead you to believe that this is for God.

I wonder what the bell speaks of. What is the noise of the bell announcing? And I wonder whether it might not be that the sound of the bell is a reminder really of judgment. Sometimes we think of it perhaps in a more...

You ring the bells to celebrate, but I wonder whether the idea here isn't more the idea of judgment. And that what we have here is the priest, as he goes into the presence of God, that the sound of the bells is emphasizing that he agrees with God's judgment as far as sin is concerned.

Certainly, I think the passage would suggest that it's more a sound for God to hear than a sound for the people to hear. I mean, some of the commentators will suggest, and I don't think it's something you would dismiss out of hand, I'm not quite sure about it, but would suggest that this is rather than coming unannounced into the presence of God, that this sound, and maybe connecting a little bit with the point that you were making, which I do like, that this would announce that God knew the priest was coming, but that it would be a thing of discourtesy to come unannounced into the presence of God, and that the voice of these bells would serve to announce the arrival of the priest.

Bells are a joyful sound. In some parts of the world, they toll bells when someone passes away, but generally speaking, they're a joyful sound. And isn't praise and joy appropriate and almost demanded in the presence of a God who's full of glory and beauty?

Do you think in scripture bells were a joyful sound? I'm trying to think of examples of, you know, the gospel bells are ringing, we know that from the other book.

The next reference in the Bible, in fact the only one, is in the scriptures in Zechariah 14 and 21, it says that on that day, in the day of glorious inauguration of the kingdom, there shall be inscribed in the bells of the horses a holiness to the Lord.

Yes, that is true.

But that is a fair point. But there was the man with leprosy, and did he have a bell? And was he a terribly joyful character, or was there a message of warning that had to be announced? I do notice that the word that's used for the sound of the bells, it's the idea of tingling.

And again, the Old Testament might tell us about a news of judgment that would cause the ears of those that hear it to tingle. So while I appreciate what you're saying, and certainly I suppose our default would be to think of bells as joyful, although if let's say you were living in Britain during the Second World War, you wouldn't have thought of them that way.

But we would maybe think of them as more of a joyful noise, rather than announcing that the Germans were coming. But I'm just not sure that it's safe to assume that this is a joyful sound here.

There are golden bells, so you're linking that gold with divine righteousness. So it's announcing divine righteousness is satisfied, and here's a representative man in the very presence of God. So that all speaks very eloquently of the person of Christ.

So the holy place here is not the innermost sanctuary. The holy place is where the lampstand was, where the table was, and where the altar of incense was. Isn't that correct? So I saw it more as service in that sense, that this was announcing him into the presence of God for service.

Personally, I wondered, and I don't want to push it, but the Lord knew he was coming. The Lord didn't need bells to tell him, oh, Aaron's coming now. So I wondered if it wasn't for the man himself. Is it just the act of coming?

These garments, are they not representing a man who is there? He's in the presence of God. Or is it just the inception of going in? Serving man. He has to be there.

It is interesting that it's his voice. It's not the voice of the bell. One of the things that we see in that, as we see through the passage, and we sort of touched on this, is the identification of Aaron with the garments.

That he put them on. It was almost as if Aaron the man was lost in these garments. And it was Aaron the high priest that functioned in these garments. So the reference to Zechariah seems relevant when we move into verse 36.

They shall make a plate of pure gold. They tell us that the word is the idea of a flower. Possibly of a diadem. And they would grave upon it with the engravings of a signet. That's the third occasion that we have reference to that.

Again, as I've suggested, very precious to see that the commitment of the great high priest to God is matched only by his commitment to his own. And it's put on the blue lace. And it's placed on the mitre, on the forefront of the mitre.

So again, we're working from the outside in. You might have thought that it would make more sense to tell us about the mitre first. And then we have verse 38, which is difficult in some ways. 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. So help us a little, brethren, with this plate or this flower and its engravings. And the reason for it is given in verse number 38.

It's also called a crown, the holy crown, in chapter 29, verse 30. And that word crown links with the word for Nazarite. So again, you thought of consecrated unto the Lord linked with this crown. Absolutely.

I think that's what it says in the outline, isn't it? The consecrated man. And of course, it's associated with the head. It's associated with the thoughts. And as far as consecration is concerned, it's very interesting.

We've been thinking of it a little. We haven't maybe emphasized it. The different body parts that are involved and connected with these garments. We've thought about the breastplate and the affections.

But we could think of, and we will be thinking of when we get to Brother John's reading about various parts of the priest's body. But when we're thinking of consecration, and we're thinking of that which really affects our thoughts, how we think.