His Holy Servant Exodus 39 Vs 1 31 1

Well, good morning. Glad you're here this morning. It's good to see everybody. For announcements, the

Ladies' Christmas Fellowship is on December 17th. That's Saturday at 10 o 'clock. And brunch will be served.

And I know that'd be important for the men if they were coming, but they're not. So it's just for the ladies. So the 17th at 10 o 'clock,

Saturday morning. There's a live nativity scene in Galt on December 8th, 9th, and 10th, 6 .30

to 8 o 'clock. So this pastor has this in his office if you'd like to know more about it.

I think that's all we had for announcements, so let's ask the Lord to bless our service this morning.

Lord God, we thank you that we can join together, that we can gather to lift our voices,

Lord, to lift our prayers to you, Father. God, may you bless each one of us,

Lord. May our hearts be right before a holy God as we ponder and consider communion after this service,

Lord. May you just direct our thoughts, Lord, to those things that are good and upright, that we would confess any sins that we have before you,

Father, so that we may be right with you. God, we ask that you would watch over and bless

Pastor as he shares the word with us this morning. God, we pray for those that are playing instruments,

Lord, that they bless this church abundantly, and we thank you for their commitment, their dedication to giving to your church,

Father, and to blessing each one of us in song. So Lord, we thank you that we can be here again this morning.

We pray that you would help us in our worship, that it would be honoring to you, of you, and we pray that you would bless those that aren't here this morning.

Pray for Ramiah, Lord, that you would comfort her and give her wisdom and lead her,

Lord, as she goes through this time of death in her family. But, Lord, may her light shine to those that are around her as she expresses her faith in Jesus.

God, we ask for care for all those that are sick and ailing, Lord, that you would bless them.

So, Lord, we commit our time to your care. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. I hesitated doing that.

Do you like how we decorated for the church's service this morning? Actually, Deb and her servant decorated and did a lot of other stuff, too, but the

Church of Praise pastor's niece is the bride, and they're being married this afternoon at their service at 2 o 'clock.

So that's why the decorations. So, also, I just might mention that the

Church of Praise put brand new projectors here and back there over the week.

A lot of work went into that. We need to thank them for what they've done. And now we're in the

Christmas season, and we need to think about our Lord and about the fact that he came for a purpose, to save you and I.

Come and worship, come and worship, worship

Christ the newborn King. Thank you, and you may be seated as Brendan comes to read the word.

Good morning. Today, I'm going to be reading from Hebrews 9, 11 through 15.

That's Hebrews 9, 11 through 15. But when

Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

God. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Thank the Lord for the reading of his word. O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord. Thank you, and you may be seated.

As pastor comes, we dismiss our youngsters to Children's Church at this time. Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 39,

Exodus chapter 39, verses 1 through 32.

Exodus 39, verses 1 through 32.

This is near the end of the whole Exodus series, as we will see the completed tabernacle and also the presence of the

Lord come down to the tabernacle, but that would be next week.

This week, we will see the making of the garment for the high priest.

Exodus 39, verses 1 through 31, rather, 1 through 31.

Of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, they made garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the

Lord has commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread of fine woven linen, and they beat the gold into thin sheets and cut it into threads to work it in with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen into the artistic designs.

They made shoulder straps for it to couple it together. It was coupled together as its two edges, and the intricately woven band of his ephod that was on it was the same workmanship, woven of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen, as the

Lord had commanded Moses. And they set onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold.

They were engraved, as signets were engraved, with the names of the sons of Israel.

He put them on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the

Lord had commanded Moses. And he made the breastplate artistically woven, like the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen.

They made the breastplate square by doubling it. A span was its length, and a span its width when doubled.

And they set in it four rows of stones, a row with a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald was the first row, the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond, the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and the amethyst, the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.

They were enclosed in settings of gold in their mountings. There were twelve stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel, according to their names engraved like a signet, each one with its own name according to the twelve tribes.

And they made chains for the breastplate at the ends, like braided cords of pure gold.

They also made two settings of gold, and two gold rings put the gotu rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

And they put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate.

And the two ends of the two braided chains they fastened in the two settings and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front.

And they made two rings of gold and put them on the two ends of the breastplate on the edge of it, which was on the inward side of the ephod.

They made two other gold rings and put them on the two shoulder straps underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod.

And they bound the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it would be above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate would not come loose from the ephod as the

Lord had commanded Moses. He made the robe of the ephod of woven work all of blue.

And there was an opening in the middle of the robe, like the opening in a coat of mail, with a woven binding all around the opening so that it would not tear.

They made on the hem of the robe pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, and a fine woven linen.

And they made bells of pure gold and put the bells between the pomegranates on the hem of the robe all around between the pomegranates.

A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe to minister in, as the

Lord had commanded Moses. They made tunics artistically woven of fine linen for Aaron and his sons, a turban of fine linen, exquisite hats of fine linen, short trousers of fine woven linen, and a sash of fine woven linen with blue, purple, and scarlet thread made by a weaver, as the

Lord commanded Moses. Then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of a signet,

Holiness to the Lord. And they tied to it a blue cord to fasten it above on the turban, as the

Lord had commanded Moses. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray.

Father, we're thankful that we worship a God who delights to dwell among his people.

But not only that, makes a way for us to dwell with you by providing for us a mediator between sinful humans like us and the holy

God like you. Father, we pray that today we would appreciate whom you have provided in order that we may have a relationship with you.

We pray for all those who are not here today because of sickness or ongoing ailment.

Father, we pray that you would be with them and they would know that they're never abandoned by you.

And we also pray for Ramaya, who's just lost her mother. We pray for comfort and that she would find peace in you and help her to grieve in a godly manner.

In Jesus name. So today's text is all about the garments of the high priest.

And this is important because what the servant wears tells us a lot about his function and whom he serves.

For example, servants of high officials in the government or even royal families in other countries, they often dress better than most average people.

And what the servants wear reflects the splendor of the presence that they serve.

A butler at the Buckingham Palace in England is expected to dress formally every day of his life whenever he is before the presence of his royal highness.

In a similar sense, the secret service, they have to dress up in suits when they're standing before the president.

And this is because what is worn teaches us and shows us what they do.

And for us, the function of the high priest is very important.

It starts in Exodus because the priesthood is established in Exodus, but it doesn't end in Exodus.

The high priest as a class continues on into the

New Testament. And the role of the high priest is that the sinful people must go through the high priest in order to approach the holy

God. And this is very important because if God weren't holy, there would be no need for a mediator.

If we weren't sinful, there would be no need for a mediator. But the reality is that God is extremely holy and we are extremely sinful.

And in order for us to approach a holy

God, we, and even Israel, have always needed a mediator to come between.

And we will see in today's text that the high priest that starts in Exodus is ultimately fulfilled in the high priest,

Jesus Christ. He is the only mediator who stands in between us and God.

And this is important because it teaches us we are not good enough to be our own mediator.

We are not good enough to be our own savior. We, on our own merit, cannot approach

God. We are in need of the gracious gift of a high priest who stands between us and God to represent us to God and to represent

God to us. This text about the high priest garment is very interesting that although it is not part of the most holy place or the holy place, as the garment isn't just hung inside there, it's worn by the high priest who may not be in the most holy place, contains the same colors of the most holy place, blue, purple, scarlet, and gold.

Not only that, the parts of the garments use pure gold, which is only found inside the tabernacle.

Chains for the breastplate, the bells on the hems, and then the crown on his head.

This shows what kind of presence the high priest reflected because of the deity he serves, because of the presence of God he was near.

And here in this text, we see for seven times this phrase, as the Lord has commanded

Moses. When equipping God's mediatorial servant, the high priest,

Israel did not choose convenience. They did not pick practicality.

They obeyed God's commands to the T. That's why for seven times, over and over again,

Moses reminds us this was done as a Lord has commanded

Moses. Yes, it sounds very expensive. Yes, it sounds very difficult.

But it was done as the Lord has commanded Moses. The main question this text asks us this morning is who is suitable to serve at the presence of the

Lord? Who is suitable to serve at the presence of the Lord?

The first part, which deals with the first 21 verses, is that the high priest of the

Lord mediates the Lord's splendor to his people. The high priest of the

Lord mediates the Lord's splendor to his people. Verse one starts off with the familiar materials that we have seen all throughout the tabernacle construction, blue, purple, and scarlet threads.

However, unlike the previous construction, these threads will not be directly linked to the tabernacle.

They will not be connected to the tabernacle, but be used to make the garment of the high priest.

Now, this section shares the two portions of the whole outfit that shows the mediatorial function of the high priest.

Verses 2 to 7 describe the ephod, and verses 8 through 21 describe the breastplate.

So, breastplates right here, ephod is debated whether it's the lower half or the upper half or both.

But the point is that it's made with the same design of the tabernacle covering, blue, purple, and scarlet thread mixed in with gold.

And verse 2 specifically shows which piece of the garment these royal threads will fashion.

It starts with the ephod. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and a fine woven linen.

The ephod, again, is debated whether is it just the upper piece or is it the lower piece kind of like an apron.

But the text doesn't tell us. What is unique here is that the ephod will not only contain the colored threads, but also gold.

Notice that this was not a gold colored thread that one can buy for $5 at a craft store.

Rather, verse 3 tells us how gold would be incorporated into a clothing article.

And they beat the gold into thin sheets and cut it into threads to work it in with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine linen into artistic designs.

Now the combination of blue, purple, scarlet, and gold completely reflects the color combination of the tabernacle.

The ephod's visual reflection of the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, was blue, purple, scarlet, and gold.

The servant of the tabernacle will also wear the blue, purple, scarlet, and gold.

Just as the tabernacle stood holy and exquisite, the servant who ministers in it will reflect the very same splendor of the palace.

Now verses 4 to 5 show the same style for the bands that connect the ephod to the rest of the garment.

Blue, purple, scarlet, and gold. And verses 6 to 7 describe specific gemstones, the onyx stones that go on the shoulder piece of the ephod.

Onyx stones are unique because they're found in relation to the

Garden of Eden all the way into Genesis 1 and 2, specifically Genesis 2.

Again, this was a reminder of God's dwelling presence.

The tabernacle was an attempt to go back so that God's people may experience

God's presence regularly, and the onyx stones would have reminded

Israel of that. Verse 7 tells us the purpose of these gemstones, as memorial stones for the sons of Israel as the

Lord has commanded Moses. These stones were not placed there as a symbol for their high class.

These stones were placed there so that the high priest will always remember that he is representing

God's very people. The high priest was not preoccupied with his own agenda.

His main job was to serve as the mediator between God and his people.

And verses 8 to 21 focus on the breastplate of judgment. Similar to the ephod, the breastplate glimmers with the royal colors of blue, purple, scarlet, and gold.

Unlike the ephod, however, we're given the dimensions of the breastplate before it's folded in half.

It would have been 18 by 36 inches before folding it, but after folding it in half, it would have been 18 by 18, a square.

This breastplate would cover the center of the high priest's body. Now, what will be seen on the breastplate?

Verses 10 to 14 tell us that there will be four rows of three unique gems covering the breastplate.

Three unique gems each row. Now, it is hard to discern the significance of each gemstone, but we know the significance of all of these gemstones combined.

Verse 14, there were 12 stones according to the name of the sons of Israel, according to their names engraved like a signet, each one with its own name according to the 12 tribes.

These gemstones, again, were not decoration pieces, but purposeful symbols to represent

God's people. According to God's instruction, Israel was to be represented by precious gemstones.

When God saw Israel, each tribe, not just as a whole, each tribe,

He saw precious, unique gemstones, and that is

God's relation to His people. He doesn't see

God's people as a burden that He has to carry. But when

He sees the mediator representing God's people, He sees them as gemstones.

He instructs the gemstones to be made to represent God's very people.

And verses 15 to 21 show the intricate ways in which this magnificent breastplate firmly is held together with the ephod.

Verses 15 through 18 show the gold rings and gold chains that connect to the top part, the shoulder pieces of the ephod.

And then the second half, verses 19 through 21, describe the other two gold rings that connect with the blue band to the lower part of the ephod.

Now, both the ephod and the breastplate, which symbolize the mediatorial role of the high priest, were linked securely together.

And they both represented the high priest's important mediatorial role between the

Lord and His people. In fact, the Lord is so holy that it is impossible for anyone to approach the

Lord without a mediator. No one can experience the

Lord's glorious presence without His mediator in between.

And this is, this can be illustrated in a hugely lesser degree when we consider important officials, whether you're trying to visit a

CEO of a multi -billion dollar company or a political, a politician who's been elected, whether president, congressman, senator, governor.

In order to get to that person, the elected official, you have to go through people.

You have to go through mediators. How much more important is it for God, in order to approach

God, who trumps all elected officials, that you would have to go through His mediator?

Now, when I talk about the fact that we need to go through God's mediator,

I'm not talking about Mary, the mother of Christ. I'm not talking about priests whom you have to confess sins to, maybe when you were younger.

And I'm not talking about your personal saints. Our only mediator is the greater high priest, who is the very brilliance of God's glory himself.

Just as the high priest's garment reflected God's splendor into a certain degree, lesser extent, of course, by what he wore of blue, purple, scarlet, and gold, the author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 1 -3 that Jesus, 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 at the right hand of the majesty on high.

The ultimate high priest does not need to wear that garment in order to reflect

God's splendor, because He Himself reflects God's splendor, because that's who

He is. That's the ultimate high priest. And on His heavenly throne,

He represents us as God's treasured possession. Now, how does

Jesus, the high priest, make us into God's treasured possession? Was it that we were born into it like Israelites?

Or was it that we earned our place into that breastplate of Christ? No, the sad truth is that we were lost before the coming of the high priest.

We were not God's treasured possession. We were represented by Adam, the rebellious man, to whom was given the paradise, and he lost it.

We were not gemstones of remembrance, but we were to be destroyed for our rebellion.

That was the fate that we were in. But when Christ came to us as the high priest,

He took on our sin, and He faced the wrath of God that we deserved on our behalf.

He became the mediator on our behalf. And because of that, we are made into His treasured possession.

And His high priestly role did not stop after the cross.

His high priestly role continues on as He sits at the right hand of God, the

Father. That is God's view of the church. That is how

God views you if you are in Christ. And the sad part is we often don't see that.

We often don't remember the high priest seated at the right hand of God. When we sin for the umpteenth time, we get deathly scared that we've just lost our salvation.

But what we don't see is the mediator who's still seated on the throne, who intercedes for us on our behalf, whose sacrifice was accepted, whose sacrifice was utterly pleasant to God the

Father. And how often when we do sin or when we dwell on our past, we reject to see our high priest seated on the throne.

Sometimes we put our sin or our past sins more sovereign than the sovereign high priest,

Jesus Christ. As if the past, our past decisions can overwhelm the heart of the high priest who fully represents us as His gemstones.

And when we are tempted to ever think that way, we must look up to Christ who intercedes for us.

The fact that Christ has not stopped interceding for us is the reason why any of us is not falling into hell immediately.

His intercession is extremely effective and final.

There's nothing you can do. There's no nothing in all creation that can separate you, disqualify you from Christ's high priestly intercession.

To think that way is to view your sin or your past as more powerful or more important than the mediator that God has set

Himself. Second, the high priest of the

Lord is completely set apart by the Lord. The high priest of the

Lord is completely set apart by the Lord. Verses 22 to 31 depict the rest of the garment.

And although they may not be the centerpiece like the breastplate and the ephod, they're significant parts of the high priest's garment.

So first, verses 22 through 23 describe the woolen robe under the ephod and the breastplate.

This robe was completely dyed blue, this blue robe right here. And the color blue represented royalty because of its rarity and value.

I will not mention the snails again because we've all gone through that. And this is why verse 23 fashions the robe's opening like a coat of mail because it was meant to last.

And there was an opening in the middle of the robe like the opening in a coat of mail with a woven binding all around the opening so that it would not tear.

This was not some disposable raincoat, but a national treasure. There was nothing like this.

And this is important to mention now for the high priestly garment. There are a lot of mixing of fabrics.

And according to Leviticus, we didn't get to it during Sunday school, but according to Leviticus, mixing of fabric was prohibited in all of Israel.

And the reason is specifically because of this. God meant to set apart what's holy.

He meant to distinguish it. He did not want any other replica.

He did not want any unauthorized person to wear the holy garment that belonged to the high priest.

And you'll see all throughout the Old Testament mixture symbolized sacredness.

That's why you couldn't mix the fields with different crops or it would have been given to the sanctuary.

That's why you couldn't mix different animals. That's why the cherubim are a mixture of four different creatures and they guard the most holy place.

They're holy angels because they're mixed. And in the same way, the high priestly garment was uniquely holy as it was mixed.

Now, verses 24 to 26 descend to the hem of the robe right here.

And I will get to this part zoomed in. They made on the hem of the robe, pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet and a fine woven linen.

And they made bells of pure gold and put the bells between the pomegranates on the hem of the robe all around between the pomegranates.

A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate all around the hem of the robe to minister in as the

Lord had commanded Moses. Now, the meaning of the pomegranates was nearly impossible to narrow down.

So I will share what I have found, just the data. Starting broadly in ancient

Near East, pomegranates symbolized life. So this could make sense because all throughout

Israel, especially the law being clean and unclean, it was to teach

Israel that God is the God of life. He's the God who restores life. He's the

God who owns all lives. He's the God who has sole proprietary ownership of all lives.

So you couldn't just kill lives willy -nilly because it belonged to God. So that could make sense why pomegranates might have been used.

Also, in Deuteronomy 8 .8, pomegranates are one of the seven fruits of the promised land.

It was one of the seven fruits of blessing. If Israel were to obey, they would enjoy pomegranates.

So in one sense, maybe the pomegranates on the hems of the high priest's garment would would symbolize a special blessing for Israel.

There's another one in the Song of Solomons, the Song of Songs. The pomegranates are a symbol for beauty and fertility.

Now, although we may not know the exact symbolic meaning of the pomegranates, we can agree that the blue, purple, and scarlet pomegranates were beautiful to look at.

And matching the pleasant sight was the pleasant sound.

Bells made of pure gold. The significance of the golden bells is also wide.

First, it was a cordial convention before approaching God's presence.

Because the Lord dwelt among his people as king, his highest servant had to alert the

Lord before entering his very presence. It would have been unimaginably rude to just barge in the most holy place unannounced.

The bells would cordially and symbolically make known to the king that his servant is entering.

Second, after the high priest enters the most high place, it would be impossible for the other priests to know that if he's okay.

The bells would remind the other priests, yes, he is still alive. He did not get judged in the most high place.

And third, as mentioned above, it was a pleasant sound before the

Lord. When the high priest approached God's presence, in every manner, the high priest was pleasing to the

Lord in sight and in sound. And from entering to serving, the bells existed for the proper ministry before the

Lord. They were set apart for the Lord's ministry. And this is significant because oftentimes in ministry, we would like to make decisions based upon what we would like, rather than what

God would like. But all throughout this garment, it's all about what

God would like. Really nothing about what Israel would prefer. Would Israel prefer not to put all these complex threads together to make a very difficult pattern?

Sure, it would have been much easier to just have one single colored ephod. But that's not what

God commanded. Verses 27 to 29 describe the garments for the rest of the priests, not just the high priest.

And that set them apart for ministry, because no other people could wear them except for the priest.

That's just one family from one tribe. So the tribe of Levi would not be able to wear this unless you were related to the

Aaron's lineage. And then verses 30 to 31 return back to the high priestly garment.

There's a distinct headdress of the high priest. Then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of a signet, holiness to the

Lord. And they tied to it a blue cord to fasten it around on the turban as the

Lord had commanded Moses. The high priest's golden plate or this golden crown with the inscription holiness to the

Lord is held together by a blue cord right there. And these letterings are

Hebrew letters for holiness to the Lord. Now, the significance of putting something on one's forehead and inscribing something on one's forehead was an ancient

Israelite culture that marked off that person for a specific purpose, whether for good or bad, right?

Putting some inscription writing on one's forehead was a method of separating that person.

And it could either be for good or bad. One example that we might be really familiar with is the mark of the beast that will be on the forehead on those who belong to the antichrist, right?

There is a reason why it would be the forehead that's marked because it's a sick, wicked parody of that, right?

That concept of being marked for the Lord. Now, in the opposite sense, the high priest is marked for holiness.

This was a public proclamation that the high priest belonged to the

Lord and his service. God had an exclusive claim on him.

The high priest was his. The high priest was the Lord's servant.

The high priest was not democratically elected by Israelites. The high priest did not have to be the most popular, best rhetorical speaker.

The high priest did not have to be the best looking guy. The high priest was just set apart for the

Lord for his service, period. And this is an important concept.

Because in a pluralistic culture where people proclaim that there are multiple ways to God, the idea that there's only one set apart mediator to God is highly scandalous.

In fact, I think Don Carson, in his thick book on pluralism called

The Gagging of God, he makes a very clever remark.

The only heresy in a pluralistic world is that there is a heresy.

The only thing that's not okay is to say that there are other things that are not okay. You have to just accept that everything is okay.

Every religion's okay. Every God's, right, every God out there,

Hindu, Muslim, Buddhism, they're all okay. But to say otherwise, that's heresy.

However, that's not how

God set it up. Under the old covenant, there was only one high priest serving at the time.

And this high priest would wear a garment that is specifically designed for his unique role.

An attire that specifically speaks holiness to the Lord. It was forbidden for any other

Israelite to even make a counterfeit of it. And why is this important?

Well, because to this day, there is only one high priest of the Lord. Not one of the fallible human ones who dies and who has to make sacrifices for his own sin before making sacrifices for the nation of Israel.

But this is the only one mediator whom God has ordained.

It's the only one mediator you go to when you sin. One mediator you go to when you need to talk to God.

And unlike any previous high priest, this high priest is God himself. He is

God the Son, Jesus Christ. In one sense, under the new covenant, there is no middleman between God and his people.

Because his people go to the mediator who is God himself. But in another sense, there is still one said person that you have to go through in order to approach

God. There is still a mediator. You do not get to choose a mediator.

You do not get to be a mediator. As John 14, six,

Jesus proclaims, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This verse is so important because people often believe that the Father is knowable without Jesus.

Jews believe that the Father is knowable after rejecting

Christ. And that's the central problem to Judaism, that they rejected

Christ. But you can't truly know God without going through Christ.

And any attempt to lay aside Jesus, the ultimate high priest, is treason of the highest degree.

It is, in fact, idolatrous because it's to tell God the mediator you have chosen is not sufficient for me.

The mediator you have chosen, I can't quite believe him. The mediator you have revealed, the revelation is not clear enough.

And that kind of rebellious mindset must be repented of through the mediator that God has chosen,

Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that Jesus is our only mediator.

And in one sense, that there is no middle man because the mediator is

God himself. And in another sense, there is a middle man because the mediator is the

Son of God. And he's the only way to you. And we pray that we would cherish

Jesus in all of our lives and that we would not fear going to him for anything.

And we would view ourselves the way that Jesus the mediator views us with utter compassion and understanding.

Father, please help us to not hold our past sins against ourselves because you don't because of Jesus.

Please help us to see the sufficient high priestly role of Jesus Christ on a daily basis.