The Garment of Christ

Well this morning we are actually returning to the book of Exodus.

We have spent a number of weeks away and so before we dive right back into the text we want to take a step back and just spend a few moments reminding ourselves of what we have witnessed thus far in this epic historical account of the nation of Israel.

So as you may recall Exodus begins where Genesis ends. The nation of Israel is living in the land of Egypt.

They are enjoying their time there. They are living in cohabitation with the nation of Egypt in a peaceful relationship and under this time and during this time they continue to grow and so we are told in Exodus 1 verse 8 the people were growing and Exodus 1 verse 8 says a new king arose over Egypt who did not know

Joseph and so we saw the landscape of what the Israelites were facing change from one of cohabitation and enjoyment in this land to one of slavery because he desired as he took power to subdue those people so that they did not join themselves to those who hate

Egypt and fight against Egypt and then go up from the land. So the idea that the

Pharaoh had was to put these people of God into slavery so that they would in order to protect the

Egyptians. We move into Exodus chapter 2 and we see the the birth and short version of the life of Moses chronicled for us there as he eventually flees the land of Egypt as a result of the murder he committed of an

Egyptian and then we ultimately see at the end of chapter 2 the death of Pharaoh and the cries of God's people rising up before him and then at the appointed time

God calls forth Moses appearing to him in the bush that was burning yet not consumed which in and of itself should be something that grasps our attention knowing if you know anything about fire fire requires three things meaning that all the things that were necessary for that fire were being supplied without consuming the bush itself demonstrating for us

God's all -sufficiency but then as we move forward God called

Moses to lead the people out of bondage in the land of Egypt to take them to the land that God had ultimately promised

Abraham and then what ensues in the following chapters is nothing short of an utter defeat of the pantheon of Egyptian gods as with each plague

God destroys a set of beliefs that the Egyptians hold demonstrating over and over and over that he alone is

God and there is no other after the utter decimation of their gods and the culmination in the loss of their firstborn the people of Egypt demand that the

Israelites be released Pharaoh relents and then the people of Egypt watch as the one true

God delivers his people without them ever having lifted up a sword in fact the scriptures go on to say in Exodus 12 36 literally that they plundered the

Egyptians and so as they begin their trek across the wilderness initially they were pursued by Pharaoh's army and God leads them through the

Red Sea on dry land as he parts the waters to make a way and then he encloses those waters back on the people of Egypt the army of Pharaoh including

Pharaoh to deliver the final blow against this people once and for all securely defeating them and securing the freedom of the

Israelites as Israelites made their way from the

Red Sea across the remainder of the land they then come to the foot of Mount Sinai it is here at this mountain where God gives them his law and if you remember at the completion of the giving of the law a worship service is held and during the worship service that is held there the ratification of the covenant mosaic covenant between God and his people is accomplished and they are called to live according to his word when this is completed

God then moves into instructing Moses to build the tabernacle

Exodus 25 verses 8 and 9 says and let them make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them according to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture just so you shall make it and so we spent several weeks working through the instructions that God gave

Moses regarding not only the tabernacle not only the the curtains that covered the tabernacle not only the the individual sections of the tabernacle but all of the implements save one that are contained within the tabernacle and as God completes his description in verse 28 of verse 1 of chapter 28 he instructs

Moses to set aside the priesthood he says to them now is for you bring near to yourself

Aaron your brother and his sons with him from him from among the sons of Israel to minister as priests to me

Aaron Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar Aaron's sons following which in verses 2 through 43 he proceeds to go into detail regarding the clothing that the priest were to wear and so you may recall that that clothing consisted of an afad a breast piece that included the urn and the robe a turban or a mitre the tunic and then finally the undergarments that are described at the end of chapter 28 thus far we have discussed the afad and we have discussed the breast piece and we have talked about the urn and the turban and this brings us now to the robe in verses 31 through 35 we see described for us the next garment that is given to us in Scripture now it is interesting to note before we ever read this

Scripture that this particular word the word robe does not appear in Scripture until this point prior to this there is a mention of a coat there are mentions of cloaks but there is not a mention of a robe this is only done when we are given the instructions for the clothing of the high priest one final reminder before we dig into Scripture this is not anything new is something we've talked about before but it is a reminder that we need to have because the commands that are given here in this text are given to a specific group of people at a specific time in other words we are not called to duplicate the tabernacle we are not called to duplicate the priestly clothing the problem with that is it brings into question the reason for including them in to Scripture and so we are reminded that even though this is not a command for us to take and emulate not being called by God to reinstate the priesthood that ended with our great high priest it is it is necessary for the life of a believer

Paul writes in Timothy all Scripture is God breathed and profitable this place is the responsibility for understanding this text and the implications that it has on us to those who have been commanded to study and show thyself approved directly on us so this morning as we come to this text we will look at types and shadows we will see the ramifications of what these types and shadows have for us here today and then finally how it will shape and does shape who we are as believers so if you will not if you will take your

Bibles this is not an optional thing I you know as a kid

I never really understood the purpose of holding my Bible while the pastor read his

Bible but but there's a purpose behind it pick your Bible up turn to Exodus chapter 28 follow along as we read verses 31 through 35 stand for the reading of God's holy inerrant infallible complete authoritative and sufficient word in Exodus chapter 28 beginning in the 31st verse we read you shall make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue there shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it around the edge of its opening there shall be a binding of woven work like the opening of a coat of mail so that will not be torn you shall make on its him pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material all around on its him and bells of gold between them all around a golden bell and a pomegranate a golden bell and a pomegranate all around on the him of the road it shall be on air and when he ministers and it's sound that shall be heard when he comes into the holy place before Yahweh and when he goes out so that he will not die gracious Heavenly Father we bow before you who are thrice holy we stand in all of you as creator and sustainer of all things how do we enter into your presence this morning by your permission alone for we know that we are not worthy of your blessings and mercies based on our righteousness but father by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us alone we pray that as we gather around your word that we would submit to your truth and be obedient to your commands oh father we thank you for your faithfulness we thank you for the forgiveness of our sins we thank you for the sustaining power of your grace

Lord we ask now that your spirit would guide us into all truth in the blessed name of Jesus Christ our

Lord and Savior amen maybe see you well if you will recall from our previous discussions regarding the tents and the curtains of the tabernacle and even the

Afad we looked at the colors that are used throughout and what these colors represented so just briefly as a reminder we have first the pure fine linen which is a pure white that reminds us of the purity of Christ we have the heavenly or celestial blue that speaks of Christ's heavenly character the royal purple that points towards the fact that he is king of kings and Lord of lords and then last but certainly not least the scarlet or the crimson that stands as a testimony to the blood that was shed on Calvary's cross during the instructions regarding the tabernacle and into the instructions regarding the clothing of the priest we see these colors used throughout and woven in such a way that it reminds us that all of these things work together that the tabernacle is is not complete without the priest and the priest is not complete without the tabernacle but they all are part of the system designed by God for his worship and we note here that the robe itself was made entirely of blue and instead of this working from the inside out what we see is more of an outside in because the robe itself would go on before the

Afad and the breast piece so it would literally form a backdrop for the

Afad and the breast piece itself and it would rest under these garments and it would run to somewhere between knee to ankle length depending on who you talk to in their interpretation but at the end of the day what we know is that there is a hole in the center of it and this hole in the center has a woven collar but the language there describes this as being a piece that is of the same piece so that it is not two pieces it's not as if we have a collar that has been attached to the robe but a robe that is integral to the collar or the collar that is integral to the robe as all or one piece.

Now there is a interesting statement here a term that is used where that's translated in the

LSB as the opening of the coat of mail that was used in some of the earlier translations as well other things describe it in other ways the problem with this word is it's only used twice in Scripture here and in its sister verse later in Exodus where it describes the the putting on of these garments and so we don't have a clear understanding of exactly what this means but what we do know is that the purpose for this being here which is spelled out very clearly for us in Scripture is so that at the end of verse 32 it will not be torn.

You may recall from a while back when we studied the ephod and we studied the breast piece that we pointed to the fact that at Jesus's crucifixion at his trial at his mock trial that was had the high priest tears the robe tears his robe and and that's very symbolic because that's one of the things of his garments that should never have been torn

Scripture says so in itself and so this occurs so again here we see that this collar is provided to prevent that very tearing.

Now at the bottom of this robe we that they're hung on the hem pomegranates and bells in an alternating pattern.

The pomegranates themselves were variegated much like the veil much like the curtains of the temple and much like the ephod itself which means that the call for the colors were woven throughout these pomegranates.

The robe was designed and worn only by the high priest.

This robe of blue was only to be worn by the high priest so even from a distance the the priest would have stood out in a crowd of priests simply by the addition of this robe.

It would have been easy to identify exactly who the high priest was.

Not only did the heavenly blue define the office of the wearer as that of high priest it added dignity and priestly character to Aaron and to the high priest who would later follow.

One last description of the robe before we actually begin to unpack these verses more fully is that the robe of the high priest was fashioned from one singular woven piece of cloth.

Now while this may or may not seem significant to you at the moment

I would ask that you recall the words of John in John chapter 19 verse 23 as he describes the scene surrounding the crucifixion of Christ which says then the soldiers when they had crucified

Jesus took his garments and made four parts apart to each soldier and also his tunic.

Now that tunic was seamless woven in one piece from the top.

The word translated tunic here is actually the same as robe.

The robe of Christ like the robe of the high priest was fashioned from one piece.

So as we begin to kind of unpack the typology that we see or the types and the shadows that exist in this text we need to understand and comprehend this reality because without understanding the types, without understanding the shadows, without understanding the forms it becomes difficult to impossible to apply these to the life of a believer.

Now the challenge is that there are some naysayers who would say well obviously it has no application to the life of a believer.

It's just recalling for us the historic events that happened around the exile and the exodus that occurred and so because it's just recalling historic events it is descriptive and there is no prescriptive stuff in it whatsoever.

There's nothing in it for the believer today. Well if that's the case then we go back to Paul's letter to Timothy and we have to argue that Paul meant that all scripture was breathed and profitable except for these.

And so since we can't really make that argument it is necessary then that we begin to seek understanding in the text of how it applies to us today.

How do we move from the description of the articles of clothing to the forms and things that they are?

This is where we begin to see the full beauty of the text. Of course here we are dealing simply with one article of clothing and only five short verses but I assure you there is much to see.

We will begin however not with the robe itself but with the decorations that garnish the hem of the garment where we find the bells and the pomegranates.

The fruit described here as pomegranates is exactly what it says it is.

This is one time in scripture where we know that the fruit that is being described here is the same fruit that we have today.

So if you know anything of a pomegranate this is the same fruit that was talked about in scripture.

It was very common in this area of the world just as it is very common in our area today.

A pomegranate in case you don't know if you're unaware you just happen to have maybe your head in the sand or something for a while but a pomegranate is a roundish fruit it's kind of a reddish color and it's very hard.

Maybe you've never picked up a pomegranate you've seen pomegranate juice or pomegranate seeds but you've never actually held a pomegranate in your hand.

Pomegranates are very hard but as you break open the pomegranate as you crack the exterior what you find inside are hundreds of seeds that are surrounded by their own little capsule.

Each one has its own little capsule and inside of each capsule it is filled with a crimson liquid.

Anyone who has encountered a pomegranate or who has opened one who has worked with the seeds know that these seeds will stain a dark crimson color.

Now there are those who say that the pomegranates existed for one reason here and that's merely decoration.

There are others who would say that it represents fertility because it was used in cultures around the

Israelites in that manner and it was simply appropriated by God for the same purpose to speak of fertility and abundance of the promised land to which they were being led.

Now I have no doubt whatsoever that the promised land to which they were being led was one of abundance.

God tells us so in his word over and over again. However what I have a problem with is if we assume that the pomegranate was appropriated from other cultures by God then in my opinion that feeds into our low view of God that we already have.

We already see the creator of the universe in such a way that is not accurate and so we begin to pull things away from him.

It gives ownership of the idea to other religions or culture versus acknowledging

God's sovereignty in all of creation. Rather I believe that God as he has been doing since the beginning of the instruction surrounding the tabernacle is pushing us to look forward to Christ.

In this case the type of the pomegranate can actually be spoken of in two ways.

One is that the type that stands alone and then there is a second type that stands together with the bells.

The one that stands alone, the type that stands alone deals with what you find when you pierce the skin of the pomegranate and crimson liquid begins to flow as a result.

Reminding people of Israel of the blood that would have been spilled to atone for their sins and of course pointing us forward in redemptive history to the work of Christ, the blood that would flow from the wounds of Christ as he hung on the cross of Calvary and took the full punishment for our sin.

Now before we talk about the second type that we see here in the pomegranate, it is necessary that we look at the bells for a moment and then we will bring the two of them together since Scripture repeats the order in which they were to be placed around the hem of the robes.

Notice in verse 33 it tells us all around is him the bells of gold between them being between the pomegranates and in the verse 34 makes it clear that we are to have a pomegranate and a bell and a pomegranate and a bell.

So there is a reason that Scripture is clear about the pattern here, not just to the

Israelites who were creating this because we also know based on textual evidence that God gave

Moses plans some of which we are not privy to because he tells him just as you've seen and there are details that we never see that would prevent us from absolutely replicating all of these things.

So there's a reason that the text includes this and I think it's because the two of them work together to form a type but before we even get to that type it is likely that the immediate practical purpose of the bells served as a method so that the people could mark the movement of the high priest within the tabernacle.

So if you remember from our discussion of the tabernacle that it has two curtains, one that closes off the holy place which is the first room that you would enter into the tabernacle and the one separating the holy place from the holy of holies.

So as the priest went inside ultimately into the holy of holies the people would no longer be able to see what was happening.

They would hear the bells and know that he was moving around. Matthew Henry is very helpful in his explanation on this passage.

He said the sound of the bells gave notice to the people in the outer court when he went into the holy place to burn incense that they might then apply themselves to their devotions at the same time and if you want to study that a little bit further go study

Luke's gospel and the account of Zechariah going into the temple to perform his duty as high priest and the response of the people in Luke chapter 1 verse 10.

In token of their concurrence with him in his offerings and their hopes of the ascent of their prayers to God in virtue of the incense he offered.

Remember this is Israel's view so this is what Israel would have seen or witnessed because of these bells being in play.

The sound of the bells would help them in their worship.

The issue is that doesn't really help us today because as we previously discussed as we previously stated the old priesthood has forever been changed as Christ has become the great high priest who entered the veil who ministers in the presence of God continually on behalf of his people and so the question is is how and what do the bells teach us today.

A .W. Pink states that the bells tell of musical speech tying that to the intercession of Christ as he stands before the

Father but again as we look at the pattern we see in scripture a pomegranate and a bell and a pomegranate and a bell the two of them working together recall more than one thing pomegranates reminding us of Christ's work on the cross and the bells reminding us of the work at the throne should give us great peace and great comfort.

This is the type that we turn to when life happens. We're reminded of Christ's intercession by the bells before the

Father for us on our behalf. We're reminded of the blood spilled on Calvary's cross on our behalf as we look at the pomegranates but as we look at the two of them together as we see both of them this is the type when the pomegranates and the bell and one of sweet aroma to mask the foul stench of our sins and the sound of the gospel that calls us to repentance and faith by which the righteousness of Christ is imputed.

Then when you tie in the robe itself the garment of Christ we see a full picture on display before us.

John Calvin writes it beautifully in this way. This robe was above the oblong coat between that and the ephod and from its lower edge hung the bells and pomegranates alternately.

Although there was no smell in the pomegranates yet the type suggested this to the eyes as if God required in that garment a sweet smell as well as a sound and surely we who stink through the foulness of our sins are only a sweet smell unto

God as being covered with the garment of Christ. But God would have the bells give a sound because the garment of Christ does not procure favor for us except by the sound of the gospel which diffuses the sweet savor of the head amongst all the members.

In this allegory there is nothing too subtle or far -fetched for the similitude of the smell and the sound that naturally lead us to the honoring of grace and to the preaching of the gospel.

By the pomegranates therefore which were attached to the hem of the garment God testified that whatever was in the priest smelt sweetly and was acceptable to him provided the sound accompanied it.

The necessity of which is declared when God denounces death against the priest if he should ever enter the sanctuary without sound.

The entirety of this picture that is painted for us in this robe with its pomegranates and bells is one of the full picture of the gospel.

The righteousness of Christ imputed to believers, the fragrance of the pomegranate as the sweet aroma of Christ's work and the bells sounding with the gospel from the lips of those who have believed.

A final word regarding this before we move on to the impact that this has in our lives.

I want you to notice at the very end of verse 35 the very last clause that we are given.

And I don't know if you're an underliner or a highlighter or a note -taker, whatever you are, do not miss this last passage.

He says at the end of verse 35 that all of these things are to be done.

It shall be on Aaron when he ministers and the sound shall be heard when he comes into the holy place so that he will not die.

Now this is a another reminder.

We could go back right and we could see all of the places where God so clearly tells the people of Israel, so clearly reminds

Moses, so clearly reminds Aaron that as you worship you do so according to my command.

Again another reminder that right worship of God done according to and by his command is the only acceptable practice of worship.

This is still a reminder to us because this is not something that has passed from view.

You see the command of God to the Israelites regarding the actual clothing, the tabernacle, all the implicates passed away.

The Aaronical and the Levitical priesthoods had all passed away. They had been eliminated or replaced by the priesthood of Christ.

Those words don't command us to go forth and build a tabernacle and dress like the high priest.

But the worship, the worship command has not changed.

And here's where the naysayers come in because the first thing they want to say is well how can you say that all of these other things have passed away but not the command to worship.

I'm so glad you asked because the truth of the matter is this.

This is important here and now because we continue to hold fast to this right worship.

To understand this it is necessary that we remind ourselves and have a true understanding of the moral law of God.

As the law was given, the first law that was given, the Ten Commandments, this is the moral law of God.

As we work through the Ten Commandments what we talked about was that these commandments cover all other sins.

The first four of those commandments given to us in Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 through 11 specifically deal with right worship of God.

Then God spoke all these words saying, Exodus chapter 20 verse 1, then God spoke all these words saying,

God spoke these words, not man. God, I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

And so the commands begin. One, you shall have no other gods before me. This deals with our worship of God.

Two, you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above, on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them for I, Yahweh, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children on the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands to those who love me and who keep my commands.

You shall not take the name of Yahweh, your God, in vain. For Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.

Remember, the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, six days shall you labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh, your God. In it you shall not do any work.

You or your son or your daughter, your male or female slaves, your cattle or your surgeon or who is within your gates.

For six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh. Therefore Yahweh blessed the

Sabbath day and made it holy. All of these things deal with right worship of God, and they deal with them in the moral law, the moral law that never changes, the moral law that never ends, the moral law that is written on the hearts of men from the very foundation of the world.

This is why we can look at a verse like verse 35 and see this last clause that says that we should not worship wrongly lest we die and still apply it to the life of a believer today, because it goes back to the very fabrication, the foundation of the moral law itself, which is grounded and rooted in the very nature of who

God is. And because God is immutable, meaning he cannot change, he does not change, he will not change, then these truths will not change, cannot change, and do not change.

This is why we can stand here and call ourselves to right worship, which is defined in accordance with his word and not our desires.

The final type we need to look at this morning lies within the robe itself.

As you may have noticed in the quote that I read a few moments ago by Calvin, the robe is considered to be the garment of Christ.

The heavenly or celestial blue certainly speaks to that reality, but let's press in just a little further and understand the implications of exactly what that means to us as a believer.

First, as Calvin stated, we are covered with the garment of Christ. This is the righteousness of Christ that has been given to us, and in so doing it changes the very fabric of who we are.

The old man has passed away. My favorite description of who we are is found in Paul's letter to the

Ephesians, beginning in chapter 2, the first verse through the third verse.

It says, and you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the power, ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves.

The lust of our flesh doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath even as the rest.

If you ever need a good reminder of what you were, just turn to those verses. You were all of these things, dead in your transgressions.

You walked according to the power of the air. You conducted yourself in the lust of the flesh doing the desires of the flesh, the desires of your mind.

You were by nature children of wrath. Elsewhere scripture goes on to describe us as at enmity with God.

If you don't know what that word enmity means, it means you hated God. I get people all the time tell me, no, no, no,

I don't hate God. Yes, you do. If you have not been regenerated, if you have not been made new by the

Holy Spirit, you literally hate God. You want nothing to do with him.

What follows quickly in Ephesians chapter 2, thankfully, it's a drastic change that God wants in the life of his people, making us alive in Christ.

Paul goes on to describe this change in believers, but we can see right here in Exodus, if we just take a moment to consider the effects of the righteousness of Christ, the robe of Christ, the garment of Christ, the imputation of his righteousness in our lives.

A .W. Pink is very helpful here as he writes, this is most important, being the robe, this is the robe, for it defines the essential nature of Christianity as contradistinguished from Judaism.

That's a whole sentence in and of itself that we need to unpack sometime, but not this morning.

The whole system takes its character from the priest, because Christ is a heavenly priest, his people are partakers of his heavenly calling, they are citizens of heaven, their inheritance is there.

The robe being worn beneath the aphod itself, this robe announces that the official character of Christ is sustained by what he is personally as the heavenly one.

So let's take a minute just to flesh out these characteristics of a believer.

First, Hebrews chapter 3 is what Pink is referring to as he says that we are partakers of a heavenly calling.

It reads, therefore holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession,

Jesus. Here we see that we are clearly called as believers, partakers of a heavenly calling, but exactly what does that mean?

What is this heavenly calling of which we are speaking? Well, the context of this verse is in the letter to the

Hebrews that is working, laboring to help the Hebrews who were beginning to face severe persecution to understand that the old ways were not better.

Ultimately, he goes through a whole series of describing for them that Christ is better than angels, better than Moses, better than Abraham, better than all of these things, that Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of all of what you saw.

And so what he is doing when we look at this is in our context as a whole, not just considering that Christ is greater than Moses, that he's greater than Abraham because, listen, we're not

Jews in the first century, but what we are is people living in the year 2025. And so we should see that Christ is better than this world.

He's better than our jobs. He's better than our families. He's better than anything. He is sufficient for all of our needs today.

That as we live on this side of the promise, that he hasn't changed.

He's still better than all of these things. Listen, Paul deals a lot with this in this letter to the church at Rome.

You want to return to the old ways? Do I need to go back and read Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 again?

Do you want to return to that? Christ is better than all of those things. Listen, we live in a world where we are literally driven by the amount of money we make, by the fame that we get, by everything around us, versus being driven by Christ.

Versus understanding that Christ is better, is greater.

That this heavenly calling, that when we take it and understand it and we consider it, that in everything we do, that we say that we are a being, we should consider

Christ to consider something. Does it just mean to think about it?

This is where using a dictionary becomes helpful. Because oftentimes we hear the word consider something and our thought is, well that just means that we're supposed to think about it.

Consider actually means that we think about something with the intention of using our thoughts in making a decision.

So to truly consider something, an action is required out of it. So when we are calling

Christ to mind, when we are considering the heavenly calling of our great high priest, is when we think about Christ and then those thoughts guide how we live in our daily life.

We must take great care that what fills our minds is what we will consider when we are making our decisions.

This is why Paul tells the church at Colossae to dwell richly in God's Word.

Colossians 3 verse 16, let the Word of God dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God.

These things fill your mind. That's why Paul told the church at Rome to renew your mind.

Not renew it with the junk of the world, renew it with the Word of God. Let this be your guide.

Secondly, the second characteristic that Pink delivers up for us in his, the quote that I read is, comes directly from Philippians chapter 3 verse 20.

Paul writes to the church at Philippi, for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for a

Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is waiting for his second coming. Just as our heavenly calling changes our thought process, so too must our view of our citizenship.

Now I am very shortly going to be 50 years old and in all my 50 years

I don't think citizenship in this country has been as quite of a hot a topic as it is today. Everyone around you has an opinion.

If you don't believe me just ask. I try to avoid it. Because at the end of the day what

I understand and what I hope you understand is that the citizenship that should concern us most is not the citizenship in this nation, but the citizenship in the kingdom.

Because that's our home. We're just soldiers here, we're passing through.

Not that, not that the United States is not a good place to be, not that I'm not glad that I'm a citizen of it, not that we shouldn't be patriotic or be glad that we are here, but the reality is is our focus should be heaven.

Listen, when Paul wrote this to a group of people, the people that he was writing, citizenship meant a big deal.

So if you don't know anything about Rome, citizenship in Rome guaranteed you some rights and privileges that if you were not a citizen you didn't get.

And so by defining to these people that they were citizenships, that their citizenship, their true citizenship in heaven, was in heaven, what he was saying to them was, listen it doesn't matter what happens here on this earth.

Be a citizen, don't be a citizen, get deported, don't get deported. Your citizenship as a believer is there.

That's the view, that's what we should keep. I can remember as a child, most of us in here probably can remember as a child, every morning we started this morning the same way.

We stood up in our classrooms and we put our little hands over our heart and we were pledging allegiance to the flag of the

United States of America. One nation that was supposed to be under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all.

I wonder though, I wonder how often we really consider, we really think about the greater citizenship that we have, which is that of the kingdom of God.

That we are truly sons and daughters, heirs, co -heirs with Christ.

So as we are reminded, or should be reminded, we look at the garment of Christ described for us in the role of the great high priest, the robe of our great high priest, our eternal citizenship is with God and his kingdom.

We are subject to his rules of his kingdom. We are governed by the rules of his kingdom and we live our lives in accordance with the rules of his kingdom.

And finally, finally we are told in 1st Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 5, blessed be the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading.

What a message I have witnessed and you have probably witnessed families being torn apart based on inheritances that are fading, based on inheritance that are crumbling, based on inheritance that are corruptible, inheritance that are defiable.

And what we have been promised here in the very Word of God is an inheritance that is none of those things.

It is an inheritance that is secured by Christ. It has been kept in heaven for us who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Your eternity with God. An eternity that is promised and secured by Christ according to the mercy of God.

So as we look at this robe, as we look at the garment of Christ, the robe of the great high priest, we should be reminded that consideration of Christ, living in consideration of Christ in light of our true citizenship, our eternal inheritance, that the unfading garment that he wears, the unfading garment that he has given in his righteousness gives us full assurance of this future reality.

As we look at the larger picture that God paints for us here in Exodus, what we have before us is not just a description of a fabric, an ornamentation.

It is the gracious revelation of God. This revelation is given to us according to the grace of God, and it concerns the only acceptable means by which sinful man can approach a holy

God. The robe, the robe in all its color, all its design, all its order, points us to Christ.

It preached a message to Israel, but now here for us it proclaims

Christ, the only way. Christ, his priesthood, his righteousness.

We've seen this robe. It's entirely blue, heavenly in appearance.

It reminds us of the high priest who wore it before, but most importantly, it reminds us of that great high priest, one not appointed by men, but set apart by God, the only one who could stand in your stead and in my stead, the only one who could be the propitiation for our sins, and only by faith could we acquire this righteousness.

Every detail in the garment is intentional. Every element that we have seen is rich with purpose.

Not a stitch wasted, not a thread goes unused.

Pomegranates declaring his blood, the bells declaring his voice, the robe with his blue color declaring his origin, and all of it coming together to declare the sufficiency of Christ.

But if this robe points to Christ, then it confronts us with a question.

Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ?

A clothing only attainable by faith. It is not achievable by the work of man.

It is not achievable by our efforts. It is not something that we are ever going to accomplish on our own.

It is by faith alone, in Christ alone. I want to leave you with one final thought.

Aaron, the man appointed by God as the first high priest, was required to wear this robe so that he could enter into the holy place.

In fact, what should strike us as significant is even if Aaron got all of the other things that he had to do to enter into the holy of holies right, but he did not wear the robe, all was lost.

It would end in his death. No matter if the sacrifice was perfect, no matter if his words and rituals were exactly as described, if he left out the robe or if he left off the bells, then all of it is in vain.

Worship must be offered according to God's command or not at all.

We cannot approach God on our own terms. We should never presume that sincerity is sufficient because you can be sincerely wrong.

But if we are clothed in Christ, if we are clothed in his righteousness, if his robe wraps around us, then we have confidence to enter not just into an earthly tabernacle but into the true holy of holies.

This is why the writer of Hebrews says that we enter boldly into the presence, because we are covered, wrapped in the righteous robe of Christ.

We walk not in fear of death but in assurance of life.

We carry with us the sound gospel, the fruit of his spirit, just as the hymn of the robe carried the bells and the pomegranates.

So the final question that I leave you with this morning, one that you should consider.

Hopefully you walk away at least understanding the word consider a little more deeply, which means you think on it and there must be action coming from it.

Do you bear the sound and the fruit of one who is clothed in the robe of Christ, or are you still standing in garments of your own making, hoping that sincerity will be enough?

Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, our voices lifted in praise, our hearts grounded in truth, our souls rejoicing in your grace alone, for we are thankful for your word, word that contains truth in every jot and tittle, word that is absolutely authoritative and utterly sufficient for our lives.

Lord, we pray this morning that as we have considered the truth that has been set before us, demonstrating even that as you set forth the priesthood of Israel you were pointing the way forward to the truth of Christ, we pray that each would consider the garment of Christ, the reality of how it affects our lives, that we would understand what it means to live in consideration of our heavenly calling, our true citizenship, our inheritance in our daily lives.

Lord grant us the strength to abide richly in your word, to live in obedience in your truth, to worship rightly according to your word and your word alone.

Father, we ask all of these things in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, your