Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. We're going to be in Exodus 28, 29 and 30. So we're covering three chapters. I basically just have time to read it. I'm just kidding.
[00:00:09] I normally love reading the text because I believe that the word of God is living and active and powerful.
[00:00:16] We're going to be picking out some different chunks as we go through that and pulling out some different things. We're really looking at the priests today. And so this is a section about priests. I have some friends back here in the corner that were like a visual would be nice if you would wear these clothes. I said no. Amazon was fresh out of a high priest outfit. So sorry, y' all just get me another option was this is where we get the text that you should wear your Sunday best, that everybody should dress like that. Maybe you grew up and you couldn't wear clothes, you couldn't wear open toed shoes to church, you couldn't chew gum at church, you had to put on your Sunday best. We get a little bit of that from this text. But here's what I really. We read a text like this and it's kind of on repeat a little bit that you read a text like this and you go, what am I supposed to do with this?
[00:01:10] And my hope is, as we've been reading this, that I'm helping you know how to read your Bible and that we look at what is God saying here. And what he's saying here is very intricate, very specific, tons of detail on how to sew an outfit and how to assemble an incredible outfit.
[00:01:33] And we're like, yeah, but I don't think I'm supposed to go and do that.
[00:01:37] And you're right. But then what am I supposed to do with this text? And what it shows us is that there's incredible value and there's something important going on here in the text. And so my hope is as we walk through this, we're going to see the priest close in chapter 28, we're going to see the priest's sacrifice in chapter 29, and we're going to see the priest's actions in chapter 30. And that as we go through that, we get this picture of what a priest is and what a priest does and why a priest had to dress a certain way.
[00:02:11] And from that then we begin to go, okay, God cares a lot about this.
[00:02:19] Why?
[00:02:20] And we can use the rest of the scripture and the writers of the New Testament, give us insight into how to rightly understand this, that they help us interpret and understand what's going on here in the Old Testament. So we're going to make those connections. But it's helpful for us to see it in this big picture. We've been seeing in the book of Exodus, God is holy.
[00:02:42] We've seen that He's. He's holy. He's taken a people group which were in slavery, and he has rescued them out of slavery with his mighty hand, that he is powerful and mighty, and he's rescued them out and he's holy. And so we're in this mix because he's holy and yet people are sinful.
[00:03:01] And so we've seen they need a mediator. And that's what a priest does. A priest is a mediator. If I could just simply give you very easy working definition. A priest represents mankind to God.
[00:03:16] That's what they do. They take a sinful people and they represent a sinful people to a holy God. That's one aspect, but then it goes the other way. They represent a holy God to a sinful people.
[00:03:31] That's what a priest does, is they're a mediator. They represent God to the people and the people to God. And so we've seen in the book of Exodus, as God desires to dwell with his people, we've got a holy God and a sinful people. And yet God wants to be with his people.
[00:03:48] Then he has mediators who intercede, who represent God to the people and the people to God. And how he's done that is he said, I'm going to dwell with you and you're gonna build me a sanctuary. It's a room that's about this long. It's 150ft long. This is called the tabernacle. There's an outer court, seven and a half foot curtains that mark out the outer court. And then inside that room or that courtyard is a room, it's a tent. And there's this tent has two rooms in it. There's the outside room, which is called the holy place. It's about 15 by 30.
[00:04:23] And then there's an inside place which is called the Holy of Holies. And it's about 15 by 15. And so you got this tabernacle and then you got these people that work in the tabernacle. And so that's what we're finding out about, is the people that work inside the tabernacle. Now they're going to use the different articles of furniture that we've seen in the tabernacle. We saw the bronze altar, we've seen the table of bread, we've seen a Lamp stand. We've seen the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat. And so we're finding out about all these pieces, but then we're finding out about the people that work within this tabernacle.
[00:05:03] As we jump into this, I think it's just very important for us to just pray, because I'm very keenly aware, just like a priest was keenly aware, that they had a job to do and yet they still needed help themselves. We're gonna look at that. And I'm keenly aware that I have a task of saying, thus says the word of God that this is what God has for us. And yet I'm keenly aware of it that I need God to work in my life, just like we all need him to work in our life. And so let's go to the Lord in prayer. And then we're gonna jump into this text and begin to unpack what. What it's saying in here. Would you pray with me, Lord? We are aware of our need for you.
[00:05:54] We've sang about it, Lord. We've read it in your word, Lord. We're aware that apart from your holy Spirit working in our life through what Christ has accomplished on the cross, Lord, that we. We can't do it.
[00:06:09] And so, Lord, we're asking this morning that you by your spirit would stir in our heart, would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, that we might comprehend what is true, Lord, that what is real and true from your word might be pervasive in our life. Rather than believing the lies of this world, Lord, that we might live as your people in the places where you have us, we ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:06:39] Well, let's look at this.
[00:06:41] Chapter 28.
[00:06:42] What we see here is that God speaks to Moses and says, aaron and his sons are going to be priests and they need to wear a certain outfit. And so he's going to tell them about this outfit. And so this outfit, verse four tells us that these outfits are made up of a breastplace, an ephod, which was kind of like a belt, almost like a cummerbund. It's a belt, a robe, a coat of checkered work, a turban and a sash. And then it tells us a little bit later that there were some linen undergarments. And so this is what makes up his outfit. And we understand this, that what do clothes communicate?
[00:07:25] Well, some of y' all get dressed and you put on a uniform.
[00:07:30] And because you wear a white coat in the place where you work, you have authority and power. And people look at you and go, oh, that's a doctor. Like, because of just the way you dress. If I wore a white coat and walked around the hospital, people would think that I was something special just because of what I wear. That the clothing sets us apart.
[00:07:50] Others of you, maybe you get dressed and you put on a uniform and you put a badge on and.
[00:07:56] And you put a belt on. And because of just your attire, you carry an authority that you go to work and you exercise that authority and the job which you were commissioned to do. But the clothing represents that. It's nothing special about the clothing, but the clothing symbolizes to everybody else that you have a task and a job to do, and it sets you apart. And that's one of the things I want us to see in this, is that the priest's clothes set them apart.
[00:08:28] I don't know if you've ever been to a wedding with a young child.
[00:08:32] And we understand that you kind of assume what happens in weddings and you just know certain things and you kind of take it for granted until you go with a kid. And then they're like, why are they walking down? Why they all look the same? Why those people walk in first and then those people walk in. How come I can't wear white? Only one person gets to wear white at the wedding, right? Like, we know these things, that there's attire that communicates things.
[00:08:58] If you've ever been to a wedding in another culture, maybe you've felt this South Sudan, there's like a wedding and they put a goat entrails around the bride. And I was like, wouldn't work in America.
[00:09:11] Nobody would get married. Just wouldn't happen. Right? But you're like, wait a minute. There's certain things that.
[00:09:18] That are representative and symbolize things. And it's like, why would they do that? And why does a bride wear white? And there's certain things that symbolize other things.
[00:09:30] It's not that the clothing is the end in and of itself, but that the clothing points beyond itself. And so we see in this that the priest was supposed to wear these two shoulder pieces. And on these shoulder pieces, there were supposed to be these stones that were put on these shoulder pieces. And there's gold and there's chains and there's these different things. And on these shoulder pieces was supposed to be like a memorial. So they would have set up memorials which would have been a pile of rocks, and they would have been told to remember. That pile of rocks represents something that God did when God brought them through the Red Sea. They were supposed to set up a memorial so that they wouldn't forget and be reminded. Well, the priest was supposed to have a memorial on each shoulder, a stone which was put there that represented the 12 tribes of Israel. So every time he looked to his left or to his right, then he would go, oh, yeah, I represent them, the people of Israel.
[00:10:24] The scripture then tells us a little bit later that on this breast piece there's. There's 12 stones.
[00:10:30] And on each one of these stones was to be engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel in order according to their birth.
[00:10:39] That on their heart they represented the people. That's actually what the scripture says here. If you look at verse 30, it says, Thus, Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord. Regularly, these clothes set the priests apart. But these clothes also represented God's people.
[00:11:04] You couldn't take all of Israel in as the priest went with him. And he had this chain of people that just followed him around like a bunch of little ducks. No, he didn't do that, but he carried them with him.
[00:11:18] He represented the people. That's what a priest does.
[00:11:21] And so he represented God's people because he wore them on his heart.
[00:11:27] As he went in and went about his business.
[00:11:32] The priests also on the bottom of his garment would have had these bells and there would have been these pomegranates which were crafted, these golden bells and pomegranates. That as the priest would have gone about his work, then in the holy place or in the holy of holies, then they would have heard this ringing which would have reminded the people that he works on our behalf, that he goes before the Lord on our behalf. But it was also a way that this little jingle that they would have heard all the time as the priests shuffled about doing the business of the tabernacle, that they would have been reminded that he was set apart for the work, that the clothing, it set him apart. He represents God's people. But then third, that he was prepared to enter God's presence.
[00:12:27] This clothing showed that when he got dressed and put these clothes on, he wasn't just going about everyday business.
[00:12:36] He had to be ready, he had to be prepared to stand before a holy God that on his garment.
[00:12:46] Verse 36 tells us that on the hat that he wore was engraved wholly to the Lord, that he was prepared, set apart, prepared to intercede for a sinful people to a holy God and prepared to represent a holy God before a sinful people.
[00:13:10] That's what this Clothing represented.
[00:13:14] The clothing wasn't an end in and of itself. It pointed beyond itself. It set him apart for the task which he was to do.
[00:13:22] And that when he was clothed in those garments, he had a job to do.
[00:13:29] The second thing that we see in this text, in verse 29 or in chapter 29, is the priest sacrifices. That these priests were supposed to offer sacrifices for the people. But these priests in this section, it tells us about how they were to be consecrated, how they were to be made holy, how they were to be set apart because they had their own sin. They couldn't offer sin for everybody else until they made sacrifice for their own sin. And so it walks through how they're made holy. But then it tells us actually about three different sacrifices.
[00:14:02] That there's a sacrifice that the priest would have offered for sin.
[00:14:07] And so through a lamb that would have been slaughtered that they would have put on the altar and it would have been consumed on the altar. There was another offering that would have been offered as a burnt offering. And so all of that offering would have been consumed to the Lord, devoted to destruction.
[00:14:27] There was a third offering that the priest would give, and that was a fellowship offering. And so that was an offering that not all of that animal would have been burnt or devoured by the fire, but it would have been roasted and it would have been eaten. There's actually a progression in this. I love the way the scripture lays this out. That in order to dwell with a holy God, your sin must be dealt with.
[00:14:50] That there was a judgment for that.
[00:14:53] But on the backside of that, there's fellowship.
[00:14:56] It's the progression that you don't get the fellowship before dealing with the sin.
[00:15:02] That it costs something, that a sacrifice for sin was required.
[00:15:09] These sacrifices would have been offered perpetually every day. That's what this text tells us. That to be commissioned as a priest would have been to be commissioned into work.
[00:15:21] That every morning they had these sacrifices that they would offer. And then every evening they had these sacrifices that they would offer. They were continually offering sacrifices that there was a lot of work. They actually, what we'll find out later in the scripture is that they had rotations because they basically worked for a season. And then they got a little reprieve because they were constantly working to represent a sinful people before a holy God and to represent a holy God before sinful people.
[00:15:54] But the reality of what we see in chapter 29 is that even the priests needed atonement.
[00:16:02] They were set aside in order to intercede for the people.
[00:16:07] But even they needed to deal with their sin and have a sacrifice, a mediator, a substitute for themselves.
[00:16:18] The third thing that we see in chapter 30 is we see these priestly actions.
[00:16:26] The priestly actions. There were several other articles of furniture that we hadn't learned about yet that we find out in this is that there's an altar of incense. And so inside the tabernacle, the big courtyard, you come in the gates there on the east, and you would come in and there's a seven foot by seven foot altar. That's where they would have offered all these sacrifices. You get past that and there's actually this bronze wash basin.
[00:16:50] It's got water in there. And so before the priests could actually do the sacrifices for the altar, they would have washed. And then after they had done the sacrifices, there was another washing. And so this bronze altar or this bronze basin was. Was used a lot in washing. There was a ceremonial cleansing.
[00:17:09] But beyond that, right before you would get into the holy place, there's this altar that is not to be used to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. There's an altar to be used for incense.
[00:17:26] And this incense, the scripture tells us about this incense, that this incense is to be a special incense and it's to burn continually.
[00:17:34] And so they would have offered this incense continually. I know some of y' all are smell people that you can just imagine what this first altar would have smelled like as there was burning hair, there's cooking of, you know, if you've ever burnt something in the oven, that's the smell, just burnt.
[00:17:54] Not very pleasing aroma. But then you get past that and this incense that's burning, there's a special recipe and it's only to be used in the tabernacle.
[00:18:07] Maybe your spouse, your significant other, wears a special perfume.
[00:18:13] And maybe you've been somewhere and maybe you've caught a whiff of that, and you look around and you're like, wait a minute, time out.
[00:18:20] That's my spouse's perfume. That's not anybody else's. That's my spouse's cologne. That's not anybody else's. Right? You feel betrayed. It's like, no, that's their smell. I know there's a few smell people in here.
[00:18:32] Well, the same thing is true in this, that God says this scent, this unique concoction of smells, is to only be used in the tabernacle, that there would be this pleasing aroma to the Lord that was offered.
[00:18:51] The other thing that we see in here, we've got the washing, we've got the incense, and then the other thing that we see in chapter 30 is that there's anointing oil. There's a special oil that the priests would use to anoint the head of people, to anoint people with oil. And there's a special concoction that was to only be used in the tabernacle, that they would anoint the different instruments that they would have used. They would have made them holy. That this oil was representative of making something holy.
[00:19:19] And it was to only be used in the tabernacle. It was not to be mixed or used anywhere else.
[00:19:27] Why?
[00:19:28] Because it was set apart.
[00:19:31] It was just for the work of God.
[00:19:35] And so we see this instruction, and again we go, why? What is all of this for? Let me point you to chapter 29, verse 43, if you'll look there with me.
[00:19:47] Chapter 29, verse 43.
[00:19:53] God, in giving all of this instruction, he then tells Moses this.
[00:19:58] He says, there, I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory that a holy God is going to meet with his people.
[00:20:10] I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also, and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests.
[00:20:20] I will dwell among the people of Israel, and I will be their God.
[00:20:24] And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
[00:20:36] We get this glimpse that God goes, I'm gonna dwell with you.
[00:20:42] He goes, I rescued you out of bondage and slavery, not just so that you were free, but so that I could be with you. You, to dwell with you. It's incredible that a holy God made a way to dwell among sinful people.
[00:21:01] But there's a little more application even outside of this. And so if you'll stick with me for just a minute, as we walk through this, I just want us to begin to make some applications. We think about the priest's clothes before we can even make applications about the priests. I think it's helpful for us to understand that. That Peter, in Second Peter or in First Peter, chapter two, verse nine, he says to all believers, he says, you're a royal priesthood.
[00:21:34] Now, wait a minute.
[00:21:38] This text doesn't directly make application for us in missional living and what we should do, but because of what Peter says about us, because of faith in Christ, we now are brought into what a priest does.
[00:21:54] Actually, in Exodus, chapter 19, God tells Moses that, I want a kingdom of priests, not just a kingdom with priests.
[00:22:07] Oh, Wait a minute, God's expanding this? That yes, there are ministers, but there's pastors and there's church staff. But that's not the goal. It's just that there's a few people that do ministry know. The goal is that there's a whole bunch of people, a whole kingdom, a whole nation of people doing ministry, doing the ministry of representing a holy God to a sinful people and representing a sinful people to a holy God.
[00:22:41] You see that in the priest's clothes we get a glimpse that points us to Jesus. We actually sang the song. I don't know if you sang it, and I don't know if you recognize what you said, but we sang the lyric that I'm dressed in my Lord Jesus. Well, that's a weird lyric.
[00:22:58] I'm dressed in Jesus.
[00:23:01] Well, it's actually pulled directly out of the scripture in which Paul says In Galatians, chapter 3, verse 27, he says, put on Christ, that you would put him on, you would be clothed. That my crimson robe made white because of what Jesus has done.
[00:23:20] That I'm dressed in my priestly garment for a task as a priest, because of what Christ has done for me.
[00:23:32] That I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ, no longer clothed in my sin, no longer offering my filthy wrath, but I'm clothed in the royal garments of Christ.
[00:23:46] Listen, this is what the scripture speaks over us, that if you're in Christ, you're clothed in Christ. So put it on and let's go to work.
[00:23:59] That we find in this purpose that the priest wore a breastplate in which he bore the names of the tribes of Israel into the presence of God. Who has God put on your heart? Who your job is to bring them before the Lord every day.
[00:24:21] Might be your family, your parents, your kids, might be your co workers, your neighbors.
[00:24:32] That you represent God to them. And every day you come into his presence and saying, I bear them on my heart.
[00:24:42] That as you look to the right and left, there would be memorials on your shoulders and say you have a task and you've been sent to a people and a place for a purpose.
[00:24:56] Do you bear the names of the 3000 unreached, unengaged peoples around the world who have never heard the name of Jesus?
[00:25:10] The people who have no hope of the Mediator who has come on their behalf, that they might hear and put their faith in him. Do you bear their name on your heart?
[00:25:24] We should.
[00:25:30] That it makes us cry out like Jesus that God send workers, Harvest is plentiful, but the workers Are few, but there's a whole room of workers.
[00:25:43] God send us into the places to bear your name to a people, to represent a holy God to a sinful people, and a sinful people before a holy God.
[00:25:59] But what about the sacrifice? The priests needed a sacrifice on their behalf.
[00:26:04] The priests had to offer sacrifices. What is that?
[00:26:08] Well, the scripture would point us in the New Testament. It would say that Christ has died once for all that we sang. The lyric of it, no more debt I owe. It's finished.
[00:26:20] I don't have to offer a sacrifice anymore. We don't have to continually go to the altar morning and evening to offer sacrifices for the atonement of sins, because Christ has done it once for all that he accomplished the penalty.
[00:26:40] He died, was buried, and in three days rose again.
[00:26:49] That we can now, like we sang, that his merit, now my own, that what he accomplished as a sacrifice now is credited to me in righteousness.
[00:27:05] These lyrics that we sing, they're coming straight out of the scripture.
[00:27:14] But then, as the priest was dressed for the job, as the priests could go into the presence having made the sacrifices, then the priests offered up actions.
[00:27:26] The priests had a duty.
[00:27:30] We see in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 20, that Paul pulls on this.
[00:27:38] And he says, now that you've been brought in, now that you've become a royal priesthood, now God makes his appeal through you.
[00:27:55] What is that appeal? That appeal is, be reconciled to God, that we have a job to do, that we could wake up every morning and wake up with purpose. You're looking for purpose. This is the most incredible purpose that you could ever have. That God wants to send you out as his mouthpiece to represent him to a sinful people and say, God wants to be with you and you don't have to clean yourself up first. He paid it so that you could just come.
[00:28:26] He wants to use you and me to proclaim that purpose. Be reconciled to him.
[00:28:32] Come back to him.
[00:28:35] You can because of what Christ has done.
[00:28:39] Paul, In Romans, chapter 15, verse 15 and 16, he says, I offer up this offering of the Gentiles to the Lord. That he spent his ministry making this appeal to the Gentiles, saying, be reconciled to God. And as they came, he offered them up to the Lord.
[00:29:02] See, this incense that we see in here is the New Testament would say, would make this connection, that it's like our prayers, that our prayers would be constantly this pleasing aroma to the Lord. See, prayers aren't just a wish list of what you want God to do. It's also a Recognition of who he is and what he's done.
[00:29:24] Prayers don't have to just be folded hands and bowed head. They can actually be driving with hopefully your eyes open.
[00:29:33] That you can be in constant communication. That. That the scriptures say, just like the incense was to. To burn continually that. That our prayers would be without ceasing a constant pleasing aroma.
[00:29:49] God, work in their life.
[00:29:51] God, you're glorious and worthy of praise.
[00:29:56] God, send people that your name might be known. God, use me.
[00:30:07] That as we look at this text and what the priest was supposed to do.
[00:30:13] At first look, it may not seem like it's very missional, but as we understand our role by faith in Jesus Christ, that it turns us into a royal priesthood.
[00:30:30] It commissions us with purpose.
[00:30:34] Come on, Monday, I got a job to do and so do you.
[00:30:41] Because you bear the responsibility of representing a holy God to a sinful people.
[00:30:51] Now, that makes everything I do important.
[00:30:56] The words which proceed out of my mouth ought to represent a holy God.
[00:31:06] The actions that I take ought to represent a holy God to a sinful people.
[00:31:15] The things which I watch and think and do all have purpose.
[00:31:23] And the people around ought to go, I know what God's like because I've seen you and you represent a holy God to me.
[00:31:34] Come on, Monday, let's get after it. We got a job to do and there's a world that's desperately in need of it. And we get to make the appeal come to him. He did it for me and he'll do it for you. Let's pray.
[00:31:55] God, you've put us in places throughout this community, this city, families, Lord, in order that we might represent you, Lord, you brought us in not of any of our own doing, but simply because of your love for us. You sent Jesus Christ to accomplish what we could not. And then you commission us to do your work, making your appeal through us.
[00:32:28] Lord, what an incredible purpose. What an incredible calling on our life.
[00:32:36] Lord, I pray that we might be a people group that wake up tomorrow on mission dressed clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Not our own doings, but clothed in what you clothe us in.
[00:32:52] Going about the business which you have commissioned us for.
[00:32:59] Representing you to the people and representing the people to you, Lord, would you burden our hearts with the lost?
[00:33:08] Would you burden our hearts with the people that don't know you, that we might bear them before you and God, that you might be gracious and show yourself merciful?
[00:33:19] We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
