Exodus Chapter 39 Verses 1 – 5
• What I want you to notice as we read through the vestments of the High Priest is how they so gloriously speak directly of Jesus Christ! The Ephod would be the outer robe of the High Priest. What would be visible by the people. It would be woven with blue thread speaking of heaven. Jesus said in John 6:38, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
• It would be woven with purple thread speaking of royalty. Jesus said in John 18:36-37, ““My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.””
• It would be woven with scarlet thread speaking of sacrifice. Jesus said in John 3:17, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
• And finally, it would be woven with gold speaking of pure divinity! In announcing to Mary the coming of Jesus into this world, the angel said to her in Luke 1:35, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and My Father are One.”
• Throughout the life and ministry of Jesus before going to the cross, each one of these elements of the Lord were plainly seen in His love, His care, His kindness, His grace towards sinners and His heart for not just His own people surrounding Him, but for every person, everywhere He went. Do you ever just wonder at Him? We serve a God with depth of character that exceeds all of humanity and all other gods. A Lord that is from everlasting and yet is intricately aware of and involved in the moments of all men. A God who could call an end to it all but pursues the worst of sinners…longsuffering that everyone might be free from sin and know Him. A God who is all powerful but would lay down all power and die for me…We will spend all of eternity in worship when it is fully revealed to us all that He is…
• Notice this before we move on…this picture of the Lord Himself…His qualities captured in a summary of the threads of this outer robe…and who is to wear it? The master craftsmen of the golden calf. The betrayer. The shameful. The humiliated. The robe of the Lord is to be put onto Aaron. Knowing the implications of this fact causes my heart to come undone again in sorrowful gratitude for what God has done for me.
• Zechariah 3:1-4…this is what the Lord has done for me. I am a master craftsman of sin…and each sin that I thought was once and done, Satan has a record of it all and hurls it towards my mind constantly…standing in opposition to grace and mercy in my life…but God rebukes him…takes away the mud that has been slung upon us (rightfully so, by the way) and clothes us with rich robes. Who’s robes? His own…that is the Gospel of grace. You haven’t earned anything. There is nothing of your eternal life or character of Christ that should cause you to boast against your fellow man. The Gospel is glorious and it is very simple, all that we have, He has given.
Exodus Chapter 39 Verses 6 – 7
• Shoulders speak of work. I love how the names of the people are engraved in stones…speaking of a burden…and placed upon the shoulders of the High Priest. That messages to us is that our burdens, the problems of this world with our names engraved upon them, take them to the Lord…trust the Lord in the situation you are facing! He is designed to carry them! That is His desire! Close always to His heart and mind…if I trust Him with the burden, He will be faithful to bear it for me!
• You’ve got those cares, those anxieties, those worries, those problems on your shoulders! Carrying them yourself! Trying to figure it out how to do what is necessary and good and right to bring about a fortunate future…I get it! But know this! Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus!” Hearts and minds…what’s right in the middle of all of that? Shoulders!! The key to peace in your heart and mind is giving what you’re carrying over to the Lord…and then let Him do the guarding, the guiding, the providing…He will! It’s His design AND desire!
• This is the source code to so many wrecked people and derailed lives…they choose something (which is sin) over simply obeying, believing and trusting God and it lands them in a run-down motel room of a life!
Exodus Chapter 39 Verses 8 – 21
• The messaging just gets better! The Breastplate that also bore the names of the people, not just to be placed on the shoulders of the High Priest but also to be secured over the heart! Clear, unmistakable messaging there…and notice how when it was completed, the breastplate would have the names of the people encased in gold…like God Himself saying, “I will surround you, hold you, secure you, adorn you,” and the Breastplate would not hang over the ephod, speaking of all that the Lord is, but it would become an inseparable, unmovable part of it. It would become one with the ephod.
• Isaiah 49:15-16 says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.” Jesus has made you and me a part of who He is…He came for us, He died in our place and forever He bears the marks of being My Friend, Father and Savior. Just like the names aren’t overlaid on the ephod…yes, they came later, created apart…but once the work is complete, the two become one…
Exodus Chapter 39 Verses 22 – 26
• Underneath all that, Jesus the Man is and was, is the simple fact that Jesus is God. The blue speaks of heaven. Underlaying the ephod…and sewn into its edges, what the Jews call “wings,” are fruit and bells. So as the Lord works, as the Lord walks the sound is the sound of fruit. Love, joy, peace, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The same sound that ought to come forth from the life of one who follows Christ.
Exodus Chapter 39 Verses 27 – 43
• There is such a blessing in doing the work of the Lord just as He has commanded. The result may not always be what your flesh wanted…but it will always accomplish what God had intended…which ultimately is the best for you and for me and even if it wasn’t (seemingly), it would still be reasonable to simply accomplish God’s will regardless!