St.

Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church The 2nd Sunday of Lent

March 18, 2011 Exodus 28:1-38 (selected verses)

“WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY: THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS”

“You’re gonna like the way you look.” That’s what the Men’s Wearhouse commercials on television
boast, as they present to the viewer their seasonal special on suits, ties and the like. Having made use of
the Men’s Wearhouse in the past, I can tell you that they do their very best to help the customer leave the
store with lots of garments that are going to make the man look sophisticated and stylish, and at the
same time, functional in the attire. “You’re gonna like the way you look!”
The high priests garments were not about looking good, appearing sophisticated or stylish. It was
all about functionality, because even the garments of the high priest gave to the worshipers an indication
of just what kind of work the Messiah was going to do. All around them, they had real-life pictures of the
coming Christ, so that they could view his glory even before he entered the world in the flesh. The
priestly garments are one more element of that spiritual mosaic that God gave to the children of Israel to
keep their faith in the coming Messiah strong and true.
Last week, we noted that it was the high priest’s duty to enter into the throne-room of God among
the people, the Most Holy Place once a year, on the Day of Atonement. And when he did, he was to
approach the throne of God, the Ark of the Covenant, with the innocent blood of sacrifice on his hands.
He was also to enter with the proper attire, attire that represented in every way what the Great High
Priest, Jesus, would do to provide redemption for the whole world. And like the attire itself, the work of
Jesus was not pretty! It was gaudy! But it was required to set the sinner free from sin and death!
I have often said, and it bears repeating, that I am truly grateful that the Lord, in mercy, called
me to serve in his Church in the New Testament era. As a pastor, I read down the list of things that the
high priest was to be clothed with and think to myself, “that must’ve been so uncomfortable, so heavy,
and unbearably hot to wear in the desert.” No to mention the fact that the high priest was always dealing
with blood and death. I just don’t think I could stomach it.
Remember, though, that comfort was not the concern of the Almighty when he gave the
instructions for the attire of the priests. Functionality was the most important issue, functionality in the
sense of giving to the people a proper and consistent picture of how their sins, their rebelliousness against
God was going to be satisfied – through one representative who would make atonement for everybody
else, a task that would leave him stained in blood as he bore the names of God’s people on his shoulders
and heart, and as he bore the guilt of the people on his head.
From head to toe, he was dressed to be the representative for the whole nation before God. The
ephod and breastplate were the most important parts of the holy attire. The ephod was a linen apron of
sorts that attached at the shoulders. And upon the shoulders of this apron there were two stones, one
with the names of six tribes and the other with the names of the other six tribes engraved upon it. The
breastplate, that attached to the ephod, the linen apron, had 12 stones attached to it that also had the
names of the tribes engraved on them – 12 glorious stones bearing the names of all the tribes in Israel,
worn upon the heart of the high priest.
The beauty of the picture is quite self-evident. This one representative of the people foreshadowed
the work of the coming Christ, who perfectly bore the burden of the salvation of the entire world on his
shoulders and heart. There was only one person who was appointed to bear that burden, to wear the
burden that the ephod represented; only one who could adorn the breastplate, so to speak, that bore the
names of all people, young and old. There was only one who could enter into the throne-room of God on
our behalf to offer innocent blood as the atonement price that completely satisfies justice for our
transgressions; and that one was Jesus!
 He forgot no one, and he left no sin unsatisfied. When the high priest adorned the breastplate and
the ephod, that holy dress that is so strange to us, what did he bear, but names! Not individual sins or
individual transgressions – names – the names of his brothers, that were, by tribe, engraved in precious
stone that would gloriously shine in the presence of God in the Most Holy Place. Everyone was included,
no one was left out. Whenever the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place that one time every year,
on the Day of Atonement, each Israelite’s name was included that every single one of them could be
confident that their sins, grievous in God’s sight, detestable to him, found satisfaction in the presentation
of holy blood through the mediation of the high priest – who was, in fact, their brother, their family
member.
Hebrews 2:10-11 helps us make that connection: “10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was
fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of
their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who
are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
The Israelites saw the glory of Christ, albeit veiled in picture form. Their sins went in upon the
blood-stained high priest who entered the Most Holy Place, and came out of the presence of God with a
declaration of innocence, that their sins had been forgiven. We have seen his glory too, as the glory of the
cross shines with bright clarity upon the Christological pictures of the Old Testament. We have seen the
reality of these pictures, revealed in Scripture, as our great Mediator, the Lord Jesus, our brother in the
flesh, was willingly stained with his own blood, so that right here, right now, we may hear the glorious
declaration – “God our heavenly Father has forgiven all your sins – by the perfect life and innocent death
of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has removed your guilt forever. YOU ARE HIS OWN DEAR CHILD!”
Now, there are two other pieces of this holy attire that require brief attention this morning – the
turban and the pomegranates and bells on the hem of the robe. Once again, these items of holy attire
were specific to the office of the high priest. Only one was to wear this clothing, the appointed mediator of
the people. And like the rest of the outfit, these also had tremendous significance and meaning.
The yarn pomegranates and bells, as our lesson from Exodus tells us, were to announce the arrival
of the high priest at the Most Holy Place, signifying that the correctly and rightly appointed
representative was about to minister for the people before the presence of the Lord. Without the attire,
death was the result, which once again reinforces for them and for us that a sinner cannot possibly enter
into the presence of God without mediation and without innocent blood. We cannot stand before God on
our own merits, clothed in sin, clothed in our pitiful attempts at holiness – for Isaiah tells us: “All our
righteous acts (no matter how great we think they are) are like menstrual rags.” Entrance into the
Most Holy Place of God’s eternal presence in heaven is granted only through the work of the mediator, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The turban that the high priest wore was also of special significance. He wore on his head a
turban with the words “Holy to the Lord.” And the purpose of this turban was to picture that the Holy
Messiah, the perfect Christ would bear the guilt of the people on his holy head, and then present God’s
people as holy because their guilt had been removed.
Just imagine the picture on the Day of Atonement. Blood everywhere. The garments of the high
priest splattered with the blood of goats and calves, and he enters the Most Holy Place with that message
engraved on his turban “Holy to the Lord,” so that the sacrifice of the appointed priest would be accepted
by God. And then, after the blood has been offered to the throne of God, the high priest comes out and
what do the people see on his turban – “Holy to the Lord,” which was a message not for the high priest,
but for them, the recipients of the declaration of forgiveness.
Holy to the Lord! That’s what you are! What amazing grace, because we look at our lives that
lack holiness in every aspect, and recognize, as we confess in our liturgy, truly how unworthy we are to
have that declaration come upon us. Your Lord Jesus, the Holy One in the flesh was crowned not with a
comfortable turban, but with thorns; not with glory, but with shame so that the message of the high
priest’s turban “Holy to the Lord” is applied to you, so that you, the true Israel, the collection of all
believers throughout the world, may know right now that you stand in a state of grace with your God and
are, this moment, ready to enter his eternal throne-room – all because of your mediator, your Great High
Priest, who bore you on his shoulders and heart, and presented his blood so that you are declared holy!
It never ceases to amaze me the way that God made his salvation known to the people of Israel.
Every day, in many and varied ways, the glory of Christ was revealed to them. And we have the privilege
of seeing the fulfillment of those pictures as the glory of the cross shines with unparalleled brightness
upon that mosaic of messianic imagery.
Today, your shepherd in Christ’s service doesn’t have to wear this elaborate attire, because the
priestly garments represented work that has already been accomplished in full by your Savior Jesus. We
no longer need the picture when the picture has found its full realization in Jesus. As you leave this place
today, having brought with you to the house of God the sins that have weighed you down, the guilt that
has burdened your heart and soul, know with full confidence that the Holy One of Israel, the Lord Jesus,
has borne your guilt upon his head and your name upon his heart, and has entered the throne-room of
God with his own blood as payment for your all of your sins, so that you, personally, as a family member
of God in faith, can be confident that this moment, because of your High Priest, you are HOLY TO THE
LORD, and thus, how do we say it in our liturgy? HIS OWN DEAR CHILD! Amen.