Holy Robe
Ex. 28:31 35, "And thou shalt make the robe of the
ephod all of blue.
And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in the
midst thereof: it
shall have a binding of woven work round about the
hole of it, as it
were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent.
And beneath upon
the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue,
and of purple, and
of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells
of gold between them
round about: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a
golden bell, and a
pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.
And it shall be upon
Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when
he goeth into the
holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out,
that he die not."
As with all the holy garments of the high priest,
this garment speaks
to us concerning the work of our High Priest, Jesus
Christ, and the
effect of this work on the elect of God.
According to Is.
61:10, 11 we read, "I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath
covered me with the ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS...so the
Lord God will cause RIGHTEOUSNESS and praise to
spring forth before all nations. Thus the robe above
is the robe of righteousness. Christ, our high
priest, is clothed with righteousness and has made
us righteous.
The robe was all of
blue. According to Num. 15:38 40 blue ribband were
to placed on the borders of the peoples' garments
that they might
remember and do the commandments of the Lord. Thus
blue represents the
commandments of the Lord. Jesus said on the mount of
Olives, "Think not
that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:
I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled. Jesus came to fulfill the law
to perfection.
Jesus is altogether righteous and according to Rom.
10:3, 4 he is the
"end of the law for righteousness." He fulfilled
(end) the law for
righteousness to a jot and tittle. He kept it
perfectly. He is the
"Righteous One." Furthermore, according to II Cor.
5:21, "For he hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him." Christ through his
righteous fulfilling
of the law and subsequent blood atonement has made
us righteous before
God.
Second the robe was
woven throughout that there was to be no rent in
it. Weaving intertwines the fabric. The elect of God
and the work of
Christ are intertwined in the covenant of
redemption. In Rom. 8:29, 30
we read, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the first born among
many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called:
and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom
he justified, them
he also glorified." Thus we see the elect of God
intertwined with the
work of Christ. Christ in his High Priestly work
calls the elect,
justifies the elect, and glorifies the elect.
Furthermore, there is no
rent as all the elect are predestinated, called,
justified, and
glorified without the loss or addition of any.
Third, the robe is
compared to an habergeon. From what I have been
able to gather, the habergeon was part of the armor
of the solder in
battle. Jesus Christ fought and won the battle for
us. He fought
against sin, the devil, the grave, death, and hell.
He was mightily
victorious over all that great host of enemies that
were against us. He
fought according to the law and as he strove
lawfully, he won the war
for us.
Fourth, the hem of the
robe had affixed to it alternating golden bells
and pomegranates. The pomegranate is the fruit of
the pomegranate
tree. The fruit has a somewhat hard outer shell and
inside the shell
are very numerous seed surrounded by a sack filled
with a pulpy sweet
fluid. When I was a child we had a neighbor who had
a pomegranate
tree. My recollections of the fruit were of the
numerous seed and sweet
taste of the pulpy fluid. The scriptural picture
painted for us is that
of a golden bell followed by a pomegranate around
the circle of the
robe's hem. Thus we have the ring of a golden bell
followed by the
fruit resulting from that ring.
Gold represents to us
the Lord as King. Thus the ring of the bell
would be suggestive of the sounding forth of the
voice of the Lord in
commandment. Several examples of this biblical
pattern follow:
1. Gen. 1:3, "And God
said, Let there be light: and there was
light." Throughout Genesis chapter one we see the
Lord speaking
followed by the immediate fulfillment of that
command.
2. John 5:25, "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God: and they
that hear shall live." The Lord speaks to those dead
in trespasses and
sins and immediately thy have spiritual life.
3. I Thes. 4:6, "For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which
are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
Thus the Lord commands
and our dead bodies come forth and alive in the
resurrection.
From the above we
gather that when the Lord speaks in commandment with
his powerful voice there is an immediate fruit
produced. This was
illustrated to us in creation, regeneration, and the
resurrection. The
elect of God are regenerated (spiritual creation) by
the still small
voice of the Lord and the dead bodies of the elect
will be resurrected
by the shouted voice of the Lord.
Fifth, the
pomegranates were blue and purple and scarlet. As we
have
noted in a previous essay, blue is representative of
the law, purple is
representative of kings and priests, and scarlet is
representative of
the redemptive blood of Christ. Accordingly we read
in Rev. 1:5, 6
"Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood and
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father..." Thus Jesus
redeemed the elect from the curse of the law (blue)
by his atoning blood
(scarlet) and made us kings and priests (purple)
unto God.
Sixth, the garment was
upon Aaron to minister. Jesus said, "I have
meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do
the will of him that
sent me, and to finish his work." Jesus work of
redemption, the new
birth, and the resurrection of our bodies is
represented to us in this
robe of the High Priest.
Seventh, the sound of
the golden bells was to be heard when the High
Priest went into the holy place before the Lord that
he die not. Only
the High Priest could go into the holy place. Since
the holy place
before the Lord was representative of the glory
world, the High Priest
who entered there had to be perfect according to the
law and had to have
fulfilled all the work of that great office. No one
else was qualified
to approach unto God but our High Priest, Jesus
Christ, who had kept the
law perfectly and fulfilled all the work he came
down to do.
The Holy Crown
The head garment of the high priest is described in
Ex. 28:36 38, "And
thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon
it, like the
engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And
thou shalt put it on
a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the
forefront of the
mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's
forehead, that Aaron
may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the
children of Israel
shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall
be always upon his
forehead, that they may be accepted before the
Lord."
A signet was a
signature ring. It contained an engraved seal that
was
peculiar to its owner and when the seal was
impressed on documents it
represented the authority of the owner. For
instance, the signet seal
of a king represented the authority of the king.
From the scriptures we
know that King Ahab, King Ahasuerus, and King Darius
all had and used
their signet rings to authorize official documents
and orders of the
king. The seal of the ring carried the full weight
and authority of the
king. The seal of the signet is found frequently in
the scriptures.
Examples of the seals
use are as follows:
1. II Tim. 2:19
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are
his. And let every one
that nameth the name of the Lord depart from
iniquity."
2. Eph. 1:13, 14 "In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom
also after that ye
believed, ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of
promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory."
3. Rev. 7:2, 3 "And I
saw another angel ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God: and he cried with
a loud voice to the
four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth
and the sea, Saying,
Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,
till we have sealed
the servants of our God in their foreheads."
The seal on the golden
plate was "HOLINESS TO THE LORD." The word LORD is
translated from the Hebrew word meaning Jehovah. As
we studied earlier the name Jehovah is the name denoting God as
a covenant making,
covenant fulfilling God. Thus the will of our high
priest, Jesus
Christ, was to fulfill the covenant of God to save
his people from their
sins. The signature of this covenant making,
covenant keeping God is
HOLINESS. Jesus Christ is the Holy One, he is
described as holy,harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He
is also described as
that "Holy Child." His conception into the world was
different from
anyone else's conception, as he was conceived of the
Holy Ghost and born
of a virgin. His life was holy as he kept the law to
a jot and a tittle
and he lived by every word that proceeded from the
mouth of God. His
nature was holy in a way that none other was as he
was both man and
God. He fulfilled all that was written of him. He
truly in his nature
and work bore the signature HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
The high priest bore
the burden of the children of Israel on his
shoulders, he bore the judgment of the children of
Israel upon his heart
in the breastplate of judgment, and he bore their
iniquities upon his
mind (forehead). Cannot we see all these things
fulfilled by our High
Priest, Jesus Christ. In II Cor. 5:21 we read, "For
he hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness
of God in him." Thus it is thru Jesus' holiness that
he was the perfect
sacrifice for our sins and thereby making us
righteous before God.
It is thru the
HOLINESS of Jesus Christ that we are accepted before
the
Lord as we read in Eph. 1:6, 7, "To the praise of
the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the
riches of his grace."
Because of the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ and because we are
made
accepted in the beloved, our worship and service to
God is acceptable to
God. According to Phil. 4:18 it is "an odour of a
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God."
Holy Candlestick
A description of the candlestick that was placed in
the holy place of
the tabernacle in the wilderness is described for us
in Ex. 25:31 40.
We are not made to guess concerning the typical
significance of the
candlestick as we are told in Rev. 1:20, "The
mystery of the seven stars
which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven
golden candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches: and the seven
candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven
churches." Thus the
candlestick is a "type" of the church.
In Ex. 25:31 we are
told that the candlestick is made of pure gold.
Gold is used in the scriptures to represent kings
and their kingdoms.
We read of the golden crowns of kings and the golden
scepter. We read
of golden thrones and the king's shields of gold. We
also read of the
golden lions on the steps leading up to the king's
palace. Yes, gold is
associated with the king and his kingdom. We also
read in Rev. 1:6
where God has made us kings and that we are to live
and reign with him
in his kingdom (church).
Also in verse 31 we
are told the tabernacle is of "beaten work" which
speaks of forcible molding. The scriptures teach us
that we must thru
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. The
Lord said, "They
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution." Also in
the old testament we read where the Lord said, "And
I leave in the midst
of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall
trust in the name of
the Lord." Moreover, Peter wrote that "the trial of
your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried by
fire, may be found unto praise, honor, and glory at
the appearing of
Jesus Christ." God's people in the church are an
afflicted and poor
people. They are tried in the furnace of trials,
afflictions, and
persecutions and when the Lord has sufficiently
tried them thy shine
forth as gold.
Next, the candlestick
had knops, flowers, and bowls made like almonds.
Knops, flowers, and almonds speak of the growth
process. The Lord's
people are to grow spiritually in the church. We are
told to desire the
sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby.
Also we are to speak
the truth in love that we may grow up into him in
all things, which is
the head, even Christ. Furthermore, the body
increases and edifies
itself in love. Also we are told to grow in grace
and in the knowledge
of the Son of God. Thus the members of the church
are to grow
spiritually in grace, knowledge, understanding,
faith, and good works.
In addition, almonds speak of fruitfulness. The Lord
said, "Herein is
my father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit."
When the word was sown
in the good ground (an honest and good heart) it
brought forth much fruit, some thirty fold, some
sixty fold, and some an hundred fold. Paul
wrote that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk therein. The fruit we are to bring forth is the
fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance.
When we are fruitful in these things we glorify God.
There were a total of
22 bowls in the candlestick. Twenty two is the
bible number associated with the word of God. God's
people as bowls are
to be filled with the word of God. We should, as
Job, desire the word
more than our necessary food. We should, as David,
hide it in our
hearts, that we might not sin against God. We are to
live, not by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God.
Moreover, the
candlestick is said to be of "one beaten work."
Romans
chapter 12 and I Corinthians chapter 12 speak of the
church as being the
body of Christ. In Rom. 12:4, 5 we read, "For as we
have many members
in one body, and all members have not the same
office: so we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another." In
1 Cor. 12:18 20 we read, "But now hath God set the
members every one of
them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if
they were all one
member, where were the body? But now are they many
members, yet but one
body." Since we are members one of another in the
church we are to have
the same care, one for another. We are not to be
selfish individuals in
the church, but as members of a body we are to
function as members of
the body for the good of the body.
Additionally, the
candlestick is a lamp stand and there are to be
lamps
thereon. For no man lighteth a candle and putteth it
under a bushel,
but put it on a candlestick that it may give light
unto all that are in the house. The Lord, in the new birth, lights
spiritually everyone that
comes into this spiritual world. We re told to let
our light so shine
before men that they may see our good works and
glorify our heavenly
Father.
Furthermore, the
church is the light of the world, a city that
is set on a hill that cannot be hid. There is a
proper place for a
candle and that is on the candlestick. God's people
are to be lights in
the world and they are to do that as members of the
Lord's church.
The candlestick had tongs and snuff dishes as
associated vessels to
clear away the refuse of the burning lamps. God's
word and,
subsequently, the preaching of God's word is not
only designed to feed
us and prepare us for doing good works, but it also
reproves and
corrects us according to II Tim. 3:16, 17, "All
scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for
correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God
may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works." When we
consider that we have a two fold nature and the
flesh nature has nothing
good dwelling therein, and that we are daily plagued
with the desire to
sin, then we can see the need for the tongs and
dishes of God's
word to reprove and correct us that we may walk
closer to the teaching
of God's word and that our light shine brighter each
day that we live.
Furthermore, the
candlestick was costly: it was made of a talent of
pure gold. The Lord's church is even more costly
than the type. The
Lord's church was purchased with the shed blood of
Jesus and that is
more than all the gold and silver in the world. As
members of the
Lord's church we should ever remember the cost of
our salvation from
sin.
Finally, there was a
pattern to the candlestick and it was to be built
according to the patter God showed Moses in the
mount. Likewise, there
is a pattern to the church: it is to be ordered
according to the new
testament pattern and the government is to be
according to that new
testament pattern. We are not to deviate from that
pattern. We are not
to add our own design or desires to that pattern,
but to maintain her as
the Lord gave her to us.