Exodus 28:15-30

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to be with you today. We're looking at the breastplate today of Aaron. And this is where every day you and I, we get together. We have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's word and we grow our love for the Lord together. This year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. So glad to be with you this morning while we have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. You are a gracious and generous God. You have revealed yourself to us in your word by your prophets, by the apostles. Lord, we thank you that you have given us a means of knowing who you are. Father, we pray that you would please teach us this morning that your Holy Spirit would apply these words to our hearts in Jesus's name. Amen. Okay, where'd my glasses go? There they are. Why don't we go ahead and pick up our Bibles. We are at Exodus chapter 28, beginning at verse 15. and work our way down to verse 30. Here we go.
You shall make the breastplate of judgment artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod. You shall make it of gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. You shall make it. It shall be doubled into a square. A span shall be its length and a span shall be its width. And you shall put settings of stones in it.
Four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardis, a topaz, and an emerald. This shall be the first row. The second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond. The third row a Jackanth, an Agate, and an Amethyst. And the fourth row a Beryl, an Onyx, and a Jasper. They shall be set in gold settings. And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name. They shall be according to the twelve tribes.
You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold. And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate and the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front. you shall make two rings of gold and put them on the two ends of the breastplate on the edge of it which is on the inner side of the ephod and the two other rings of gold you shall make and put them on the two shoulder straps underneath the ephod towards its front right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by means of rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod.
So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of the judgment over his heart when he goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually. And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and Thummim. and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. Well, we need to ask ourselves three questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So what's this about?
Well, we looked yesterday at the ephod that Aaron was wearing. Well, he hasn't worn it yet, but this is designed and now it's the breastplate right now. This is about 18 inches by 18 inches square, right? But it's actually 18 by 36 when it starts and it's folded over. I don't know if it's folded this way or if it's folded this way. Who knows?
But the point is, is that it's of the same type of material. as the ephod was you know that blue and scarlet and gold this is again meant to be that same fabric of the inner temple inner tabernacle and so it's meant to show that you know god's holiness and presence is upon Aaron he's meant to show this communion but interesting across the chest though are the names of Israel again. Remember yesterday on the ephod, there are onyx stones on his shoulders, six names on one shoulder, six names on the other. Now there are 12 stones, three across, four down. So four rows, one, two, three, four, and then three stones on each, one, two, three, with the 12 tribes of Israel.
And this is Aaron showing he's representing The people, he's bearing them on his heart, metaphorically and literally, as he brings the sacrifice into God's presence. But this is also this beautiful picture of the different woven elements of the garment, right? It's God with his people and his people with God. Aaron's not representing himself, but he's representing himself as a representative for all the people, for all the tribes.
And then there's these strands that go up to those shoulder pieces and strands that go down to the waist. You know the breastplate isn't flopping around all over the place but the breastplate is securely fastened to the ephod so when he walks around it's secure to himself. And somebody mentioned this might have been also so that way they can launder it. So they could actually clean it up after doing all the sacrifices with blood and stuff if possible.
But this is meant to be this beautiful regalia, this sign, this picture of Aaron's being set apart and of him being the representative of God's people. He is the mediator between Jehovah and the people. But also, this is where we just get also put in there. As it's folded over, you'd have a pocket. And in that pocket, he used to have the Urim and the Thummim.
Now, it's possible these mean light and dark. And so it could be, and I don't want to go too deep into this, right? There are entire books written on the Urim and Thummim, right? It could be light and dark stones, right? We don't know. It could be more like dice. Who knows?
The Bible never actually describes these things. but Ur is like Uriah is this light and so it's possible one's a light stone and one's a dark stone or one's the truth stone one's a false stone it's yes or no questions maybe or it's casting a lot the point is we don't actually know But the priest was to have these in there because from time to time when there were national crises, things that were not specifically laid out in the covenant, things that the prophets couldn't tell them, they could go to the high priest and he could go into the holies before the Lord.
He could take the Urim and the Thummim and he could cast lots or something somehow and find out God's answer for these. Now this is one of the reasons why the ephod and the stuff would eventually actually become a snare to the people. It actually would counterfeit ephods and counterfeit urim and themim and people would actually worship them as idolatry.
Use this word for divination by getting the Decision or the will of God from these things and they would actually treat it like the things themselves were God rather than just being symbols so this is That's a whole side trail, right? I will call it a rabbit trail. If you're reading a commentary, they could we would use the you know, the dignified turn We're going to take an excursus explore the room in the Thuman but that's just a rabbit trail, right and So what's this about?
This is a breastplate that Aaron is meant to have on his heart, a breastplate of judgment that God would speak to his people still. And that every time that Aaron went into God's presence, he was carrying the names of God's people upon his heart. And every time that God sent Aaron out of the tabernacle, out of his presence to be with the people, He would also be carrying those colors of God's presence with his people.
What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I have the very first part of verse 15 underlined. You shall make the breastplate of judgment. And then I have verse 29 and the last part of 30 underlined. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually. And then the last part of 30. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. What's the whole point of this, right? What are we called to do? How is Christ shown to us? What's the covenant ramifications here? Well, once again, this is the picture.
Aaron wasn't just representing the people of Israel, but he was also meant to be as a type, a sign of the heavenly tabernacle where Jesus is the high priest. where Jesus is the one who knows every tribe, nation, language, and tongue, who bears each one of us, not just as a corporate conglomerate, but each one of us. is a gem upon His breast.
Each one of us is a jewel to Him. And He brings us to the Father, bearing us upon His chest, and He takes us to the Heavenly Father, representing us before the Father. And when the Father sees the stones upon Jesus' chest, He sees His Son, the perfect High Priest, and He's satisfied. He loves us because we are in Him. He is our head representative, our high priest, our only hope, far better than Aaron, with a better sacrifice, a better lineage, a better promise. He brings us upon His chest, close to His heart, bearing the judgment for us.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for Jesus Christ, and we thank you for your promises. We pray, Lord, that you would please help us to walk in your ways. In Jesus's name, amen. Well, may the Lord comfort you. Ooh, got a fly in here. May the Lord comfort you. As you know that you have a high priest, Jesus Christ, who has you upon his chest, remembers your name, and cares for you even today.
I'll see you next time, bye. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.