And
entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,
clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. (Mark 16:5)
Our manner of dress is no casual concern of God our Father. The trend toward
unrestrained nakedness in modern society is reprehensible God’s eyes. Heavenly
dress is clean, white, simple and modest. The first death of an innocent animal
occurred in Eden in order for God to obtain skins to cover the nakedness of
Adam and Eve. The angels at the Empty Tomb were dressed in a long white garment
or robe without embellishments. Dressing in immodest attire, or attending
church in street close must be an affront to the Majesty of God – unless street
clothes are all that we own. If we have an appointment to meet a dignitary of
our nation, or another nation, it is likely that we would take great care as to
how we dress. If we are in business and meet with a client whose decision may
determine our survival, I am sure that we would dress in a manner that would
show respect for our client. Should we do less in our worship of God in His
Holy Place? If we intend to walk with Christ, our dress must reflect that
inward holiness that should describe every true Christian.
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which
have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they
are worthy. (Rev
3:4) Do not
misunderstand: we will not receive that white robe of righteousness until we
have come fully into the Tabernacle and stand before the Most Holy. All of the
furniture, curtains, embroidered wall, and coverings are now complete in the
Tabernacle as we finished the reading of the previous chapter; so, now, remains
those robes and vestments that must be donned by the workers of the Tabernacle.
These are strictly formal garments and vestments that answer to the need of the
time. The people needed to see a physical contrast of some magnitude between
the attire of the people and that of the religious workers. It is still so, but
far less so because of the atonement of Christ. His garments are of a spiritual
nature, and our lives serve in the stead of the Tabernacle Vestments today.
The Holy Garments of Service
1 And of the blue, and purple, and
scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made
the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. 2 And he made the ephod of gold,
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 3 And they did beat the gold into
thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple,
and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work. 4 They made shoulderpieces for it,
to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together. 5 And the curious girdle of his
ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of
gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD
commanded Moses. 6 And they wrought onyx stones
inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of
the children of Israel. 7 And he put them on the shoulders
of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of
Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses. 8 And he made the breastplate of
cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9 It was foursquare; they made the
breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof,
being doubled. 10 And they set in it four rows of
stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the
first row. 11 And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a
diamond. 12 And the third row, a ligure, an
agate, and an amethyst. 13 And the fourth row, a beryl, an
onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings. 14 And the stones were according to
the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the
engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve
tribes.
It is a matter of no small importance that the breastplate worn by Aaron,
containing the twelve precious stones, contained the names of each of the
tribes of Israel written thereupon. These were worn on the breast, next to the
heart, of the high priest signifying the fact that our names are precious to
God. Jesus has become our Eternal High Priest, and our names are written next
to His own heart, inscribed there by the spear that penetrated His heart on the
Cross of Golgotha. Our names are also graven (cut) into His hands by the
nine-inch iron nails that held Him to the Cross. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls
are continually before me. (Isaiah
49:15-16) As Christ
looked out from the Cross toward the valley surrounding Jerusalem, His weary
and blood-filled eyes saw your name (and the names of all believers) for whom
He died. He had them cut into the tender tissues of His beloved Hands.
Our walls – those of the Tabernacle of Faith which surrounds us – are ever
before Christ in remembering each of His elect.
The reader must bear in mind the High Priest was not so attired owing to any
merit or righteousness of his own, but as a reverence and glory to the God who
he represented and in whose stead he stood in the worship service. Those
priestly responsibilities have now been imparted to all of the elect so that
there no longer remains a Temple Vail to separate the people of god from His
Holy Throne.
15 And they made upon the
breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold. 16 And they made two ouches of
gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the
breastplate. 17 And they put the two wreathen
chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate. 18 And the two ends of the two
wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the
shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. 19 And they made two rings of gold,
and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which
was on the side of the ephod inward. 20 And they made two other golden
rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the
forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious
girdle of the ephod. 21 And they did bind the
breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that
it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate
might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses. 22 And he made the robe of the
ephod of woven work, all of blue. 23 And there was an hole in the
midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the
hole, that it should not rend. 24 And they made upon the hems of
the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. 25 And they made bells of pure
gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe,
round about between the pomegranates; 26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell
and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD
commanded Moses. 27 And they made coats of fine
linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, The neck ring of the robe was similar to the Oxford collar
worn by clergy in Holy Orders today.
The Mitre
Now arises a subject that has been misunderstood and
misapplied by the high churches of Protestantism and the Roman Church. 28 And a mitre of fine linen, and
goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, 29 And a girdle of fine twined
linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded
Moses. 30 And they made the plate of the
holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of
a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 31 And they tied unto it a lace of
blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Yes, friends, we read “MITRE.” The mitre was actually
a crown, but the crown did not belong to an earthly priest, but represented
that High Priest who was to come in the form of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. He earned that Crown, and many Crowns, and the mitre worn by Aaron was
only a shadow of that Holiness that can belong only to God in Christ Jesus. We
no longer wear an ephod, or an immaculate Robe of fine woven cloth, because
those belonged to the coming High Priest. That HOLINESS TO THE LORD has now
been realized in Christ. We no longer display the Cross with Christ still on it
because He is NOT still on it – He has risen! The Pope is not the Vicar of
Christ or the representative of God on earth because only Christ could satisfy
that role.
The Approval of Moses
32 Thus was all the work of the
tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel
did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. 33 And they brought the tabernacle
unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars,
and his pillars, and his sockets, 34 And the covering of rams' skins
dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering, 35 The ark of the testimony, and
the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, 36 The table, and all the vessels
thereof, and the shewbread, 37 The pure candlestick, with the
lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels
thereof, and the oil for light, 38 And the golden altar, and the
anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, 39 The brasen altar, and his grate
of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot, 40 The hangings of the court, his
pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and
his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of
the congregation, 41 The cloths of service to do
service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his
sons' garments, to minister in the priest's office. 42 According to all that the LORD
commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. 43 And Moses did look upon all the
work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they
done it: and Moses blessed them. (Ex
39:1-43)
You will observe that there is a division, not only of
labor, but also of authority in the building and preparation of the Tabernacle –
or Church of God. Moses was God’s man to hear and to detail the
specifications of that Tabernacle; but Moses was not a gifted artisan to bring
all to completion. So God called others whose gifts were precisely those needed
for the work. Neither were the gifts of the people set aside, for they provided
every resource, and more than needed, to complete the Tabernacle of the
Congregation. Those who have labored now bring the works before Moses to
determine – not if the work pleased Moses – but if the work was according to
the precise Word of God. When we seek answers from a minister, we must be
certain to compare his counsel to that Word given by God to insure that it
measures up to that Holy Will who uttered the word.
Keeping with the spirit of reverence, respect, and majesty
due God, His ministers still wear simple vestments of black and white. These
are not the ostentatious robes of elaborate decor and gaudy presumption of the
High Church Oxford Movement, or the Church of Rome; but the simple and plain
vestments of humble fabric and design that will yield the glory and reverence
to God due Him, and to no man.
