Priest-in-the-hood

I wear, of course, a completely authentic outfit, replicating in beautiful detail that of the High Priest of Israel, the line of Aaron. There was more gold involved in the original. Also, the ephod was woven to match the tabernacle, blue, purple and scarlet. But all of the pieces are here.

Now God gave, in chapter 28 of Exodus, very specific instructions for the outfit of His priests, in particular, the High Priest. As we say, the clothes make the man. Just the fact that they had special outfits set them apart, made them special, indicated their “otherness” or holiness. And the richness of the cloth, the value of the jewels and gold, this High Priest guy is the best dressed in the whole tent. Who else has Yahweh and Bezalel as a fashion designer?

The dignity, honor, glory and beauty of these garments was to represent the dignity, honor, the glory and beauty of God to the people, matching in splendor to the Tabernacle and all the beautiful furniture within.

The Priests – Ambassadors of Yahweh

So who are these priests? God has made His covenant with His people. “I will be your God, you will be My people.” And He has laid out the road, the path of righteousness before His people in both big moral signposts of the 10 commandments and lots of little details that apply to their life now in the wilderness and their coming lives in the Promised Land.

And God has moved into the Tabernacle: which represents both God’s dwelling with His people; but also the layers of separation between the presence of God and His people.

God is aware of this distance. And so He appoints some ambassadors to navigate that distance. He sets up an ongoing system, a dynasty of people, descended from Aaron, who will be able to go between the Holiest of Holies and the People. God appoints ambassadors.

That isn’t all they are, because the problem isn’t just communication, there is this Covenant. God is aware from the beginning that his people are not going to keep their side of the Covenant. They are not going to stay on the road of Righteousness. And so while He has these ambassadors, He gives them the job of reconcilers, they will perform the sacrifices that temporarily and symbolically “cleanse” the people from their sin. It is like the tow truck crew, patrolling the Road of Righteousness, pulling people out of the ditches on either side, back into Righteousness. God appoints reconcilers.

And He dresses them appropriately for these roles.

In particular, note three things about my sweet outfit.

On my shoulders I bear all of your names. Carved in onyx stones. On my breastpiece, I bear all of your names. On my forehead, I bear your sacrifices and the guilt associated with them.

Exodus 28: 12, 29, 38

12 and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord.

29 “Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord.

38 It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and he will bear the guilt involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be. It will be on Aaron’s forehead continually so that they will be acceptable to the Lord.

So that every time the High Priest walks into the Presence of God, he represents the people to Yahweh. In symbol upon Symbol. This is His role as Ambassador and Reconciler. He bears His people before the presence of God.

Thus the priests represent the glory, beauty, honor of God to the people. And they bear and represent the people before God. Ambassadors.

Consecrated to the Ministry

Now this is a tremendous task, a high calling, a holy calling. And if something is going to be holy, God teaches this over and over in Exodus, it is going to be a bloody task. Many things are going to die in order that the priests might live in the Presence of God.

One bull, two rams, bread, cakes, wafers and oil, sacrificed. Chopping things in pieces, blood on the altar, blood on the tip of the right ear, on the thumbs of right hands, on the great toes of right feet. Blood sprinkled on the garments, anointing oil sprinkled on the garments and priest.

Waving fat and liver and kidneys as a “wave offering” before Yahweh.

Eating the Ram breast. This is an Ordination for seven days, a bull offered each day for atonement. Mine was only one day and we had no bulls!

God takes this ambassador stuff seriously, and this ceremony powerfully communicates the holiness, the otherness of His appointed priests.

And all of that is symbol, for after all of that, it is God who consecrates as part of His move in process. He consecrates His dwelling, He consecrates His furniture, He consecrates His priests.

Exodus 29:44

I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests.

The priests represented the people to Yahweh and Yahweh to the people. They dressed for the role: representing the glory and beauty of God matching the tabernacle, bearing the names of the people before God. They were consecrated for the role: cleansed by sacrificial blood and anointed with oil.

They were ambassadors.

Christ – the High Priest

Now there are going to be many priests through Israel’s history, and starting with the very first, most of them are going to be terrible ambassadors. They are going to be bad at their job. They are going to see the clothes and want the glory for themselves. They are going to see the honor and want the power for themselves. They are going to be human and sinful.

The High Priests, the Priests, are never good ambassadors.

But they are a shadow of what is to come.

Over and over again, Jesus is called the High Priest, the fulfillment of all that the High Priest was intended to be. In fact, from the beginning, the High Priest was only a shadow of Christ.

We have been turning to Hebrews, hearing about the fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant, the fulfillment of the Tabernacle, and it picks up this theme, calling Jesus the Great High Priest. His sacrifice is once and for all, fulfilling and eclipsing the yearly Day of Atonement.

Hebrews 7:26-29

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Jesus is the Great Ambassador.

He represents God to us, He is the Image of the Invisible God, the Revelation of His person, He is the Logos, the revealed knowledge of Yahweh. To see Jesus is to see God.

All of God’s beauty and splendor, his love and glory, all are seen in Jesus.

And he represents us to God. Jesus bears our names, our selves, our souls before God. By faith, we are included in Christ in His death, and so we are included in Christ in His Resurrection, and so we are included in Christ as He walks into that true Tabernacle, that spiritual reality of God’s presence, we are there in Christ.

Imagine Jesus dressed in the Priestly garment. On his shoulders, on his breast, our names. Imagine Him dressed just like this on the Day of Judgment. And you approach the Throne of God and all of your secret sin is revealed, all of your mistakes and guilt, all of it crushing you down prostrate before the burning holiness of God.

But Jesus reaches into His breastplate and fishes out a stone, carved with your name. And Jesus steps forward, raises you up, and says, “this is one of mine.” And all of that garbage disappears and everything that you truly are, your absolute deepest and truest self, is preserved and sanctified and rescued and resurrected through your name in the Hand of your High Priest.

Jesus is the Great Ambassador. Jesus is the Great Reconciler.

We Are a Priesthood

And that would be enough. That would be reason enough for God to put this whole priesthood thing in place back with Moses on the mountain-top. A shadow that would lead to the reality. A thousand years of symbolic priests to teach about the coming priest.

But there is yet more. Jesus is the High Priest, but you and I are called a Priesthood as well. Y’all are being built into a holy temple, a royal priesthood, says Peter in 1 Peter 2.

And last week we talked about the tension of our current position. The veil has been torn, the way is open into the Holy of Holies, but also we are waiting for the full experience of His Presence, the return of Christ, the making new of all things, and the full experience of heaven on Earth, the fully unveiled presence of God with us.

Why the wait? Why the separation between these two great moments?

Because we have been entrusted with a mission, with a ministry.

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

We are a holy priesthood. Under our high priest, the ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to us.

We are ambassadors.

We are consecrated for it by the blood of our high priest. Are you qualified for this ministry? No, none of us are. Seminary did not qualify me for the ministry of reconciliation.

But Jesus called me to it. And Jesus consecrated me to it. And Jesus entrusted me with it. I am made holy and I am made ready and I am gifted and prepared, God takes care of all of that. Jesus made the only sacrifice necessary.

You are already consecrated to be God’s priest: consecrated and called to the ministry of reconciliation.

Are you dressed for it?

Are we dressed for it? Are we living lives that represent the glory, beauty and love of God? When people see us, do they see the light of God? Do they experience the love of God? The glory and beauty of God? Are we dressed as priests?

Are we bearing the names of our people into His presence? In life, in prayer, in our hearts, on our minds, as we come before God, we can bring the names of our people before Him. Lifting them up.

You have been entrusted with neighbors, with friends, with co-workers, with workout buddies, with family members. You have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciling them to God.

Pray for them before you talk with them.

This is our mission, this is our calling. In large and small ways, in every moment of life, we represent God to our people and we represent our people before God.

You may feel unworthy, we all are. You may feel like a terrible ambassador, I know most of the time I do. I think we all see this as a crazy idea, that God would entrust the ministry of reconciliation to us! But He has.

And He has dressed you for it, gifted you for it, is preparing you for it, and has already consecrated you to it. So we take this message to all of the persons God places in our lives:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

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