In this sermon, the speaker discusses the significance of the high priest's breastplate and its connection to the communication with God. He mentions how the stones on the breastplate would flash and spell out words, revealing God's message. The speaker expresses his disbelief in this concept and shares a story of someone suggesting that Jesus should be handed over to the Romans for the sake of the nation's safety. However, the speaker concludes that this act actually pointed to Jesus as the true high priest and sin offering. Additionally, the speaker mentions the symbolism of the blue color and the significance of the golden bells and pomegranates on the priest's garment.

Reading first of all a few verses in chapter 28. We're going to deal this evening with the High Priest. Exodus chapter 28, reading from verse 1. And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Nephiu, Eliezer and Isamar, Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wisehearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broided coat, a mitre, and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Now turn to chapter 29, to see how the garments were placed upon him. Chapter 29 and verse 5. And thou shalt take the garment and put upon Aaron the coat or the tunic, that's number one, and the robe of the ephod, number two, and the ephod itself, number three, and the breastplate, number four, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod, number five. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and that's six, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. There follows a description of these garments, and we know that, or rather there comes before it a description of these garments which is very, very full, and would take up a lot of time to go through it. So shall we turn for a moment to the epistles of the Hebrews, to gather one or two thoughts there to help us this evening. Hebrews and reading in chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now look at verse 17. For he testifies, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. And inasmuch as not without an oath, he was made priest. For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath, by him that said unto him, the Lord swear, and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much more was Jesus made a surety of a better testament, and they truly were made priests, because they were not suffered to continue, and they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests, which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated, or perfected forevermore. Now that's as much as we need to read this evening, unless we are going to think about this priesthood. Now it's just as well for us to remember this very remarkable incident. We know of course that a priest is one who draws near to God, one who has access to God, one who draws near to God for himself, or draws near to God on behalf of someone else. And there were those who acted in this way as priests all through the Old Testament, the early books of the Old Testament. But now we suddenly find a rather remarkable thing happening. We remember that Abraham, he was the man who dwelt in the tent, but his nephew was the man who made his way, way down into that city of Sodom. And then when Chedoreoma raided that with other kings, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and Chedoreoma with the kings with him, they took their spoils, and away they went. And then the news is brought to Abraham that Lot, his nephew, had been taken captive, and all his goods and possessions with him. So Abraham went in pursuit, and he attacked these kings at night, and overcame them, and they fled. And Abraham returned with Lot, and all that he possessed, and much more besides that. And then we find now the king of Sodom has gathered himself together again, and now he is asking of Abraham that he will just let him have the people, whilst Abraham may keep the things. And then steps into the picture a very, very important person, a very remarkable character. He was named Melchizedek. He suddenly appears as though from nowhere. In just a few verses, three verses there, we find this man coming in, and then going out. He appears, and he disappears. There is this king, king of Salem. He was king of peace. He was Melchizedek, and his name means righteousness. So he was king of peace, he was king of righteousness, and he suddenly appeared at that moment, and to him Abraham paid tithes, and he blessed Abraham. And the less, of course, is blessed, the greater. And then this Melchizedek disappears. Very strange, but he was a priest, and a priest of the most high. Now then, we are beginning to think of another priesthood. It is the priesthood of Aaron. But you see, God has been very careful to bring before us first, in this remarkable way, this king-priest, Melchizedek. And then later now, as we are dealing with the tabernacle, we find God is bringing in another priesthood, another high priest, it is Aaron. And so, we have to remember this, that the Lord Jesus Christ was not a priest after the Aaronic priesthood. He could never have been a priest according to the Aaronic priesthood, because he did not come out from the tribe of Levi. Aaron was of the tribe of Levi, the Levites had the service of the tabernacle, and the priesthood came out of Levi. But the Lord Jesus Christ came out of the tribe of Judah, and there was no priesthood connected with the tribe of Judah. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ could never have been a priest according to this order, the Aaronic priesthood. And yet it has pleased God to bring in Aaron, the high priest, as a perfect type of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who was not a priest after this order, but was a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And one may wonder, why was it that God did that? Why did he have Christ to be a priest according to a different order, and yet bring in Aaron, in that order, as being a type of Christ? Maybe it was because God wanted to show very clearly, very vividly, the contrast between the priesthood of Aaron and the priesthood of Christ. Because the Aaronic priesthood was a changing priesthood. Aaron died, and another took his place. And he died, and another took his place. And so, continually, they were dying, and others taking their place. And in that way, it was a changeable priesthood. But that would not do for us. We needed a priest who was a priest forever. An unchanging, an unchanging priesthood. And God had that in his mind long, long ago, when he brought in this man, Melchizedek. Because we are told, and so it would seem, that this man, Melchizedek, suddenly appears on the sea that's from nowhere. Where did he come from? We don't know. Where did he go to? We don't know. Where did he begin? Where did he end? We don't know. Who was his father? Who was his mother? We don't know. Well, did he not have father and mother? Did he not have beginning and end? Well, I think he did. But there is nothing recorded in the Word of God about that. He suddenly appears and suddenly disappears. And he appeared as a keen priest. And he must remain so. As far as we're concerned, he never came to an end. And so the thought there, in the Old Testament Scriptures, as God brought him in, was that he might be that perfect picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so you remember that God brings in this Melchizedek again. He brings him in in Psalm 2. He brings him in in Psalm 110. In Psalm 2, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And then connected with that in Psalm 110, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Thou art my son. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So whilst it may be true that our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came in, came in as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, it was not really until he had been raised from the dead that he took that place as being a priest forever. It was in resurrection. So first of all, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. That resurrection from the dead, declared to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So then we have this clear before us concerning Melchizedek and concerning the order of the priesthood, the high priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ, not according to the Aaronic priesthood. Nevertheless, Aaron was brought in as that type. And so we're going to try and gather up something of the value of what we find in Aaron the high priest. So I have here a model which you may see a little more clearly, just to give us an idea of how he was this type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we saw, and you probably remember that I emphasize this, that when we saw how the priesthood was being brought in, Aaron and his sons, and of course again and again it says his sons with him, so that Aaron is the prominent figure here in the priesthood, apart from Aaron they could have no priesthood. And we saw that in bringing them in the first thing was that they were bathed, and then they were clothed with their priestly garments. And then they identified themselves with the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the offering of consecration. I said that I felt quite sure of this, that they did not all go together to the sin offering, and all press their hands at one and the same time on the head of that sin offering. Rather, because Aaron was the high priest, he would in all probability step forward first of all, and for a moment he would press his hands upon the head of the sin offering, and then he would step back. And then his sons, their two, would step forward, and each one in turn would for a moment press his hands upon the head of that sin offering. Thus they were identified with it. But as we look at Aaron doing this, we find it must have been different from what the sons of Aaron did. Because without a doubt, when Aaron's sons placed their hands upon the head of that sin offering, they were really being identified with it, that all the value of what was done to it might be made over to them. It was becoming their substitute. Their sins were transferred to it, and it suffered for them, you see. That was his sons. But if Aaron placed his hands upon its head, it was not for the same reason. But it was that he might be a type of Christ. Because Christ went to that cross, and he offered himself as a sin offering. This man Aaron, as a type of Christ, could not offer himself as a sin offering. But he could, and this is the picture, he could for a moment press his hands upon the head of the sin offering, and when he did so, he was identified with it. And we see Aaron and the sin offering, we have the picture of Christ himself the sin offering, you see. Types, of course, are not perfect. They break down. And so this breaks down, but it helps us to see how this man Aaron was indeed a type of Christ in this way. And so with the other offerings, the burnt offering and the offering of consecration, to him it was different. He was doing it so that he would be that type of Christ. They were doing it that all the value of what was done to these offerings should be made over to them. Very well. Now we're thinking of Aaron in particular. And we can see that he, over on that far side, was bathed with water, and then clothed with priestly garments. Now this is all in order for him to be the type of Christ. Now we read in the epistle to the Hebrews that the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, was holy and harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. You couldn't say that of this man. He was to be a type of Christ. And so God says, the first thing I want you to do to him is to bathe him with water and make him clean. Our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, was intrinsically clean, intrinsically pure. This man was made typically clean, typically pure, you see. He was bathed with water. What else can you do? God says, well, I want you to see it in all its simplicity, bathing from head to foot, so that he would be a type of Christ. Christ intrinsically pure, this man typically pure. And so it will follow through. Now then, having bathed him with water, God said, now you shall clothe him with that fine twine linen coat or tunic, reaching right away down to the feet and having sleeves in it, and it had a girdle as well. Now put that coat or tunic upon him. Why? That he may be a type, a perfect type of Christ, our great high priest. Our great high priest was right. He was righteous in every way, in every detail of his life. He was right. This man was not. God says, well, let's make him right typically. So take the fine twine linen garment which speaks of righteousness and put it on him. Now then, he is typically clean, he is typically righteous. Our great high priest was intrinsically pure and clean. And then again, we know that these things, all of them, are perfectly true of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was right, righteous. Well now then, having put that garment upon him, God said, now the next thing I want you to do is to put upon him the robe of the ephod, which is all of blue. And that robe of the ephod shall be all of one piece, made all in one piece, so that it will need to have a hole in the top of it. It will go over the head. The head will come through this hole which is in this robe all of one piece. And so because of this putting it over the head, there's a possibility that it might be rent. So God said, now when you make it and you make that hole, you will make that hole as strong as you can, as if it was a coat of mail. Strengthen it around the neck there, so there's no possibility of it being rent. And then I want you to put down on the hem of the garment golden bells and tassels like pomegranates, made of blue and purple and scarlet. And you put a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, alternating all around the garment. Not more bells than pomegranates, not more pomegranates than bells. So there you have the robe of the ephod. Now when that was placed over this coat of fine twine linen, then it would look like that. Now that's the first thing that goes over this fine linen. Now you notice that the sleeves are short in the robe, so the white sleeves are showing, and also it's shorter than this fine twine linen there. And it was all of blue. So the first thing we can think of, of course, that being all of blue reminds us of the heavenly character of Christ. This man Aaron was not heavenly. He belonged to the earth, he was earthly. But he's going to be a type of Christ. Well how can you make him to be heavenly? Well God says, make the robe of the ephod all of blue, and just put it on him. So you're putting on him, he's typically heavenly now in character. Now make it as strong as you can around the neck, so there's no possibility of it being rent. You see, if a priest, a high priest, rent his garment he came under the penalty of death. There was one high priest who took his garment and rent it. You remember his name? His name was Caiaphas. And of course, as far as we are concerned, he was the last high priest coming all the way through the old testament scriptures, right away into the new. Now we find this high priest Caiaphas, and the Lord Jesus Christ is standing before Caiaphas. They took him in the garden, they brought him before Annas, they brought him before Caiaphas, then they brought him before Pilate, and there before Caiaphas. Caiaphas got so angry that he took his garment and he rent it. The last of the old testament priests has rent his garment in the very presence of our great high priest. As much as to say, my priesthood is finished. It comes under the sentence of death. By what he said, he pointed to the true high priest. But you know, Caiaphas said something which was very significant. He said one day to these Pharisees, he said, you know nothing at all, nor consider it is expedient that one man die for the people, that the whole nation perish not. And John says, he said this as a prophecy. That Christ would not only die for those people, but for others as well. Now Caiaphas was not concerned about Christ. Not concerned about Christ dying, that the whole nation might be saved. As we are thinking of it. He was concerned about Israel being under the heel of Rome. And there had been so much trouble that Caiaphas was saying to them, you know nothing at all, nor consider it expedient. We've got to hand this man over to the Romans. He must die so that we can be spared. That's our way out. He wasn't thinking of the nation being saved from their sins. He was thinking of the nation being saved from the Roman wrath. And so you see, this is rather remarkable, isn't it, at the end, that Caiaphas, by doing what he did, pointed out the true high priest, and by saying what he said, he pointed out the true sin offering. All right. So there it is, all of blue, and it speaks of the heavenly character of Christ. I went into a house one day, and they said, we want to listen to the news. And they switched on, and it wasn't quite time for the news, and a man was just finishing a talk. And he said, well, there you are, this world has produced some very wonderful men. Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and various other men he mentioned. But he said, the greatest man that this world ever produced was Jesus Christ. I said, you're wrong. And they looked at me and said, he can't hear you. No, well, I said, I couldn't let that pass. I've had my little say. He's wrong, he's dead wrong. This world never produced Jesus Christ. He said, I am not of this world. He belonged up there, but he came down here. He's heavenly, the heavenly man. So now God says, all right, let's put upon this man Aaron, the high priest, the robe of the ephod, to count to him, you see, reckon to him, the heavenly character. Make it sure no possibility of it being well, and then have those golden bells and pomegranates around the hem of the garment. Now, as he moved around in the court and in the holy place, those bells would tinkle, and also one could see these pomegranates with their blue and purple and scarlet. And as we're thinking of the bells, we're thinking of sound. As we're thinking of the pomegranates, we're thinking of fruits. And so there comes before us the thought of profession, what is said. And then the thought of practice, what is done. And so all around the garment, there was this golden bell and pomegranate. There was this profession and practice, you know, and even the balance all the way around the garment. Not more profession than practice, not more practice than profession. And when we think of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, how true it was of him that he was so evenly balanced in what he said, in what he did, always evenly balanced. Always doing those things that were pleasing to the Father. So then, now we can see how God is having this man clothed so that he will be that perfect type of Christ. Now over that robe of the ephod, they put the ephod itself. And then when that was put upon him, it would look something like that. Now the robe of the ephod was made of fine swine linen, and it was embroidered with blue and purple and scarlet. And they took gold and they beat it out into thin sheets, and then they cut that into threads. And the threads were embroidered with the blue and the purple and the scarlet into this fine twine linen. Why did God have that done? Well again, you see, he is piling it on to this man because he wants to show that which has to do with his beloved son. So made of the fine twine linen, he's bringing out again that sort of righteousness. Embroidered with the blue, he's bringing out again that heavenly character. Embroidered with that scarlet, it's worm scarlet, the thought of suffering is there. Embroidered with the purple is reminding us that this one, who was righteous and came down out of heaven into this scene and became the suffering one, is going to be given a name above every name. He's going to be in the highest place. He's going to be king of kings and lord of lords. And so embroider it with the purple. And then take the threads of gold and embroider it because there you have the glory again of his deity. And there it is, orange. So these things were not true of Aaron, but if he's the Christ, then we must put them on him, you see, so that we can see how he does make that picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this ephod, it had a curious girdle and that too was made of that same fine twine linen and blue and purple and scarlet and the threads of gold also were in it. And the priest must needs be the one who serves the people, just our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember at supper when he laid aside his garments, he took a towel and a towel and he girded himself and he became the serving one. Well now, there we have somewhat concerning Aaron the high priest. Now over the ephod itself, there was to be the breastplate of judgment. And when that was placed on, it would look something like you see there. The breastplate again was made of that same fine twine linen embroidered with its blue, purple, scarlet threads of gold. And then there were set into it these twelve stones, all different, and the name of one tribe on each stone. Now when the ephod was placed upon him, it was in two pieces. The piece that came down the front and the piece that fell down the back. And the two pieces, the back and front pieces, were joined on the shoulder with a golden setting that had a stone. On each shoulder there was a stone in a golden setting and engraved on that stone, each stone, was the name of six of the tribes. And they were engraved according to birth. There was no difference. They were all on the same level. They were all the sons of Jacob you see. And there they were equally on the shoulders. Now from these golden settings on the shoulders, there were even chains of gold to which the breastplate was attached you see, so that the weight of the breastplate was taken by the shoulders. And then there were golden rings on the underside of the breastplate, and gold rings in the ephod itself, and then ribbons of blue. And the ribbons of blue were passed through the golden rings and the breastplate was fastened to the body so that it couldn't come loose. When he was moving or when he was bending down, it remained firm to his breast. So then, now we have these things put upon Aaron. We have this breastplate. We've got these stones, two stones with the names engraved on them, according to birth, representing the children of Israel, and they're born upon the place of strength upon the shoulders. But when we look at the other stones, they're all different. They're different colours. We don't know what the stones really were. Efforts have been made to be sure about it, but we just cannot be sure, so we have to leave it. There's no doubt if we didn't know, we'd be able to think out some very wonderful thoughts concerning it, but we just don't know. What we do know, that these stones were no doubt called the Urim and the Sumim, and this means the lights and the perfections. I know there are some people who have got some rather weird and wonderful ideas about the Urim and Sumim, and I listened one time to a man who talked for nearly an hour, and he was talking about the Urim and Sumim, and he said the breastplate was made hollow, and he could put his hands in it, and he said now when the high priest wanted to know what the judgment of God was concerning various matters, then he put his hands inside this breastplate, and he took these two stones in his hand, the Urim and the Sumim, and when he did so, and he stood before God, then these various stones on the breastplate began to flash, and they were flashing out light, just like you see the neon signs in the town flashing out Bovril, Oxo, Surf, and what have you, you know. He said saw these stones flashed out, the letters spelling the words, and these were pieced together to know what God was saying. Well, I tell you, I just could not accept anything like that. Neon light in a breastplate flashing? No, no. I think one can accept this fact that the Urim and Sumim refer to those twelve stones, not to two other stones that were in there. Neither did those stones flash, but the very fact that he was the high priest ordained of God, and he wore the breastplate of judgment, it meant that God could, because of that, make known to him what his judgment was with regard to things that had to be dealt with. Maybe intuitively, maybe he heard the voice, because God said it's from between the cherubim upon the mercy seat that I will commune with thee and give thee commandments. Maybe Aaron would hear the voice, I don't know. But these stones are the Urim and Sumim, they are the lights and perfections. They were all different colours. And you know, this is the prismatic radiance of that one ray of pure light. When that one ray of light, pure light, it's split up, then you have all the colours that you see in the rainbow, you know. That's the result of that one ray of pure light being split up, prismatically showing all these various colours, lights and perfections. And God is light, and God is the father of light. And here we see these twelve tribes engraved upon the twelve stones, the lights and perfections, they are there in all the glory of God himself. On the shoulders, the place of strength, on the breast, the place of the affection, so Aaron, day in and day out, was bearing these people before God. Now the next thing was, he had to have a ribbon of blue, and upon the ribbon of blue there was a golden plate, and words upon the golden plate, Holiness unto Jehovah. And when that was placed upon his brow, it would look something like that. Well now, I've closed Aaron, just to show you how he became a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. That golden plate, Holiness unto Jehovah, was because of the iniquity of the children of Israel in all their holy things. He took upon him the responsibility for that. Our great high priest, here is Aaron the high priest, only a type. And yet how wonderful, as we are thinking of all this, God decks him forth and decks him out and sets him forth so that we can see something of it typically. But think of the reality. All this is typical. All this is bringing before us that which is so real and so true of our great high priest, who is up there in the very presence of God. Well now, having closed him, I've got to do something else. I've got to unclose him. You may wonder why. You know, it's strange how we read scripture, and we read it over and over again, and yet we miss so much. I said to the friends in one place, quite a big congregation of people, I said, now tonight, I'm going to talk about the high priest. This was Sunday. I'm going to talk about the high priest, and we'll see what we can gather up from Aaron the high priest. And in the morning, in the meeting there, one of the brethren stood up, and he read in the epistles of the Hebrews, and he began to talk about the high priest. Now it was announced I was going to deal with a high priest in the evening. So here this man stands up at the meeting for remembering the Lord, and he read from Hebrews, and he started dealing with the high priest. And he gave us a wonderful picture. He pictured Aaron the high priest, dressed as you see him there in these garments of glory and beauty, on the great day of atonement, he said. And on that great day of atonement, he pictured Aaron being down there in the court, and as he walked about, the bells were tinkling, you know, and then when the sin offering had been killed, Aaron took the blood in the basin, and he made his way through the court, and as he did so, the bells were tinkling. Meanwhile, the children of Israel have gathered together there, prostrate before God because of their sins and iniquities. This is the great day of atonement. Aaron the high priest is going into the holiest of all, into the very presence of God. And they don't know how they're going to fare because of their sins and iniquities, but he's going in. And so he said, Aaron slowly, in his garments of glory and beauty with this blood, makes his way through the court, and the priests are standing there, and they watch him go, and they listen to the bells, and they signal to the people outside, he's moving through the court. And he went to the door and pulled it at one side, and he entered in, and they listened, and they could hear the bells tinkling inside. And they signal to the people, he's in the holy place now, all is well, we can hear the bells. And then after a few moments they said, he's going through the veil, he's going into the holiest of all, the bells are still tinkling, so they signal to the people, all is still well. And there in the holiest of all, they sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat, and then he began to come out, and they heard the bells tinkling again. And they said, all is well. And he came out through the door, and he went away down into the court, to that scapegoat to put his hands upon it and confess over it the sins and iniquities of the children of Israel. That was in the morning. And in the evening, I had to stand up before the congregation, and I had to say, on the great day of atonement, Aaron, dressed in these garments of glory and beauty, went into the holy place. The sin offering and the offering for the scapegoat were away down there. And he went into the holiest of all, dressed in his garments of glory and beauty, and he removed the golden plate holding us unto Jehovah. He removed that breastplate, and he laid it at one side. He removed the ephod, he laid it at one side. He removed that robe of the ephod, all of blue, he laid it at one side. And he stripped off that fine, fine linen coat, and he laid it at one side, and he put on him another linen coat, a different one. And then he went down there to the sin offering. And he took the blood of the sin offering, and he made his way through the court, no tinkling bells. He went into the holy place, no tinkling bells. He went into the holiest, and he sprinkled the blood. No tinkling bells. I was embarrassed. So was he. One only needs to read carefully, and you find Aaron, the high priest, on the great day of atonement, never went in in garments of glory and beauty. He went in in a plain linen garment. The priest wore three kinds of garments. They wore a fine twine linen garment which was called shesh in the Hebrew, and then they wore a rougher kind of linen garment which was called bad in Hebrew. And that was worn on the great day of atonement. And they had another garment that was made of bright, shining linen, worn on special occasions, and that was called booth in the Hebrew language. And it was this rough linen that he had to wear on the great day of atonement, and it was called his holy garments, not his garments of glory and beauty. There could be no tinkling bells on that great day of atonement, because it was altogether a question of the sins and iniquities of the children of Israel. It was a matter that had to do with a sin offering, and the holy God had to be propitiated with the blood of that sin offering. There could be no glory in this. There could be no tinkling bells. I hope you remember that. Now, in closing, I hope every one of us here tonight are able to say that the Lord Jesus Christ is our own personal great high priest, and that he's up there. Oh, we see Aaron on the great day of atonement, yes, we can go through it all, but we know that our Lord Jesus Christ is up there in all the value of what we've seen in Aaron clothed in his garments of glory and beauty, because he's already been to the cross in the plain linen garment. Now he's up there, you see, in all that we see portrayed here. All that beauty and holiness and glory, he's got it way up there. He's ever living to make intercession. Is he your personal high priest? In England, one of these lawyers, a man well on, he was a notorious thing, he went into a restaurant to get a cup of coffee and some little sandwich or something, sat at the table, and at the next table three men were talking. And as he sat there, these men were talking rather loud, and he heard what they were saying. And they were talking about all things, you know, in general, and then suddenly the conversation came round on to religion, and he picked up his ears, because he was a very fine Christian man. He picked up his ears and he heard them saying, you know, all about religion, and one man said, well, he said, I don't know about you fellows, you know, he said, I don't concern myself, you know, about heaven. He said, I put all my affairs in the hands of my priest, you know. I say to him, look, you take over. I can't do anything about it. You're my priest, so here you are. So he said, I put all my affairs in the hands of my priest, and it's up to him, it's his job to get me to heaven. But you fellas, I don't know, you go on. He said, this is what I do, I'm not one bit concerned, all my affairs in the hands of my priest, you get me up there. So the lawyer got up and he went round and said, gentlemen, I couldn't help but hear your conversation, I must say our friend has put his matter very nicely, he's put all his affairs in the hands of his priest, he's leaving them there, and he's not one bit concerned, his priest is going to get him to heaven. He said, I've done the same. He said, I've taken all my affairs, and I've put them in the hands of my priest. He said, I leave them there, I'm not one bit concerned. He said, he'll get me there alright. He said, you see, the high priest into whose hands I've put all my affairs is the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, our friend here's got the wrong priest. Or you can have the wrong one. Watch out, the right one, the true one is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they went along and they told the priest up in Scotland, they said, you ought to go and see that poor old lady, she's dying, and she doesn't seem to have any friends. You'd better go and see her. And he went in and he said, Mother, you're very ill. She said, yes, I know. He said, do you know that you're dying? She said, I know only too well I'm dying. Well, Mother, he said, don't you think you'd better confess your sins to me, so that we can put this matter right? She said, me confess my sins to you? Yes, he said, Mother, I'm a priest. You confess my sins to me, and I can deal with that. Oh, she said, you can? He said, yes. She said, can I see your hands? And he held his hands out, and she looked at him, and she said, you're an imposter. The priest who forgives my hands has got nail prints, who forgives my sins has got nail prints in his hands. You haven't. Sir, you're an imposter. Yes, our great high priest got nail prints in his hands. Watch out, you've got the wrong priest. You need the right one. Shall we pray? O God, our Father, again we thank thee for helping us in looking into thy word, and for a little while thinking of this high priest brought in by thee so long ago, with all his garments of glory and beauty, and much that he had to do and see to. We thank thee, our God, for this, because it helps us to think more of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, to see how more wonderful he is than this man Aaron. He's a priest forever. He's up there at thy right hand. He's there ever living to make intercession for us. He will never fail us. We are there upon his shoulders, that place of strength. We are there upon his breast, that place of affection. He will never forget us, and he will never fail us. We thank thee for helping us to put all our affairs in his hands, and for helping us to leave them there, because we know he is able to save us right away through to the end. Grant us then thy help and thy blessing from day to day, that we may always remember our great high priest up there in thy very presence, in all the value of that precious blood, and there for us, ever living to intercede on our behalf. We ask all this, and give our thanks to thee in the worthy and precious name of thy beloved Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.