Message 119
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 28:4-14; 39:1-7
The priestly garments described in 28:4-14 were first for the high priest and then for the priests. At the time of Exodus 28, the high priest was Aaron, and the priests were the sons of Aaron. In typology Aaron as the high priest signifies Christ as our true High Priest before God, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, are types of the believers. Therefore, the garments were for two classes of priests. Certain garments were only for the high priest. The other priests were not allowed to wear them. Most of the priestly garments, however, were both for the priests, the sons of Aaron, and for the high priest, Aaron.
Exodus 28:4 says, “And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a tunic of woven work, a turban, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and for his sons, to serve as priests to Me.” The first two items, the breastplate and the ephod, were worn only by the high priest. Actually the breastplate may be considered part of the ephod. Three pieces were attached to the ephod: the breastplate and the two shoulder plates. These plates were connected, fastened, girded, to the ephod.
Instead of translating the Hebrew word for ephod, most versions of the Bible simply give an English transliteration. This means that ephod is a Hebrew word, not an English translation. The reason this Hebrew word is brought into the English translations of the Bible is that there is no word in our vocabulary to describe this item of the priestly garments. There is nothing in our culture that corresponds to it. If there is not such a thing in our culture, then there cannot be a word to describe it. For example, if automobiles did not exist, we would not have in our vocabulary the word automobile. The word automobile came into use to describe vehicles with which we are familiar. But in our culture there is nothing exactly like the garment denoted by the Hebrew word ephod. For this reason, we are not able to translate this Hebrew word into English.
If you were to ask me to explain what the ephod is, I would answer that I cannot describe it with a single word or even with a few sentences. Nevertheless, in this message I shall try to impress you with the matter of the ephod, a matter that was not known in man’s culture before the priesthood was set up by God. When the priestly garments were revealed to Moses by God, the ephod was something absolutely new. This matter was completely unknown before Moses received the revelation from God. God spoke to Moses concerning the ephod, and that was the time Moses first learned of it.
According to the dictionaries, the word ephod means to bind, fasten, gird, or link. Hence, the ephod was a part of the priestly garments used for fastening, girding, linking, or binding. The ephod was not a jacket and not exactly a vest. Rather, it was a part of the priestly garments used for fastening or binding. The ephod, therefore, was used for fastening, girding, binding, or connecting.
There are three main reasons for wearing clothes. In other words, the garments we wear serve three purposes. Before the fall, man did not wear any clothes. But after the fall, Adam and Eve realized they were naked, and they made something to cover their nakedness. Then God provided coats of skins to cover them. Thus, the first reason for wearing clothing is to cover our nakedness. People who are moral will want to cover themselves properly. They will not want to expose their nakedness. Immorality, on the contrary, encourages nakedness. It is both a sin and a shame to be naked. The priests in the Old Testament were fully covered from head to toe. The first purpose of clothing, therefore, is to cover our nakedness.
The second reason for wearing clothing is related to our health. By wearing the proper garments we are protected from the cold, the wind, and the rain. We are also protected from excessive heat. Some of us are very sensitive to the temperature and need to wear the right clothing to keep us from being too warm or too cold. If we do not wear suitable clothing in every situation, our health will be affected. Thus, clothing also serves the purpose of preserving our health.
Third, people wear clothes to beautify themselves. According to Exodus 28, the priestly garments were for glory and for beauty. The purpose of these garments was not mainly to cover nakedness or to protect the body from the cold. Rather, these garments were for glory and for beauty. The ephod, in particular, was not used to cover the high priest’s nakedness or to protect him from cold; it was altogether for glory and beauty.
It is significant that Exodus 28 mentions glory first and beauty second. This indicates that we should first consider glory and then beauty. When we choose our clothes, we should not consider beauty first. Our first consideration should be glory.
We have pointed out that glory here refers to the divine expression, the divine attributes, and that beauty refers to the human virtues. In our dressing we must first take care of God’s glory. For example, a sister should ask if a certain garment can be worn for God’s glory. If the sisters consider their clothing from this point of view, the style of clothes they wear may be somewhat different. However, most people today care only for their beauty; they do not care at all for God’s glory. But the ephod was first for the divine glory and then for human beauty. This piece of clothing used for fastening was composed of the divine glory and the human beauty.
Only the high priest had the right to wear the ephod. This typifies that we the believers do not have the right to put on what is signified by the ephod. Only Christ wears the ephod. This means that only He has the fastening power and the girding strength. Christ holds us, binds us, and fastens us to Himself. We may say that Christ links us to Himself. The holding power is His divine glory and human beauty.
We need to remember that the ephod was a piece of clothing used for fastening. Three plates were fastened to the ephod — the two shoulder plates and the breastplate. Because these plates were fastened to the ephod, they were also fastened, bound, girded, to the high priest. Having been fastened to him, they could not fall away from him. This is the significance of the ephod.
As the High Priest, Christ has the fastening power, the tying strength, and the binding ability. We do not have this power, strength, or ability.
Sometimes Christians speak of the way the Lord holds us, embraces us, and keeps us. When I was young, I thought that the Lord Jesus held us as a shepherd holds a lamb in his arms. I pictured the Lord as One embracing us and carrying us in this way. But if we consider the picture of the ephod, we shall see that the Lord does not merely hold us; He binds us and fastens us to Himself, just as the plates are joined to the ephod. To hold is not as significant as to fasten, and to embrace is not as significant as to gird or bind. We are fastened to Christ; we are bound to Him. Yes, Christ bears us and carries us. However, He does not carry us like a shepherd carrying a lamb in his arms. Instead, He carries us like the high priest wearing the ephod to which the shoulder plates and the breastplate were securely fastened.
Christ has fastened all of God’s people to Himself. This fastening is through His divine glory and human beauty. This means that His divine glory and human beauty are the strength to fasten us to Himself.
Exodus 28:9 and 10 say, “And you shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, according to their birth.” These onyx stones engraved with the names of the children of Israel symbolize us, the believers. Therefore, they signify all God’s redeemed people. Verse 12 says, “And you shall put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial.” This signifies that God’s redeemed people are upon Christ’s shoulders. We are not held in His arms like lambs; we are upon His shoulders like the pieces of onyx stone. We are the precious stones upon the ephod, the fastening piece, composed of the divine glory and human beauty.
Since the day you were saved, you have been held by Christ. However, do you know what has been holding you all this time? Some would say that Christ is powerful and that we are held by His power. Yes, John 10:28 indicates this: “And I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.” This does indicate Christ’s power to hold us. In John 10:29 the Lord Jesus goes on to say, “My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” There are two hands holding the believers, the hand of Christ the Son and the hand of the Father. These hands signify power and also love, but they do not imply the divine glory and the human beauty. According to the picture of the plates fastened to the ephod, we are tied to Christ by His divine glory and human beauty. Therefore, Christ’s divine glory and human beauty are the fastening strength which binds us to Himself. We are held to Him continually by His divine glory and His human beauty.
We need to ask ourselves how in our experience we are held by the Lord. Some may say that they are held by faith. They may pray, “Lord Jesus, I don’t have any faith. Please give me the faith so that I can believe that I am in Your hand and that You are holding me.” I have often prayed in this way. I have had many experiences of this kind of prayer and of this kind of believing. But the more I prayed like this, the less I seemed to trust in the Lord. The more I asked for faith, the less faith I had. Many other Christians have had a similar experience. Perhaps you have prayed, “Lord, You are my Keeper. You have the keeping grace, You have the power to hold me, and You love me. Lord, embrace me and preserve me. But You know, Lord, when trouble comes, I seem to forget everything. Therefore, Lord, I ask You to infuse me with Your faith. O Lord, infuse Yourself into me as my living faith.” But the more you pray like this, the less it seems that faith is infused into you.
Forty years ago I became seriously ill of tuberculosis. During that time I did not have any faith that the Lord would heal me. Of course, I did not lose my basic faith, the saving faith, in the Lord. But I did lose any faith that the Lord would heal me of tuberculosis. The elders, the co-workers, and the church with all the saints prayed for me. I had given a number of messages to the saints telling them that the Lord is faithful and charging them to believe in Him. I encouraged them to trust in Him, for He would never fail them. Then I became ill and found it difficult to trust in the Lord. A certain sister who brought my food to me three times a day talked with me about faith. She asked me why I did not have the faith that the Lord would heal me. I said to her, “Sister, you are right. I don’t have a bit of faith. Can you please help me and tell me what faith is?” It seemed rather strange that I would ask her such a question. She had been saved through my preaching, and now I was asking her to tell me what faith is. She was very surprised and was not able to answer me. Actually, the situation of every preacher is like this.
My point here is that when we realize the divine glory and the human beauty of Christ, we are spontaneously fastened to Him. There is no need for us to try to believe in Him. The fastening power does not come from our faith: it comes from what He is and what He has. The Lord has the divine glory and the human beauty. He is glorious, and He is beautiful. Whenever we consider Him or gaze on Him, we are fastened to Him in a practical way in our experience. There is no need for us to attempt to believe in Him or trust in Him, for we are already girded to Him.
I enjoy reading and studying the four Gospels. As we read the Gospels, sometimes we can see the glory of the Lord, and sometimes we can see His beauty. Even while the Lord was in the flesh on earth as a man, His glory could be seen. Even in His incarnation He was glorious. When we read the Gospels, we can see that the divine glory was with Him. We can also see the Lord’s human beauty, a beauty that is fine and very precious. We do not have the words adequate to describe the human beauty of the Lord Jesus revealed in the four Gospels. But as we read the Gospels, something within our being realizes how beautiful the Lord is. For example, the way He dealt with His disciples and talked with Mary and Martha in John 11 was beautiful. When we consider the divine glory and human beauty of the Lord in the Gospels, we are spontaneously fastened to Him. Then we are held to Him and even carried on His shoulders. His divine glory and His human beauty tie us to Himself.
I believe that many of us have had this kind of experience reading the Gospels. By reading the story of the Lord’s life on earth, we see His divine glory and His human beauty, and we are fastened to Him. Then we have the sense that we are safe and secure. We realize that we can never fall away from Him. This is the experience of the ephod.
Do you have such an ephod? I am quite sure that I do not have it. If you would study me, you would not be fastened. I am short both of the divine glory and the human beauty. Christ, however, is different. He has the ephod, and with Him there are the divine glory and the human beauty.
Exodus 28:5 and 6 say, “And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue and purple, scarlet and fine-twined linen, the work of a skillful workman.” Christ has an ephod made of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen. Gold here denotes golden thread. Gold was first beaten into thin plates and then it was cut into thread to be woven into a textile. Gold signifies Christ’s divinity. The blue signifies His heavenliness, and the purple, His kingliness, His royalty. The scarlet signifies Christ’s redemption accomplished by His sacrificing Himself through the shedding of His blood. The fine linen signifies the Lord’s human life. The twining points to His sufferings.
The gold, the blue, the purple, and the scarlet were all woven into the fine-twined linen to make the ephod, a piece of clothing used for fastening. This piece fastens, holds, ties, us to Christ. We are bound to Him in a way that is beautiful and glorious. Both divinity and humanity are woven into the ephod. In the ephod we see Christ’s heavenliness and kingliness; we also see His redemption. Because the ephod includes all these elements, Christ has the power to hold us. He has the strength to fasten us to Himself.
It may seem that this message contains little more than an objective word concerning Christ. Actually, this matter of the ephod is very subjective and experiential. It shows us how to enjoy Christ and how to experience Him. Christ is the High Priest, and He has an item of clothing called the ephod, a fastening and binding piece used to hold us and carry us by His divine glory and human beauty.
Exodus 28:8, speaking of the ephod, mentions “the band for its fastening, which is upon it.” The Hebrew words translated “for its fastening” can also be rendered “of the ephod.” Actually the Hebrew word for fastening here is a verbal form of ephod. If we translated it literally, we could coin a new word — “ephoding.” However, we use the word fastening; other translations use the word girding. This is a further indication that the ephod was used for fastening, girding, binding. As we have seen, it was composed of Christ’s divinity, His kingliness and heavenliness, His redemption, and His fine humanity. Therefore, in this ephod we see Christ’s divine glory and His human beauty.
When the high priest was together with the other priests, he stood out as the most divinely glorious and humanly beautiful one, for only he had the ephod with the shoulder plates and the breastplate. None of the other priests wore the ephod. The ephod was a garment especially glorious and beautiful. If someone were to wear an ephod today with a breastplate containing twelve precious stones set in gold, we certainly would find it striking, attractive, and beautiful. Such a garment would be much more impressive than a uniform worn by a five-star general with many stripes and decorations.
Sometimes we may pray, “Lord, I’m weak. I cannot hold on to You. But, Lord, I know that You hold me.” Yes, the Lord holds you, but you may not experience being held by Him, because within you there is no realization of His divine glory and His human beauty. But the more you consider His glory and beauty, the more you are held to Him, fastened to Him, and have the sense within that you are safe.
The ephod was made of two pieces that were held together at the shoulder. Verse 7 says, “It shall have two joining shoulder-pieces at its two ends, that it may be joined.” These shoulder pieces joined the front side to the back side. Therefore, the shoulder pieces had the joining power, the binding strength. The golden settings that held the onyx stones were fastened to the shoulder pieces. Thus, the entire ephod was a fastening piece. At the top it had two shoulder pieces. Those pieces were for the purpose of joining the two ends of the ephod and also for holding the golden settings for the onyx stones. This portrays that Christ today is full of holding strength and fastening power because He is composed of divinity, heavenliness, kingliness, redemption, and humanity.
Verse 11 speaks of the golden settings: “With the work of a stone engraver, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel; you shall make them enclosed in settings of gold.” The Hebrew word translated settings also means plaited work, plaited settings, filigree settings (see vv. 13, 14, 25). These golden settings can be compared to mountings used by jewelers. A precious stone, perhaps a diamond, needs some kind of setting in order to be placed in a gold ring. The golden settings for the onyx stones were filigree settings, fine work made with golden thread that was plaited together to make a beautiful design. This was the setting that held the precious stones.
The fact that the filigree settings were gold signifies that only the divinity of Christ can hold us. Strictly speaking, we are held by Christ’s divinity, by His divine nature. Because we have been regenerated, we have this divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The divine nature now becomes the power to hold us in a beautiful, glorious way.
Once again I would say that the way Christ holds us is not the way a shepherd holds a lamb in his arms. With that kind of holding there is not any glory or beauty. Rather, we are held by Christ like precious stones held in filigree mountings. Although we do not have the language adequate to speak of such things, by our experience we know that we are held by Christ’s divine nature in a glorious and beautiful way. We are not held merely by Christ’s power; we are held by His divine nature gloriously and beautifully.
