Priestly Garments Exodus 39:22-31

Good Friday and Easter are almost here, the culmination of God’s plan for mankind and our sin. A plan devised before the earth was formed. A plan first described in the Garden of Eden immediately after man’s fall. Jesus, God’s son will become the sins of men and be lifted up on a Roman cross. Jesus, who will suffer the entirety of God’s wrath against sin so mankind may never again be punished. Jesus, who would be raised from the dead three days after his death to show us all God’s plan is completed, and we can have faith in it.

As we’ve talked about before, these events are foretold in the Old Testament, not just by the prophets, but also by the events and descriptions in the text. Exodus is a book filled with references to Jesus and the cross. In Exodus we see Israel went into Egypt to preserve their lives after Joseph dreams of a great famine in the land. Jesus went into Egypt to preserve his life after his earth father, Joseph, had a dream where God told him there were those who wanted to kill the boy. Moses came out of the wilderness where he was hiding for forty years to lead Israel out of captivity. Jesus came out of the wilderness after forty days and being tempted by Satan to lead mankind out of sin’s captivity. Moses went up on the mountain to receive the law. Jesus taught his high law, the Beatitudes, up on a high mount, in fact it’s called the Sermon on the Mount. Moses fed the nation with Manna and quail, and he drew water from a stone to quench the people’s thirst. Jesus fed thousands with a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread. And more than this, Jesus is the bread and water of life. And if you remember the plagues of Egypt, Jesus is our Passover lamb. It is because of his atoning blood that the angel of death will Passover us in the most momentous way.

Today’s verses and the description of the priest’s robes also point us to Jesus. These robes are to include the colors blue, purple, and scarlet. They are to incorporate gold in attached bells and plate.

Revelation 21:18, “…and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.” Revelation 21:21, “The streets will be pure gold, as pure as transparent glass.” The gold on the priest’s robes represents Jesus, pure and without blemish, sinless in a world of sin.

The gold also represents men for in order for it to be pure, it must go through a purification process. This purification requires work. The gold is melted, and the impurities are skimmed off. Man’s purification also involves work, the work of Jesus at the cross.

The blue in the robes, like the gold, has more than one meaning. In the Bible, blue,              the color of the sky, is associated with the heavenly realm. It points us to God in heaven. As I did research, I found the writing of Reverand Hames. In his exploration of this text, he states that the blue color represents the color of skin with a wound or bruise. Isaiah 53:4-5, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering…He was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our inequities…and by his wounds we are healed.” The blue in the robes points us to the beating and scourging Jesus endured for us.

The purple in the robes comes from shellfish in the area. Mollusks in the Mediterranean were almost made extinct as they were the source of the purple dye. By accounts, it took 8,500 mollusks to make one ounce of purple dye. This resulted in the dye being extremely expensive, available almost exclusively to royalty. The purple in the robes points mankind to the royalty of Jesus. It’s to help us see Jesus is the king and Lord of the world. And it also aides us in seeing how expensive and costly Jesus’ sacrifice was to him.

The scarlet yarn reminds us of Jesus blood, how our only hope is in Jesus’ blood shed at the cross.

Verse 24, “They made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn…” I did a fair amount of searching on this. Why pomegranates? To be honest, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to this. However, some Jewish traditions say that the pomegranate’s 613 seeds correspond to the 613 laws of the Torah.

The priest’s robes had bells sewn onto their hem. These bells rang as the priests walked and worked in the Tabernacle. Their purpose was to show others the priests were still alive and doing work for God. Jesus didn’t have bells on his robe. He was put high on a cross to show the world he died and completed the work of God.

The priests also wore a turban made of lien. It was soft, comfortable, and protective. This is in sharp contrast to the crown of thorns that dug into the scalp of Jesus at his crucifixion.

I know that some ministers say the Old Testament is useless to us. That’s simply not true. When you read the Old Testament, you will see Jesus. He and his work are described by the events and descriptions God puts in its texts. The Old Testament shows us our faith in Jesus and the cross is not misplaced. God’s plan has been explained to mankind for thousands of years before the birth of Jesus. Today’s scriptures are an example of this.

The colors that God instructs the priests to include in their garments point us to heaven through the gold. They point us to the suffering of Christ through the blue. It points us to Jesus as our Lord and king through the purple. It tells us that Jesus was to shed his holy blood by the scarlet color. The bells sewn onto the hems of the robes show the priests were alive while doing their work for God. It helps mankind see that Jesus gave up his life and died to accomplish and complete the work of God. And let’s not forget the priest’s turbans were a shadow of the crown of thorns pushed onto Jesus’ head.

Today’s verses, written long before Jesus’ birth, point to him, and describe the passion our Lord will suffer on Good Friday. God designed the priests robes they wore so as they did their work, they pointed men toward Christ and his final work.

The priests wore elaborate and colorful robes as they approached God so they could bring men and their sacrifices to God.

Jesus wore the plain, dirty robe of men as he approached the cross so he could be the sacrifice for men. So he could bring God to men.

I ask all of us to think and contemplate these things as we continue in this season of Lent.

God bless,

Amen.