Exodus 28:31

We are continuing to read about the instructions that God gave to Moses concerning the garments that were to be made for the priests as they serve in the tabernacle. There are important symbolic meanings to the garments and how they were made. The Bible says in Exodus 28:31-35, “And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.” Notice the bells on the hem of the robe. What is the purpose for the bells? The purpose for the bells is told to us in Exodus 28:35 that says, “his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.”

We must never forget that the law was given to Moses, and these requirements that were given to Moses had to do with the law. How will the law be enforced? It will be enforced by the judge, and God is the ultimate Judge. It is His law that He gave to mankind, and mankind will be responsible to God for how well that law was kept. Do not forget that this is a law that brings death when there is disobedience. Many times in the book of Exodus death is given as the punishment for failure to obey any of the commandments. For example, it says in Exodus 21:12, “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death,” in Exodus 21:17, “And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death,” in Exodus 22:19, “Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death,” and Exodus 31:15, “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.” In reality the penalty for breaking any of the commandments of the law was death. In the New Testament the law is summed up this way in Galatians 3:10, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

The priests of the Old Testament were ministers of the law. Death was always at the door as punishment for breaking the law. There were many people in the nation of Israel and many sins committed every day. That is why there were so many sacrifices constantly being performed. The sacrifices were symbolic of the fact that the people needed a substitute or they would have to pay the price with their own lives. The sound of the bells was a constant reminder that God in His wrath against sin might at any time punish the sinners with death. No one should walk up behind a horse and startle the horse. You might get kicked in the head with a powerful kick. That was the image presented to the Israelites. God just might punish them for their sins in a fierce way. They had better show great respect for God and great reverence. Even the priest would wear bells on the robe in order to symbolically not come upon God to startle Him. Thank God that we do not live under the law because Jesus died on the cross to take away the curse and the punishment and the death penalty. It says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And it says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

A crown was made for Aaron the priest to wear, and the crown had words engraved upon it. God said to Moses in Exodus 28:36-38, “And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.” Aaron will carry upon his forehead an emphasis on one of the attributes of God: holiness. Holiness speaks of God’s purity, and His absolute separation from all sin. God does not accept sin. God does not allow sin to go by unpunished. He is pure. He is totally and completely and entirely pure. What a contrast to man. God is holy, but we are sinful. We are born into sin. We are related to sin most completely and most entirely. The flesh has its lusts and strong selfish desires that it is prone to. It says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” It says in Galatians 5:17-21, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

If you understand the will of God, and if the Spirit of God has touched you, then you know what sin has done to you; and you know that your own sinfulness is a great problem. God is holy, but you are sinful: full of sin. Aaron said, “that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things.” God is making it clear that Aaron would be held responsible for the proper care of the “holy things” inside the tabernacle. We will all be held responsible for the things which God has put into our hands.

God is holy and we are sinful. What can take care of that problem? There is nothing that we can do to take care of the problem. But God has a solution. God’s solution is that an innocent one die in our place. That is what the sacrifices of the Old Testament were all about, and that is what the sacrifice of Jesus is all about. Exodus chapter 29 begins to paint a picture of these sacrifices for us: a picture painted in blood. It says in Exodus 29:1-3, “And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.” And it says in Exodus 29:10-22, “And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering. Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration.” This tabernacle was a veritable slaughterhouse. There was blood everywhere. Compare the beauty of the tabernacle with the blood-letting of the sacrifices. What a contrast! And what a lesson for everyone to learn: the lesson of the consequences of sin, and the symbolism of the death of Christ.

The tabernacle is where the sacrifices took place. The word “sacrifice” in Hebrew also means “slaughter.” Jesus was slaughtered for the sins of the world. Jesus was beaten and scourged. His flesh was torn and He was nailed to the cross. A crown of cruel thorns was pressed into His brow, and His side was pierced with a spear. The beautiful Son of God was turned into a bloody sacrifice. What a contrast between who Christ was and how He should have been treated. He was miserably treated at the hands of men. Jesus allowed this treatment and endured this treatment so that He would pay the price for our sins. He loved us so much that He gave His own blood. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:12-13, “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Peter wrote in First Peter 1:1-2, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

The tabernacle and the altar and the priesthood and the sacrifices of the Old Testament were given to the believers of those centuries in order to teach them that the shedding of blood of an innocent one would be required for the remission of sins. Jesus fulfilled this requirement. Because of Jesus and what He did on the cross of Calvary, there is no longer any need for the tabernacle or the temple, the altar, or the priesthood, or the sacrifices. That is why we have none of these things in Biblical New Testament Christianity. The writer of the book of Hebrews summed this up very well for us. It says in Hebrews 9:19-26, “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

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