Garments for Glory

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With thanks to Sidney Anderson of Northern Ireland, a true friend, whose gracious prompting encouraged me to write this book.

Special thanks are due to the family of the late Mr J.M.S. Tait of Lerwick, Shetland for their kindness in granting permission to use poems taken from his delightful collection entitled ‘Bells and Pomegranates’. We trust that including them here will speak its own tribute to their worth.

Finally, a thank you to Norman J. M. Miller (1914-2001) whose paintings are featured throughout this book.

Introduction: ‘The Garments of Ministry’

Among the many exciting themes that flow from Genesis to Revelation, God has shown that He is the designer of garments. Had it not been for Him, Adam and Eve would have left His presence covered but not clothed, wearing fig leaves inadequately sewn by their own hands rather than coats of skin from an animal sacrificially slain by His. By clothing sinners through the bloodshed of a substitute, He foreshadowed the work that His Son would accomplish on the cross as Sacrifice and Substitute, enabling each believer to claim Isaiah’s words: He has clothed me with the garments of salvation.¹ As the introduction to the Word of God, the book of Genesis presents a wonderful study in garments and lays the foundation of divine interest in them. We can profitably consider them as follows:

Immediately following the Genesis record, among the treasures in the book of Exodus we find the Designer at work again. This time we see Him clothing Aaron in garments of ministry: a lovely phrase which the Septuagint describes as garments for worship (Gr. stolai leitourgikai). Unlike Adam who was clothed for leaving the presence of God as a fallen sinner, Aaron was clothed for entering His presence as a favoured worshipper. Under the initial impact of the devil, Adam and Eve found unknown skills to sew fig leaves, but it was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that gifted artisans wove holy garments.

If clothing Adam pointed forward to the finished work of our suffering Saviour on the cross, clothing Aaron is intended to direct our minds to the ongoing work of our Priest on the throne. God fitted him for the lofty work of ministering in the holy place.² What an honour! Away before him, angels began to do it for they are ministering spirits³ who minister (Gr. leitourgos) God-ward. Away beyond him, the Man of Calvary does it for He is the Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle.³ Taking his place in the "shadow of the heavenly things Aaron’s garments for ministry" foreshadowed the work of a more glorious Minister (Gr. leitourgos), but they also depicted His worth by testifying that His character is holiness, and glory and beauty.⁵

When we are invited to consider the high priest serving in "the copy and shadow"⁶ it is evident that these are not vague representations of heavenly things, but detailed imagery full of spiritual symbolism regarding a pattern and a Person in heaven. They were copies of the true, a portrayal on earth of a place in heaven, including a high priestly man on earth who was the shadow of a heavenly Minister. Such was God’s care in presenting the shadow that He devoted sixteen chapters to it in the book of Exodus, and then expanded on this introduction from the beginning of Leviticus to the end of Malachi. Enclosed within the wonders of its teaching are things "which angels desire to look into"⁷ and were written for our learning,⁸ and our desire to learn urges us to look into them too.

Recognising that the wealth of Old Testament comment did not come by the will of man, not resulting from his decision or desire but that they spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,⁹ we can do no better than invite Him to be our Teacher. May this One who moved them in their writing also move us in our learning, that the careful study of the shadow might lead us into a more complete understanding and enjoyment of the substance.

Before concluding Exodus, Moses wrote, the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle,¹⁰ and its holy atmosphere awaited the answering character of a priest wearing holy garments. These bear such remarkable contrast to whatever Moses wore. At the burning bush, God said to him, Take your sandals off your feet. It was the only reference God ever made to something Moses wore – except for the veil that concealed the declining glory of his face, which shone as the result of being in the presence of God – and holiness required that they should be removed.¹¹ Perhaps it was His way of saying that the mediator’s clothes don’t matter. This was shown again at the cross when men stripped the Lord and took His clothes. He obtained them here and He left them here, but they could never strip Him of the holy characteristics that are depicted in the garments of the high priest. These He brought with Him from above when He emptied Himself,¹² and He went back home with His nature intact!

On the most notable New Year’s Day this world had ever seen, six men including Moses and Aaron responded to the divine call, and God’s people followed.  Before this enthralled assembly, Moses completed the initial work of erecting the tabernacle and then, stepping out from it, he further engaged their wonder as he began to put holy garments on Aaron. For the first time, these two brothers stood as a combined visual aid to the beautifully related offices of the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus¹³. If Israel’s men and women stood on tiptoe, endeavouring not to miss a moment of that dramatic day, should we not want to take in by the eye of faith something of the glories of Christ that Aaron prefigured in these garments of ministry?

In detail that goes far beyond the description of creation in Genesis, these garments portray the glory and beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through them, we are invited to draw near to view Him where He is and say, We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.¹⁴

We may be tempted to think that Aaron’s garments were not of extraordinary beauty. Could they have been ordinary in their appearance, shabby in their fit, course in their texture, or drab in colour? Most emphatically not! If the tabernacle reflected its heavenly Designer’s purpose, pleasure and presence, if its furniture captured something of the miraculous, surely its fabrics did the same. His command to Moses made this clear: So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest.¹⁵ They were skilled and filled! If it took Spirit-led and enabled men to work God’s wonder in gold, then we must expect to find His unique standard also woven into these garments.

The splendour of the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense were seen only by the few who were granted admission to the Holy Place, and the ark of the covenant with its mercyseat and overshadowing cherubim within the Most Holy Place beyond the ornate veil was reserved for the eyes of one. Could it be that mediocrity could mix with such a scene? Did not the same designing God express the virtues of His Son in these garments so that all His people might enjoy a sense of Himself? Unable to enter in, yet glimpsing something of His holiness, His glory and beauty, depicted in blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen. Consistent with the place, we believe the person who represented His people there was nothing less than equally spectacular in his dress. With this in mind, we approach our study in the full expectation of discovering the glories of Christ our great High Priest portrayed in the detail of garments – worn by a man, but not designed by one!

Indwelt

Not merely by the words you say,

Not only in your deeds confessed,

But in the most unconscious way

Is Christ expressed.

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Is it a beatific smile?

A holy light upon your brow?

Oh no – I felt His presence while

You laughed just now.

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For me ‘twas not the truth you taught,

To you so clear, to me still dim,

But when you came to us you brought

A sense of Him.

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And from your eyes He beckons me

And from your heart His love is shed,

Till I lose sight of you, and see

The Christ instead.

(Beatrice Cleland)

1. THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIEST

Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron's sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.  And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.  (Exodus 28:1-2)

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting." (Exodus 40:1-2)

Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and wash them with water.  You shall put the holy garments on Aaron, and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest. (Exodus 40:12-13)

It must have been the most notable New Year’s Day this world has ever seen. In response to the divine call, six men went out together – Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar – with a multitude of God’s people following them into the wilderness’ expanse, and all must have stood completely enthralled as Moses began the work of erecting the tabernacle for the first time. Having set up the boards and covered them with the tabernacle curtains, the tent of goats’ hair, the ram skins dyed red, and the badger skins, he then began to install the furniture. Working out from the Holiest of all, he took in the ark of the testimony and set up the veil; then he set the table of showbread, the lampstand and the golden altar in the holy place. Moving outside, before everyone’s gaze, he set up the altar of burnt offering and the laver, then surrounded the whole courtyard with its linen screen and gate. Stepping outside, at last, he had the privilege of putting the holy garments on Aaron and, for the first time, these two brothers stood as a visual revelation that depicted a Man in His beautifully related offices of Apostle and High Priest, even Jesus.¹

It is not unusual for God to use two things to speak so graphically of Christ. He did it with two sparrows in Leviticus 14, one to speak of His death and the other of His resurrection. Two chapters later, on the Day of Atonement, He did it again with two goats: one to depict His suffering and loneliness as He bore our sins in the solitary land of the middle cross, the other representing His death and entrance to the Most Holy Place above through His own blood. Now, in as real a way, we can look to Him believing that He is the full answer to these two birds and two goats, and each of us can say He also is the answer to these two men for me. As the apostle, Moses came out from God’s presence to meet His people; as high priest, Aaron went in from the presence of the people to meet their God. Moses brought Him in touch with the people; Aaron brought the people in touch with Him. Our Apostle and High Priest does both!

The host that stood in awe at the base of Sinai must have stood again in similar wonder as Moses introduced them to the unfolding reality of the pattern which was shown to him on the mountain.² Perhaps, it was like that at Calvary too: men and women standing around the cross straining to catch a glimpse of the Man in the midst. Like Israel’s men and women, we also stand and by the eye of faith take in something of the glories of Christ that Moses and Aaron prefigured. In one sense, it was Aaron’s day; but in another it belonged to Moses for God used the mediator to introduce the glory and beauty of the priest. The mediator’s role was vital, and the lesson is so valuable: if we never capture an appreciation of the One who came to be our Daysman and Go-between, as though He had one hand on us and the other on the throne of God to bring us eternally together, we will never grasp the great blessing of appreciating the One who has risen to sit down as our High Priest in the presence of God.

On that memorable first day of the first month, nine days before the commemoration of the Passover, Moses the mediator fulfilled a sevenfold ministry for Aaron the high priest. Before the lamb would be taken and slain, as it was in their dwellings in the land of Egypt, Aaron was installed so that their remembrance would have a priestly association with the dwelling place of God. In a far more meaningful way under grace, those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot³,are able to remember Him together and worship in the place where our High Priest leads the praise.⁴ He is the opposite of Aaron who became high priest then kept the Passover. Our Lord Jesus offered Himself as the Passover Lamb then became High Priest. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us⁵ and, once His work on the cross was finished, He went home to begin His work as Priest. The Man who had accomplished all things⁶ went into heaven, in the same glorious perfection that He showed on earth, to accomplish a Priestly work for us there.

Having been involved in the hardship of Egypt, Aaron had known what it was like to stand with the people as they endured the brutality of the taskmasters’ whips in the brickyards. When they suffered the lash, he was there. What a harrowing and humbling beginning for the man who was to become their priest. No one could ever stand before him and say that he never understood what they had been through or how they felt. Sometimes, we may be tempted to think that our High Priest above is so far from us, even remote. Perhaps, we may even harbour the notion that it must be utterly impossible for Him to enter into our deepest experience, into our circumstances, not only to know but to feel what we are going through. Having gone through so much, Aaron is like an Old Testament picture of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom God says, For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.⁷ How comforting!

Christian, there is not a thing you go through, not an experience that tests you to the limits, even when your feelings are in the depths of despair and you sense disappointment, loneliness or rejection – there is nothing He does not know for He was there. The promise still remains: For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.⁸ He is our comfort and our confidence.

Aaron stood beside a man who was entirely different from himself. Their work was different, and Aaron’s was destined to reach areas that were not permitted to Moses, yet God arranged that the mediator would be instrumental in leading the high priest into each aspect of his new experience. And that is exactly what Christ came to do. As the Mediator, or Apostle – the sent One – who came out from God, He fitted Himself for His priestly work, so that those who meet Him at the cross for salvation can meet Him at the throne for service.

Take ... brought

When Leviticus chapter 8 describes the role of the mediator, it begins with the words, And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Take Aaron ... Then Moses brought Aaron". We would use these words almost interchangeably, but God was careful to indicate their real meaning. First of all, Moses received Aaron; then they drew near. Had anyone enquired where they were going, Moses would have said, We are drawing near. God had drawn near to His people through Moses the mediator, and now the people would be able to draw near to God through Aaron their priest. What about us? How can we draw near to God through our High Priest?

First of all, we need to know the glorious experience of God drawing near to us through our Mediator. Unless we appreciate that the Mediator drew near to bring us in touch with God, reconciling us to Him, we will never know what it is to draw near to Him through our High Priest. God also told Moses to gather all the congregation or, as the words imply, assemble the assembly. God’s church in the wilderness⁹ was about to experience something new. Although they watched as Moses assembled the tabernacle, they could not see what he did inside. From the Most Holy Place to the gate, from the mercy seat to the altar, the mediator was opening up the way for the priestly service of the man who would enter in.

The high priest could never stand at the holy ark on the Day of Atonement or at the altar, the symbol of the cross, unless the footprints of the mediator had been there before him. By this God was showing that His Son would never serve on the throne for His saints unless His feet had stood at Calvary for sinners. He must first be the answer to the manna that descended to earth before He could fulfil the imagery of incense that ascended to heaven; and the lowliness of the outside place must precede the loftiness of the inside place. Before He could ascend to offer the worship of His people He must descend to open up the way through His cross. He must undergo Jehovah’s flame, and know more keenly than Jeremiah that From above He has sent fire into my bones.¹⁰ The fire of God must consume Him there, our Better Sacrifice. Before we could ever draw near as a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ¹¹, we must first of all be accepted in the Beloved.¹² The Mediator must open up the way for the Priest!

Almost forty years after his consecration, a man stood at Aaron’s side. Who was he? – still Moses the mediator. Together they went up the mountainside where Moses stripped him and, having seen his garments transferred to Eleazar, Aaron ended his priestly work and died.¹³ How different from our Lord Jesus Christ who died and then entered His priestly work! On the way back to the camp the man at Moses’ side was identical to Aaron on the outside, but different from him on the inside. Praise God, this will never happen to our High Priest! The inspired Word sums up the infinite contrast in Hebrews 7:23,24 by saying, "there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood." The privilege given to Moses was special for he led a high priest in at the beginning of his service, led him out at the end, and led another back.

For Christ it is so different: not only is He unchangeable, He is irreplaceable, and God reserved for Himself the right to lead Him out. He is the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead¹⁴ and, so significantly, the words brought up mean to lead up. God has done for His Son what Moses did for Aaron: He led Him in. We have a victorious High Priest, but where did He obtain the victory? He achieved it on the cross knowing that God was able to save Him from death¹⁵, not from going into it but out of it. Yes, God led Him into death and out of it, then led Him up to sit down at the right hand of the Majesty on high¹⁶ for it was His plan that His Mediator would open up the way for His Priest.

Washed

Among Moses’ many privileges on the day of Aaron’s consecration, he had the honour of washing him with water from the laver.¹⁷ Purity was essential for the man who was being set apart for God, otherwise there could be no foundation for garments that speak of the holiness, the glory and the beauty of Christ. In washing his brother, there was the recognition and acceptance that he was an ordinary man with fleshly weaknesses, tendencies, difficulties and necessities, so he washed him from head to foot. Who fitted the priest for the presence of God? The mediator! No other man could prepare him for his work, just as no other man could prepare the Lord for His work. As Mediator, He did it for Himself. He needed no cleansing for He alone is without blemish and without spot¹⁸, outwardly and inwardly pure. In this He went far beyond the expected standard of the Passover lamb in Exodus 12 which had to be without blemish.

Many a shepherd has evaluated the quality of a sheep by spreading his hand across its back or by gripping it by the tail near to the backbone, but he could never look inside. God does both, for He sees the untainted perfection of His only Beloved Son and He knows Him through and through. By His Spirit, He caused Paul, Peter and James to write their triple testimony: He knew no sin, He committed no sin, and in Him there is no sin. In His manhood, He touched the fevered yet never contracted the fever; He touched the leprous, yet never became a leper; and by being made sin He never became a sinner. Impossible! Why? Just as the laver was used to cleanse defilement without itself being defiled, so does He. It was the symbol of the Word of God¹⁹, but He is the Word.²⁰ The cleansing of Aaron was done to make him a clearer picture of Christ, in the same way as the inwards and legs of the burnt offering had to be washed in Leviticus 1:9. Both were washed to produce greater resemblance to Christ; and for the same reason so are we. How very preciously He taught this in the Upper Room when He said, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet²¹, and earlier with Nicodemus when He told him, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.²²

After Moses had washed Aaron, he never needed to repeat the ceremony. From then on his purity was maintained by daily visits to the laver to wash his hands and feet. It became the order of his life: everything he touched, everywhere he went, was consistent with the laver. Is this how it is with us? What about the ordering of our lives? How long is it since you experienced the cleansing effect of God’s Word? You have the laver in your home, perhaps on a shelf somewhere or at your bedside. You may even have one to hand right now. God has made His laver so available that our lives might be kept pure for Jesus Christ and that as worshippers we might be ready to approach His presence. David’s question is still relevant, and so is his answer: Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.²³

How we draw near is very important. He knows if our hearts are ticking in unity with His will or if we are reaching out to defiling things that He would prefer we let go for ever. If you are holding on to some old habit that is strangely satisfying, let it go. It may be an old grudge, an unsettled score that makes you want to get even. Get over it; let it go. Whether it is directly between you and God, or between you and others, only the laver of His Word can cleanse; otherwise hindered fellowship will lead to restricted worship. Would we presume to handle spiritual things with defiled hands or tread the new and living way whilst tolerating a defiled walk? Those who have clean hands, clean hearts and clear consciences are most suited to the presence of their High Priest, and most ready to enjoy the atmosphere of heaven without distraction.

Clothed

This world had never seen such garments, and it is hard to think that God’s people made no response as they watched. Did they not gasp as the coat of white linen matched their man with the surrounding screen of the tabernacle court, as blue, purple and scarlet linked him so clearly with the gate, or as gold reminded them of the things Moses had taken into the Holy Place and Most Holy Place?  They must have sensed that their priest belonged there: a man equipped for the dwelling place of God and, wonder of wonders, there was a gate through which they could pass to meet with him. There had been a gate of heaven for Jacob as an individual in Genesis, and this new access to the presence of God was the gate of heaven for the twelve tribes of Jacob in Exodus. Entering one by one, each person could have borrowed Jacob’s words and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!²⁴

And what would be their talk in every tent at the end of the day? Surely each conversation was an excited commentary on the impact made on their spirits by garments ... for glory and beauty. Did God not see and hear something that night which He longs more fully to see and hear among His people today as we enjoy the glory and beauty of our great High Priest? We are more greatly blessed than they were for we can sit in our homes and be thankful for each Spirit-given glimpse of the exaltation of Christ. He needs no external garments to convey His glory and beauty for His garments are eternally within Him, and He has made Himself ready. At Calvary, men sat and gambled away the garments of the Saviour, earthly clothing worn by the Mediator, and in a very real sense they took the garment of Him that is Surety for a stranger.²⁵ Had Israel walked with God as they should have done, there would have been a man in the Temple at Jerusalem wearing the same clothes that Aaron wore. Would they have lasted? Yes, of course. If ordinary clothes and shoes survived forty years in the wilderness, would not extraordinary garments have survived until Calvary?

Anointed

Clothing was not enough, just as setting each item of furniture in its place was not enough. If they were to be acceptable and useful in the service of a holy God, they needed to be sanctified. It was for this purpose that Moses anointed the tabernacle and its contents with the uniquely compounded holy anointing oil²⁶ and applied it exactly as God commanded.²⁷ Turning to his brother, he carefully observed the divine requirement: It shall not be poured on man’s flesh for it is the garments that