That leads us then to the details of the priest's garments. Now the study of the priesthood is a major study of its own, and the study of the garments is a big thing of its own, because all of them are full of significance. However, let me just give you a few things, and remember: each time we look at this, think firstly of Jesus; then begin to think of the sons of God, in the glory of God. The place you'll find most of the description is in Exodus 28, there are about 43 verses on it. That's a lot of verses, so the topic must be important. God gave exact directions about the design of the priest's garments. You couldn't just make anything, had to be done exactly the way God said and they had distinct parts: trousers, coat, girdle, bonnet, robe, ephod, breastplate, tunic, turban, hat, sash and crown - all the details are there. If God takes time to put all the details in, then it must be important to Him. He's trying to say that, when it comes to our clothing in eternity, every little detail is thought through by God.
Exodus 28:4 – “…and these are the garments they'll make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, skilfully woven tunic, a turban, a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as a priest”.
God says: this is the bits you've got to make up, this is what it's going to look like. Notice the many parts to it.
Exodus 28:42-43 – “You shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness, that reach from the waist to the thighs. They'll be on Aaron and his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.”
Notice, He says: the priest can't come into the presence of God without the garments. You cannot go into the throne room of God in heaven without the linen garments. If he were to do that, he would be struck dead immediately! Notice the primary garment was made of fine linen, and all the garments had different colours. Every colour has a significance - there was gold, blue, purple, scarlet... Every colour has got a significance. For example, the colour gold – heaven is paved with gold. It refers to the realm of heaven, the realm of eternity. The colour blue also speaks of the Holy Spirit - it speaks of the supernatural realm. The colour purple is always a sign of royalty - they clad Jesus in a purple garment, ridiculed Him as a king. The scarlet refers to the blood shed on the cross.
They had a breastplate here, with stones on the breastplate. It was worn over the heart, and it had 12 stones, and every one of the stones had the name of one of the tribes. Again, the significance of it spiritually is quite enormous. Then on the shoulders, He had also a stone on each shoulder, and on one stone there was six of the tribes (half of the tribes), and the other half, their names were inscribed on the others. Then on His forehead He had a crown. He had a turban with a gold plate, and on the gold plate, Holiness To The Lord. The breastplate worn over the heart speaks of a transformed heart - the need for the heart to be transformed.
“Aaron shall bear the names of the son of Israel, on the breastplate of judgement over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the Lord continually”.
When we are born again, we have a heart transformation, and that transformation must be ongoing and continuous. An interesting thing is that on the breastplate there were 12 stones, representing all the tribes of Israel - one stone for each name. If you go through all the names, you find they're all important. For example, the first name is Reuben. All the names in a Bible are associated with a character, and a destiny. “Reuben behold a son”. So, the first stone: behold a son. I'm a son of the living God. When you're born again, you become a son, or a child, of the living God. I'm born into relationship: God is my Father. The second one, Simeon, means: a ‘harkening’, or a ‘listening’. God has harkened or listened to me. Sonship means: hearing, and obeying, the voice of God; and pleasing Him. The third one was Judah, which means ‘praise’; sonship means we constantly live a life of gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise to our Father. The stones refer not just to the tribes of Israel, but each tribe had a name, which refers to some aspect of our sonship before God. They all tell us something about our sonship.