The Holy Garment for Glory and Beauty - The Ephod
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And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:
Text: Exodus 28:6-14
Intro: Today’s lesson covers the most outward portion of the garment of the high priest. We have the most detail of anything we have discussed thus far given and part of that is because of the intricacy of this outward portion but part of it is also because it is actually three separate portions that are being described. Today our focus will be on the ephod itself along with the curious girdle.
Read: Exodus 39:2-7
The Ephod: Was composed of two pieces which compiled of a front and a back, and they were fastened together using onyx stone buttons on the shoulders. The names of the 6 tribes of Israel were inscribed on one stone and the remaining 6 tribes on the other. The ephod was made by beating gold into thin plates, cutting them into wires, and weaving them into the fine twined linen, along with blue, purple and scarlet colors..
And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith.
The Curious Girdle: The curious girdle was the belt that went around the waste and held the ephod in place while it was worn by the high priest. The word curious today would signify something that is strange, or something you wanted to learn about but Biblically, we see it represents that it was skillfully made.
And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
Read: Exodus 35:30-35
Although the materials of the garments were all put together by a cunning work, the materials remained distinct. The gold never became linen and the linen never became gold. Just like in other parts of the Tabernacle the ephod is a perfect representation of both the humanity and deity of Christ.
In all of the colors we see this:
Scarlet - Humanity.
Blue - God as King and Lord
Purple - The God-Man, distinctly separate but perfectly unified.
Gold - Deity - The Eternal, Self-existent One
Fine Twined Linen - Perfect in His humanity - Holy and Righteous.
His Humanity is represented in that,
He was born of a women
He was born a babe
He grew in stature, in wisdom, in knowledge and in favor with both God and man.
He grew weary, He hungered, He thirsted, He ate, He drank, He slept for the required rest and refreshment of His body.
He knew what it was to be burdened, to have sorrow and heaviness of heart
He shed tears
He sweat drops of blood, and He prayed out of necessity of His flesh.
He died, His lifeless body became cold, and it was wrapped in burial garments, and put into a tomb. Just as the uncounted billion that went on before Him who were; dead, silent and buried in the grave.
All of what He did in that humanity is represented by the unity of colors. In that,
He was sinless - no human father could have produced such a Son.
He was holy - His holiness revealed the sin in others, and exposed iniquity for what it was.
He manifested His deity through His miracles - He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, he made the dumb to speak, cleansed lepers, and caused the lame to walk.
(Those miracles where not only amazing because of the act themselves but also the manner in which He did them. Yes, He multiplied fish and loaves, but most of His miracles were by nothing more than His word.)
He caused the storm to cease simply by speaking to it.
He raised Lazarus from the dead simply with His voice.
To try and remove any one color of the ephod would have destroyed it. Any attempts to pull the God out of the Jesus, is an attempt to destroy all that He is and all that He has done.
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Many of the modern versions of today to this very thing… Think for a moment what happens if we were to read the New Testament with Christ as nothing more than a man. Think of the lie when He speaks of the water that He shall give, think of the coincidence when He speaks and the raging sea stands still, and think of the hoax of Lazarus’ resurrection. To remove the deity of Christ from the New Testament and becomes nothing more than a fire starter. Now, when we leave the word of God alone, you cannot read it without seeing that His humanity and deity are perfectly bound together. Like the gold and the linen were bound in the Ephod, a wondrous garment of glory and beauty!
The Ephod represents Christ work of redeeming man, a work He perfectly fulfilled in His flesh but a work He continues as High Priest!
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;