The Diadem of Holiness

Introduction

As approach the end of the section here in Exodus that deals with the instructions regarding the priestly clothing that Moses was to direct the people of Israel to fabricate, we have been continually being reminded of an aspect of Christ’s continual work on our behalf. We speak generally of the three offices of Christ, that of Prophet, that of King, as the one we have been dealing with most recently, that of Priest. In fact it would be more accurate to define that as the role of Great High Priest, because the official duties that He fulfills are that of the High Priest. As we study the Old Testament priesthood it becomes, or it should become very clear that the levitical priesthood was a mere shadow of what was to be fulfilled in Christ.

Hebrews 4:14–16 demonstrates that Christ is the fulfillment of the levitical priesthood. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Since we see and understand that Christ is the Great High Priest and know that this is the fulfillment of the type that is seen in the high priests in the old testament it should call us into a more careful study of not only the priesthood itself by the vestments that God gave them to wear. This morning we come to the last of those garments, the turban, the tunic and the sash. Although scripture tells us little about these three t objects as a whole, it has much to say about an object that was attached to the turban. This item is a pure gold plate that holds great significance. As we study this item we will see that it was an extremely important item for Israel and that it still serves as a reminder to the people of God today. Our text for this morning will be from Exodus 28 versus 36 - 39. Before we read these words and study this text we need to understand two things regarding the subject matter for today.

This is written to people who have already had their sins atoned for and as such stood righteous before God, in other words and to ensure we catch the modern implication, the blood has been applied.

There is a seriousness and weightiness about this text for today. It is my prayer that you are focused and attentive to this message, that in all humility you allow the Spirit to deal with your hearts as we walk through this passage and its application to our lives.

With those things being said...

Text

Take out your Bibles, turn to Exodus 28 and stand for the reading of God’s holy, authoritative, inerrant, infallible, complete and sufficient word...

Exodus 28:36–39 LSB

“You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘Holy to Yahweh.’ “You shall fasten it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban. “It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel set apart as holy, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall continually be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. “You shall weave the tunic of checkered work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of a weaver.

Oh gracious, merciful and heavenly Father, we thank You that You are faithful. We are grateful for Your word and we pray that as we seek to grow in our knowledge and understanding that its truths will be illuminated by the Holy Spirit testifying with our Spirit. Lord, we pray that as we come to this text, our minds and our hearts would be focused on bringing You glory and honor, seeking to feel the impact of your word as it molds and changes us into the people you have called us to be. May it work in us to rebuke, reprove, correct, uplift, encourage, give us peace as we understand Your great and precious promises. We ask these things in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Amen.

The Tunic, Turban and Sash

The final verse of our text this morning describes for us, in a staccato like fashion, the remaining items of clothing that are to be made for the high priest. There is very little detail given to us here regarding these items with the exception of the material of which they are made. The tunic and the turban are both to be made of fine linen and the sash is to be woven. Our earlier labors regarding the colors used through out the tabernacle help to inform us of what we need to know regarding these items. The fine linen, once again a pure white color, representing the righteousness of the wearer. In this case, because we are dealing with sinful men, it is the righteousness that is granted to them by faith according to their obedience in the performance of the atoning and cleansing rites they are required to perform.

The sash, because it is described as a woven work, calls our attention back to the earlier instructions regarding the curtains of the tabernacle, the ephod and the breastpiece, and likely signifies that this piece was to be made in a similar matter. The tunic and the sash would have gone on over the undergarments but under the robe of the priest, while obviously the turban would adorn his head.

There is some disagreement regarding the historical turban, but one thing that is obvious from the text, the headgear of the high priest was different from that of the other priests.

The Plate

It should be obvious from the text, that although these items do carry some importance and purpose, beyond the color and fabric, it was mostly practical in nature. However, the focal point of the text, and the final piece of the priests clothing that carry’s weight is what is described for us in verses 36-38. It is of such great importance that it proceeds the description of the headgear to which is was attached.

As we have done in the past we first need to note the instructions regarding the fabrication of this piece and then we will discuss its significance to Israel and to us, here, today. The first thing that catches the eye is the material of which the piece is to be made, that of pure gold. As much as the pure white linen of the turban is to represent the righteousness of the wearer, the pure gold of the plate elevates the expectation to another level. It is likely that this plate hang from the headgear in such a way as to rest of the forehead of the wearer and was likely a thin band, only a couple inches wide that stretched from ear to ear. It was attached to the headgear by a blue, recall the symbolism of the celestial blue, cord.

The word that the LSB translates as plate here can also be translated as rosette, as flower or medallion. It serves in function similar to that of a crown whereby the wearer has authority over the people. In societies surrounding the people of Israel it would have been a sign of a ruler, but here, although it still carries authority, it also demonstrates a much deeper reality regarding the role of the wearer.

Engraved on the plate were the words “Holy to Yahweh” in Hebrew. This signified firstly that the high priest himself had been set apart by the choice of God. The high priest, as you may recall, was the only one who could enter the holy of holies to perform the atonement for the people, they had been divinely appointed by God for their role. When we bring together these two truths, we see a responsibility beginning to emerge for the high priest.

Heavy Lies the Crown

While the method of construction and attachment to the headpiece are significant of far greater importance is the purpose for the plate, or what could also be described as a diadem, which is a form of crown that signifies dignity and authority. In fact in Exodus 39:30 the headpiece and plate to in this way“They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold and wrote upon it with engraved writing as found on a signet, “Holy to Yahweh.”” This is echoed in Leviticus 8:9 “He also placed the turban on his head, and on the turban, at its front, he placed the golden plate, the holy crown, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.” In our text today Verse 38 is by far the most telling verse in this passage and it is here that we will find the full truth of this type or shadow.

Let us look again for a moment at the verse itself, it reads Exodus 28:38 ““It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel set apart as holy, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall continually be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh.”

At the beginning of the message this morning I gave you two things that we needed to know going into our discussion here this morning and it is necessary to remind you of these two things as we get into the depth of verse 38:

This is written to people who have already had their sins atoned for and as such stood righteous before God, in other words and to ensure we catch the modern implication, the blood has been applied.

There is a seriousness and weightiness about this text for today. It is my prayer that you are focused and attentive to this message, that in all humility you allow the Spirit to deal with your hearts as we walk through this passage and its application to our lives.

You will note that the instruction regarding the placement of this object is on the forehead. Every time that the high priest would address the people or go about his appointed work this would be clearly seen by all. It would stand as a testament and a reminder to each individual that this man had been, as we mentioned earlier, divinely appointed by God, but even more so that it was only through the work of this man, faithfully carrying out his duties in the exact manner prescribed to him by God himself, that they could ever hope to draw near to God.

Now before I proceed it is necessary that we understand the people that we are discussing here, so that we are clear on the implications going forward. These are the people of God, those for whom the atonement has been made, the blood has been spilt. The remaining truths that we will see here this morning are regarding those people… or to help make sure the connection is complete, us, believers, who by the blood of Christ have already been saved. This is what makes this text so weighty and so important for us to understand.

As we have moved through all of these descriptions we have seen God demonstrate for us, over and over, the importance of Christ as our Great High Priest, and this is not going to change here this morning, however, I do believe that the message here is just a little stronger, to help us remain humble.

It is to these people that God that Aaron, wearing the plate on his forehead, “shall take away the iniquity of the holy things”. This is a deep truth and one that as we meditate on it for a few moments should affect us deeply. First in its stark manner of revealing the truth in our lives and secondly in the way in which the truth of who we are gives way to the truth of who He is and how marvelous this great and precious truth is to His people.

Iniquity of Holy Things

At first glance, the clause that we are dealing with at the moment, seems to be some what of an oxymoron. When we read the words “iniquity of the holy things” we are immediately struck with a sense that there is something wrong with this statement. The word iniquity is used repeatedly in scripture to define for us the sin in our lives, our nature, who we are as individuals, but here, we see it being used to define holy things. This does not track well with us because our assumption is that holy things are, well, holy. That they are good and right things, but let us pause here for a moment and examine this statement.

First, we need to understand that the word holy means, at its core, to be set apart. Thus, when we read the inscription of the plate “Holy to God” we know that the wearer of the plate has been set apart by God, to Himself, to fulfill the purpose he has been given by God. Keeping that in mind, when we talk about holy things here in this passage we are talking about items that we have set apart to be used in the worship of God.

For the Israelite this would have been the lamb for the sacrifice, the money that would have been part of an offering, or just their time set apart for the worship of God. What this passage says is that even though they had been declared right, the taint of sin still existed and even in their best effort, as those who have been brought near, those for whom an atonement has been made, in their best human effort, they would still fall short because the nature of humanity is sinful.

Maybe you already begin to see the weightiness of this but I would be remiss and unfaithful to the word if I were to leave it here, half developed. This is a truth that applies to our lives today. Again, there are those who would say that it does not, that it is part of the old system and as such has no bearing upon you and I today. The truth, however, is that it very much impacts us here today. You see the purpose behind this deals with something that is much older than the priestly garments that are being described, older than Abraham, Issac and Jacob, it goes all the way back to the garden, to the fall, to the results of that fall.

One of the greatest dangers that exists in our lives today is that of achievement and arrival… or if you prefer, pride. It is pride that will hear these truths this morning and stand up and seek to shout them down. It is pride that gives us this sense of having arrived of having accomplished something. This is the product of our own making, we have so diluted the truth of scripture, the truth of the gospel, that we have become satisfied and comfortable and as our comfort increases, our self reliance increases, and our self worth increases and we begin to feel and think and believe as if we no longer have need of anything, we begin to think that we have arrived, but the truth of this passage is that we have not, so much so that even in the things that we set apart for the worship of God, there remains a taint.

Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon on this passage writes:

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXVI The Iniquity of Our Holy Things (Nos. 2,153–4)

O friends, our good works, if we lay them up in store, and value them as jewels, will, like the manna in the wilderness, very soon breed worms and stink. There is enough rottenness in our best performances to make them offensive to an enlightened conscience. Oh, that this fact, that even our holy things are tainted, may be the death-warrant of our pride!

Calvin writes:

Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony Exodus, Chapter 28

all our worship faulty; and however excellent our actions may seem, that they are still unclean and polluted.

For a moment, consider that your flesh is affected by the taint of sin, that you as an individual, although brought near by the blood of Christ, although a sinner saved to the uttermost, every action you do is still tainted in someway by that sinful nature of the flesh you inhabit. I could belabor the point here but I believe that Spurgeon has adequately covered int when he writes:

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXVI The Iniquity of Our Holy Things (Nos. 2,153–4)

Did we ever do anything yet that had not some spot of iniquity upon it? Is not our repentance, after all, but poor stuff compared with what it ought to be? Is not unbelief mixed with our faith? Hath not our love a measure of lukewarmness in it? Did you ever sing unto the Lord yet with pure, reverent praise, and without there being some forgetfulness of the God to whom you sang? I have never prayed a prayer yet with which I have felt content. From my first prayer till now I have need of grace to cover my shortcomings at the mercy-seat. No act of consecration, no act of self-sacrifice, no rapture of fellowship, no height of spirituality has been without its imperfection.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXVI The Iniquity of Our Holy Things (Nos. 2,153–4)

Suppose we do not fail in any of these respects, do you know what often happens? Well, after the private prayer is done, or the public worship is over, or the preaching, or the visiting of the sick has been performed, we sit down and inwardly say, “Yes, I did that uncommonly well, I know I did. I was wonderfully helped”—which, being interpreted, often means “I am a fine fellow.” Then we rub our hands, and say to ourselves, “And the wonder is I am not at all proud. Thank God I am never tempted in that direction. I have too much common-sense. I know what a poor creature I am”; and so on, and so on. Thus we do our utmost to coat over our good deed with the slime of self-conceit. This is to pour filthiness upon our sacrifice, and make it an abomination in the sight of the Lord.

Now, before we get the sense that everything we do and say is wrong therefore we should not do or say anything we need to recall that as believers, everything we do that is done in obedience to God is set apart and considered holy. As we have seen the harshness of this verse, let us also see the beauty in this verse.

The Grace that Sanctifies

As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that he would be arrested, He prayed these words that are recorded for us in John 17:19 ““For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” There are those who, unfortunately, use this scripture as a proof text that Jesus is not God because God would not need to be sanctified. The issue is that they lack the foundational understanding regarding the words that Christ spoke. The text here is pointing backward to the priesthood that He would soon replace and specifically to the work that is being accomplished by the high priest through the wearing of the plate. The purpose of Aaron wearing the plate was to demonstrate to the people, as we see in verse 38, the taking “away of the iniquity of the holy gifts” “that they may be accepted.” Jesus is saying here that He willingly takes this role of the high priest upon Himself, to be the one that stands in the presence of God, taking away the iniquity of the holy things so that they are acceptable to God.

Think about your life, think about the things in your life that are supposed to be set apart for God and then think about your deepest attitudes towards those things. How easy is it to avoid reading scripture, our minds wandering during prayer, even now, right here, in this place, there may be thoughts that are pulling you away from this time of worship.

Isaiah 53:6 “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” and Isaiah 53:11 “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.” Hebrews 13:15 tells us that only through Christ is our sacrifice of praise acceptable as it reads, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess His name.”

I know that this is a hard truth and a weighty matter, I recognize that everything we are in our being screams and rails against this, yet, the truth is, as Calvin puts it “our acts of obedience, when they come into God’s sight, are mingled with iniquity, which exposes us to His judgement, unless Christ should sanctify them.” This is the beauty of this passage, the beauty of our truly understanding Christ role as our Great High Priest. That although our worship is imperfect, our holy things tainted, they are turned into a sweet aroma in the presence of God as they are sanctified by Christ.

So, how can we, having this knowledge of our shortcomings find comfort, again, the answer is in Christ. First that by His grace He sanctifies our actions so that they are acceptable to God, but note that verse 38 defines it as a continual action, that it continually be on the forehead of the high priest. Spurgeon once more is incredible helpful:

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXVI The Iniquity of Our Holy Things (Nos. 2,153–4)

If that plate were once taken off the high priest he could not officiate, and if Christ were once to lay aside his righteousness on your behalf you could not be accepted. Your holiness is not always on your brow, but his holiness is always on the forefront of his mitre, and therefore you are always accepted in the beloved. How I delight to speak of this truth! There is a flood of infidelity in the church of God to-day, and it often rushes against the doctrine of imputation; in fact imputed righteousness has been kicked down the aisles of most of our places of worship: it cannot be endured. Yet we believe in it all the more for this. Listen to my text, “It shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.” We are accepted because of something in him. It is not what is upon our forehead, but what is upon his forehead that makes us and our offerings to be accepted. We are accepted in the beloved, justified by his righteousness.

Conclusion

We cannot walk away from this text unmoved. The gravity of what is revealed here is staggering: even the things we call “holy”—even our most consecrated acts of worship—are still touched by the stain of sin. That is not a condemnation of our devotion, but a revelation of our condition. The golden plate inscribed “Holy to Yahweh” and worn continually on the forehead of the high priest was not an ornament of decoration—it was a declaration of necessity. The only way the people of God could be accepted was if someone else bore the iniquity of even their holiest offerings. And now, we see that Christ has taken up that office—not just as a priest, but as the Great High Priest who fulfills, perfects, and perpetually sustains what Aaron could only foreshadow.

This passage should humble us. It should crush every vestige of pride and self-sufficiency we still cling to. It should silence the inner voice that says, “I’ve done enough,” and replace it with the joyful confession, “He has done it all.” But it should also comfort us. Because the One who bears the iniquity of our holy things is not absent or occasional—He is constant, faithful, and unchanging. As Spurgeon reminds us, “It is not what is upon our forehead, but what is upon His forehead that makes us and our offerings to be accepted.”

So here is the call: humble yourself and hope in Christ. Bring your imperfect worship, your distracted prayers, your tainted sacrifices—not in confidence of their purity, but in faith that your Great High Priest sanctifies them by His perfect righteousness.

And here is the question that demands an answer: If even your best efforts are in need of sanctifying grace, then why are you still trusting in yourself?

Come, not boasting in what you’ve done, but clinging to what Christ has done. Lay down your pride, lift up your eyes, and rest in the finished, perfect, and continual work of our Great High Priest.

Closing Prayer

O gracious and merciful Father, We come before You in humble adoration, deeply aware of our unworthiness and yet overwhelmingly grateful for the worthiness of Christ, our Great High Priest. We confess that even our best efforts—our prayers, our songs, our offerings—are stained with iniquity. Left to ourselves, we could never stand in Your holy presence. But we praise You, Lord, that You have provided One who stands in our place, who bears the iniquity of our holy things, who sanctifies our flawed worship and presents it as a sweet aroma before Your throne.

Thank You for the righteousness of Christ, which covers us. Thank You that the plate upon His forehead declares what we could never earn—“Holy to Yahweh.” Teach us to lay aside every boast, to crucify pride, and to rest wholly in the sufficiency of His ongoing work. May this truth humble us, transform us, and stir in us a deeper devotion to Your glory alone.

In the precious and perfect name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.