“Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor.”
~ Exodus 28:2
Hi James and Ellen,
What are your very best clothes? When do you wear your very best clothes? What do you wear when you talk with God? Because God lives in your hearts through the Holy Spirit, God is always with you. God wants your lives to be dressed up for Him. God wants your lives to look the very best for Him. How can you have your lives looking the very best for God? Your grandpaa thinks that you should also look your very best for God when you go to places where people – who believe in God, get together to worship God. Your grandpaa will go to his office today here in Guatemala wearing a tie. Your grandpaa and two other guys from his office will be meeting in a couple of days with a number of Guatemalan church leaders. All the guys will show up wearing ties and suit coats at the place where the meeting is to scheduled to happen. Your grandpaa’s dad every year would buy a new suit or new clothes to wear to church. Suppose you were actually going to be where the presence of God was – such as where His presence was in the Holy Place – which was in the Tent of Meetings, what would you wear? God expected guys like Aaron and his sons – who were priests, to dress in something that He wanted them to wear. Aaron was to put on special attire when it was time for him to go into the Holy Place to make sacrifices to God. Aaron and his sons lived on planet Earth nearly 3,500 years ago. Aaron was Moses’ older bro. God created Moses to be the leader of His specially chosen people – the Israelite people group. Moses was the leader of God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids when they left Egypt. Moses was the leader of God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids for the forty years that they had to do wilderness time. Aaron was from the Levi tribal clan. The Levi tribal clan was the designated tribal clan that was to offer up on an altar sacrifices to God. God had His specially chosen people make Him a Tent of Meeting. Inside this Tent of Meeting was the Holy Place. God’s presence when He was with His specially chosen people was always in the Holy Place.
Exodus 28 tells you the kind of apparel that Aaron and his sons were to wear. What was made for Aaron was especially important. A breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash were all made for Aaron. The special outfit or garment that God wanted made for Aaron was made using gold along with blue, purple and scarlet yarn and with linen. The special outfit or garment that was made for Aaron had precious stones on it. One of the precious stones used was onyx. The names of the twelve tribes were written on two pieces of onyx. God had His specially chosen people use precious stones to represent each Israelite tribal clan. Each tribal clan was represented by a different precious stone. These twelve different precious stones were put in four rows on the breastplate. The robe that was made for Aaron had pomegranates that were made out of blue, purple and scarlet yarn attached to it. Gold bells were attached between the pomegranates. Whenever Aaron went into the Holy Place, Aaron was to wear this specially made apparel. Verse 2 says “Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor.” When Aaron went into God’s presence, God wanted Aaron to look the very best possible. God did not want Aaron to die when Aaron went into the Holy Place. The sound of the small gold bells tingling warned God of Aaron coming into His presence in the Holy Place. What God had Aaron wear must have looked very different. God also had a plate made to be attached to the turban that Aaron was to wear. The plate was made from pure gold. God had words engraved on this gold plate. The words that were engraved on the gold plate said HOLY TO THE LORD. When Aaron went into the Holy Place, Aaron attached the gold plate to the turban. The turban came over Aaron’s forehead. What do you think that guys who preach should wear today? When you get together with Christ-followers in a church, you are meeting with God with a group of guys, gals and kids. Do you think that it is important that you look your very best when you get together with Christ-followers to meet with God and to worship Him? It would be silly though to wear clothes which guys – like Aaron, wore when they worshipped God in the Old Testament times.
Clothes will tell you a lot about a guy, gal or kid. Clothes can tell you whether or not a guy, gal or kid cares about himself or herself. If the clothes a guy, gal or kid is wearing are ripped or dirty, that guy, gal or kid probably does not care that much about himself or herself. If the clothes that a guy, gal or kid is wearing looks nice on the guy, gal or kid and they are clean, that guy, gal or kid probably cares about himself or herself. Some clothes are worn to draw attention to the guy, gal or kid who is wearing the clothes. Some clothes are worn just to be different from everyone else. Your grandpaa likes sports. Your grandpaa liked playing softball. Your grandpaa began playing on a softball team when he was in the eighth grade. Your grandpaa was the youngest player on the softball team. The softball team was made up of high school age guys who went to the Volga Christian Reformed Church. Your grandpaa told each guy what position that he wanted him to play. Your grandpaa made up the lineup for each game. Your grandpaa played shortstop. Your grandpaa always batted second in the lineup. Your grandpaa always wore an imitation pink leather jacket. Your grandpaa could be on the softball diamond different than what your grandpaa was the rest of the time. The pink jacket helped your grandpaa to be a different on the softball diamond – where your grandpaa was loud and confident, than what your grandpaa was like off the softball diamond – where your grandpaa was quiet and timid. What God always wants from you is that you bring honor and dignity to Him in what you do.
Exodus 28 (65)