Dear Church Family,

As we enter the Spring season, we will have lots of opportunities for serving and reaching out to our family and friends. Has the LORD put someone specifically in mind to share your faith with? L6W is a great app to keep track of who you are praying for and how you might share. This app also contains the GOSPEL acrostic we use on Sundays. I also love the ice breaker questions to help you get into a Gospel conversation. One I have used is this, “If you could ask God one question, what would you ask?” Maybe you have a good question also. I’d love to hear it!

The following is a devotion by Chad Bird which I hope will encourage you:

The vestments of the high priest were the Gospel woven into clothing.

We read about that sacred clothing in Exodus 28.

Two features stand out. First, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were placed on the high priest’s garments. Two precious stones rested on his shoulders, each engraved with six tribal names, and the breastpiece held twelve stones bearing the names of all twelve tribes.

Think about what that means. Whenever the high priest entered the presence of God, he did not appear merely as an individual; he represented the entire nation. He carried their names before the Lord. As their high priest, all Israel was on his shoulders and over his heart.

In this way, the high priest pointed forward to our great high priest, Jesus Christ. The Son of God did not temporarily put on sacred vestments; he everlastingly took on our human nature, our flesh and blood.

When he appears before the Father as our high priest and sacrifice, he stands not as a solitary individual but as the representative of humanity, bearing our names and identity into the presence of the Father.

When the Father sees Jesus, he sees us.

The second feature is this: the golden plate placed on the priest’s forehead was inscribed “Holy to Yahweh.” He had the most holy name of God on his forehead.

This imagery finds its fulfillment in the last chapter of the Bible: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:4).

In the resurrection and in the New Jerusalem, the true and final Holy of Holies, the status once reserved for the high priest is shared by all God’s people. His name will be on our foreheads. We will have direct access to the presence of God.

Exodus 28, therefore, proclaims the Gospel. It heralds the incarnation. It points to Jesus as our great high priest, who accomplishes his sacrificial work for us.

Press on!

Mark