The Lord’s desire is to recover the universal priesthood of all His people: He wants that all the believers in Christ would be His priests, those who spend much time with God to be infused and filled with God, and who function as priests of the gospel.
But have you ever wondered, what is the central and ultimate point of the priesthood? What is the most important and central item related to the priesthood? The central and ultimate point of the priesthood is the breastplate of judgement; this breastplate is designed by God, it has twelve precious stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and it is worn by the high priest on the ephod, being firmly attached to it by rings of gold.
Precious stones set in gold attached by rings of gold to the beautiful ephod (the vest) – this is what the breastplate physically was. However, the spiritual significance of the breastplate is tremendous: the breastplate of judgement is the finest revelation concerning the church; it is detailed, specific, and characterised by refinement and even elegance.
The breastplate is God’s building, God’s corporate expression; when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, he had the breastplate on his heart, showing us that the Lord bears us on His heart of love in the Holy of Holies.
To the breastplate there were two things added: the Urim (signifying light or illuminators) and the Thummim (signifying the perfecters and completers). The Urim points to Christ as our light and Christ as our illuminator, and the Thummim came with the four remaining letters of the alphabet – since the twelve stones contained only the 18 out of 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
When the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies, certain stones darkened; he got the message from God not by the stones that were lit up but by the ones who were darkened. As the stones darkened, there was a message – this is how he got instructions and leading from God. This shows us that the Lord speaks to us a specific message and gives us instructions when we are in darkened situations.
For example, most of Paul’s epistles were written against a dark background; he read the dark situations of the saints and the churches, and he got a message from the Lord to minister the Triune God to them.
This whole week we will enter into the matter of the breastplate of judgement being the central item of the priestly garments and the central and ultimate point of the priesthood, and we will especially enjoy the practical application of the breastplate to our Christian experience.
The Breastplate of Judgement was for God’s Leading; the Church is God’s Leading!
According to Exodus 28:15-30, the breastplate of judgement is the central item of the priestly garments and the central and ultimate point of the priesthood. The central item of the priestly garments was not the ephod with all its design and beauty but the breastplate. The breastplate typifies the church, since the breastplate is made of precious stones set in gold, a type of the building of God.
The function of the breastplate was to be a heavenly, divine, and spiritual typewriter to make known God’s leading to His people. The main purpose of the breastplate of judgement was for God’s leading; God’s people act according to God’s leading obtained through the reality of the breastplate. Wow, only God could have designed such a typewriter to convey His message to His people!
Since the breastplate typifies the church and the function of the breastplate was to make known God’s leading, we need to know the church and allow God to lead us through His speaking in the church. If we don’t know the church and don’t listen to God’s speaking in and through the church, we don’t know God’s leading; actually, God’s leading and the church are one.
How does God reveal to us what is His leading today? He does it through His word, through His inner speaking, through the environment, and most of all His leading is through the church. God reveals what we should do through the church, by the church, and with the church; the church is God’s leading for us, since the church bears the “divine alphabet” by which God makes know His leading for His people (Exo. 28:21).
We see this in type in Psa. 73 where the psalmist was envious of the wicked; he kept himself pure for God and kept God’s law, but the unrighteous ones were prospering while he was being chastened. But then he entered into the sanctuary of God (which is our mingled spirit and the meetings of the church), and he got the divine revelation and explanation to his problem: he saw the end of the wicked ones, and he realized that it is good for him (the psalmist) to draw near to God, since there’s nothing he desires or have on earth or in heaven except God Himself.
When we have problems and situations, we need to enter into the sanctuary of God: we need to exercise our spirit and come to the meetings of the church, and the Lord will speak to us, giving us divine revelations and an explanation to our problem.
In the meetings of the church with the exercise of our spirit we can see a message from the Lord; there’s a divine and spiritual typewriter in the church that makes known to us God’s leading, and we get the solution and answers to our problems!
On the one hand, the Lord leads us through His anointing in our spirit (1 John 2:21) and we are sons of God being led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14), and on the other hand we have God’s clear message and leading in the church meetings as God speaks to us through the church, by the church, and with the church.
We should not miss the meetings of the church but rather, even though we may have problems and questions, we should exercise our spirit and meet with the saints as the church, and God’s leading will be there!
Lord Jesus, thank You for the breastplate of judgement – the divine and spiritual heavenly typewriter to make known God’s leading to us. We want to exercise our spirit and be in the meetings of the church to be in the sanctuary of God so that we may have Your leading, Your message, and Your divine revelation. Lord, may we know the church so that we may know Your leading. Keep us meeting with the saints with the exercise of our mingled spirit so that we may obtain Your divine revelation and the explanation to our problems.
Finding God’s Leading and the Solution to our Problems in the Church, God’s Building
Why was the breastplate called, the breastplate of judgement? The main purpose of the breastplate was for God to give leading and instructions to His people, but this breastplate was called “the breastplate of judgement”. Here’s a good explanation,
What was the function of the breastplate? According to Exodus 28:15, the breastplate was called the breastplate of judgment….The judgment here is not mainly to determine what is right or wrong, what is just or unjust. Instead, this judgment is so that God’s people could know His leading. Hence, the breastplate of judgment is actually the breastplate of leading. Why, then, does verse 15 use the word judgment with respect to the breastplate? The answer is that if we would know God’s leading, we must have a great deal of judgment. We must judge whatever is of the flesh, the self, the old man, and the world. We must judge the things of the flesh and the mind set on the flesh. This judgment clears the way for us to know God’s leading. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1381-1382)
As the Lord speaks to us, we need to cooperate with Him and judge, condemn, and put away any aspect of the flesh, the old man, and the world that He exposes, and we will have His leading. If we allow the Lord to judge in us anything that He shines on and is not according to Him, we will have God’s leading and the solution to our problems.
When the high priest went into God’s presence with the breastplate, God’s light shined, and certain stones became dark – this is how God’s will was fully manifested. Furthermore, this breastplate being borne upon Aaron’s heart for a memorial before Jehovah signifies that the entire church is a built-up entity being borne upon Christ’s loving heart for a memorial, a pleasing remembrance, before God (Exo. 28:29).
The mystery, good pleasure, and counsel of God’s will is the church as the Body of Christ (see Eph. 1:5, 9, 11) as typified by the breastplate. To us who believe, Christ is our resurrecting power, ascending power, subjecting power, and heading up power (Eph. 1:22-23). Hallelujah, the church as the Body of Christ, the peak of God’s divine revelation, is God’s great will in the universe!
Do you want to know God’s will? Make sure you’re in the meetings of the church and you exercise your spirit. We need to present our body as a living sacrifice to be in the meetings of the church, and we will know God’s will for us.
When we present our body to the Body life as the practicality and expression of Christ’s Body, we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind and we can be burning in spirit, serving the Lord (Rom. 12:1-2).
As we meet with the saints and are in the reality of the Body, Christ builds us up together and He bears us on His heart of love before the Father; His light shines on us, we get the answers we need, we receive God’s divine revelation, and we are built up in the divine nature (gold) with the saints (the fellow precious stones).
Lord Jesus, we need Your leading and Your guidance. Shine on us as we come to the church meetings and we exercise our spirit. Lord, we want to cooperate with You to judge anything that is not according to You in our being, so that we may have Your leading, Your guidance, and Your divine revelation. Lord, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice for the practical Body life so that we may know, be, and prove what Your perfect will is, and so that we may be transformed by the renewing of our mind, be burning in spirit, and serve the Lord as priests!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 123, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 7 / msg 7, The Central and Ultimate Point of the Priesthood.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# There are times in my life / When my heart is embittered. / There are questions unanswered, / Yet, You’re drawing me / To enter / Into Your blessed sanctuary / And turning my eyes heavenward, / The questions of constant inquiry / Are changed to these words, / Whom do I have in heaven / But You, dear Jehovah. / My flesh and my heart / Constantly fail, / But God’s still / The strength of my heart and my portion; / To Him forever I’ll draw near. / I’ve made Jehovah my sweet refuge. / So now throughout the years… (Song on Having God’s Leading)
# Pray with one accord in spirit, / Supplicate relatedly; / Seek the Lord, His mind, His leading, / In the Spirit’s harmony. (Hymns #779)
About aGodMan
What was the function of the breastplate? According to Exodus 28:15, the breastplate was called the breastplate of judgment….The judgment here is not mainly to determine what is right or wrong, what is just or unjust. Instead, this judgment is so that God’s people could know His leading. Hence, the breastplate of judgment is actually the breastplate of leading. Why, then, does verse 15 use the word judgment with respect to the breastplate? The answer is that if we would know God’s leading, we must have a great deal of judgment. We must judge whatever is of the flesh, the self, the old man, and the world. We must judge the things of the flesh and the mind set on the flesh. This judgment clears the way for us to know God’s leading. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1381-1382)