Exodus 28:22  And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold.
23  And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
24  And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate.
25  And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod before it.
26  And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward.
27  And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.
28  And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.
29  And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.

As we can see from this chapter, God gave much detail on the priest’s garments. The people would be observing the priests and they needed to be reminded of the fact that these were not men just doing their own thing. They needed to understand that these men were supposed to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. The priests also needed to constantly be reminded that they were servants of the true God when they were serving in the Tabernacle. They did not wear these special garments unless they were serving in the priestly office.
We know that it did not take long for the priests to ignore the special nature of their office. They still wore the garments, but they did not honour the purpose of the garments. The Bible teaches us that outward appearance should dovetail with inner truth. Jesus often condemned the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The heart of man must be converted by God to make the difference in man. I listened to a Hindu in the U.S. who was trying to dismiss the fact that there is only one true God and only one true Jesus Christ. This man is trying to run for a government position and was asked how he could possibly govern a state when his core belief system is contrary to the Constitution of the U.S. It was a valid question. The problem that ‘would-be’ politician faces is that his belief system will cause him to seek to diminish the principles that are essential to good government. We have the same problem in Canada. We have wicked men and women in high positions in this country. They are working hard to tear down this country and they are quite successful at it because the majority of people living in this country are just as wicked as the politicians.
The greater issue is that the majority of men and sadly even women who put themselves in positions of spiritual leadership in this country are wicked individuals. It is evil to suggest you represent the true God and then reject everything He Is and promote your own imaginary ideas.
When those Old Testament priests would put on that ephod and the breastplate, it was to remind them of the purpose of their office. They were to point the people to the true God. No person and no nation can be successful if they reject the true God.
We read here that the breastplate had chains at the ends, of wreathen work like the ephod. The chains were of pure gold. The breastplate also needed to have two rings made of gold. These rings of gold needed to be on the two ends of the breastplate. The wreathen chains were to be put in the two rings and the other end of the chains were to be attached to the two ouches of the ephod. The breastplate and the ephod were separate items, but once on they needed to be attached with these special chains and lace. The priest would not be prepared for service if he was not properly dressed.
All of these items were a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Ephesians 6 talks of the various aspects of the Word of God. We need that Word in our lives in order to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We see how few people have any interest in the Word of God in today’s professing Christian world. Most professing Christians have yielded to the wiles of the devil.
The Old Testament gives us a picture of the importance of the proper garments and it also gives us the significance of those garments. The New Testament makes further spiritual application of the things that were introduced in the Old Testament.
The Christian cannot be protected from spiritual attacks if he is not properly dressed. God does not save people so that they can be weak Christians. He expects every Christian to be strong in the Lord. We can be strong, and we must be strong. We need to be properly dressed in order to be that light that the world needs to see.
Beside the wreathen gold chains that needed to be fastened to the breastplate and the ephod, there was also the need for the blue lace that was needed to fasten the breastplate to the ephod. We see in verse 28 that the ephod was not to be separated from the breastplate when the priest was wearing it. These two items needed to be together at all times. When the high priest would enter into the holiest place he would always be wearing the names of the twelve tribes. The atonement was for all the tribes. All the people needed to be covered with the blood of the bulls and goats.
Jesus Christ would shed His blood and the sinner needs to be cleansed of their sin through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of bulls and goats could never cleanse the sinner. That blood could only cover for the sins. When Jesus Christ shed His blood, He took the sin out of the way. It was necessary for Jesus to shed His blood so that the sins of the Old Testament saints could be forgiven just as the sins of New Testament saints is forgiven.
We see in verse 29 that Aaron needed to bear the names of the children of Israel every time he entered the holy place. This was a memorial before the LORD continually. It was not that the LORD would forget. It was that the people needed to be reminded of the need for atonement for their sins. No human being is without sin. We need to keep in mind that Israel was to be a light to the nations. They were to show the nations of the need to know the true God and of the need to walk in the fear of the LORD. Israel was to have this constant reminder to help them to walk humbly before the LORD.
We have the Word of God today. We need to submit to that Word if we want to know God’s blessing and peace. Pastors have no business stepping in front of people if they want to lie to them. People need to be reading the Word of God and they need to hold their pastors to that Authority. The pastor should never be a woman. The man who assumes the office of pastor is just a man. However, he should be a born again man of God who is submissive to the Word and Will of God. He is supposed to lead the people in true faith in God.
We do not need an ephod or a breastplate today. We need God’s Word written on our hearts. We need to be governed by the Truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth. Without Him there is no hope for man.

Romans 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Pastor Bartel