Exodus 28:9, 12, 15 - 21, 29, 30; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 33:8 - 10; Hebrews 10:19 - 22

I wish to speak, dear brethren, of the Great Priest over the house of God, and in a particular way of the Urim and the Thummim. The glory of Christ shines before us in the passages we have read, as indeed throughout scripture. He is the One who, as the Apostle and High Priest, has inaugurated the great system to which we belong, a system which remains unimpaired whatever the failure of man down here; the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man. The point on our side is to be in keeping with the system to which we belong, because we form part of the true tabernacle. We form part of the one body, we form part of God's habitation in the Spirit. Nothing can rob us of our part in these things, from the divine side, but our concern is to be in the gain of them. And there is no reason why we should not be in the gain of them, and be true to them in our walk, outlook, and conduct, because we have a Great Priest over the house of God. As the Apostle He has inaugurated the system, and as the High Priest He sustains it. Hebrews 1 tells us that He upholds all things by the word of His power. From that point of view the heavens themselves are a tabernacle for the Sun -- typical of Christ. The whole vast creation is a kind of framework in which God is working out His spiritual purposes and will display them and their fruits. And the One by whom God made the worlds

and who is upholding all things by the word of His power, is the One who upholds the spiritual system. If He can uphold this great material universe, He can also do what is greater, uphold the great spiritual system of which He is the Head. He is the Centre, though men do not recognise it, of the material system. All things were created by Him and for Him, not for man. Man would use the world as a stage in which to display his own glory; he struts across the stage, in his brief life here, in his fancied greatness, and goes off the scene; his name never to be remembered. Certain men's names are remembered at present, but as to men who have no part in the divine system, their names will never be remembered in the day to come, whatever kind of a figure they have made here. This vast creation was created by Christ, for Christ, for the display of His glory, and it is going to be filled with His glory.

And then it says, "all things subsist through Him". That is, He sustains everything. The material system could not continue apart from Him and His power. And that One who does it all is my Saviour, my Lord, my great High Priest, and therefore we can trust Him implicitly to sustain the divine and spiritual system which we apprehend by faith through the Spirit. The true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man is far more real than the material system. It will abide forever. But then, if He is upholding the spiritual system, it means that none of us need be out of it in the experience of our souls. He can uphold each one of us. He never forgets any of us. Unless our will is at work, and thus we prevent it, He will uphold us all in relation to the spiritual system of which He is the Centre. Whether we are many or few, even if we are

alone like John appears to have been in the isle of Patmos, He can sustain us in relation to this great spiritual system which is more real and abiding than the physical one; He, the Great Priest over the house of God.

Now these scriptures present Him thus, and the passage in Exodus is very affecting. It views Him typically as in the presence of God bearing all our names upon His shoulders. In the type there were six on one and six on the other of the sons of Israel according to their birth. "Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial". So through God's grace, our names will never be forgotten. Not that we would want our names to be thought about, we want everyone to be occupied with the Name which is above every name, the Name at which every knee will bow. Nevertheless we are marked out beforehand for adoption, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. So that our names will never be forgotten, they are borne before God, as a memorial, by Christ Himself. I believe this chapter helps us to understand what it says in Hebrews, "now to appear before the face of God for us". Infinitely great in His own Person and His own rights, both rights of Deity and rights of Manhood, His rights are absolute and perfect. And yet He has been pleased to go in as our Forerunner, as though we were important. We have no importance in ourselves, but we are important through the sovereign choice of Divine love which marked us out beforehand for sonship.

We are essential from the standpoint of the heart of God desiring the full response of His creatures. We are needed for the display of His glory and the glory

of Christ. Thus Christ has entered in as our Forerunner, and He appears before the face of God for us. I am not saying that He is not doing many other things. Who can tell how much falls upon Him in the great offices He holds? But Hebrews is very explicit from this standpoint that He appears before the face of God for us, and all our names are borne as the type indicates upon His shoulders according to birth. We belong to the assembly of the firstborn whose names are enregistered in heaven. They are engraved on the very shoulders of the High Priest, and also on the breast-plate. So that not one of us is ever forgotten before God. We are ever presented before Him in all the perfection in which He has taken us on relative to His purpose; first of all in the glory of sonship, as viewed in the stones on the shoulders, and secondly on the breast-plate. In the one we are all on the same level, and we could not have a higher level, for we have sonship in the highest way the creature will ever know. But on the breast-plate we are there in the distinctiveness that marks each one. In God's realm of things there are no two alike, and yet everyone bears the features of Christ and it takes the whole company to express Him. Men excel in making things alike -- mass production; but what marks the divine realm is variety, and yet unity, because the whole variety is in all its details the expression of Christ; therefore it makes one whole as seen in the assembly. It is one whole; perfect harmony in all the variety; because it is all Christ -- "The fulness of him who fills all in all". So on the breast-plate the stones were according to the names of the tribes; the distinctive character of each, every one having a distinctive place of his own which no other can fill, and all borne on

the breast-plate before God. The memorial is always there in the presence of God. Under His eye, in that sense, He sees us all as held in the heart of Christ, according to the particular setting purposed for each.

How blessed to think of the Lord Jesus thus appearing before the face of God for us, carrying us there according to our place in divine purpose; and at the same time, in priestly grace and power, able to put His hand upon us in our weakness down here, and so support us, that we can be maintained according to the measure of our growth, in the light of that purpose and walking according to it! That is the great function of the High Priest. He maintains things in their perfection before God as a memorial before Him; our place there secure, the place prepared, because He is there, and holding it for us as it were. But on the other hand, having been touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having learned obedience from the things He suffered, Jesus is ready to stretch out His hand and uphold us at all times, saving completely those who come to God by Him. He upholds all things; He can uphold you, He can uphold me. You may be going through a testing time; you may find that your enemies are those of your own household. The test may come home in a poignant way day by day. But the One who is upholding all things by the word of His power can uphold every saint, and maintain each in the enjoyment of the place that is his, as represented on the shoulders in sonship and as represented on the breast-plate in his own distinctive place in the testimony. We are thus able to function in the place given to us in Divine sovereignty in the body of Christ, and to serve God in His house, though here in conditions of weakness. How great

the service of the Great High Priest! He has offered the one great Offering which has laid the sacrificial foundation for the whole system, that is the offering of His body once for all; and now He is upholding the system for which He laid the foundation. The love and the power that took Him into death and enabled Him to bear our sins, to be made sin for us, and to go through everything to inaugurate the system, is the same love and power that can sustain us in it, whatever the suffering of the moment, whatever the test!

You say 'I would like to be maintained thus'. Well, I will tell you how to be. Be like John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. John does not tell us his name, because we should all take up that ground. All our names are on the breast-plate. He loves us all the time according to what we are in the purpose of God. He loves you; you have your special place in His heart. You were on his heart when He died. You are on His heart now before God. Paul could say, He loved me and gave Himself for me. Paul as much as says, 'I know that when Jesus died, He was thinking of me; I was on His heart, and He carried me through death's dark tide'. He bore my sins; He was made sin for me. Did you know that Jesus was thinking of you when He died? In divine counsel He thought of you in a past eternity, He thought of you in the time of extreme suffering on the cross. He knew what your sins were, and He bore them in His own body on the tree. And now He is still thinking of you all the time. You are still on His heart as He appears before the face of God for you. So if you want to be sustained in the divine system, and I'd like to be, I would exhort myself with you. Let us lean on the breast of Jesus,

where the breast-plate is. Your name is there, and it is your privilege to lean there. John knew it, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Let us also lean where our name is -- on His breast. Why not enter the Holy of Holies, and lean on the breast of Jesus, the Great Priest who is appearing before the face of God for you? How blessed to be in the presence of God as leaning on His breast!

If you lean on His breast you come into great gain in every way, which I will speak about in a moment; but I want to speak first about the Urim and the Thummim -- 'Lights and Perfections'. Great glory attaches to Jesus in this respect. The plural means the fulness of the thing, and the word 'Perfections' involves the thought of completeness. Fulness of light is in the Person of Jesus, and fulness of perfection. One answers to the other. One relates to what He is from God to us -- "The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him", John 1:18. The full outshining of God is in the Person of the Son; He is the effulgence of God's glory. Everything that can be known of God is expressed in Him, in His glorified manhood. Think of the glory of God radiating in the face of a Man! The face of a man is a remarkable creation, it was created with a view to man expressing God, being God's image and glory. Thus the face of a man is capable of expressing love, kindness, gentleness, compassion, even anger of a right kind, mercy and so on. The face of an animal cannot do that. The face of a man can. He is the Image of God because He is God, yet a glorified Man; and radiantly, in His face, is expressed every feature of the Divine glory. God's righteousness is displayed in Him, so also is God's majesty. The time will come

when earth and heaven will flee away, because of His majesty. They will flee from the face of Him that sits on the throne -- Revelation 20.

Think of the face of Jesus; what a study it is! In regard to the assembly, His eyes are dove's eyes, but when He looks at the assembly as in responsibility His eyes are as a flame of fire, and they search us through and through. What are those eyes, as a flame of fire, looking for? To see whether He finds Himself in your heart, as the controlling object, enthroned and enshrined, to the exclusion of any rival. It is a blessed thing to be in the presence of Jesus, and even when we have to meet that all-searching gaze, to let Him have His way, because He is searching us in love and in the jealousy of His love, He has a full right in looking to see if He has the supreme place in your heart, your motives unmixed for Christ.

And so there is perfection of light in Him -- all the light of God. The Father's glory shines in Him; "he that has seen me has seen the Father", John 14:9 -- God made known in sovereign love and grace. But then there is the perfect answer in the Thummim, 'The Perfections'. There is the perfect answer in Manhood to God. Both sides are seen in Christ; the expression of God to man, and the expression of perfect Manhood toward God in completeness and finality -- the Urim and the Thummim. And they are on the breast-plate of the High Priest in order to be available to us. If we are leaning on His breast we get the good of the fullness of light, and we are in the consciousness of being taken into favour in the fullness of His perfection, taken into favour in the Beloved, and our longing desire will be to be more and more in keeping with those perfections; to walk as

He walked; to be in every way conformed to Him.

I would like to distinguish here between the Ark and the Priest. In the holiest you see the Ark of the Covenant, covered in every part with gold, and the Cherubim of glory overshadowing it. The Ark is another type of Christ referring to Him, as one might say, in His fixed position as the Head and Centre of God's system. There could be no tabernacle system apart from the Ark and the Mercy-seat, and the blood on the Mercy-seat -- the Lord in His settled position as the Head and Centre of the system, God perfectly glorified in Him, and He glorified in God. Everything is in keeping with the Cherubim of glory; God shining out from between the Cherubim because His glory is met, God shining out in the same blessed Person, "Thou that sittest between the Cherubim shine forth". We see the shining forth in the face of Jesus. All that is a fixed matter as it were. He is the effulgence of God's glory, and the expression of His substance. But the priest is an active type of Christ; Christ viewed, not in His fixed position, as I might say, but as in the activities of His love, even in offering Himself. It was the High Priest bringing the high priestly offering when He offered Himself without spot to God. He went in, in the power of His own blood, and now He sustains the system, and He is active in it. It is wonderful to think of the activities of Christ ever living to intercede for us. He does not simply rest in the fact that He is the Head and Centre of the system, but He is active to maintain the system in activity, in order that all might be maintained in living light, and living response. The Urim and the Thummim suppose that. It is not only that all the glory of God is shining in the face of Jesus, but how it applies to particular circumstances.

'Who that glorious blaze of living light shall tell!' Living light sheds light. It is always shining, the effulgence of God's glory, but we need it in detail to shine and give light on particular situations, and that is the idea of the Urim. It is that fulness of light brought to bear day by day on the various situations that arise in the testimony.

The active operations of Christ in love are to maintain us in the gain of our calling and to bring light on every situation. Our God is light, and He will give us light for every footstep and so the Urim was the place of enquiry. Numbers shews that. That is why I read that scripture. Joshua was chosen to go before the people, but Eleazar was there to enquire for him of the Urim. Joshua did not know what to do from day to day any more than we do. He did not know how to apply the light of the calling to particular situations. And so Eleazar was there, the priest with Urim and Thummim; and it says in that chapter, "He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall enquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before Jehovah: At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, he, and all the children of Israel with him, even the whole assembly". That is where I believe we need to take advantage of the Urim at the present time. We are continually being faced by situations which we have not faced before, and we want to walk worthy of the calling in all those situations. We want to be in keeping with our names as they appear on the breast-plate, and not to sully the shining of those precious stones; and to be in keeping with the names on the shoulder plates; to walk in the dignity of sonship. And if so we need light on every situation. We are ever to dwell in the full light shining in Christ as the

effulgence of God's glory. That is the kind of fixed position. But then we come to a situation where we cannot see how the light applies, and then we need the Urim -- the active service of Christ to shed that full glorious light from between the Cherubim on to the situation, on to our path, and to make the thing clear to us.

I believe that is what we are needing very much at the present time. There are many situations arising locally and universally; and we need to avail ourselves of the Great Priest over the house of God. And how do we avail ourselves of Him? -- by going into the Holiest. As the High Priest He will stretch out His hand in sympathy, to help us and uphold us in the pathway here; but to get the benefit of Him as Great Priest we must go inside and retire into the presence of God; and if we want to be sure of getting all that we go in there for, we must lean upon His breast. That is where our names are. Why not take up the, position that He is maintaining for us before God on His heart on the breast-plate? The breast-plate of judgment conveys to me that He can give us discernment at any moment how to act relative to the place we have before God; so that we do not stoop below our calling, our place on the breast-plate, our place on the shoulders. And so Joshua by the light of the Urim was to govern himself, both he and all the children of Israel, and the whole assembly. Whether it was an assembly matter, or a matter relating to the children of Israel, that is more our responsible walk down here, or his own place and responsibility in service, all was to be guided by the judgment of the Urim. It says there, he shall enquire by the judgment of the Urim. It is divine light illuminating the situation

so that we get a right judgment as to how to move. It is wonderful to have a Great Priest like this: I am speaking of the figure, the type. Let us go in for the reality. Do not let us stop short at the beautiful theory. Let us go in for the thing itself. Having boldness therefore, brethren, to enter the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus; the simplest Christian is entitled to enter there. Our claim is the blood of Jesus, and that is the claim we all have; and therefore from this standpoint, young or old, experienced or inexperienced, we all are on the same ground when we enter into the holiest. It is by the blood of Jesus we have boldness to enter and by the new and living way which He has dedicated for us through the veil. That is how He has inaugurated the system. How much it has cost Him to inaugurate the system! So do not let us fail to avail ourselves of that new and living way; let us continually resort to the Holy of Holies and find the Great Priest there, and get a fresh consciousness that our name is on the breast-plate, borne on His heart before God, and let us get near to His heart. John speaks of all these things in a practical way in his gospel. I am speaking in typical language; he gives the reality, and he says, "there was in the bosom of Jesus the disciple whom Jesus loved". Jesus was going to God as the Great Priest. He was about to go in, and He washed their feet that they might have part with Him, in going in; and John had no intention of remaining at a distance. If his name was on the breast-plate he was going to be there himself. So He is in the bosom of Jesus, and he leaned on His breast at supper; and he inquired of the Urim, "who is it that betrayeth thee?"

The Lord extends that in chapter 15 of John. He said "abide in me, and I in you"; then He said, "Abide in my love". That is, keep in the sense that you are borne on His heart as a memorial before God. You are on the heart of the Great Priest, who brought you through death's dark tide to live with Him in the presence of God. He also said, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you"; now that means you have the judgment of the Urim. Eleazar enquired for Joshua for the judgment of the Urim as to what the people should do. And the Lord says, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you". You see you have gone in, you have been on His breast, and you have got light on the situation. And so His words abide in you, you know what to do from the judgment of the Urim. And then He says, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will". Because you know what to do, you know how to ask, you know what ought to be done -- "ye shall ask what ye will and it shall come to pass to you". You see, you get the judgment of the Urim, you get the light of God on the matter, then the Spirit of God will help you to answer to the Thummim in your measure, and to walk according to that light. The Thummim is the answer in man to the light given from God, and the Great Priest would sustain you in both. He would see that you get the light of God on the situation, and He would sustain you in acting according to it. He is active in the whole matter before God to sustain us in the light of God and to sustain us in answering to the light.

So then, John 15 develops this further, because the idea of a friend in John is a bosom friend. John is the example. The example given in John 13 is a

question that was troubling them. The Lord will shed divine light on a question which is harassing you at the moment. "Who is it that betrayeth thee?" A great crisis was just coming. But then in chapter 15 there is the positive side. He says to the friends, "all things which I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you". Not only does He prepare us for a crisis, but divine secrets are unfolded. Who can tell what divine secrets will be unfolded as we know more of the breast-plate of judgment? There we learn God's thoughts of the saints, and we cannot help them much till we get God's thoughts; we need 'the bosom' outlook on the saints; realising that, whatever the failure down here, they are still there on the breast-plate. He appears before the face of God for us, even for the most failing saint. The name is on the breast-plate and the shoulders. And the more we know of His presence and of leaning on His breast the more we shall value the saints as He does, and intercede for them in our measure. He ever lives to intercede for them.

Why am I so often in doubt as to what to do? Because I have not divine light on the situation I am nonplussed! I have not been into the Holiest. I have not leaned on the breast of the Great Priest! How near you are to the Urim and the Thummim when you take the place that is proper to you, on His breast; your name is there! Then you will get a judgment of everything according to God, a judgment of what the saints are according to purpose, a judgment of what God has in mind for them here in testimony, and what their walk should be; an answer to every detailed problem. Entering the Holiest is not a thing that we attain to, it's a thing given to us freely. But we can disqualify

ourselves. The qualifications are "let us approach with a true heart!" We can all have true hearts now and always. Our natural hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, so we have to keep our heart more than anything that is guarded, so that it may be all for Christ, a true heart. "And full assurance of faith". Now that is what honours Christ. It does not honour Christ if a soul thinks he must do something to merit going into the Holiest. What honours Christ is full assurance of faith, and boldness because of what He is and what He has done.

The other two things are the result of a true acceptance of the gospel, the heart sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our body washed with pure water -- "He that is washed all over", the Lord says, in John 13:10, "needs not to wash save his feet". So let us each one, however young, take up our privilege of entering the Holy of Holies, and learn from earliest days to get near to the Great Priest and to learn our place in His affections. We need the Urim and Thummim very much at the present moment, as to individual matters, local matters and universal matters. Let us therefore make sure that we do not miss the light available.

The scripture in Deuteronomy has been greatly perverted as to what Levi did. What it says here is true; if you are going to get divine light you must be free from all natural influences. "Who said to his father and to his mother I see him not, and he acknowledged not his brethren, and knew not his own children". We must be free from all natural influence, every extraneous influence. This does not mean you are going to be cruel to your father and mother, and inflict suffering on them. In the literality

of it, it had to be done in the old testament, but that is not Christianity. It says, "a man's enemies shall be those of his own household". But then the Lord says, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who despitefully use you", and so on. There are some here who have found that those of their own household are their enemies. But do not come under their influence. Say to your father and mother in that connection I see you not, I will not allow you to influence me at all, I am here for the Lord. And so with your other relatives; be for the Lord. And if they are your enemies on that account, well, pray for them and bless them; show them more love, heap coals of fire upon their head. That is Christianity. The Christian soldier takes his share in suffering, not in inflicting suffering. All you have to do is to stand for Christ and take your share in the suffering. And thus we shall be free to get the benefit of the Urim and the Thummim.

May the Lord help us at the present moment that we may come into the gain of the Urim and the Thummim on the breast-plate of the Great Priest! This will result in response to God -- whole burnt offerings upon His altar. If we think of the fulness of light that shines, the effulgence of God's glory, I think we need to keep in mind at the present time that God looks for a response to every feature of the declaration. I cannot believe it is right to attempt to exclude any feature of the declaration of God from response to God. All should be in proportion, all should be according to scripture. And another thing to keep in mind is that the only Declarer of God is Jesus. No apostle could declare Him. We need to take account of all that Jesus said about the Father, and about

Himself, and about the Holy Spirit. In the light of this we can get gain from other scriptures. There is the full light shining and the Thummim is the full answer in Christ. But there is also to be an answer in men to every feature of the light. May God grant this also, for His Name's sake!