Nicholson, Boyd: Spread The Word Conference [Garments]-01 ~ The High Priestly Garments

Oh Father, we feel so much we've been trying to illumine the sun with a candle. Illustrated by the garments of glory and beauty of Israel's high priest. Hebrews chapter three, verse one: wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession or confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. We shall go into Exodus in a minute or two, but this will give us an introduction to our study. So glorious is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so wondrous are all his works, and so exquisite are his beauties, and so excellent are his majesties, and so extensive are all his dominions and empires, that God has pressed into service every device of human language to describe and illustrate the glories of his own beloved son. He uses types and emblems and figures and shadows and signs and parables and, of course, statements of plain language. I had never thought, uh, until some recent years that some might question typology as a valid means of biblical interpretation. I was in New Jersey having a meeting and made an oblique reference to the meat offering one evening. I was speaking in Romans, but I made a reference to the meat offering, and afterwards a gentleman came to me and he said, um, I object to your use of typology in the meeting tonight. You spoke about the meat offering. He says, typology has no place for us today. I said, do you read the Epistle to the Hebrews? Oh yes, he says. Well, I said, how do you understand it? It's full of typology. So it didn't dawn on me until then that there are some people would challenge that as a valid means of interpreting the Bible. As a young Christian, I come from a country where the old timers ate it up, and they fed us with it, and it would not be surprising for a, an older brother to come to you as a young man on a Tuesday night after the prayer meeting and say, what do you know about the red heifer? Well, it's red. Yes, good. Next Tuesday, I'm going to ask you the same. So what do you think we were doing all week? We were reading all we could get a hold of to find out about the red heifer, and next Tuesday, sure enough, they say, what did you learn about the red heifer? Well, I learned this and that and the other. Well, that's good. Sit down, let me tell you about the red heifer. And these men would open to us the treasures of scripture, and upon those riches, I draw to this very day the truths that illustrate the New Testament doctrine so beautifully, because these types and figures and emblems and shadows are God's picture book to make difficult New Testament doctrines more easy to understand. So we do have a valid means of interpretation. There are five important words that are used in this connection. There is the word translated pattern or type. That's the translation of the word type. There's the word figure, example, shadow, and parable, these five words. As far as pattern or types is concerned, we have in the Bible persons that are types. Moses is a type of Christ in his prophetic ministry. Aaron is a type of Christ in his priestly ministry. David is a type of Christ in his kingly office. Melchizedek is a type of his present and ongoing royal priesthood, the priesthood to which we belong as New Testament believers. And so there are many personal types of Christ. There are types that were objects. That rock was Christ. The manna and the objects of furniture in the tabernacle, types of Christ. There are happenings that are types. Um, Christ our Passover, as far as figures is concerned, or antitypes, there are places that are types. The holy place was a figure of the true. Examples. Actions are examples. The Lord Jesus in John chapter thirteen presented a living parable, which was an example. He says, I have given this as an example, as I have done, so you ought to do. John thirteen. We have shadow, a shadow of the things that are real. The system of religion, the Levitical order of things was a shadow of the true. Now, the shadow simply tells us that there is a substance that has more dimensions than what we see in the shadow. And then, of course, there is the word parable, something thrown down to teach us a spiritual or a heavenly truth, a tangible teaching of heavenly truth. There are three great dangers, of course, in typology and the use or study of it. One is limiting the type and therefore not using it. When God has given us a treasure of truth for us to draw upon. Another is exaggerating the type, the type, making it mean something that God never intended it to mean at all. Because not every detail of every type is necessarily part of the instruction. Moses, for instance, was a personal type of the prophetic ministry of Christ, but he was not a type of the Lord Jesus when he smote the rock. We understand that every type somewhere fails. There's a danger, of course, in imagining a type where there was no type at all, or imagining a sign where there is no sign. Signs are a dangerous thing. Asking God for signs, it's a dangerous thing to do so. Out in the Canadian West, there was a young fellow who fa- imagined himself to be quite a preacher and felt he was being called to preach. The brethren didn't quite agree with him, but he felt he was called to preach. And, uh, one day he accosted a visiting preacher and said, now he says, I know God has called me to preach. He says, I got a sign last week in the sky. What kind of sign was that? He says, while I was working in the field, the clouds formed two great letters, PC, Preach Christ. The old preacher said, how do you know that doesn't mean plant corn? The danger of signs is that we can make them mean something that God never really intended. So when it comes to interpreting the scriptures and types and figures and emblems, we must keep them strictly within the bounds of the word of God, so that the Bible is its own interpreter, and we don't do the interpreting. We let the Word of God teach us what these things are, and every type and every emblem and every symbol that we find in the Bible, God has said something about it, and that's what we have to find, and that's what will help us, eh, enjoy the value of this system of interpretation. Of course, the great authority of the study we read in chapter three, verse one of Hebrews. Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. This isn't just a general word, consi- well, I'll consider it. This is a very forceful, a very full word. It really is translated in three different ways in the New Testament. It's translated by the word behold, which is different than looking or seeing. Moses saw the bush that it was burned, burned, but he turned aside to behold why it was not consumed. So the beholding is something more intense than just simply looking or seeing something. So to consider Christ is to behold the why of Christ. Why did he love me so? Why did my savior to Calvary go? It's to consider the why of Christ. It's translated also by the word perceive. When his enemies came full of honey in their lips and praising him one day, one day it says he perceived their craftiness. He saw through the meaning of the words to their heart. So to consider Christ is to perceive the meaning of Christ and the meaning of the words of Christ. The Lord Jesus used many simple expressions. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the bread. I am the light. But if we examine these and perceive their meaning, they take us into depths that are unfathomable. And then it's used in Acts twenty seven when the ship was in the storm, they discovered a bay or a creek into which they thrust the ship. It's the discovery of the who of Christ. The sailors that night on the ship, all they were interested in was salvation from the storm and drowning. And so they thrust themselves into the arms of that bay, and that's how we first discover Christ, isn't it? We discover him first as our savior, but as the dawn broke and as the storm passed, they discovered the name of the island. They no doubt saw that there were mountains behind there, there was a river, there were flowers, there were other people, and so it is in the Christian life. We first discover Christ as our savior, and then as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we discover the mountains of his majesty, rivers of his refreshing fruit and flowers of his abundance, and we discover many others who enjoy these good things in the fellowship of the saints. So to consider Christ is to behold the why of Christ. It is to perceive the what of the meaning of Christ and of his words, and to discover the who of Christ. Who is he? To launch out into spiritual explorations and discover the vast territories of his glory and his majesty, and the Spirit of God is ready and waiting to reveal to our hungry hearts the person and work of the Lord Jesus. We know there's a great need for this kind of study. Because of the day in which we live, there is a sad departure, there is coldness of heart. Remember the church at Ephesus. The Lord gave them a fivefold approval. He approved their diligence and their determination and their doctrine and their discipline and their discernment of evil. But he said, nevertheless, I have against thee, thou hast left thy first love. I wouldn't doubt for a minute that the church in Ephesus went on for years. He says, repent or I will remove the lampstand. The Church of Ephesus could have gone on for years, it was just that the light was out. It's possible for an assembly to have meetings and crowds and singing and programs, and the light is out because the significant element is missing. Thou hast left thy first love. That's the bottom line. It's not the eloquence of our preaching. It's not the excellence of our outlines. It's the love of our hearts for the Lord Jesus. In Isaiah fifty three, it says there that they did not desire him because they saw no beauty in him. And our appreciation of the beauty of the Lord Jesus will en- enhance our desire, inspire our longing to know him and to be like him. So in a day of sad departure, we need this kind of study, but it's also a day of satanic diversion. The devil's masterpiece is to turn us away from the person of Christ, and he doesn't mind how he does it, of course, by sin, of course, by the world, of course, by the flesh, but more subtly, he does it by other devices. Peter found that out on the Mount of Transfiguration. As he stood there facing the blazing Christ, he began to talk, let's build here see tabernacles, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it says, while he was speaking, a divine interruption, the Father interrupted him in the middle of his sentence. Peter had said, it is good for us to be here. And the Father interrupted him, in effect, to say, what is it, Peter? What are you talking about, Peter? What is it? The holy experience is good for us. And the father covered everything with a cloud so that they saw no man save Jesus only, says, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. Peter said it, the father said him. Holy things, be they ever so wonderful, are still not him. And the enemy can divert us away by service, by holy things, by anything. So we must beware of diversion. And then, of course, there is the danger of defilement. We live in a dirty world. Defilement by contact, defilement by carelessness, defilement by wrong communions, and we need the challenge of Christ in our life to call us to himself. Of course, there is heresy abroad. I have with me, in fact, in my file upstairs, about thirty five heretical teachings that are being propounded today by evangelical preachers, some of them men of Renan, with regards to the person of Christ. And so we need to be careful because of the enemy. You remember Solomon, he had sixty bodyguards around his bed at night. They all held swords on their thigh in the night, and they were expert in war. They knew how to use the sword. You remember Peter in the garden when they came to take the Lord Jesus, he had a sword, he drew it, and he hacked off a man's ear. What's an ear? What good's an ear in a battle? He wanted a head, but he was a fisherman. He wasn't a swordsman. And there's a danger of us not being able to handle the word of God, and so important it is that we engage in this study. To that end, then, we shall look at the person and work of Christ as we see him illustrated in these beautiful garments. So please turn back to Exodus chapter twenty eight. Exodus chapter twenty eight, Verse one: and take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. Now we'll come back to this, but I draw your attention to the pronoun in the middle of that verse. Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister. You'll see how the sons and Aaron are united together in this one ministry as one person. Verse two: and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron, thy brother, for glory and for beauty. Thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate and an ephod and a robe and a broidered coat, a mitre and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Verse thirty nine. And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats. Thou shalt make for them the girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty. And just a verse in Leviticus, chapter six. we see them now being dressed. Leviticus chapter eight, excuse me, in verse six. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water, and he put upon him the coat, girded him with the girdle. This is the order of dressing now, and clothed him with the robe, that's the robe all blue, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod and bound it unto him. Therewith he put the breastplate upon him. Also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim, and he put the mitre upon his head. Also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses. And Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein and sanctified them. Verse twelve. and he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify him. And Moses brought Aaron's sons and put coats upon them, girded them with girdles and put bonnets upon them, as the Lord commanded Moses. It is a remarkable thing, though we know it well, that it is written, for God so loved the world. If it had been otherwise, we likely would not be in existence. God could have, after the fall of Adam and Eve, obliterated those two people, the planet, and even have obliterated the record of time from the eternal scheme, and no one but God would have known anything about it. But somewhere in that great ocean of love we call the heart of God, there rose a longing for the fellowship and love of his creature. We just have to stand amazed at this. Angels cannot comprehend it. They gaze in wonder at the program, but there it is, for God so loved the world. God made man for himself and made man to long for God. H. G. Wells quoted someone by saying there is a God-shaped vacuum in every human being, meaning to say there's a place in every being that only God will satisfy. Of course, we know from the scriptures what this is. So God devised a means whereby his banish be not expelled from him. That means required an anointed ministry. God, in his sovereignty, determined this. God ordained that there should be a threefold anointed office of prophet and priest and king. The reason for that was, of course, the fall. God made man in his own image and in his own likeness. God is one, but threefold in the expression of that oneness, being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Not three gods, but one God manifest in three divine persons. So when he made man in his own image and in his own likeness, he made him one, but manifestly threefold in that oneness, having a body and a soul and a spirit. With the body, he's conscious of the world around him. With the soul, he's conscious of the self within him, but with the spirit, he has the capacity to know and enjoy God above him. When man fell, what fell? The whole man fell. The spirit fell into the realm of the soul, so that natural man cannot distinguish between soulish things and spiritual things. That's why the great religious systems of the world always appeal to the soulish thing, aesthetic things, musical things, things that move the soul. These things are not wrong in themselves, but if that's all they have, and they confuse the soul with the spirit, then there is no hope. The soul fell into the realm of the body and became subject to its desires, so that man in his natural state cannot distinguish between love and lust. And the body fell under the dominion of sin, so that the fall was complete. That's what the theologian means when he says the total depravity of man. Not that every man is as bad as he can be, but the whole person has been affected by the fall. Sometimes mankind is described as feelings, intellect, and will. At the fall, the intellect became darkened because of sin. The will became evil because of disobedience. And the feelings became unhappy because of guilt. Now God moves to save the whole man, and he devises a means whereby the whole man will be ministered to. So he engages a threefold anointed office of a prophet, priest, and king. The prophet brings the light of the knowledge of God to the darkened intellect. The priest offers the acceptable sacrifice to God to remove the unhappy feelings of guilt and the sorrow of sin. And the king rules the will in righteousness. In these three offices, the Lord Jesus excels to an infinite measure. So for man now to return to God, there must be a priest with an intermediary sacrifice, an acceptable offering to God. In the Bible, there were many priests, and the responsibility of these priests changed throughout time. From Adam to Noah, every man was a priest for himself, bringing his offering into the presence of God. Adam did it, Cain did it, Abel did it, and so on. From Noah to Abraham, every man was a priest for his family. Job was one of these, offering daily burnt offerings into the presence of God, lest his children should sin. But with Abraham, God formed a new priesthood that would be a nation of priests. And this nation of priests would be a royal priesthood who would represent God to the nations, and by whom they would, the nations would approach unto God if they would be obedient, but they were not obedient. And so they forfeited that ministry for the time then present. One day it will come back again. So out of that nation, God called a tribe, the Levites, the Levites. And out of that tribe he called a family, Aaron and his sons. And these were to be the priestly family. Priests, there were many. High priests only one at a time. Aaron and his sons by succession. Great high priests only one, the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament priesthood, every believer, from the moment we are saved, we are entered into the New Testament, the New Covenant priesthood. We read about in First Peter chapter two, the holy priesthood, the royal priesthood. As holy priests, we go in to offer acceptable sacrifices to God. As royal priests, we go out to declare the virtues of Christ to the hou- house of God and beyond to the world. Now, so that God would adequately reflect the priesthood of Christ, and I may say the Lord Jesus does not function today after the order of Aaron. We're taught that very clearly in Hebrews. But after the order of Melchizedek, who was a king priest. But it's after the pattern of Aaron, or the picture that Aaron gives to us, we learn some things about the person and work of Christ. And so that Aaron could function before the Lord as a type of Christ. Remember, that's what God had in his mind, though Aaron didn't know it. Typical garments were designed by God. And these would reflect aspects of the personal work of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, nothing but the finest of materials would be used. It was fine gold, fine linen. It was pure gold, and it was fine linen, and there were costly stones, and they were put together by the wise-hearted, and it was by the design of God himself. The embroidered coat, the first one to be put on, the white one that we see in the illustration. We're told four things about it. Its composition, its character, its completeness, and its connections. Its composition, its character, completeness, and connections. I might say for the high priest, it was an inner garment. For the priestly family, it was their outer garment. The priestly family, the Levites didn't wear these garments, outer garments of glory and beauty. They simply wore the linen garment. But for the high priest, it was really a hidden garment, the inner, the inner garment. We read about in Ephesians chapter three the importance of the inner man. That's where the problems are in all our life, the inner man. Problems aren't so much in the outer man. We kind of keep that polished up and showered and deodorized and everything else, but the inner man is where the problems are. And so Paul prays the greatest prayer of Paul in the New Testament. Read it perhaps before you go to bed tonight, it'll take you less than a minute. Don't pray it lightly, and don't pray it carelessly, but at least read it over. He prayed that we might be strengthened with might by the spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell, feel at home in our hearts by faith, that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, that must be the will of God. That wouldn't be in the Bible if it wasn't a possibility, but just be careful as you approach that prayer not to pray it lightly. So the inner man in the priest is of vital importance, and of course, as far as the Lord Jesus Christ, it was the inner life. The composition of this garment was linen. It was all linen. Now we don't have to imagine what this means. The scripture says in Revelation nineteen and eight that fine linen is the righteousness or righteousnesses of the saints. Psalm one hundred and thirty two verse nine says, let thy priests be clothed in righteousness. So we have a biblical clue that the linen is a picture of righteousness, moral perfection, moral rectitude, being right in the sight of God. As far as the Lord Jesus is concerned, we see the moral perfections of the Savior. The testimony to this is overwhelming in Scripture. God the Father says in Hebrews one and nine, Thou hast loved righteousness, loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Righteousness. The apostles testify to this. Peter was a man of action, and it was right that he should say of Christ he did no sin. And Paul was the great thinker, and it was right that he should say of Christ he knew no sin. And John, who leaned on the breast of the Son of God and heard the heartbeat of heaven. It was right that he should say, in him is no sin. And so we have the threefold cord of the apostles, which cannot be broken as to his impeccability. The people said, never man spake like this man. The thief on the cross said he had done nothing in this. And the centurion said, truly this was a righteous man. His enemies witnessed to it, unwittingly or otherwise. Herod said, this man has done nothing worthy of death. Pilate says, I find no fault in this man. And even Judas, the betrayer, said, I have betrayed the innocent blood. The demons from hell give witness to the moral rectitude of the Son of God. They said, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Oftentimes, if we're witnessing to the unsaved, they're up to challenge the Christian faith by pointing to the failures of Christians, of which there are many. But you see, we are not the standard. We ought to be examples, but we're not the standard. Christ is the standard. Christ is the glory of God, and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and no one can find a flaw in that garment. The teaching of the coat present to us at least one aspect of his glory. The glo- the glories of the Lord Jesus, as far as we know now, are fourfold. There are his official glories, that is the glory of his rank as the sovereign. These glories have always been concealed from the eye of man. We never could have withstood the blazing, burning majesty of that sight. His intrinsic glories, that's in his relationship as the Son of God, these glories were seen once on the Mount of Transfiguration, when they shone out before Peter, James, and John. Then there are his moral glories. That's himself, as he moved amongst men. These were the evidences of his righteousness as the servant, and they could never be hid. And there are his acquired glories that accrue to him as a result of his mighty work upon the cross. These have not yet been manifest, but they will be in a coming day. At the Transfiguration, and those three men never forgot it, and they spoke about it afterwards, we beheld him on the Holy Mount, we beheld his glory. Matthew's record, the Gospel of the King, says his face did shine as the sun. Mark's record, the Gospel of the Perfect Servant, says that his raiment was glistering or shining as snow. When the snow, the sun strikes the snow, it sparkles like diamonds. And Luke's gospel, the gospel of the perfect man, he records that his garment was glistering, and the word really is flashing as light. And if we bring these three pictures together, his face shining as the sun, his garment white as snow and glistening as when sun strikes the snow, and from his person flashes of light bursting out in every direction. No wonder the Bible says of Peter not knowing what to say. And this was the glory that broke through the veil of his flesh on that one occasion that men saw. It may have, it may many a night on the hillside or in the rocks, among the rocks have shone out, but only once did man ever see it that is recorded. So we have very clearly the impeccability of Christ. The enemies, of course, tried by examination to find a flaw in that garment. They did everything to discover a flaw and a failure, but they found it was imperishable. Satan, by temptation, sought to find a flaw in that garment, but found it was impeccable. And here's something we must be absolutely clear about. It was not that the Lord Jesus did not sin. We rejoice in that. It was that the Lord Jesus could not sin. Amen. He could not. He said, the devil cometh and has nothing in me. We have a nature that responds to sin. Someone says, well, what was the purpose of the temptation? Just remember that s- the Lord Jesus was never tempted by sin. He was tempted by Satan to sin, but there was nothing that could ever answer to it, and he could not sin. The impeccable Christ. This beautiful garment conveys that wonderful truth. Who did no sin, says Peter, neither was guile found in his mouth. When he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself or his cause to him that judgeth righteously. So here we have the composition of this garment. It was linen, speaking of righteousness, the perfect righteousness of Christ. Of its character, we read that it was fine linen. And this speaks of his gentleness. The problem with us is that if we feel we're right on a point, we can get pretty hard with those that don't agree with us. But his righteousness begat no hardness. As he moved among sinners, he was never hard on the sinner. We can be hard on them, at least I look into my own heart, and the flesh rises up, and I see those people I thoroughly disagree with. I want to get down to business with them. But the Lord Jesus was nothing like that. Oh, he dealt with the hypocrites, but with the men and women, the poor, the brokenhearted, the blind, the crushed by calamities, the captives, how gentle he was. He was gentle with the needy. He touched the leper. He comes out of the city, and here's a leper on the other side of the street crying out, according to the law, unclean, unclean. Now, the Lord Jesus healed a man from about thirty miles away when he was in Cana of Galilee. He didn't have to cross the street. He didn't have to go near that leper. He could have healed him from the other side of the street, but it says he touched him. Why'd he touch that leper? How many years had it been since the leper had felt the touch of a loving hand? The Lord knew, and he touched him. He's gentle with the needy. He was gentle with the fearful. He comes on the water that stormy night, and Peter and the others were terrified, thinking it was a spirit. You see, it's the it's of life that fill us with fear. We don't know what it is. It, and the Lord Jesus speaks up, it is I, be not afraid. It, the thing you're afraid of, is really me coming into your circumstance. If it be thou, says Peter, he's still not sure whether it's an it or the Lord, bid me come to thee on the water. Come, Peter. Well, some people have criticized Peter's faith, but not many of us walked, of us have walked on water lately. He stepped out of that boat at night onto the stormy waves of the sea, and he didn't know whether it was Anit or Christ till he hit the surface of the water. If it was Anit, he was going down. If it was Christ, he was going to stay on the top, and he did. And he starts towards the Lord, seeing the wind and waves boisterous, beginning to sink, he cried, Lord, save me. And the Lord said, Peter, swim for it. He knew Peter was a strong man, pulled two hundred and fifty pounds of fish out himself out of the water one night. He knew he was a strong swimmer, a few strokes he would have been back at the boat. But you see, there's a principle that once we have stepped out in faith on him, he'll never let us go to our own resources. And it says he took hold of him. He was gentle as the fearful, and he was gentle with the fallen. They brought that sinful woman in. Scoundrels never brought the man. They brought the woman in, found in adultery. And he knew what to write in the sand. We don't know what it was, but he knew what to write, and one by one they all went out. Where are your accusers, O of God? Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. He was gentle with the fallen. He was gentle with little children. They were in the house, and the Lord Jesus was teaching them a lesson on marriage and divorce, and along come the women with all the children, and the disciples, don't blame them too hard, they were thinking, this is no subject for children to listen to. Get out, get out, come back later. Oh, says the Lord Jesus, there are more important things than lessons on doctrine, and little children is one of those things. And he took the little children in, took them up in his arms, and he blessed them. How sensitive he was to the little children. He was gentle with women. Never in the New Testament do we ever see the Lord Jesus rebuke a woman. Now, he did test one woman, you remember the Syrophoenician. When she came to him, she cried out, oh, thou son of David, have mercy on me. But you see, he never answered her. Why did he not answer her? He was having mercy on her. You see, she was a Canaanite. And as the son of David, if he had answered her, the only word he could have given her was judgment, because the Canaanites were all under the sentence of death. And so he was having mercy on her by being silent to her. And then in her extremity, she sends out the universal cry of help. Lord, help me. And immediately he reaches out the hand to help her. He's gentle with women. And he's been gentle with you, and he's been gentle with me. For if we get our desserts, then I doubt if any of us would be here tonight. That signals the end of the tape, and I'm wondering whether I should perhaps leave the rest and pick it up at the next session. I think that would be better, so that it'll get onto the tape. So we speak about the gentleness of Christ as seen in the fine linen. I want to look now, when we pick come back again, at the completeness of it. It is an embroidered coat on the high priest. So we'll pick that up after the next, the beginning of the next session.