Exodus 2:23
Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning…
John 11: 38-41
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.’….Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You ALWAYS hear Me…
With barely enough strength to begin to speak out a cohesive, articulate prayer in the hope that such perfection of words will somehow qualify the prayer to be answered by God, faith to believe it will be answered can fade. Such a common thought process when it comes to prayer can either drive people to find out more about God, or instead turn to look at their seeming lack of faith and eventually stop praying and talking to God altogether.
When the children of Israel were travelling through the desert, (Exodus 2:23) they often groaned and cried, not ‘prayed’, and yet God still heard them. Jesus even ‘prayed’ this way to the Father, groaning in Himself and then He thanked God for hearing His groan! 1 (John 11: 38-41)
In the previous article (Click here to view), the description in Exodus 28 of the garments the High Priest wears in the temple is briefly introduced. The various pieces of the garments worn, is to help us see and understand how easy God through Jesus Christ has made it for us to come to Him just as we are right now to talk to Him, cry to Him or just groan and He will answer.
Exodus 28: 36-38
You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet:
HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall beon the front of the turban. 38 So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and IT SHALL ALWAYS BE on his forehead, that they may be ACCEPTED before the LORD.
Before I had heard about the turban Aaron, the High Priest wears in the Old Testament, the only turbans I knew were those from the Sikhs in Bollywood movies and Sikh friends. From what I understand of what their turbans symbolise, it is not only a signature of their race and religion, but it is a symbol of honour and respect, with different colours worn for different occasions.
Aaron spoken about here in this passage in Exodus, is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest who represents us to God the Father today. (Hebrews 4: 14-16) The turban that Aaron wore was made of three important colours which helps us to see we need not be ashamed at ANY moment for any bad thought we have and can therefore come boldly to God’s throne of grace.
The three colours of the turban are consistent with colours used throughout the Bible. Gold in the Bible speaks of Holiness and Divinity. White is Jesus’ Righteousness and blue is the colour for Heaven and Grace. 1
1 Corinthians 1:30
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…
1 Corinthians 2:16
…But we have the mind of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus].
Jesus has it all covered for us. Under the teaching of the gospel of grace, we often hear all our sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ, but from day to day we can forget that even sin in our thoughts have all been taken care of by Him as well. All the fearful, unbelieving, doubting thoughts we have are not seen by God today because we are in Christ! An amazing thought! Jesus, our High Priest gives us His perfect HOLY thoughts, which are the only ones God sees because of the perfect work Jesus did at the cross in removing all our sin – in our thoughts, words and deeds!
Jesus thoughts seen in the picture of the High Priest’s turban are sinless, perfect, divine, righteous and full of grace – and will be that way for us FOREVER, always to be accepted by God. As Christ is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17) Jesus thanked the Father that His groans were always heard by God and because we are in Christ, our prayers are always heard as well, whether they are a sigh, a groan or a perfectly articulated prayer.
Hebrews 4:14-16
SEEING then that we have a GREAT High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldlyto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Come now to His throne of grace with your need, a small to a large need is still a need; come near. You and I are perfectly accepted in Jesus the Beloved of God. (Ephesians 1:6) He is not counting our wrong thoughts against us. Jesus’ perfection, His perfect thoughts have been set to our account.1 God loves us and wants us to come near to Him, saying ever-lovingly, ‘There is no longer any need for you to worry about any bad thought or messed up prayer you’re thinking about, I am here for you, my throne is a throne of Grace!’ Amen.
Reference:
1. The Love Secret of The High Priest’s Garments. Joseph Prince. 2006.
2. Jesus Has Us On His Heart – The High Priest Part 1. Melanie Cole. 2011.