For Glory and For Beauty

And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.

-- Exodus 28:2 NKJV

I have been reading through Exodus about the specifications for the tabernacle given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. In the 29th chapter, God explains to Moses that the tabernacle was to be place where He would meet and speak with Moses and meet with the children of Israel. He says He would sanctify the tabernacle with His glory and consecrate it. He further states that He intended to dwell among the children of Israel and be their God and that they would know that He was the Lord their God (v. 42-46). All the furnishings, as described in earlier chapters, were to be crafted from beautiful precious metals and richly colored fabrics.

I've understood that all that beauty and richness was to display the great worth and glory of God, but reading it this time through, the above verse about the garments of the priest struck me. God wanted Aaron and his sons to wear clothing that was holy -- set apart for a consecrated purpose -- but it was also supposed to make them glorious and beautiful in appearance.

I looked this verse up in about 8 different Bible translations and they all concur: there's really no hidden meaning here. These clothes were for making them look and dress the part of priests of the Living God.

That got me thinking. I, too, am a modern-day counterpart of Aaron's family. I, too, have been robed in garments of glory and beauty, in a spiritual sense.

...you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

-- 1 Peter 2:5

Sure enough, it's true. Look at what the psalmist says in Psalm 149, verse 4:

For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.

Well, if it's true that I've been beautified with salvation, spiritually speaking, this suggests to me that perhaps my physical appearance, just like Aaron and his crew, ought to suggest my very blessed status. It behooves me to put some thought and effort into demonstrating, in the temporal realm, the reality of what has occurred on my behalf in the eternal realm.

Now I'm not saying that I'm headed straight to the jeweler's to get me some bling, nor am I thinking of bingeing at the women's department at Famous Barr. But I am thinking that as one of a holy priesthood, I must carry myself physically with more dignity and grace. Hold my chin higher. I must also honor the limitations of my physical body and give it the healthy fuel, rest, and stimulation that it needs. So that it will bear a glory and a beauty.

"...do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

-- I Corinthians 6:19-20

And I will, as a physical demonstration of what He's already done for me, wear my garments -- the best I can afford within my budget range -- as symbols of the glory and beauty that He has already bestowed upon my spirit.

It's the least I can do to perform this priestly role with dignity and gratitude.