Our Sacred High Priest

By
Tony Russo— (541) 450-2434

The discovery of the Shroud of Turin first surfaced in France in 1354. It is a length
of linen that the Catholic Church claimed to be Christ's burial cloth. While some of
the clergy accepted it is as authentic, other leading authorities within the Church
denied it. There have been many scientific studies regarding its genuineness.
Today, millions of Christians revere it as the actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ. In
addition, researchers’ claim the blood stains are consistent with a crucified man in
ancient times, which includes thorn marks on the head. The debate on its
genuineness continues between scientists who have carefully put the cloth under
great scrutiny. One thing is certain: laboratories will never settle the argument.

Questions persist. However, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John refer to
the strips of linen left in Christ’s tomb. What they reveal is a glorious truth
concerning the identity of the Messiah. In addition, our study may expose how to
identify the tomb of Christ as well as where and when we may see the true shroud.
This teaching has been all but forgotten by the Church and not proclaimed for
hundreds of years. One of the key passages in Scripture to search for the answers
on Christs’ burial cloth is Leviticus chapter 16.

For 1400 years, from the time of Mosess to Christ, the feast day known in the
Hebrew language as Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, continued to point the
nation of Israel to its meaning through the symbols of the sacrificial service. Its

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central purpose was to help her understand God’s plan to save humanity through
the death of an Innocent Victim.

God directed His people to build a portable sanctuary to help us understand how
we can have fellowship with God. This rectangular shaped structure measured
15x15x45 feet and divided into two sections separated by a heavy curtain. Adding
up the gold and silver that went into the structure, biblical scholars today estimate
that the cost to build it now would be more than $35 million dollars. Throughout
her history, Israel built two stationary Temples on the pattern God gave to Moses.
One by Solomon and the other after the 70-year Babylonian captivity.

Jewish rabbis have written extensively on the meaning of the Temple rituals and
Aaron's position as high priest. Moses tells him how to stand in Divinity’s very
presence on this yearly occasion. Each time the Hebrews moved on their 40-year
journey to the Promised Land, the priests entered the sacred tent from the east
opening to the entrance. A procedure which followed in both structures. There is
something here besides an arbitrary practice.

Before the last plague fell upon Egypt, God commands Moses, ‘This month shall
be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”
Exodus 12:1. In verse 11, He names this feast day. It “is the Lord’s Passover.” God
introduces His plan of deliverance to His people by observing this time as the first
Feast Day on the Hebrew calendar, which takes place in early spring. Both books
of Matthew and Hebrews connects the Passover experience with the sixth Feast of
Yom Kippur. Israel still observes it to this day as the time when heaven decides
each person’s fate for eternity.

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For Old Testament believers, this celebration gave them a sense of Satan losing his
power over them. Yet, they missed the glorious implication behind the blood of the
Lamb. Hebrews 10:4, remind God’s people that animal sacrifices cannot cover our
sins. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
The sacrificial system only confirmed the assurance of sin’s forgiven and not the
actual forgiveness until the ascension of Christ.

The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:14-16 that this feast day, along with the
other ones, ended at the cross. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the
cross… 16 let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or injury, or in drink, or in
respect of a holy day or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.” The words
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances,” convey the end of laws applied for a
specific time. This cannot refer to the Ten Commandments. The “finger of God,”
wrote the commandments on tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18.) Moses wrote the
ordinances in the book of Leviticus.

Deuteronomy 31:24-26 separates the ordinances from the Ten Commandments.

“And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this
law in a book, until they were finished, 25 That Moses commanded the Levites,
which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, 26 Take this book of the
law, and put it in the ark’s side of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may
be there for a witness against thee.” Likewise, he put the Ten Commandments
within the Ark (Exodus 25:16).

Aaron’s priestly garments open our hearts to the symbols of Christ’s mission,
Leviticus 16:4, “He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments

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next to his material; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen
turban. These are sacred garments; so, he must bathe himself with water before he
puts them on.” The high priest wore a magnificent outfit on ordinary times (Exodus
28:1-4). In contrast, on this Day, Aaron dresses like a common everyday priest. In
similar fashion, our great High Priest and Savior covers His Divine Glory in the
flesh of an Ordinary Man. One reason for the Passover and the Temple’s sacrificial
system was to establish in Israel’s mind that access to Divinity only comes through
shedding the blood of an innocent victim.

After Aaron is fully dressed in linen garments, he offers a sacrificial animal for
himself. “And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for
himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall
execute the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself.” Notice the rhythm of
“himself” to mark its importance. He walks into the Most Holy for himself and
offers the blood of the animal for himself, which serves as his own death. It is
notable that Aaron entered the front of the Tabernacle from the East. In this
symbolic move, he enters the presence of God as a dead man and stands innocent
before the Presence.

Equally significant, he repeats the sacrificial process (Leviticus16:15). “Then shall

he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within
the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and
sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.” In a commentary series
entitled The Call of the Torah, Rabbi Elie Munk points out what the sacred dress
means to the Jews who took part in this festival. The words in this context of
Leviticus 16 remind us of the inevitable time of ultimate reward that each person
must face. There is a custom to wear a white garment [generally called a kittel]

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during the Yom Kippur services. The men are aware that this same garment will
become their shroud when death finally claims him.” Call of the Torah, Munk’s
Commentary, Leviticus.

The linen garments correctly explain the mission of Christ. The ritualistic clothing
Aaron wears is a shroud. In this symbolism, the slaying of the animal represents
his death. He is to appear before the Divine Presence as one who died in the sense
that something else must die in his place. The counterpart is that after His death on
the cross, Jesus ascended into the Father’s presence as One who had died in our
place! Therefore, as Israel followed Aaron from his sacrifice on the altar and into
the Sacred Presence, we follow Jesus from His sacrifice as One who now stands in
our place before the Father as individuals who have died with Him.

You may recall that Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Christ to
place Him in his own tomb. Prior to placing Jesus in the tomb, we read in John
19:40, “Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the
spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” Now we witness the shroud in the
Tomb of Christ as reported in John 20:6-7. “Then Simon Peter, who was behind
him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as
well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth is folded by
itself, separate from the linen.” Both men leave and Mary returns to see the
glorious scene represented by what Aaron saw in symbols in the Most Holy Place.
Verse 11, “But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to
look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had
been, one at the head and the other at the foot.” What she is witnessing is the true
Ark of the Covenant! Two angels on either side of the Ark with the blood of the
Victim on its cover.
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Next, Aaron fulfills the last command to end the service. “Then Aaron is to go into
the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the
Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there.” Leviticus 16:23. Aaron left the
“holy linen,” before the Ark. The disciples and Mary witness the evidence that
Christ left His bloody garments on the slab in the Tomb, between the two angels.
God gives us this portrait to visualize His Son standing before His Father and the
two cherubim angels as One who offered His life as the Ransom for our sins.

Keep in mind, while slaughtering the animal, the blood splattered on the priest's
clothing. We read this in the ordination service of Aaron and his two sons. To
ensure blood on the garments, Moses, earlier on, physically sprinkles the blood of
the sacrifice on Aaron. “Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of
the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his robes and on his sons
and their garments. So, he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and
their garments.” Leviticus 8:30.

The New Testament expands our view leading to the cross. John 12:1 tells us,
“Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was
which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.” Verses 12-15 begin the five
days. “12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they
heard Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out
to meet Him and cried out: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord! The King of Israel! 14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat
on it; as it is written: 15 ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt.’” Many shout His praises and believe He is the Messiah.
This event marks the tenth of Abib on the Jewish religious calendar.
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We find the 11th of Abib in Matthew 21:18, 19, “18 Now in the morning, as He
returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came
to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, ‘Let no fruit grow on you
ever again.’ Immediately, the fig tree withered away.” Mark 11:20 gives the
response of the disciples as they passed by the tree Jesus cursed the day before,
which now records the 12th of Abib. After the Passover meal in the upper room,
Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane. On the 13th of Abib, they
remain in the Garden until His arrest. On the 14th, they crucified Him.

It is interesting to see how the Holy Spirit shows heaven's way of combining the
first feast day, Passover with the last one, the Day of Atonement. The first ten
chapters in the book of John cover the years of Christ’s ministry. The last eleven
chapters emphasize the importance of the last five days leading to the Passover and
the events following the resurrection.

When Jesus calls Mary by name, she holds onto Him. Verse 17, “Jesus said, ‘Do
not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my
brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God
and your God.’” He must display His own blood before the Father. He cannot
receive the title of Savior and High Priest until He fulfills Leviticus 16.

Aaron took the blood of his sacrifice into the Most Holy room first for himself.
Right after he leaves the Tabernacle, he sacrifices an animal for the people and
then he reenters the Most Holy Place for the second time to complete the
requirements to become the high priest. Jesus follows the pattern. The same day of
His resurrection, He stands before His Father for Himself. Then He leaves the
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Father to return to His followers on the same day of the resurrection, John 20:19.
After 40 days, He returns to the Father and fulfills the role as our High Priest, Acts
1:3.

In conclusion, we see the two Feast days of Passover and the Day of Atonement
converge at the same time in Matthew 25:51-53, “And, behold, the veil of the
temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and
the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints
which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went
into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” The resurrection scene of the dead
saints is a precursor of the resurrection of the dead at the end of human history as
a sign of what is coming when Jesus returns the second time. The Temple service
fulfilled its role in pointing us to the Sacrifice necessary to reconcile us to God
and identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah.

Revelation 19:13-14, referring to what Jesus wears at His return, “And he was
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean.” When the Apostle John saw Jesus on Patmos, he
records in Revelation 1:13, “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like
unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the
paps with a golden girdle.”

When Jesus left the Father’s presence, He appeared in Galilee where His disciples
were gathered. He invites Thomas to place his hand where a Roman guard pierced
His side at the cross. His wounds and His humanity will remain throughout
eternity. It is fitting that His sacrifice will always be a reminder to the redeemed
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what it cost heaven to save us. So, Luke describes what Jesus will look like when
He returns. Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee” they said, “why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

It is not a far reach to believe that the shroud Jesus was buried in, and left folded,
is the same one He wears at His return. Remember that Joseph of Arimathea was
an orthodox Jew. Like most graves in Israel, the entrance to his tomb would face
East. As Aaron symbolically entered the Tabernacle from the East as a dead man,
and carried the blood into the tent, likewise they carried Jesus into the Tomb.
They placed His body with bloody garments on the slab. When Mary investigated
the Tomb, she saw the linen on the slab between the two angels. Though she may
not have understood this symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant, heaven gives it
to us to see how God identifies His Messiah to Israel more than a thousand years
in advance in the yearly celebration of Yom Kippur. Even to the clothing worn on
that day.