“You are to make a pure gold medallion and engrave it, like the engraving of a seal: Holy to the Lord. Fasten it to a cord of blue yarn so it can be placed on the turban; the medallion is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron’s forehead so that Aaron may bear the guilt connected with the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate as all their holy gifts. It is always to be on his forehead, so that they may find acceptance with the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Hats have played a more important role in human cultures than we often consider. Used to be, hats were considered an essential part of a person’s wardrobe. And, the hat you wore said a great deal about who you were and the status you held in society. Still today, many professions have specific kinds of hats associated with them. It should come as exactly no surprise, then, that one of the pieces of the garments for the Israelite priests is a hat. Very little time is spent on the hat itself, though, in favor of its significance. Let’s explore the priestly turban and why the Gospel is so good.

That the priests were to wear a turban is the extent of what we know about their designated head covering. Moses assumed his audience would understand perfectly well what that looked like such that more detailed instructions were not given. Instead, nearly all of the attention in this section is given to the turban’s single decoration.

The turban was to have a gold medallion attached to its front with blue yarn. On this medallion was to be engraved the phrase “Holy to the Lord.” The choice of this phrase and the location of its placement on the forehead of the high priest are given a single explanation and a single reason. Let’s quickly take a look at each of these.

The explanation for the phrase was that Aaron (and subsequent high priests) must wear this medallion on his forehead so that he could “bear the guilt connected with the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate as all their holy gifts.” Well, what on earth does that mean? When the Israelites brought sacrifices to the Lord as a substitute for their sin, the guilt of their sins were transferred to those sacrifices. This happened in a ceremony conducted by the high priest.

But what if someone brought a sacrifice that did not meet with all the criteria for the purity of such offerings as would be laid out in Leviticus? If this was an intentional act, there would be judgment for it and deservedly so. The people knew the laws and had obligated themselves by willingly entering into their covenant relationship with the Lord to keep them. But what if the sacrifice had something wrong with it that was entirely unintentional? Would God reject it and them on the spot? Would there be judgment in this kind of a situation?

Thankfully not. God was gracious and kind and slow to anger. He wasn’t looking for opportunities to pounce on the people. At the same time, He was holy, and His holiness couldn’t be diminished in the hearts and minds of the people. What God needed to do if He wanted the people to be able to maintain a relationship with Him was to find a way to be able to cover for their unintentional faults and failings. Under the old covenant, this medallion and the high priest’s ministry did the trick.

The priest went through a long and arduous series of purifications rituals so that he was cleansed from all of his sins and could be in the Lord’s presence. He bore the Lord’s holiness in a way none of the rest of the people did or could. This medallion on his forehead marked him out as pure and holy before both God and the people. Because of this, if the people erred somehow in their offerings and this error was unintentional, the priest himself extended his holiness to them in order to cover the fault.

This ministry on his part helps us understand the reason given for the medallion at the end of the passage. He was always to have this medallion on his forehead when performing his duties “so that they may find acceptance with the Lord.” He faithfully stood in between the people and the Lord as an extra layer of protection. Even if they weren’t totally pure to be able to enter into His presence and experience Him directly, the priest did that work for them. The priest extended some of his own holiness – which was only and always a reflection of God’s own holiness – to them so that they could stand before the Lord and worship.

As far as the Israelites were concerned, this was a great system. It covered for their failings, and it allowed them to get to God at least as close as was possible. From a bigger picture standpoint, though, this system was riddled with problems. For starters, the people could only ever get so close to God. They were limited by their own sins which were never fully forgiven and resolved, they were merely covered. They were limited too by the priest’s sins. In spite of all the rituals and purification rites the priests went through, they were still human. They still sinned. They had to deal with their own sins before they were really going to be able to do much for the people. This divided focus meant their ministry could only ever be but so effective. We needed a better system.

In Christ, that’s exactly what God gave us. Jesus came as the ultimate and final high priest. He never committed any sin of His own, meaning He never had to worry about making Himself right with God before serving us. Then, He dealt with our sin not by offering some poor animal as a sacrifice, but by offering up Himself in our place. He gave His perfect life back to God as a substitute for ours – all of ours. God in His grace and mercy pronounced Jesus’ one life as acceptable to stand in for every other human life that had ever or would ever be lived including yours and mine. Now, with sin permanently and perfectly dealt with – in Him – everyone has the kind of access to God that the Israelites only ever dreamed of.

In spite of our sinfulness, we can enter into God’s presence by going to Him through Jesus. When we do that, when we accept by faith Jesus’ sacrifice as efficacious for our sins, He extends the covering for sins, the justification, He earned to us. Being justified in Him, we can stand before God with humble confidence and joy. This is so much better than how things worked under the old covenant that a comparison is not even fair. And we are the beneficiaries of it. The only response that really makes any sense is for us to gladly receive it; for us to gladly receive what God has done for us in Christ. No longer do we need a priest who has been stamped as “Holy to the Lord.” Now, in Christ, we can all bear that distinction and enjoy His presence as we were always meant to be able to do. This is the Gospel, and it is very good news.