Ex 28:36, "You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, 'Holy to the Lord.' 
This morning, we will bring our discussion of the priestly crown, engraved as a seal, 'Holy to the Lord’ to a conclusion. We looked at the development of the priestly significance of this as representative of that which was completely honoring and in service to the Lord God Almighty, and Him only! We read many Old Testament accounts and passages which served to point to what was always at the heart of God in setting up this earthly type of the covering of holiness to be worn for all of eternity through His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.    
In one of the great passages of the New Testament, John 1:1-14, the Apostle describes for us the declaration as to why Jesus Christ is deserving of all honor and glory from us as He is the essence of the very Holiness of God. It is through Him that we receive our covering of holiness to be in the very presence of Our Heavenly Father.
Once again, let us read this glorious passage together with all awe in our hearts. John 1:1-14, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
	In Jesus, the light of the perfection of all that was the every plan and purpose of the Triune Godhead came into fruition. He is the true and everlasting high priest, the One through whom we have our living relationship with God. On His head, the crown of eternal glory and sovereignty has been placed by the command of the Most Holy and Awesome Heavenly Father. Jesus, The Son, is crowned with eternal glory as the One true Mediator and as the One Omnipotent King, Lord of Heaven and Earth and all that He has created. His crown of holiness embraces every aspect and detail of what the type of both priest and king represented throughout the Old Testament.
	In this reality, the Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 7:23-28,  expresses, in marvelous detail, the extreme difference between the priests of the order of Aaron and that perfect priesthood of Jesus Christ as He forever wears the crown of the holiness and the glory of God. Please turn in your Bibles to Heb 7:23-28 and follow along. 
	Heb 7:23-28, And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever. 
	We see in Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, the culmination of everything that both the priestly ordination required as well as what the Davidic kingship entailed. Because He died and rose again, the perfect sacrifice for you and for me and for everyone who will but call upon His name, He is given the office of high priest and king forevermore. He is our access into the presence of the very throne of God. In Him we are secure forever from the results of sin and death. 
We are covered by the salvation that He instituted and that He now is for us. We are seen, no longer in terms of our sin and our nature of defilement, but in His holiness and His right standing before the judgment throne. We are there without fear and trembling of the consequences of what was once so true of us. We are a new creation in Christ, born from above, covered by His giving us eternal life through the very indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Everything has changed and become new for us in Him, by Whom we have received life. As we read, this is attested to by the Apostle John in his declaration of the light of God revealed in Jesus, through whom we are made the very children of God.
	The Writer to the Hebrews further encourages us, as we read together in Heb 12:12-24, that we are to live now in accordance with the truth of who we are in Christ, Our High Priest and Our Lord. Heb 12:12-24, Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned." And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, "I am full of fear and trembling." But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. 
	Oh what peace and joy should reign in the hearts and minds of those who are covered by the salvation of the blood of Jesus Christ! He is, to us, the every source of righteous, holiness, assurance, and exaltation. He is our Mediator, wearing the crown of holiness which makes us part of the …church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven… Do you know this in your very fiber of breath and thought and substance, that we are enrolled in heaven, in Jesus Christ, forever and forever? 
This is the truth and the vitality with which we are enabled to face each day on this earth with the trust and in the certainty that we will make it through to glory forevermore in the presence of our Loving Heavenly Father. It is not with that fear of punishment, but with that reverent awe which cannot comprehend why God would so choose to love us unto Himself. 
We come before God, not in dread of judgment, but in anticipation of the beauty that He has put into place for us in His Only Begotten Son! There is supreme anticipation that we will be seeing an eternal unfolding of such depth and magnitude and splendor in the brilliance of the manifold wisdom of God that will utterly burn away all the blemishes and the defilements that plague our bodies and minds and souls here on this earth. 
	The Apostle Peter, in 1 Pet 1:14-19, picks up this vein of encouragement for us to look to and live in accordance with that which is now completely and overwhelmingly true of us in Jesus Christ, today, right now on this earth! Please open to 1 Peter 1:14-19 and read with me. 
1 Peter 1:14-19, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 
	The crown of Holiness which is put upon the head of our Lord and High Priest, Jesus, is also the crown that represents us now on this earth and forevermore. We cannot separate ourselves from Him and cannot be separated from Him by anything in creation. Therefore, as He wears that crown for us, it is a covering for us which is to be more and more evident in our dealings with others. The very name of Jesus is now our protection and to be anything less than honoring to Him in our actions, reactions, and interactions, is to belittle and defile and besmirch Him and His eternal essence of holiness. 
The Apostle quotes the very words of God to His people, to you and to me, by which we are to conduct ourselves as the representative recipients of the wondrous grace of God. "You shall be holy, for I am holy." This is both a command and a promise for us. As He is holy, so are we holy, now and evermore!
	The Apostle then goes on with the encouragement of 1 Peter 2:1-10. Please rejoice together as we read it. 1 Peter 2:1-10, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very cornerstone," and, "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 
	What an astounding reality is ours in Jesus Christ! We …are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 
It will take all of eternity for the full measure of this truth to be revealed to us, but it is true of us right now, this very instant, this precise moment in our lives! As Jesus lives and intercedes for us and is our holiness and our righteousness, so are we now, the people of God, His children, the recipients of His light and mercy and grace and love!
	This then brings us to the conclusion as so voiced by John in Rev 21:22-27, as he describes what will eventually be recognized by all in Jesus Christ. Rev 21:22-27, And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it. And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed; and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. 
Because of the perfect work of Jesus, Our High Priest, wearing forever the crown of the Holiness of God, there will be no need for a temple. There will be no more separation between God and man in Him. Everyone, whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, will be part of the full glory of God, shining forth in the brilliant display of Who He is and What He has done. We will all add our story to the compilation of the awesomeness and the splendor and the magnificence of the mighty Love of God, Incarnate, Our Lord, Our Savior, Our Perfect High Priest, Jesus, the Only Begotten of the Father. So be it.
"You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, 'Holy to the Lord.' Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 31:23+24. O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful, And fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the Lord. Amen.