Zechariah 14:20

Exodus THREE INSCRIPTIONS WITH ONE MEANING HOLINESS TO THE LORD.’ - Exodus 28:36 . HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.’ - Zechariah 14:20 . ‘His name shall be in their foreheads.’ - Revelation 22:4 . You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution of the ceremonial ritual, and describes a part of the high priest’s official dress. In his mitre was a thin plate of gold on which was written, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ The second of them comes from almost the last portion recorded of the history of Israel in the Old Testament, and is from the words of the great Prophet of the Restoration-his ideal presentation of the Messianic period, in which he recognises as one feature, that the inscription on the mitre of the high priest shall be written on ‘the bells of the horses.’ And the last of them is from the closing vision of the celestial kingdom, the heavenly and perfected form of the Christian Church.

John, probably remembering the high priest and his mitre, with its inscription upon the forehead, says: ‘His servants shall do Him priestly service’-for that is the meaning of the word inadequately translated ‘serve Him’-’and see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.’ These three things, then-the high priest’s mitre, the horses’ bells, the foreheads of the perfected saints-present three aspects of the Christian thought of holiness. Take them one by one. I. The high priest’s mitre. The high priest was the official representative of the nation. He stood before God as the embodied and personified Israel. For the purposes of worship Israel was the high priest, and the high priest was Israel. And so, on his forehead, not to distinguish him from the rest of the people, but to include all the people in his consecration, shone a golden plate with the motto, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ So, at the very beginning of Jewish ritual there stands a protest against all notions that make ‘saint’ the designation of any abnormal or exceptional sanctity, and confine the name to the members of any selected aristocracy of devoutness and goodness. All Christian men, ex officio , by the very fact of their Christianity, are saints, in the true sense of the word. And the representative of the whole of Israel stood there before God, with this inscription blazing on his forehead, as a witness that, whatsoever holiness may be, it belongs to every member of the true Israel. And what is it?

In that day there shall be upon the {r} bells of the horses, HOLINESS TO THE LORD; and the {s} pots in the LORD'S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. (r) Signifying to whatever service they were put now (whether to labour, or to serve in war), they were now holy, because the Lord had sanctified them. (s) The one as precious as the other, because they will be sanctified.

Zechariah 14:20-21 . In that day — When the nations are converted to God, as is foretold Zechariah 14:16 ; shall there be upon the bells of the horses — Written, as it were, on every common thing; HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD — This was the inscription on the mitre of the Jewish high-priest, denoting the great holiness of his office, and how he ought to conduct himself in a holy manner in all things, especially in those relating to divine worship. Now in these days of the gospel, when the Jews shall be converted to Christ, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, and made a holy nation, a royal priesthood, the grace of God shall be so abundant and efficacious, that common ordinary things in the hands of Christians, much more their persons, shall bear the dedicating inscription of HOLINESS TO THE LORD, and by their study and practice of holiness they shall make good their motto; they shall honour and glorify God in all circumstances and situations, times and places, and use every thing in a holy manner. And the pots in the Lord’s house — The meanest utensil employed in his service; shall be like the bowls before the altar — Shall be as the vessels of silver and gold used in the solemn sacrifices.