Breastplate, the most sacred of the priestly vestments. The most sacred. This was the same material as the ephod. It was the form of a square measuring a span. It was suspended from the shoulders by a cord of blue from golden rings. The border was formed on a variety of precious stones, the same that formed the 12 foundations of the city of God. Within the border were 12 stones set in gold, arranged in rows of four. And like those in the shoulder piece, engraved with the names of the tribe. The Lord's direction was, Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel and the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. So Christ, the great high priest, pleading the blood before his father and the sinner's behalf, bears upon his heart the name of every repentant, believing soul. Says the psalmist, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh on me. The breastplate symbolized God's people, God's repentant, believing people, that were carried by Christ, carried upon his heart. That I may know him. Page 369 says this, Christ's redeemed ones are his jewels, his precious and peculiar treasure. They shall be the stones of a crown, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. In them he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Christ looks upon his people and their purity and perfection as the reward of all his sufferings, his humiliation and his love, and the supplement of his glory. Christ, the great sinner, from whom radiates all. The breastplate represents the people of Christ, both individually and corporately. And those people had a work to do of which Gideon prefigured that work. This battle that takes place at the end of the world was to be carried out by God's people. It was to be carried out symbolically by the breastplate. Patriarchs and Prophets 544. God had placed his people in Canaan as a mighty breastwork to stay the tide of moral evil that it might not flood the world. If faithful to him, God intended that Israel should go on conquering and to conquer. He would give into their hands nations greater and more powerful than the Canaanites. The promise was, if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you and you shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the utmost sea shall be your coast. There shall no man be able to stand before you for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon as he has said unto you. Deuteronomy 11, 22 to 25. Patriarchs and Prophets 544. The breastplate symbolized Christ's people and it symbolized them as the reflection of his character that would be the focus of the spiritual warfare.