398. Urim and Thummim

In the old covenant, the Lord answered through the prophets, through the Urim and the Thummim, or through dreams. 1 Sam. 28:6. Now in the new covenant we have received an anointing from the Holy One and know all things. The anointing, which gives us knowledge about all things, includes the prophets, the Urim and the Thummim, and dreams.

“So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the Lord continually. And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually.” Exod. 28:29-30.

In the old covenant, the Law of Moses was the light, and walking in that light was perfection. We can say that the God-fearing prophets had the Urim and the Thummim within them. That is why people could inquire of the Lord through them. The high priest was to bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment over his heart as a memorial before the Lord continually. By the Urim and the Thummim, which were to be in the breastplate, the imperfect works of Israel were brought as judgment before the face of the Lord.

In the new covenant, the Urim and the Thummim are equivalent to the testimony of Jesus: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. Our heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, bears His people’s judgment before the face of God. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. The testimony of Christ is the perfect Urim and Thummim in the new covenant. The difference between His testimony and our testimony in Christ is the judgment which is brought forth before the face of God.

“And of Levi he said: ‘Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, whom You tested at Massah, and with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah.’” Deut. 33:8. In the old covenant the Levites had the priesthood. The high priest gave them the responsibility to make use of the Urim and the Thummim. But through this God reminded them that they themselves did not walk in the light and perfection. This was reserved for their holy one, Jesus Christ, whom they had contended with at the waters of Meribah.

The Lord commanded Saul to go and attack Amalek and to spare neither man nor woman, infant, nursing child, ox, sheep, camel nor donkey. But Saul feared the people and gave in to them, and he spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings and the lambs—everything that looked good. He was unwilling to utterly destroy them. Saul’s works could not stand up to the judgment of the Urim and the Thummim because the commandments of God are light and perfection. The kingdom was torn from his hands and given to someone who was better than he.

Then the Lord sent the Philistines against Saul, and when he saw the camp of the Philistines, he was so afraid that his heart trembled within him. When we walk in light and perfection, we do not fear, but rebellion against the Word of the Lord brings fear and torment. Saul then approached the Lord for counsel and help, but the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, by Urim, or by the prophets.

It is exactly the same in the new covenant. If we do not obey the will of God, we come out of the anointing and come into darkness. We are no longer anointed kings and priests before our God. The Lord does not make Himself known through revelations or by the prophets. The Urim and the Thummim of the Lord disappear.