The Iniquity of our Holy Things

I'm smack in the middle of Exodus in my Through-the-Bible reading, and today I was reading about the garments of the priests in Exodus 28.  Exodus can be a challenging book, but I know from Hebrews that the whole sacrificial system and priesthood pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice and priesthood of Christ.  So I've been on the lookout for connections.  Here's one that jumped out at me:

It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts.  It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.  ~Exodus 28:38

God is so holy, and the people so fundamentally corrupted, that even their holy gifts were stained with guilt that needed to be borne and atoned for.  What a humbling reminder this is!  We must remember, in our service to God, that even our holy things need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb.  John Owen writes,

"Believers obey Christ as the one by whom our obedience is accepted by God.  Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect and unable to abide in God's presence.  Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God."