Introduction
Christianity is characterised by having “a great
priest over the house of God” (Heb. 10: 21)—“whose house are we”
(Heb. 3: 6)—and yet, most Christians are seemingly unaware of this
fact or the force of it. If we are indeed “partakers of [the]
heavenly calling” then we are to “consider” (Heb. 3: 1) not only
Christ as our “Apostle”—the One who has set on “our
confession” (v1; see also Heb. 2: 3; 5: 9; 12: 2 etc.)—but Christ as
our “High Priest” (Heb. 3: 1, my emphasis)—the One who
maintains us in our confession. So many seem to conceive
salvation as being rather like the purchase of a ticket for a
destination, whereas it as an all-encompassing provision that deals
with the past, secures the future and provides “grace for seasonable
help” (Heb. 4: 16) in the present. We are journeying through a
spiritual wilderness full of trials, but the Lord is an all
the way home Saviour, “able to save completely those who
approach by him to God” (Heb. 7: 25). It is to our detriment to
ignore what the Scriptures say as to the Lord’s priestly support for
His own!
Of course, Aaron
and his successors maintained the earthly confession of Israel by
animal sacrifice—the annual offering on the Day of Atonement enabled
that nation, despite their sins, to go on for another year in
relationship with a holy God (see Heb. 9: 7). This is not how our
High Priest maintains us in “our confession”—the “heavenly calling”
(Heb. 3: 1). Christianity, unlike Judaism, operates in the light of:
A Finished Work
The
general idea of priesthood in Scripture is that “every high priest
taken from amongst men is established for men in things relating to
God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb. 5:
1). The word priest (iereuV
in Greek) is from
ieroV or sacred—what
is consecrated to God.
IereuV means
one who has the care of the sacrifices (high or chief
priest is simply
arciereuV—an
arch priest). In Hebrew the word for priest is kohen (a
common Jewish surname even today). The word priest is
prominent in certain books of the Bible, particularly Leviticus (the
service of the tabernacle), 2 Chronicles (the service of the temple)
and Hebrews (the priesthood of Christ).
Now the sacrifices
offered by the priests of Judaism were, of course, ineffectual as
regards an eternal redemption, for “every priest stands daily
ministering, and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins” (Heb. 10: 11). By contrast, Christ’s present
priestly service in relation to Christians is preceded by His
finished work in the past, for His sacrificial work as regards
sin is over. Thus “he, having offered one sacrifice
for sins” has “sat down in perpetuity at [the] right hand of God,
waiting from henceforth until his enemies be set [for the] footstool
of his feet. For by one offering he has perfected in perpetuity the
sanctified” (vs. 12-14). There were no seats in the tabernacle in
the wilderness, because the work of the priests was never done. The
Lord Jesus, by contrast, has sat down in perpetuity.
Never again will He offer a sacrifice for sins. That aspect of his
priestly work is over. The believer has been “sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”
(v10, my emphasis)—a never to be repeated act. He has not “need, as
the high priests, first to offer up sacrifices for his own sins”
(for He had none) “then [for] those of the people” for this He did “once
for all [in] having offered up himself” (Heb. 7: 27, my
emphasis).
Under the law, the
“blood of bulls and goats” (Heb. 10: 4) were offered in order that
God, in His forbearance, could temporarily pass by the sins of the
people, “for the law perfected nothing” (Heb. 7: 19). Christ,
however, “by his own blood, has entered in once for all into the
[holy of] holies, having found an eternal redemption”
(Heb. 9: 12, my emphasis). As “lifted up out of the earth” (John 12:
32) on the cross to die (see v33)—that earth where, “he would not
even be a priest” (Heb. 8: 4)—the Lord “offered himself spotless to
God” (Heb. 9: 14). Under the tabernacle system, the high priest
entered “into the holy places every year with blood not his own”
(v25), but by contrast, “Christ is not entered into holy places made
with hand, figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear before the face of God for us: nor in order that he should
offer himself often” for “once in the consummation of
the ages he has been manifested for [the] putting away of sin by his
sacrifice” (vs. 24-26, my emphasis).
Thus, “having been once offered to bear the
sins of many”, He “shall appear to those that look for him the
second time without sin for salvation” (v28, my
emphasis). For the believer, the matter of sins was settled when the
Lord first came, and when He comes the second time, it will be
“without sin”—that is, apart from sin—He will not take up
again what He settled at Calvary.
I have laboured
the point because it is so vital—the sacrificial work of the Lord is
completed, over and finished.
If the reader is not clear that the matter of his sins has been
settled, then he is not ready for the present priestly
service of Christ—a service that has
nothing to do with sins, and a service that commenced
when He entered “into heaven itself … to appear before the face of
God for us” (Heb. 9: 24). According to Ps. 80, Jehovah “sittest
[between] the cherubim” (v1, my emphasis), and it is in that very
place (the mercy-seat) that propitiation was forever settled (see
Heb. 2: 17). That being so, not only do we now have access into the
very presence of a holy God (access denied in the Levitical system
to all but the high priest once a year), but the place where God
sits is to us a “throne of grace” (Heb.
4: 16, my emphasis)—divine power exercised on our behalf.
A
Priest Forever
Under the Levitical system, “the law constitutes
men high priests, having infirmity” (Heb. 7: 28), and “they are
become priests without the swearing of an oath” (v21). Christ, by
contrast, is established as High Priest “with the swearing of an
oath, by him who said, as to him, The Lord has sworn, and will not
repent [of it], Thou [art] priest for ever [according to the
order of Melchisedec]” (v21). He was not constituted High Priest
“according to law of fleshly commandment” (as was Aaron and his
sons) but “according to power of indissoluble life” (v16)—not the
temporary life of a son of Aaron, but the life of the Son of God (“Thou
art my Son, I have to-day begotten thee”—Heb. 5: 5). Our
“great high priest” is “Jesus the Son of God” (Heb. 4:
14, my emphasis)—a man certainly, but also more than a man, for He
is the One who John in his Gospel presents without genealogy. The
defining characteristic of Melchisedec was that he appeared on the
pages of Genesis “without father, without mother, without genealogy;
having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Heb. 7: 3)—and
that in a book where parentage and genealogy were scrupulously
noted. It is in this seeming to abide forever that
Melchisedec was a picture of the present priesthood of Christ, for
Christ is “priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedek” (Ps. 110: 4, my emphasis). And because He is a priest
after “the similitude of Melchisedec” (Heb. 7: 15), the Lord is
necessarily a “different priest” (v15) to those of the “Levitical
priesthood … the order of Aaron” (v11) for He has been constituted
“according to power of indissoluble life” (v16, my
emphasis). Aaron’s sons “have been many priests, on account of being
hindered from continuing by death; but he” (Christ) “because of his
continuing for ever, has the priesthood unchangeable” (v24)—never
having to be transferred to a successor—and “abides a priest
continually” (v3)—without interruption. The Lord therefore abides “a
priest for ever” (Heb. 5: 6, my emphasis), and,
consequently, can be said to be “always living to
intercede” (Heb. 7: 25, my emphasis). If the reader thinks that I
have laboured the point, he needs to remember that (much more
importantly) Scripture does so as well.
So who was this
Melchisedec, who was “assimilated to the Son of God” and so (in
type) “abides a priest continually” (Heb. 7: 3)? Melchisedec is
actually the first priest mentioned in Scripture (see Gen. 14: 18)
but never once do we read of an altar or sacrifice in connection
with him. Like the Lord’s present priesthood, the priesthood of
Melchisedec was not in relation to sins. Melchisedec was also the
only one in his priesthood and so, unlike Aaron, is never called
high priest (as the term would have had no meaning). So
why then is the Lord called not simply ‘priest’, but “high
priest according to the order of Melchisedec” (Heb. 6: 20, my
emphasis)? Because Christ, like Aaron, has a priestly house
associated with him—you and I— “a holy priesthood” able to “offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:
5).
Melchisedec was
also something Aaron could never be, for not only was he “priest of
the Most High God” (Gen. 14: 18) but “King of
righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is
King of peace” (Heb. 7: 2, my emphasis). Now in the
Levitical system, the offices of king and priest were distinct, and
the attempt to unite them resulted in judgment (see 2 Chron. 26:
16-21). Even of Christ it is said, “For it is clear that our Lord
has sprung out of Juda” (the royal tribe) “as to which tribe Moses
spake nothing as to priests” (Heb. 7: 14). As a priest after the
order of Melchisedec, however, the Lord unites the two offices, for
“he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne;
and he shall be a priest upon his throne” (Zech. 6: 13). Peace and
righteousness are, of course, what will characterise His coming
kingdom (see Is. 9: 6, 7) and the title Most High God relates
to the “possessor of heavens and earth” (Gen. 14: 19), the One who “ruleth
over the kingdom of men, and … appointeth over it whomsoever he
will” (Dan. 5: 21). This kingdom character explains the priestly
activity of Melchisedec as recorded in Genesis. There, Melchisedec
does not come forward to encourage or assist Abraham in his battle
with the kings but blesses him after he had conquered
(see Gen. 14: 19, 20). Melchisedec’s priestly service was therefore
particularly in view of a people for whom trials and tribulations
are forever over—for us, a millennial scene. This stands in contrast
to the Lord’s priestly service to His own at the present moment
which is for those passing through trials and tribulations now.
While the Lord waits for the moment when His enemies shall be put as
the footstool for His feet (see Ps. 110: 1; Heb. 10: 13) He sustains
His suffering people in their trials, and we “approach … the throne
of grace” (Heb. 4: 16). This linkage between Christ as king, and
Christ as high priest (see also Ps. 110: 1-7) can be seen in His
appointment to the priestly office. As the writer of Hebrews says,
“no one takes the honour” (of being a high priest of God) “to
himself but [as] called by God, even as Aaron also” (Heb. 5: 4). If
Aaron was chosen by God to be priest in the Levitical system (see
Exod. 28: 1), so “the Christ also has not glorified himself to be
made a high priest; but he who had said to him, Thou art my
Son, I have to-day begotten thee” (Heb. 5: 5). The quotation
here is from Psalm 2 (see v7)—a psalm in which the Son is presented
as God’s anointed king (see vs. 2, 12). Clearly, He who is king is
also high priest and that connection extends even to His priestly
house, for He “has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us
a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Rev. 1: 5, 6).
Our High Priest
Now to have a high priest entering the holy of
holies was no new thought for the Jews (it happened once every year
in accord with Lev. 16) but to have a high priest who had entered as
a “forerunner” (Heb. 6: 20, my emphasis) was a wholly
foreign concept to them. Aaron entered the innermost sanctuary once
a year on behalf of the people he represented—but those people could
never enter with him. In the light of His finished work, however,
Christ has entered “within the veil” (v19)—the very presence of God—as
forerunner for us, and because He is such, we know
that we too, will one day be with Him where He is. Indeed, the very
fact that He is our forerunner into the presence of a holy God is
proof that the matter of sins is settled, and that forever: “ Christ
being come high priest of the good things to come … by his own
blood, has entered in once for all into the [holy of] holies, having
found an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9: 11, 12).
However, this is
not all, for by the Holy Spirit, we have entrance even now
as down here in the scene of trial to where He is: “Having
therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the [holy of] holies
by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated
for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and [having] a great
priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in
full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked
conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water” (Heb. 10:
19-22). How wonderful that even as down here, we have access to the
throne of God! Certainly, as members of Christ’s priestly house, we
are responsible to “offer [the] sacrifice of praise continually to
God” (Heb. 13: 15), but the scope of priesthood in the book of
Hebrews largely concerns the trials of our earthly pilgrimage, and
so we are also exhorted to come near “that we may receive mercy, and
find grace for seasonable help” (Heb. 4: 16). Christ, as our
forerunner has gone before, having “passed through the heavens”
(v14) and is there in the presence of God, “always living to
intercede” (Heb. 7: 25) for us—supporting us so that we might “hold
fast the confession” (Heb. 4: 14).
The Lord’s present
priestly service is not about sins (for, as already seen, that
matter is settled) but about our want of strength.
Certainly, if we do sin subsequent to our believing the Gospel, then
“we have a patron” (or advocate) “with the Father, Jesus Christ
[the] righteous” (1 John 2: 1)—but that is not priesthood. The
Lord’s high priestly service towards us is in relation to our
weakness, for, “we have not a high priest not able to
sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all
things in like manner, sin apart” (Heb. 4: 15, my emphasis).[1]
Christ is not only divine, but a real man—He partook “of blood and
flesh” (Heb. 2: 14)—and although He is no longer in this scene, He
has been here, and has experienced all the
difficulties of the way and all the weaknesses of the human frame,
sin apart. He hungered (see Matt. 4: 2), He was weary (see John 4:
6), He suffered (see Heb. 5: 8), He needed strengthening (see Luke
22: 43), He was troubled in spirit (see John 13: 21), He experienced
the breakup of friendships (see John 6: 66), He was let down by
those closest to Him (Luke 22: 61), and He knew what it was like for
those He loved to die (see John 11: 34). He was made like those
whose cause He taken up—“made like to [his] brethren” (Heb. 2: 17)
and, as such, is able to be a high priest that is “merciful” in
relation to us and “faithful” (v17) in relation to God. In passing
“through the heavens” (Heb. 4: 14), the Lord has not ceased to be a
man, and it is as a man in the glory that He is priest on our
behalf.
How are we to
avail ourselves of this priestly service of Christ? By prayer. We
approach Christ where He is in the presence of God: “Let us approach
therefore with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy, and find grace for seasonable help” (Heb. 4: 16).
We are not even told here to
ask for grace, but only to receive. Why?
Because all the grace and mercy that we need is already waiting
there—He, as High Priest, has already interceded to God for us. What
we often overlook, however, is that the “seasonable help” is to
preserve us in the trial rather than necessarily
deliver us out of the trial. Thus at his defence
before Caesar, Paul says “the Lord stood with [me], and gave me
power” (2 Tim. 4: 17)—there is the Lord’s support in the trial, the
grace for seasonable help. He needed power and he got it. Of course,
Paul goes on to say, “and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth”
(v17) but we know full well that not every trial ends in our
deliverance (comp. Heb. 11: 32-38 etc.). Paul himself was given “a
thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan that he might buffet me,
that I might not be exalted” (2 Cor. 12: 7), but his approach to the
throne of grace did not result in deliverance from that thorn.
Instead, he was told “My grace suffices thee; for [my] power is
perfected in weakness” (v9)—our weakness. This can be
a hard lesson to learn. Sometimes Christians say rash things like ‘I
could do without this’ but the Lord always knows better than we do
and has our interests at heart. It is in pressure
(counter-intuitively) that we are enlarged (see Ps. 4: 1). Thus in 2
Tim. 4 Paul’s heart was conducted up above his trial to a scene of
glory, and, despite the pressure on him, he broke out in praise:
“The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked work, and shall
preserve [me] for his heavenly kingdom; to whom [be] glory for the
ages of ages. Amen” (v18). Thus the Lord enters into
our pressure but also spiritually raises us up out of
our pressure to where He is himself. Again, in the Philippian jail,
Paul and Silas were not occupied with their bleeding backs or their
feet in the stocks but were “praising God with singing” (Acts 16:
25). They were in severe trial but the Lord had guided their
thoughts to a scene above, and thus not only were they sustained,
but they were lifted in their spirits. Occupation with circumstances
simply casts us down, but when Christ enters our troubles, then we
are drawn away to that perfect scene where He is, where “death shall
not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress” (Rev. 21: 4).
That is what the priesthood of Christ does for the believer.
Conclusion
There is much here in this world to trouble us and
cause suffering. Our Saviour is not unmindful of this, for He has
been here, and “in bringing many sons to glory” He was made
“perfect” (or fitted) “through sufferings” (Heb. 2: 10). Let us
therefore, “lift up the hands” that may be hanging down “and the
failing knees” (Heb. 12: 12), remembering that we have “a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God”
(Heb. 4: 14), One “able to save” (or, preserve) “completely those
who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them”
(Heb. 7: 25)! He is able, He cares, and He has provided.
[1]
The words “sin apart” are vital,
for “tempted” here (peirazo) means to try or to prove and not tempt to sin
(as some might think).
