(5) THE OFFERING PRIEST AND APPROPRIATION
([p. 45] 5) THE OFFERING PRIEST AND APPROPRIATION
Hebrews 2: 17, 18; Hebrews 13: 10 - 16
I want to bring before you the great importance of Christians appropriating what God has been pleased to place within their reach. I have a strong impression that many do not get all that they might, they have not the full benefit that God intends them to get, because they fail to appropriate what He has placed within their reach. It is a defect that I have suffered from myself, and have seen many another suffering from, too.
Faith is one thing, but appropriation is quite another. No one, of course, could appropriate who did not first believe. Faith is the light of God received into the heart of man, and whatever light from God I have received reaches me where I am down here; but appropriation is a step beyond that. When once I have believed what God has set before me, and the light has come home to me, then I see that God in grace has put certain things within the reach of my appropriation; and if I fail to appropriate them, I fail to enter into all the good that it has been God’s pleasure to put within my reach. The point of appropriation is what I want to dwell upon; and that, as far as I understand it, is connected with the priesthood of Christ, or with Christ as priest. If you answer to the thought of God in that way, and use what God has been pleased in grace to set before you, you will get great good, and you will then be prepared to go forth to Him without the camp; you will praise God, and do good to men. You will answer to the mind of God down here.
Now, with regard to Christ, every type fails in what one might call the point of completeness. You can get no type of Christ in which victim and priest are [p. 46] combined. For instance, if a man offered a sin offering, he brought the victim, and killed it, and then the priest came and dealt with the blood; there had to be the offering priest. What man could offer himself an offering to God? The fact is that the man’s own life was already forfeited. So that a man bringing his offering, and the priest offering the blood, proved that victim and priest were perfectly distinct. But when you come to God’s ways in Christ, you get what was never set forth in any type, both victim and priest in One. As offering priest Christ had not yet taken up the office of high priest, He was laying the foundation; He offered Himself. What other sacrifice could He have offered save Himself? And, on the other hand, who, but Himself, could have offered Himself without spot to God? He was both victim and priest.
I come now to a point of moment, that while there could be no revival of the victim, there is the revival of the priest; that is the truth in connection with the offering of Christ — otherwise the point of appropriation could not come in; as far as the victim was concerned it was offered to God, and could not be revived. The blood was the witness of the life given up, which was the case as to the victim; but the priest remains.
It says in Romans 6, “Our old man is crucified with him”, that is, that the man after that order is gone in the crucifixion of Christ; but the priest abides. Everybody will consent to that when it is stated, but perhaps we have not in our minds made the distinction between the two thoughts. God raised Christ again from the dead, the priest is still there, and He is there in the power of an endless life, and can never again have to say to sin. He came once into the condition in which He could die, but He can never die again, and as priest He abides for ever. He has gone to the right hand of God, and is there no longer as offering priest, but as high priest — priest for [p. 47] ever after the order of Melchisedec. Now that is the case with regard to Christ. I feel I must go over the foundations, in order to make the point of appropriation plain; if you do not understand the distinction of the victim from the offering priest, you will not be able to appropriate the priest. And if He was offering priest for us, to make “atonement for the sins of the people”, to whom do you think He is going to commit the succour of the people? He will commit it to no one, the offering priest becomes the high priest in order that He may succour the people for whose sins He has made atonement. The close of Hebrews 2 brings out His qualification for that place, He is able to succour the tempted in that “He himself hath suffered being tempted”. The tempter came to Christ, and the Lord passed through the fear of death, He suffered in view of all that lay before Him, in view of death and the judgment of God, but it is His qualification to succour the tempted. Though they may tremble at the thought of death — not exactly in the way of misgiving, but heart and flesh quailing — Christ is able to succour the tempted, and His qualification is that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted. Many a martyr has experienced the succour of Christ in this way, I do not doubt.
There is one more point of contrast I will allude to between Christ and law. Supposing a man brought a sin-offering to the priest, he could not offer the blood himself, the priest had to do that according to the divine commandment. But although the priest might offer a persons’ offering, it did not at all follow that he had any particular affection for those whose offerings he offered. The priest was official, and that was the case all through that order of things. The Aaronic priesthood was official; the priest, as being of the sons of Aaron, was qualified to offer the sacrifices, but the priest had not necessarily affection for the people whose offerings he accepted. There was not the link [p. 48] of affection; the man was bound to bring his offering, and if he brought it, the priest was bound to offer it according to the ordinance; his part was official, and officialism is a cold kind of thing. Such was the order in Israel in that day; there was a system of sacrifice, but not in the power of the Spirit, nor in divine affections. Now, everything is changed, it was in love Christ gave Himself; He was not a priest officially, “If he were on earth he should not be a priest”, but in love he offered Himself, by the eternal Spirit, without spot to God; it was that the love of God might be expressed, and that changes the whole aspect of things. When one first got an apprehension of Christ it was as the victim; but the moment we begin to apprehend Him as priest, we learn that it was in love that He offered Himself; He loved us and gave Himself for us. You can appreciate the great difference between a priest officially, and a priest in divine affection. There are plenty of priests in the present day, but I would not care to trust them; a priest may profess to absolve people, but is he going to answer for them in the day of judgment? I would say to such an one, “If you cannot absolve me in the day of judgment, it is useless for you to absolve me now”. But Christ offered Himself, a victim without spot, to God; He died for our sins, and the victim is gone, but the priest abides, and there is, too, what there never was under the old system, a link of affection between the offering priest and the offerer. Christ was the embodiment of divine love — He loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. That is the great reality of what has come to pass in Christ, He offered Himself for us in divine love — that is what we learn as we become acquainted with Him as offering priest. Death has come in upon the old man, the man that had offended; the blood is the witness of righteousness accomplished — that is where we begin; but we see Jesus [p. 49] raised again from the dead, we apprehend Him as the offering priest, and learn that His offering Himself was the blessed expression of divine affection. That is where appropriation comes in. I have often seen in the world a lack, in people failing to appropriate the affection which is at their service. Sometimes a wife fails to appropriate the love of her husband, though it is towards her; and, on the other hand, a husband fails to appropriate the love of his wife. And so, too, with children, they often do not appropriate the affection of their parents; I think domestic unhappiness arises to a large extent from the failure to appropriate affection. The affection is there, but it is chilled rather than appropriated.
Now divine love has placed Christ, as offering priest, within the reach of our appropriation; you are free to appropriate the Priest because, in love, He offered Himself for our sins. He was delivered for our offences, or, as we get it here, He made atonement for the sins of the people, and love lay at the back of it, was the spring and secret of it — and you are entitled to appropriate His affection. The love of Christ is appropriated, and enjoyed, and responded to on the part of the saint, so that one can say, “and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” — that is an instance of appropriation — He loved me. The apostle apprehended Christ as the offering priest, and that it was in love that He had given Himself; he apprehended and appropriated, and was affected by the love of Christ. And he would have done anything for the love of Christ. And it is certain that nothing is worthy of Christ but what is done from love to Him. But my point is that His love is there to be appropriated; whatever may be our failure. I would not like to slight the love of Christ. You may depend upon it, there is something lying in the way if a wife does not appreciate the love of her husband, it may be a bit of [p. 50] vanity, or self-will, or what not, but it hinders her appropriating the love that is at her service. And so with us, we may be indulging something that hinders our appropriating the affection of Christ, and Christ is distant to such a person; but He is there to be appropriated, and the end that He has in view is that you might respond to His love.
Now I will not say more on that point, but turn to Hebrews 13: 10, etc. You get here again the idea of the Priest, and of the offering. He was going to sanctify the people, and the means by which He would sanctify them was His own blood. “Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate”. The blood became the witness of the death of the victim, and that is how He would sanctify the people. Now we go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach, that is, in mind we are in accord with the death of Christ, “I am crucified with Christ” — that is what I understand by going forth to Him without the camp. He was crucified, and in mind I accept that, I say I died with Him. If He had not died for us, it would be impossible for us to die with Him, but since He has died that He might sanctify the people by His own blood, we go forth to Him without the camp bearing His reproach. I have no part in the religious order of the world; Christ fell under reproach continually because He had no part in the religious system of that day. He would not put new wine into old bottles, neither would He put new cloth on an old garment — and that is the position of the Christian now, he bears the reproach of Christ because he will not accept a place in the religious order of this world. If anybody were to say, “Why do you not belong to the State Church?” I would reply, “I am not good enough”. I could not take up such a position, for my mind is in accord with the death of Christ; I see my place to be His cross, therefore I could not take up the position of the man [p. 51] after the flesh. There is another possible view of the world system, that it is wholly rotten, an imposture in every part of it. Many real Christians are ensnared in it, but the whole thing from top to bottom merits nothing but the judgment of God, that is my firm and deliberate judgment of it.
Now I want to draw your attention to two words, verse 15, “By him” — what I understand by those two simple words is — they indicate the appropriation of the Priest, it is “By him”; you are governed by the affection of the Priest. I have apprehended Christ as the victim, who has satisfied every demand of righteousness; I am justified; cleared in that respect; but more than that — the heart apprehends Him as the offering priest, who in love gave Himself for me; and you will never do anything agreeable to God except as you are affected by the love of Christ. All else is dead works, and your conscience is purged from these, to serve the living God — but how? Only by the power of the affection of the Priest — it is “By him”. Now are you going to let that love lie idle? If you do, it is to your damage, you may be small for eternity because you neglect the love of Christ now, which lies at your service. Do ponder these two simple words “By him” — that is, you are governed by the affection of the Priest.
Well, then, you offer praise to God, and do good to men: it is not doing good to God, and blessing man; you could not do good to God, but you can praise Him, and it says, “Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me”. You offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, but it is as your heart is affected and governed by the love of Christ. If my heart is under the constraint of His love, then I shall praise God. I offer to Him the fruit of my lips, “Giving thanks to his name”. It is not a very great thing, but it is proof of the appreciation of divine love, that love in which Christ gave Himself for me; it begets a measure of [p. 52] return in the Christian, he offers the sacrifice of praise to God. And what is offered to God cannot be called back, it is a sacrifice in the sense that it can never be recalled. On the other hand we are to “Do good, and to communicate ... for with such sacrifices God is well pleased”. God has left us down here, that we may do good to men.
A path is marked out in which the Christian is affected by the love of Christ, and it is a very happy thing when His love is appreciated. Love would never do harm to its object, but love allied to infinite power to help and succour is what we have found in the high priest. What is the worth of a high priest who has not affection for his people? In the case of the children of Israel, the high priest carried their names not only on his shoulder but on his breast. So with Christ; we are in the enjoyment of His affection, but affection which is inseparably allied to power; He can come in to our succour when we are under pressure, and under pressure we will surely come down here, and want succour; but there is succour for you because there is affection. It is succour dictated by affection. You see one instance of succour in John 11. Jesus had allowed Lazarus to die, and why? I think it was because He was going to teach them His affection; but not only that, He was going to teach them a deep and divine lesson, that His affection was allied with infinite power. Mary never forgot that lesson; as long as they lived down here upon earth they could never forget the lesson that Christ taught them then. Not simply did they learn His love, but that His power was at the disposal of His love; there was infinite power to succour at the disposal of affection. He allowed them to be tried, for Lazarus died, but He was only waiting to teach them the lesson of His love. Mary says, “If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”. And you may wonder if Christ does not come in at the moment you would [p. 53] like, but He delays in love; He will let you be tested for the moment, but His affection is towards you, and He will use His power at the right moment, as the servant of His affection, in order to succour you.
Now do not forget the expression “By him” — under the influence of the love of Christ you can give yourself up to praise God; you can walk in the path that is well pleasing to Him; instead of murmuring and complaining, there will be fruit to God, the sacrifice of praise continually. And then on the other hand, though you cannot praise men, it would not do any good to praise men, you can do good and communicate — that is the path of the Christian. Your mind is in accord with the death of Christ, and hence it is that you go forth to Him without the camp; you accept that you have no part in the religious order of this world system. The world does not trouble itself much about me, it goes on with its own things without me; but if I am crucified to it, on the other hand, it is crucified to me. I discern its character.
Now do not let the love of Christ lie idle as far as we are concerned. I would like everyone to be stirred up to appropriate the love which has been expressed in the offering of Christ, so that you can say with the apostle, “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. And then you will go through the world, very glad to be apart from its religious order.