THE NEED OF A PRIESTLY SPIRIT
[p. 438] THE NEED OF A PRIESTLY SPIRIT
Hebrews 3:1 - 6; Luke 10:38 - 42; 11:1 - 13
One is struck with the priestly skill with which the letter to the Hebrews was written. It is not written in an official way. Although undoubtedly the author is Paul, it is not written with the authority of an apostle; but the skill of a priest is easily discerned in it. In the passage I have read this is seen in the form of the address to the “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”, and in speaking to you, dear brethren, one would desire to follow such an example, for while we carry on levitical work we are always to be governed by the priestly spirit, that is, the spirit of divine intelligence and holiness; levitical work if not carried on in that spirit is very likely to be profane. With Moses, great servant though he was, and accredited in this passage with general faithfulness (he was faithful in all God’s house), yet there was this blemish, alas! that he addressed the people of God as rebels. That was not a priestly touch.
As we shall see, the writer here sets before us the opposite of that; he addresses the brethren as holy brethren; and he further adds, “partakers of the heavenly calling”, he took account of them in that way, as I said, in priestly intelligence and holiness. He would not admit of any profane suggestion even; the saints are holy brethren, and partakers of the heavenly calling. He lifts them up from the platform of the flesh, and if the thoughts are received in our souls, they produce a right appreciation of what is said.
I desire to speak to you in that light; for it is important, not only that I should speak holily and intelligently, but that you also should be both intelligent and holy, for the things of God, the [p. 439] operations of the Spirit of God, are in relation to what is holy. We are to keep our vessels holy, and so the thought I have, is to call attention to Christ, as this passage does, as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. The word is confession not profession; it is what we confess rather than what we profess; and we have a confession. The we and the us of this epistle are the we and the us of mutuality. The speaker places himself alongside his hearers as one of them, magnifies what they have, and then takes his part in it mutually.
One would love to bring out in its true bearing what our confession is. I do not intend to attempt it, but it is a thought I would suggest. What the apostle desired to bring forward here was that they might consider the Apostle, the Apostle of our confession. You see much has come to us that we enjoy without thinking of the vessel through whom it has come. Abroad in Christendom the light is to some extent appreciated, at any rate in the measure in which it adds to men in this world; but there is no thought of the One through whom it has come. So the point here is to consider the Apostle; consider Him; and in thinking of Christ in this way we have to look into the gospels. The gospels, according to the point of view in each, present to us Christ in this light.
You recall how when Aaron was to be anointed and consecrated, and his sons with him, that they were brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. It is a lovely scene typically in Leviticus 8. Moses is the active servant, and Aaron is the passive one; so that they are both there, and besides, the tabernacle is there. The tabernacle represented the divine thoughts, and I want just to say a word about that, because Christians at times seem so limited; it seems that they have little to say one to another. The tabernacle represented the [p. 440] divine thoughts, and in this letter to the Hebrews it is said to be a figurative representation of things in the heavens; a very vast thought that, a “figurative representations of the things in the heavens”, (Hebrews 9:23).
Now when Christ came from heaven He began to unfold the things, so that it is no longer a figurative representation of them, but the plain unfolding of the things in the ministry of Christ. You see, the gospels are not so many scattered narratives, or records of scattered events; they are records of divine thoughts methodically unfolded, and they hang together; as Luke said to Theophilus, “it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order [or, with method], most excellent Theophilus”. (Luke 1:3). In him, at least, we have the methodical unfolding, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, of the ministry of Christ, so that it is all of one piece, and understood spiritually in relation to the other inspired gospel narratives; we have the things in the heavens set before us in a spiritual way. It is said in this epistle to the Hebrews, that the Lord came in connection with a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand; that is, not of this creation; it was a great spiritual system that He unfolded in His ministry. Hence, dear brethren, the importance of paying attention to the Apostle first, considering Him, and then listening. Then, in Leviticus 8, the high priest is brought to the door of the tabernacle; that is to say, Christ Himself has taken up a place as Priest in resurrection in relation to all that He unfolded as the Apostle.
Now, in entering into Martha’s house in Luke 10, it is evident that the Lord had a certain liberty in that house, for He spoke in it. In seeking to serve, there is nothing one craves more than liberty in a spiritual way, and that greatly depends on the environments;
[p. 441] in other words, on the state of those to whom one ministers. Martha, indeed, did not afford much that drew out the words of the Lord; there was no interest in her. You can understand, that as the Lord in thought turned to Martha, although she very kindly received Him into her house, for she was apparently a hospitable woman, and the Lord would not be slow to value that; yet one can understand that as His thoughts were turned to Martha there was nothing there to draw out the wonderful thoughts that He had in His heart. On the other hand, Mary was all rapt attention; she discerned what a fountain of light, what a fountain of communication was there, she was all attention, and she was sitting. You see, it was not an occasional stop to listen to what the Lord might have been saying; she sat down to it. There was deliberation in her attitude. Had there been others there like her the interest would have been all the greater; it would have been augmented, but there was at least one heart open, ready to receive all that He said; mark you, she was listening to His word.
Here was the great Apostle of our confession. In Simon’s house, as you recall, He also spoke; but He only spoke as occasion required it there; that is in His grace He speaks according to the state of people; it may be in rebuke, as in that instance, or it may be to justify some persecuted one. He was not free, for Simon’s house was not the environment for the unfolding of things in the heavens; a house full of religious pride and superciliousness is no house in which to open up the things of heaven. Think of what is in heaven, dear brethren, all the Father’s thoughts and the myriads of angels; the infinite holiness and brightness and glory of that place! How can you bring that into a house such as Simon’s? It is wholly incongruous. Nevertheless, the Lord would speak in Simon’s house, and He did. He [p. 442] rebuked Simon and He justified the sinner; He will do that. But the unfolding of the heavenly things required a suitable environment, as I said, and so, although Martha was not ready, Mary was; she was attentive, and hers was the privileged part of listening to what He was saying. She would not have directed the Lord as to what He should say; she would prefer to leave it to Him. Whatever He said was of interest to her.
Let us not think that any part of the tabernacle, the great spiritual tabernacle, is of minor importance. Every peg is essential although made of wood; every item of the great spiritual system unfolded and set up by the great Apostle of our confession is essential; and you want to hear every word. We must not miss anything. Mary represents one who considers and listens to the Apostle of our confession, and I have no doubt that the next chapter sets before us the Priest. The Apostle is the One who speaks from God. The Priest is the One who speaks to God. So in the next passage we are told that He was praying in a certain place. It does not say in Martha’s house; the place is not the point, but what He was doing; He was praying. I do not suppose anything could be more interesting to a priest; that is, to one who is spiritual; you will understand that I am using the word as conveying the idea of a spiritual person; nothing could be more interesting after the unfolding of the great tabernacle system, in the word of Christ, than that He should be seen in relation to all that in prayer; that is, as Priest.
In order to be in the spiritual order of things to which we are called, we have to consider Christ, we have to consider Him first as the Apostle, and in considering Him thus and hearing Him you get the idea of the tabernacle. But now you want to see Him as Priest, and the opening of chapter 11 sets before us the Lord praying. Elsewhere we get records [p. 443] of the identical things that the Lord asked for. One feels that one is on peculiarly holy ground in approaching John 17. We are, as it were, admitted to hear the actual breathings of Christ to His Father. I do not think that this chapter is set before us as a model for us; it is the Son speaking to the Father; His pre-eminence must be fully admitted in our souls in approaching that chapter; it is peculiarly holy, every breathing of it is holy; the soul is impressed with the peculiar holiness of the scene. Luke is peculiarly holy and priestly in the way in which he writes his narrative; he has in mind to bring in the priestly family. You will recall how he begins with a priest, Zacharias, and Elizabeth the daughter of a priest; and in recording the birth of our Lord, His nativity, and His boyhood, he throws out, so to say, a priestly atmosphere, so that the natural mind should be rebuked in looking at the subject.
And so, throughout, Luke has in view that the saints should become a company of priests. Hence, when you come to the end of his narrative you have the disciples led out as far as Bethany by the Lord. It is a beautiful scene, a most touching scene; and having arrived there He lifts up His hands and blesses them, that was a priestly act; and having blessed them, He is parted from them and carried up into heaven; that is, He has gone up in their view, and disappears out of their view as a Priest; and, dear brethren, one might add to that, we have Him in heaven in that office.
There is an anti-priest there, too, one who accuses the brethren. It is a dreadful thing to be on that side. The Lord is there as Priest. He is there to uphold us, and not only us, but to uphold the whole system that He unfolded in His ministry; and it is upheld; let us not think, for one moment, that there is any failure from that point of view. He is there “A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle [p. 444] which the Lord pitched, and not man”, (Hebrews 8: 2). The Lord has pitched it, and He is there as a minister of it, and the ministry is being carried on perfectly; were it not so we should not be here as we are.
There is a great spiritual system that no effort of the enemy can touch; it subsists in Christ, the great Priest. The disciples had a view of Him as He lifted up His hands and was carried into heaven, they had a view of Him going in, and He remains there, and is supporting the whole system that He unfolded in His ministry. But now they are left on earth, that is how Luke’s gospel ends. The disciples, it says, “returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God”, (Luke 24: 52,53).
Now, when you come to the beginning of the Acts, the same men are seen, not in the temple, but in the upper room, “where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew”. The room where they abode was in keeping with their confession. A huge building such as the temple was literally not in keeping with their confession. It is true that the temple was recognised for a while in a provisional way; but there was the great spiritual temple in connection with which they were to serve, and that is developed in Paul’s ministry. Peter says, “Ye ... are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. So that we are thus, according to Luke, qualified priests; the saints are qualified priests; they are set here in relation to what the Lord opened up and set up through His ministry; the great thoughts of God unfolded by Christ and set up in a systematised way; so that now, what you come to is that those who are spiritually set together form the temple. The thoughts of God are there, and the priests in relation to that.
[p. 445] One would love to make clear what the exercise, what the function of the saint is in relation to the great spiritual system that is set up, how we are a “holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices”. Peter is not speaking of what you might give of material things; these also may be sacrificed, and “with such sacrifices God is well pleased”, (Hebrews 13:16). To “do good and communicate” of your substance; even that is pleasing to God. But what Peter is speaking about: is not that, but spiritual sacrifices.
Well now, the passage in Luke shows us how the disciples, having seen the Lord exercise, as I may say, His priestly function, desired to be taught to do the same. It says, that one of His disciples, having seen Him pray, said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples”. And the Lord immediately answered, “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Luke 11:2); that is the first principle of priestly service. Now, dear brethren, do we pray? “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do”, the Lord says elsewhere, “for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them”. (Matthew 6:7). The prayers of Scripture are short, and usually very pointed, certainly this is; it is striking how brief and yet how comprehensive it is. But the first thought in it is “Hallowed be thy name”. The Speaker is thinking of God.
A priest always thinks for God. I do not begin with my own needs; the priest thinks for God. So, in the Lord’s wonderful prayer to which I have alluded, He says, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do”. He came in relation to God, and to carry out the will of God; and above all, in making God known and finishing His work, to have here a sanctified place, a holy place, a place in which God can dwell.
[p. 446] What a wonderful thought He had, the Lord Jesus Christ! He would set up here in His people that in which God could dwell. But how dwell? By the Holy Spirit. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. If God is to be in our hearts, He dwells there in holy love; He prepares the ground by the gift of the Spirit. Being the Holy Spirit He sheds the love of God in our hearts. Now think of that. Think of the divine intent which the Lord Jesus conceived in the Spirit of holiness. You see how holiness marks Him from the outset. On the cross He says, as recorded by the Spirit in the psalm, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”. (Psalm 22:3). And so in resurrection He declares the Father’s name.
Hence the next thing is, “In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”. The divine habitation must be in holiness, so that the prayer here, simple though it is, begins, “Hallowed be thy name”. I do not proceed to details, only to show how that you have in the Lord’s further word a “Friend”, and a “Father”. We can pray to a Friend and we can pray to a Father. I need not enlarge as to who the Friend is. We have a Friend in heaven. We have One there who has befriended us in death and who befriends us in life, and we can pray to Him. The passage enlarges on the importance of importunity; but that does not in the least suggest that there is any disposition on the part of our Friend to withhold what we pray for; the point is to seek and to knock. Let us not be at any spiritual disadvantage! There are no difficulties that can arise in our spiritual history that cannot be met. But the Lord would have us so to value what He can do for us, that we are urgent about it; you must have the thing, so you keep on asking; and you get it.
Then, He says, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?
[p. 447] or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” No father does that. And so He says, “How much rather shall the Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” What a priestly prayer that is! You have the priestly side in Luke. How the advantage of it is pressed upon us! Then let us pray. Let us draw near to God. He has become our Father. We think of His name. Let is be hallowed! And what will He not give us? Even, as the Lord says, the Holy Spirit. The greatest possible gift we may have for prayer. I am not now speaking of an individual asking for the Holy Spirit. I am only pressing the point that the passage emphasises, that is, the importance of prayer.
The Lord seizes the opportunity afforded by the question raised by the disciples to unfold to them the great advantage of prayer. We learn to pray aright, intelligently and effectively, from Christ; He teaches us how to pray; and He shows that in praying you may get the greatest possible gift. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). But the point is that we get them for asking. God gives us all things, according to Romans 8; having given Christ He gives all things freely from His own side; but the point here is what you get for asking, and asking according to the pattern of Christ, the true Priest.
May God bless His word to us!