“YE HAVE COME TO … JESUS”

Hebrews 12:18,22 (to “living God”),24; 3:1; 4:14;

7:4,5 (to “people”); 10:19,20 (to “way”)

I read these passages, dear brethren, feeling the need to speak about what we have come to. As we look around, we may feel that we have come to breakdown. We see troubles and unrest, but it says in the passage I read, “ye have come to … Jesus”. We have come to a Person, dear brethren! The systems of men will all break down, and you wonder at the scattering that there is today. But we have not come to men, we have come to Jesus. The apostle in this chapter is very concerned that the Jewish believers should realise that they had come to Jesus. I think there are nine references in the book of Hebrews where the name stands by itself – Jesus. That is why I read these passages, and there are others. They are very striking to me; “to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling”. We need to understand these two things; they will not break down. There was a conflict among brethren in earlier days; some thought that the breakdown would continue, and they pointed out that every family until now has broken down. Take Abraham, Noah and the rest, they all broke down, but Mr Taylor pointed out that we have not come to that, we have come to Jesus. We have come to a Person and the measure in which that Person is enshrined in our hearts will be the measure of our enjoyment, and, may I say, of our progress. Mr Taylor said in answer to these questions that the assembly is an exotic.² What has come in in this dispensation of Christianity does not depend on Abraham or Moses or any of these persons, it depended, and still depends, on a Person, Jesus.

I read about some of His offices. They are very full! If you need a sympathiser, you have one in Jesus. Jesus was the most approachable of men that was ever on this earth. The children were in His arms, He could touch lepers, there was no one outside His reach – the Man Christ Jesus. I have read about some of the offices that He fills. In chapter 3, the writer addresses the “partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”. A brother in Leven heard Mr Raven speaking in Edinburgh; he said ‘the Apostle maintains the calling at its height, and the High Priest maintains the people at the height of their calling’³. I think that is very beautiful! Everything depends on Jesus! Men may bring in all their theories and opposition, all their suppositions, but we have “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”. Moses was the apostle of the old dispensation, and Aaron was the high priest, but he failed too; but God has laid help upon “a mighty one”, Ps.89:19. He has committed everything into the hands of His Son; His Son is our Saviour. I would encourage us all, especially the younger ones, that you must come to Jesus. He is in heaven as our great High Priest! The high priest went into the tabernacle, but here is One who has gone right in. You read of that in this book; He has gone into heaven itself. That is a beautiful verse; I did not read it, but it says that he has entered “into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God”. Is that all? No, it says “for us”, Heb.9:24. There Christ is the centre of the throng, His glory shines, and He is the great High Priest. He is there to lift us above all the failures, and the weaknesses of the condition in which we are. He never changes, He is faithful. We can trust Him and rest upon Him.

In chapter 4 it says “a great high priest”; not only a High Priest, but a great High Priest. Think of the time that has gone by since He went in. He maintains everything, through all the ages. He has passed through the heavens – Jesus, the Son of God. That is where He is, in a place where man can no longer interfere, and it says that He has gone in there within the veil, a Forerunner for us (Heb.6:19,20). We will soon be there; in the meantime, He is serving us in His priesthood that we may not break down. Our great High Priest has to deal with so many things. Aaron went in with the names of the tribes on the breastplate, and that is how Christ has gone in. He has gone in with our names on His breast, and they can never be eradicated, a wonderful thing! If you have come to trust Him as your Saviour, you can trust Him day by day as the Priest, able to sympathise with us because He has been here as a Man. He has been here in the wilderness, He has been here and suffered all the opposition. Peter was going to fail, he was trusting in himself; he said that even if everybody denies you, I will not do it. The Lord said, I have prayed for you. He anticipated it. It is very beautiful how Peter came to that. The Lord never brought up what Peter did, or anything about it. There is perfect confidence in Peter in the account in the Acts, just days after he had denied his Lord, but there is the Priest. He will not raise these matters again; they are settled through believing on Jesus! Your history is covered by the Priest and His service brings you into the liberty and joy of what He has done.

The apostle goes on through these chapters in Hebrews, speaking of how great a Priest Jesus is, and where He has gone. He has entered in in His own Person, because it was not possible that He could be held by the power of death (Acts 2:24). What a Saviour to trust, what a Person to trust! The creeds and sects will all break down, full of confusion, but there is Someone in whom you can rest your faith and rest your soul, that He is there for us. It says “consider how great this personage was”; how great He is. He is beyond what man can compass and comprehend, but He is there for our trust, for our confidence, and the more we give ourselves over to Him, the more we will come to enjoy what we have come to. We have come to Jesus, the centre of the whole system!

The verse in chapter 6 says that He has gone “as forerunner for us” (v.20). Do you think that is where your home is going to be, dear brethren; do you think that is the end?

‘And we our great Forerunner see

In His own glory there;

Yet not ashamed with such as we’. (Hymn 81)

There He is. All of our histories are up and down, but He is the Forerunner. Think of the heavens open to Him; is it any wonder? “And confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh” (1 Tim.3:16); that is a beautiful verse. “God has been manifested in flesh ... has appeared to angels”, and then it says “has been received up in glory”. Not ‘to glory’, but “received up in glory”. It is the answer to the cross; “whom heaven indeed must receive”, Acts 3:21. He is “received up in glory”; He is there as our Forerunner, forever a High Priest “according to the order of Melchisedec” (Heb.7:17); that way it cannot break down. There is much more in these verses than I have time, or am able, to speak of, but I wanted to call attention to Jesus, and then to the blood of sprinkling.

The blood of sprinkling was a great thing. It came upon Aaron and his sons. The blood was sprinkled on Aaron’s sons – that is on you and me. The blood of sprinkling means that you are covered. There was a wonderful thing said about these four sons of Aaron; it says that the blood was sprinkled on their right ears, their right thumbs, and on the great toes of their right feet (Lev.8:24). It is very interesting to think of that. I was taught a little ditty; ‘Be careful, little ear, what you hear’. If you are a Christian, the blood is in principle on your ear, so be careful what you hear! There are all these sounds from the wireless and newspapers and all such things. Remember that the blood is there on your ear; be careful what you hear! Then it is on the right hand; the poem goes on to say ‘Be careful what you do’, and then on the foot; ‘Be careful where you go’. That ditty was repeated often: ‘There’s a Saviour up above, watching over you in love, so be careful … ’. Be careful what you hear, be careful what you do, and be careful where you walk. That is what we have come to, dear brethren. We have to watch and be careful, be careful how we handle things because of the blood of sprinkling. The blood is identification; God said “when I see the blood, I will pass over you”, Exod.12:13. As you come under the shelter of the blood, you are identified as belonging to Christ; you are not your own, you have been bought with a price (1 Cor.6:19). That is the blood of sprinkling. We have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus, we have to behave differently.

In chapter 13 it says “Wherefore also Jesus”, Heb.13:12. It does not speak about the Lord or Christ very much in Hebrews, it is “Jesus”. The writer wanted to impress these Jews that there is a Person who had never been here before, a Person who has been here, been in the grave, and is risen and glorified. That is what we have come to – we have come to Jesus. “Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood”; not anybody else’s but “his own blood”. The next word is “therefore let us go forth to him without the camp”. The setting in these verses is that, when Moses came down from the mountain and he heard the singing in the camp, he took the tent and “pitched it outside the camp”, Exod.33:7. Within the camp, the attitude is, “let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die (1 Cor.15:32); that is what the camp is full of. But we find Jesus outside the camp, we go outside the camp to Jesus. It is not because the brethren say we must, or because it is some orthodox thing to do, but you will not find Him in the camp, you will find Him outside the camp. So it says “therefore let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”.

May we be encouraged, dear brethren, that the Person may be more before us. The doctrine is very beautiful, and we must apply ourselves to the doctrine, but it all leads to Christ, it leads to Jesus, the One who has gone outside the camp. Many people ask, Where do you find Him? Well, you will find Him without the camp. You will not find Him in the world and its ramifications, but you find Him outside the camp, and we go to Him “bearing his reproach: for we have not here an abiding city, but we seek the coming one”, of which He is the Lord and the Centre.

May our hearts be drawn to Him, dear brethren!

Word in meeting for ministry, Kirkcaldy

3 January 2017

R. Taylor