THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

Hebrews 2: 16-18; 3: 1, 2; 4: 14-16; 5: 4-10; 7: 1-3, 23-28; 8: 1, 2

I desire to speak, dear brethren, about the priesthood of Christ.

The priesthood of Christ is for those who have faith. It is said, “For he does not indeed take hold of angels … but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham”, which is to say that the priesthood of Christ is not for angels, or for all men, but for those who are of the seed of Abraham, for those who have faith, who have accepted the glad tidings, and who by this means have been called by God. It is said of us at the beginning of chapter 3, “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”. Abraham typically was called by a heavenly calling, to go out from his own country not a country that God would show him, and he went out, the Scripture says, “not knowing where he was going” He is thus a figure of those whom God has called with a heavenly calling, and who walk on the principle of faith, marked by faith, without being concerned about where they are going. We know the end of the journey but not the details, that is to say the way by which we will arrive there. Faith gives us the light for our walk, to follow the path, and it is good to have in our spirits the thought that the path of a faith is not a path entirely unfolded before us. We know the end of it, the finish, but not the details, and faith makes clear to us in what way we should walk there. This is the principle by which a Christian must move. God has given him light as we go along, as it progresses, for the next step. The priest is therefore for such; he is for those who are “partakers of the heavenly calling”, and this shows the humanity of Christ as something into which He has entered and where he has moved, so that He can support them in a similar path with every sympathy. The path of faith gives man light from God so that we should be sustained in such a path of faith, the Lord Himself, the Son of God, has entered into manhood, become Man, He knows the circumstances that belong to man, so that in these circumstances He can move according to man in relation with God. Having finished His course, He is able to give support and sympathy to those that are still in the way. The experience of Christ’s priesthood is a matter of linking the hearts of the saints individually to Him; and so their path has value. If it is taken up with God, it serves to deepen in us in attachment of heart to Christ.

In the first passage read, it is said: “Wherefore it became him in all things to be made like to his brethren, so that he should be a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God”. It is necessary to understand that the priesthood concerns the things relating to God. The priest is a necessity because we are called to engage, in this world, in the service of God, and to maintain it. The service of God must never be demeaned. In the old economy, God had shown that He desired that for His people each day, each sabbath, each month and at each feast. But what He desired each day was not to fail. It shows clearly that His service, in which He takes pleasure, must be maintained day after day, and that expected this from His people. The service is carried on currently in the wilderness. It will go on eternally in heaven, where there will be nothing of contrary conditions; but the glory of the present time is that the service of God can be maintained on the earth even in the presence of contrary conditions. Even though saints may be surrounded by unhealthy conditions, the glory of the present time is that the service of God can be maintained by them in holiness, and in this context the priesthood of Christ is brought out.

The priesthood of Christ is not for us to deliver us from sorrows and affliction, but rather that, in temptation and affliction, we should not be overcome or rendered unable to continue the service of God. That is to say that the saints must be sustained and preserved superior to all that surrounds them so that God should not lose what returns to Him but that what He desires should be rendered in holiness. Thus, it is said that we are “holy brethren” and that is what we are dear brethren. Alas, our conduct may often deny it, but as redeemed by the blood of Christ and having received the Holy Spirit, we are holy brethren. We are constituted such, set apart by the death of Christ, by the Holy Spirit and preserved thus from all that displeases God. We are holy brethren, constituted such. “Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”. We must therefore consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus.

The epistle to the Hebrews is full of references to “Jesus”. The Lord is presented in the Hebrews not as such in an official light, although there are official positions, such as that of High Priest mentioned in this epistle; but He is constantly spoken of as Jesus, and this serves to attach our hearts to Him. Jesus is the Name by which he is known by Christians, and it His personal Name, including the truth of His Person, for this Name means ‘Jehovah the Saviour’; but this Name also speaks of the Man who has won the affections of those who belong to Him. Thus we have to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus. Firstly, it is said that He is “faithful to him that has constituted him”. He is faithful to God, faithful in all God’s house, not as Moses who was made as a servant but as Son. That is to say, on God’s part, Son over the house of God. He is not a servant, He is Son over the house of God, with the holy and jealous affections for what belongs to God, which means that nothing unsuitable must come into God’s house. Christ is over it for the pleasure of God, as Son. Then, He ministers in the service of God, or in relation to the things of God, as Priest, and this presents what He is on our side, as Apostle He is come from God to us; as High Priest, He has gone on our behalf to God. These two functions are united in Christ. Typically, Moses was the apostle and Aaron the high priest. But when we come to Christianity, the two services are fulfilled by Christ.

In chapters 2 and 4, it is said that he has been tempted: “In that he has himself suffered, being tempted, he is even able to succour them that are being tempted”. In chapter 4, “we have not a high priest who is not able to sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”. That is what we have. The gospels are given to us so as to impress us with the way in which Jesus has been qualified for His office as High Priest. “It behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren”. In becoming Man, He did not assume in the world a position different from that of other men. In His manhood condition, He did not escape vicissitudes and temptations. He could have avoided all that if he had wanted, but “It behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren”. In becoming Man, He entered into the same circumstances, sin apart, as those who were of the seed of Abraham. His circumstances could hardly excite the envy of others. It is not a great thing to live in Nazareth, it is a small thing to be a carpenter. Human ambition would find nothing great in such conditions. The Lord as Man down here entered into the most humble circumstances among those who were the “partakers of the heavenly calling”: he passed through them on the principle of obedience to God. He comported Himself in a way accessible to each of us. When we read that He was tempted, we could think that it was extraordinary that the Creator, in His position as Man, was placed in circumstances such that His creature, the devil, could draw near to Him with devilish insinuations and suggestions. And yet He did it. Why? Because the partakers of the heavenly calling could find themselves in conditions where they would be exposed to the temptation of the devil.

The Lord was in the wilderness, tempted by the devil during forty days, and during this time he hungered and fasted. The devil exhausted every temptation, but we are told in detail of only three. They are enough to show us how the Lord met the tempter who said, “If thou be Son of God, speak that this stone, that it may become bread”. He knew that the Lord was hungry, and he presented to Him temptation in a calculated way, knowing that every other man would have succumbed. But what came into evidence was that, in the Man Christ Jesus, God had brought in an incorruptible Man, and He met the temptation in a manner suited to any man or woman. He replied, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”. He was dependent on the word of God and regulated his movements according to it. Thus the devil was defeated. The Lord had said, “It is written”, showing that He had the word of God in His heart. This is important, dear brethren. We are greatly exposed to the attacks of Satan, if we do not continually read and study the word of God, for it is from it, if it is in our heart and our spirit, that the Spirit of God will serve us when the occasion arises. If we have never read Deuteronomy, for example, we will not have read the passages that the Lord cites in the gospels. But they are there in Deuteronomy, hence the importance of reading all the Scriptures consistently and with perseverance; and if they are retained in our spirit, then the Spirit can help us to use them when occasion for it arises. The Lord had the word of God in His heart.

Then Satan tempts Him the second time. (I am referring to what is presented on this subject in Luke.) Satan shows Him all the kingdoms of the earth in an instant and says to Him that he will give Him everything if falling down before him, He will render homage. In acting thus, Satan knew that he would have had the victory over every other man. But the Lord replied: “It is written, thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve”. Satan had said, If you bow down before me. But the Lord replied to him thus, that is to say: I will not bow down before you, but before Jehovah my God. Finally, when the devil suggested to Him that He should throw Himself down, he subtly quoted what is written: “He will give charge to his angels concerning for thee to keep thee; and on their hands shall they shall bear thee, lest in any wise thou strike thy foot against a stone”. But the Lord replied: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. This indicates to us, dear brethren, in what way the Lord met temptation. He did not meet it as God exercising His divine power over a creature; but He met it on ground proper to man in relation to God; and thus He is qualified to exercise the priesthood as to those who are “partakers in the heavenly calling”. Any of us can act on this ground. The Lord indicates to us the way by which we will be preserved, and where He will support us with his sympathy and influence, reminding us that He Himself walked that path and that He knew what just it was to be tempted by Satan. How He suffered in His spirit when evil was suggested to Him! I ask myself if we realise how the Lord would have suffered in spirit in going through this evil world. How all that must have been offensive to Him! But He went through in all patience, guided only by the principles which should guide a man in relation with God.

We read, “Having therefore a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession”. He has passed through the heavens, He has gone into the immediate presence of God, and He is there on our behalf. It is good for us to recognise that Jesus has passed through the heavens, that He is the Son of God, and that He has entered the immediate presence of God in all His acceptability as Son of God; and the place that Jesus fills in the presence of God marks the place that God has bestowed upon us. Thus our service to God is not marked by distance but by nearness in the consciousness that the place that Jesus occupies He occupies as Forerunner for us.

In chapter 5, we have a touching scripture that speaks to us intensely of the sufferings of Christ and stresses the fact that to be Son is one of the qualities, one of the features of the Priest. In the first chapter, He is presented as Apostle, the Apostle of our confession; and Psalm 2 is quoted in agreement with this chapter: “Thou art my Son, I have this day begotten thee” signifies that the Lord as Apostle is the one who comes from God to show what Christianity is, what God’s desire for us is, and that the principal feature of it is adoption. This is seen in Christ: “Thou art my Son”. This is the first feature of the Name that is given in the first chapter where He is presented as Apostle. This signifies that for us the light of the Spirit of God is presented in Christ, and the first thought that comes to our attention is that of adoption: “Thou art my Son, I have this day begotten thee”. But in this chapter, Psalm 2 is equally quoted as evidence that He is marked as Priest. It is said: “Thus the Christ also has not glorified Himself to be made a high priest; but He who had said to him, Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee”.

Thus when God salutes Christ as Son, He designated Him as Him who would be in His presence as High Priest on behalf of those whom God had called and whom He represented. This is most re-assuring, dear brethren. There is nothing more blessed than to feel that He who represents us in the presence of God is there as Son in all the affection, the nearness and the liberty which that implies. It is one of the features of the priesthood of Christ. Then, so that He should be qualified, on account of all that we are called to pass through, it is said, “though he were Son”. In spite of all that He is in His Person, though He were Son, He has “learned obedience from the things which he suffered”. It has often been said, and it is good to repeat it, that the Lord did not learn to be obedient: He had no need to learn to be obedient. We often have need to learn to be it, for our wills are insubject to God and we must learn obedience. The Lord had no need to learn to be obedient, but He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Obedience was an entirely new principle for Him.

Obedience does not apply to God evidently, and when the Lord was “in the form of God”, obedience did not apply to Him. But being become man, He entered into a condition to which obedience applied, and thus He has learned obedience. It was a new experience for Him, one says it with all reverence. Being become Man, He who was God, He entered into a condition to which new experiences applied, and the dominant principle of manhood in relation to God is obedience. Thus the Lord entering into manhood learned obedience, and He learned it in having been full proved. God ordained it thus, so that obedience should be proved in its entirety and its perfection in Jesus. He learned obedience by the things that He suffered: “in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears”. Obedience required that He should go even to death, in all that it signified for Him. But He prayed and made supplications to Him who could save Him out of death. He went into death having confidence, knowing that God would not leave His soul in Sheol, but that He would show Him the path of life, Ps 16: 10, 11. This chapter relates, I am sure, to Gethsemane. I do not say that it is entirely limited to that, but it makes special allusion to Gethsemane. Matthew, Mark and Luke speak to us about it so that we are subdued in our spirits when we see what was imposed upon the Lord Jesus in His path of obedience in which He had to walk. The full will of God was in His heart and to accomplish it He had to face the cross and all that it signified for Him, in this place where He would be abandoned by God and endure the judgment of God, Himself being made sin.

I ask myself if we can truly realise what this meant, that He who knew not sin should be “made sin”. Think how this would be terrible for Christ to be made sin, and think of what this meant when He was made sin so as to bear the judgment of God upon sin, unsparingly without mitigation. Upon the cross, he says: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He did not ask for any mitigation, and justified God, for He says, “And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel”. Gethsemane was not actually the forsaking. Gethsemane was not the judgment of God, but only the anticipation. Satan put upon His spirit the weight of what the cross would be for Him in all its terribleness, so that, if possible, He could be turned aside. We read that He prayed in Gethsemane: “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”. He had holy feelings as to this, what was involved, and the liberty to ask that if it was possible, it might be taken away from Him; but all was governed by this: not My will but Thine. He prayed a second time saying, “My Father, if it cannot pass from me unless I drink it, thy will be done”. His acceptance was complete, but He had the liberty to ask that if it was possible it should be taken away from Him. However, as I have said, He was entirely led by this consideration: “not as I will, but as thou wilt”. In Mark we read that He “fell upon the ground” and said, “Abba Father”, emphasising the depth of the feelings He had at that moment. In Luke we learn that “His sweat became as great drops of blood, falling upon the ground” and that “an angel from heaven appeared strengthening him”. These three facts are related to us to give us some impression of what it means when it is said “with strong crying and tears” which show how real the test was which the Lord had to face, showing how perfect and complete Christ’s obedience was. He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. But, dear brethren, if indeed in the path of the will of God we have to meet a very hard test, it will never be comparable to this.

If we have to meet a trial in the path of God’s will, we can see the efficacy of the priesthood of Christ. He is full of sympathy for us. He can say to us, I have been tested, I learned completely what is involved in the path of obedience, and putting my confidence in God, I have walked according to this principle, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt”. Such is the principle on which he faced death. God has responded to Him; He has raised Him from among the dead, and set Him in the highest position in glory. It is from this position that the Lord speaks of all His holy trials which were found in the path of obedience: All my help is assured to you if only you continue in the path of obedience; you have all my support, all my sympathy; but if you get away from it, I will not be able to support you. You can feel how real is the priesthood of Christ, dear brethren. Thus it is said: “having been heard because of his piety, though he were Son, he has learned obedience from the things which he suffered; and having been perfected, became to all those who obey him, author of eternal salvation”.

You see the two thoughts. He has learned obedience and now those who obey Him benefit from His priesthood. We may benefit from His intercession but we will never have the gain of His priesthood if we are disobedient: having been perfected, He has become to all those who obey Him author of eternal salvation, being addressed by God High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec.

Now I want to speak about Melchisedec. The Spirit of God looks back to the introduction of Melchisedec in Chapter 7. He is a mysterious character. He is spoken of in chapter 14 of Genesis. He is suddenly introduced in the incident where he meets Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings, and we do not hear of him again until Psalm 110, where David writes: “Jehovah has sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec”. Then there is no longer any mention of him until Hebrews. It is only in Genesis 14, in Psalm 110 and in the epistle at the Hebrews that Melchisedec is mentioned. Nevertheless, he is a very important character, because he draws our attention to the Son of God, in the glory of His Person, having no beginning of days or end of life, having the priesthood in accordance with God’s will, a priesthood which will never fail, because it is “according to the order of Melchisedec”, which represents Christ as Priest in the power of an indissoluble life. This Melchisedec was priest of the Most High God; and as Abraham returned from the smiting of the kings, Melchisedec came before him with bread and wine, saying, “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God … and blessed be the Most High God”. This typifies the Lord not as sustaining us in trial, but as belonging to a divine system, and then we must not allow ourselves to be distracted by anything on earth. Melchisedec is presented as priest of the Most High God and he says, “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth”; he made Abram understand that the Possessor of heaven and earth was to be served. Melchisedec the priest was there before God, bringing Abram bread and wine. I have some idea that this is a veiled allusion to the Supper, not that it would be a question of wine in relation to the Supper, but there is an allusion to the way in which the Lord would serve us, week after week, so as to maintain in our souls the feeling that we belong to a divine system, to fulfil divine service. The Supper leads to this, being renewed week by week; it reminds us continually that we have part, thanks to God, in divine service is the most elevated form. We know God in a greater and more blessed way than any other family. And the Lord is able to sustain us in this sense so that we should not be distracted by anything of what is around us.

We would be able to think that Abram would have a motive to glorify himself. He had made a long journey out of affection for his brother, and had won a great victory over the kings; he had recovered Lot and everything that belonged to him, and the danger was that Abram would glorify himself. Perhaps we have served with a very special spiritual power? It is just at that moment that we risk glorifying ourselves, and that we have need of help so that we do not succumb, for the danger would be that we allow to enter into our souls and our spirit some evil element of the world as pride or self-satisfaction.

Melchisedec comes and gives him bread and wine to remind him, Abram, that he is blessed by the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth. And Melchisedec blesses the Most High God, so as to suggest to Abram that he has to engage in the service of God. The more we engage ourselves in the service of God, dear brethren, not in form but in the liberty and truth that the Holy Spirit affords, the more we will be protected from pride or self-satisfaction; this will be if we truly come into the presence of God. We might be able to engage in some form of service that is neither true not free. The golden calf proves this. The people made the golden calf and proclaimed a feast to Jehovah. They all danced before the golden calf saying, “This is thy God, Israel, who has brought thee up out of the land of Egypt”. Ostensibly, they were engaged in the service of Jehovah, however all that they had done was to cast the gold in a mould. The thoughts they had of God were in this mould. It was the same for their service. Thus nothing was living. How we must guard this! The Spirit of God engages us in guarding it and He is our safeguard. Thus, Melchisedec sustained Abram so that He could be maintained in the service of the blessed God. It is said that he is “priest for ever”, and in chapter 7: 24: “on account of his continuing for ever, has the priesthood unchangeable. Whence also he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them”. We need the experience of trial. We have to know what it is to be tempted by the devil. Let us not think that we will be overcome, for there is no reason for that.

In experiencing trial and temptation, we will have the priesthood of Christ constantly at our disposal. Having always in mind that we are partakers of the heavenly calling, that we have been called to serve God in holy conditions of liberty that must not in any way be tarnished.

In the exercises connected with this service, we will always find the priesthood of Christ at our disposal. He ever lives. It is also said “he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them”, and then, “such a high priest became us”. This shows, I say it humbly, how great the saints are who are suited by such a High Priest, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens”. Then we read that “the law constitutes men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the swearing of the oath which is after the law, a Son perfected for ever”, chap 7: 28. God has judged and having judged He will not repent of it: “Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec”. This on account of what Christ is in His own Person, His priesthood abides continually to help the saints in the service of God. We can understand the writer of this epistle when he says: “Now a summary of the things of which we are speaking is, We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens; minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man”. We have him as a great Priest; but He is minister of the holy places and the true tabernacle that the Lord has pitched. He is engaged with the service of God, He is minister of the sanctuary. He is in charge of all the. service, and we have Him, so that He may support us throughout the service, despite what could distract us from it down here.

May the Lord help us, dear brethren, to apprehend more and more the priesthood of Christ, and let us appropriate it! What glory! There is the glory of His Person, as the Son of God, on the one hand, occupying this position in the presence of God for us, continuously; and then there is the moral glory, and the great attraction of the way in which He made himself capable of being a merciful and faithful High Priest, full of sympathy, indeed the way He suffered, being tempted, having “learned obedience from the things he suffered”.

 

 

1954

From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle

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