2. HIS VOICE FOR THE ASSEMBLY
2. HIS VOICE FOR THE ASSEMBLY
Hebrews 7: 20-28; Hebrews 8: 1-13
Last week we had the thought of Christ before us, in a light and in characters which apply to us individually; that is, as Head, Lord, and Saviour, and the particular idea connected with each. Now tonight I pass on to speak of Christ in relations which apply to us collectively. We have each an individual path, and we need Christ in that path. Many do not go beyond that, and never know what it is to be brought to the promised land. God will bring each one into His purpose eventually; but meantime, if we want to get the present good of it we have to tread upon the ground of promise; and when we do, it becomes ours. Few Christians know the land of promise; they are content to know Christ in reference to themselves in the wilderness.
I spoke of Him as Head of every man. Then as Lord. The Christian claims Him as Lord; He is our Lord. Then as Saviour. These all apply to us individually; we look for Him as Saviour; we look for the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven as Saviour from the coming wrath.
Now I pass on to what Christ is to saints, looked at as the house of God. Here He is the High Priest, and the Minister of the Sanctuary. Christ is a Great Priest over the House of God, and the Minister of the Sanctuary has reference to the Sanctuary. Chapter 8 brings out the latter. It is remarkable that you get all in regard to Christ presented to us in type in the Old Testament; and it is equally striking how the types are carried out in the New Testament: the anti-type answering to the type. In reference to Christ as Head,
[p. 379] Lord, and Saviour, you get the types of these in the Old Testament. Adam was “the figure of him that was to come”. Then in Joseph you get the idea of a Saviour, and that is what Christ is to His brethren. And you also get the anti-type of Isaac and Joshua in Christ. Then Moses and David represented the authority of God, and are types of Christ as Lord. Then we get in Aaron the type both of the High Priest and the Minister of the Sanctuary. Aaron was “called of God”, and so too was Christ; and Aaron was minister of the Sanctuary, of the holy places. The anti-type of everything is found in Christ. The point of importance in regard of these things, is that it binds the books of the Old and New Testaments into one. You get types and shadows in the Old Testament; and in the New Testament you get the substance. Christ is the substance, and the substance answers to the type. No type could come up to the Anti-type, but yet it is remarkable how accurate the types are. The Priest is connected with God’s house, and the Minister is connected with the Sanctuary. Turn to Exodus 15: 13: “Thou by thy mercy hast led forth the people that thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them by thy strength unto the abode of thy holiness”. Then later on (verse 17), “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, the place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling; the Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared”. There we have two thoughts: (1) “Guided ... unto the abode of thy holiness”; (2) “Thou shalt bring them in”, etc. The abode of His holiness is connected with the wilderness, and the Sanctuary is connected with the land. The same idea is maintained in the New Testament. The first (Exodus 15: 13) is connected with the instruction which is necessary for the people of God here; and the second (verse 17) is connected with the establishment of God’s purpose in Christ, and that for Himself.
I refer now to Hebrews 3, “Whose house are we” — Christ as Son over His house. Now it is plain that we get here the thought of God’s house. We are said to be God’s house; Christ is looked at as the Builder. Jew and Gentile are builded together for an habitation of God by the Spirit. The thought of the house of God must needs cover that of the Sanctuary in one way, and yet each idea conveys a different thought. In Exodus 15: 13 we get: “Thou hast guided them ... unto the abode of thy holiness”. God’s nature is the abode of His holiness. If you want to find the house of God, you have to come to God’s nature. Righteousness and holiness are not the same ideas. Holiness is that which characterises His nature. His nature is the abode of His holiness; and what are we guided to it for? That we may become partakers of His holiness (see Hebrews 12: 6): “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (verse 10), “He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness”. That is what God has brought us to know Him in His nature for, that we may be partakers of His holiness; God helps us in the way of discipline, but the end is that we may become “partakers of his holiness”. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. There you get the doctrine of it. If you know the love of God, you know His nature, and in that way you become a partaker of His holiness. The way we become so is by the influence of His nature — of His love, and thus we are qualified to approach God. He hath chosen us, that we might be before Him “holy and without blame” in love; and God has made provision, in virtue of redemption, to bring that about. If you have followed me, you will see that the abode of His holiness is the house of God, where God dwells by His Spirit. The love of God abode there, and the Holy Spirit had come upon men to make men acquainted with it; the Holy Spirit brought witness of the love of God, and there was the abode of God’s holiness. The house of [p. 381] God is thus the place where we are instructed. The Sanctuary is connected with approach and worship; it is a question of our approach to God. The Sanctuary is connected with the land, not as the house is — with the wilderness — the wilderness where you learn what God is. If we did not come under instruction there, we should never be instructed at all. The great object of the priesthood of Christ is, that we may be kept in trim for divine teaching. The work of God is not done in a moment; the discipline of God may be the work of a lifetime, and none of us can afford to be exempt from it. The children in a man’s house are continually liable to discipline; so it is in God’s house, and what for? That you may be partakers of God’s holiness. There is a contrary element in us, and it is there the necessity of discipline comes in. If we were perfect, we should not need it, but we are not perfect. God is perfect, but we are not, and hence the need of discipline, and we are made partakers of God’s holiness so that we may be in accord with God’s nature; for it is only when we are so, that we have liberty in approaching God. God has called us to approach Him: “Be ye holy, for I am holy”. God has brought us to His house, that we may come under the influence of His love. It is a great thing to wait on God, and to be conscious that you are brought under the influence of divine love, so that holiness may be promoted.
It is in connection with God’s house that you get the priesthood of Christ (see chapter 7: 22-28). I connect the thought of priesthood with Christ as Head. Christ has a voice for every man, and men are tested by the voice of Christ. Peace is announced to every man on earth, but I could not say that Christ is Priest for every man, and for this reason, that the Priest is connected with, and involves, the thought of Life. Christ is Priest for those who love God. The one who loves God is the one who has accepted the [p. 382] Head, and has received from Him the gift of living water. He is able to save to the uttermost. As loving God, we have part in the house of God, and Christ as Priest is engaged to enable us to maintain our profession in spite of all opposition and temptation. Christ is able to save to the uttermost, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Christ saves those for whom He makes intercession as Priest. He not only succours and supports us, but He makes intercession. He takes note of every defect; we little know the way we are indebted to the Priest, and His service is that we may be kept in trim for divine teaching. It is in the wilderness we learn what God is. Moses, in the beginning of Deuteronomy, moralises as to what the people had learned of God in the wilderness, and that in view of entering the land, and it is intended to have its bearing upon us in reference to the Sanctuary.
See now chapter 8: 1-6, and verse 6 especially. The great thought of the new covenant is the representation of God’s disposition towards us, and the Sanctuary is dependent on the covenant. We are brought under the influence of what God is by the Spirit; and the great end is that we may be qualified for the Sanctuary, and He is the Mediator of a better covenant: “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant”. You get combined in Christ the Mediator of the new covenant and the Minister of the Sanctuary. In the type Moses was one, and Aaron the other. Our approach to God is in proportion to our acquaintance with God’s disposition towards us. It is so in human things. Our approach to God — our service in the Sanctuary — is dependent upon our appreciation of the knowledge of God’s disposition towards us. So Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant. The service of God was all carried out by the priestly family. Aaron in type was charged with all that was connected with the service of the Sanctuary.
[p. 383] Christ is the One who has the entire charge of the Sanctuary. He is the “minister of the holy places”. Christ offered the two wave-loaves in the Sanctification of the Holy Spirit; that was what took place on the day of Pentecost. So as Priest He had something to offer, and He has offered. Christ is connected with the Sanctuary, and has the charge of it. How does He prepare us for the service of the living God? He makes us acquainted with the disposition of God toward us; He is the Mediator of the new covenant, and then as Priest He makes intercession for us; so that when under bondage in our spirits, through pressure and trial, He grants us deliverance. He delivers the spirit from that which presses upon it, in order that we may be according to God, and so qualified to serve God. One may be crying to God under pressure, but that is not praise. While we are under pressure we cannot be bright, and unless we are joying in God we are not in a condition to serve Him. I should suppose that the service of the Priest is that we may be unhindered for that to which God, in His grace, has been pleased to call us. Christ works by the Spirit; the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
If you have followed me, you will see the moral connection of the house and the Sanctuary. We are called to the Sanctuary, according to the thought of His eternal purpose; He will be served by those whom He has called to priestly service. It is the purpose of sonship — that He may be served. “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, the place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling; the Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared”. We see in Exodus 15 the order of God’s ways with us.