THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST
THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST
JBS The first thing of immense importance to get clear about as to priesthood is that it comes in connection with the rejection of Christ. Psalm 110 shows that. It is a solemn, but sorrowful, fact that there is no true idea of priesthood in christendom.
As the rejection of Christ is practically ignored on every hand, His priesthood must of necessity be ignored also. Ignore His rejection, and you ignore His exaltation.
I think we know very little of the Melchisedec priesthood. Many touch the beginning of the subject of priesthood, which is alluded to in chapter 4 of the epistle, but we should not rest without going on to the consummation, which is not reached until we come to chapter 10. If what comes out in chapter 4 is not learned, you will not learn what is in chapter 10.
The first thing to understand is the greatness of the Priest; then the sphere of His service. He has entered in, and our association is with Him there; this is beautifully set forth in the hymn:-
‘In Him we stand, a heav’nly band,
Where He Himself is gone.’ (12:2)
WW Is the Melchisedec priesthood confined to Christ in glory now?
JBS The Melchisedec Priest is for us now; Christ is Priest after that order, though He exercises His priesthood after the pattern of Aaron. There are two classes of believers now: those who only see the work of Christ as far as the two goats, and those who see His work as the bullock which Aaron offered for himself and his house. (See Leviticus 16). To which class do you belong?
WW I should say, to [p. 258] the latter.
JBS Aaron offered for himself and his house - they were a priestly company; and, in his going in, all were there representatively; he went in in the savour of the sweet incense, which came up before the Lord. Our position as priests is thus set forth during the time of Christ’s rejection here; we share in His place of rejection and also in His exaltation in heaven.
The company represented in the two goats is no doubt Israel in the future, and the blessing that will accrue to them is connected with the earth. Many christians do not go beyond what is seen in the two goats; they have the forgiveness of their sins, but remain in earthly associations, not seeing that their present privilege is to enter the holiest.
What is seen in the Church of England in their services is the idea of the two companies in an external way; that is, you get the clergy in their surplices inside the rails, and the congregation outside.
In Hebrews 10 you are entitled to go in, but the title has to be taken up; and a great point in the book of Hebrews is that we are attracted by a Person who is not in this place; but He is so indispensable to me, that I am drawn away from the place where He is not, to Himself where He is. I am not only freed from my sins, but with that I am called to the privilege of sharing the company of the One who has gone in to God.
But you must know Him as Saviour before you can have Him as Priest. You must be in all the benefit of His finished work on the cross, before you can be in His company in the holiest.
DLH When you say we must be done with Him as Saviour, that, of course, relates to our sins, and all that we are in ourselves; all that was completed by Him, before He took up the service of priesthood?
JBS Yes. Faith sees everything cleared from the eye of God once and for ever. But I sin, you say. Well then, the advocacy comes in, and if you do not [p. 259] judge your sin, whatever you fail to judge will be the very thing you will suffer from sooner or later; be sure of this, the unjudged thing will be your scourge.
No one could worship God until he gets to Him; in Hebrews you have a right to enter into the presence of God.
HCA In reference to the two goats and the bullock we were speaking of in connection with Aaron and his sons, if we were in the benefit of what is set forth in the two goats only, we should simply have a title to a good conscience as to our sins in this world.
JBS In Leviticus 8, where we have the order of the burnt-offering and the consecration-offering, what comes out is that all the sacrifices necessary for approach are offered first, and then Aaron and his sons have their hands filled - they are consecrated, and the consecrated company go in, in all the fragrance of the High Priest. It is our privilege to be consciously in the holiest in the acceptability of Christ Himself. We are actually put on a level with Him in the place of His exaltation. We have a title, and we are told to “draw near”.
WW Do I understand that you would not have us taken up so much with the relief side in connection with the priesthood of Christ?
JBS Yes, but you must begin with t he relief side.
DLH Does not the relief come from above?
JBS Certainly. The best illustration I know is in the case of Peter; when he is going to the Lord on the water he is on the way to join Him in another place, at the other side of death. As he goes, he begins to sink, and cries out, “Lord, save me”. The Lord in answer does not quiet the waters, but draws him to His own side. So with us, He does not remove the sorrow, but He draws us to His own side.
It is perfectly inconceivable to think that we are brought on a level with the High Priest. I am drawn away to a Person who consoles me by taking me up [p. 260] into His own company. I wrote to a christian who was in sorrow, and I said to him, Sorrow never loosens us from this world. The sorrow is here, but He draws us to Himself where there is no sorrow. Every man can tell where he is historically from Hebrews 11. Some get as far as Noah; very few perhaps beyond Abraham.
Many persons think the object of priesthood is to make things easier for us here; but that is not the object of it at all.
Ques Is the feet-washing in John 13 connected with the priesthood of Christ?
JBS I think feet-washing is rather a different idea. The point in it is, I think, to remove all shade of distance between Him and me; it includes the thought of Priest in a sense.
DLH I should like to ask whether the Lord in Psalm 22: 22 is seen in the character of High Priest?
JBS I should say it is more apostolic: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”.
As to feet-washing, you must have known what intimacy with Him is to know what restoration is. Many a person has his conscience right without his heart being right. Peter was not right as to his heart, until John 21. There may be a good conscience without the sense of distance being felt, because nearness has not been known. Where intimacy has been enjoyed, any interruption of it must be distressing.
I think Jacob gives us an illustration of it. When he is told to go up to Bethel to dwell there (Genesis 35: 2), he says to his household and all with him: “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments”. He had not been there for twenty years, but he remembered the character of the place. He had said, “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”, Genesis 28: 17.
One distinct-mark of a person who has been with [p. 261] the Lord, is that the Lord and His interests are paramount with him.
Priesthood is to bring you to His level in the presence of God - to the same position as Himself; you are there in His acceptance. The only passage, that I know of, that adequately describes it is in John’s epistle: “As he is, so are we in this world”, 1 John 4: 17.
JJ Is not the climax of the doctrine of priesthood reached in Hebrews 10?
JBS No doubt it is. Many a christian’s idea of priesthood is that Christ is now in heaven completing His work for us. No such idea could be gathered even from the types. In Leviticus 8, Aaron and his sons (type of us as a priestly company) are seen in the holy place, eating of the offerings. Christ, as the Melchisedec Priest, has not come out yet to bless Israel.
THR The Melchisedec character sets forth more the glory of the Person.
EC Are not the functions of Christ now as Priest Aaronic?
JBS He goes beyond Aaron, because there is no type of going into “the holiest”. The great truth to be learned by the soul is that I am before God, not only in all the perfectness of Christ’s death and resurrection, but I share in all the fragrance and blessedness of Himself.
According to Peter’s epistle I have first tasted that the Lord is gracious; the next step is that I have come to Him as the living Stone; then I have boldness to enter the holiest, I know Him as a great Priest over the house of God - a new order of things - I share; as the hymn says-
’... Shares
All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.’ (249:2)
FER As far as I understand the subject of Christ’s priesthood, it seems to me you do not come properly to the Priest until Hebrews 7:26. In verse 25 it says, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to [p. 262] the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them”. Then follows, “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens”. We learn thus in the Priest the greatness of the calling.
I think priesthood is not simply to lead us into the enjoyment of our salvation, but into the apprehension of God’s purpose about us.
In the common idea priesthood is the provision to carry us through the wilderness. With such a thought I could not understand the statement, “Such an high priest became us”. It appears to me that changes the ground. Up to that verse all is on our side; but it is the means to an end: He comes to you on your side that He may conduct you to His side, and that is according to God’s purpose - He is going to lead you into God’s purpose about you, and the Priest is suitable - “holy, harmless, undefiled”, etc.
DLH Are we not supported on our side by being led to His side?
THR The question is, if the High Priest comes to our side, are we prepared to be drawn to His side? We like what is generally viewed as His sympathy with us in our circumstances of trial, sorrow, and so on; but we must not forget that if it is a heavenly priesthood, it must be connected with heavenly things.
JJ May we not ask, Do we want to go there? If not, why is it we do not?
FER I think our answer is, because we do not want to leave here.
JBS I would go further; I believe it is because we lack affection for the Lord. At the death of Lazarus, I do not think Martha tasted the sympathy of Jesus. Mary did, and He was so endeared to her that she no doubt felt His death far more than she did that of her brother. His sympathy so attached her to Himself, that she gladly expends the most costly thing [p. 263] she has upon Him. In sympathy I learn the depth of interest He takes in me - He wept with Mary!
Practically in principle many christians are like Job. Under the three great afflictions of man (he lost his property, his relations, and his health), he was sustained; and that is the most that is often looked for now. Sympathy is that He so feels for me that He draws me to Himself, that I may know Him and be with Him.
B Someone has said that priesthood is to sustain us in circumstances now, and bring us to glory by and by.
JBS But you want Him now; when the pressure is really great, He so endears Himself to you that, in His company, you are beyond your circumstances.
RFK In which part of Hebrews do we find Christ as Priest leading us into the counsel and purpose of God?
FER “For such an high priest became us”, etc.; that is, those who have come by Him to God. In Hebrews 6: 20 it is said that He as “forerunner is for us entered”.
In Hebrews 7:25 He is able to save to the uttermost, etc., and another thing is, He is suitable - “holy, harmless”, etc., according to the calling. In Hebrews 8: 1, 2, “We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle”, etc. The whole ground is changed. Clearly this is not our side, but very distinctly God’s side. Then in chapter 10 we enter “the holiest”.
I see it in the type in Aaron. He was a high priest in things pertaining to God; the proper work of Aaron and his sons was the charge of the sanctuary. Moses inaugurated the system, and Aaron and his sons had charge of the sanctuary. As Priest, Christ is said to succour, sympathise, and save; but in this you have not got to the sanctuary. I think that is where the [p. 264] weak point is; many christians look for these three things because it is on their side; but when you come to the sanctuary it is a question of God’s side.
It is good to have His succour, and no doubt the purport of it is to attach you to Himself. Affection appropriates the Priest; I have such confidence of heart in Him that I know He delights to conduct me to where He is.
EC Is not the exercise of the priesthood, as we pass through the wilderness in connection with our circumstances, incidental - the great purpose of it being to lead into the sanctuary, which is the paramount thing connected with it?
FER I do not think it is going too far to say that Christ is charged with the service of the sanctuary; He is the Minister of the holy places: He inaugurates the system as Apostle, and then He fulfils what Moses typically did not; that is, He takes up the priesthood also.
THR Another thing, the tabernacle was anointed first, showing that the sanctuary was the great thought. There the priest was to minister.
JBS The tabernacle was set up in the wilderness, where also the law was given (by the law is the knowledge of sin); so that two things came out, namely, the knowledge of sin, and approach to God.
It is a great thing to get into your true position then, knowing that, it is wonderful how you will under-stand things.
DLH Do we know where Aaron and his sons stood, when they had their hands filled?
JBS Between the altar and the door of the tabernacle.
THR In the type Israel was much more in question.
FER There is no type of entering the holiest.
JBS There is no doubt it is the great effort of [p. 265] many to bring Christ down to what He was on earth, instead of our going to Him where He now is.
He has no spot on earth but in the assembly, and there I come to learn of Him where He is, in His own house.
B Does it not say, “If he were on earth, he should not be a priest?” Hebrews 8: 4.
JBS Quite so.