THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST
[p. 308] THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST
What is on my mind, is to seek to open out what is found in the early part of this epistle on the subject of Priesthood; both as to the fact of it, and its character.
There were two parts in the provision of God for His people in the wilderness — one was priesthood, the other the water of purification.
My desire is to speak on the subject of priesthood and the bearing of it, so that we may have a better and truer sense of its application to ourselves — that is, of what Christ is to us as High Priest. The fact of Christ being connected with us as High Priest is so practical, that it is most important that we should have a true intelligence as to it.
There are two sides on which we can regard Christ in relation to man, viz., as Mediator and as Priest; the one is a contrast to the other.
Mediator covers all that He is on God’s side towards men; Priest, on the other hand, covers all on man’s side towards God — a very simple thought to take in. It is in the Mediator that God has approached man. It is not a question here of man approaching God, for it would be impossible for man to approach God unless he has first learned how God has approached man. The Mediator is brought in in this connection — “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all”, 1 Timothy 2: 5, 6. We have here God approaching man in grace.
On the other hand, priesthood is connected entirely with man’s approach to God. The one is the consequence of the other; the Priest could not be without [p. 309] the Mediator — the Mediator and the Priest are combined in one divine Person.
Christ, having completed His work as Mediator in giving “himself a ransom for all”, goes back to God and takes up the position of Priest on the behalf of those who are the objects of God’s purpose.
With a view of making the subject plain, I will just touch upon the Psalms, and open out a little their scope.
They begin with a rejected Christ, and end with the establishment of the Kingdom; anyone may readily see this. Psalm 2 brings before us a rejected Christ, who is declared to be the Son of God; and in the closing Psalms we have the hallelujahs consequent on the establishment of the Kingdom: this was all prophetically recorded long before Christ came.
Another point of moment in the Psalms, and to which others have called attention, is, that they bring in (and they are the first part of Scripture which does distinctly bring in) the idea of “a remnant”.
It may be a church remnant, or that which is the nucleus of the church, or the remnant of Israel in the future. But the thought of a remnant is a very important one in the Psalms, and in connection with Priesthood. In Psalm 22 we have a very distinct reference to a remnant in “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”; and also that which will eventually become “the great congregation” is first a remnant; it becomes that, but is a remnant. In Isaiah we read, “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah”.
In connection with the thought of a remnant an interesting question suggests itself — i.e., how could the Gentiles come in in the character of a remnant? The answer is that an election from the Gentiles is identified with a remnant saved out of Israel. There was a remnant of Israel who received Christ, and the Gentiles became fellow-citizens with the saints and of God’s household. The thought of a remnant brings in the purpose of God; God reserves a remnant to Himself; the apostasy of Israel is foretold, and a remnant is left, and an election from among the Gentiles joined with them.
The High Priest is identified according to the thought of God with the remnant. I do not here refer to the priesthood in Israel, because the high priest there and the whole order of things was after the flesh; but speaking of priesthood as in the mind of God, it is identified with a remnant, it is on their behalf.
As far as I can see there are two ideas taken from the Psalms on which priesthood is built up in Hebrews, viz., sonship and a place at the right hand of God.
In Psalm 2: 7, we read, “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”. And Psalm 110 opens with the words — “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”; and in verse 4 — “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec”. In Psalm 2 we have the Christ rejected by man, and the same thought appears also in Psalm 110. Now I will ask you to look for a moment at Hebrews 5: 4 - 6 and I refer to this passage because that in it the passages I have quoted from the two Psalms are brought into conjunction, and we see that the truth of priesthood in Hebrews lies in the identification of sonship with priesthood, a point of the last moment.
The truth holds good also in our case, that we are priests because we are sons — the priests are now the many sons whom God is bringing to glory. The truths of sonship and priesthood are thus very closely connected, both with regard to Christ and to us.
The value of being a priest is, that you have access to God; and how could you have such access if you did not know His love? It is the knowledge of God’s love that gives you that freedom. Confidence is a [p. 311] most essential element of Christianity, and what do you think that it springs from in the Christian? I should say confidence is rather the effect of love than of faith. That is brought out in John’s first epistle. Perfect love casteth out fear, and then we have confidence. It is in the apprehension of the love of God that we have access to Him.
I have already said that priesthood is closely connected in the divine mind with the idea of a remnant, and that thought is very important in connection with the Psalms. We have the same principle in Hebrews 6: 17 - 20, in which we read, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec”.
We have here the thought of a remnant of Jews, who, in the general defection of the nation, had fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them. And that remnant was secured for God Himself. I think that passage is amply sufficient to identify the priesthood with the thought of a remnant, who are “the heirs of promise”, and who are identified by faith with a rejected Christ. Christ could not be a Priest on earth, though there were in Him all the moral qualifications for a Priest. He could not be a Priest on earth, He was made perfect for such an office through sufferings; and it is when He is exalted to the right hand of God that He enters properly upon His priestly function.
I will enter into some detail connected with priesthood as referred to in the earlier part of the epistle.
[p. 312] In chapter 2: 17, 18 we have, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people”.
The important point to remark in connection with this passage is, that the work of offering is no proper part of Christ’s High Priesthood. It is true that in the work of offering He fulfilled the type of an offering priest, but in His work He was properly the victim — He offered Himself by the Eternal Spirit. The basis on which priesthood rests is righteousness. The righteousness of God was fully vindicated and established as a basis for acting, before Christ entered on the office of High Priest. You find in this passage the qualification of Christ as High Priest — “For, in that himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to help those that are being tempted”.
I will endeavour to give you an illustration of this succour in the history of Paul. He was placed in a great variety of circumstances, and now and again you will even find him brought into such as the Lord would have spared him from: an instance of this is when he went up to Jerusalem and was seized by the people, and afterwards taken out of their hands by the Romans. He put himself into those circumstances in his affection for, and desire to reach in testimony his own people, the Jews. Still, at the critical moment the Lord appears to Paul to succour him. If a man gets into a false position he is in danger, and very liable to depression, and no one but the Lord can help him. So in the case of Peter: he had not faith to go into the palace of the high priest. He did not go there in the way of testimony as Christ did; and having signally failed, what he needed at that moment was succour; and the Lord had prayed for him, and his spirit is saved from being overwhelmed within him, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not”. The [p. 313] care of the Lord is seen in His looking on Peter; and further, in John 21 the Lord takes the priestly place in restoring him.
These examples I think show how graciously and effectually the Lord can succour His saints, even when, through want of watchfulness, they are brought into unhappy circumstances. We may be allowed to be greatly tried, but then it is that the Lord is able to come in in priestly service to succour, lest the spirit of His saints should be overwhelmed. And He comes in that there may be restoration, though the circumstances of trial may be unchanged. Paul had still to suffer in the circumstances, but his spirit was succoured.
If we pass on to the last three verses of chapter 4, we get a little further light; we have here not simply the qualification of the Priest, but that He has passed through the heavens, and that, I think, confirms what I have said with regard to the contrast of Priest and Mediator; you would not speak of a mediator passing through the heavens. The point is, that Christ has gone up from the lowest place of humiliation here, through the heavens, to the throne of God. It is not a question of His having come out to present God to man, but going from the lowest place here to the highest place in heaven; and one result of that is the establishment of the throne of grace. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord came down from heaven and was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death; descended into the lowest depths of shame, but He has now passed through the heavens to the throne of God; He has travelled that course in the interests of man; there is righteous ground for the inauguration of the reign of grace. We have consequently a High Priest who can sympathise with our infirmities, and we have the encouragement now to come “boldly unto the throne of grace”.
I should like to show the working of this. There [p. 314] are three things that at one time or another press upon us all down here; three kinds of pressure that are incidental to human life; one is bereavement; another bodily weakness; and the third is trial in circumstances.
Let me ask if every one has not more or less been touched by one and perhaps all of these three things: it is hardly possible to pass through life here without experiencing something of all three. Well, it is a great thing to know that in all three we have the sympathy of Christ, and that sympathy encourages us to go to the throne of grace to find help and mercy.
The One who is now as man at the right hand of God is the same blessed Person that stood with Martha and Mary at the grave of Lazarus; He came into full contact with human sorrow, so as to sympathise. He has not lost ability for that, now that He is at the right hand of God; there were qualities displayed in Him when here in the flesh which belong to Him still. Could we suppose that the heart of Christ is changed?
We are permitted, too, to see Him on earth in resurrection, in order that we may appreciate the fact that He is not changed, and we have the very same Christ at the right hand of God. The pressure of bodily weakness is understood by Him; and we have a throne of grace where we can obtain mercy, everything connected with us in our path here being taken into account. These are the effects of having a High Priest who has passed through the heavens.
I will now go on to chapter 5: 7 - 9: “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”. I desire to say a word as to two thoughts in this passage. One is, He learned obedience. We must not confound that with the idea [p. 315] of learning to obey; we have to learn to obey because we have wills. Such could not be supposed of Christ; His meat was to do the will of His Father; but in His path down here He learned everything which obedience involved. The other point is, “being made perfect”. This must be limited to His qualification for entering upon priestly functions. We have the same thought in chapter 2 there He is made perfect as leader of our salvation.
When you come to the application of the passage, “He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”, I understand eternal salvation to be in contrast with temporal deliverance. God effected temporal deliverances for Israel, but now Christ has secured ‘eternal’ salvation. In their case deliverance was material; for us salvation is in a sense moral — the emancipation of the soul from all that would hold it from God.
I believe that the Lord was bent upon this in His dealing with the woman of Samaria at the well of Sychar. He says, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life”. My thought is, that what the Lord effects for the soul of the Christian, is the communication to him of an entirely new spring, which shall in result emancipate him from the power of all that is of sin in him. This, I think, is seen in His words to the Samaritan woman.
The effect and evidence of sin in man is largely in that the affections go out in all sorts of irregular directions. Christ gives that which shall form and regulate the affections of the soul, in order that they may take the channels of God’s appointment. It is in that way that a person is truly emancipated from the law of sin; the secret of liberty lies in the affections.
The Spirit of God in the believer directs the affections into their proper channels, and they flow out [p. 316] first to Christ and then to saints. Christ has thus become “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”. The well of water in the believer springs up into eternal life; and the believer is thus not only in the power and result of what Christ has given him, but free of the law of sin and of death.
I would now ask you to pass on to chapter 6: 20. And here it is very interesting to see that the Priest is “the forerunner”, who has entered into that which is within the veil. The idea I have of a veil as a figure employed in Scripture is, that it is anything that conceals God. When Christ was here, the fulness of the Godhead was here, but hidden behind the veil of flesh. My impression is that in chapter 6 God’s providence is the veil. God is hidden behind His providences. If you attempt to judge of God by His providences you will not have a true idea of Him. I do not doubt for one moment the wisdom of God in His providences; but the providence of God stands in the strongest contrast with the revelation of God; and it would be a great mistake to confound the two thoughts. Now Christ has entered as Forerunner; He has gone within the veil of providences, and we go in, while we accept God’s providences: for He can turn these to account in the way of discipline.
I might add this in regard to providences, that they may misguide, if by them you judge of God’s thoughts of His people. If you recall the voyage of Paul as narrated in Acts 27, you must see how the providences of God appeared to be all against him. We cannot think for a moment that he was bound in spirit by the providence of God. No; he knew he had access to where the Forerunner had gone, and so he got the mind of God as to the shipwreck and the preservation of all.
I pass on now to chapter 7: 12 and following verses, where we have, that “after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the [p. 317] law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life”, and again, “And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest”. And in connection with that I will read verse 4 of Romans 7: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God”.
If you have followed me, you will see the progress we have made in opening up the subject. Christ has become the Author of eternal salvation. Then, as our Forerunner, He has entered within the veil, and so has opened a way for us to go in. Now I would suggest that two further thoughts are brought before us here — the one is, attachment to the Priest, and the other, that we draw nigh to God by Him. If you have not attachment to the Priest, I doubt if you will have much liberty to draw near to God; and I think that not only is this brought out in Hebrews 7, but that you will find the same idea in Romans 7. The point in both passages is that one system of things has been set aside in the death of Christ: “There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before”, as stated in this chapter, while in Romans 7 you are said to have “become dead to the law, by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God”. Of old we have the principle that the death of the high priest ended one order of things; and thus the legal order of things has been ended in the death of Christ, with the intent that you might be attached to Him as risen, to bring forth fruit to God.
He has become Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him, and is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him, seeing that [p. 318] He ever liveth to make intercession for them. The secret of drawing nigh to God is, that we draw nigh by Him, and He ever liveth to make intercession for us that thus we may be freed from anxiety as to the pressure of things here. Christ is attached to me, and I can say that I am attached to the High Priest. I know His ability to sympathise, and that He is the Forerunner, and so I am able to go to God by Him. And being attached to Him, I get support from Him. He concerns Himself about me as a tree of God’s planting; and He ever lives to make intercession for us. Thus we see on the one hand the ceaseless interest of Christ in His saints, and on the other hand their attachment of heart to Himself so that they draw nigh by Him.
Before closing I would like to touch on what I regard as the proper function of the Priest, “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens ... We have such an high priest ... A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”.
When you have come to chapter 7 you have reached the limit of the relations of the Priest to, what I might term, our individual experience here.
Henceforward it is no longer a High Priest having regard to our infirmity; that subject is left, and we are called upon to apprehend the Priest in another light, i.e., in His proper function.
What are we, that it should be said, “Such an high priest became us”? It is, I judge, that the saints are viewed in the light and height of God’s calling, and He alone who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens”, could properly be High Priest for such, all the offering work having been done. “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”.
In chapter 8 we appropriate Him, “We have such a one high priest”. It is not here a question of intercession,
[p. 319] nor of sympathising. The High Priest is here charged with the service of God; He conducts the company of God’s sons, and leads them into the consciousness of the scene where He is. He is the Minister of the holy places, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. My conviction is that all the service of Christ to us individually as our High Priest is with a view to attach our hearts to Himself. He comes to us in sympathy with us in our circumstances down here, and He thus attaches our hearts to Himself where He is; and having done that He leads us into the sanctuary, and we apprehend Him in His proper priestly function — Minister of the holy places.
This brings us back to the verses that I read in chapter 2 of the epistle, where He has a worshipping company, in the midst of which He sings praises to God.
May the Lord give us to realise practically what the service of the High Priest is. I would wish that each one might look into the subject prayerfully for himself, so that we might rightly value all the good of the present priestly service of Christ which God has appointed for us. Thus you will get attachment of heart to Himself, and so bring forth fruit to God. It is a great thing to know Him as the Minister of the holy places; it is not only that He serves, but He has put Himself in the midst of the worshipping company. The Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. I feel how imperfectly I have brought the subject before you, but I hope that you will look at the scriptures we have read, and that God in His grace will give you to understand the great work that He has set Christ apart as Priest to carry out.