(4) THE PRIEST
([p. 395] 4) THE PRIEST
Hebrews 7: 11 - 28; Leviticus 16: 15 - 19
The first verse of Leviticus 16, gives us the immediate occasion of a particular communication to Moses. It was “after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died”. Evidently this fact must have a great bearing on the subject of priesthood.
We have on former occasions had the Lord before us under various names in which He is presented to us — names which belong to Him — 1, “Mediator;” 2, “Son of God;” 3, “Lord;” and we have plainly seen that each name carries its own particular signification, and has its own bearing upon each of us.
Tonight I come to another title, namely, that of Priest. I had at first thought of speaking of Christ as the “Head”, but I felt there would be a link wanting, and that we need first to know what is bound up with the Priest before we can understand the Head. Many of us are defective in apprehension, because we have been so poorly educated in divine things. And if there is one point above another as to which most of us are defective, it is in the apprehension of Christ as Priest, and what is connected with that. I cannot attempt to go over the whole ground of priesthood, but I want at least to present Christ as Priest, and to show the import and bearing of this in regard to ourselves. It has not been my object to present any name of Christ as a mere matter of interest, but to show the particular bearing of it as to ourselves, and in this way I desire to speak of the Priest. It would be impossible to read Hebrews 7 [p. 396] with attention without seeing how important the subject is in its relation to Christians.
One point I will at once notice, namely, the identification of the Priest with the Son. In the closing verse of Hebrews 7 we read: “For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore”.
The principal quotations on which priesthood is based in the epistle to the Hebrews are taken from Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. Psalm 2 presents to us the “Son”. “Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee”. Psalm 110 presents to us the “Priest”. The word is given to Christ: “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”. And then it is said, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec”. We need to put these quotations together in order to understand rightly the priesthood of Christ. He is Priest because He is Son, and the same is true in principle as to us. That is the connection in the epistle to the Hebrews. “God is bringing many sons to glory”. And such are sanctified for priestly service, they are priests because they are sons. It is sons who are acquainted with the love of God and have access to God. If a man does not love God, it is impossible that he can approach God in liberty.
But perhaps someone will say we approach God by the Spirit. That is true in principle, but practically we approach God only as we love God. If I apprehend His love, then I love God and enjoy access to Him, and it is just in proportion as I love Him that I have access to Him. That is the privilege of priesthood: access to God. There are other things connected with priesthood, but that is the most important point. In Israel the priest had access, and so it is with us, we have access, but it is because we are sons. The two things are identified in Christ. He was Son of God as born into the world, and then, at the right hand of God,
[p. 397] He is Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. But I will say a few words to distinguish between Christ presented to us as Priest, and the light in which we have had Him before us on other occasions. On these we have seen what is connected with one name and another which speak of what He is man-ward as from God. If I speak of Him as Lord, it is as One who is invested with divine authority; as Son of God, He declares God; as Mediator, He is the way and means of God’s approach to man — “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. These names are connected with the presentation of God to man. On the other hand, the Priest is not from God to man, but from man to God. The Priest is God-ward on the part of man.
When God came in to establish a people in relationship with Himself the principle was brought out, that the people must stand in connection with a divinely appointed representative. That is an important principle in the ways of God. One who was competent was taken from the people to be a representative of the people in the presence of God. With the children of Israel Aaron had that place. He bore the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. The names of the twelve tribes were engraven on stones upon the shoulder pieces of the ephod, and he bare them upon his shoulders as well as in the breastplate. He represented the people typically in power and in love before Jehovah. He was on the people’s behalf before God.
It is a great thing to get hold of principles which run through the ways of God, for it tends much to establish you in the word of God. In divine things there is no variation in principle, because if God is God there can be no variation in His mind.
I will now touch on another point presented in Leviticus 16, namely, the connection of reconciliation with priesthood, and that is very important. Priesthood [p. 398] now is on the basis of reconciliation, and as far as I understand Leviticus 16, this was necessarily consequent on the sin of Nadab and Abihu; their sin altered the position of everything. Their sin was perhaps the greatest that occurred in the Old Testament, for they profaned God in offering strange fire. It was, in the eye of God, the gravest sin, since it did not occur on the part of a mere man, but on the part and in the service of those who had the privilege of access to God. It occurred in the priestly family. The sin shook the foundation of the priesthood system from the very outset. As in other cases, this did not appear at once, but the system was undermined. In any dispensation when evil comes in on the part of man from the outset, God goes on for a time with the dispensation; but when He comes in to judge He goes back to the original offence. This is illustrated in the children of Israel. The offence for which they went into captivity to Babylon was the making of the golden calf. When God could not bear with them any longer they went into captivity; but the real ground of this was the original offence. So after the sin of Aaron’s sons the whole priesthood system after the flesh was gone for God. God allowed the priesthood to develop, but the sin involved the setting aside of the house of Aaron after the flesh.
The principle which comes in consequent upon that is reconciliation, which involved that man’s state should be judged so that God should be glorified in the judgment of that state. That is one side. The other side is that there is now a new point of departure, and everything is to be reconciled through Christ and in Christ. Man is only fit to be removed, and God has come in to accomplish His purpose in Christ; and hence it is, “If any man be in Christ it is new creation, old things have passed away”, etc.
Now, that is what we find coming out in type on the day of atonement. The blood of the sin-offering was carried into the holiest. Death was upon man, and the [p. 399] blood witnessed to the death of Christ. He had taken up everything on the cross, and the blood was the witness of the removal of sin in the flesh. Man was vicariously removed, and God was glorified, and consequent upon that the Priest comes out to reconcile everything. Everything is taken up on new ground.
In the removal of sin man was removed, and consequent upon that, the distance between God and man was gone; therefore, there was reconciliation. And on the other side, God takes up everything afresh in the Man who came from heaven, everything now is in Christ. All is now a simple question of God carrying out His purpose in Christ, everything is to be on that ground.
We have seen thus far that priesthood is a divinely appointed principle, and bound up in the day of atonement with the principle of reconciliation. Christ in regard of His sacrifice took the place of offering-priest, but He Himself was also the victim on behalf of man — and the man who had offended was in Him removed. Christ was raised again from the dead on a new platform, and now God makes known in Christ the accomplishment of His purpose.
But to turn to Hebrews 7. Under the Aaronic priesthood the people received the law. Aaron did not give the law. “The law was given by Moses”, but the people had it under the Aaronic priesthood, and the law laid down the terms and conditions of approach to God. If any one did not approach God according to the law he became liable to death, as we see in Nadab and Abihu, who offered strange fire and died.
But, as we have seen, the Aaronic priesthood broke down from the outset, and God goes back to the Melchisedec order — outside of limitations which would apply to the flesh. Christ is outside of all limitations, and is a Priest after the power of an endless life. It would be futile for God to attempt to carry out His purpose, except in a priest after the power of an endless [p. 400] life. That has come to pass in Christ. In resurrection He was proved a priest, in the power of an endless life. The life could not be dissolved. The Melchisedec priesthood was spoken of long before Aaron came in, and in due course the priest comes in after the order of Melchisedec. When He does come in reconciliation has been effected. Nor could He have come in as priest until it had been effected: until righteousness had been established. This was effected in the cross, then we have the priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Now God makes known His purposes in Christ. We get the light of this in John’s gospel. The Lord really makes it known in chapter 3. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. There is the revelation of God’s purpose in the gift of eternal life in Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of himself in Timothy as apostle “according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus”. God is now fully brought to light consequent upon reconciliation having been effected, and there is no room for man, as of Adam, before God. Everyone has now to take his character from Christ because God fulfils every purpose of His will in Christ. Reconciliation has come to pass.
Under the Aaronic priesthood Israel got the law, but under the Melchisedec priesthood what have we got? It is comprised in one single word, hope, not law. “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof (for the law made nothing perfect), and the bringing in of a better hope; by the which we draw nigh unto God”. The commandment has been set aside in the death of Christ. It is set aside with the man to whom it applied, and in connection with the priesthood of Christ we have the introduction of a better hope.
[p. 401] There are two things introduced in connection with the priesthood of Christ, (1) the better hope, (2) a different family. The family of Aaron clearly could not come in under the priesthood of Christ. The only statement in the chapter descriptive of the new family is in the expression; “By which we draw nigh to God”. It is the divine ordinance that there should be a priestly family. It was so with Aaron, and so too now in connection with Christ. He is not to be alone: there is a family in connection with the Priest, and the mark of the family is drawing nigh to God. It takes up the thought of chapter 2. God is “bringing many sons unto glory;” they are those who draw nigh to Him by the better hope. And again, “Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one”, etc. And in chapter 10, we find in connection with this, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once”. Sanctified is a word having its application to priests. In chapter 10 we are viewed as sanctified, and thus form the priestly family.
I would enlarge for a moment on the thought of hope, and read verse 18 in chapter 6, “That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled [p. 403] for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us”. I might have read verse 17 also as connected with it. Also a passage in Ephesians 1: 3 - 5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will”. And in verse 18 we have the prayer, “The eyes of your heart being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling”. I refer to those passages [p. 402] as giving you a definite idea of hope. Hope is bound up with the counsel of God, and is looked upon as an anchor of the soul. The Jews had fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them. Their position was this; they had crucified Christ, and had so lost every hope after the flesh; there remained nothing but for God to come in and destroy the system. But God had His own purpose in regard of man, and that in Christ; so those to whom God gave grace had fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them; but the hope was evidently bound up with the purpose of God.
There are three things connected with the hope, namely, place, life, and relationship. The hope covers all three, and the apostle prays, “That ye may know what is the hope of his calling”, that is, of God’s purpose. The calling refers to the heavenly places, to our being before God in love, and to His “having predestinated us to sonship”. And where do you get the light of that? In Christ, the Son of God. The word of the oath makes the Son a priest. God is brought to light and all His counsels, and in these Christ is the Head. Can you say that you have actually got to heavenly places? or that you are yet set holy and without blame before God in love? No; all is presented to us in the shape of a hope. We apprehend the truth of it in Christ but have not yet got to it. It is God’s purpose about us, and so our portion.
In Philippians 3, the apostle looks at himself as going on to the hope. He presses forward for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. He apprehended the hope: he had not got the fruition, and, therefore, went on to it. The same thing was true as to the Hebrews. When the Jews had crucified Christ, God turned back upon them in grace, and presented Christ to them as the expression of His own purpose; and those who were content to accept the grace of God in connection with His purpose in Christ fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them. Now that is in principle what God is doing now.
Who can deny the reality of God’s purpose for man? It is of a place in heaven, for which we are fitted by participation in the divine nature, and the relationship of sons. Christ is presented to us, not as down here, but as in glory, as the expression of God’s purpose, and in believing that, you have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope: for you have not yet come into the actuality of things, but you have the revelation and power of them.
But what is the present effect as regards us? Seeing the immutability of God’s purpose, for He has confirmed His word by an oath, the hope of that purpose is that by which we draw nigh to God. If God has made known His purpose in Christ now, it is good now for faith. We do not wait for the actuality of it; that will come, for we shall be conformed to the image of His Son. But God has given effect to His purpose in the present moment, for the Spirit is given, and by the hope that has come in with the Melchisedec priesthood we draw nigh to God. The hope has become the law of approach. The book of Leviticus was the law of approach for the sons of Aaron, but Christ is the law of our approach, because He is the light of God’s counsel and thought in regard of us. And now we begin to apprehend the importance of reconciliation. We see what God has brought to pass, that the man who offended against God, and the sin which culminated in the sons of Aaron, all has been removed to God’s glory in the cross of Christ. Christ alone abides, the One who came out from God, the revelation of His purpose in regard of man. He is now the firstborn among many brethren; the Head of the true priestly house of which Aaron and his sons were type. He is High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, and it is God’s thought that He should be “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows”.
It was in God’s mind that Christ should have fellows, companions, and that is our privilege. It is a blessed thing to look up to heaven and to apprehend Christ there, for He is there not simply for Himself, but in order that we may have in Him the light of God’s purpose which was before the foundation of the world. The promises of God are not indefinite now. We have them set forth in a Person. It was not so in the Old Testament. There were promises, but they were not revealed in a Person as they are now.
We can talk about them as knowing them. We apprehend Christ as the true God and eternal life, and the practical effect of that is, that we approach God in hope. The result is, that one’s spirit travels away from the man that is here, the man of the earth, to the Man who is in the presence of God, the light of His purpose. Christ is our hope. We are running to Him, but by the hope we approach God. The more that hope is kindled in the heart of the Christian, the more he is drawn to God. We have the true priestly family now in conjunction with its Head.
The principle of priesthood is this: If God sees fit to have a people down here He will have, on the part of that people, a suited representative before Him. That is brought out at the close of the chapter: “Such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens”.
By the hope the priestly family draw nigh to God, and you can understand that they draw nigh in conjunction with the High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. Christ governs all the priestly company. You could not draw nigh to God and leave Christ out. The priestly company are attached in heart to Christ. They recognise His claim upon them, His love constrains them, and their hearts are responsive to it, they are become nigh in Christ, and thus draw nigh to God. The company are His kindred, not after the flesh but [p. 405] after the Spirit: He loves them, and they appreciate His love, and by Him they approach. “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father”. That is the order of things in Christianity.
Do you know why Christians often are not bright? One reason is their failure to apprehend the purpose of God, and hence the hope has very little place with them. You could not be in the hope of eternal life if you did not see eternal life revealed in Christ. It is revealed as purpose in Him, and so all our spiritual energies are bent on going to where He is; but the present effect is in our drawing nigh to God. We are risen with Christ, quickened with Him, in association with Him, and thus draw nigh.
If you do not understand priesthood and reconciliation, you do not intelligently form part of the worshipping company. I do not mean to unchristianise you, but to be part of the worshipping company you must enter into the truth of reconciliation and priesthood, having in your heart the knowledge of God’s purpose as set forth in Christ.
May God give to us to understand the great principle of His way in reconciliation, and the vast value to us of Christ as Priest.