" · · an high priest for ever .. ." Hebrews 6:20

A visitor to a magnificent building, such as a French Gothic Cathedral, will form a better impression of the grandeur of the whole design if he views the exterior and interior from several angles. The grand subject of the Bible is Christ. It is a many-sided and inexhaustible theme but the inspired writers enable us to look at it in a variety of helpful ways. The special contribution of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to focus attention on Christ's priestly service. Some other Biblical books mention or imply His priesthood but nowhere else is it so fully or instructively explained. Let us consider four aspects of it.

(I) The purpose of His priesthood

In this age of unparalleled progress in many directions, few things are more evident than the marked absence of a general improvement in social morality. Of course, certain misguided people hail the abandonment of an absolute moral standard in favour of some type of situational ethics, or permissiveness, as clear proof of notable progress. But such an attitude is at variance with God's Word and the testimony of history. The prevalence of dishonesty, robbery, murder, sexual offences and broken marriages leaves little room for doubt that a large proportion of modern society is not much better in this respect than the society of the New Testament world. And the New Testament mentions these same evils among sins resulting from the broken harmony in man's relation to God. It attributes the persistence of sin with all the distress it causes in this life, and the appalling penalty appointed for the unforgiven hereafter to man's revolt against divine authority. To be sure, sin is not confined to those convicted of gross moral offences in criminal courts. Their wrongdoing is symptomatic of the sin that is in every man's heart, though manifesting its presence in different ways and degrees. The Bible teaches clearly that all have sinned, and each man's greatest need is reconciliation to God. And this is no less true today than when the Gospel first made known the way of reconciliation. Human ingenuity could not devise a way nor could human resources provide it. But God in His love and wisdom has done both. To reconcile God and men is the great object of Christ's priesthood, and through it God offers a way whereby the penitent can be forgiven and welcomed to the fellowship and service of His believing family.

(2) His qualifications for office

To begin with He is God's choice. Scripture declares repeatedly that God Himself appointed Christ High Priest. This fact is of no small importance. According to the proverb, "Fools make a mock at sin". They make light of guilt. But sin is an evil of incalculable potential. Notwithstanding all the light the Bible sheds upon it, insoluble mystery still surrounds its origin, the greatness of its offence to God and the extent of the ruin to which it renders the guilty liable. God alone understands sin's sinister nature and alienating power. But when He, who clearly grasps every aspect of man's plight as a sinner, took the initiative in reconciliation, determined the method and chose the person to undertake the work, He laid a firm foundation for human hope.

But again He is God's Son. And beyond question His sonship is altogether unique. Adam as created in God's image was His son. But sin made him an unworthy and banished son. Hosea calls Israel God's son. The nation became so by adoption when God rescued them from Egypt and made a covenant with them. Among their best representatives were Moses and the faithful prophets, yet Christ stands in a relation to God which even they do not share. Believers in Christ are granted the status of sons of God but Christ alone is called the only begotten son. Angels are sometimes called sons of God but they are commanded to worship Christ. Nor is this all. He Himself is God, possessing fully His Father's nature, character and power. Moreover His divine sonship gives Him an unlimited and intimate knowledge of the Father. He shares both His knowledge of sin and His loving desire that sinners should be reconciled to Him by His Son's priesthood.

Further He had a sinless human career. To accomplish His Father's purpose He became His servant in human nature. By His birth at Bethlehem He took man's nature with all its essential limitations into union with His divine nature. As man "He learned obedience by the things which he suffered." In boyhood, at the carpenter's bench, and in years of public ministry He felt the power of temptation. He encountered growing opposition from the envious and the prejudiced. He was unjustly condemned and crucified. He endured sharp physical pain, keen mental distress and deep spiritual suffering before He died. Thus He discovered by personal experience the costliness of obedience that involves suffering and, in His case, unfathomable suffering. But He committed no sin. His supernatural birth prevented the sin that is present in all members of a fallen race from passing to Him. In no circumstances did He yield to temptation. When He challenged His opponents to accuse Him of sin they were silent, and the accusations made, at other times, by His enemies were baseless. Nevertheless by His manifold encounters with temptation He acquired rich human sympathy with the harassed and tempted who come to Him for support and deliverance.

Once more He has an endless life. As God He is immortal. As man He died, but only in the voluntary discharge of His supreme priestly duty, which was to offer Himself as a once-for-all sacrifice for the ungodly. Let Himself explain the surrender of His life. "No man,'' He said, "taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:18). Accordingly He rose from the grave on the third day never again to die. And He evermore possesses in heaven in union with His divine nature the human nature in which He triumphed over temptation, suffering and death.

(3) The once-for-all sacrifice He offered

"Hebrews" strongly emphasizes that Christ obtained salvation for those He represented by a single sacrifice. And we are not left in doubt as to the sacrifice meant. It was not intercession alone. The Epistle of James assures us that "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (Jas. 5:16)· And no more righteous man than the sinless Christ ever offered intercessory prayers to God on earth. But apart from another offering, not even His prayers could benefit Peter, future believers, or His enemies for whom He asked mercy and grace. It was not the sacrifice of a good life, devoted to loving service for others. The final chapter of "Hebrews" mentions doing good as a sacrifice with which God is well-pleased. Christ went about doing good in Palestine. Never before was the compassionate loving kindness of God so perfectly revealed as when He preached the Gospel to the poor, healed men's bodies, liberated their spirits, wept at their sorrow and brought their dead to life. He has indeed left us a challenging and searching example of doing good. He desires us to share its spirit. Yet neither His example nor any imitation of it can reconcile us to God. It was not the sacrifice involved in martyrdom. Christ spoke of Himself as a prophet. He claimed that He came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Once when referring to His death He said, "It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem" (Luke 13:33)· And in that city He was condemned by the Sanhedrin because He remained loyal to the truth He had declared. A martyr prophet, sealing with blood an incomparable body of teaching ! From one point of view He certainly was. But neither the authoritative teaching nor the martyr-death, nor both together sufficed to save a single individual.

It was in anticipation of a death far more terrible than martyrdom that the courageous Christ prayed with strong crying, accompanied by tears and bloody sweat, in Gethsemane. What He saw ahead of Him was the guilt of the people He represented being reckoned as His guilt and He Himself being dealt with by God as guilty instead of them. It was in willing submission to this dread experience that, to quote "Hebrews", "through the eternal spirit". He offered Himself without spot to God (5:14)· The eternal spirit has been understood to mean the Holy Spirit who sustained His human nature. We do not question that the Spirit, in whose power His ministry was carried out, assisted Him in the culminating act of His mission. At the same time the words underlying the translation may point rather to His divine nature. Though itself incapable of death, it was united to the human life He laid down and gave infinite merit to His offering.

This was the once-for-all sacrifice God required and it was offered at Calvary. There criminals, suffering for their misdeeds, hung on either side of the Son of God. There criminals stood before Him, guilty of His unjust death. There abuse was heaped upon Him. There, at length, He uttered the cry of dereliction that told of distress far deeper than that of body or mind. But there too rang out His triumphant announcement, "It is finished", (John 19:30) anticipating the close of His priestly work on earth. For at Calvary, contrary to the intentions of wicked men and entirely unknown to them, God had been at work in holy love providing a way of reconciliation by the substitutionary sacrifice of His beloved Son. Christ's resurrection is proof that His sacrifice is accepted. At His ascension He began the second part of His priestly work which consists of heavenly intercession. He engages in this work on the throne where, as king, He now has all authority in heaven and in earth. He will continue interceding for those who believe in Him until the end of the age. And since His intercession is based upon His once-for-all sacrifice it is never unavailing.

(4) The privileges He obtained for believers

These are many and great. For the present we shall note only three aspects of salvation. First there is refuge. The Bible describes the unforgiven sinner as exposed to the wrath of God directed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Whoever he may be, apart from a change in his relation to God, he is without hope of escaping irrevocable condemnation. But in the verses preceding the text we read of those who fled for refuge to seize the hope offered. That hope is securely grounded in Christ's priestly intercession, which guarantees protection forever from the condemnation and penalty due to sin. It is the sole and sufficient hope of the sinner. Consideration of a further privilege will show how he may come to possess it.

Secondly there is reconciliation. Christ by His sacrifice made reconciliation on behalf of sinners and we are invited to avail ourselves of it. The Gospel is called the word of reconciliation. It brings to men the thrilling news that God in love sent His Son to be the propitiation for their sins, and is prepared to welcome sinners seeking mercy as though they were righteous, on the ground of what Christ has done. But the Gospel does more than reveal encouraging facts. It appeals to us with a note of urgency to act upon these facts. "Be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20)· "Today, if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts" (Heb. 4:7). This involves repentance and willingness to receive a change of heart. Isaiah sheds light upon it. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him.... For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isa. 55:7/8)· And like the father in the parable, who ran to meet his returning son when he was "yet a great way off", God is ready to meet our need (Luke 15:20). He grants repentance to those who ask it and promises an everlasting covenant assuring forgiveness, spiritual renewal and continual grace to all who return to Him and entrust themselves to Christ as Saviour.

Thirdly there is rest. The writer of the Epistle devotes much space to the thought of rest. As, long ago, God promised rest to Israel, the Gospel invites us today to find peace, and satisfaction in trusting, obeying and serving Christ. Yet this does not exhaust the writer's teaching on rest. Human life is transitory. The world as we know it will come to an end. But Christ's death has secured for His servants an eternal inheritance in an enduring kingdom, where sin will no more destroy their peace nor will death terminate their happy fellowship and service.

Refuge, reconciliation, rest now and rest eternal, all may be yours, if you receive Christ as your High Priest and, by grace, give Him whole-hearted allegiance as King. For He is "the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him" (Heb. 5 :9).

 

Rev W.J. Cameron was minister of Burghead and Buccleuch & Greyfriars. He was also Principal of the Free Church College and Professor of New Testament.