THE SON—GREATER AS PRIEST
"Having then a great High Priest, Who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession."—HEBREWS 4:14
In the background of our present consideration, the Hebrew people are seen as an established nation, a Theocracy. Moses had led them through the wilderness. Joshua was appointed to bring them into the land. The writer of the letter was looking then upon the nation, at the center of which stood the Tabernacle. This was "the Tent of meeting," the "Tabernacle of witness." The phrase "Tent of meeting" refers to the fact that it was the place where God and .man met together, where the King and His subjects had a point of contact. The phrase "The Tabernacle of witness" refers to the fact that it was the place where God spoke, the place from which the people received the Divine word, the Divine instruction. In the inner place of that Tent and Tabernacle stood the mercy seat, overshadowed by the outspread wings of the cherubim; and between those outspread wings shone the mystic light of the Shekinah glory. It was there at that center of the national life that priesthood functioned.
The writer of this letter having shown the superiority of the Son to the angels, the messengers of the past; to the servant faithful in His house; to Joshua, who had led the people in, but could not give them rest; now recognizing the fact of the national life, with the place of the King at the center, dealt with priesthood. From this point in the letter to the tenth chapter that whole subject of priesthood is under consideration, and the argument is that of showing, not merely the superiority of the Son to Aaron and the Levitical order, but the fact that the complete fulfillment of the priestly purpose is found in the Son and in the Son alone.
In the earlier part of the letter the writer had twice already alluded to the function of priesthood, but said little about it. In the second chapter, speaking of the superiority of the Son to angels, he said:
"It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest."
Again, at the commencement of the third chapter he said:
"Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus."
We may profitably pause here to consider the idea of priesthood in itself. The world has been cursed with false conceptions as to the values and functions thereof. When we turn to the New Testament we find the word priest, and its cognate words, constantly recurring. The word priest in itself means a holy person, carrying the idea of separation, sacredness, or sanctity. There is no light on the subject of the function of the priest in the word, but it does reveal the character necessary to the fulfillment of function.
When we turn to the Old Testament the word rendered "priest" always means one who mediates. The word there, therefore, does describe a function. We may take these two words with their two suggestions, and put them together. As we do so, we find that the priest is a mediator, and must be holy. The priest has to do with a holy God, but he stands in the presence of that God representing those who, in themselves, are defiled.
Thus the life of the Hebrew people as a nation under the Divine government, centered round the place of the Divine Presence, which was absolutely holy, and in itself was made up of those who were excluded from that Presence on account of sin. Therefore the sacred function of Aaron, and the whole Levitical priesthood was that of approach to God as mediating between Him and the people. In the spiritual realization of the Theocracy through Christ the day had passed for that priesthood, and that because in the Son the Priest had been found absolutely fulfilling the two ideas, that first of holiness of character as a necessity for approach, and that further of a Mediatorial right and power, able to deal with the necessities of sinning men.
Turning then to this subject, the writer employs the phrase:
"Having then a great High Priest."
In the Hebrew economy the name of the priest approaching was forever that of the High Priest. The writer of this letter, realizing the superiority of the Son in His Priesthood, introduces an adjective, "great."
This "great High Priest," he declared
"Hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,"
And urged those to whom he wrote in the words: "Let us hold fast our confession,"
By which he clearly meant that they were no longer to turn back to those divinely appointed methods which were illustrative and transient. Beyond the splendors of the robing of Aaron, beyond the glory of the ritual of the Tabernacle, beyond the suggestion of eternal values in rites and ceremonies, is Jesus the Son of God, as a Priest.
So important is this theme, that beginning here in the fourth chapter, the movements run on, as we have said, into chapter ten. We take now, then, three lines of meditation, the office of the Priesthood as revealed in the con text; the qualifications for fulfilling the priestly office as here declared; and then the contrast between the persons of Aaron and Jesus.
In dealing with the subject of the office of the priesthood we find the writer employed a phrase full of infinite significance, "the throne of grace.” In that phrase we have a revelation of God; the Throne necessarily speaking of authority, sovereignty; while grace unveils the deepest fact in the nature of God. John, in the course of his writings in one superlative sentence, declared, "God is love." We fall short of the mark when we speak of love as an attribute of God. Love is His very essence. Grace is love in action. Thus the Throne speaks of law, and grace speaks of love.
The value of that phrase being recognized, we may come to a true apprehension of the function of priesthood. In order to the appropriation of the activities of grace, there must be submission to the authority of the Throne. Therefore, in the case of sinning men there must be mediation. All the partial lights of the old economy and all the clear shining light of the new find their full radiance and interpretation in the Person of Jesus, the Son of God. The Priest, therefore, is one through Whom the outsider may be brought to the Throne, and have communion therewith.
It is a very arresting fact that the institution of the order of the priesthood in the Hebrew economy was an accommodation of God to the weakness of men. If we read the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, we find that before any word was said about an order of priests, the Divine intention for the whole nation was declared in these words:
"Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation."
That is, a Kingdom of intermediaries, holy in character. The reference is to the fact that that nation was intended to stand between God and the outside world, creating a way of access to Him. The nation never rose to the realization of that intention. At the moment of original declaration the people were afraid, and as we continue our reading of that same nineteenth chapter we find a change of tone in the message of God, made necessary by the inability of the people to rise to the high ideal. Out of that came the appointment of the order of priesthood. All this does not invalidate the importance of the priestly function. It rather emphasizes the necessity for it in the midst of fallen human nature.
In that connection, proceeding, the writer declares the functions of the priest when he says:
"That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins."
That is the whole meaning of priesthood. Sin which excludes the God-made man from fellowship with the God Who made him, and loves him, must be dealt with in some way, in order that he may find his way back to God. It is this function which is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus, the Son of God.
Very beautiful and full of infinite comfort for sinning men are the qualifications of priesthood as described. The priest must be one "who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring." In these two words two conditions are revealed. The ignorant are those who do not know and the erring are those who, knowing, either willfully or un-willfully wander from the way.
The throne of law is the throne of grace. Around the throne are those who are ignorant and erring. The priest who stands between such and God is to be one who deals gently with those so described. So sacred is the vocation that no man can choose to be a priest. He must be called of God, and anointed. It is so sacred a matter that the responsibility for the appointment of a priest must ever rest with God, and not with man.
We now look at the application of this in the contrast between Aaron and the Son of God. Aaron was called of God. Responsibility for his appointment rested upon God. As we look back, however, to the old economy, with Aaron thus appointed, we are reminded that as to approach, he first had to offer sacrifices for his own sin. Thus Aaron is seen, splendid, isolated, divinely appointed, fulfilling in a remarkable way the ideal, but before he entered, he himself needed mediation, sacrifice, the offering for sins. Consequently, even though by Divine arrangement in grace, Aaron passed into the Holiest, there was something lacking in his priesthood, divinely appointed as it was. In the case of Jesus, the Son of God, there was no such lack, and therein laid the ultimate superiority of His Priesthood over that of Aaron.
In applying this truth the writer employed psalms, the linking together of which, though widely separated in our arrangement of the Book of Psalms, is very arresting. He first quoted from the second Psalm, and declared that Jehovah said of One:
"Thou art My Son, This day have I begotten Thee";
and in immediate connection he quoted from the one hundredth and tenth Psalm:
"Thou art a Priest forever, After the order of Melchizedek."
Jesus, therefore, is a Priest upon the basis of His Sonship, and of His appointment as King.
His fulfillment of the qualifications necessary to perfect functioning is declared in the words with which we are perfectly familiar and love so well. Slightly changing the reading from the negative to the positive form, the declaration is that He is
"Touched with the feeling of our infirmities. . . . One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
The phrase rendered "yet without sin" is very full of meaning. It indicates far more than that He did not yield to temptation; declaring rather that He was in Himself sinless.
The declaration that He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities necessitates an understanding of the word "infirmities." We are apt to use that word in a false way, in application to failures that really are sins. The real meaning of the word rendered "infirmities" may be expressed in the phrase, points of weakness, or vulnerable points. In all these He was tempted like as we are. This is revealed superlatively in the story of His temptation in the wilderness. Man is vulnerable in the matter of his spiritual life, and relationship to God; in the realm of his physical life, and hunger for bread; in the realm of his aspiration and ambition, and his desire to possess kingdoms. The temptation of our Lord as recorded shows Him in each of these positions, but completely victorious over every attack. It is because He entered into these experiences so completely on the human level, that He is able to be gentle with the erring.
Then we find the stupendous declaration that because He had dealt with sin, He "passed through the heavens." A little later in the letter the writer speaks of Him, and says:
"Such an High Priest . . . made higher than the heavens";
and still later he says of Him, He
"Entered . . . into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us."
He "passed through the heavens." He was "made higher than the heavens." He entered into the final heaven to appear as the great High Priest.
The value of all this for us is found first in the charge: "Let us hold fast our confession,"
Which means, Let us not be deflected from our confidence in this Priest by any argument within our own soul, or by any suggestion that we need any other mediation.
Connected with this is the call, "Let us draw near." There is nothing we need more constantly to remember than the abiding necessity for priestly mediation when we draw near to God. We ever have to come to Him, saying:
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling."
Simply to Thy Cross I cling."
Our High Priest is in the heavens. Therefore, we may ever draw near to God through Him.
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