The High Priest

Edward Griffin (1770—1837)
 

Hebrews 7:26
"For such a high priest befits us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."

When believers get to Heaven, much of their happiness will arise from views of Christ which they will wonder they did not more fully possess on earth. Their most ravishing views will be those of his priestly office. Any being, (had wisdom so appointed,) might have instructed the world as a prophet, and perhaps governed it as a king; but to bring a guilty race to God by sacrifice and intercession, this is the mystery into which the angels desire to look. A cordial belief of this is the principal attribute of saving faith.

Probably the priesthood of Christ is not sufficiently dwelt upon in the contemplations of Christians or in the preaching of ministers. Some are always poring upon divine government; others, upon the general grace of God to men, without considering the medium through which it comes. But the priesthood of Christ is so much the pivot on which the whole system of Christianity turns, that it ought to hold a conspicuous place in the religion of the Church. Great stress is laid upon it in the writings of the apostles. At every turn they introduce it as the only basis of the Christian's hope.

This is the case especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This Epistle was addressed to the Israelites who were strongly attached to the law of Moses, and was designed to remove that attachment by showing them that the rites connected with the Levitical priesthood were only types of what Christ was to perform in his pontifical character. Thus these types not only prefigured to the Jews a Savior to come, but are made to assist the weak apprehensions of Christians to the end of the world, and serve as steps by which they may climb to see the high and transcendent mysteries of the atonement! In this Epistle the most remarkable and instructive types are pressed into the service of the Christian church, and are employed to illustrate a point so difficult of apprehension as the office work of our great high priest.

Aaron was the high priest of one nation; Christ is the high priest of a world. It belonged to the Jewish high priest to instruct the people; and Christ, as a prophet, instructs the world. It belonged to the Jewish high priest to rule over the house of God; and Christ is exalted to dominion over the church and over the universe. The names of the twelve tribes were engraved on the stones of the ephod and borne upon the shoulders of the high priest; and Christ supports his people with a strength that never tires. But the more appropriate business of the Jewish high priest was to appease the wrath of God by sacrifice and intercession. Let us trace a little more particularly, the resemblance between the type and the antitype in this and other respects.

1. It was a circumstance of vital importance that the Jewish high priest was not self-appointed, but ordained by God. "No man takes this honor unto himself, but he who is called of God as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he who said unto him, You are my Son, today have I begotten you. As he says also in another place, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." As the Jewish high priest was divinely appointed, it happened of course that when he offered sacrifice and intercession for the people, God accepted the offering, and in his providence treated the people like a Father. This was the sure effect of his being ordained of God. But this circumstance gives still greater confidence in the case of Christ; "inasmuch as not without an oath he was made a priest. For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath, by him that said unto him, The Lord swore and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." By a similar oath God has confirmed the promise to the church. "For when God made promise to Abraham, [of the blessings which should come to the world through his Seed,] because he could swear by no greater he swore by himself that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."

The appointment of Christ to the priestly office was then God's own act, confirmed by an oath. We may therefore be assured that it will answer the purpose, and that his offering as a priest will certainly be accepted in behalf of all who believe. If we cannot see the ends which are answered by this substitution, we may rest assured that God had fully weighed every circumstance before he ordained his Son to the office and swore to accept his offering. If we cannot fully apprehend this truth, can we not believe God?

2. The Jewish high priest was not of a foreign world or nation, but a brother of the same flesh and blood with those for whom he mediated. And he could "have compassion on the ignorant and on those who" were "out of the way, for that he himself also" was "compassed with infirmity." And Christ, that he might suffer in the nature that had sinned, and that he might know by experience how to sympathize with us in all our trials, "took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham." "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them. In all things it behooved 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. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to support those who are tempted." "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin!"

3. The Jewish high priest, when he came before God, must wash himself in water, and put on clean clothing, and offer only those victims which were without blemish. And "such a high priest befits us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Had he been otherwise, for the same reason that divine purity could not receive a sinful world without a high priest, it must have rejected such a high priest and his offering. His wonderful filial obedience, which rendered him infinitely dear to the Father, was not only needful for his atonement, as it made the stroke which fell on him far more expressive, but it earned the whole inheritance, which he now holds as "the firstborn among many brethren," for the benefit of the "joint heirs."

4. The Jewish high priest was clothed with great dignity, which was set forth by his wonderfully rich and dazzling robes. And "such a high priest befits us, who is made higher than the heavens;" not only exalted, as a reward, to the management and distribution of the whole estate, (which was of vital importance,) but exalted in his own divine nature above all heights.

It would not have answered for an angel to have undertaken to mediate. It required a sacrifice infinitely dear to the Father to make an expression, as strong as the eternal destruction of Adam's race would have done, that God was determined to execute the penalty of his law on future offenders.

We indeed needed a high priest in our own nature, that we might be united to him as a brother, and be emboldened to apply to him, and that by experiencing our trials, he might be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.

We also needed a high priest of infinite dignity, that his mediation might prevail. These wide extremes meet in the person of our Redeemer. When we see him supporting John on his laboring bosom, conversing and weeping with his disciples; we are emboldened to embrace him. We look again, and this compassionate Savior is expanded into infinity; and we can now trust him to advocate our cause with the Father and to manage all our interests in both worlds.

5. The most important work of the Jewish high priest was to offer sacrifice for sin; and that picture of the great substitution was so formed as to set forth the antitype in a very familiar and impressive light: and the manner in which this picture is explained by the Holy Spirit in this very Epistle, renders the whole most intelligible and affecting.

It is here said, "Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh; then how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

The lasting efficacy of his one offering and the eternity of his priesthood are strongly set forth in contrast with the insufficiency and consequent repetition of the typical offerings and the change of the typical priesthood from hand to hand. Having no other use than to prefigure a Priest and an atonement to come, these last had the same need of being repeated that our sacraments have, which point to a Savior already come.

"The law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never make the comers thereunto perfect: for then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God."

"Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice;" "for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified." "And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; but this man, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood."

6. Another part of the business of the Jewish high priest was to intercede for the people. On the twelve stones of his breastplate were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; and these he bore upon his heart when he appeared before God. So "Christ has entered into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us," bearing all his people upon his heart. "Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost, all who come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them." There he stands to introduce our confessions and our prayers to God. There he stands to introduce our offerings of praise. It is repeatedly asserted in this Epistle that the Jewish high priest offered "both gifts and sacrifices." These gifts, which were presented by the people and offered by the priest, were designed for thanksgiving, and were commonly of the fruits of the earth; in allusion to which the apostle says, "By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name." Our very praises are too polluted to be accepted, until they are perfumed by the breath of the Intercessor.

The influence both of his intercession and atonement is remarkably set forth in the entrance of the high priest "into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true," namely of that Heaven into which Christ has entered "to appear in the presence of God for us." In that part of the tabernacle which lay within the veil, the Shekinah, or visible glory of God, sat enthroned on the mercy seat. So awful was the presence of a holy God, that no mortal eye but that of the high priest might ever pass the veil, nor except on one day in a year: and then he must first wash himself with water, and put on clean linen garments, and slay his sin-offerings, and carry their blood in to sprinkle the mercy seat. And he must take a censor full of live coals in one hand, and sweet incense in the other; and the moment he passed the veil, he must put the incense upon the coals, that the smoke might conceal the glory of the great and dreadful God from his view: for if his polluted eyes once fell upon the Shekinah, that moment he must die! So solemn a thing it was to approach a holy God.

By this shutting up of the inner tabernacle the Holy Spirit signified "that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing;" that is to say, while the veil remained which was a type of Christ's flesh, by the rending of which flesh the veil was taken away. At his death the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; by which was signified that the way to God and the mercy seat was then opened.

Without that atonement, God was a consuming fire, and to approach him was instant death. "But Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come" not "by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a high priest over the house of God; let us draw near in full assurance of faith." We have now a hope "both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; where the Forerunner has for us entered," to open a way for us to God and to the Heaven of heavens.

Of all divine truths the priesthood of Christ is the one of most difficult apprehension. It is a truth not only which reason could not have discovered, but which lies the most remote from the apprehension of reason. Flesh and blood cannot reveal it to the soul. Nothing can but that divine illumination which accompanies saving faith. No reasoning on the necessity or nature of the atonement can bring the true sense. A child may have it, and a well read divine may lack it. Christians do not obtain it by the niceties of speculation, but by a hearty belief in the testimony which God has given of his Son. We must credit that oath by which the Son was consecrated high priest forever. We must believe that God is sincere in all that he has spoken, and is not trifling with the miseries of a wretched world. We must obtain a sense of this glorious mystery, if I may so say, by the passiveness of faith, by lying down on the word and oath of God. We may make researches, but reason should not go one step alone. The moment it attempts to do this, it degenerates into dark, frigid, proud speculation, unproductive, and even preventive, of the true sense.

Much darkness, substantial enough to be molded into form, appears in the shape of human systems. Would men assist their apprehensions of this matter by reading, let them look with a believing eye on those aspects which the priesthood of Christ assumes in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The representations of the Holy Spirit are better calculated to produce the true sense, than stiff, systematic phrases or artificial modes of thinking. The pencil of inspiration points more to the life. Without confining ourselves to streams which have gathered defilement in their course, we may here drink at the pure fountain. The Scriptures are wonderfully adapted to the weakness of our apprehensions and to the nature of the things expressed.

It is impossible to possess a right sense of the priesthood of Christ, without a simultaneous view of the holiness of God, bringing with it a sense of our guilt and unfitness to make direct approaches to him. We must be convinced of these things, before we can see the glory of such a high priest; and the most effectual means to produce this conviction is to consider, not so much what we have done, as what God is. When we discover God to be so holy and glorious that a bare neglect to love him deserves eternal woe, and that no conceivable punishment is great enough for those who sin against him when we view him:
turning the angels out of Heaven for sin,
turning Adam out of Eden,
turning a beautiful world into a prison house of groans,
turning millions into Hell,
and more than all, thrusting his sword of justice through the heart of his own Son! Then we discover the solemn majesty of his holiness, and that to approach him without a Mediator is rushing into a consuming fire.

We look anxiously about and ask: Where is Jesus now? We espy him. We see him to be the very medium we need. We dare not move a wish but in his name. And now we cry with joys unknown before, "For such a high priest befits us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Well it is for me that there is one whom a holy God can accept in my behalf; for surely he could not accept me."

Now it appears to be an unspeakable honor to the holiness of God, that he will not accept sinners but through a Mediator. The priesthood of Christ is now seen to be a wondrous reality. All the supposed opposition between the Father and Son has disappeared.

The Father, in appointing the high priest and in freely receiving sinners through him, appears as much the friend of man as does the Son.

The Son, in cheerfully undertaking a mediation so honorable to the divine holiness, appears as much the friend of holiness as does the Father.

The suitableness of Jesus' priesthood is seen to arise from the unapproachable purity of God. On the other hand the purity of God is most clearly seen in the face of Jesus Christ. The soul has now no wish to take its own part, or that Christ should take its part, against the divine law. It as highly approves of the ground taken by the Father, as of that taken by the Son. It sees the plan of salvation to be glorious in all its parts, and wishes to be saved in no other way. It sees Christ to be the medium through which a whole world may come, and longs that all men should go to God by him. It feels secure, and sees that however vile it has been, it may readily be accepted through Christ. It is amazed and delighted. It seems not to have wrought itself up to these feelings, but to be still and receive them. The more unworthy it feels, the happier it is, because the more it feels its unworthiness the more it relishes this glorious high priest! On the other hand, the more it sees the glories of Christ, the more it feels its own pollution. It greatly wishes to recommend a holy God and Savior to all, but is unable to express the sense it feels. It seems like one who has found a great treasure and wishes all men to partake. It is grieved that any should lose so much; and longs that every eye on earth should behold the glories of the Savior, and that every heart should love and honor him. It sees that the kingdom is and ought to be the Lord's, and feels that the subjection of a single event to the decision of another would be unreasonable.

Under these views the Christian feels that he is not his own but that he is bought with a price, and longs to devote himself forever to the service of his God and Savior. He is willing to bear reproaches and even to die for his name's sake. The seasons of worship which he enjoys, he values more as opportunities to honor God than as occasions of obtaining blessings for himself. He longs for clearer views. "O for more faith, and less dependence on reason. Give me communion with Christ, and I desire no more." He finds these views of a holy God and Savior the most effectual antidote against sin, and sees that if sin is ever crucified it must be by the cross of Christ.

The priesthood of Christ, thus disclosed, is the sun which illumines every other subject:
the perfections of God,
his love and mercy,
his common bounties,
our obligations to universal holiness,
our ingratitude and guilt.

Whichever way we turn, all is light around.

The Bible, wherever it is opened, appears luminous.

The world is full of matter to think of, to pray about, and to be thankful for.

The mercies of God, swelled to an incalculable amount, appear most amazing; and the vanquished creature, unable to make any returns, puts himself down for an everlasting bankrupt.

He now discovers:
that it is a very different thing to approach God from what he formerly thought;
that his sense of the atonement which had depended on former reasonings, was not the true sense;
that it is one thing to talk about religion and another to experience it;
that many truths which he had correctly expressed, are far different from what he had conceived them to be;
and that in regard to other truths, he had not only conceived of them imperfectly, but expressed them awkwardly—preserving a stiff, systematic form, and overlooking the life and soul of the things themselves.

These direct views of God and the glorious high priest, and none but these, can bring "the full assurance of hope." In them the believer sees a sufficient ground of everlasting confidence. Formerly his hope arose from meltings of soul, but now from an open view of God in Christ and from the truth of the everlasting covenant. He places unwavering confidence in the faithfulness of him in whom he is now conscious of believing, and is sure of being guided by his counsel until he is received to glory!

"Am I chosen," says he, "by eternal love?

Am I redeemed by blood and owned as a child?

Are all my crimson stains washed out?

Am I to reign on an eternal throne, while my companions in sin welter in Hell?

O grace, grace! O ocean without a bottom or a shore!"

My brethren, how much calmer, brighter, happier our lives might pass in this communion with Christ and in this assurance of a blessed immortality, than by degenerating into pride and worldliness, filled with darkness and shaken with fears. How much better to be a humble, heavenly minded Christian, dead to the world and bearing the cross, whatever mortifications it may bring, than to be a Caesar in all his glory!

Ah how different is saving religion from nature! How different is the sanctified from the unsanctified part in every feeling, view, motive, and motion!

This knowledge of Christ is most precious. How many, by frequently laying again the foundation of such repentance, are continued babes. Others get before them and are pressing towards the mark, while they are lagging far behind.

It is the cross of Christ that must crucify the wicked world.

That is commonly the best preaching which has the most of Christ in it. Paul in his ministry knew nothing "save Jesus Christ and him crucified." And all preachers are to draw their most powerful motives, and to draw them often, from the cross of Christ. But they need spiritual discernment to do this skillfully and with effect. Without this, they will be in danger of speaking of these high and mysterious things in a manner either awkward and frigid, or light and frivolous. Before the uncovered majesty of these sublime and solemn truths, how do the little arts of seizing the passions loosely and lightly, and I had almost said, profanely, talking of Christ's scars and sighs, bow and flee away! In how unhallowed a manner, O my soul, have you treated this infinitely dignified, this holy and heavenly theme! We ought to bow in humble awe before the substance, and not be always playing with the shadows.

By this high priest all the ends of the earth may approach God and be saved. How lamentable that any should spurn the infinite blessing and lie down in everlasting sorrows. How can any think it a privilege to be excused from using this medium in their approach to God? Do they not know that God without Christ is a consuming fire? What a Heaven of delight would break upon the soul that should open its eyes upon this glorious Savior! They who refuse, lose more in the present life than all creation can bestow. I would rather sit at his feet and see his glory, than to reign eternal emperor of this lower world.

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession." Firmly believe the testimony of God concerning him. Place unwavering confidence in him; "looking to" him as "the author and finisher of your faith." Let his love fill your hearts. "Let" your "mouth be filled with" his "praise and with his honor all the day." Devote to him your ransomed lives. "You are not your own—you are bought with a price." Shrink not from "the reproach of Christ." "For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burnt outside the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach." "For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." And it will be no grief of heart to us, when we shall sit down with him on his throne, that we took up the cross and followed him, and became followers of others who through faith and patience inherited the promises. Amen.