COOPERATING WITH THE HEAVENLY MINISTRY OF THE ASCENDED CHRIST
Message Five
The Revelation, Experience, and Enjoyment of the Ascended Christ as a Merciful, Faithful, and Great High Priest
Scripture Reading: Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 2:17; 4:14-15; 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 27; 8:1-2
I. The basic significance of a priest in the Bible is not that a priest serves God but that a priest ministers God to man:
A. The first mention of a priest in the Scriptures establishes the principle of a priest.
B. The first time the word priest is used in the Bible is with Melchizedek—Gen. 14:18-20:
1. The foundational story of the priesthood in the Bible is that of a priest coming from God and ministering something of God to God's people:
a. After Abraham gained the victory, Melchizedek, a type of Christ as the kingly High Priest, appeared; it must have been through his intercession that Abraham was able to slaughter the four kings, recover Lot, and gain the victory—vv. 1-3, 12-20; Heb. 7:1-3.
b. Today Christ, our High Priest, is interceding for us in a hidden way (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25) that we may be His overcomers to defeat God's enemies so that through our victory Christ can be manifested openly in His second coming.
c. Melchizedek came from God and ministered something of God to Abraham; the bread and wine signify God being ministered to us to nourish, refresh, sustain, comfort, and strengthen us—Gen. 14:18.
2. In His heavenly ministry Christ was designated a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:6, 10), not to offer sacrifices for sin as Aaron did but to minister to us the very God who was processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, signified by the bread and wine (Matt. 26:26-28).
3. The main point with respect to Christ as the High Priest is that He ministers God into us—Heb. 8:2.
II. Hebrews is a book on the priesthood in its three aspects—2:17; 5:6; 7:16, 25:
A. The first aspect—the aspect of the Aaronic priesthood—is for offering sacrifices to God for our sins—10:12:
1. The Aaronic priesthood solves the problem of sin—7:27; 9:12, 28.
2. Christ put away sin by offering Himself to God as the one sacrifice for sins—v. 26; 10:10-12.
3. The Aaronic priesthood was not part of God's initial intention but was added later because of the problem of sin—1:3; John 1:29; Rom. 8:3.
B. The second aspect—the aspect of the kingly priesthood—is for ministering God into us—Heb. 5:10; 7:1-2:
1. As a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Christ is the King of righteousness and the King of peace—Isa. 32:17; 9:6.
2. Christ's purifying of sins is typified by the work of Aaron, whereas His sitting down on the right hand of the Majesty on high is according to the order of Melchizedek—Psa. 110:1, 4; Heb. 1:3; 8:1.
3. As the kingly High Priest, Christ ministers to us whatever we need, dispensing the processed and consummated Triune God into us as our supply to fulfill God's eternal purpose.
C. The third aspect—the aspect of the divine priesthood—is for saving us to the uttermost—7:25:
1. For Christ to be kingly is a matter of status, but for Christ to be divine is a matter of constituent, that is, of having the necessary element that constitutes Him a divine High Priest.
2. Christ's divinity constitutes Him a High Priest who is living, full of life, and able to continue His priesthood perpetually—vv. 17, 24.
3. The divine priesthood is the saving power of the indestructible life; thus, the divine priesthood is the presence of life and the absence of death—v. 16.
III. Christ is a merciful and faithful High Priest—2:17:
A. Hebrews 1 and 2 reveal that Christ is fully qualified to be our High Priest:
1. He is the Son of God with the divine nature—1:8.
2. He is the Son of Man with the human nature—2:6, 9.
3. He was incarnated to be like us—vv. 14, 17.
4. He was tempted, tried—v. 18.
5. He suffered death—v. 9.
6. He made propitiation for our sins—v. 17.
7. He destroyed the devil—v. 14.
8. He released us from the slavery of death—v. 15.
9. He brought forth many brothers in resurrection to form the church—vv. 11-12.
10. He was crowned with glory and honor in His exaltation—v. 9.
11. He is the Author, Captain, of our salvation—v. 10.
12. He helps us—v. 16.
B. Christ is able to be a merciful and faithful High Priest because He is both the Son of God with divinity and the Son of Man with humanity:
1. His being merciful corresponds to His being a man.
2. His being faithful corresponds to His being God.
3. Christ's divinity and humanity are typified by the gold and the linen in the ephod worn by the high priest—Exo. 28:6-14; 39:2-7:
a. The weaving together of the gold and the linen in the ephod typifies the mingling of divinity and humanity in Christ.
b. "There is a fabric in this universe woven with golden and linen thread and containing the five colors of golden yellow, pure white, blue, purple, and scarlet. This is the ephod that the Lord Jesus is wearing today. He is still clad in a garment made of gold and linen and with five beautifulcolors expressing His divinity, humanity, heavenliness, kingliness, and redemption." (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1372).
IV. Christ is a great High Priest—Heb. 4:14-15:
A. As our High Priest, Christ is great in His person, in His work, and in His attainment—1:5, 8; 2:6; 1:3; 2:9-10, 14-15, 17; 6:20; 9:24.
B. As our great High Priest, Christ was tempted in all respects like us, yet without sin; He has passed through the heavens, and He is touched with the feeling of our weaknesses—4:14-15.
C. As our great High Priest, Christ bears us before God in the Holy of Holies—9:24; Exo. 28:9-12, 15-30:
1. In the Old Testament the high priest typifies Christ as our High Priest.
2. Whenever the high priest went into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, he bore upon his shoulders and upon his breast the names of the children of Israel before God—vv. 9-12, 15-30.
3. Christ is our merciful, faithful, and great High Priest, and we are on His shoulders (His bearing strength) and on His heart (His love).
4. As Christ bears us before God in the Holy of Holies, He ministers the processed and consummated Triune God into our being—Heb. 8:2.
D. We should respond to Christ's priesthood by coming forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help—4:16:
1. Since today our spirit is the place of God's habitation (Eph. 2:22), it is now the gate of heaven (Gen. 28:12-17) where Christ is the ladder that joins us, the people on earth, to heaven, and brings heaven to us (John 1:51).
2. Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter through the gate of heaven and touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ as the heavenly ladder.
V. Although Christ as the High Priest is taking care of us, we all have our own thought and feeling as to how He should care for us; many times we do not know what is best for us or what the reason is for certain things; only the Lord as the High Priest knows the reason, and His care for us is always positive—Rom. 8:28-29:
A. When the apostle Paul prayed to the Lord, asking Him to remove the thorn (2 Cor. 12:7-8), the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness" (v. 9).
B. Instead of removing the thorn, the Lord imparted Himself into Paul as grace, enabling the apostle to know how precious and sufficient He is.
C. This experience of Christ as our High Priest, who bears us on His shoulders and breast and ministers God into us, is an experience in the Holy of Holies, where we enjoy God Himself and all His riches; this experience of Christ as our High Priest is the highest experience and enjoyment.
VI. Ultimately, Christ as the High Priest is caring for God's need and interests:
A. God will listen to our prayer when our prayer to God is toward Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God's economy—1 Kings 8:48; Dan. 6:10.
B. No matter for whom we are praying, our prayers should be aimed at the interests of God, that is, at Christ and the church as God's interests on earth, for the fulfilling of God's economy—Eph. 5:32; 6:17-18.
VII. Christ's heavenly ministry as the High Priest in ascension consummates in the New Jerusalem, which will be the mingling of divinity with humanity to be the very expansion, enlargement, increase, and expression of the Triune God in humanity forever as the ultimate goal of God's economy—Rev. 21:2, 9-11.