2.—We must now glance at the place of His ministry, His “more excellent ministry:” “A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.”
Moses was indeed faithful; he did everything, “as the Lord commanded Moses,” unto the most minute detail. Everything was made according to the direction of God; all the vessels of ministry were arranged in the order prescribed. “And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle, and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle; and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” This was the tabernacle which man had pitched, beautiful indeed and glorious, yet not the true tabernacle; it was only the shadow of that. And now the shadow is past; as it is said, “a shadow of good things to come but the body is of Christ.” But still, do not our minds linger around the earthly shadows, and become occupied with the things made with hands, instead of those which are made without hands?
In the true tabernacle there is no human instrumentality whatever; all is of God. The furniture and the vessels, all so curiously wrought, are now only to be found in the various graces and several offices of the Lord Jesus Christ— “the body is of Christ.” And all these are now displayed and exercised in heaven for us; He can stand in the immediate presence of God, there presenting for us His own fullness of excellency. Moses, the servant, could not bear the glory conferred on the tabernacle be had pitched; he was much inferior to that which his own hands had reared; but Christ, as a Son, is over His own house, and is Himself its furniture and its glory.
What a solemn lesson are we taught here concerning earthly and human things! Human instrumentality—that which is “made with hands” — “of this building” (creation)—whether with respect to place, persons, or things, ever fails, and is all disowned of God. Nothing will stand but that which is “made without hands,” i.e. of God. Men may think they honor God by rearing magnificent buildings, and dignifying them with the name of temple, or house of God; but they cannot be the true, because man, and not God, has founded them. Their device and their order all show them to be of the earth. It is well, indeed, if the very appearance of our worship here testifies that it is not of the worldly order and pattern. And this will be so, the more we realize that the place of worship is now changed from earth to heaven. There it is that the Minister of the sanctuary exercises His most blessed office. The Lord Jesus Christ exercised no such ministry on earth, “for if He were on earth He should not be a Priest;” and, therefore, our place of worship must be heaven, because there are no accredited priests of God on earth to offer gifts, or to perform divine service (verse 4).
3.—And now briefly as to the ministry itself. For the Lord Jesus Christ ministers onto God in the priest's office; ministering for us in it— “we have such a High Priest.”
The ministry of Aaron before God was in one of its parts representative. He bore the names of the children of Israel on his shoulders and on his heart
“when he went into the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually.” This blessed ministry the Lord Jesus sustains for us; but not occasionally, as Aaron when he went in, but constantly; He appears in the presence of God for us. He ever presents the saints before God, as associated, with all His own fullness of excellency and glory. And this in the presence of God within the vail, as it is said, “whither the forerunner is for us entered.” And again, “for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” How blessed is this, our names written in heaven, not in precious stones, but as “a seal upon his heart, and as a seal upon his arm!” In manifesting His own perfectness and glory in the presence of God, Jesus appears for us! The real identification of the church with Christ, was but faintly shadowed by the garments of glory and beauty worn by Aaron.
Then there was also the ministry of incense. This was a most precious ministry, because it was the medium of the worship of the people. But the offering of incense—all variously compounded as it was—was only occasional, and it might be interrupted. The fragrance of it was not perpetually before God. The plague had begun among the people, destructive judgment had come forth, when Moses bid Aaron “take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense.” All this had to be done, before Aaron could run into the congregation and stand between the dead and the living. “Behold, the plague was begun among the people; and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people and the plague was stayed” (Num. 16). But now the ministry of incense is perpetual; “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Hence He is able to save right through, from the beginning to the end. No plague of destructive judgment can come forth against the saints because of this. They are constantly upheld in perfectness by the power of the intercession of Jesus. It is this which ever keeps them in the right place before God, however infirm or erring, here.
The blessedness of the ministry of Him Who ministers for us in the true tabernacle is that it is entirely independent of us. It is by Him for us. Our conscious enjoyment of it will depend indeed on our walk, on our humbleness, on our self-judgment, on many things; but the ministry itself depends alone on our unfailing High Priest. He is a faithful minister ever performing His functions in a manner well-pleasing to God, whether our souls are realizing the value of what He is doing or not. Every saint is upheld by the intercession of Jesus, even in his most thoughtless mood. Advocacy is part of the work of grace—grace that provides for the putting away our every sin, and aiding our every infirmity, and bearing our every waywardness, in order that we may never be out of the presence of God. Hence the moment the conscience of a careless saint is reawakened, he may find full and instant access to God, because, though he has failed, the Minister of the Sanctuary has not. Long before he is alive to his failure, he is debtor to the ministry of Jesus for having been kept from falling. Little did Simon think of the sifting power of Satan; but the Lord, Who had prayed that his faith might not fail, could point out to him his danger. And so with us oftentimes. We see our failures, or the might and craft of our enemies, and then how precious is the thought, that the intercession of Jesus for us has been over all! We are led to value the intercession of Jesus after failure or danger is discovered, as surely Peter was; but its real value is, that it is perpetually offered, and perpetually prevalent. However we may fail therefore, the resources of faith can never fail; for faith reaches out to God, and to God's provisions of grace in Jesus, over every failure. If there be one deeper anguish of soul than another, it surely must be for a saint to become conscious of sin, yet to be without faith to look to God's gracious provision to meet it; but Jesus prays that our faith may not fail.
We are prone to think of the intercession of Christ, as though it was only occasionally exercised on our behalf, and perhaps also as though its exercise depended on our application for it. We know, indeed, that men have gone so far, as to assert that the intercession of the Lord Jesus is only to be called into exercise by the secondary intercession of others, such as the Virgin, departed saints, or the church. How false all this is, I need not stop to show. But even the thoughts found in the minds of true Christians on this subject sadly offend against the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. For His present ministry on our behalf in heaven is based upon the same abundant grace which marked His care of His disciples then on earth. “I have prayed for thee,” was His word to Simon Peter. His own perception of His servant's peril had moved the gracious Lord to pray for him; and hence He could tell Peter of his safety in the very hour when He disclosed to him his danger. And His present intercession above is marked by the same observant and effectual grace. He can form a divine estimate of our necessities, and our difficulties, and our dangers, things to which we are so often and so largely insensible. Yea, He knows how, amidst all these things, we appear in the eye of God Himself; and He even ministers on our behalf, according to the judgments and requirements of that searching eye. Thus are we preserved without spot before God; unfailingly maintained, in the sanctuary itself, in the fragrant perfectness of Christ. Well may the apostle, when recounting the blessings of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus exclaim, “Who is even at the right hand of God, Who ever liveth to make intercession for its.”
In another aspect the present ministry of Jesus is one of offering; as it is said, “Wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.”
Or, as it is said of the law, “In which were offered gifts that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.”
Under the law the worshipper might bring his offering to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, but then the priestly ministration began. The priest must lay it on the altar, where alone it could be accepted of the Lord. The worshipper himself could not offer immediately to the Lord. It was only through the priestly ministration that it was an offering made by fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord. But now it is by the offering of Jesus Himself, once for all, that we are sanctified as worshippers. Jesus gave Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor; and now whatever comes up to God through Him has the value of His own offering attached to it, and is of a sweet-smelling savor also. Thus God perpetually attests His own value of the offering of Jesus, even by accepting as precious, through Him, all done or offered in His name. To ask in the name of Jesus is therefore of unfailing efficacy, because God is always well-pleased in Him. We know, as priests, the divine estimate of Him through Whom we draw near to offer. What a comfort, then, is it to be assured, that our persons, our prayers, our thanksgivings, and our services, have, all of them, before God the sweet savor of the name of Jesus set upon them. Everything we desire or do, as having the Spirit of Christ Jesus, however mingled, or however feeble, is thus accepted for Jesus' sake.
And, remember, He is a perpetual offerer, as well as a perpetual interceder. He Himself says of those who know not God in Him and through Him, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into My lips.” But to us, because of this His ministry for us, the word is, “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks in (making confession to) His name.”
It was the priest alone who knew how to appropriate the sacrifice; he only knew what was for God, what for himself, what for the worshipper, and what was refuse. It is indeed most blessed for us, that there is a ministry for us which separates the precious from the vile, and which orders all according to God. Our Great High Priest thus ministers for us. He takes up that, which to us seemed so clogged with infirmity, and mingled with impurity, that we can discern no preciousness in it, and separating the precious from the vile, He offers what is really of the Spirit in the full value of His own offering. If any soul is awakened to the desire of serving the Lord, what sorrow have they found in having to learn the wretched imperfectness of all that which they attempt! But if thus we are oftentimes dispirited and ready to grow weary in well-doing, let us remember this present ministration of Jesus for us. Such should know its value, for their labor is not in vain in the Lord. How will “Well done, good and faithful servant,” gladden the heart of many by and by, who here have only deplored their constant failures! Think you, dear brethren, that the Philippians thought their trifling remembrance of the apostle Paul, would have found its way before God as an offering made by fire, of a sweet-smelling savor unto God? But it did. The apostle, in communion with the Great High Priest, could see Him take it up and present it in His own name (Phil. 4:1818But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. (Philippians 4:18)). Thus they were producing fruit, through Jesus, precious unto God; even as just before the apostle had said to them, “being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God” (chap. 1:11).
Yes, let the saints, as priests, judge themselves and their works, and if they find, as they assuredly will find, but little of the precious, let them know the One Who judges above, and Who delights to take out the precious, and present it to God in His own perfectness. Oh! if it were not for this ministry on high, how could we read the word, “To do good, and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased!”
(Concluded from page 13.)