HI 1:9-11{I HAVE read these verses more particularly, because I think they show us the difference that there is between the Old Testament and the New, in this matter that we have been considering.
When God was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt into Canaan, He elected the circumstances to suit the people; but when we come to the Epistles, we find He elects the man to suit Himself. It will occur to all of us, who are familiar with the Philippians (see chap. 2:6, 7, 8), that it is so. In the Old Testament there is no such opportunity for God. True, He opened the heavens and fed them, but He suited Himself ',to what they were, and wanted. He fed them even with angel's food, and He clave the rock, and gave them drink; there was not an old shoe in their midst, not a foot that was weary; He took care of them in, all that was external. But that is man as he is in himself only; it is a people passing through the-world as a wilderness, in which God sustains them in sovereign goodness.
But now all is changed. And what is the change? We have a heavenly man, when Christ comes in.. And as I think of this, I dare not take a step, were it not that the very beginning of the Philippians, tell me, " He who hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.." What a blessed assurance for us, who are His!
In connection with what has been said as to Elijah and Elisha, suppose I take that story out-of type, as God will soon take everything out of type, and as we all love to do now, and read it in the light of the Acts. In Acts 'I see. the One go away whom I love; and I say He is " departed," and God has called me to be here in this world, a representative of the One who has gone, in the power of the Holy Ghost who has come. I am called to trust and live in all the sufficiency of God for a new object: " To me to live-is Christ." God has come out to glorify Himself in the most wonderful way: He says, I will make you as like the glorified Man as I can, even while down here. In, chap. 2. we get how this power works itself out in a man, " For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." It is this that we must look at. In chap. i. I get, besides this, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and God working in Paul. And then he says: Do not pray me out of prison; everything " abounds "; pray for me, but do not pray me out. And the effect of your prayer will be, that I shall, trough the supply of the Spirit of Christ, be able to glorify Him exactly where I am.
You get the same in Acts, where the " prison " history is so wonderful. Satan does his worst against the disciples of Christ, at " the right hand of God"; and then an angel of the Lord delivers them, or else prison doors open of themselves, and out they come. Or, if Paul and Silas are there, it serves only as an occasion to express the melody of their hearts, the more brightly at midnight.
As to setting aside self, we start from the fact that God has done it in the, death of Christ; and then, I think, in the Philippians we have to take part with the indwelling Spirit in mortifying its members. We must, in that way, keep pace with the revelation of God, as we said when conversing on the Romans. Look at a Philippian.! "What a wonderful man! Christ has left a vacant place for " His own " on earth, just because He has gone to heaven, and now what place can the Father's love put us into? Surely into none but His! Well, in Philippians we have' the mind of Christ, and the pattern of Christ, as to what a heavenly man is.
It is not Solomon. God provided a man on earth up to that height, and said, There -shall not be a man after you, that shall be like you. Well, -Oak, we may say, Good-bye to the world, with its great men and all the great cities; for there is nothing left open at all between God and you. " What can the man do, that cometh after the king?" God has not left it to the nineteenth century man to settle things. The cross of Christ settled them, and what a settlement too, if I look on to the coining of the Lora! We may talk of the cross, and, thank God, it is the foundation of everything, but to think of Him as putting down all oppression,. and reconciling the whole world to God! Majesty, dominion, power, and might, He says, I will put it all into connection with myself as the Son of man, and with it all at the feet of Him who created it; that God, and none but God, may have his full sway and. purpose, and finally be all in all."
Now where are we upon this earth, in view of this? And if it be a puzzle as to where we are, it is really because We do not know what we are. I look at this man in Philippians-a man upon the earth; and I say, It is marvelous! If I look at Paul, he is tossed. about after a new pattern; for the wilderness of Israel's history does not measure Christian suffering: When Christ came in, there was a new measure: " If we suffer with Him." It is extreme, truly; but all that is extreme below only Calls out what God is above in His sufficiency. If there be the need here, it is met according " to the riches in glory, by Christ Jesus," of my God up there. What an opportunity for God! A man upon the earth says, " My God shall supply all your need." How? According to your need? Not at all! But " according to his riches in glory." And now, I ask, who would not be encouraged to go into the need? What an encouragement to accept the pathway that 'Christ Himself trod— to go into it led by the Holy Ghost, and to be in it like Christ, and with Christ, strengthened in the inner man, because with Christ in a totally different way toll saints in Old Testament times.
For the coming in of Christ made a change in everything, not merely in the first man himself and the bringing in of a new creation, but I get the Son of God gone up, and the Holy Ghost come down, to witness, to the One who has departed td the Father. If He do not witness to me, I do not see Him who is gone;. and, if I do not see Him, I cannot display Him in the place where He is not. We have the new pattern of this " second " Man upon earth, who " thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but who made himself of no reputation." How walk with such an one as this? I Must have His life. He emptied Himself, took upon Him the form of a Servant, and then went down by obedience into death, to destroy the power of the devil. He overcame all that had to be overcome. At the cross there is nothing left but the ashes of the sacrifice, under the judgment of God for sin, and in the grave there is nothing left but the linen, clothes. At the cross of Christ everything wound itself up; everything came to a crisis, followed by the light of resurrection and eternal glory.
In chap. 6:10, Paul is again like Elijah. It might not have been thought creditable for such an one as the prophet of Jehovah to be fed by a raven. It certainly was not to any who judged after the flesh, and yet what an assurance to Elijah! And just so this wonderful man in Philippians: " I rejoiced," he says, " in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your cafe of me hath flourished again." It is, in principle, like Elijah and the ravens. When you take in the whole circle of the circumstances of the earth, sufferings with Christ, loss of all things here, desiring but one thing, and that to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, is not all that new? It is new in its nature; it is new in extent too. Who could take a step in the path had not God presented Himself as " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,'.' and of all those who come out, and follow in His footsteps? What is earth to the apostle? It is just God's school-tithe of life and death, which he goes through in the Philippians.. And has he got his ups and downs? No, because he does not go into the circumstances to be ruled by them. He says, The ups and downs are just what God needs; that He may show out in me the power that can carry me through them as though all were smooth.
Nothing could so properly close such an Epistle as the way in which he looks at the whole world, faces " all the need " in it, and says, This need is but the opportunity for God supplying you; He wants it. We thus not only prove the sufficiency of God; but find that God reveals Himself in an entirely new way, according to the Man at His right hand in glory; so that we can go on with, Him through all here that is contrary to us, and not be moved by it. " I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I have, learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content. This is the school in which the apostle graduates, and the only school in which those are who have the life and " mind of Christ."
It is On my mind to say a Word in contrast with this Philippian state, and its need, by-turning to " the time of need " in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In chap. 4. We read: " Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an. 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. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne; that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Now it is because of this fact of " need," of which we have been hearing this morning, whether in the Old Testament, or in the New, that we want this High Priest. When He was upon earth. Jesus could,. and did,, always meet their need. If they-wanted bread He could give it them, and feed them by thousands: “Lacked ye anything?" But, where He now is on high, there is a link, on the other side of the dying love of Christ. Here I find this living love in " the great High Priest " that has proved itself by death. It is wonderful! I see the love on earth, the dying love; but I look up in Hebrews, and I see the living love- of my living Lord. Ltd I love to look up into the heavens, and I say, There is the loving Lord. in His living love, and He has a feeling about my every infirmity. He is " touched." How in the Gospel narratives, He liked the touch of one poor thing and another, and if any say, I cannot touch you now-No, He says, but I am touched about you. It may be kind of you to give a poor man half-a-crown, but you are not thereby necessarily touched at all about his feelings. It is relief to him, no doubt. But here I get one who is able to succor, and who is reached, and touched with such a feeling of my infirmities as none can have but Himself; and that comes to me from. Him; and that not during a time of twenty-four hours, but through all " the time of need" till He comes again to take us into the glory.
Now I do not say this is like Philippians. It is not. That is forming and fashioning the man into what Christ on earth personally was; this is Christ as Priest, saying, I will go into An office of priestly intercession in the heavens for you-for You who need some one to enter into all your infirmities, and to sustain, and succor you in them. I will accept such an office for you, who are on your way to " the rest that remaineth for the people of God." And this is part of Christianity. The people of Israel in olden time could not have got on without the grace of priesthood, for by means of it, the relations of Jehovah were witnessed and maintained for them in sovereign goodness, though in earthly connections, and in -a worldly sanctuary.
When we, come to the new order of our standing, and relations in Christianity, we do well to observe, and with great carefulness, that priesthood is out of the question. In our church relations for example, we are the members of Christ, and are United to Him as " the head of the body," by the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
So likewise in our relations in life, as " the sons of God," with the Father and the Son of His love, by the Spirit of adoption, how can there be any place for a priest? Indeed, this contrast is maintained by: Jesus, with " His own " who are in the world, by the words He spoke in John 16:2626At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: (John 16:26): " At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you." There can be no room for priesthood in order to maintain relations and intimacies such as these. So likewise in our worship of the Father, by the Son of His own love.
Nevertheless, as a people on their way to God, we have a High Priest passed into the heavens, the Son of God Himself. And being now called with ":a heavenly calling" we must need have a Priest higher than the calling (Heb. 7:26,27,2826For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. 28For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. (Hebrews 7:26‑28).) But be sure not to confound the heavenly calling of Hebrews With the session and sitting " in the heavenly places " of Ephesians, or with Christ as the Head of His. body, the church.
Of course there is much more in this passage, but, in this limited view of it, I get Christ, touched with our feelings, and who in grace accepts an office for us. Besides what is relative and personal to God and to man, to heaven and to earth, He accepts an office, lives on the "right hand of the Majesty on high," to make intercession for us, is able to succor us in every time of need, and enters more largely than any of us can into all our feelings; takes us up and ministers to us, so that we have to thank Him for the succor that He gives in the consciousness of His grace.
May God give us " the mind of Christ " in order to be Philippians: I do not want you to be limited to this Epistle to the Hebrews, though the personal glory of Christ, as our Priest, be its subject; nor do I want to be a Hebrew myself; but this great High Priesthood belongs to Christianity, to us who are " partakers of the heavenly calling," and we may thank God that it does: and this Epistle teaches it. Still may the Lord help us, to not only look to Him as the One who can succor us in need, and be touched with our infirmities, as our Priest, but to know God as "My God," who, in another circle, supplies it all " according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." As the blessed counterpart of this power that worketh in us; " may the peace of God, that passeth all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
(J. E. B)