In considering the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, as set before us in the Epistle to the Hebrews, let us bear in mind the remarkable place that gold had in the dress of the high priest. The names of Israel were set in gold on the shoulder, and fastened by rings of gold and the lace of blue to the heart of Aaron. That lace of blue, as we have seen, by its heavenly color, speaks to us, and says, all is of God. We are given and fastened to the heart of our great High Priest by the loving hand of God.
This epistle is in perfect harmony with these typical thoughts. It is God speaking to His people, not now by His prophets, as in the past, but God speaking in the Son. The glory of His Person introduces and crowns His finished work. The appointed Heir of all things, He, the eternal, self-existent Son, by whom the universe was made. He did not become, but, “who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Could any mere man, or creature, be the self-existent brightness of the glory of God? Could any mere creature be the upholder of all things? He is truly God! “Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, Ο God, is forever and ever.” And yet as, truly perfect man. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Thus is the Person of our great High Priest set before us. But mark, before He became our High Priest how completely His atoning work was finished; and, as we learn elsewhere, divine righteousness was accomplished! It was “when he had purged our sins” He “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” This was in direct contrast with Aaron, or the high priest in Israel. He never had finished his work. He never could offer a sacrifice that purged our sins. He never, therefore, sat down. Scarcely need we say that the law, as symbolized by the ribbon of blue, knew nothing of this. Man did not keep all the commandments of the Lord, and the law could never purge our sins, but only curse the transgressor. But the lace of blue points to a Priest who has first of all purged our sins by His own blood. “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Having, then, by that one sacrifice opened the way for us into the holiest, even into heaven itself, and having obtained eternal redemption for us, it is evident we need no other sacrifice. Can anything be superior to eternal redemption? Can anything be additional to that which forever perfects? Oh, the blasphemy of the man that can pretend to be superior to Christ!—to pretend to offer sacrifices for the living and the dead. We ask you, reader, Have you eternal redemption through the blood of Christ? Then what other sacrifice can you need?
It is most important to be quite clear about this, that the one sacrifice of Christ is the ground of His Priesthood. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” God had no pleasure in those sacrifices which could never take away sins. (Heb. 10:1-91For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (Hebrews 10:1‑9).) It was the blessed will of God that our sins should be so perfectly put away, purged, that He in righteousness should remember them as against us no more.
The Lord Jesus came to do that will. He has done it, and the Holy Ghost now bears witness that God will remember our sins no more. This brings us back to the all-important fact that all this was accomplished before He sat down. “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God.” Mark, He settled the whole question of the believer’s sins before He sat down; in this sense, that they never could, or would, be imputed to believers. The Priesthood of Christ begins there.
But then, is not this the very opposite of all human ideas of priesthood? Of course it is. You see that poor woman, or rich one either. She is going to her priest. What is she going to him for? About her sins. She wants him to intercede for her with God—maybe to offer a sacrifice for her sins. She will pay him to do this. She knows nothing of eternal redemption, nothing of a purged conscience. Her sins, her sins, these drive her to the priest. Or she may have seen the dreadful wickedness of a man pretending to be a priest, and to have power, either to offer sacrifices for sins, or to forgive them. And she may try to come to Christ, that He may do something, as the only Priest, to relieve her. Centuries of false teaching as to priesthood have almost obliterated the truth, that the believer is forever perfected. (Heb. 10:1414For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14).) In ignorance of that fact, a person then looks to Christ to be his Priest when he has sinned, and to intercede with God for him; or to let him have a fresh application or sprinkling of blood; or do something to relieve the conscience as to sins. All this is entirely erroneous, and utterly contrary to the fact that all is done, and the worshipper once purged needs nothing more to perfect that one sacrifice by which he is immutably perfected as to the conscience.
Search through this epistle on the Priesthood of Christ, and you will be struck with this—it is not priesthood before God of our sin. Should that be the case, He meets us as Advocate with the Father, not as Priest with God. (See 1 John 2) But even then it is on the ground that He is our righteousness, having made propitiation for our sins. And mark as to that also, it is not if we repent and come to Him, that then, perhaps, He may be our Advocate, if we repent enough, and so merit His intercession. No, He is our Advocate. We have such an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. It is wholly of the Father—the lace of blue. We repent, utterly judge ourselves, because we have such an Advocate.
Peter sinned deeply, did he not? Had he to repent before Jesus prayed for him? Before Peter repented, yes, before he sinned, Jesus said, I have prayed for thee. Yes, whether it be as Advocate with the Father, or as our great High Priest be-fore the face of God, all is of God; it is the heavenly blue, the lace of blue. The Priesthood of Christ, then, is to “succor them that are tempted,” “to help in time of need.”
Let us now by faith look up, and see Jesus, our great High Priest, before the face of God for us. Let us dwell on the tenderness and glory set forth in the dress of the high priest. The gold is there. The righteousness of God is now accomplished. He is our subsisting righteousness. The purple is there. As the altar was to be covered with purple, so was He, the royal Sufferer. Yes, the body prepared was once covered with purple. Scarlet was there: David’s royal Son, now in heavenly glory. Fine-twined linen was there: the ever-righteous One.
Now look a little closer, if only a little child whose sins are forgiven; see your name engraved, and placed on His shoulder, set fast there in righteousness complete. Nay, look again, and never cease to look. Your name engraved, set upon His heart, in the light and perfection of the glory of God. Oh, that lace of blue! It is God the Father that has tied you fast with the heavenly lace of blue—no more to be separated, no more to be loosed. It is the heart of Him who has borne the judgment due to you; it is the heart of infinite, unchanging love. Oh, look at the Person of your great High Priest, blessed, only holy One, the plate of pure-gold righteousness before the face of God—holiness to Jehovah. Yes, and—blessed words! —we have such a High Priest. Consider the High Priest.
If it be the ribbon of blue, in our efforts and pledges to keep all the commandments, we have failed, and shall fail to keep them. But it is the lace of blue: Christ, our great High Priest, will never fail to keep us safe to the end. Did He not pass by the angels, and take hold on our nature, that He might be a faithful and merciful High Priest? that He might first make reconciliation for our sins, and also, having suffered being tempted, He might succor us when tempted? We have not to do one thing that He may become our Priest; no, “we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.” Sometimes we are so tempted, so tried, by the world, and still more by false brethren, that we wonder what will come next. He who watches over and cares for us never so wonders. “All things are naked and open unto his eyes.” All is known to Him. He has trod every step of the way. As man He learned His lesson perfectly. So that, being in that sense made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. Nothing, present or future, can ever loose us from that breastplate of light and perfection. Nothing can ever unloose those rings of gold and chains of love. Nothing can untie what God has tied, that lace of blue. God gave Him this blessed Priesthood, and God gave us to Him.
Not a temptation can come, not a single need or trial, but He sees it all beforehand; and He is well able to help in time of need. Yes, He is all we need before the face of God, having borne our judgment once. Having once purged our sins, He is all we need in passing through this wilderness to succor and sustain. And we have such an High Priest whose priesthood is unchangeable. “Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Thus the ribbon of blue is a symbol of that which saves never. The lace of blue shows us fastened to Him who saves to the uttermost, even forever.
Have you seen the dignity of our great High Priest, the Son of God? Then, also, have you seen the wondrous dignity of those placed, through the riches of His grace, on the very heart of this great High Priest? Think of these words: “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” How we have forgotten our heavenly calling! What has God purposed us to be? Or what the height of His eternal purpose, for such an High Priest to become us? Yes, through infinite grace, we too are to be holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and finally with Him, for whom we wait, made higher than the heavens. (Eph. 1) Who but our great High Priest could thus save us to the end?
How much still remains to be unfolded of the Priesthood of Christ in this epistle! However, this is the sum: “We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;” and therefore we need no other. Such a High Priest excludes all others. If we believe His one sacrifice has put away all our sins from the sight of God, then such a sacrifice excludes all others. In like manner such a High Priest excludes all need of another.
The priesthood of Israel made nothing perfect with its oft-repeated sacrifices and its annual day of atonement. Those sacrifices could never take away sins. Man was still shut out of the holiest. The institution of the ribbon of blue made nothing perfect, for no one, kept all the commandments of the Lord, to do them. All were guilty. What a contrast in Christ, our great High Priest! By His own blood He has entered in, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The veil is now rent from top to bottom. He ever bears our names upon His heart. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. He ever appears in the presence of God for us. He is ever set down in perfect repose. “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Now, if we believe this testimony of the Holy Ghost, we repeat, what need have we of the hosts of pretending usurping priests?
If God thus spake by Moses, when men sought to usurp the priesthood of Aaron: “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men,” what is the wickedness of those now in His sight who dare to usurp the priesthood of Christ, and deny the eternal efficacy of His one sacrifice, by offering false sacrifices of their own? May God, by the Holy Spirit, keep our hearts true to Christ, and deliver His people from every form of deception of these last days. C. S.