The subject of Christ's priesthood is taken up by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, for he was writing to a people who were familiar with the religious system that God had given to His people Israel, in which there was a priesthood that had been divinely chosen and established for the service of God among His earthly people. In this Epistle we learn that the tabernacle system with its sacrifices was but a shadow of what God would bring into being in relation to Christ, the One of whom all the sacrifices spoke, and who would be God's great High Priest in connection with the heavenly and spiritual order to be introduced.
In Hebrews 1 the divine glory of the Son shines out from His place at the right hand of God; but in Hebrews 2, the Spirit of God dwells on the perfection and reality of His Manhood, quoting different Scriptures from the Old Testament to establish that the Son of God was a real Man, and had entered into all that was proper to man while in this world. It was necessary for Christ to become Man in order that He might die, but also that He might be fitted for the place He would occupy as God's High Priest.
Only One who knew the practical details of human conditions in this world could truly enter into all that men felt in passing through the trials of life, so we read, "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God" (Heb. 2:17). He knew what it was to be wearied, to be hungry, to thirst, to groan in His Spirit, to weep, and to pass through the most bitter testings; and to feel all with a depth and intensity beyond all that any other man has ever felt or could feel, both because of the unsullied perfection and holiness of His nature, and because of His infinite capacity as a divine Person.
Knowing every step of our wilderness way, and all that is involved for us, His mercy comes to our aid in time of trouble. He is faithful also, and can be relied on at all times, having been fully tested in the same conditions that we pass through. And He was tested beyond anything that we shall ever be called upon to endure, for He endured the cross to make propitiation for our sins, and in this work He was alone, the only One who could be a sacrifice for sin; but in this He was proved to be faithful unto God, and indeed for us, so that we through His work might be blessed.
Of old, Israel's high priest had their names on the two onyx stones upon his shoulders; but now the names of the children of God are engraved on the shoulders of their Great High Priest, and the One who "Himself hath suffered being tempted" is able to succour them that are tempted. The Lord Jesus suffered in the many trials of a life wholly given up for the glory of God and the blessing of men; His life from beginning to end was one of suffering and sorrow, and He knows how to sustain His own in their times of testing.
A casual reading of Hebrews 1 will show something of the greatness of our High Priest. Aaron, on the day of atonement, passed through the court, and through the holy place, to enter into the holiest; but our great High Priest has passed through the heavens on His way to the right hand of the majesty on high. How very great then, in His Person, must be this High Priest of our confession. None of the principalities and powers of the heavenlies, who have sought to frustrate God's purposes, could challenge the Son of God on His way upward to the throne, for, through His death, He "made a show of them openly, triumphing over them" (Col. 2:15).
On high we have One who can enter into all our sorrows, being "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," having Himself been tried "in all points" like as we are. We might well have boldness in coming near for help to the One who is great in His person, perfect in His Manhood, and was tested to the utmost hi all points such as we are, and who has our names engraven on His heart of love.
God's throne, through man's sin, became for man a throne of judgment, but the blood of Jesus, sprinkled upon it, has made it a throne of grace. Entering God's presence, we find Jesus there, and from Him we obtain the mercy that will bring relief in the testings of the way, and the grace that will sustain until the trial is over.
Scripture is very careful to safeguard the spotless purity of the Son of God when speaking of His testings, for in all His trials He was "without sin." There was no sin in Him to answer to the testing; He could not be seduced by sin for there was nothing in Him to which sin could appeal. The Son of God chose to remain hungry, suffering in hunger, rather than give way to Satan's temptation. How much He must have suffered in realising the feelings of Martha and Mary, when He remained two days where He was, before going to their aid.
Aaron did not become priest of God by the will of man, nor by his own or by that of any other, but by the call of God. So also with the Lord Jesus, He is a Priest by the call of God, and this is plainly written in the Old Testament Scriptures, which were valued by every true Israelite. Psalm 2 had spoken of Messiah as Son of God, and Psalm 110 had said of Him, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
God has not forgotten what Christ has suffered in this world, the Holy Spirit calling attention to the severity in the words, "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared" (Heb. 5:7). Only God could know the depths of the sufferings of Christ which found expression in the strong crying and tears.
In His place in the Godhead, the Son had ever commanded, but He had voluntarily come as Man into the place of obedience, a place He had not known till coming into the world. We have to learn obedience because it is in our sinful nature to disobey; but it was altogether different with Christ, His only desire was to obey, and He was perfect in His obedience, but His obedience caused Him to suffer, and in His suffering He learned experimentally what obedience was.
Perfect in His Manhood, in His obedience, and in all things at all times, the Son was made perfect in His experience of suffering, and in His obedience even unto death, through which "He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." How great was Christ's work, and how wonderful the results for us: eternal salvation, a salvation from all our sins, from all our foes, and that will take us into the eternal blessings that God has prepared for those who trust Him. All this has been secured for us by our Great High Priest, who has been called of God.
One blessed result of Christ's work and entry into heaven is that He has gone in as "the forerunner" for us. As surely as He has entered God's presence within the veil of heaven, we too shall follow Him. Within the veil, Christ is "an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. 6:19-20). In Hebrews 7, the Spirit of God teaches us about this new order of priesthood of which Jehovah had spoken in Psalm 110 in relation to His Son, David's Lord.
In Melchisedec we see some of the features belonging to God's High Priest. He was not only a priest, but also a king, and "by interpretation, King of righteousness, and … King of peace." When Jesus comes out of heaven to take His kingdom, He will be manifested in this double character, even as is written in Zechariah 6:13, "He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."
Melchisedec had neither antecedent nor descendant as a priest, there being nothing in the divine record of his lineage. In this respect, he is "made like unto the Son of God": for He "abideth a priest continually." In person, Melchisedec was greater than Abraham, for Abraham was blessed by him; in priesthood Melchisedec was greater than Aaron, for Aaron paid tithes to Melchisedec through his father Abraham. The fact that another priesthood was spoken of in Psalm 110 is evidence that the Levitical priesthood was imperfect and required a change of law, for the law of Moses made no provision for anyone entering the priesthood from the tribe of Judah, from which our Lord came, after the flesh (Heb. 7:1-14).
God's promise to Christ in Psalm 110 was in the days of David, so that even then there was the divine indication that the law of Moses was being set aside in favour of the introduction of a new system, with a new Priest. There was no divine oath when Aaron was consecrated, which left room for its being set aside; but the new system cannot be set aside, for God made David's Lord "a priest for ever," with an oath. When God swears, that which He speaks can never be set aside. With the new priesthood there is a new covenant, a better one, of which Jesus is the Surety, the guarantee, His precious blood being its seal.
Aaron was stripped of his priestly vestments, and they were put upon his son, Eleazar, on mount Hor, for Aaron had to die; and death removed high priest after high priest of the Levitical order; but Christ's priesthood is intransmissible, and "He is able also to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:24-25). The Lord Jesus will bring God's people safely through the wilderness to the rest and glory of God, caring for them in every way, and interceding for them on high.
The blessed character of our great High priest is found in these precious words, "For such an High Priest became us, who is holy. harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." God has taken care that the spotless purity of His dear Son should be left on record for us. He was infinitely holy, and never once do we find Him on earth using His divine power to harm anyone; only a fig tree was cursed by Him, to foreshadow God's judgment on a nation that bore Him no fruit in spite of all the care He had lavished on it. He drew sinners to Him, because of His grace, but He was separate from them in the holiness of His nature and in His life of perfection before God.
Israel's priests needed to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well as for the sins of the people; but the holy, the harmless, the undefiled offered Himself as a sacrifice for sins, ONE SACRIFICE, that needs no repetition, for the sins of His people. There was no infirmity about Jesus; perfect in His holiness, and altogether pure, He is not only Man, but the Son, and God's oath has made Him and consecrated Him a priest for evermore.
In Hebrews 8, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews sums up what he has been writing on the priesthood of Christ in these words, "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." On the throne of God, in the place of majesty and power, Jesus is sitting, the minister of a new, divine system of blessing for men, a system, not introduced by Moses as the mediator, but by God Himself.
Although Aaron was minister of the holy places, so far as we learn from Scripture he never entered the holiest in his garments of glory and beauty. The failure of his house prohibited his entry into the immediate presence of God, saving on the day of atonement in the holy linen garments. His appearance in the beautiful vestments of his consecration was only in the holy place to order the lamps, and to maintain the showbread upon the pure table. But Jesus has entered right into God's presence, and there appears in His garments of glory and beauty, for He is crowned with glory and honour, and He ministers continually before the face of God.
As Minister of the Holy Places, the Lord Jesus maintains the light of the lamps on the pure candlestick, during the night of His absence from this world, in watching over His saints, so that there might be brought out in them, for the pleasure of God, His own traits of moral beauty, as seen in the features of the candlestick. He also keeps the twelve loaves before the face of God, for His ancient people Israel are not forgotten before God; they will one day be brought into blessing on earth on the ground of the New Covenant.
The function of the altar of incense, which is carried on with the golden censer in the holiest (Heb. 9:4), is that the sweet odour of Christ might ever be before God. When the saints enter the holiest, in the company of the Great Priest (Heb. 10:21-22), it is not only to be occupied with the glory, the graces and offices of Christ, and all else that is seen there in the furniture, the veil, and the varied colours, but as thus engaged to worship God in the Spirit, and present Christ to Him, as known in the fragrance of the incense which was upon the golden censer.
Christ's official priesthood did not begin till He took His place on high, even as it is written, "For if He were on earth, He should not be a Priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law" (Heb. 8:4). But it is "of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer," and through the Eternal Spirit He "offered Himself without spot to God" (Heb. 8:3; Heb. 9:14). The work of the Lord in offering Himself on the cross was priestly work, for He was the Offerer, the Offering and the Offering Priest, but it was not in His official priesthood, for that belonged to heaven.
Aaron entered the holiest with the blood of bulls and goats, but Christ has entered into heaven, having become a High Priest by His own precious blood, and as called of God. All the efficacy of the work wrought for God's glory, and for our blessing, abides in Him in the presence of God, even as the Apostle John writes,
And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2). Christ has entered in with a work completed for the satisfaction and glory of God, an eternal redemption (Heb. 8:12), the results of which abide for ever, and shall be seen in the new heavens and the new earth; but He also entered in with His beautiful garments, "to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. 9:24). He represents us in the presence of God, for our place is there with Him.
Under the Aaronic priesthood the work was never done, for "Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (Heb. 10:11): but in marked contrast, "This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God." There is no need for Christ to rise up to do another sacrificial work, His one sacrifice avails for ever; and in virtue of this ONE SACRIFICE, He has for ever sat down where no other could sit, on God's right hand.
In Hebrews 1:3, the Son sits down "on the right hand of the majesty on high" in the greatness of His Person, having a personal title to sit there; in Hebrews 8:1, the Lord sits down "on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" in the greatness of His priesthood; and in this chapter (Heb. 10:12) He "for ever sat down on the right hand of God" in the greatness of His finished work, His one sacrifice. In Hebrews 12:2 God sets Him down "at the right hand of the throne of God" as His answer to the cross.
Wm. C. Reid.