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HE IS A GREAT HIGH-PRIEST (ver. 4). How great, appears
from the episode here referred to. Flushed with victory, bringing with
him all the captives and goods which Chedorlaomer had swept away from Sodom,
the patriarch Abraham had nearly reached his own camp. But as he drew nigh
to Salem, where peace and righteousness dwelt beneath the rule of Melchizedek,
he was met by this saintly figure, bearing in his hands the sacred emblems
of bread and wine: meet type of him who often accosts us on the road of
life, when weary with conflict, or when entering into subtle temptation,
and refreshes us with the bread of his flesh, and the wine of his blood.
And Abraham knelt to receive a blessing at his hand, and gave him tithes
of all (Gen. xiv. 19, 20).
Does not this prove the greatness of Melchizedek?
The Levites and priests were indeed permitted to take tithes of their brethren;
but this glorious priest feels no compunction to take tithes of one of
another race. He rose above the narrow boundaries of race or blood, and
was prepared to do his office with equal care for an alien as for his own.
This unsectarian, cosmopolitan, large-hearted view of his obligations to
man as man is a true mark of greatness. And in this he manifests a trait
of the greatness of our dear Lord, whose Priesthood overleaps the limits
which might be set by nationality or birth, and deals with man as man;
with thee, reader, and me, if only we will come to him.
Besides this, since the greater must bless the less,
it is obvious that Abraham, great and good though he was, the friend of
God, and the recipient of the promises, must have felt that Melchizedek
was his superior, or he would never have treated him with such marked respect
(Heb. vii. 6, 7). Surely, then, this holy man was a fit representative
of our blessed Lord, to whom all the noblest in heaven and earth bow the
knee; confessing that he is Lord; and consecrating to him, not a tenth
only, but the whole of what they have and are.
HE IS A GREATER HIGH-PRIEST THAN AARON OR HIS SONS.
When Abraham knelt beneath that royal and priestly hand, he did not do
so for himself alone, but as a representative man. First and head of his
race, his descendants were identified with him in his deed. Levi, therefore,
who receiveth tithes paid tithes in the patriarch; and, in doing so, forevermore
took up the second place as inferior, and second best.
"Stop," cries an objector; "if you affirm this inferiority
of the Jewish priesthood to that of Melchizedek, you are making an assertion
so far-reaching in its results as to need some further corroboration. Are
you quite sure that this is as you say?"
"Certainly," is the reply; "else, why should there
be so emphatic an announcement made in David's Psalms of the coming of
another Priest long after the Jewish priesthood had been in operation?
'If perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, what further need was
there that another Priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek and
not be called after the order of Aaron?'"
"But stay," again interposes the objector; "if you
are going to supersede the Levitical priesthood, you are of necessity making
a change in all that ceremonial law which rested on the priesthood as an
arch upon its keystone. Are you prepared to sweep away a system so venerable,
so religiously maintained, the bulwark of religion, the institution of
God?"
"I am prepared for this," is the reply; "the previous
commandments that relate to sacrifices and rites and ceremonies will have
to go. They were temporary and imperfect. Types, not realities; molds,
not the real vessels; shadows, not the substance. They made nothing perfect.
Their office was to bring in a better hope; but, now that this is come,
they may be annulled and laid aside."
It seems a light thing to us; but it was of the
gravest import to those who were here addressed. To them the Jewish priesthood
and ceremonial were more than a state religion; they were religion itself.
Tradition, custom, ancestral veneration, personal admiration, and adherence,
all these ties had to be rudely snapped, as they were compelled to admit
the cogency of this inspired and irresistible argument. If Jesus were indeed
the Priest spoken of by David in Psalm cx.- and of this there seemed no
doubt because it was so often applied to him (Matt. xxii. 44; Acts ii.
34)- then there could be no doubt that his Priesthood was better than Aaron's;
and that the whole system of which the Levitical priesthood was the essential
characteristic must pass away before that system which gathers around the
person and work of the Lord Jesus.
We must distinguish between the moral and the ceremonial
law: the latter is transient, and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ; the former,
of course, is of permanent and eternal force, written on the conscience
of man and the government of the world.
We can only stay for a moment here to show how absurd
it is for either the Roman or the Anglican priest to base his pretensions
on the example of the Old Testament. To do so is to confess their inferiority
to the only Priesthood which is recognized in the present age. They are
in evil case. Press them for their warrant of existence. If they quote
Rev. i. 6, then we all have an equal right to wear their dress and fulfill
their office. If they quote Leviticus, then are they hopelessly undone;
for that priesthood has been superseded. The time is coming when all his
people will have to disavow connection with those men whose pretensions
are baseless, or worse, delusive; and an unwarrantable intrusion into the
sacred offices of Christ. Alas I poor souls, deluded and fleeced by them!
HE IS THE GREATEST OF HIGH-PRIESTS. Because
he was made priest by the oath of God (vv. 20, 21). Ordinary priests
had no such sanction to their appointment; but he by an oath. Jehovah sware,
and will not change his mind. His appointment is final, absolute, immutable.
It never can be superseded, as that of Aaron has been. Heaven and earth
may pass away, but it will not pass away.
Because he continueth ever. His is
the Priesthood in which throbs the power of an endless life (ver. 16).
It is witnessed of him, that he liveth. "Behold," said he, "I am alive
forevermore." What a contrast to all human priests, on whose graves this
epitaph may ever be inscribed, "Not suffered to continue by reason of death."
One by one they grow old and die: the eye, often filmed with tears, is
closed; the heart stands still; the hands, often raised in absolution,
crossed meekly on the breast, as if asking for pardon. But he ever liveth.
And of this perpetual life there are two blessed results. On the one hand,
he has an untransferable Priesthood (ver. 24); on the other hand, he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him (ver. 25).
There is no limit to his salvation, no barrier beyond which he may not
pass. Uttermost in time, and in character, and in desperation, you may
be at one of the ends of the earth; yet you shall be lifted to the uttermost
degree of glory. To the uttermost-from sins of thought as well as of word
and deed; to the uttermost, in cleansing the thoughts and intents of the
heart.
Because of his blameless character. Holy
toward God; harmless toward man; undefiled
in heart; separate from sinners in life. Not needing to offer
up sacrifice for himself, as the priests did always before offering for
the congregation; not requiring to make a daily or yearly repetition of
that perfect sacrifice and oblation which was once made on the cross (vv.
26, 27).
Because of the dignity of his Person
(ver. 28). The office of mediation is no longer intrusted to a man, or
set of men, encompassed by infirmities. See! through the shining ranks
of being there advances the Son, Light of Light, Fellow of Jehovah, Co-equal
with God, One with Father and Spirit in the ever-blessed Trinity. He is
solemnly consecrated to this task of reconciling and saving sinners. All
heaven hears and ratifies the oath. And surely we may well ponder what
must be our worth in the thought of God, and what our destiny, when our
case is undertaken, amid such solemnities, by One so August, so glorious,
so divine, as the High-Priest, who now awaits the appeal of the humblest
penitent of the human race. "Such a High-Priest became us."
"To THE UTTERMOST." Eyes may light on these words,
weary with weeping, of those who have been reduced well-nigh to despair
through the greatness and virulence of their sins. Not only does the record
of the past seem too black to be forgiven, but old habits are perpetually
reasserting themselves; ridiculing the most steadfast resolutions, and
smiting the inner life of the soul down to the ground. At such times we
are disposed to envy the vegetable and animal creation, which are not capable
of sin; or the myriads of sweet children who have been taken home to God
before the time of conscious rebellion and war could rend their infant
hearts. But the greatness of our sin is always less than the greatness
of God's grace. Where the one abounds, the other much more abounds. If
we go down to the bottoms of the mountains and touch the heart of the deep,
deeper than all is the redeeming mercy of God. The love and grace and power
of Jesus are more than our unutterable necessities. Only trust him, he
is "able to save unto the uttermost"; and he is as willing as able.
There are many in these days filled with questionings
about the clean heart, the extent to which we may be delivered from sin,
and such like speculations. To these we say: Cease to think of cleansing,
and consider the Cleanser; forbear to speculate on the deliverance, and
deal with the Deliverer; be not so eager as to the nature of the salvation,
but let the Saviour into your heart; and be sure that so long as he is
in possession, he will exert so salutary an effect, that sin, however mighty,
shall instantly lose its power over the tempest-driven soul that comes
through him to God, the source of holiness.