THE PRIEST-KING, THE MINISTER OF THE TRUE SANCTUARY.
Hebrews 8: 1-5 Now In the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such a High Priest, who sat down 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, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that this High Priest also have somewhat to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law (the Law of Moses); Who serve that which is a copy and shadow of the Heavenly things, even as Moses is warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, said He, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you in the mount.
Continuing with the SIXTH SECTION
Hebrews 8: 1-13
The New Sanctuary and the New Covenant.
BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY
The chief point is this: We have such a High Priest, who sat down at the right hand (the position of Authority and power) of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens. Thus the writer had summed up his teaching. He has now one more thought to add, revealing still more distinctly and fully the work our Lord does for us in Heaven. He is a Minister of the Sanctuary, and of the True Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. The Heavens, with the Heavenly Life of Christ there, are here shown to be the true counterpart of the tabernacle Moses built, and He, the Priest-King on the Throne, is seen to be the Minister of the Sanctuary, of the True Tabernacle which God pitched and not man.
He then proceeds to remind us, that as every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, so Christ must have something to offer too. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests according to the Law. Christ belongs to an entirely different sphere or order. With the body which He offered on earth, and the Blood He shed, He has passed away out of the visible into the invisible realm of Spiritual Worship and Life. Heaven is the sphere of His Ministry. When God said to Moses, to make all according to the pattern shown him in the mount, to serve as a shadow of the Heavenly things; in the very appointment of the tabernacle, there was the indication that it was but a copy and promise of the True Tabernacle, with its Heavenly Sanctuary. The Heavens where Jesus sits on the Throne, they are where the True Tabernacle; and the High Priest on the Throne is at the same time the Minister of the Sanctuary.
A Minister of the Sanctuary. The King is still a servant. All the ministry or service of the priests in the tabernacle had its fulfillment in Him. The priests served in the tabernacle day by day, ordered everything for the service of God according to His Will; as representatives of the people they received the assurance of God's favor, and brought them out God's blessing. Jesus is the Minister of the Heavenly Sanctuary. He represents us there. He has Opened up the Way, and brought us in, and sends into our hearts the Life and Spirit of the True Sanctuary; without ceasing He maintains the cleansing of His precious Blood in our conscience, and, in the Authority and power of an Endless Life, enables us to worship in spirit and in Truth, and to live our earthly life in the presence and the Grace of God. As the exalted Priest-King He does it all in an infinite, a Divine Authority and power. As the Minister of the Sanctuary, He does it with all the sympathy and the gentle forbearance which we have seen to mark Him as made like to His brethren in all things.
A priest must have a sanctuary in which he dwells, to receive all who come to seek his God. Our great High Priest has His Sanctuary in the Heavens; there He dwells, there we find Him; there He receives us, there He introduces us to meet God; there He proves that He is a Priest who abides continually, and who gives those who come to God through Him the one who has the Authority with power to do it too--- to abide continually in His presence. The nearness to God and the intimacy of fellowship with Him I cannot partake of except through my heart. My heart is my life, is myself; my only Blessedness is in the State of the heart. And therefore Jesus as High Priest cannot do His Priestly work of bringing me near to God except as He dwells in my heart by the Authority and power of the Holy Spirit. All our thought, and faith, and adoration of Him in Heaven brings us back to the richness of the Glory of the Mystery--- Christ in you. He is Priest with the full Authority and Power of an Endless Life, a Priest whose presence, Authority and Power are known and enjoyed in the Life of the heart.
These are indeed spiritual mysteries of which we speak--- things hard to be understood of those who, through sloth or worldliness, are dull of hearing. Oh, let us not imagine that these are things which reason can grasp or hold; they are a supernatural wisdom, a Divine Revelation which none can receive but those who receive it from the Spirit of God. Let us remember that it is God, who has pitched this tabernacle; that it cost the Son of God a life of humility and suffering, cost Him His death and blood, to open it for us; that it needed the almighty authority with the power of God in the resurrection and ascension to bring Him there; that it needed ten days unceasing prayer, and the coming of the Blessed Spirit at Pentecost, before the High Priest could impart even to His elect circle the power of the Life within the veil. And let us then pause to think that it is no wonder if most Christians rest content with the easier and more external worship as typified by Aaron, and never press on unto perfection, in the full Knowledge of our Melchizedek and the mystery of the Heavenly Life into which He leads them. Let us, above all, remember that it was through death, through the offering up of Himself, that Jesus entered in, and Opened the Way for us to follow and then abide. To enter in demands a very entire renunciation of the world and of self, a very real and true participation in Christ's humbling of Himself and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross--- in His death to sin. And it demands no less a very real experience of the mighty operation of the Authority and power of God, which raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand. But let us praise God, too, that for every soul who truly wills it, our almighty Priest-King, able to save completely, will surely give it.
1. How many Christians think of Heaven, as the place where Jesus is, as the place to which they have a title, and where they hope to go when they die. But they think not of Heaven as a Life, and of God's nearness as an experience for every hour of our dally walk. And how many who think of Jesus as the blessed One in whom they are there, by imputation, but know not of Him as lifting them and their whole life into Heaven, and, by the Holy Spirit, bringing Heaven Into them.
2. Every priest has his temple, where he receives the worshipers, and leads them to find the God they seek. Jesus must have a temple too. The Heavens are the True Sanctuary. Do not attempt to separate between the Priest and the place of His dwelling. As His Life in Heaven is the Life of our heart, we know the authority and the power of His Priesthood.
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