The
Consecrated Way to
Christian Perfection
by
Alonzo. T. Jones
p. 3 - Introduction
In the manifestation of Christ the Saviour it is revealed that He
must appear in the three offices of prophet, priest, and king.
Of
Him as prophet it was written in the days of Moses: "I will
raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee,
and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them
all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name,
I will require it of him." Deut. 18:18, 19. And this thought
was continued in the succeeding scriptures until His coming.
Of
Him as priest it was written in the days of David: "The Lord
hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedec." Ps. 110:4. This thought was also
continued in the Scriptures, not only until His coming, but after
His coming.
And
of Him as king it was written in the days of David: "Yet have
I set [anointed," margin] My King upon My holy hill of Zion."
Ps. 2:6. And this thought, likewise, was continued in all the scriptures
afterward unto His coming, after His coming, and unto the end of
the Book.
Thus
the Scriptures abundantly present Him in the three offices of prophet,
priest, and king.
p
4 - This threefold truth is generally recognized by all who
have acquaintance with the Scriptures; but above this there is the
truth which seems to be not so well known - that He is not
all three of these at the same time. The three offices are successive.
He is prophet first, then after that He is priest, and after that
He is king.
He
was "that Prophet" when He came into the world, as that
"Teacher come from God," the Word made flesh and dwelling
among us, "full of grace and truth." Acts 3:19-23. But
He was not then a priest, nor would He be a priest if He were even
yet on earth, for it is written, "If He were on earth, He should
not be a priest." Heb. 8:4. But, having finished His work in
His prophetic office on earth, and having ascended to heaven at
the right hand of the throne of God, He is now and there our "great
High Priest" who "ever liveth to make intercession for
us," as it is written: "He shall be a priest upon His
[Father's] throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them
both." Zech. 6:12, 13.
As
He was not that Priest when He was on earth as that Prophet;
so now He is not that King when He is in heaven as
that Priest. True, He is king in the sense and in the fact
that He is upon His Father's throne; and thus He is the kingly priest
and the priestly king after the order of Melchizedec, who, though
priest of the Most High God, was also King of Salem, which is King
of peace. Heb. 7:1, 2. But this is not the kingly office and throne
hat is referred to and that is contemplated in the prophecy and
the promise of His specific office as king.
p
5 - The kingly office of the promise and the prophecy is that
He shall be King upon "the throne of His father David,"
in perpetuation of the kingdom of God upon this earth. This kingly
office is the restoration and the perpetuation, in Him, of the diadem,
the crown, and the throne of David, which was discontinued when,
because of the profanity and wickedness of the king and the people
of Judah and Israel, they were taken captive to Babylon, when it
was declared: "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose
day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord
God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be
the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will
overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until
He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Eze. 21:25-27.
Thus
and at that time the throne, the diadem, and the crown of the kingdom
of David was is continued "until He come whose right it is,"
when it will be given Him. And He whose right it is, is only Christ,
"the son of David." And this "coming" was not
His first coming when He came in His humiliation, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief; but it is His second coming, when He
comes in His glory as "King of kings and Lord of lords,"
when His kingdom shall break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms
of earth, and shall occupy the whole earth and shall stand forever.
It
is true that when He was born into the world, a babe in Bethlehem,
He was born King, and was then and has been ever since King by right.
But
p
6 - it is equally true that this kingly office, diadem, crown,
and throne of the prophecy and promise, He did not then take and
has not yet taken and will not take until He comes again.
Then it will be that He will take to Himself His great power
upon this earth, and will reign fully and truly in all the splendor
of His kingly office and glory. For in the Scripture it is portrayed
that after "the judgment was set, and the books were
opened," one like the Son of man came to the Ancient of days,
"and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed." Dan. 7:13, 14. Then
it is that He shall indeed take "the throne of His father
David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of
His kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:32, 33.
Thus
it is plain that in the contemplation of the scripture, in the contemplation
of the promise and the prophecy, as to His three offices of prophet,
priest, and king, these offices are successive; and not all, nor
even any two of them, at the same time. He came first as
"that Prophet;" He is now that Priest,
and will be that King when He comes again. He finished
His work as "that Prophet" before He became that
Priest; and He finishes His work as that Priest before
He will become that King.
And
as He was, and as He is, and as He is to be, so our consideration
of Him must be.
That
is to say: When He was in the world as that Prophet,
that is what the people were then to
p
7 - consider Him; and, as concerning that time, that is what
we are now to consider Him. But they at that time could not consider
Him as that Priest, nor, as concerning Him in that time,
can we consider Him as that Priest; for when He was on earth,
He was not a priest.
But
when that time was past, He became Priest. He is now Priest. He
is now just as truly Priest as, when He was on earth, He was that
Prophet. And in His office and work of priest we are now to
consider Him just as truly, just as thoroughly, and just as constantly
that Priest, as when He was on earth, they and we must consider
Him as that Prophet.
And
when He comes again in His glory and in the majesty of His kingdom,
and upon the throne of His father David, then we shall consider
Him as that King, which He will then indeed be. But not until
then can we truly consider Him in His kingly office, as He in that
kingship and kingly office will be.
In
His kingly office we can now truly contemplate Him as only
that which He is yet to be. In His prophetic office we can
now contemplate Him only as that which He has been. But in His priesthood
we must now consider Him as that which He now is; for only that
is what He now is. That is the office in which alone He is now manifested;
and that is the office in which alone we can now actually consider
Him in His own person and procedure.
Not
only are His three offices of prophet, priest, and king successive,
but they are successive for a purpose. And they are successive for
a purpose in the exact order of the succession as given - prophet,
p
8 - priest, and king. His office as prophet was preparatory
and essential to His office as priest; and His offices of prophet
and priest, in order, are preparatory to His office as king.
And
to us the consideration of Him in these offices in their order
is essential.
We
must consider Him in His office as prophet, not only in order that
we may be taught by Him who spake as never man spake, but also that
we shall be able properly to consider Him in His office as priest.
And
we must consider Him in His office as priest, not only that we may
have the infinite benefit of His priesthood, but also that we shall
be prepared for what we are to be. For it is written: "They
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him
a thousand years." Rev. 20:6.
And
having considered Him in His office of prophet as preparatory to
our properly considering Him in His office as priest, it is essential
that we consider Him in His office as priest in order that we shall
be able to consider Him in His office as king; that is, in order
that we shall be with Him there, and reign with Him there. For even
of us it is written: "The saints of the Most High shall take
the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever,"
and "they shall reign forever and ever." Dan. 7:18; Rev.
22:5.
His priesthood being the present office and work of Christ, this
having been His office and work ever since His ascension to heaven,
Christ in His priesthood is the all-important study for all Christians,
as well as for all other people. top
p 9 - Chapter 1 - "Such
an High Priest"
"Now of the things which we have spoken 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; a minister of the sanctuary, and
of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
This
is the summing up of the evidence of the high priesthood of Christ
presented in the first seven chapters of Hebrews. The "sum"
thus presented is not particularly that we have an High Priest but
that "we have such an High Priest." "Such"
signifies "of that kind; of a like kind or degree," -
"the same as previously mentioned or specified; not another
or different."
That
is to say: In the preceding part (the first seven chapters of the
Epistle to the Hebrews) there have been specified certain things
concerning Christ as High Priest, certain qualifications by which
He became High Priest, or certain things which are becoming to Him
as an High Priest, which are summed up in this text: "Now of
the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such
an High Priest."
It
is necessary, therefore, to an understanding of this scripture that
the previous portion of this epistle shall be reviewed to see what
is the true weight and import of this word, "such an
High Priest." The whole of the seventh chapter is devoted to
the
p
10 - discussion of this priesthood. The sixth chapter closes
with the thought of this priesthood. The fifth chapter is almost
wholly devoted to the same thought. The fourth chapter closes with
it, and the fourth chapter is but a continuation of the third chapter,
which begins with an exhortation
to "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus;" and this as the conclusion from what had already
been presented. The second chapter closes with the thought of His
being "a merciful and faithful High Priest;" and this
also as the conclusion from what has preceded in the first and second
chapters; for though they are two chapters the subject is
but one.
This
sketch shows plainly that in the first seven chapters of Hebrews
the one great thought over all is the priesthood of Christ; and
that the truths presented, whatever the thought or the form may
be, are all simply the presentation in different ways of the great
truth of this priesthood; all of which is finally summed up in the
words: "We have such an High Priest."
Therefore,
in discovering the true weight and import of this expression, "such
an High Priest," it is necessary to begin with the very
first words of the book of Hebrews and follow the thought straight
through to the summing up, bearing constantly in mind that the one
transcendent thought in all that is presented is "such an
High Priest;" and that in all that is said the one great
purpose is to show to mankind that we have "such an
High Priest." However rich and full may be the truths in themselves,
concerning Christ, which are contained in the successive
p
11 - statements, it must be constantly borne in mind that these
truths, - however rich, however full, - are all expressed with the
one great aim of showing that we have "such an High
Priest." And in studying these truths as they are presented
in the epistle, they must be held as subordinate and tributary to
the great truth over all that is the "sum," - "we
have such an High Priest."
In
the second chapter of Hebrews, as the conclusion of the argument
there presented, it is written: "Wherefore in all things it
behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be
a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining
to God." In this it is declared that Christ's condescension,
His likeness to mankind, His being made flesh and dwelling amongst
men, was necessary to His becoming "a merciful and faithful
High Priest." But in order to know the measure of His condescension
and what is the real meaning of His place in the flesh as the Son
of man and man, it is necessary to know what was first the measure
of His exaltation as the Son of God and God; and this is the subject
of the first chapter.
The
condescension of Christ, the position of Christ, and the nature
of Christ as He was in the flesh in the world, are given in the
second chapter of Hebrews more fully than in any other one place
in the Scriptures. But this is in the second chapter. The
first chapter precedes it. Therefore the truth and the thought presented
in the first chapter are essentially precedent to the second chapter.
The first chapter must be fully understood in order to be able to
follow
p
12 - the thought and understand the truth in the second chapter.
In
the first chapter of Hebrews, the exaltation, the position, and
the nature of Christ as He was in heaven before He came to the world
are more fully given than in any other single portion of the Scriptures.
Therefore it is certain that an understanding of the position and
nature of Christ as He was in heaven is essential to a proper understanding
of His position and nature as He was on earth. And since it behooved
Him to be what He was on earth, in order that He might be a merciful
and faithful High Priest, it is essential to know what He was in
heaven; for this is essentially precedent to what He was on earth,
and is therefore an essential part of the evidence that is summed
up in the expression, "We have such an High Priest."
top
p
13 - Chapter 2 - Christ
as God
What, then, is the thought concerning Christ in the first chapter
of Hebrews?
First
of all there is introduced "God"- God the Father - as
the speaker to men, who "in time past spake unto the fathers
by the prophets:" and who "hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son."
Thus is introduced Christ the Son of God. Then of Him and the Father
it is written: "Whom He [the Father] hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also He [the Father] made the worlds."
Thus, as preliminary to His introduction and our consideration of
Him as High Priest, Christ the Son of God is introduced as being
with God as Creator and as being the active, vivifying Word in the
creation - "by whom also He [God] made the worlds."
Next,
of the Son of God Himself we read: "Who being the brightness
of His [God's] glory, and the express image of His [God's] person
["the very impress of His substance," margin R.V.], 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."
This
tells us that, in heaven, the nature of Christ was the nature of
God; that He in His person, in His substance, is the very impress,
the very character, of the substance of God. That is to say that
in heaven as He was before He came to the world,
p
14 - the nature of Christ was in very substance the nature
of God.
Therefore
it is further written of Him that He was "made so much better
than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they." This more excellent name is the name "God,"
which, in the eighth verse, is given by the Father to the Son: "Unto
the Son He [God] saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever."
Thus,
He is "so much" better than the angels as God is better
than the angels. And it is because of this that He has that more
excellent name, - the name expressing only what He is in
His very nature.
And
this name "He hath by inheritance." It is not a name that
was bestowed but a name that is inherited.
Now
it lies in the nature of things, as an everlasting truth, that the
only name any person can possibly inherit is his father's name.
This name, then, of Christ's, which is more excellent than that
of the angels, is the name of His Father: and His Father's name
is God. The Son's name, therefore, which He has by inheritance,
is God. And this name, which is more excellent than that
of the angels, is His because he is "so much better than the
angels." That name being God, He is "so much
better than the angels" as God is better than the angels.
Next, His position and nature, as better than that of the angels,
is dwelt upon: "For unto which of the angels said He [the Father]
at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee? And
again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a
p
15 - Son?" This holds the thought of the more excellent
name spoken of in the previous verse. For He, being the Son of God
- God being His Father, - thus hath "by inheritance" the
name of His Father, which is God; and which is so much more excellent
than the name of the angels, as God is better than they.
This
is dwelt upon yet further: "And again, when He bringeth in
the first begotten into the world, He saith, and let all the angels
of God worship Him." Thus He is so much better than the angels
that He is worshiped by the angels: and this according to the will
of God, because He is, in His nature, God.
This
thought of the mighty contrast between Christ and the angels is
dwelt upon yet further: "Of the angels He saith, Who maketh
His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto
the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever
["from eternity to eternity," German translation]."
And
again, "A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God,
even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness
above Thy fellows."
And
yet again, the Father, in speaking to the Son, says: "Thou,
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and
the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish; but
Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and
as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed:
but Thou are the same, and Thy years shall not fail."
Note
the contrasts here and in them read the
p
16 - nature of Christ. The heavens shall perish,
but He remains. The heavens shall wax old,
but His years shall not fail. The heavens shall
be changed, but He is the same. This shows
that He is God: of the nature of God.
Yet
more of this contrast between Christ and the angels: "To which
of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand, until I
make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
Thus,
in the first chapter of Hebrews Christ is revealed higher than the
angels, as God; and as much higher than the angels as is
God, because He is God.
In
the first chapter of Hebrews Christ is revealed as God, of the name
of God, because He is of the nature of God. And so entirely
is His nature of the nature of God, that it is the very impress
of the substance of God.
This
is Christ the Saviour, Spirit of Spirit, substance of substance,
of God.
And this it is essential to know in the first chapter of Hebrews,
in order to know what is His nature revealed in the second chapter
of Hebrews as man. top
p
17 - Chapter 3 - Christ
as Man
Christ's likeness to God, as set forth in the first chapter
of Hebrews, is only introductory to the setting forth of His likeness
to men, as in the second chapter of Hebrews.
His
likeness to God, as in the first chapter of Hebrews, is the
only basis of true understanding of His likeness to men,
as in the second chapter of Hebrews.
And this likeness to God, as given in the first chapter of
Hebrews, is likeness, - not in the sense of a mere picture or representation;
but is likeness in the sense of being actually like
in very nature, - the very "impress of His substance,"
Spirit of Spirit, substance of substance, of God.
And
this is given as the preliminary to our understanding of His likeness
to men. That is to say: from this we are to understand that
His likeness to men is not merely in shape, in picture, or representation,
but in nature, in very substance. Otherwise, the whole
first chapter of Hebrews, with all its detail of information, is,
in that connection, meaningless and misplaced.
What,
then, is this truth of Christ made in the likeness of men, as given
in the second chapter of Hebrews?
Bearing
in mind the great thought of the first chapter and the first four
verses of the second chapter, - of Christ in contrast with the angels,
higher than the angels, as God, - we begin with the
fifth
p
18 - verse of the second chapter, where begins the thought of
Christ in contrast with the angels, lower than the angels,
as man.
So
we read: "For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection
the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place
testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or
the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little
lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor,
and didst set him over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put all
things in subject under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection
under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we
see not yet all things put under Him. But we see Jesus." Heb.
2:5-9.
That
is to say: God has not put in subjection to the angels the world
to come; but He has put it in subjection to man; yet not the man
to whom it was originally put in subjection; for, though it was
so, yet now we see it not so. The man lost his dominion, and, instead
of having all things in subjection under his feet, he himself is
now in subjection to death. And he is in subjection to death only
because he is in subjection to sin; for "by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12. He is in subjection to
death because he is in subjection to sin; for death is only the
wages of sin.
Nevertheless,
it stands eternally true that not unto the angels hath He put in
subjection the world to come, but unto man. And, now, Jesus Christ
is THE MAN.
p
19 - For, though this dominion having been put in subjection
to man, and though now we see it not so; though man was given the
dominion over all, and now we see that dominion lost to that particular
man; yet we do "see Jesus," as man, come to regain that
original dominion. We do "see Jesus" as man, come
to have all things put in subjection under Him.
That
man was the first Adam: this other Man is the last Adam. That first
Adam was made a little lower than the angels; this last Adam, Jesus,
also we see "made a little lower than the angels."
That first man did not remain in the position where he was made,
"lower than the angels." He lost that, and went still
lower and became subject to sin; and, in that, subject to suffering,
even to the suffering of death.
And
the last Adam we see in the same place, in the same condition:
"We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death." And again: "Both He that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all OF ONE."
He
which sanctifieth is Jesus. They who are sanctified are men of all
nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples. And one man sanctified
out of any nation, any kindred, any tongue, or any people, is divine
demonstration that every soul of that nation, kindred, tongue, or
people might have been sanctified. And Jesus, having become one
of these, that He might bring them to glory is proof that He is
one of mankind altogether; that He, as man, and all men themselves,
are "all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call
them brethren."
p
20 - Therefore, as in heaven He was higher than the angels,
as God; so on earth He was lower than the angels, as man. As when
He was higher than the angels, as God, He and God were of one; so
when He was on the earth, lower than the angels, as man, He and
man are "of one." So that just as certainly as, on the
side of God, Jesus and God are of one - of one Spirit, of one nature,
of one substance; so, on the side of man, Christ and man are "of
one" - of one flesh, of one nature, of one substance.
The
likeness of Christ to God is in substance as well as in form. And
the likeness of Christ to man is in substance as well as in form.
Otherwise, there is no meaning in the first chapter of Hebrews as
introductory to the second chapter; no meaning in the antitheses
between the first and second chapters; and the first chapter is
out of place and empty, as a basis of introduction to the second
chapter. top
p 21 - Chapter 4 - "He
Took Part of the Same"
The first chapter of Hebrews reveals that Christ's likeness to God
is not simply in form or representation but also in very substance;
and the second chapter as clearly reveals that His likeness to men
is not simply in form or in representation but also in very substance.
It is likeness to men as they are in all things, exactly as they
are. Wherefore, it is written: "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:1-14.
And
that this is likeness to man as he is in his fallen, sinful nature,
and not as he was in his original, sinless nature, is made certain
by the word: "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death." Therefore, as man is
since he became subject to death, this is what we see Jesus to be,
in His place as man.
Therefore,
just as certainly as we see Jesus lower than the angels, unto the
suffering of death, so certainly it is by this demonstrated that,
as man, Jesus took the nature of man as he is since death entered;
and not the nature of man as he was before he became subject to
death.
But
death entered only because of sin; had not sin entered, death never
could have entered. And we see Jesus made lower than the angels
for the suffering of death. Therefore we see Jesus made in
p
22 - the nature of man, as man is since man sinned;
and not as man was before sin entered. For this He did that He might
"taste death for every man." In becoming man that he might
reach man, He must come to man where man is. Man is subject to death.
Therefore Jesus must become man, as man is since he is subject
to death.
"For
it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings." Heb. 2:10. Thus, in becoming man,
it became Him to become such as man is. Man is subject to sufferings.
Therefore it became Him to come to the man where he is, in his sufferings.
Before
man sinned, he was not in any sense subject to sufferings. And for
Jesus to have come in the nature of man as he was before sin entered,
would have been only to come in a way and in a nature in which it
would be impossible for Him to know the sufferings of man, and therefore
impossible to reach him to save him. But since it became Him, in
bringing men unto glory, to be made perfect through sufferings;
it is certain that Jesus, in becoming man, partook of the nature
of man as he is since he became subject to suffering, even the suffering
of death, which is the wages of sin.
And
so it is written: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same." Verse 14. He, in His human nature, took the same
flesh and blood that men have. All the words that could be
p
23 - used to make this plain and positive are here put together
in a single sentence.
The
children of men are partakers of flesh and blood; and, because of
this, He took part of the same.
But
this is not all: He also took part of the same flesh and
blood as that of which the children are partakers.
Nor
is this all:. He also Himself took part of the same flesh
and blood as that of whichthe children of men are partakers.
Nor
yet is this all: He also Himself likewise took part of the
same flesh and blood as that of which men are partakers.
Thus
the Spirit of inspiration so much desires that this truth shall
be made so plain and emphatic as to be understood by all, that He
is not content to use any fewer than all the words that could be
used in the telling of it. And, therefore, it is declaired that
just as, and just as certainly as, "the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same" flesh and blood.
And
this He did in order "that through death He might... deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage." He took part of the same flesh and blood as we have
in the bondage of sin and the fear of death, in order that He might
deliver us from the bondage of sin and the fear of death.
And
so, "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."
p 24 - This great truth of the blood-relationship, this blood-brotherhood,
of Christ with men, is taught in the gospel in Genesis. For
when God made His everlasting covenant with Abraham, the sacrifices
were cut in two and He, with Abraham, passed between the pieces.
Gen. 15:8-18; Jer. 34:18, 19; Heb. 7:5, 9. By this act the Lord
entered into "the most solemn covenant known to the Oriental"
or to all Mankind, - the blood covenant, - and thus became blood-brother
to Abraham, "a relation which outranks every other relation
in life."
This
great truth of Christ's blood-relationship to man is further taught
in the gospel in Leviticus. In the gospel in Leviticus there
is written the law of redemption of men and their inheritances.
When any one of the children of Israel had lost his inheritance,
or himself had been brought into bondage, there was redemption provided.
If he was able of himself to redeem himself or his inheritance,
he could do it. But if he was not able of himself to redeem, then
the right of redemption fell to his nearest of kin in blood-relationship.
It fell not merely to one who was near of kin among his brethren;
but to the one who was nearest of kin who was able. Lev. 25:24-28;
47-49; Ruth 2:20; 3:9, 12, 13; 4:1-14, with the marginal readings.
Thus
in Genesis and Leviticus there has been taught through all these
ages the very truth which we find here taught in the second chapter
of Hebrews - the truth that man has lost his inheritance and is
himself also in bondage. And as he himself can not redeem himself
nor his inheritance, the right of
p
25 - redemption falls to the nearest of kin who is able. And
Jesus Christ is the only one in all the universe who is able.
But
to be the Redeemer He must be not only able, He must be a blood-relative.
And He must also be not only near of kin, but the nearest
of kin and the nearest of kin by blood-relationship. Therefore,
"as the children" of man - as the children of the one
who lost our inheritance - "are partakers of flesh and blood,
He also Himself likewise took part of the same" - took part
of flesh and blood in very substance like ours, and so became our
nearest of kin. And therefore it is written that He and we "are
all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren."
But
the Scripture does not stop even yet with the statement of this
all-important truth. It says, further: "For verily He took
not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made
like unto His brethren," whose blood-brother He became
in the confirming of that everlasting covenant.
And
this He did, in order that wherein "He Himself hath
suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them
that are tempted." For He was "touched with
the feeling of our infirmities;" being "in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. 4:15.
Being made in His human nature in all things like as we are, He
could be, and He was, tempted in all points like as we are.
The only way in which He could possibly be tempted "like as
we are" was to become "in all things" "like
as we are."
As
in His human nature He is one of us, and
p
26 - as "Himself took our infirmities" (Matt. 8:17),
He could be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities."
Being in all things made like us, He, when tempted, felt just as
we feel when we are tempted and knows all about it: and so can help
and save to the uttermost all who will receive Him. As in His flesh,
and [as] Himself in the flesh, He was as weak as we are and of Himself
could "do nothing" (John 5:30); so when He bore "our
griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4) and was tempted
as we are, feeling as we feel, by His divine faith
He conquered all by the power of God which that faith brought
to Him, and which in our flesh He has brought to us.
Therefore,
His name is called Emmanuel, which is "God with us." Not
God with Him only but God with us. God was with Him
in eternity and could have been with Him even though He had not
given Himself for us. But man through sin became without God, and
God wanted to be again with us. Therefore Jesus became "us"
that God with Him might be "God with us."
And that is His name, because that is what He is. Blessed be His
name.
And
this is "the faith of Jesus" and the power of it. This
is our Saviour: one of God, and one of man; and therefore able to
save to the uttermost every soul who will come to God by Him.top
p 27 - Chapter 5 - "Made
Under the Law"
"Christ Jesus,...being in the form of God,...emptied Himself,
and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men." Phil. 2:5-7, R.V. He was made in the likeness
of men, as men are, just where they are.
"The
Word was made flesh." He "took part of the same"
flesh and blood as that of which the children of men are partakers,
as they are since man has fallen into sin. And so it is written:
"When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made...under the law."
To
be under the law is to be guilty, condemned, and subject to the
curse. For it is written: "We know that what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that...all
the world may become guilty before God." This, because
"all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Rom. 3:19, 23; 6:14.
And
the guilt of sin brings the curse. In Zech. 5:1-4, the prophet beheld
a "flying roll; the length thereof...twenty cubits, and the
breadth thereof ten cubits." The Lord said to him: "This
is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth."
And what is the cause of this curse over the face of the whole earth?
This: "For every one that stealeth shall be cut off
as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth
shall be cut off as on that side according to it."
p
28 - That is, this roll is the law of God, one commandment being
cited from each table, showing that both tables of the law are included
in the roll. Every one that stealeth - every one that transgresseth
the law in the things of the second table - shall be cut off as
on this side of the law according to it, and every one that
sweareth - every one that transgresseth in the things of the first
table of the law - shall be cut off as on that side of the
law according to it.
The
heavenly recorders do not need to write out a statement of
each particular sin of every man; but simply to indicate on the
roll that pertains to man the particular commandment that is violated
in each transgression. And that such a roll of the law does go with
every man wherever he goes and even abides in his house is plain
from the next words: "I will bring it forth, saith the Lord
of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into
the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name: and it shall
remain in the midst of his house."
And
unless a remedy shall be found, there that roll of the law will
remain until the curse shall consume that man, and his house, "with
the timber thereof and the stones thereof:" that is, until
the curse shall devour the earth in that great day when the very
elements shall melt with fervent heat. For "the strength of
sin" and the curse "is the law." 1 Cor. 15:56; Isaiah
24:5, 6; 2 Peter 3:10-12.
But,
thanks be to God, "God sent forth His Son, made...under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law." Gal.
4:4, 5. By His coming
p
29 - He brought redemption to every soul who is under the
law. But in order perfectly to bring that redemption to men
under the law, He Himself must come to men, just where they are
and as they are, under the law.
And
this He did; for He was "made under the law;" He was made
"guilty;" He was made condemned by the law; He was "made"
as guilty as any man is guilty who is under the law. He was "made"
under condemnation as fully as any man is under condemnation because
of his violation of the law. He was "made" under the curse
as completely as any man in the world has ever been, or ever can
be, under the curse. For it is written: "He that is hanged
["on a tree"] is accursed of God." Deut. 21:23.
The
Hebrew makes this stronger still, for the literal translation is:
"He that hangeth on a tree is the curse of God."
And this is exactly the strength of the fact respecting Christ;
for it is written that He was "made a curse." Thus,
when He was made under the law, He was made all that it means to
be under the law. He was made guilty; He was made condemned; He
was made a curse.
But
bear in mind forever that all this He "was made."
He was none of this of Himself, of native fault; but all
of it he "was made." And He was made it all for
us: for us who are under the law; for us who are under
condemnation because of transgression of the law; for us who
are under the curse because of swearing, and lying, and killing,
and stealing, and committing adultery, and all the other infractions
of the roll of God's law that goeth with us and that remaineth in
our house.
p
30 - He was made under the law to redeem them that are under
the law. He was made a curse to redeem them that are under
the curse BECAUSE of being under the law.
But
for whomsoever it was done, and whatsoever is accomplished by the
doing of it, there must never be forgotten the fact that, in order
to the doing of that which was done, He had to be "made"
that which those already were for whom the thing was done.
Any
man, therefore, in all the world, who knows guilt, by that very
thing knows also what Jesus felt for him; and by this knows how
close Jesus has come to him. Whosoever knows what is condemnation,
in that knows exactly what Jesus felt for him; and so knows how
thoroughly Jesus is able to sympathize with him and to redeem him.
Whosoever knows the curse of sin, "the plague of his own heart,"
in that can know exactly what Jesus experienced for him; and how
entirely Jesus identified Himself, in very experience, with him.
Bearing
guilt, being under condemnation, and so under the weight of the
curse, Jesus, a whole lifetime in this world of guilt, condemnation,
and the curse, lived the perfect life of the righteousness of
God, without ever sinning at all. And whenever any man knowing
guilt, condemnation, and the curse of sin; and knowing that Jesus
actually felt in His experience all this just as man feels it;
then, in addition, that man, by believing in Jesus, can know
in his experience the blessedness of the perfect life of
the righteousness of God, in his life, to redeem him
from guilt, from condemnation, and from the curse; and to
p
31 - be manifested in his whole lifetime to keep him
from ever sinning at all.
Christ
was made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.
And that blessed work is accomplished for every soul who accepts
of that redemption.
"Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us." His being made a curse is not in vain: it accomplishes
all that was intended by it, in behalf of every man who will receive
it. For it was all done "that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. 3:14.
Still,
whatever was intended by it, and whatever is accomplished by it,
there must always be borne in mind by every soul the FACT that,
in His condescension, in His emptying Himself and being "made
in the likeness of men," and "made flesh,"
He was made under the law, guilty, - under condemnation, under the
curse, - as really and as entirely as is any soul that shall ever
be redeemed.
And
having passed through it all, He is the author of eternal salvation,
and is able to save to the uttermost from deepest loss all who come
unto God by Him.top
p 32 - Chapter 6 - "Made
of a Woman"
By what means was Christ made flesh? Through what means was He partaker
of human nature? - Exactly the same means as are all of us partakers:
all of the children of men. For it is written: "As the children
[of the man] are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same."
Likewise
signifies "in the like way," "thus," "in
the same way." So He partook of "the same" flesh
and blood that men have, in the same way that men partake
of it. Men partake of it by birth. So "likewise" did He.
Accordingly, it is written, "Unto us a Child is born."
Accordingly,
it is further written: "God sent forth His Son, made of
a woman." Gal. 4:4. He, being made of a woman, in this
world, in the nature of things He was made of the only kind
of woman that this world knows.
But
why must He be made of a woman? why not of a man? - For the simple
reason that to be made of a man would not bring Him close enough
to mankind as mankind is, under sin. He was made of a woman in order
that He might come, in the very uttermost, to where human
nature is in its sinning.
In
order to do this, He must be made of a woman; because the
woman, not the man was first, and originally, in the
transgression. For "Adam was not
p 33 - deceived, but the woman being deceived was
in the transgression." 1 Tim. 2:14.
To
have been made only of the descent of man would have been to come
short of the full breadth of the field of sin; because the woman
had sinned, and sin was thus in the world, before the man
sinned.
Christ
was thus made of a woman in order that He might meet the great world
of sin at its very fountain head of entrance into this world. To
have been made otherwise than of a woman would have been to come
short of this, and so would have been only to miss completely the
redemption of men from sin.
It
was "the Seed of the woman" that was to bruise the serpent's
head; and it was only as "the seed of the woman" and "made
of a woman" that He could meet the serpent on his own ground,
at the very point of the entrance of sin into this world.
It
was the woman who, in this world, was originally in the transgression.
It was the woman by whom sin originally entered. Therefore, in the
redemption of the children of men from sin, He who would be the
Redeemer must go back of the man, to meet the sin that was
in the world before the man sinned.
This
is why He, who came to redeem, was "made of a woman."
By being made of a woman He could trace sin to the very fountain
head of its original entry into the world by the woman. And thus,
in finding sin in the world, and uprooting it from the world, from
its original entrance into the world till the last vestige of it
shall be swept from the world, in the very nature of things, He
must partake of human nature as it is since sin entered.
p
34 - Otherwise, there was no kind of need whatever that He should
be "made of a woman." If He were not to come into
closest contact with sin as it is in the world, as it is in human
nature; if He were to be removed one single degree from it as it
is in human nature - then He need not have been "made of a
woman."
But
as He was made of a woman - not of a man; as He was made of the
one by whom sin entered in its very origin into the world, nd not
made of the man, who entered into the sin after the sin had entered
into the world, - this demonstrates beyond all possibility of fair
question that between Christ and sin in this world, and between
Christ and human nature as it is under sin in the world, there is
no kind of separation, even to the shadow of a single degree. He
was made flesh; He was made to be sin. He was made flesh as flesh
is, and only as flesh is in this world; and was made to be sin only
as sin is.
And
this must He do to redeem lost mankind. For Him to be separated
a single degree, or a shadow of a single degree, in any sense, from
the nature of those whom He came to redeem, would be only to miss
everything.
Therefore,
as He was made "under the law," because they are under
the law whom He would redeem; and as He was made a curse, because
they are under the curse whom He would redeem; and as He was
made sin, because they are sinners, "sold under sin,
" whom He would redeem, - precisely so He must be made flesh,
and "the same" flesh and blood, because
p 35 - they are flesh and blood whom He would redeem; and
must be made "of a woman," because sin was in the world
first by and in the woman.
Consequently,
it is true, without any sort of exception, that " in all
things it behooved Him to be made like unto His bretheren."
Heb.2:17.
If
He were not of the same flesh as are those whom He came to redeem,
then there is no sort of use of His being made flesh at all. More
than this: Since the only flesh that there is in this wide world
which He came to redeem, is just the poor, sinful, lost, human flesh
that all mankind have; if this is not the flesh that He was made,
then He never really came to the world which needs to be redeemed.
For if He came in a human nature different from that which human
nature in this world actually is, then, even though He were in the
world, yet for any practical purposes in reaching man and helping
him, he was as far from him as if He had never come: for, in that
case, in His human nature He was just as far from man and just as
much of another world as if He had never come into this world at
all.
It
is thoroughly understood that in His birth Christ did partake of
the nature of Mary - the "woman" of whom He was "made."
But the carnal mind is not willing to allow that God in His perfection
of holiness could endure to come to men where they are in their
sinfulness. Therefore endeavor has been made to escape the consequences
of this glorious truth, which is the emptying of self, by inventing
a theory that the nature of the virgin Mary was different
from the
p
36 - nature of the rest of mankind; that her flesh was not
exactly such flesh as is that of all mankind. This invention sets
up that, by some special means, Mary was made different from the
rest of human beings, especially in order that Christ might be becomingly
born of her.
This
invention has culminated in what is known as the Roman Catholic
dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Many Protestants, if not the
vast majority of them as well as other non-Catholics, think that
the Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Jesus
by the virgin Mary. But this is altogether a mistake. It refers
not at all to the conception of Christ by Mary but to the conception
of Mary herself by her mother.
The
official and "infallible" doctrine of the Immaculate Conception,
as solemnly defined as an article of faith, by Pope Pius IX, speaking
ex cathedra, on the 8th of December, 1854, is as follows:
- By the authority of
our Lord Jesus Christ of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and
by our own authority, we declare, pronounce, and define that the
doctrine which holds that the most blessed Virgin Mary, in
the first instant of HER conception, by a special grace
and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus
Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved free from all
stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and, therefore,
is to be firmly and steadfastly believed by all the faithful.
Wherefore,
if any shall presume, which may God avert, to think in their heart
otherwise then has been defined by us, let them know, and moreover
understand, that they are condemned by their own judgment, that
they have made ship-wreck as regards the faith, and have fallen
away from the unity of the Church. - Catholic Belief, page
214.
p
37 - This conception is defined by Catholic writers thus: -
The ancient writing, "De Nativitate Christi," found in
St. Cyprian's works says: Because (Mary) being "very different
from the rest of mankind, human nature, but not sin,
communicated itself to her."
Theodore,
patriarch of Jerusalem, said in the second council of Nice, that
Mary "is truly the mother of God, and virgin before and after
childbirth; and she was created in a condition more sublime
and glorious than that of all natures, whether intellectual
or corporeal." - Id., pages 216, 217.
This
plainly puts the nature of Mary entirely beyond any real likeness
or relationship to mankind or human nature as it is. Having this
clearly in mind, let us follow this invention in its next step.
Thus it is, as given in the words of Cardinal Gibbons: - We
affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of
God, who in His divine nature is, from all eternity, begotten of
the Father, consubstantial with Him, was in the fulness of time
again begotten, by being born of the virgin, thus taking to himself
from her maternal womb a human nature of the same substance with
hers.
As far as the sublime mystery of the incarnation can be reflected
in the natural order, the blessed Virgin, under the overshadowing
of the Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the
adorable Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same
substance with her own, is thereby really and truly His mother.
- Faith of Our Fathers, pages 198, 199.
Now
put these two things together. First, we have the nature of Mary
defined as being not only "very different from the rest of
mankind," but "more
p
38 - sublime and glorious than all natures:" thus
putting her infinitely beyond any real likeness or relationship
to mankind as we really are.
Next,
we have Jesus described as taking from her a human nature of the
same substance as hers.
From
this theory it therefore follows as certainly as that two and two
make four, that in His human nature the Lord Jesus is "very
different" from the rest of mankind: indeed, His nature is
not human nature at all.
Such
is the Roman Catholic doctrine concerning the human nature of Christ.
The Catholic doctrine of the human nature of Christ is simply that
that nature is not human nature at all, but divine: "more sublime
and glorious than all natures." It is that in His human nature
Christ was so far separated from mankind as to be utterly unlike
that of mankind: that His was a nature in which He could have no
sort of fellow-feeling with mankind.
But
such is not the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is that "as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same."
The
faith of Jesus is that God sent "His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh."
The
faith of Jesus is that "in all things it behooved Him
to be made like unto His brethren."
The faith of Jesus is that He "Himself took our infirmities,"
and was touched "with the feeling of our infirmities,"
being tempted in all points like as we are. If He
was not as we are, He could not possibly be tempted "like as
we are." But He was "in
p
39 - all points tempted like as we are." Therefore He
was "in all points" "like as we are."
In
the quotations of Catholic faith which in this chapter we have cited,
we have presented the faith of Rome as to the human nature of Christ
and of Mary. In the second chapter of Hebrews and kindred texts
of Scripture there is presented, and in these studies we have endeavored
to reproduce as there presented, the faith of Jesus as to the human
nature of Christ.
The
faith of Rome as to the human nature of Christ and Mary, and of
ourselves, springs from that idea of the natural mind that God is
too pure and too holy to dwell with us and in us in our sinful human
nature: that sinful as we are, we are too far off for Him in His
purity and holiness to come to us just as we are.
The
true faith - the faith of Jesus - is that, far off from God as we
are in our sinfulness, in our human nature which He took, He has
come to us just where we are; that, infinitely pure and holy
as He is, and sinful, degraded, and lost, as we are, He in Christ
by His Holy Spirit will willingly dwell with us and in us, to save
us, to purify us, and to make us holy.
The faith of Rome is that we must be pure and holy in order that
God shall dwell with us at all.
The
faith of Jesus is that God must dwell with us, and in us, in order
that we shall be holy or pure at all.top
p
40 - Chapter 7 - The
Law of Heredity
"The Word was made flesh."
"When
the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of
a woman." Gal. 4:4.
"And
the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:6.
We
have seen that in His being made of a woman, Christ reached sin
at the very fountain head of its entrance into this world; and that
He must be made of a woman to do this. Also there was laid upon
Him the iniquity, in the actual sins, of us all.
Thus
all the sin of this world, from its origin in the world to the end
of it in the world, was laid upon Him: both sin as it is in itself,
and sin as it is when committed by us: sin in its tendency,
and sin in the act: sin as it is hereditary in us, uncommitted
by us; and sin as it is committed by us.
Only
thus could it be that there should be laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. Only by His subjecting Himself to the law of heredity
could He reach sin in full and true measure as sin truly is. Without
this there could be laid upon Him our sins which have been actually
committed, with the guilt and condemnation that belong to them.
But, beyond this, there is in each person, in many ways, the liability
to sin, inherited from generations back, which has not
yet culminated in the act of sinning, but which is ever ready, when
occasion offers, to blaze
p
41 - forth in the actual committing of sins. David's great
sin is an illustration of this. Ps. 51:5; 2 Sam. 11:2.
In
delivering us from sin, it is not enough that we shall be saved
from the sins that we have actually committed; we must be saved
from committing other sins. And that this may be so, there must
be met and subdued this hereditary liability to sin; we must
become possessed of power to keep us from sinning - a power to conquer
this liability, this hereditary tendency that is in us, to sin.
All our sins which we have actually committed were laid upon Him,
were imputed to Him, so that His righteousness may be laid upon
us, may be imputed to us. Also our liability to sin was laid
upon Him, in His being made flesh, in His being born of a woman,
of the same flesh and blood as we are, so that His righteousness
might be actually manifested in us as our daily life.
Thus
He met sin in the flesh which He took, and triumphed over
it, as it is written: "God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin
IN THE FLESH." And again: "He is our peace,...having abolished
in His flesh the enmity."
And
thus, just as our sins actually committed were imputed to
Him that His righteousness might be imputed to us, so His meeting
and conquering in the flesh the liability to sin,
and in that same flesh manifesting righteousness, enables
us in Him, and Him in us, to meet and conquer in the flesh this
same liability to sin, and to manifest righteousness in the
same flesh.
P
42 - And thus it is that for the sins which we have actually
committed, for the sins that are past, His righteousness
is imputed to us, as our sins were imputed to Him.
And to keep us from sinning, His righteousness is imparted
to us in our flesh; as our flesh, with its liability to sin, was
imparted to Him. Thus He is the complete Saviour. He saves from
all the sins that we have actually committed; and saves equally
from all the sins that we might commit, dwelling apart from Him.
If
He took not the same flesh and blood that the children of men have,
with its liability to sin, then where could there be any philosophy
or reason of any kind whatever in His genealogy as given
in the Scriptures? He was descended from David; He was descended
from Abraham; He was descended from Adam; and, by being made of
a woman, He reached even back of Adam, to the beginning of sin in
the world.
In
that genealogy there are Jehoiakim, who for his wickedness was "buried
with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates
of Jerusalem" (Jer. 22:19); Manasseh, who caused Judah to do
"worse than the heathen;" Ahaz, who "made Judah naked,
and transgressed sore against the Lord;" Rehoboam, who was
born of Solomon after Solomon turned from the Lord; Solomon himself,
who was born of David and Bathsheba; there are also Ruth the Moabitess,
and Rahab; as well as Abraham, Isaac, Jesse, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah,
and Josiah: the worst equally with the best. And the evil deeds
of even the best are recorded equally with the good. And in this
whole
P
43 - genealogy there is hardly one whose life is written upon
at all of whom there is not some
wrong act recorded.
Now
it was at the end of such a genealogy as that that "the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us." It was at
the end of such a genealogy as that that He was made of a woman."
It was in such a line of descent as that that God sent "His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." And such a
descent, such a genealogy, meant something to Him, as it does to
every other man, under the great law that the iniquities of the
fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generations.
It meant everything to Him in the terrible temptations in the wilderness
of temptation, as well as all the way through His life in the flesh.
Thus,
both by heredity and by imputation, He was "laden with the
sins of the world." And, thus laden, at this immense disadvantage,
He passed triumphantly over the ground where, at no shadow of any
disadvantage whatever, the first pair failed.
By
His death He paid the penalty of all sins actually committed,
and thus can justly bestow His righteousness upon all who choose
to receive it. And by condemning sin in the flesh, by abolishing
in His flesh the enmity, He delivers from the power of the
law of heredity; and so can, in righteousness, impart His divine
nature and power to lift above that law, and hold above it, every
soul that receives Him.
And
so it is written: "When the fulness of the time was come, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that
P
44 - we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. 4:4.
And "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for [on account of] sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:3,
4. And "He is our peace,...having abolished in His flesh the
enmity,...for to make in Himself of twain [God and man] one new
man, so making peace." Eph. 2:14, 15.
Thus,
"in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto
His brethren....For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted,
He is able to succor them that are tempted."
Whether temptation be from within or from without, He is the perfect
shield against it all; and so saves to the uttermost all who come
unto God by Him.
God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, Christ
taking our nature as our nature is in its sinfulness and degeneracy,
and God dwelling constantly with Him and in Him in that nature -
in this God has demonstrated to all people forever, that there is
no soul in this world so laden with sins or so lost that God will
not gladly dwell with him and in him to save him from it all, and
to lead him in the way of the righteousness of God.
And so certainly is his name Emmanuel, which is, "God with
us."top
p 45 - Chapter 8 - "In
All Things Like"
It should be particularly noted that in the first and second chapters
of Hebrews the thought and discussion concerning the person of Christ
is especially as to nature and substance. In Phil. 2:5-8,
there is presented the thought of Christ's relationsh to God and
to man, especially as to nature and form. Thus: "Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God: but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and
being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil.
2:5-8, and R.V.
When
Jesus emptied Himself He became man; and God was revealed in the
Man. When Jesus emptied Himself, on the one side man appeared, and
on the other side God appeared. Thus, in Him God and man meet in
peace, and become one: "for He is our peace, who hath made
both [God and man] one,...having abolished in His flesh the enmity,...to
make in Himself of twain [God and man] one new man, so making peace."
(Eph. 2:14, 15).
He
who was in the form of God took the form of man.
He
who was equal with God became equal with man.
p
46 - He who was Creator and Lord became creature
and servant.
He
who was in the likeness of God was made in the likeness
of men.
He
who was God, and Spirit, was made man, and
flesh. John 1:1, 14.
Nor
is this true only as to form; it is true as to substance.
For Christ was like God in the sense of being of the nature,
in very substance, of God. He was made in the likeness of men
in the sense of being like men in the nature and very substance
of men.
Christ was God. He became man. And when He became man, He was
man as really as He was God.
He
became man in order that He might redeem man.
He
came to man where man is to bring man to Him where He was
and is.
And in order to redeem man from what man is, He was made what
man is: -
Man
is flesh. Gen. 6:3; John 3:6. "And the Word was made flesh."
John 1:14; Heb. 2:14.
Man
is under the law. Rom. 3:19. Christ was "made under the law."
Gal. 4:4.
Man
is under the curse. Gal. 3:10; Zech. 5:1-4., "Christ was made
a curse." Gal. 3:13.
Man
is sold under sin (Rom. 7:14), and laden with iniquity. Isa. 1:4.
And "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all." Isa. 53:6.
Man
is "a body of sin." Rom. 6:6. And God "hath made
Him to be sin." 2 Cor. 5:21.
Thus,
literally, "in all things it behooved Him to be made
like unto His brethren."
p
47 - Yet it must never be forgotten, it must be borne in mind
and heart constantly and forever, that in none of this as to man,
the flesh, sin, and the curse was Christ ever of Himself or
of His own original nature or fault. All this He "was made."
"He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men."
And
in all this Christ was "made" what, before, He
was not, in order that the man might be made now
and forever what he is not.
Christ
was the Son of God. He became the Son of man, that the sons of men
might become the sons of God. Gal. 4:4; 1 John 3:1.
Christ
was Spirit. 1 Cor. 15:45. He became flesh in order that man, who
is flesh, might become spirit. John 3:6; Rom. 8:8-10.
Christ,
who was altogether of the divine nature, was made partaker
of human nature in order that we who are altogether of the
human nature "might be partakers of the divine nature."
2 Peter 1:4.
Christ,
who knew no sin, was made to be sin, even the sinfulness
of man, in order that we, who knew no righteousness, might
be made righteousness, even the righteousness of God.
And
as the righteousness of God, which, in Christ, the man is made,
is real righteousness, so the sin of men, which Christ
was made in the flesh, was real sin.
As
certainly as our sins, when upon us, are real sins to us, so certainly,
when these sins were laid upon Him, they became real sins to Him.
As
certainly as guilt attaches to these sins and
p
48 - to us because of them, when they are upon us
so certainly this guilt attached to these same sins of ours and
to Him because of them, when they were laid upon Him.
As
the sense of condemnation and discouragement of our sins was real
to us, when these sins of ours were upon us, so certainly this same
sense of condemnation and discouragement because of the guilt
of these sins was realized by Him when these sins of ours were
laid upon Him.
Thus
the guilt, the condemnation, the discouragement of the knowledge
of sin were His - were a fact in His conscious experience - as really
as they were ever such in the life of any sinner that was ever on
earth. And this awful truth brings to every sinful soul in the world
the glorious truth that "the righteousness of God," and
the rest, the peace, and the joy, of that righteousness, are a fact
in the conscious experience of the believer in Jesus in this world,
as really as they are in the life of any saint who was ever in heaven.
He
who knew the height of the righteousness of God, acquired also the
knowledge of the depth of the sins of men. He knows the awfulness
of the depths of the sins of men, as well as He knows the glory
of the heights of the righteousness of God. And by this "His
knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many." Isa. 53:11.
By this His knowledge He is able to deliver every sinner from the
lowest depths of sin and lift him to the highest height of righteousness,
even the very righteousness of God.
Made
"in all things" like unto us, He was in all
p
49 - points like as we are. So fully was this so that
He could say, even as we must say the same truth, "I can of
Mine own self do nothing." John 5:30.
Of
Him this was so entirely true that, in the weakness and infirmity
of the flesh, - ours which He took - He was as is
the man who is without God and without Christ. For it is only without
Him that men can do nothing. With Him, and through
Him, it is written: "I can do all things." But of those
who are without Him it is written: "Without Me
ye can do nothing." John 15:5.
Therefore,
when of Himself He said, "I can of Mine own self do nothing,"
this makes it certain forever that in the flesh, - because of our
infirmities which He took; because of our sinfulness, hereditary
and actual, which was laid upon Him and imparted to Him: - He was
of Himself in that flesh exactly as is the man who, in the infirmity
of the flesh, is laden with sins, actual and hereditary, and who
is without God. And standing thus weak, laden with sins, and helpless,
as we are, in divine faith He exclaimed, "I will put My trust
in Him." Heb. 2:13.
He
came to "seek and to save that which was lost." And in
saving the lost, He came to the lost where we are. He put Himself
among the lost. "He was numbered with the transgressors."
He was "made to be sin." And from the standpoint of the
weakness and infirmity of the lost, He trusted in God, that
He would deliver Him and save Him. Laden with the sins of the world,
and tempted in all points like as we are, He hoped in God, and trusted
in God to save Him from all those sins, and to keep Him from
p
50 - sinning. Ps. 69:1-21; 71:1-20; 22:1-22; 31:1-5.
And
this is the faith of Jesus: this is the point where the faith of
Jesus reaches lost, sinful man, to help him. For thus it has been
demonstrated, to the very fulness of perfection, that there is no
man in the wide world for whom there is not hope in God: no one
so lost that he can not be saved by trusting God in this faith of
Jesus. And this faith of Jesus, by which in the place of the lost,
He hoped in God, and trusted God for salvation from sin, and power
to keep from sinning, - this victory of His it is that has brought
to every man in the world divine faith by which every man can hope
in God and trust in God and can find the power of God to deliver
him from sin and to keep him from sinning. That faith which He exercised,
and by which He obtained the victory over the world, the flesh,
and the devil, - that faith is His free gift to every lost man in
the world. And thus "this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith;" and this is the faith of which He is
the Author and Finisher.
This
is the faith of Jesus that is given to men. This is the faith of
Jesus that must be received by men, in order for them to be saved.
This is the faith of Jesus which, now in this time of the Third
Angel's Message, must be received and kept by those who will
be saved from the worship of the "beast and his image,"
and enabled to keep the commandments of God. This is the faith of
Jesus referred to in the closing words of the Third Angel's Message:
"Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and
the faith of Jesus."
p
51 - And now of the things which we have spoken, this is
the sum: "We have SUCH an High Priest." All that we
have thus found in the first and second chapters of Hebrews is the
essential foundation and preliminary of His high priesthood. For
"in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto
His brethren, that [so that, in order that] He might be
a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that
He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them
that are tempted." Heb. 2:17, 18. top
p
52 - Chapter 9 - Further
Qualifications of Our High Priest
Such is the thought of the first two chapters of Hebrews. And upon
this the third chapter opens, or rather the one great thought continues
with the beautiful exhortation: "Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to Him
that appointed Him." Having presented Christ in the flesh,
as He was made "in all things" like the children of men
and, our nearest of kin, we are now asked to consider Him in His
faithfulness in that position.
The
first Adam was not faithful. This last Adam "was faithful to
Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His [God's]
house. For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honor than the
house. For every house is builded by some man; but He that built
all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all His [God's]
house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were
to be spoken after; but Christ [was faithful] as a son over His
own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."
Next
is cited Israel, who came out of Egypt, who were not faithful; who
failed of entering into God's rest, because they believed not in
Him. Then upon this is the exhortation to us to "fear,
lest, a promise
p
53 - being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as
well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have
believed do enter into rest," in believing in Him who gave
Himself for our sins.
We
enter into rest in the forgiveness of all our sins, through believing
in Him who was faithful in every obligation and under every temptation
of life. We also enter into rest and there abide, by being partaker
of His faithfulness, in which and by which we also shall be faithful
to Him who has appointed us. For in considering Him "the High
Priest of our profession" in His faithfulness, we are ever
to consider that "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." Heb. 4:15.
When
we "have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities," we have an High
Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
And the way in which He can and is touched with the feeling of our
infirmities is that He "was in all points tempted like as we
are." There is not a point in which any soul can be tempted
but that He has been exactly so tempted, and has felt the temptation
as truly as any human soul can feel it. But, though He was in all
points tempted like as we are, and felt the power of it as truly
as any one can, yet in it all He was faithful; and through it all
He passed "without sin." And by faith in Him - in
p
54 - this His faithfulness - every soul can meet all temptation
and pass through it without sinning.
This is our salvation, for He was made flesh as man, and in all
things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, and to
be tempted in all points like as we are, "that He might
be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining
to God." And this not only "to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people," but also to "succor" - to
run under, to run to the aid of, to assist and deliver from suffering
- "them that are tempted." He is our merciful and faithful
High Priest to succor - run under - us when we are tempted, to keep
us from falling under the temptation, and so to keep us from falling
under sin. He "runs under" us in our temptation,
so we shall not fall under the temptation, but shall conquer
it, and rise in victory over it, sinning not.
"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."
Heb. 4:14. And also seeing that we have such an High Priest, "let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Further,
in presenting for our consideration our High Priest in His faithfulness,
it is written that "every high priest taken from among men
is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer
both gifts and sacrifices for sins; who can have compassion on
the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that
He Himself also is compassed with infirmity." Heb. 5:1, 2.
p
55 - And this is why it is that in order that He should be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, and
that He should bring many sons unto glory, it became Him, as the
Captain of their salvation, to be "compassed with infirmity,"
to be tried by temptation, to be "a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief;" thus "in all things" to be made acquainted
with human experience, so that He truly "can have compassion
on the ignorant, and on them that are not of the way." In a
word, in order that He might be "a merciful and faithful High
Priest in things pertaining to God," it became Him to be made
"perfect through sufferings."
"And
no man taketh this honor [of high priesthood] unto himself, but
he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ
glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest; but He that
said unto Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee. As
He saith also in another place, Thou art a Priest forever after
the order of Melchisedec. 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; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience
by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect [being
tested to perfection in all points], He became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him; called of
God an High Priest after the order of Melchisedec." Heb. 5:4-10.
"And
inasmuch as not without an oath He was made Priest; for those priests
[of the Levitical priesthood] were made without an oath; but this
with an
p
56 - oath by Him that said unto Him, The Lord sware and
will not repent, Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec:
by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament."
Thus, above all others, by the oath of God, Jesus was made
a Priest. Therefore, and "by so much" "we
have such an High Priest."
And
further, "They [of the order of Aaron] truly were many priests,
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but
this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."
Heb. 7:23, 24. By the oath of God He is made a Priest forever. He
is also made a Priest "after the power of an endless life."
Heb. 7:16. Therefore "He continueth ever." And because
He continueth ever, He hath an "unchangeable priesthood."
And because of all this, "He is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them." Heb. 7:25. And "we
have such an High Priest."
And
"such an High Priest became us, who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than
the heavens; who 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. For the law maketh
men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath,
which was since the law, maketh the Son [High Priest], who is consecrated
forevermore." Heb. 7:26, 27.top
p
57 - Chapter 10 - The
Sum
And, "now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:
We have such an High Priest." And what is that of which this
is "the sum"?
1.That
He who was higher than the angels, as God, was made lower than the
angels, as man.
2.That
He who was of the nature of God was made of the nature of man.
3.That
He who was in all things like God was made in all things like man.
4.That
as man He was tempted in all points like as men are, and never sinned;
but was in all things faithful to Him that appointed Him.
5.That, as man, tempted in all points like as we are, He was touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, and was made perfect through
sufferings, in order that He might be a merciful and faithful High
Priest; and was called of God to be an High Priest.
6.That by the power of an endless life He was made High Priest.
7.And
that by the oath of God He was made High Priest.
Such are the specifications of the Word of God, of which the "sum"
is, "We have such an High Priest."
And
yet that is only a part of "the sum." For the whole statement
of "the sum" is, "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
p
58 - sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched, and not man."
On
earth there was a sanctuary which man pitched, and which man made.
True, this sanctuary was both made and pitched under the direction
of the Lord; nevertheless, it is far different from the sanctuary
and the true tabernacle which the Lord Himself pitched and not man
- as far different as the work of man is from the work of God.
That
"worldly sanctuary," with its ministry, is more briefly
described, and the meaning of it is more briefly told, in Hebrews
9, than would be possible otherwise to do. Therefore we quote Heb.
9:2-12, inclusive: "For there was a tabernacle made; the first,
wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which
is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle
which is called the holiest of all; which had the golden censer,
and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein
was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded,
and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory
shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we can not now speak particularly.
"Now
when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into
the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people;
the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing:
p
59 - which was a figure for the time then present, in which
were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him
that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which
stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal
ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ
being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us."
That
sanctuary was but "a figure;" and it was but a figure
"for the time then present." In it priests and high priests
ministered and offered both gifts and sacrifices. But all this priesthood,
ministry, gift, and sacrifice was, equally with the sanctuary,
only "a figure for the time then present," for it all
"could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining
to the conscience."
That
sanctuary and tabernacle itself was but a figure of the sanctuary
and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man. The
high priest of that sanctuary was but a figure of Christ, who is
High Priest of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle.
The
ministry of that high priest of the sanctuary on earth was but a
figure of the ministry of Christ, our great 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."
p
60 - The offerings of the priesthood in the ministry of the
sanctuary on earth were but a figure of the offering of Christ,
the true High Priest, in His ministry in the sanctuary and the true
tabernacle.
Thus Christ was the true substance and meaning of all the priesthood
and service of the sanctuary on earth; and any part of it that ever
passed without this as its meaning was simply meaningless. And as
certainly as Christ is the true Priest of Christianity, of which
the Levitical priesthood was a figure; so certainly the sanctuary
of which Christ is minister is the true sanctuary of Christianity,
of which the earthly sanctuary of the Levitical dispensation was
a figure. And so it is written: "If He were on earth,
He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law: who serve
unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,
as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle:
for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the
pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Heb. 8:4, 5.
"It
was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these [earthly sacrifices]; but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us."
And
in "heaven itself," in the Christian dispensation, there
was seen the throne of God and a golden altar and an angel with
a golden censer offering incense with the prayers of all saints,
"And the smoke of the
p
61 - incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended
up before God out of the angel's hand." Rev. 4:5; 8:2-4. Also
in this same time there was seen in "heaven itself" the
temple of God; and "the temple of God was opened in heaven,
and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament."
Rev. 11:19; 15:5-8; 16:1. And further there was seen there "seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne." Rev. 4:5. There,
too, was seen one like the Son of man clothed in the high priestly
garment. Rev. 1:13.
There
is therefore a Christian sanctuary, of which the former sanctuary
was a figure, as truly as there is a Christian high priesthood of
which the former high priesthood was a figure. And there is a ministry
of Christ, our High Priest, in this Christian sanctuary, as truly
as there was a ministry of the former priesthood in the former and
earthly sanctuary. And "of the things which we have spoken,
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; a minister
of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched,
and not man."top
p
62 - Chapter 11 - "That
I May Dwell Among Them"
When the Lord gave to Israel the original directions for the making
of the sanctuary, that was to be a figure for the time then present,
he said, "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among
them." Ex. 25:8.
That
he might "dwell among them" was the object of the sanctuary.
This purpose of the sanctuary is more fully stated in the following:
"And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the
tabernacle [margin, "Israel"] shall be sanctified by my
glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and
the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister
to me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the
children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that
I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land
of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their
God." Ex. 29:43-46; also Lev. 26:11, 12.
This
purpose was not that he should dwell among them simply and only
by the tabernacle's being set up in the midst of the camp of Israel.
This is the great mistake that Israel made in the use of the tabernacle,
and so almost wholly lost the true purpose of the sanctuary. When
the tabernacle was made and was set up in the midst of the camp
of Israel, many of the children of Israel supposed that that was
enough; they supposed that to be the way in which God would dwell
in the midst of them.
p
63 - It is true that by the Shekinah, God did dwell in the sanctuary.
But even the sanctuary with its splendid furniture, standing in
the midst of the camp - this was not all of the sanctuary. In addition
to the splendid building and its furniture, there were the sacrifices
and offerings of the people; and the sacrifices and offerings on
behalf of the people. There were the priests in their continual
services; and there was the high priest in his holy ministry. Without
these the sanctuary was for Israel practically an empty thing, even
though the Lord did dwell in it.
And
what was the meaning and purpose of these things? Let us see: When
any of the children of Israel had "done somewhat against any
of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not
be done," and so was "guilty;" then "of his
own voluntary will" he brought to the door of the tabernacle,
his sacrificial lamb. Before the lamb was offered in sacrifice the
individual who had brought it laid his hands upon its head and confessed
his sins, and it was "accepted for him to make atonement for
him." Then he who had brought the lamb and confessed his sins,
slew it. Its blood was caught in a basin. Some of the blood was
"sprinkled round about upon the altar of burnt offering,"
which was at the door of the tabernacle; some of it was put "upon
the horns of the altar of sweet incense, which is in the tabernacle
of the congregation;" some of it was sprinkled "seven
times before the Lord before the veil of the sanctuary;" and
all the rest of it was poured out "at the bottom of the altar
of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation."
p
64 - The lamb itself was burnt upon the altar of burnt offering.
And of all this service, it is written in conclusion: "and
the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed,
and it shall be forgiven him." The service was similar in case
of the sin and confession of the whole congregation. Also there
was a similar service, a continual service morning and evening,
in behalf of the whole congregation. But whether the services were
individual or general, the conclusion of it was always declared
to be "The priest shall make an atonement for him [or them],
and it shall be forgiven him." See Leviticus chapters 1 to
5.
The
course of service of the sanctuary was completed annually. And the
day of the completion of the service, the tenth day of the seventh
month, was
p
65 - especially "the day of atonement," or the cleansing
of the sanctuary. On that day service was concluded in the Most
Holy place. That day was the "once every year" when "the
High Priest alone" went into the "Holiest of all"
or Most Holy place. And, of the high priest and his service that
day it is written, "He shall make an atonement for the holy
sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of
the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement
for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation."
Lev. 16:2-34; Heb. 9:2-8.
p
66 - Thus the services of the sanctuary, in the offering of
the sacrifices and the ministering of the priests, and of the high
priests alone, was for the making of atonement, and for the forgiveness
and sending away of the sins of the people. Because of the sin and
guilt, because of their having "done somewhat against any
p
67 - of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which
should not be done," atonement must be made and forgiveness
obtained. Atonement is literally at-one-ment. The sin and the guilt
had separated them from God. By these services they were made at-one
with God. Forgive is literally give-for. To forgive sin is to give
for sin. Forgiveness of sin comes alone from God. What does God
give, what has He given, for sin? He gave Christ, and Christ "gave
himself for our sins." Gal. 1:4; Eph. 2:12-16; Rom. 5:8-11.
Therefore
when an individual or the whole congregation of Israel had sinned
and desired forgiveness the whole problem and plan, of forgiveness,
of atonement, of salvation, was worked out before their faces. The
sacrifice which was brought was in faith of the sacrifice which
God had already made in giving His Son for sin. In this faith sinners
were accepted of God, and Christ was received of them for their
sin. Thus they were made at one with God; and thus God would dwell
in the midst of them: that is, He would dwell in each heart
and abide in each life, to make that heart and life "holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." And the placing
of the tabernacle in the midst of the camp of
Israel was an illustration, an object lesson and suggestion, of
the truth that He would dwell in the midst of each individual.
Eph. 3:16-19.
Some
of that nation, in every age, saw in the sanctuary this great
saving truth. But as a body, in all ages, Israel missed this thought;
and stopping only with the thought of His dwelling in the tabernacle
in the midst of the camp, they came short of having
p
68 - His own personal presence dwelling in their individual
lives. Accordingly their worship became only outward and formal,
rather than inward and spiritual. Therefore, their own lives continued
unreformed and unholy; and so those who came out of Egypt missed
the great thing which God had for them, and "fell in the wilderness."
Heb. 3:17-19.
The same mistake was made by the people after they had passed into
the land of Canaan. They put their dependence on the Lord, only
as He dwelt in the tabernacle; and would not allow that the
tabernacle and its ministry should be the means of His dwelling
in themselves through faith. Consequently their lives only increased
in wickedness. Therefore God allowed the tabernacle to be destroyed
and the ark of God to be taken captive by the heathen (Jer. 7:12;
1 Sam 4:10-22) in order that the people might learn to see and find
and worship God individually, and so find Him to dwell with them
individually.
After
the absence of the tabernacle and its service from among Israel
for about a hundred years, it was restored by David and was merged
in the grand temple that was built by Solomon. But again its true
purpose was gradually lost sight of. Formalism with its attending
wickedness more and more increased, until in Israel the Lord was
compelled to cry out: "I hate, I despise your feast days, and
I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer Me burnt
offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither
will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou
away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody
of thy
p
69 - viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness
as a mighty stream." Amos 5:21-24.
Also
in Judah, by Isaiah, He was compelled to make a like plea: "Hear
the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not
in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come
to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread
My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination
unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies,
I can not away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your
new moons and your
appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am
weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will
hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will
not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean;
put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to
do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,
judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:10-18.
Yet
His pleas were not regarded. Israel was therefore carried captive
and her land was left desolate because of their wickedness; and
the like fate hung over Judah. And still this danger to Judah was
p
70 - from the same great cause that the Lord had been striving
always to teach the nation, and which they had not yet learned:
the holding of the temple, and God's presence in that
temple, as the great end; , instead of holding that as only
the means to the true end which was that by means of the temple
and its ministry in accomplishing forgiveness and atonement,
He who dwelt in the temple would dwell in themselves.
And so again the Lord pleaded with His people by Jeremiah that He
might save them from this mistake; and have them see and receive
the great truth of the real meaning and purpose of the temple and
its service.
Thus
He said: "Behold, ye trust in lying words, that can not profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and
burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
and come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My
name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is
this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers
in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.
"But
go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name
at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My
people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith
the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but
ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will
I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust,
and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I
have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have
cast out all your brethren, even the
p
71 - whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this
people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession
to Me: for I will not hear thee....Oh that My head were waters,
and Mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of My people! Oh that I had in the
wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave
My people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly
of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for
lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for
they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not Me. Jer. 7:8-16;
9:1, 3.
What
were specifically the "lying words" in which these people
trusted? Here they are: "Trust ye not in lying words, saying,
The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the
Lord, are these." Jer. 7:4. Thus it is made perfectly plain
that the people though going through the forms of worship and of
the temple service, went through all this merely as forms, missing
entirely the purpose of the temple and its services, which was solely
that God might reform and make holy the lives of the people by His
dwelling in them individually. And missing all this, the wickedness
of their own hearts only more and more made itself manifest. For
this reason all their sacrifices, worship, and prayers,
were only mockery and noise, so long as their hearts and lives were
unreformed and unholy.
Therefore
the word "came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in
the gate of the Lord's house,
p
72 - and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of
the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship
the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend
your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this
place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord,
The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. For if
ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly
execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; if ye oppress not
the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent
blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I
gave to your fathers, forever and ever." Jer. 7:1-7.
Instead of allowing God's great purpose of the temple and its services
to be met in themselves, the people utterly perverted that purpose.
Instead of allowing the temple and its services which God in His
mercy had planted among them, to teach them how that He in truth
would dwell among them by dwelling in their hearts and making holy
their lives, they excluded all this true purpose of the temple and
its services and perverted it all to the utterly false purpose of
sanctioning grossest wickedness and cloaking deepest, darkest unholiness.
For
such a system there was no remedy but destruction. Accordingly the
city was besieged and captured by the heathen. The temple, their
"holy and beautiful house" was destroyed. And with the
city and the temple a heap of burnt and blackened ruins, the people
were carried captive to Babylon, where in their
p
73 - sorrow and the deep sense of their great loss they sought
and found and worshiped the Lord in a way that so reformed their
lives that if they had done it when the temple stood, it would have
stood forever. Ps. 137:1-6.
God
brought them back from Babylon a humbled and reformed people. His
holy temple was rebuilt and its services were restored. The people
again dwelt in their city, and their land. But apostasy again ensued.
The same course was again repeated until, when Jesus, the great
center of the temple and its services came to His own, the same
old condition of things again prevailed. Matt. 21:12, 13; 23:13-32.
In their hearts they could persecute and pursue Him to the death
and yet outwardly be so holy (?) that they could not cross the threshold
of Pilate's judgment hall "lest they should be defiled"!
John 18:28.
And
the Lord's appeal to the people was still the same as of old - that
they should find in their own personal lives the meaning of the
temple and its services, and so be saved from the fate which had
overtaken their nation through all its history, because of this
same great mistake which they were repeating. Accordingly, one day
in the temple Jesus said to the multitude there present, "Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the
Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt
thou rear it up in three days? But He spake of the temple of His
body." John 2:19-21. When Jesus in the temple spoke
thus to that people, referring to "the temple of His body"
he was still endeavoring, as through all their history, to get them
to perceive that the great
p
74 - purpose of the temple and its services always was that
by means of the ministry and service there conducted, God would
dwell and walk in themselves as He dwelt in the temple; making
holy His dwelling-place in themselves, as His dwelling in the temple
made that place holy: so that their bodies should be truly temples
of the living God, because of God's dwelling in them and walking
in them. 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; Lev. 26:11, 12; 2 Sam. 7:6,
7.
And
still they would not see this truth. They would not be reformed.
They would not have the purpose of the sanctuary met in themselves,
that God should dwell in them. They rejected Him who came personally
to show to them this true purpose and the true Way. Therefore again
there was no remedy but destruction. Again their city was taken
by the heathen. Again the temple, their "holy and beautiful
house," was burned with fire. Again they were taken captive
and were forever scattered, to be only "wanderers among the
nations." Hosea 9:17.
Again
let it be emphasized that the earthly sanctuary, the earthly temple,
with its ministry and services, was as such only a figure
of the true, which with its ministry and services was then in heaven.
When the thought of the sanctuary was first presented to Moses for
Israel it was stated by the Lord to him, "See...that thou make
all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the
mount." Heb. 8:5; Ex. 25:40; 25:30; 27:8. The sanctuary on
the earth was therefore a figure of the true, in the sense of its
being a pattern of the true. The ministry and services in
the earthly were "figures of the true" in the sense
p
75 - of being "the patterns" of the true - "the
patterns of things in the heavens." Heb. 9:23, 24. The true
sanctuary of which this was a figure, the original of which this
was a pattern, was then in existence. But in the darkness and confusion
of Egypt, Israel had lost the true idea of this, as they had also
of many other things which were plain to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob;
and by this object-lesson God would give to them the knowledge of
the true. It was therefore not a figure in the sense of being a
type of something to come that did not yet exist, but a figure in
the sense of being an object-lesson and visible representation
of that which then existed but was invisible, to train
them up to such an experience in faith and true spirituality that
they should see the invisible.
And
by all this God was revealing to them and to all people forever
that it is by the priesthood, ministry, and service of Christ in
the true sanctuary or temple which is in heaven, that He dwells
amongst men. He was revealing that in this faith of Jesus, forgiveness
of sins and atonement is ministered to men, so that God dwells in
them and walks in them, He being their God and they His people;
and thus they be separated from all the people that are upon the
face of the earth - separated unto God as His own true sons and
daughters to be built up unto perfection in the knowledge
of God. Ex. 33:15, 16; 2 Cor. 6:16-18; 7:1.top
p
76 - Chapter 12 - Perfection
The great thought and purpose of the true sanctuary, its priesthood,
and ministry, is that God shall dwell in the hearts of the people.
What now is the great thought and purpose of His dwelling in the
hearts of the people? The answer is, Perfection; the moral and spiritual
perfection of the worshiper.
Let
us consider this: At the close of the fifth chapter of Hebrews,
immediately following the statement that Christ, "being made
perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey Him; called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchizedec,"
it is written: "Therefore," that is, because of this,
for this reason, "leaving the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." Heb. 6:1.
Next
it is shown that perfection is attained only through the Melchizedec
priesthood. And it is shown that this was always so, and that the
Levitical priesthood was only temporary, and typical of the Melchizedec
priesthood. Following this, in discussing the Levitical priesthood,
it is written: "If therefore perfection were by the
Levitical priesthood, ...what further need was there that another
priest should rise after the order of Melchizedec, and not be called
after the order of Aaron?" Heb. 7:11. And again, in the same
connection, "For the law made nothing perfect, but the
bringing in of a better hope I [or "but it
p
77 - was the bringing in of a better hope," margin]; by
the which we draw nigh unto God." Verse 19.
By
these scriptures it is perfectly plain that the perfection of the
worshiper is that which is offered and which is attained in the
priesthood and ministry of Christ.
Nor
yet are these all the words on this thought. For, as already quoted
in the description of the sanctuary and its service, it is said
that it "was a figure for the time then present, in which were
offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that
did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience."
That none of this could make him that did the service perfect
is its great lack. Therefore that the priesthood and ministry of
Christ in the true sanctuary can and does make
perfect him who enters by faith into the service is the great
thought and the goal of all.
That
earthly service "could not make him that did the service perfect,
as pertaining to the conscience." "But Christ being come
an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." Heb. 9:11, 12. This sanctuary, priesthood,
sacrifice, and ministry of Christ's does make perfect in
eternal redemption every one who by faith enters into the
service, and so receives that which that service is established
to give.
Further, "For if the blood of bulls and of goats,
p
78 - and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth
to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God?" The blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes
of an heifer sprinkling the unclean in the Levitical service and
the worldly sanctuary did sanctify to the purifying of the
flesh: for so the word concerning it continually declares. And that
being so, "how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,"
sanctify to the purifying of the spirit and "purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God."
What
are dead works? Death itself is the consequence of sin. Dead works
therefore are works that have sin in them. Then the purging of the
conscience from dead works is the so entirely cleansing of the soul
from sin, by the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, that
in the life and works of the believer in Jesus sin shall have no
place; the works shall be only works of faith, and the life shall
be only the life of faith, and so be only the true and pure "service
of the living God."
Again
it is written: "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. For then would they not
have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices there is a remembrance again made
p
79 - of sins every year. For it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
Heb. 10:1-4.
This
again shows that though perfection was the aim in all the
ministry that was performed under the law, yet perfection was not
attained by any of those performances. They were all simply figures
for the time then present of the ministry and priesthood by which
perfection is attained; that is the ministry and priesthood
of Christ. Those sacrifices could not make the comers thereunto
perfect. The true sacrifice and the true ministry in "the sanctuary
and the true tabernacle" do make the comers thereunto perfect;
and this perfection consists in the worshipers having "no more
conscience of sins."
"But
since it is "not possible" for the blood of bulls and
goats to take away sins, it was not possible, though those
sacrifices were offered year by year continually, so to purge
the worshipers that they should have no more conscience of
sins. The blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean could and did sanctify to the purifying of
the flesh; but of the flesh only: and even this was "but a
figure for the time then present" of "the blood of Christ,"
which so much more purges the worshipers that they have no
more conscience of sins.
"Wherefore
when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering
Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me: in burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo,
I come...to do Thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings
p
80 - and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure
therein; which are offered by the law; then said He, Lo, I come
to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He
may establish the second." Heb. 10:5-9.
Here
are mentioned two things: "the first," and "the second."
What are these two things? Which is "the first," and which
"the second"? The two things mentioned are sacrifice,
offering, burnt offerings, and offering for sin - all as one; and
the will of God. Sacrifice, offering, burnt offerings, and offering
for sin - all as one - are "the first:" and "the
will of God" is "the second." "He taketh away
the first that He may establish the second." That is, He "taketh
away sacrifice, offering, burnt offerings, and offering for sin,
that He may establish the will of God. And the will of God
is "even your anctification" and your perfection. 1 Thess.
4:3; Matt. 5:48; Eph 4:8, 12, 13; Heb. 13:20, 21. But this could
never be accomplished by those sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings,
and offering for sin which were offered by the Levitical priesthood
- they could not make the comers thereunto perfect. They could not
so purge the worshipers that they should have no more conscience
of sin. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sin.
Therefore,
since the will of God is the sanctification and the perfection of
the worshipers; since the will of God is that His worshipers shall
be so cleansed that they shall have no more conscience of sin; and
since the service and the offerings in that earthly
p
81 - sanctuary could not do this; He took it all away that He
may establish the will of God. "By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all."
The will of God is "even your sanctification." Sanctification
is the true keeping of all the commandments of God. In other words,
this is to say that the will of God concerning man is that His will
shall be perfectly fulfilled in man. His will is expressed in His
law of ten commandments, which is "the whole duty of man."
This law is perfect, and perfection of character is the perfect
expression of this law in the life of the worshiper of God. By this
law is the knowledge of sin. And all have sinned and have come short
of the glory of God; have come short of this perfection of character.
The
sacrifices and the service in the earthly sanctuary could not take
away the sins of men, and so could not bring them to this perfection.
But the sacrifice and the ministry of the true High Priest in the
sanctuary and the true tabernacle do accomplish this. This
does take away utterly every sin. And the worshiper is so truly
purged that he has no more conscience of sins. By the sacrifice,
the offering, and the service of Himself, Christ took away the sacrifices
and the offerings and the service which could never take away sins;
and by His perfect doing of the perfect will of God He established
the will of God. "By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Heb. 10:10.
In
that former earthly sanctuary and service,
p
82 - "every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins."
But in the service in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, "this
Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down
on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies
be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Heb. 10:11-14.
Thus
perfection in every respect is attained through the priesthood,
the sacrifice, and the service of this our great High Priest at
the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens in His
ministry in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord
pitched, and not man. "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us: for after that He had said before, this is
the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering
for sin." Heb. 10:15-18.
And
this is the "new and living way" which Christ, through
the flesh, "hath consecrated for us" - for all mankind;
and by which every soul may enter into the holiest of all - the
holiest of all places, the holiest of all experiences, the holiest
of all relationships the holiest of all living. This new and living
way He "hath consecrated for us through the flesh;" that
is, He, coming in the flesh, identifying Himself with mankind in
the flesh, has, for us who are in this flesh, consecrated a way
from where we are to where He
p
83 - now is, at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty
in the heavens in the holiest of all.
In
His coming in the flesh - having been made in all things like unto
us, and having been tempted in all points like as we are - He has
identified Himself with every human soul just where that soul is.
And from the place where every human soul is, He has consecrated
for that soul a new and living way through all the vicissitudes
and experiences of a whole lifetime, and even through death and
the tomb, into the holiest of all at the right hand of God for evermore.
O
that consecrated way! Consecrated by His temptations and sufferings,
by His prayers and tears, by His holy living and sacrificial dying,
by His triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension, and by His
triumphal entry into the holiest of all, at the right hand of the
throne of the Majesty in the heavens!
And
this "way" He has consecrated for us. He, having
become one of us, has made this way our way; it belongs to
us. He has endowed every soul with divine right to walk in
this consecrated way, and by His having done it Himself in the flesh
- in our flesh - He has made it possible, yea, He has given actual
assurance, that every human soul can walk in that way, in
all that that way is; and by it enter fully and freely into the
holiest of all.
He,
as one of us, in our human nature, weak as we, laden with the sins
of the world, in our sinful flesh, in this world, a whole lifetime,
lived a life "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,"
and "was made" and ascended "higher than the heavens."
And by this He has made and consecrated a way by which,
p
84 - in Him, every believer can in this world, and for
a whole lifetime, live a life holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and as a consequence be made with Him higher than
the heavens.
Perfection, perfection of character, is the Christian goal
- perfection attained in human flesh in this world. Christ attained
it in human flesh in this world and thus made and consecrated a
way by which, in Him, every believer can attain it. He, having
attained it, has become our great High Priest, by His priestly ministry
in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain it.
erfection
is the Christian's goal; and the High Priesthood and ministry of
Christ in the true sanctuary is the only way by which any soul can
attain this true goal in this world. "Thy way, O God, is in
the sanctuary." Ps. 77:13.
"Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for
us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having an High
Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water." And "let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering; for He is faithful that promised."
"For
ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched,
and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and
tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which
voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken
to them any more....But ye are come
p
85 - unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to
the general assembly and church of the first-born, which
are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits
of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that of Abel."
O,
then, "see that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall
not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven."
Heb 12:18-25.top
p 86 - Chapter 13 - The
Transgression and Abomination of Desolation
Such is the sacrifice, the priesthood, and the ministry, of Christ
in His ministry in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched, and not man. Such is the statement in the book
of Hebrews of the truth, the merit, and the efficacy of the
sacrifice, the priesthood, the sanctuary, and the ministry of Christ.
But
it is not alone in the book of Hebrews that this great truth is
found. For though it is not so directly stated, nor so fully discussed
in any other place as it is in the book of Hebrews, it is recognized
throughout the whole of the New Testament as truly as the sanctuary
and ministry of the Levitical priesthood is recognized throughout
the Old Testament, though it be not so directly stated, nor so fully
discussed in any other place as in Exodus and Leviticus.
In
the last book of the New Testament, in the very first chapter, there
is seen "one like unto the Son of Man," clothed in the
raiment of the high priest. Also in the midst of the throne and
of the cherubim and of the elders there was seen "a Lamb as
it had been slain." There also was seen a golden altar, and
one with a golden censer offering incense, which, with the prayers
of the saints, ascended up before God. There was seen the seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne. There was seen the temple
of God in heaven; "the temple of the tabernacle of the
p
87 -- testimony." There it is promised and declared that
they who have part in the first resurrection and upon whom the second
death hath no power "shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with Him a thousand years" in that priesthood.
And when the first heaven and the first earth shall have passed
away, and there shall be found no place for them; and the new heaven
and the new earth shall have been brought in, with the holy city
descending out of heaven from God, the tabernacle of God being with
men, He dwelling with them, they His people, and God Himself with
them, and their God; when He shall have wiped away all tears from
their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor
crying, neither any more pain, and the former things shall have
passed away; then, and not until then, is it declared of the city
of God: "I saw no temple therein."
Thus
it is just as certain that there is a priesthood, a priestly ministry,
and a sanctuary, in this dispensation, as that there was in the
old: yes, even more truly: for though there was a sanctuary, a priesthood,
and a ministry in the old dispensation, it was all only a figure
for the time then present - a figure of this which now is the true,
and which is in heaven.
This
true priesthood, ministry, and sanctuary of Christ in heaven is
too plain in the New Testament to be by any possibility denied.
Yet, in the face of all this, it is a thing that is hardly ever
thought of; it is a thing almost unknown, and even hardly believed,
in the Christian world today.
Why
is this, and how could it ever be? There is a cause. The Scripture
tells it, and facts demonstrate it.
p
88 -- In the book of Daniel, seventh chapter, there was seen
by the prophet in vision the four winds of heaven striving upon
the great sea, "and four great beasts came up from the sea,
diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's
wings;" which symbolized the world-kingdom of Babylon. The
second was like a bear, which raised itself up on one side, and
had three ribs in the mouth of it; which symbolized the united world-kingdom
of Media and Persia. The third was like a leopard, which had four
heads and four wings of a fowl; which symbolized the world-dominion
of Alexander the Great and Grecia. The fourth beast was "dreadful
and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth:
it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the
feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before
it; and it had ten horns." This great beast symbolized the
world-empire of Rome, diverse from all that were before it; because
it was not originally a kingdom or monarchy, but a republic. The
ten horns symbolized the ten kingdoms that were planted in the territory
of Western Rome when that empire was annihilated.
Then
says the prophet: "I considered the horns [the ten horns],
and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before
whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots:
and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a
mouth speaking great things." The prophet beheld and considered
this little horn, clear through until "the judgment was set,
and the books were opened." And when this judgment was set
and the
p
89 -- books were opened, he says: "I beheld then
[at that time] because of the voice of the great words which the
horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body
destroyed, and given to the burning flame."
Note
the remarkable change in expression in this latter statement. The
prophet beheld the little horn from the time of its rise clear through
to the time when "the judgment was set, and the books were
opened." At that time he beheld the little horn; and
just now, particularly "because of the voice of the
great words which the horn spake." And he continued to behold
that same thing - that same little horn - until the end and till
its destruction. But when its destruction comes, the word that describes
it is not that the little horn was broken or destroyed but
that the "beast was slain and his body destroyed,
and given to the burning flame."
This
shows that the little horn is but another phase of the original
fourth, or dreadful and terrible, beast that the little horn is
but the continuation of the dreadful and terrible beast, in its
very disposition, spirit, and aims, only under a variant form. And
as the fourth world power, the dreadful and terrible beast in its
original form was Rome; so the little horn in its workings is but
the continuation of Rome - of the spirit and working of Rome, under
this form.
The
explanation of this, given in the same chapter, confirms that which
has been stated. For, of this little horn it is said that it is
to be "diverse from the first;" that he "shall speak
great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints
of the
p
90 -- Most High, and think to change times and laws" of
the Most High. It is also said that the "same horn made war
with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of
days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." All
these things are true, and this is the description, of latter Rome
throughout.
And
all this is confirmed by latter Rome herself. For Leo the Great
was pope A.D. 440 to A.D. 461, in the very time when the former
Rome was in its very last days, when it was falling rapidly to ruin.
And Leo the Great declared in a sermon that the former Rome was
but the promise of the latter Rome; that the glories of the former
were to be reproduced in Catholic Rome; that Romulus and Remus were
but the forerunners of Peter and Paul; that the successors of Romulus
therefore were the precursors of the successors of Peter; and that,
as the former Rome had ruled the world, so the latter Rome, by the
see of the holy blessed Peter as head of the world, would dominate
the earth. This conception of Leo's was never lost from the Papacy.
And when, only fifteen years afterward, the Roman Empire had, as
such, perished, and only the Papacy survived the ruin, and firmly
held place and power in Rome, this conception of Leo's was only
the more strongly, and with the more certitude held and asserted.
That
conception was also intentionally and systematically developed.
The Scriptures were industriously studied and ingeniously perverted
to maintain it. By a perverse application of the Levitical system
p
91 -- of the Old Testament, the authority and eternity of the
Roman priesthood had already been established. *
And
now, by perverse deductions "from the New Testament, the authority
and eternity of Rome herself was established."
Taking
the ground that she is the only true continuation of original Rome,
upon that the Papacy took the ground that wherever the New Testament
cites, or refers to, the authority of original Rome, she
is now meant, because she is the only true continuation of original
Rome. Accordingly, where the New Testament enjoins submission to
"the powers that be," or obedience to "governors,"
it means the Papacy, because the only power and the only governors
that then were, were Roman, and the papal power was the true continuation
of the Roman.
"Every
passage was seized on where submission to the powers that be is
enjoined; every instance cited where obedience had actually been
rendered to the imperial officials; special emphasis being laid
on the sanction which Christ Himself had given to Roman dominion
by pacifying the world through Augustus,
*
-- "The bishops now [the latter part of the second century]
wished to be thought to correspond with the high priest of
the Jews; the presbyters were said to come in place of the
priests; and the deacons were made parallel to the
Levites.
"In
like manner the comparison of the Christian oblations with
the Jewish victims and sacrifices produced many unnessary rites,
and by decrees corrupted the very doctrine of the holy Supper; which
was converted sooner, in fact, than one would think, into a sacrifice."
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Cent. II, part II, Chap.
II, par. 4; and chap. IV, par. 4.
p
92 -- by being born at the time of the taxing, by paying tribute
to Caesar, by saying to Pilate, 'Thou couldst have no power at all
against Me except it were given thee from above.'" - Bryce.
And since Christ had recognized the authority of Pilate, who was
but the representative of Rome; who should dare to disregard the
authority of the Papacy, the true continuation of that authority,
to which even the Lord from heaven had submitted!
And
it was only the logical culmination of this assumption when Pope
Boniface VIII presented himself in the sight of the multitude, clothed
in a cuirass, with a helmet on his head, and a sword in his hand
held aloft, and proclaimed: "There is no other Caesar, nor
king, nor emperor than I, the Sovereign Pontiff and Successor of
the Apostles;" and, when further he declared, ex cathedra:
"We therefore assert, define, and pronounce that it is necessary
to salvation to believe that every human being is subject to the
Pontiff of Rome."
This
is proof enough that the little horn of the seventh chapter of Daniel
is Papal Rome, and that it is in spirit and purpose intentionally
the continuation of original Rome.
Now, in the eighth chapter of Daniel, this subject is taken up again.
First, there is seen by the prophet in vision a ram, with two horns
which were high, but one higher than the other, corresponding to
the bear lifting itself up on one side higher than the other. This
is declared plainly by the angel to mean "the kings of Media
and Persia." Next the prophet saw "an he goat" coming
from the west on the face of
p
93 --
the
whole earth, touching not the ground, and he had a notable horn
between his eyes. He overthrew the ram, brake his two horns, cast
him down to the ground, and stamped upon him; and there was none
that could deliver the ram out of his hand. This is declared by
the angel to mean "the king of Grecia: and the great horn that
is between his eyes is the first king." The he-goat waxed very
great, and when he was strong, the notable horn was broken and in
place of it there came up four notable ones toward the four winds
of heaven. This is declared by the
p
94 -- angel to mean that "four kingdoms shall stand up
out of the nation, but not in his [Alexander's] power.
Out
of one of these divisions of the empire of Alexander, the prophet
next saw that there "came forth a little horn, which
waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and
toward the pleasant land." The directions named show that this
power rose and waxed exceeding great from the west. This
is explained by the angel to mean, "in the latter time of their
kingdom [the four divisions of Grecia], when the transgressors are
come to the
p
95 -- full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding
dark sentences, shall stand up." "And it waxed great,
even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and
of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." "And
his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall
destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall
destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also
he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify
himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall
also stand up against the Prince of princes ["He magnified
himself even to the prince of the host." Verse 11]; but he
shall be broken without hand."
These specifications show that the little horn of the eighth chapter
of Daniel represents Rome from the time of its rise, at the destruction
of the Grecian Empire, to the end of the world, when it is "broken
without hand," by that stone "cut out of the mountain
without hands," which then breaks in pieces and consumes
all earthly kingdoms. Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45.
We
have seen that in the seventh chapter of Daniel the little horn,
though as such representing only the latter phase of Rome,
yet does really represent Rome in both its phases - Rome from beginning
to end; because when the time comes that the "little horn"
is to be broken and destroyed, it is indeed "the beast"
that is "slain, and his body destroyed, and given to
the burning flame." Thus the thought with which the story of
the little horn closes in Daniel 7 is continued in Daniel 8, with
reference to the same power. In Daniel 8
p
96 -- the expression "little horn" covers the whole
of Rome in both its phases, just as is shown in the closing
expressions concerning the "little horn" in Daniel 7;
as is shown also by the expressions "the abomination of desolation"
and "the transgression of desolation," being applied to
Rome in both its phases (Dan. 9:26, 27; Matt. 24:15; Dan. 11:31;
12:11; 8:11, 13); and as is confirmed by the teaching and history
of latter Rome itself. It is all one, except only that all that
is stated of the former Rome is true and intensified in the
latter Rome.
And
now let us consider further the scripture expressions in Daniel
8 concerning this little horn power. In verses 11 and 25, of this
little horn power it is said: "He shall magnify himself in
his heart." "He magnified himself even to [or against]
the prince of the host;" and "he shall also stand up against
[or reign in opposition to] the Prince of princes." This is
explained in 2 Thessalonians, second chapter, where the apostle,
in correcting wrong impressions which the Thessalonians had received
concerning the immediate coming of the Lord, says: "Let no
man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of
perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above
all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he
is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you
these things?" 2 Thess. 2:3-5.
Plainly
this scripture describes the same power that is represented by the
little horn in Daniel 8. But there
p
97 -- are other considerations which more fully show it. He
says that when he was at Thessalonica with the brethren he had
told them these very things, which now he writes. In
Acts 17:1-3, is the record concerning Paul when he was yet with
the Thessalonians, as follows: "Now when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a
synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto
them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures."
And in this reasoning with them out of the Scriptures, he told them
about this
falling away which should come, in which would be the revealing
of the man of sin, the mystery of iniquity, the son of perdition,
who would oppose himself to God and would exalt himself above all
that is called God or that is worshiped, even putting himself in
the place of God, and passing himself off for God.
In reasoning with the people out of the Scriptures, where in the
Scriptures did Paul find the revelation from which he could tell
to the Thessalonians all this? It was in this eighth chapter of
Daniel where the apostle found it; and from this it was that he
told it to them while he was there. For in the eighth chapter of
Daniel are the very expressions which he uses in 2 Thessalonians,
of which he says, "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with
you, I told you these things?" This fixes the time to be after
the apostles' days, when Rome magnified itself "even to
the Prince of the host" and "against the Prince of princes;"
and connects it directly with the
p
98 -- falling away, or apostasy, which developed the Papacy,
or Rome, in its latter and ultimate phase.
Now let us read verses 11 and 12 of Daniel 8 and it will be plainly
seen that here is exactly the place where Paul found the scripture
from which he taught the Thessalonians concerning the "man
of sin" and the "mystery of iniquity:" "Yea,
he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him
the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary
was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice
by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground;
and it practiced and prospered."
This
plainly points out that which took away the priesthood, the ministry,
and the sanctuary of God and of Christianity.
Let us read it again. "Yea, he [the little horn - the man of
sin] magnified himself even to the Prince of the host ["against
the Prince of princes" - Christ], and by him [the man of sin]
the daily sacrifice [the continual service, the ministry, and the
priesthood of Christ] was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary
[the sanctuary of the prince of the host, of the Prince of princes
- Christ] was cast down. And an host was given him [the man of sin]
against the daily sacrifice [against the continual service, of the
ministry of Christ, the Prince of the host] by reason of transgression,
and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and
prospered."
It
was "by reason of transgression," that is, by reason of
sin, that this power gained "the host" that was used to
cast down the truth to the ground, to
p
99 -- shut away from the church and the world Christ's priesthood,
His ministry, and His sanctuary; and to cast it all down to the
ground and tread it underfoot. It was by reason of transgression
that this was accomplished. Transgression is sin, and this is the
consideration and the revelation upon which the apostle in 2 Thessalonians
defines this power as the "man of sin" and the "mystery
of iniquity."
In
Daniel 8:11-13; 11:31; and 12:11, it will be noticed that the word
"sacrifice" is in every case supplied. And it is
wholly supplied, for in its place in the original there is no word
at all. In the original the only word that stands in this place
is the word tamid, that is here translated "daily:"
And in these places the expression "daily" does not refer
to the daily sacrifice any more than it refers to the whole
daily ministry or continual service of the sanctuary, of which the
sacrifice was only a part. The word tamid in itself
signifies "continuous or continual," "constant,"
"stable," "sure," "constantly," "evermore."
Only such words as these express the thought of the original word,
which, in the text under consideration, is translated "daily."
In Numbers 28 and 29 alone, the word is used seventeen times, referring
to the continual service in the sanctuary.
And
it is this continual service of Christ, the true High Priest, "who
continueth ever," and "who is consecrated forevermore"
in "an unchangeable priesthood" - it is this continual
service of our great High Priest, which the man of sin, the
Papacy, has taken away. It is the sanctuary and the true
tabernacle in which this true High Priest exercises His continual
p
100 -- ministry that has been cast down by "the
transgression of desolation." It is this ministry and this
sanctuary that the "man of sin" has taken away from the
church and shut away from the world, and has cast down to the ground
and stamped upon; and in place of which it has set up itself "the
abomination that maketh desolate." What the former Rome did
physically to the visible or earthly sanctuary, which was "the
figure of the true" (Dan. 9:26, 27; Matt. 24:15), that the
latter Rome has done spiritually to the invisible or heavenly sanctuary
that is itself the true. Dan. 11:31; 12:11; 8:11, 13.
In
the foot-note quotation on page 91 it is shown that in the apostasy,
the bishops, presbyters, deacons, and the eucharist, were made to
succeed the high priest, priests, Levites and sacrifices of the
Levitical system. Now by every evidence of the Scriptures, it is
certain that, in the order of God it was Christ and His ministry
and sanctuary in heaven, and this alone, that in truth was the object
of the Levitical system, and that is truly the Christian succession
to that system. Therefore when in and by the apostasy the system
of bishops as high priests, presbyters as priests, deacons as Levites,
and the Supper as a sacrifice, was insinuated as the Christian succession
to the Levitical system, this of itself was nothing else than to
put this false system of the apostasy in the place of the true,
completely to shut out the true, and, finally, to cast it down to
the ground and stamp upon it.
And
this is how it is that this great Christian truth of the true priesthood,
ministry, and sanctuary of Christ is not known to the Christian
world today.
p
101 -- The "man of sin" has taken it away, and cast
it down to the ground, and stamped upon it. The "mystery of
iniquity" has hid this great truth from the church and the
world during all these ages, in which the man of sin has held place
in the world, and has passed itself off as God, and its iniquitous
host as the church of God.
And
yet, even the "man of sin," the "mystery of iniquity,"
itself bears witness to the necessity of such a service in the church
in behalf of sins. For though the "man of sin," the "mystery
of iniquity," has taken away the true priesthood, ministry,
and sanctuary of Christ and has cast these down to the ground to
be stamped upon, and has completely hid them from the eyes of the
Christian world; yet she did not utterly throw away the idea.
No, she threw away the true and cast down the true
to the ground; but, retaining the idea, in the place of the
true she built up in her own realm an utterly false structure.
In
the place of Christ, the true and divine High Priest of God's own
appointment in heaven, she has substituted a human, sinful, and
sinning priesthood on earth. In the place of the continual,
heavenly ministry of Christ in His true priesthood upon His true
sacrifice, she has substituted only an interval ministry
of a human, earthly, sinful, and sinning priesthood in the once-a-day
"daily sacrifice of the mass." And in the place of the
sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not
man, she has substituted her own meeting-places of wood and stone,
to which she applies the term "sanctuary." Thus, instead
of the one continual High Priest, the one
p
102 -- continual ministry, and the one continual sanctuary
in heaven, which God has ordained, and which is the only true, she
has devised out of her own heart and substituted for the only true,
many high priests, many ministries, many sacrifices, and many sanctuaries,
on earth, which in every possible relation are only human
and utterly false.
And
it can never take away sin. No earthly priesthood, no earthly
ministry, no earthly sacrifice, or service, in any earthly sanctuary,
can ever take away sin. In the book of Hebrews we have seen that
even the priesthood, the ministry, the sacrifice, and the service
in the earthly sanctuary - the very service which the Lord Himself
ordained on earth - never took away sin. The inspired record is
that they never did take away sin, and that they never could
take away sin.
It
is only the priesthood and the ministry of Christ that can ever
take away sin. And this is a priesthood and a ministry in heaven,
and of a sanctuary that is in heaven. For when Christ was
on earth he was not a priest, and if He had remained on earth until
this hour, He would not yet be a priest; as it stands written, "If
He were on earth, He should not be a priest." Heb. 8:4. Thus,
by plain word and abundant illustration, God has demonstrated that
no earthly priesthood, sacrifice, or ministry can ever take away
sin.
If
any such could take away sin, then why could not that which God
Himself ordained on earth take away sin? If any such could take
away sin, then why change the priesthood and the ministry from
p
103 -- earth to heaven? Therefore, by the plain word of the
Lord, it is plain that the priesthood, the ministry, the sacrifice,
and the sanctuary which the Papacy has set up and operates on earth
can never take away sin; but, instead, only perpetuates sin, is
a fraud, an imposture, and the very "transgression" and
"abomination of desolation" is the most holy place.
And
that this conclusion and statement as to what the papal system really
is is not extravagant nor far-fetched, is confirmed by the words
of Cardinal Baronius, the standard annalist of the papacy. Writing
of the tenth century, he says: "In this century the abomination
of desolation was seen in the temple of the Lord; and in the
See of St. Peter, reverenced by angels, were placed the most wicked
of men; not pontiffs, but monsters." And the council of Rheims
in 991 declared the papacy to be "the man of sin, the mystery
of iniquity."top
p
104 - Chapter 14 - The
Time of Finishing the Mystery of God
But that imposture is not to last forever; thank the Lord! This
great truth of the priesthood, ministry, and sanctuary of Christianity
is not to be hid forever from the eyes of the church and the world.
The mystery of iniquity arose, and so hid from the world the mystery
of God that all the world followed it wondering. Rev. 13:3, 4. But
the day comes when the mystery of iniquity shall be exposed, and
the mystery of God in its own truth and purity shall shine forth
once more; never more to be hid, but to accomplish its great purpose
and be completely finished. For it is written that "in the
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,
the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His
servants the prophets." Rev. 10:7.
In
the days of Christ and His apostles, the mystery of God was revealed
in a fulness never before known, and was preached "to all nations
for the obedience of faith." Rom. 16:25, 26. From the beginning
of the world unto that time this mystery had "been hid in God;"
had "been hid from ages and from generations," but was
then "made manifest to His saints;" to whom "God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom
we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Col.
1:26-29; Eph. 3:3, 5, 9.
p
105 -- But even at that same time, in the very days of the apostles,
the "mystery of iniquity" did "already work."
And it continued to work until it gained world-power and supremacy,
and even power over the saints, the times, and the law of the Most
High - standing up against the Prince of princes, magnifying itself
even to the Prince of the host, putting itself in the place of worship
of God, and passing itself off for God. And thus, again, but
not this time in God, the mystery of God was "hid
from ages and from generations." But now, again, in
the days of the voice of the seventh angel, even now, the
mystery of God which hath again been hid from ages and generations,
is made manifest to His saints to whom now "God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom
we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."
And
this, as we have already quoted, is itself according "as He
hath declared to His servants the prophets." It is not alone
the prophet of Patmos who declared that in this time, even now in
our day, "the mystery of God should be finished." For
when the angel of God made this proclamation in the vision of the
prophet of Patmos, he had already, and long before, declared the
same thing to His servants the prophets. And this proclamation on
Patmos was only the declaration of the angel that that which God
had long before declared to His servants the prophets should now
surely be accomplished; and that with no more delay. The full proclamation
of the angel
p
106 -- is this: "and the angel which I saw stand upon
the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware
by Him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the
things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein
are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should
be time ["delay," R.V.] no longer: but in the days of
the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the
mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants
the prophets." Rev. 10:5-7.
The
one prophet to whom this thing was more fully and more plainly declared
than to any other was the prophet Daniel. For not only did Daniel
see the rise of this little horn, and see it magnify itself "even
to the Prince of the host," and "stand up against the
Prince of princes," and cast down to the ground His truth and
His sanctuary and stamp upon them; but he also, and in the same
vision, saw the truth and the sanctuary of Christ delivered
from this little horn power, rescued from its blasphemous
stamping, lifted up from the earth, and exalted to
the heaven where it belongs. And it was in this part of the transactions
in the vision that the heavenly ones seemed to be most interested;
for, says Daniel: "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another
saint said unto that certain saint ["the Wonderful Numberer"]
which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice
[the continual service], and the transgression of desolation, to
give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot? And
He ["the Wonderful Numberer"] said unto me, Unto two thousand
and three hundred
p
107 -- days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
Dan. 8:13, 14.
Then
the angel Gabriel was commanded to make Daniel understand the vision.
He began to do so, but when in the explanation he had reached the
point concerning the many days of this vision, the astonishing and
terrible things revealed in the vision overcame the prophet, and
says he: "I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward
I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at
the vision, but none understood it." Dan. 8:27. So far as the
explanation had proceeded, it was easily understood: for it was
plainly spoken that the ram represented the kings of Media and Persia;
and the rough goat the king of Grecia; and, in view of the explanation
that had already been made in the second and seventh chapters of
Daniel, the description of the next great power after Grecia was
easily understood so far as the angel could then go with the explanation.
But in the very midst of the explanation of the most important part
of it, Daniel fainted: and so the most material and essential part
of the explanation was missed, and "none understood it."
However,
the prophet sought diligently for an understanding of the vision.
And after the destruction of Babylon, in the first year of the king
of the Medes and Persians the angel Gabriel came to Daniel again,
and said: "O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill
and understanding." Dan. 9:1, 22. And it was understanding
in this particular vision which he was explaining when Daniel fainted,
that he now came to give. Accordingly he directs Daniel's attention
p
108 -- first of all to that vision, for he said: "At the
beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I
am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand
the matter, and consider the vision." Verse 23. Having
thus directed the prophet's attention to the vision, the angel begins
immediately to discuss the time mentioned in the vision -
the very part of the vision which, because of Daniel's fainting,
had been left unexplained. Thus he says: "Seventy weeks are
determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." Verse 24.
The word "determined" signifies "limited,"
"restricted within bounds," "to mark off and fix
the bounds." In explaining the vision at the first, the angel
had come to the point of the time - the "many days," the
"two thousand and three hundred days" of the vision. Now,
as he tells Daniel to consider the vision, he begins immediately
to speak concerning these days and to explain the events of them.
"Seventy weeks," or four hundred and ninety of these days,
are limited and restricted to the Jews and Jerusalem: and this also
marks the limitation of the Jews and Jerusalem as God's special
people and city. For these are prophetic days, in which each day
is a year: the seventy weeks, or the four hundred and ninety days,
thus making four hundred and ninety years of the two thousand
and three hundred days which are two thousand and three hundred
years. The beginning of the four hundred and ninety years is thus
also the beginning of the two thousand and three hundred years.
The
story of the "seventy weeks," or four hundred and ninety
years, is given by the angel as follows:
p
109 -- "Know therefore and understand, that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto
the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and
two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall
Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of
the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and
the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and
unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And He shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of
the week He shall cause the sacrifices and oblation to cease,"
and "upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh
desolate, ["and upon the battlements shall be the idols of
the desolator." - A.V. margin] even until the consummation,
and that determined shall be poured upon the desolator." Dan.
9:25-27; 9:27, R.V.; 9:27, margin.
The
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem here referred to went
forth in the year 457 B. C., and is recorded in the seventh chapter
of Ezra. The decree was issued from Babylon, and was addressed,
first, to Ezra, empowering him to leave Babylon and to take
with him such people and materials as were supplied for the work
of restoring Jerusalem, and the worship of God therein; and, secondly,
"to all the treasurers which are beyond the river" Euphrates,
directing them to supply whatever was required by Ezra for the carrying
on of the work. It was the fifth month of the year when Ezra reached
Jerusalem, so that about half the year 457 B. C. was gone, which
would give about the year 456 1/2 as the time of the
p
110 -- beginning of the four hundred and ninety years and the
two thousand and three hundred years.
From
that time four hundred and eighty-three years were to reach "to
the Messiah the Prince," which would reach twenty-six and one-half
years into the Christian era, or into the year A. D. 27; which is
the very year of Christ's appearance as the Messiah in His
public ministry, when He was baptized in Jordan and anointed with
the Holy Ghost. Mark 7:9-11; Matt. 3:13-17. After this He, the Messiah,
was to "confirm the covenant" "for one week"
- the remaining week of the seventy. But in the midst of that week
He would "cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease"
by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. In the midst of the week
would be at the end of three and a half of the seven years from
the fall of A. D. 27. This gives the date the spring of A.D. 31,
the very time when the Saviour was crucified, and thus by
the sacrifice of Himself - the only sacrifice for sins - forever
caused the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. Then the veil of
the earthly temple "was rent in twain from the top to the bottom,"
showing that the service of God there was ended, and the earthly
house was desolate.
There
was yet the last half of the seventieth week remaining as the limit
of the time of special favor to the Jews and Jerusalem. This half
of the week, beginning in the spring of A.D. 31, extended to the
fall of A.D. 34. In that time "they which were scattered abroad
upon the persecution that arose about Stephen ["went everywhere
preaching the word"] traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus,
and Antioch,
p
111 --
preaching
the word to none but unto the Jews only." Acts 11:19;
8:4. But when this time was expired, and the Jews had confirmed
themselves in the rejection of the Messiah and His gospel, then
was their decision accepted; and under the leadership of both Peter
and Paul the door of faith was opened fully to the Gentiles; to
whom pertains the remaining portion of the two thousand and three
hundred years.
After
the four hundred and ninety years of the limitation upon the Jews
and Jerusalem, there yet remained one thousand eight hundred and
ten years to the Gentiles. This period, beginning, as we have found,
in the fall of A.D. 34, reaches inevitably to the fall of A.D. 1844,
and marks that date as the expiration
p
112 -- of the two thousand and three hundred years. And
at that time, upon the word of the "Wonderful Numberer"
in Daniel 8:14, "then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
In 1844 also was the very time of "the days of the voice of
the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound," and when
"the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared
to His servants the prophets."
At
that time there would be broken up the horror of great darkness
by which the mystery of iniquity had hid from ages and generations
the mystery of God. At that time the sanctuary and the true tabernacle,
and the truth of it, would be lifted up from the ground where the
man of sin had cast them down and stamped upon them, and would be
exalted to the heaven where they belong, and whence they will shine
forth in such light as that the earth shall be lightened with the
glory. At that time the transcendent truth of the priesthood and
ministry of Christ would be rescued from the oblivion to which the
abomination and transgression of desolation had consigned it, and
would once more and
forever stand in its true and heavenly place in the faith of the
church, accomplishing in every true believer that perfection which
is the eternal purpose of God which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord.top
p 113 - Chapter 15 - The
Cleansing of the Sanctuary
The cleansing of the sanctuary and the finishing of the mystery
of God are identical as to time; and are also so closely related
as to be practically identical in character and event.
In
the "figure of the true" in the sanctuary service made
visible, the round of service was completed annually; and the cleansing
of the sanctuary was the finishing of that figurative
and annual service. And this cleansing of the sanctuary was the
taking out of and away from the sanctuary all "the uncleanness
of the children of Israel" "because of their transgressions
in all their sins," which, by the ministry of the priesthood
in the sanctuary had been brought into the sanctuary during the
service of the year.
The
finishing of this work of the sanctuary and for the sanctuary was,
likewise, the finishing of the work for the people. For in
that day of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which was the day of
atonement, whosoever of the people did not by searching of heart,
confession, and putting away of sin, take part in the service of
the cleansing of the sanctuary was cut off forever. Thus the cleansing
of the sanctuary extended to the people, and included the
people, as truly as it did the sanctuary itself. And whosoever
of the people was not included in the cleansing of the sanctuary,
and was not himself cleansed, equally with the sanctuary,
from all iniquity and transgression and sin, was cut off forever.
Lev. 16:15-19, 29-34; 23:27-32.
p
114 -- And this was all "a figure for the time then present."
That sanctuary, sacrifice, priesthood, and ministry was a figure
of the true, which is the sanctuary, sacrifice, priesthood,
and ministry of Christ. And that cleansing of the sanctuary
was a figure of the true, which is the cleansing of the sanctuary
and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, from
all the uncleanness of the believers in Jesus because of all their
transgressions in all their sins. And the time of this cleansing
of the true is declared in the words of the Wonderful Numberer to
be "unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed:" which is the sanctuary of Christ in
A.D. 1844.
And,
indeed, the sanctuary of which Christ is the High Priest is the
only one that could possibly be cleansed in 1844; because it is
the only one that there is. The sanctuary that was a figure for
the time then present was destroyed by the army of the Romans who
came and destroyed that city (Dan. 9:26) and that sanctuary; and
even its place was to be desolate "even until the consummation."
Therefore the only sanctuary that could possibly be cleansed at
the time referred to by the Wonderful Numberer, at the end of the
two thousand and three hundred days, was alone the sanctuary of
Christ - the sanctuary of which Christ is High Priest and Minister;
the sanctuary and the true tabernacle of which Christ, at the right
hand of God, is true Priest and Minister; the sanctuary and true
tabernacle "which the Lord pitched and not man."
What
this cleansing means is plainly declared in
p
115 -- the very scripture which we are now studying - Daniel
9:24-28. For the angel of God, in telling to Daniel the truth concerning
the two thousand and three hundred days, tells also the great object
of the Lord in this time as it relates to both the Jews and the
Gentiles. The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, of
the limitation upon the Jews and Jerusalem is definitely declared
to be "to finish the transgression, and to make an
end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal
up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."
Daniel 9:24.
That
is the true purpose o God in the sanctuary and its service in all
time: whether in the figure or in the true; whether for Jews or
for Gentiles; whether on earth or in heaven. Seventy weeks, or four
hundred and ninety years, was the limitation set for the Jews to
have this accomplished for and in themselves. To accomplish this,
to that people, of all people, Christ Himself came in person to
show to them the Way, and to lead them in this Way. But they would
not have it. Instead of seeing in Him the gracious One who would
finish transgression, and make an end of sins, and make reconciliation
for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness to every soul,
they saw in Him only "Beelzebub the
prince of the devils;" only one instead of whom they would
readily choose a murderer;only one who as King they would openly
repudiate, and choose a Roman Caesar as their only king; only one
whom they counted as fit only to be crucified out of the world.
For such a people as that, and in such a people as that, could He
finish
p
116 -- transgression, and make an end of sins, and make reconciliation
for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness? - Impossible:
impossible by their own persistent rebellion. Instead of His being
allowed by them to do such a gracious and wonderful work for them,
from the depths of divine pity and sorrow He was compelled to say
to them: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate." "The kingdom of God shall
be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof." Matt. 23:37, 38; 21:43.
The
nation to whom the kingdom of God was given, upon its rejection
by the Jews, was the Gentiles. And that which was to be done for
the Jews in the four hundred and ninety years which were limited
to them, but which they would not at all allow to be done for them
- that is the identical thing to be done for the Gentiles,
to whom the kingdom of God is given, in the eighteen hundred and
ten years allotted to them. And that work is "to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to
seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."
This can be done alone in the finishing of the mystery of
God in the cleansing of the true Christian sanctuary. And this is
done in the cleansing of the true sanctuary, only in the finishing
of transgression and making an end of sins in
p
117 -- the perfecting of the believers in Jesus, on
the one hand; and on the other hand in the finishing of transgression
and making an end of sins in the destruction of the wicked
and the cleansing of the universe from all taint of sin that has
ever been upon it.
The
finishing of the mystery of God is the ending of the work of the
gospel. And the ending of the work of the gospel is, first, the
taking away of all vestige of sin and the bringing in of everlasting
righteousness - Christ fully formed - within each believer, God
alone manifest in the flesh of each believer in Jesus; and, secondly,
on the other hand, the work of the gospel being finished means only
the destruction of all who then shall not have received the gospel
(2 Thess. 1:7-10): for it is not the way of the Lord to continue
men in life when the only possible use they will make of life is
to heap up more misery for themselves.
Again,
in the service of the earthly sanctuary, we have seen that when
the work of the gospel in the annual course was finished in behalf
of those who had taken part in it, then all those who had taken
no part in it were cut off. "Which was a figure for
the time then present," and which plainly teaches that in the
service of the true sanctuary when the work of the gospel shall
have been finished for all those who have a part in it, then all
those who do not have a part in it will be cut off. Thus, in both
respects, the finishing of the mystery of God is the final ending
of sin.
The
service in the earthly sanctuary shows also that in order for the
sanctuary to be cleansed and the
p
118 -- course of the gospel service there to be finished, it
must first be finished in the people who have a part in the
service. That is to say: In the sanctuary itself, transgression
could not be finished, an end of sins and reconciliation for iniquity
could not be made, and everlasting righteousness could not be brought
it, until all this had been accomplished in each person who
had a part in the service of the sanctuary. The sanctuary itself
could not be cleansed until each of the worshipers had been cleansed.
The sanctuary itself could not be cleansed so long as, by the
confessions of the people and the intercessions of the priests,
there was pouring into the sanctuary a stream of iniquities, transgressions,
and sins. The cleansing of the sanctuary, as to the sanctuary
itself, was the taking out of and away from the sanctuary all
the transgressions of the people which, by the service of the priests,
had been taken into the sanctuary during the service of the year.
And this stream must be stopped at its fountain in the hearts and
lives of the worshipers, before the sanctuary itself could possibly
be cleansed.
Therefore
the very first work in the cleansing of the sanctuary was the cleansing
of the people. That which was preliminary and essential to the cleansing
of the sanctuary itself, to the finishing of the transgression and
bringing in everlasting righteousness, there, was the finishing
of transgression, and the making an end of sins, and making reconciliation
for iniquity, and bringing in everlasting righteousness in the
heart and life of each one of the people themselves. When the
stream that flowed into the sanctuary was thus stopped at its source,
then, and then alone, could the
p
119 -- sanctuary itself be cleansed from the sins and transgressions
which, from the people, by the intercession of the priests,
had flowed into the sanctuary.
And
all that "was a figure for the time then present" - a
"figure of the true." Therefore by this we are plainly
taught that the service of our great High Priest in the cleansing
of the true sanctuary must be preceded by the cleansing of each
one of the believers, the cleansing of each one who has a part in
that service of the true High Priest in the true sanctuary. It is
plain that transgression must be finished, an end of sins and reconciliation
for all iniquity must be made, and everlasting righteousness must
be brought in, in the heart's experience of every believer in Jesus,
before the cleansing of the true sanctuary can be accomplished.
And this is the very object of the true priesthood in the true sanctuary.
The sacrifices, the priesthood, and the ministry in the sanctuary
which was but a figure for the time then present, could not really
take away sin, could not make the comers thereunto perfect. Whereas
the sacrifice, the priesthood, and the ministry of Christ in the
true sanctuary does take away sins forever, does make the comers
thereunto perfect, does perfect "forever them
that are sanctified."top
p 120 - Chapter 16 - The
Times of Refreshing
And now, in this time of the consummation of the hope of
all the ages, in this time when the true sanctuary is truly to be
cleansed, in this time when the work of the gospel is to be completed
and the mystery of God indeed finished - now is the time
of all the times that ever were in the world, when the believers
in Jesus - the blessed objects of His glorious priesthood and wondrous
intercessions in the true sanctuary - shall be partakers of the
full measure of His heavenly grace; and shall have in their lives
transgression finished, an end of sins and reconciliation for iniquity
made forevermore, and, in the perfection of truth, everlasting righteousness
brought in.
This
is precisely and alone the purpose of the priesthood and ministry
of Christ in the true sanctuary. Is not that priesthood sufficient?
Is not His ministry effectual to accomplish its purpose? - Most
assuredly. Only by that means can it be possible for this thing
ever to be accomplished. No soul can ever himself finish transgression,
or make an end of sins, or make reconciliation for iniquity, or
bring in everlasting righteousness, in his own life. For that ever
to be done, it must be done alone by the priesthood and ministry
of Him who gave Himself, and who was given, that He might accomplish
this very thing for every soul, and present every soul "holy
and unblameable and unreprovable" in the sight of God.
p 121 -- Every one whose heart is inclined to truth and right
desires that this thing shall be done. Only the priesthood and ministry
of Christ can do it. Now is the time of the complete and effectual
doing of it for evermore. Then let us believe in Him who is doing
this, and trust Him in the doing of it, that He does it completely
and forevermore.
This
is the time, and this is the work, of which it is written, that
"there should be delay no longer." And why should there
be delay any longer? When the priesthood of our great High Priest
is efficient, and when His sacrifice and ministry are all sufficient,
in that which is promised and in that for which every believer hopes,
then why should there be delay any longer in the finishing of transgression,
the making an end of sin, the making of reconciliation for iniquity
and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, to each believing
soul? Then let us trust Him to do that which He has given Himself
to do, and which He alone can possibly do. Let us trust Him
in this, and receive in its fullness all that belongs to every soul
who believes in and implicitly trusts the Apostle and High Priest
of our profession - Christ Jesus.
We have seen that the little horn - the man of sin, the mystery
of iniquity - has put his own earthly, human, and sinful priesthood,
ministry, and sanctuary in the place of the heavenly and holy priesthood,
ministry, and sanctuary. In this priesthood and service of the mystery
of iniquity, the sinner confesses his sins to the priest and goes
on sinning. Indeed, in that priesthood and ministry there is
no power to do anything else than to go on sinning; even after they
p
122 -- have confessed their sins. But, sad as the question may
be, is it not too true that those who are not of the mystery of
iniquity, but who really believe in Jesus and in His priesthood
and ministry - is it not too true that even these also confess their
sins and then go on sinning?
But is this fair to our great High Priest, to His sacrifice, and
to His blessed ministry? Is it fair that we should thus put Him,
His sacrifice, and His ministry, practically upon a level with that
of the "abomination of desolation," and to say that in
Him and in His ministry there is no more power or virtue than there
is in that of the "mystery of iniquity"? May the Lord
forever save His church and people this day, with no more delay,
from thus bringing down so low our great High Priest, His awful
sacrifice, and His glorious ministry.
Let
our trust in our great High Priest be true, and let it be truly
implicit. By Protestants there is often remark made of the blind
unwisdom of Catholics in their so fully trusting to the priest.
And, with respect to any earthly priesthood, the thought is correct.
And yet implicit trust of the priest is eternally right: but it
must be trust of the right Priest. Such trust in a false
priesthood is most ruinous; but the principle of implicit
trust in the Priest is eternally right. And Jesus Christ is the
right Priest. Therefore every one who believes in Jesus Christ,
in the sacrifice which He has made, in the priesthood and ministry
which He exercises in the true sanctuary, must not only confess
his sins, but he must then forever implicitly trust that true High
Priest in His
p
123 -- ministry in the sanctuary to finish transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, in his
heart and life.
Everlasting
righteousness, remember. Not a righteousness for to-day and sin
to-morrow, and righteousness again and sin again. That is
not everlasting righteousness. Everlasting righteousness is righteousness
that is brought in and stays everlastingly in the life of him who
has believed and confessed, and who still further believes
and receives this everlasting righteousness in the place
of all sin and all sinning. This alone is everlasting righteousness;
this alone is eternal redemption from sin. And this unspeakable
blessing is the gracious gift of God by the heavenly ministry which
He has established in our behalf in the priesthood and ministry
of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.
Accordingly,
to-day, just now, "while it is called to-day," as never
before, the word of God to all people is, "Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times
of refreshing shall come ["that so there may come seasons of
refreshing," R.V.] from the presence of the Lord; and He shall
send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the
heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things."
Acts 3:19-21.
The
time of the coming of the Lord and the restitution of all things
is indeed at the very doors. And when Jesus comes, it is to take
His people unto Himself. It is to present to Himself His glorious
church, "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,"
but
p
124 -- that is "holy and without blemish." It is
to see Himself perfectly reflected in all His saints.
And before He comes thus, His people must be in that condition.
Before He comes we must have been brought to that state of perfection
in the complete image of Jesus. Eph. 4:7, 8, 11-13. And this state
of perfection, this developing in each believer the complete image
of Jesus - this is the finishing of the mystery of God, which is
Christ in you the hope of glory. This consummation is accomplished
in the cleansing of the sanctuary, which is the finishing of the
mystery of God, which is the final finishing of transgression, the
making of a complete end of sins, the making of reconciliation for
iniquity, the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, the sealing
up of the vision and prophecy, and the anointing of the most Holy.
The
present time being the time when the coming of Jesus and the restitution
of all things is at the very doors; and this final perfecting of
the saints having necessarily to precede the coming of the Lord
and the restitution of all things; we know by every evidence, that
now we are in the times of refreshing - the time of the latter
rain. And as certainly as that is so, we are also in the time of
the utter blotting out of all sins that have ever been against us.
And the blotting out of sins is exactly this thing of the cleansing
of the sanctuary; it is the finishing of all transgression in our
lives; it is the making an end of all sins in our character; it
is the bringing in of the very righteousness of God which is by
faith of Jesus Christ, to abide alone everlastingly.
This
blotting out of sins must precede the receiving
p
125 -- of the refreshing of the latter rain. For it is only
upon those who have the blessing of Abraham that the promise of
the Spirit comes; and it is only those who are redeemed from sin
upon whom the blessing of Abraham comes. Gal. 3:13, 14. Therefore
now as never before, we are to repent and be converted, that our
sins may be blotted out, that an utter end shall be made of them
forever in our lives, and everlasting righteousness brought in:
and this, in order that the fulness of the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit shall be ours in this time of the refreshing of the latter
rain. And all this must be done in order that the harvest-ripening
message of the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world with that power from on high by which the earth shall be lightened
with its glory.top
p 126 - Chapter 17 - Conclusion
Christ the Lord, the Son of God, came down from heaven and was made
flesh, and dwelt among men as the Son of man. This is an eternal
fixture in the Christian faith.
He
died on the cross of Calvary for our offenses. This is an eternal
fixture in the Christian faith.
He
arose from the dead for our justification. This is an eternal fixture
in the Christian faith.
He ascended to heaven as our Advocate, and as such sitteth on the
right hand of the throne of God. This is an eternal fixture in the
Christian faith.
He is a priest upon His Father's throne - a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedec. This is an eternal fixture in the Christian
faith.
At the right hand of God, upon the throne of God, as priest upon
His throne, Christ is a "minister of the sanctuary, and of
the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
This is an eternal fixture in the Christian faith.
And
he will come again in the clouds of heaven, with power and great
glory, to take His people unto Himself, to present to Himself His
glorious church, and to judge the world. This is an eternal fixture
in the Christian faith.
That
Christ lived in the flesh, died on the cross, rose from the dead,
ascended to heaven, and sits on the
p
127 -- right hand of the throne of God in heaven, must be an
eternal fixture in the faith of every Christian, in order for that
faith to be true and full.
That
this same Jesus is a priest at the right hand of God on that throne,
must be an eternal fixture in the faith of every Christian, in order
for that faith to be true and full.
That
Christ the Son of God, as priest at the right hand of God upon His
throne, is there a "minister of the sanctuary, and of the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man," must be an
eternal fixture in the faith of every Christian, in order for that
faith to be true and full.
And
this true faith in Christ the Son of God as that true priest,
in that true ministry, of that true sanctuary, at the right hand
of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; that His priesthood
and ministry finishes transgression, and makes an end of sins, and
makes reconciliation for iniquity, and brings in everlasting righteousness
- this true faith will make every comer thereunto perfect.
It will prepare him for the seal of God, and for the final anointing
of the Most Holy.
By
this true faith, every soul who is of this true faith can
certainly know that in him and in his life, transgression is finished
and an end of sins made; that reconciliation is made for all the
iniquity of his life; and that everlasting righteousness is brought
in to reign in his life for evermore. This he can know with perfect
certainty, for the Word of God says so, and true faith cometh by
hearing the Word of God.
p
128 -- All who are of this true faith can know all this just
as truly as they can know that Christ is at the right hand of the
throne of God. They can know it just as truly as they can know that
He is Priest upon that throne. They can know it just as truly as
they can know that He is there a "minister of the sanctuary,
and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
And all this can be known just as truly as any statement of the
Word of God can be known; for the Word of God plainly states it
all.
Therefore
in this time, let every believer in Jesus rise up in the strength
of this true faith, implicitly trusting the merit of our great High
Priest in His holy ministry and intercession for us.
In
the confidence of this true faith, let every believer in Jesus take
a long breath of restfulness forever, in thankfulness to God that
this thing is accomplished: that transgression is finished in your
life, that you are done with the wicked thing forever: that an end
of sins is made in your life, and that you are free from it forever:
that reconciliation for iniquity is made, and that you are cleansed
from it forever by the precious blood of sprinkling: and that everlasting
righteousness is brought into your life to reign forevermore, to
uphold you, to guide you, to save you, in the fulness of that eternal
redemption which, through the blood of Christ, is brought to every
believer in Jesus our great High Priest and true Intercessor.
And
then in the righteousness, the peace, and the power of this true
faith, let every soul who knows it
p 129 -- spread abroad to all people and to the end of the
world the glorious news of the priesthood of Christ, of the cleansing
of the sanctuary, of the finishing of the mystery of God, of the
times of refreshing come, and of the soon coming of the Lord "to
be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe...in
that day," and to "present to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "holy
and without blemish."
"Now
of the things which we have spoken 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; a Minister of the sanctuary, and of the
true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
"HAVING
THEREFORE, BRETHREN, BOLDNESS TO ENTER INTO THE HOLIEST BY THE BLOOD
OF JESUS, BY A NEW AND LIVING WAY, WHICH HE HATH CONSECRATED FOR
US, THROUGH THE VEIL, THAT IS TO SAY, HIS FLESH; AND HAVING AN HIGH
PRIEST OVER THE HOUSE OF GOD; LET US DRAW NEAR WITH A TRUE HEART
IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, HAVING OUR HEARTS SPRINKLED FROM AN
EVIL CONSCIENCE, AND OUR BODIES WASHED WITH PURE WATER," AND
"LET US HOLD FAST THE PROFESSION OF OUR FAITH WITHOUT WAVERING;
FOR HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED."
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