PERFECTION

PERDITION

OR

(2) As to His manner of life. He was truly man. He ate, He drank, He slept, worked, suffered, died. To the

woman of Samaria He was `a Jew' (John 4:9). To His fellow-townsmen He was `Joseph's son' (John 6:42), yet

throughout His Life He was ever `separate from sinners'. Even though a disciple leaned upon the bosom of the Lord

at supper, never once do we find a follower of the Saviour addressing Him as `Jesus'. Shall His condescension, His

sympathy, His fellowship warrant unholy familiarity? Believers, let us remember that He is our Lord, and let us

render the honour due unto His name.

Thus we have four statements, arranged in two pairs, indicating for our comfort the High Priest that `became us'.

HOLY

UNDEFILED.

SEPARATE FROM

As to practice.

HARMLESS

SINNERS

It is evident that this Priest could not be a minister of the earthly and typical Tabernacle. His peculiar

separateness proclaims Him to be the minister of the true Tabernacle `heaven itself'. Therefore the apostle

continues, `and made higher than the heavens'.

There is as much stress placed upon the heavenly character of the Lord's Priesthood as upon His sinlessness. It

will be of service to note some of the statements of Scripture under this head:

`Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into (through) the heavens, Jesus the Son of God' (Heb.

`We have such an High Priest, Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens' (Heb. 8:1).

The heavenly Priesthood of Christ receives its fullest exposition in chapters 8 and 9, and reaches its climax in

`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'.

Before the apostle can proceed to the expansion of the subject of the heavenly ministry of the Lord, it is

necessary that one matter shall be dealt with, which if left ambiguous might lead to deadly error. The earthly high

priest not only offered up sacrifice for the sins of the people, but he was obliged also to offer a sacrifice:

`First for his own sins' (Heb. 7:27 cf, Heb. 5:3).

Here we perceive a strong contrast, for the heavenly Priest was `holy, harmless, undefiled', and therefore needed

no sacrifice for Himself. When He died, He died `the JUST for the unjust', consequently He:

`... 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' (Heb. 7:27).

In seeking out the argument of this epistle the reader is called upon to exercise continual watchfulness. We found that the

consideration of the heavenly ministry of the Lord was postponed in order that the question of His one Offering

might be dealt with, and now we shall find that the consideration of two features of that Offering mentioned in 7:27

is deferred until the heavenly ministry has been more fully opened up.

CHAPTER 8

BOLDNESS TO ENTER (Heb. 8 to 10).

We have had before us some wonderful statements concerning the office of Christ as the heavenly High Priest,

and of His personal character, holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. We must now continue the

pursuit of this most important theme, and note that the two features that await exposition are:

(1) The fact that the Lord offered one Sacrifice once for all.