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One further item is necessary to complete the list of the distinctive features of the
Lord's high priesthood, and that is
The law and the oath.
"For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the
oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, Who is PERFECTED unto the age"
(Heb. 7: 28).
There are two items here that demonstrate the superiority of the priesthood of the Son.
They are:--
1. The oath compared with the law as to immutability. The oath is more solemn,
and it immutability is indicated in Heb. 6: 17.
2. The oath and the law as to sequence. The oath was made "since the law", and
what this implies is explained in Heb. 7: 11:--
"If therefore PERFECTION were by the Levitical priesthood . . . . . what further need
was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec and not be called
after the order of Aaron?" (7: 11).
That question has now received its answer. Perfection could only come through the
priest after the order of Melchisedec, whose priesthood is not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life. All truth, whether dispensational,
doctrinal or experimental, focuses upon the person of the risen Christ. The whole fabric
of Mosaic ritual vanishes into the shadows before the face of Him Whom could say, "I
am the resurrection and the life".
With the "perfecting of the Son" by the oath we reach the conclusion of the lengthy
comparison commenced in chapter 5: Before entering into a detailed examination of the
tabernacle and its sacrifices and seeing them as shadows of the true, a short chapter is
devoted to bringing the teaching of chapters 5: - 7: to a point: "Now of the things
which we have spoken this is the sum" (8: 1).
The principal thing.
The teaching of this passage is something more than a summary. The word
kephalaion (sum) may mean the summing up of a number as in Num. 4: 2, "Take the
sum of the sons of Kohath", or it may be the principal part as in Num. 5: 7, "He shall
recompense the trespass with the principal thereof". The following translation seems to
convey the sense of the passage.
"The principal thing, however, among those things of which we are speaking is that
we have such a high priest Who is seated 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" (Heb. 8: 1, 2).