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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
\
HARMLESS
/ As to nature
UNDEFILED
\
SEPARATE FROM SINNERS /
As to practice.
Heaven itself.
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. 4: 14).
"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 chaps. 8: and 9:,
and reaches its climax in 9: 24:
"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."
The one Offering once for all.
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: