Hebrews 3:1:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus.
I repeat: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus.”
Dear Heavenly Father, as we continue in Thy presence, we pray that Thou wilt remove any veil that may be upon our hearts, that we may see Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
We ask Thee to grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God. We pray that, as we see Him, we may be transformed, that glory may be unto Him.
We commit this time into Thy hands and trust Thy Holy Spirit to make Thy Word life and spirit to us. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
This letter to the Hebrews is very unique among the books of the Bible. Probably you will say that I usually introduce every book in the Bible in this way, and that is very true, because every book in the Bible is unique. Of course, Hebrews is no exception.
We do not know for sure who wrote this letter, nor do we know with certainty who its recipients were. But we do know that this letter must have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.
This letter carries a very vital message—not only to the Hebrews, that is, the Hebrew believers in the early days, but also to us who live at the end of the last days.
We do not know who the human instrument of this letter was. Very probably, it may have been Apollos, because Apollos seems to fit the circumstantial evidence. He was a Jew, a Hellenistic Jew schooled in Alexandria, mighty in the Scriptures, and familiar with the thought and teaching of the apostle Paul.
But, of course, through the centuries there have been many other suggestions—almost everyone whom you can find in the New Testament. We do not know for sure whether this letter was addressed to Hebrew believers in Jerusalem or to Hebrew believers in Rome. But we do know that it was addressed to Hebrew believers at a very critical time.
These Hebrew believers had once been under the bondage of the law, but now they were free in Christ Jesus. Yet, even though they were free in Christ Jesus, they were still somehow attached to Judaism.
It was a very critical moment, a transitional time. When this letter was written, before A.D. 70, a change had come upon the world. In the beginning, Christianity had been considered by the world to be a sect of Judaism. But during this particular time, that attitude changed.
To be a Christian was considered a crime in the Roman Empire, while Judaism was still recognized as a legal religion in the empire. Under such pressure, the Hebrew believers were under great pressure to return to Judaism in order to be protected and secure.
But at the same time, the Spirit of God was moving ahead. God was going to do something tremendous: He was going to destroy Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, and even the temple, the very center of it all.
Why was God going to make such a move? Because God considered that it was time for these Hebrew believers to be completely freed from Judaism, that they might enter into the fullness of Christ.
So here you find a conflict. Outwardly and circumstantially, the pressure was to bring these Hebrew believers back into the folds of Judaism. But on the other hand, you find the Spirit of God moving to take away Judaism, that these Hebrew believers might enter into the fullness of the gospel.
This letter was written with that in view: to set the Hebrew believers free from any bondage to Judaism and to bring them into the fullness of Christ.
How shall I say, dear brothers and sisters? We too today are in a very critical moment. We know that our Lord is coming back soon. We know that He is looking forward to having a bride who is His counterpart.
He desires to see in His bride every character that belongs to Him, that He may be united with His bride, and His bride united with Him. This is the thing that we know.
All outward appearances will, sooner or later, be shaken. Only that which is real, which is reality, will remain.
With the Jewish people in the first century, God revealed Himself to the Jewish nation in the beginning. It was a living faith. But unfortunately, gradually, you find that living faith became a religious system; it became an “ism.”
Historically, Judaism had its beginning as a product of the Babylonian captivity. It was during that time that the scribes and the Pharisees somehow reduced the living oracles of God into a religious system called Judaism.
When God first gave divine revelation to the fathers, those revelations were to prepare the way for Christ. But when these divine revelations were reduced into a system, instead of preparing the people for Christ, they began, on the one hand, to substitute for Christ and, on the other hand, to oppose Christ.
That is the reason why, when Christ appeared to them, they rejected Him.
Brothers and sisters, we find that we are in the same situation. Christianity in the beginning was a living faith. Gradually, through the centuries, that living faith has been reduced into a religious system called Christianity.
Instead of introducing us to Christ, it begins to substitute for Christ. In doing that, it actually opposes Christ, taking Christ away from us.
If you will allow me to use just an illustration: baptism. We are going to have a baptism after this session. Now, baptism is a living testimony.
By baptism we testify that we have identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. By going into the water, we testify by faith to all the greatness of the finished work of our Lord Jesus: that in His death He has included us; in His burial He has put us away; and in His resurrection He lives in us.
It is a tremendous testimony. But, you know, through the centuries Christianity has practiced baptism, and gradually baptism has become a ritual.
There is a kind of teaching called baptismal regeneration: once you are baptized, you are regenerated, you are saved, and you can go to heaven. So many people in Christianity rest their salvation upon baptism—the water—instead of Christ and His blood.
It becomes a deception. It takes Christ away from us.
As we are approaching the coming of the Lord, all these things as a system, all these things of external appearance, will be shaken off. All these things are not of any value. Only that which is real, only that which is Christ Himself, will bring us into glory.
So, brothers and sisters, we do feel that this letter to the Hebrews is very important to us today. As this letter delivered the Hebrew believers in the early days from the bondage of Judaism into the liberty of the fullness of Christ, so we believe that this letter today is able to deliver us from Christianity as a religion and bring us into the liberty of the fullness of Christ.
We know that this letter is a letter of exhortation, because the writer tells us at the end of the letter that he writes to exhort the believers. It is only a brief letter, only thirteen chapters, but it is written to exhort the believers.
The word exhortation in Greek carries two meanings. On the one hand, exhortation is to encourage—to encourage us to press on. On the other hand, exhortation is a warning—to warn us lest we fall back.
The whole purpose of this letter is to warn us not to fall back into that from which we have been delivered, but rather to encourage us to press on to perfection. Perfection simply means full-grown; it means going on into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
What is the message of this letter? I believe the verse that we read at the beginning gives us the message. The writer says, “Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus.”
Now, we have a confession. I was told that there is a difference between confession and profession. Profession is made among friends; confession is made among foes, among enemies. So, to us, it is not merely a profession; it must be a confession.
What is our confession? Our confession is actually our faith. And what is our faith? “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus.”
Hebrews is divided into two parts. The first part, from Chapter 1 through Chapter 10:18, gives us the vision. Then, from Chapter 10:19 to the end of Chapter 13, it gives us the vocation.
On the one hand, we need to see what our confession is—what is the faith, what is the truth. Then, having seen it, it shall become our living, our practice, our way of life, and our testimony in the world.
So far as the vision is concerned, you find in the book of Hebrews that the vision is twofold. On the one hand, it is the vision of Jesus our Apostle—Chapter 1 through Chapter 4. On the other hand, it is the vision of Jesus as our High Priest—from Chapter 5 through Chapter 10.
We need to ask the Lord to give us this vision of our Lord Jesus, because this vision is so vital. It is life and death to us—whether we can be delivered from a religious system such as Christianity, and whether we are able to enter into the fullness of Christ.
This vision is vital. We must have this vision. Or, to put it another way, if we are lacking in vision, we do not know how to live as Christians, and we simply cannot live as Christians.
First of all, we need to see Christ as our Apostle. The word apostle means one sent forth with a commission, with a work to do.
Probably we connect this word apostle, first of all, with the twelve apostles—the twelve disciples whom our Lord Jesus chose to be with Him and then to be sent forth with a work. But actually, you find that our Lord Jesus is the first Apostle in the New Testament order.
He is the One sent forth by God the Father with a special mission.
In the beginning of this letter, in the first two chapters, we find the credentials of the Apostle of God, Jesus. When anyone is sent out as an envoy, an ambassador, or an apostle, he must have certain credentials.
In the first two chapters of Hebrews, the credentials of Christ our Apostle are presented. In Old Testament times, God sent out many prophets. These prophets were sent out by God; they were apostles, sent ones, with a message and a mission.
In the old days, God spoke to our fathers in many ways and in many portions by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us in the person of His Son.
Even though in the past God sent many to His people to reveal His mind and to give a message, all those who were sent were men. Yes, they were men of God, moved by the power of the Spirit to speak, but they were still only human beings—imperfect, limited, and full of weaknesses.
God could speak through them only in parts and fragments. But in these last days, God sent forth His only begotten Son as His Apostle.
This Apostle, our Apostle, is none other than the Son of God.
There you find His sevenfold glory presented before us:
These are the credentials of our Lord Jesus as the Son of God. Then, in the second chapter, you find His credentials as the Son of Man. This Son of God became the Son of Man.
He is the Man of God’s mind. When God created man according to His image, this is the Man whom He had in mind. He was made a little lower than the angels, tasted death for everything, was crowned with glory and honor, and by His death destroyed the devil who had the power of death.
He is waiting for all things to be subjected beneath His feet, and He is the One who is to bring many sons into glory. These are His credentials as the Son of Man.
Just think of it, brothers and sisters: this Son of God and Son of Man is our Apostle. He is the Apostle whom God has sent forth to the world, to us. What an Apostle!
What is an apostle to do? First of all, an apostle is to represent the one who sent him. There is no one who can represent God better than the Son, because all the prophets who were sent before Him could represent God only in a very limited way.
But when the Son was sent into the world, He represented God fully. As John 1:18 says:
No man hath seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him.
That is why, when our Lord Jesus was having the Last Supper with His own, Philip said, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” The Lord Jesus turned to Philip and said, “Philip, hast thou been with Me so long, and dost thou ask that question? Knowest thou not that if thou hast seen Me, thou hast seen the Father?”
While our Lord Jesus was on earth as the Apostle of God, He fully represented God to us. If you want to know what God is like, look at His Son.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth. God is love, and we see this love of God in the grace of Jesus Christ. God is light, and we receive this light through the truth in Jesus Christ.
In Christ Jesus, we see God fully. Or, to put it another way, you cannot know God better than what you can know in Christ Jesus. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily.
He is the full representation of God the Father, the image of the invisible God. If you want to know God, you must know Him. You cannot know God apart from Him, because there is nothing more than what is in Him.
We do thank God that He is so gracious and merciful to us. He who is invisible has now been made visible through Jesus, His Apostle. He who is unknowable is now being made known to us in the person of the Son, our Lord Jesus. Knowing Jesus is knowing God.
Second, an apostle is to speak for the one who sent him. You remember our Lord Jesus said, “I can say nothing of Myself. I say it because I heard My Father say it.”
Whenever our Lord Jesus opened His mouth, He was not speaking His own words. Whenever our Lord Jesus opened His mouth, He was speaking the Word of God. He speaks for God.
In the old days, the prophets spoke for God, but they spoke in parts and in fragments. When the Son speaks for God, it is the full revelation of God—the final Word, the complete Word. There is nothing more to say. He has spoken it all.
Third, an apostle is to do a job, to accomplish a mission. What was the mission for which our Lord Jesus was sent? He came to do the will of the Father.
Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein;
but a body didst Thou prepare for Me.
Lo, I am come to do Thy will.
The whole life of our Lord Jesus on earth was not lived to do His own things. The whole life of our Lord Jesus on earth was to do the will of the Father, to finish the work which the Father had committed to Him. And what was the work? It was the work of redemption.
He came to die. On the cross He said, “It is finished.” The work was done. Mission accomplished. Thank God for that.
Fourthly, as an Apostle, He is the One who opens a new and living way for us, leading us behind the veil into the very presence of God. He is to be our Forerunner.
We know that He has already gone behind the veil into the very presence of the Father. But He is there not just for Himself; He is there to lead us there. As an Apostle, He opens the way, goes before us, and leads us into the very presence of God.
These are the works of an Apostle: Christ our Apostle.
In the book of Hebrews, Christ is typified by two men: Moses and Joshua. Moses and Joshua were sent by God to the children of Israel. They were deliverers among them. Moses was used by God to lead the people out of Egypt; Joshua was used by God to lead the people into Canaan.
How much better is our Lord Jesus than Moses and Joshua. Moses was but a servant, faithful in God’s house; but Christ is a Son over the house and rules over the house.
Joshua led the people into Canaan, but he did not give them everlasting rest. But our Lord Jesus gives us a Sabbath rest, that we may rest from our works as God rested from His work.
Knowing Christ as our Apostle is vital to our confession. In other words, this is our confession. If you do not know Christ as our Apostle, then you do not know Christ at all.
What should be our attitude toward Christ, who is our Apostle? Number one, we need to hear Him.
The writer to the Hebrews says, “For this reason, we should give heed more abundantly to the things which we have heard.” He is sent by God to speak to us. Let us hear Him.
Let us not harden our hearts as the children of Israel hardened their hearts. They would not listen, and because of that, even though they came out of Egypt, they failed to enter into the promised land.
We need to hear Him. The great salvation was first spoken through Him, and then confirmed by the apostles. Oh, that the Lord will give us a tender heart, a hearing heart, that we may hear what He says—not merely hear, but like to hear.
Not merely to hear a little of what He says, but to hear all that He has said to us. Let us listen to Him. To hear Him is life.
Second, we not only need to hear Him, but also to believe. All the children of Israel heard, but they did not mix faith with what they heard. In other words, they heard with their outward ears, but their hearts were hardened; they would not believe.
God said, “Come over and possess the land.” But they said, “No. That land is terrible; it devours the inhabitants.” They did not believe. Because they did not believe, their carcasses fell in the wilderness.
When we hear what our Apostle says, let us believe. This does not refer only to our initial salvation—when we hear that He is our Savior, that He has borne our sins on Calvary’s cross, and we believe it and are saved.
It is to hear all that He has to say to us. He is saying to us that there is a rest prepared for us; there is a Canaan for us; there is a land flowing with milk and honey. He is saying to us that there are unsearchable riches of Christ. He is saying that there is a kingdom prepared for us, an inheritance for us to inherit. Hear Him.
Thirdly, follow Him. The children of Israel refused to follow. They refused to follow Moses many times. They wanted to go back and choose their own leaders. They refused to follow Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb said, “Let us go in,” but they said, “No, we cannot go yet.”
Dear brothers and sisters, let us always remember our Apostle, Jesus. He is the One whom we are to follow, no matter how difficult it may appear to be, no matter how strong our enemies are.
If He says, “Come and follow Me,” let us follow, even though it means the way of the cross. That is wonderful, because we know the way of the cross leads to glory, to the throne.
Let us remember that our Lord Jesus is our Apostle. All our salvation is in Him. He has done everything for us. All that is left for us is to hear Him, believe Him, and follow Him.
When you do that, you will not be bound by a religious system. You will be set free, and you will find yourself pressing on toward perfection, toward Christ.
We need to see Christ as our Apostle. But then you find that the book of Hebrews spends more time on this matter of Christ as our High Priest. I can understand why, because I have the same problem.
It seems easier to know Christ as our Apostle, but to know Christ as our High Priest may be a little vague. Because of this, the writer of Hebrews spends more time on that. To know Christ as our Apostle is the foundation, but to know Christ as our High Priest is the building up.
An apostle is One sent by God to us. A priest, a high priest, is one chosen from men toward God.
An apostle represents the One who sends him. In other words, Christ as an Apostle represents God to us. But as the High Priest, He represents us before God in heaven.
As an Apostle, He brings God to us. As our High Priest, He brings us to God. These two ministries must go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other.
Thank God that our Lord Jesus is our Apostle. I believe, brothers and sisters, that we know a little more about this. But do we know the Lord Jesus as our High Priest?
When our Lord Jesus accomplished the work of redemption on Calvary’s cross, He was buried, and then He was raised from the dead. He appeared to the disciples for forty days, and then He ascended to be seated at the right hand of God the Father.
When our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, something happened. He was anointed by God.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that this Jesus, whom they had crucified, God had highly exalted and had made Him both Lord and Christ. Because of this, what they saw and heard was poured out: the Holy Spirit came down.
If you read Psalm 110, you find that after the Lord ascended on high, He was anointed by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
A picture is found in another psalm. The oil is poured upon Aaron’s head, and it goes down upon his beard and over all his body, even to the skirts of his garments.
In those days, when they anointed the high priest, they did not sprinkle a few drops of oil. We are told that they poured an abundance of oil upon his head, so that it ran down his face and all over his body.
Of course, we know that the oil represents the Holy Spirit. When our Lord Jesus ascended, He received from the Father the Holy Spirit and poured the Holy Spirit down upon this earth. At that moment, He was anointed as our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
On the one hand, the work of our Lord Jesus as an Apostle was finished. He said, “It is finished.” Mission accomplished. Because of this, we know that He is now seated at the right hand of God. You do not sit down until the job is done.
Because His work as an Apostle is finished, He sits down. It is finished. But do not think that our Lord Jesus is just sitting there doing nothing. No, no.
One phase of His ministry is finished, but another phase of His ministry has begun. He ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and was anointed as High Priest of our confession. There He began His ministry as our High Priest.
Our Lord Jesus is very busily engaged in heaven. He ever lives to make intercession for those who approach God through Him, that He may save them to the uttermost.
Do you not know, dear brothers and sisters, that if our Lord Jesus were not our High Priest today, we would not be able to be Christians—not to say that we would not be able to live the Christian life? It would be impossible.
It is all because our Lord Jesus today is our High Priest.
What are His credentials as High Priest? We find that He is our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Melchizedek is mentioned in the Bible only three times. So far as history is concerned, he is mentioned only once, in two verses in Genesis 14.
After Abraham overcame the four kings, Abraham returned to the King’s Valley. There Melchizedek, whose name means “king of righteousness,” appeared. He was king of Salem, king of peace. He came to Abraham with bread and wine, blessed Abraham in the name of God Most High, and Abraham gave him a tenth of all.
That is all that you find so far as history goes. But is it not wonderful? The land of Canaan was occupied by seven wicked tribes, representing the evil forces of darkness. Yet there was a place called Salem—Jerusalem—and its king was the king of righteousness.
Amid all this wickedness and idolatry, there was a king who was priest of God Most High. God had His testimony everywhere, even in that place. Melchizedek came to bless Abraham, and without doubt the greater blesses the lesser. In other words, he was greater than Abraham.
Who was this man? The second mention of him is in Psalm 110. A thousand years passed, and there you find a psalm of inspiration saying that one day the Messiah would come. God said to David’s Lord:
Sit Thou at My right hand,
Until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.
Then He said:
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.
Another thousand years passed, and then came Jesus. In Hebrews, we find the meaning of Melchizedek. He has no recorded beginning and no recorded genealogy, being made like unto the Son of God.
This does not mean that Melchizedek was not a real person. I believe he was a real person who lived at that time. That person had a beginning and an end, but the Holy Spirit withheld the record of his beginning and his end. Why? Because the Holy Spirit wanted to use him as a type of Christ.
In Scripture, he appears without beginning or end, so that he might represent Christ the High Priest.
Our Lord Jesus is High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. How is this order different from the Levitical order of priesthood? There is a great difference.
The Levitical priesthood consisted of men as priests, but in the Melchizedek order, the Son is the High Priest. The Levitical priests were compassed with weakness; but Christ, though He was made man and tempted in all things as we are, was without sin.
The Levitical priests died, and therefore the priesthood changed. But in the Melchizedek order, the priesthood never changes, because He lives forever. He is a Priest according to the power of an indissoluble life.
Because the Levitical priests were themselves weak, they could sympathize with the weak. But in the Melchizedek order, Christ was made man and tempted in all things, apart from sin. Therefore, He can sympathize with us.
But He not only sympathizes. Because He is constituted a Priest according to the power of an indissoluble life, He can save us to the uttermost—not only sympathize, but save.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know our Lord Jesus as our High Priest?
Consciously or unconsciously, with or without your knowing, you are where you are today because of this high-priestly ministry.
But how much better would you know Him? How much more is He able to save you? That is why we need to know Him as our High Priest. I believe you know Him as your Savior to a certain degree. Yes, we need to know Him more as our Savior, but you know Him.
Unfortunately, the reason why Christians are so weak today is because we do not know Him as our High Priest.
What is the high priest to do? First of all, the high priest is to offer sacrifice. Once a year, the high priest took the blood of goats and bulls and entered behind the veil, before the mercy seat of God, sprinkling the blood there to make atonement for the sins of the nation.
Our Lord Jesus, as our High Priest, did not enter by the blood of goats and bulls. How much better is our Lord Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, once and for all.
He has obtained eternal redemption. He has perfected and sanctified us once and for all through His sacrifice to God.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not think of this physically, but it is as though, when our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, He brought His own blood before the Father and laid it before Him. That blood speaks for us forever.
Abel’s blood cried out; the blood of our Lord Jesus speaks better things. Our Lord Jesus, as High Priest, has presented that sacrifice which satisfies God. Therefore, redemption is eternal; it is eternally available.
Brothers and sisters, we know our sins can be forgiven because He is our High Priest. He has presented His blood before the Father, and this is once and for all.
Before we were saved, we came, repented, believed in the blood of our Lord Jesus, and accepted Him as our Savior. Because of this, the blood speaks for us, and the Father forgives us.
But is it not true that in our daily life, sometimes through our weakness, we still fall and still sin? Now, if we do, what will happen?
In Christianity, there arose a strange theory concerning baptism. In the early days, baptism was by immersion, but a theory developed that all your sins would be washed away at baptism, while sins committed after baptism would be very difficult to deal with.
So people postponed their baptism as long as they could. When they became very old or were near death, they wanted to be baptized. If they were to be immersed, they could not easily do it, so they sprinkled them.
Brothers and sisters, they did not see the efficacy, the eternal value, and the abiding sufficiency of the sacrifice and blood of our Lord Jesus—once and for all, perpetually perfecting. They did not see that.
First John 1:9 says:
If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we confess our sins, God is righteous. Now, God is righteous, and we confess our sins. It is very strange that it says God is righteous here. Why is God righteous?
Because Christ has once and for all accepted the penalty for our sins. The price has been paid; the penalty has been borne. Therefore, it is righteous for God to forgive us when we confess.
He is faithful because that blood has sealed a new covenant with God, and He must be faithful to His covenant. Therefore, if we confess our sins, God is righteous and faithful, and He will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
That is the ministry of our Lord as High Priest. It is not a corrupted ministry; it is an effective ministry. How can the accuser accuse us when our High Priest has presented His blood before the Father?
Secondly, the work of the high priest is not only to offer sacrifice, but also to pray for the people, to intercede for the people. When he came out from the holiest of all, he could bless the people.
Our Lord Jesus is doing this today. He is appearing before God on our behalf. He is the Surety of the new covenant.
The Lord Jesus presents us before the Father according to the new covenant. He intercedes for us on the ground of His finished work and His resurrection life.
There was an illustration in the life of Peter. When the Lord said that He would be delivered up, but on the third day would rise again, He also said that they would all be scattered like sheep.
The Lord told Peter that Satan had desired to have him, that he might sift him as wheat. But the Lord said, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.”
Brothers and sisters, we have mercy sufficient for us. He knows us. He knows everything. It is through His intercession that we are being preserved.
Though a grain of wheat is refined, the Lord’s intercession keeps us. He knows our weakness, and He knows our need.
Thirdly, the high priest presents offerings to God. There is a difference between the sin offering and the burnt offering.
The burnt offering speaks of a life wholly devoted to God and acceptable to God. Because Christ is our High Priest, He presents us to God.
Romans tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. How can we present our bodies? Only as we are presented in Christ.
Today, we can present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and the Father is pleased. Through Him we can pray, and He will mingle His fragrance with our prayers, so that the Father will accept them.
Do not think that our prayers are powerful in themselves. Our prayers are so weak; our prayers are almost nothing. But He adds His prayer to our prayer.
He enables us to praise, to worship, and to serve Him. Brothers and sisters, without Him, your service; without Him, your praise and worship; without Him, your prayers, will not be heard. Without Him, your devotion will not be accepted.
Everything that is offered to God is accepted through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How do we experience our Lord Jesus as our High Priest? We know that He is in heaven, praying for us and interceding for us. We know that He is functioning as our High Priest, but how do we experience it?
The key is here. You remember when our Lord Jesus went to heaven, He said, “I go, and I will send another Comforter, One of the same kind, who will come and dwell in you. He will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit in you does not represent you. Do not make any mistake: the Holy Spirit in you never represents you. He represents Christ.
Christ in heaven represents you. The Holy Spirit in you represents Christ. Christ in heaven represents you, and the Holy Spirit in you represents Christ. This is how the ministry of Christ our High Priest works.
The Holy Spirit convicts. The Holy Spirit teaches. The Holy Spirit constrains. The Holy Spirit empowers. All the working of the Holy Spirit in your life is according to the ministry of our Lord Jesus as our High Priest.
If we do not know the Holy Spirit, how can we know Christ as our High Priest? The Holy Spirit is sent by Christ. He is to transform us and conform us into the image of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit is based upon the work of Christ.
Remember: our experience and the inner workings of the Holy Spirit are the expression of Christ’s high-priestly ministry.
That is why, when Paul was in Ephesus, he asked the disciples of John, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” In other words, if you do not know the Holy Spirit, how can you live as a Christian? It is impossible.
Some brothers and sisters tell us that the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. Every brother who believes in the Lord Jesus has the Holy Spirit dwelling within him. The Holy Spirit is there representing Christ’s ministry as High Priest.
As it were, the Lord in heaven may pray, “I see in this child of Mine something that is not right. He needs to be convicted.” Then the Holy Spirit convicts.
The Lord Jesus may pray, “I see this child of Mine. He is in darkness.” Then, according to His intercession, the Holy Spirit works within.
This is why we say that without the Apostle and High Priest, we simply cannot carry on. But thank God, He is our High Priest. He ever lives to make intercession for us, that He may save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him.
Thank God. Brothers and sisters, may He enable us to see Christ as our Apostle and our High Priest. Seeing Him as such, let us approach the throne of grace with full assurance of faith.
Let us hold fast the confession of our faith, and let us encourage one another, provoking one another unto love and good works.
Dear Heavenly Father, open our eyes to see Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. May we approach Thy throne of grace with full assurance of faith. May we hold fast our confession, and may we be enabled to encourage one another.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.