Let us turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. We will read from verses 1 through 6.
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus;
Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also was Moses in all His house.
For He hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as He that built the house hath more honor than the house.
For every house is builded by some one; but He that built all things is God.
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken;
But Christ as a Son, over His house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.
Let us turn to Hebrews 4:14-16.
Having then a great High Priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.
We will also read Hebrews 5:7-10.
Who in the days of His flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and having been heard for His godly fear,
Though He was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered;
And having been made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the Author of eternal salvation;
Named of God a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Lord, as we worship, we put Your word before You. We look to Your Holy Spirit to enliven Your word, so that Your word may become life and spirit in us.
Open the eyes of our hearts. Apply Your word to us, so that we may know You through Your word. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
The theme of this conference is, “But we see Jesus.”
We feel that we have seen many things on this earth, yet we see too little of our Lord. If we can see more of our Lord Jesus, all our problems will be solved—not only our personal problems, but also our corporate problems.
So we truly look to our Lord, that when we gather together here, we may see more and more of our Lord Jesus.
Yesterday morning, we heard that, when we see the person of our Lord Jesus, we see that our Lord is the Son of God. He is God’s Son, and He is the One who declares God to us. All things were made through Him, and all things have been given by the Father to Him. He is truly the honorable and majestic Son of God.
We also see that He came down to earth to become a man. Through the redemption He has accomplished, He will bring us all into glory.
On the one hand, we see the glory of Him as the Son of God. On the other hand, we see the glory of Him as the Son of Man. He is the Lord who is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our thanksgiving.
This morning, we want to share about the second matter: the office of Jesus. We may also say that we want to see the ministry of Jesus.
At the beginning of Hebrews 3, it says:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
In the Chinese translation, the word translated “confession” carries the meaning of acknowledgment. Every believer has an acknowledgment, a confession. This confession is our faith; it is our testimony.
In English there are two different words: confession and profession. Confession is different from profession.
Sometimes we say that someone is a professed Christian, a Christian by name only. He may have some acknowledgment, but that acknowledgment is in name only. He acknowledges Christ among people who have the same opinion, but when he is among those who are against the Lord, he does not confess Him.
That is profession, and some consider Christianity merely as a profession. Such acknowledgment is not valuable before God.
What is confession? Confession is to acknowledge Christ before people who do not agree, before those who are opposed. This confession becomes our testimony.
Our brother mentioned this last night in connection with Matthew 16. When our Lord withdrew into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”
Then He asked them, “But who say ye that I am?” Here we see that Simon Peter had a confession:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Lord said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.”
This becomes our confession, our faith, and our testimony. What does this confession include? It includes two things.
First, “Thou art the Christ.” You are the Anointed One. You are the One sent by God. You are the One who is to accomplish the will of God. This has to do with the ministry and office of our Lord Jesus.
Second, “Thou art the Son of the living God.” This has to do with the person of our Lord. Although He came to earth as a man, He is the Son of the living God.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is our confession? What is our faith? What is our testimony? In summary, it is our knowledge of Him in these two aspects.
Because God has revealed this to us, we have seen that Jesus is truly the Christ and truly the Son of the living God. This confession, then, becomes our testimony.
Our Lord Jesus said that if we confess Him before men, He will confess us before His Father. If we do not confess Him before men, He will not acknowledge us before God. Therefore, this acknowledgment and confession is extremely important.
But how can we have such a powerful confession? First of all, we must have the revelation of God within us.
Yesterday morning we mentioned that we can speak about Jesus as the Son of God and as the Son of Man. We can all hear this, and perhaps in our minds we accept it. But that has not yet constituted our confession.
We must have God’s revelation, so that we may see within ourselves that Jesus is not an ordinary man. He is not merely a man above other men. He is not Elijah, He is not John the Baptist, and He is not that prophet. He is the only Son of God.
We thank God that we also see that He emptied Himself. Though He was equal with God, He did not consider that equality something to be grasped.
You cannot imagine how majestic, how glorious, and how abundant He is. Yet because He loves us, He emptied Himself, took the form of a servant, and came in the likeness of men.
He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. In the depth of our spirits, we see Him as the Son of Man. Then we cannot help but confess Him.
The same principle applies to our view of His office and ministry. We may talk about His ministry and hear about His ministry, but if the Holy Spirit has not revealed the ministry of the Lord Jesus in our hearts, then we have no part in what He has done.
The more we see this ministry, the more we experience the work that He has accomplished. Therefore, we must see His ministry.
Here it says, “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” What is it to consider?
Do you remember that the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 6, said, “Be not anxious” concerning food, drink, and clothing? The Lord knows that we worry about these things; otherwise, He would not have mentioned them.
The Lord says that we do not have to worry about these things. How can we not worry? If we look at ourselves, we cannot help but worry. Therefore, we must look outward; we must look heavenward.
The Lord says, “Behold the birds of the heaven.” They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Are we not of much more value than they?
The birds are worth very little. Yet not one of them falls to the ground without our Father. In the original language, the thought is even stronger: if a sparrow falls to the ground, our heavenly Father falls with it.
That sparrow may be worth less than half a penny, but our heavenly Father takes care of it. Are we not worth much more than the birds?
The Lord also says, “Consider the lilies of the field.” In the land of Judea, the hills and valleys are filled with lilies. They neither toil nor spin, but our heavenly Father clothes them more beautifully than Solomon in all his glory.
What is it to consider? It is to think about something this way and that way.
Mary kept in her heart the things that she had seen and heard concerning the Lord Jesus. She thought about them this way and that way. Perhaps at first you do not understand, but you think again and again, and then you receive revelation.
We must consider again and again the Lord Jesus of our confession. We must continue to examine our Lord Jesus: Who is He, after all? What has He done for us? What is His ministry?
Here it says that He is the Apostle. In the Chinese translation, it may sound like “Messenger,” but in the original language it means “Apostle.”
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He chose twelve from among His disciples and called them apostles. He gave them authority to cast out demons, to heal, and to proclaim the gospel. These twelve sent ones became apostles.
The meaning of apostle is “one who is sent.” The Lord sent His apostles out to do what He commanded them to do. In the same way, our Lord Jesus was sent by His heavenly Father to come to this earth.
Our Lord Jesus is the first Apostle. All other apostles came out of Him. He said, “As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” Our Lord Jesus is the Apostle, and this is His ministry.
If we look into the Gospel of John, we find that more than twenty times our Lord Jesus speaks of being sent by the Father. He says, in effect, “I did not come of Myself. My Father sent Me.”
When I speak, it is not My own word. The Father who sent Me told Me to speak in this way. I hear what He says, and then I speak according to what He says.
He says, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” He says, “I know Him, because I came from Him, and He sent Me.” He says, “He that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”
He says, “I am not alone, because He that sent Me is with Me. I do always the things that are pleasing to Him.” He testified of Himself, and the Father who sent Him also testified of Him.
Again and again in the Gospel of John, our Lord says that He was sent by God. He did not come by Himself. He is the Apostle of God.
Why was He sent by God? First, He was sent here to represent His Father.
Today, one nation sends an ambassador to another nation. Why? The ambassador does things on behalf of his own country and deals with matters in another country for the sake of his country. But that is secondary.
The first responsibility of an ambassador is to represent the country from which he came. Wherever he goes, he represents his own country. The honor or shame of the country hinges upon him.
This is the primary function of an ambassador. In ages past, God sent prophets among the Israelites and even sent prophets to the Gentiles. But these prophets were only men.
Although they were holy men and the Spirit of God could speak through them, their representation was not complete. Their prophecy might be accurate, but their person was not perfect. They were not adequate to represent God.
The thing that offends God most is to misrepresent Him. This sin is greater than many other sins.
Moses is an example. The Israelites often offended God, and God forgave them. But Moses represented God before the Israelites, and there was one occasion in which he did not represent God rightly.
The Israelites provoked Moses, and he said what he should not have said: “Hear now, ye rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?”
God had told him to take the rod that was before the ark and speak to the rock. That rod was not the rod of Moses which opened the Red Sea, nor was it the rod that struck the rock the first time. It was Aaron’s rod that budded, the rod connected with the ministry and office of the priest.
The ministry of the priest is according to the redemptive work of Christ. God said, “Take the rod, but do not strike. Speak to the rock, and water will come forth.”
But Moses was provoked. He took the rod and struck the rock twice. Water came out, but he had acted contrary to God’s command.
Christ was to be struck only once. After that, we need only speak according to faith. Yet Moses did something he should not have done. He misrepresented God.
He gave the Israelites the impression that God was easily provoked and that God was an angry God. Because Moses misrepresented God, he was not permitted to enter the land.
Representation is very important. Our Lord Jesus is the Apostle of God, and His representation of God is perfect.
The Lord Jesus gave the example of the owner of a vineyard who rented it to husbandmen. When the time came, he sent his servants to receive the fruit. But the husbandmen beat the servants and sent them away.
The owner sent more servants, and they mistreated them as well. Finally, he said, “I have one beloved son. I will send him. They will respect my son.”
But those wicked husbandmen said, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” This is what they did to our Lord.
They not only rejected the prophets; they also rejected the Son, who perfectly represents God. They nailed Him to the cross.
Jesus is the Apostle of God. He says, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
The disciples had been with the Lord for three years. When the Lord was about to be crucified, Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”
The Lord was saddened. He said, “Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
Dear brothers and sisters, no one represents God as our Lord Jesus does. He is the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He completely declares the Father.
This is the meaning of Apostle. Our Lord Jesus is a faithful Apostle. Today, all servants of God must be careful, because what we are must not be less than what we say. The first matter of apostleship is representation.
We thank God and we thank our Lord. He is the Apostle of God. When we see Him, we see God. In Him we see the holiness of God, the love of God, the righteousness of God, and the grace of God. In Him we see the invisible God.
There is a second meaning of apostle: an apostle is one who is sent to accomplish a mission.
The mission of our Lord Jesus is the greatest mission. In the past, many prophets were sent, but this mission is one that only He could accomplish in the whole universe.
Between God and man there is only one Mediator, the man Christ Jesus. He has become the propitiation for our sins.
Our Lord Jesus did not come to this earth merely to be a prophet. He did not come merely for sightseeing. He did not come merely to teach people, although He taught. He did not come merely to cast out demons and heal, although He performed many wonders and miracles.
He came to earth for one purpose: to save the seed of Abraham. Who are the seed of Abraham? Those who believe are the seed of Abraham.
He came to earth to accomplish salvation. He was born for this, and He grew up for this. When He began His ministry, His face was set toward Jerusalem, although He knew that death was waiting for Him there.
Although the enemy tempted Him in many ways, even offering Him the kingdoms of the world if He would worship him, our Lord Jesus was willing to give up the whole world in order to be obedient to the will of His Father.
Only God is worthy of worship. Consider the honor of our Lord Jesus and how He accomplished the commission of God.
Many prophets in the past came and went, but they did not accomplish their mission. They did not bring men back to God. But when God sent His Son, He accomplished His mission.
When He was crucified on the cross, people mocked Him. The bulls of Bashan surrounded Him, speaking of the powers of evil that surrounded Him and sought to attack Him.
As far as His physical body was concerned, He suffered pain unto death. As far as His soul was concerned, He was abused from every direction. He was oppressed by all the powers of darkness.
The first word our Lord said on the cross was, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Why could He pray this way? I believe this prayer was answered by God, because He Himself was the substitutionary sacrifice.
Immediately we see this in the thief who was crucified beside Him. The thief said, “Jesus, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.” The Lord said, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.”
The sins of that man were forgiven before God because the prayer of the Lord was heard by God. Today, you and I can be forgiven, no matter how great our sins may be. The Lord has prayed for us, and God has heard His prayer.
At the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. This was the time when our Lord became a sacrifice.
It was not merely that men rejected Him, nor merely that the enemy attacked Him. He was bruised by the Father who loved Him.
He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Why was He forsaken? It was for you and for me.
He tasted death for us. He experienced the pain of hell. The greatest suffering is eternal separation from the living God. But our Lord tasted this for us.
At His last hour, He cried with a loud voice, “It is finished.” Whatever the Father had sent Him to do was done. The mission was accomplished. Redemption was accomplished.
Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. He restored fellowship with His Father.
Dear brothers and sisters, He is the Apostle of God. For God, He accomplished His commission. Because He accomplished His mission, today we have received grace.
Today, we do not have to do anything to earn salvation. All we have to do is believe, because all things have been accomplished. We thank and praise our God.
There is a third meaning of apostle. He is our Captain, our Pioneer, and the One who opens the way for us.
There is a Greek word translated in several ways. In Hebrews, it says that He is the Captain who brings many sons into glory. In Hebrews 12, He is called the Author of our faith. It is the same word.
It means that He is the One who initiated the whole thing. He is the Originator; He is our source. He has accomplished something for us, and He has opened a way for us.
He entered in Himself, and He is going to bring us in. This is what an apostle is. He has not only accomplished what He was sent to do, but He has opened for us a new and living way.
He brings us on this way, even to the end of the veil and into glory. This is the meaning of Apostle.
An apostle is not merely one who preaches or gives messages, even if the messages are correct. If he cannot bring people into the reality of that message, he is not an apostle.
Our Lord is the Apostle. Because of His death on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent in two. He entered within the veil, and now He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, crowned with glory and honor.
He is going to bring all of us in this way. Therefore, today we must walk on this way of the cross.
He has opened for us a new and living way. He has dedicated and consecrated this way for us. This is His way. Nobody else has walked it, and nobody else could walk it.
Through the cross, He entered before God to receive honor and majesty. Today, this way which He has opened for us is the way on which He wants us to follow Him.
He is before us, and we are after Him. By His strength, we walk on the way of the cross. He went through the cross and entered into glory. Thank God.
This is our Lord: He is our Apostle. Have we seen how great is the salvation that our Lord has accomplished for us? Since we have such great salvation, how can we neglect it?
We must pay heed. We must diligently listen to the word of God. If we hear His voice today, we must not harden our hearts through unbelief and lose the rest.
This is the first aspect of the ministry and office of our Lord: He is the Apostle. But His office and ministry do not end there.
It says, “Consider the Apostle and High Priest.” When our Lord was on earth, He was sent; He was the Apostle. But after He accomplished His work, He returned to God and sat at the right hand of God.
Is He merely sitting there because He has accomplished everything? No. He has been raised to the high heavens, and He sits at the right hand of God as our High Priest.
Today, our Lord Jesus in heaven is our High Priest.
I remember a small story. There was an old sister who was rather illiterate, but she was very earnest. She asked to be baptized.
Some responsible brothers examined her faith and asked her questions. One question was, “What is our Lord Jesus doing in heaven?”
She thought about it and said, “The Lord Jesus today is standing in heaven. His eyes are searching over the earth. He is looking at me to see whether there is anything wrong with me.”
Of course, she did not give the expected answer. But, dear brothers and sisters, do you know what our Lord Jesus is doing in heaven? I think many Christians do not know.
We know what our Lord Jesus did on earth for us, but we do not know what our Lord Jesus is doing in heaven for us. No wonder we do not live as Christians should live.
Although we have received the redemption and salvation of the cross, our life as Christians totally depends upon Him as our High Priest.
When we speak of the Lord Jesus as our High Priest, I think this is not clear to many brothers and sisters. Perhaps we are confused by the priesthood in the Old Testament.
In Old Testament times, God saved Israel in order that they might become a kingdom of priests. Every Israelite was to be a priest. Every Israelite was to serve God. This was the will of God.
But because the Israelites worshiped the golden calf, they disqualified themselves. As a result, God chose the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron to serve as priests.
Thus, there came to be a distinction between clergy and laity. Because of this, when we think of the Lord Jesus as High Priest, we may have a confused concept.
Every believer is a priest. First Peter 2:5 says:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The book of Revelation also says that He loved us, loosed us from our sins by His blood, and made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father.
Therefore, every believer is a priest, and every believer has the responsibility to serve our God. Why, then, do we not fulfill our duty? Because we do not know our High Priest.
The priests in the temple ministered under the direction of the high priest. Without the high priest, the priests would not know what to do. They would do what they should not do, and they would fail to do what they should do.
There is disorder in service because we do not know our High Priest.
Our Lord Jesus, being our High Priest, has much to do with our life as Christians.
The Bible says that our Lord lives forever to make intercession for those who come to God through Him. He is able to save them to the uttermost.
Those who have come to God through Him can be saved to the uttermost. Why? Because He is our High Priest, and He intercedes for us at the right hand of God.
His prayer is heard and answered by God. Therefore, we can be saved from many temptations, restored from failures, and upheld in weakness.
Remember what our Lord said to Peter: “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” Peter thought that he loved the Lord more than the other disciples. He said, “Though all shall be offended in Thee, I will never be offended.”
But the Lord said, “Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.”
Dear brothers and sisters, Peter denied the Lord three times, yet Peter was restored. He was restored because the Lord had prayed for him.
When we fall, the Lord has prayed for us. The Lord is going to restore us. We can be restored from failure—not by our own strength and not merely by the encouragement of men, but because He has prayed for us. His prayer is heard and answered by God.
Today, our prayers may be answered because His prayer is mingled with our prayer. Often I feel that my prayer is so weak, but He adds His prayer to ours, and then God hears.
When we live day by day on earth, where does this grace come from? It comes from the effectiveness of our Lord Jesus as our High Priest. He prays for us before God.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit works in us. Sometimes He convicts us; sometimes He encourages us. When we need grace, He gives grace. When we need comfort, the Holy Spirit comforts us.
The work of the Holy Spirit is completely related to the High Priest. Our Lord represents us before God, and the Holy Spirit represents the Lord within us.
Because of these two Comforters, we can live by Him daily on this earth. We cannot live the Christian life for one single minute apart from Him.
As far as our daily living is concerned, we need Him to be our High Priest. By Him, we can come to the Father, receive mercy, and find grace for timely help.
Our High Priest enables us to fulfill the duty of priests. How can we be servants of God? Because He is our High Priest.
He directs us, leads us, and brings us into our proper function, so that we may serve God and serve the brothers and sisters, and so that the Body may be built up in life.
Third, He is the Mediator of the new covenant. Because of the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, God has made a new covenant with you and me.
This is what Hebrews 8 says. Perhaps we will have an opportunity to speak about it again.
Today, we can enjoy the grace of the New Testament because He is our Mediator. He gives us the grace of the new covenant and ministers it to us, so that we may experience all the grace of this new covenant.
The Lord, being our High Priest, does not speak only of His ministry to each one of us individually. He is my High Priest, and He is your High Priest. But where does He serve?
The book of Hebrews says that He did not enter into a tabernacle made with hands. He ministers in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
What is this true tabernacle? This true tabernacle is the church.
In the first three chapters of Revelation, our Lord Jesus walks among the seven golden lampstands. His garment is the garment of the High Priest.
He is there to train, restore, and equip the church, until the church becomes the glorious church and the true tabernacle becomes the New Jerusalem.
Who is doing this work? The Lord Himself is doing it. As our brother said last night, the Lord said, “I will build My church.”
The rock is the confession of Peter. Now the Lord is in heaven, and He considers you and me as His own. As He walks among the golden lampstands, He is building His church.
Will He fail? He will not fail. You and I may fail, and often we fail even before we begin. But our Lord shall not fail.
He is the Apostle who never fails. He has laid the foundation. He is the High Priest who will not fail. He will build His church, and He will gain the glorious church to be His bride.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is such a glorious thing. We thank and praise the Lord. Our Lord is our High Priest; He is the Apostle.
We must have faith in Him. We trust all that He has done. As our High Priest, we must be obedient to Him. If we are obedient to Him, He can accomplish the work of the High Priest.
Our Lord, we look to You. We believe that Your Holy Spirit is working here.
We ask that You would take all these poor words and make them Your own speaking, so that from the depth of our hearts we may see that You are our Apostle and our High Priest.
When we have You, there is nothing to fear. You are sufficient. We thank You and praise You, our Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen.