Hebrews 7:26
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; (Hebrews 7:1)
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;(Hebrews 7:2)
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3)
Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (Hebrews 7:16)
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;(Hebrews 7:26)
I have neglected a very important part of Hebrews Chapter 7: its placement. The Holy Spirit has placed it in the middle of the book. There are 13 chapters and Chapter 7 in many ways’ stands alone. This chapter divides the book. There are 6 chapters before, and 6 chapters after. The previous chapter, Chapter 6, ends with these words: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (Hebrews 6:19) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 6:20) Chapter 8 begins with the sum of all things. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; (Hebrews 8:1) A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Hebrews 8:2)
The Forerunner
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
He has gone on before us therefore, as a forerunner in Chapter 6, This is the fire and the cloud in the wilderness. As the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they followed both the fire and the cloud. This was to guide them, and our fire and cloud is the Holy Spirit of God. He has been given to us to guide us through this wilderness, and to bring us safely home to the forerunner, the Man in heaven for us. In the fire and the cloud we see both aspects of the Spirit of God. He is here to guide us and to chasten us as in Hebrews 12:8. He is here also to guide us home, and to fulfill the prophecy of the Son of God in John Chapter 14 when the Lord Jesus said, I go (as the forerunner) to prepare a place for you. What is ignored by the Church, for the Christian, is that the Holy Spirit is not only a guide into all truth, but He is the Corrector of those children who sway from the truth. He is also here to condemn the world. You will never hear from the voice of the Spirit the words ‘Judge not let ye be judged’ applies to Him, for He is the present Judge of the world.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (John 16:7)
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (John 16:8)
Of sin, because they believe not on me; (John 16:9)
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (John 16:10)
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. (John 16:11)
We finish the prologue in Chapter 6 of Hebrews as it introduces us to Chapter 7. In Chapter 8 we take the facts of the previous chapters and present them as the conclusion of all things in Jesus Christ. As He sent the Spirit of God to be the fire and the cloud for us we should realize that it was the fire that shined into the darkness, and it was the cloud of grace by day, therefore, He is also with us in this wilderness of sin.
Of Twain a New Man
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
In Chapter 7 the Spirit of God brings us to the oasis of everlasting water, the water of everlasting life, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Chapter 7 the heavens are opened for us in the Melchisedec priesthood, the eternal priesthood of the Son of God. There is a difference in Chapter 7 concerning His priesthood in that He has taken of twain and made one new man. He has taken Adam and removed him, and replaced Adam with Himself, the GodMan. He has come into our hearts, and used the old man to convince us and to convict us of our sin, and the need of the new man in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has convicted us and brought new life within us in a brand-new being, and this new being is the new creation of God. Of twain, even in our salvation, He has made one new man, therefore, making peace for us.
It is the glorified Man, the forerunner, Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven for us as a glorified Man, therefore, He now (as the Son of God, as Jesus Christ, the glorified Man) has taken on the priesthood of Melchisedec. This priesthood has not changed. The only thing that has changed was the sacrifice of Himself. For in His sacrifice of twain He made one new man. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:15) Over the centuries both the Church and the world have ignored this glorified Man in heaven. In fact, the world tries to bring Christ down to the earth by saying that He was merely a good man. However, there is no such thing as a good man, for there is none good but God, and Jesus Christ is God, consequently, He is the embodiment of all the goodness of God. However in Adam’s race there is none good for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When this ploy of Satan of making Christ a mere man does not work then the history of the Son of God is perverted by suggesting that He could have sinned. This is the GodMan, there was no sin in Him, He knew no sin, He was separate from sinners. God had prepared a specific body for the suffering of death that He, the Lamb of God, should take sin away from the world. All these fantasies of man, and the false statements of Satan, are misdirections to endanger the souls of man to draw humanity into his pit of sin. In our present day he has thrown the message of no hope into the winds of his evil, however, God has His foot on Satan’s throat, and the gospel of Christ continues to prove that God is taking precious souls out of the darkness, and they are coming to the marvelous light of Jesus Christ to be redeemed as precious souls. And Christ Himself, as the forerunner, has translated them into His kingdom. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13) This is the present reality for every Christian, you are under the blood of Christ and He has translated you into His kingdom. This is today, you are in His kingdom, and He is your King. We are walking under the cloud by day, and the fire by night, for the fires of God’s judgment fell on God’s Christ for us, and now we follow the cloud of grace. The Holy Spirit is leading us home, and the Holy Spirit has confirmed within us that our citizenship is in heaven, and our life (this life) is hid in God in Jesus Christ. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) This is today for every Christian. Yesterday we were sinners, lost and at enmity against God. We were shackled and bound in Egypt, in the darkness of sin, and then God, in His grace revealed the One who is Grace, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we believe, and do believe, and will always believe yesterday, today, and forever. Today I am a redeemed soul in the bonds of grace, I have been washed in the blood of Christ and have been given a new garment without seam, a new coat of many colors that reflects my Savior, and the faith of today will take me to forever. For Christ, the Man in heaven, has taken hold of my hand of faith, and will never let my hand go. And this brings us to the title of this message: Yesterday, Today and Forever.
Yesterday – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
First, yesterday, even before yesterday there was a place in the presence of God that was before time before the mystery of creation. The Godhead counseled within (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) and the plan of redemption was discussed and perfected so that God’s will would be perfected in His Son, Jesus Christ. The Son of God became the center piece of God’s divine plan. He would be the keystone of the grand building that God was going to build. It would be the Son who would begin the plan, and it would be the Son to finish the plan in the words, It is finished. The beginning was in all the power and might of the Creator Jesus Christ. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16) And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17) Not one particle or atom was made without His divine power. And even in this present day He upholds all things by the Word of His power. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3) His creation is still under His divine power. He is the Almighty, and He upholds and controls all things. And by Him, listen closely to the Holy Spirit, all things consist. This is deafening, and too much for the mind to comprehend. Even in our contemporary age many stumble at Genesis 1:1. They lock their minds on this one verse and cannot leave until they reason creation with the mind of man, and not with divine thought. We know (from Colossians) that in the beginning Christ created the heavens first, for the heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool showing the divine order of creation. This is the proper perspective for Genesis 1:1 for God proclaimed, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. God speaks in Genesis 1:1 saying, Here I am, I am the Creator, I am the Object, it is not about what I have created, but it is all about who I am; I am the High and the Holy One, the Creator of all things. And God is heralding, Let me reveal myself to you through My Spirit. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2) Remember, these are the words, these are the phrases, this is the text that was given to Moses on mount Sinai, and in the tent of the congregation. All this was given so that man might get a glimpse of His Creator through faith. This is a marvel for how could man know his Creator except his Creator reveal Himself to mankind. And then, as the divine Sovereign of all things, He reveals to man His total creatorial history, and His dealings with man including the flood, and the message of grace through Noah His servant, For Noah found grace in the eyes of God. This yesterday (in Genesis) is BIG, because it includes from ‘in the beginning’ and spans to ‘the fullness of time.’ Our present day will become yesterday, and our yesterdays are all written in the history that God is writing concerning man and His grace. In the darkness of sin, yesterday, we were without Christ, and without hope in this world, but now we have a living hope which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He, as the Creator, of all things began the first steps (in six days) of His glorious creation. (Colossians 1:16 – 17) He beheld His creation, all was good, and He rested. This did not complete the creation of all things for in Colossians we see the powers and principalities that were yet to come. In Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 1, we see the things seen and the things unseen.
The Redeemed – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
And what about us . . . the redeemed? We are the spirits of just men made perfect. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23) We are a new creation in and by Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has brought us into a position of brethren, and God the Father has brought us into a position, in His love, as the sons of God, therefore, we look forward to forever in the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness will dwell for all eternity.
Chapter 7 of the book of Hebrews breaks from the thoughts of man, and breaks from the thoughts of Paul, and is embedded with the thoughts of the Holy Spirit of God. Chapter 7 becomes the hinge pin of this wonderful book like two doors. One door from the past (the first six chapters) and the other door to the forever in Christ Jesus. The highest point (which is the central focus) is in the seventh Chapter of Hebrews in verse 26 ‘made higher than the heavens.’ The first six chapters of Hebrews could be called yesterday, and the last six chapters could be called forever. However, for the redeemed of the Lord, Chapter 7 is ‘today.’ For we (today) have such a high Priest who is holy and is able to make us holy before Him and in Him. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; (Hebrews 3:1)
In His holiness we are made holy. As the Creator of all things, in His manifestation as Jesus Christ, He came to man in all meekness that He might reason with man. Even in His meekness man denied Him, and would not receive Him; this meekness was part of His divine manifestation to man. He declared of Himself that He was meek and lowly so that He could draw man to Him. He was also undefiled. He was undefiled by the earth for the earth was under the curse of sin. He was undefiled from Adam for He had no part in Adam. Christ was undefiled from sin and He was separated from all sinners. And on Calvary, when He gave Himself for the sin of the world, and defeated death, and the works of the devil, He was still separated from all sinners. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (Hebrews 7:26)
I wrote an article recently on understanding the transfiguration, I think that we have in Hebrews Chapter 7 a chapter that is close to a spiritual transfiguration of the Person of the Son of God. In the previous message of the transfiguration, I discussed the word ‘made’ in relationship to the Son of God, but only in part. However, in Hebrews, we have the word ‘made’ in thirty-five verses (35) this exceeds the word ‘made’ in the book of Romans. For in Romans, the word ‘made’ is mentioned in 31 verses. Therefore, in the book of Hebrews, I consider the word ‘made’ one of the signposts by the Holy Spirit. I don’t see how we can avoid this word. In Chapter 7, the word ‘made’ is mentioned 8 times, and since this is the center chapter in the book of Hebrews let us, therefore, consider the word ‘made’ in relationship with the Son of God.
Made – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
The first mention of ‘made’ in Chapter 7 is in verse 3. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. It is quite evident that we have such a high Priest in the heavens for us, and He sits upon the throne of grace. He is the true and the eternal high Priest in all things pertaining to God’s righteousness. He has all the priestly faculties, yesterday, today, and forever. Now this Melchisedec was made, or manifested like unto the Son of God because His priesthood was given by an eternal oath, making Him the eternal Priest without end. This oath was given before the foundations of the world. Melchisedec is the whole foundation of God’s righteousness. If God’s righteousness is to be given to any man, it must come through the One who holds divine righteousness, the Priest forever Melchisedec, the Son of God.
The word ‘made’ becomes a key to unlock the wonder of the GodMan Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews IS a book of wonder, for in no other book in the Word of God is Jesus Christ revealed as in the wonders of the book of Hebrews. As the book of Romans is the book of God’s judicial judgment, so therefore, Hebrews is the book of wonders and the divine priesthood of Jesus Christ. Even though grace can be found in both Romans and Hebrews, in Hebrews we have a specific place OF grace IN the throne of grace in Hebrews Chapter 4:16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. No where else in Scripture is this throne of grace revealed, therefore, making the throne of grace unique to the book of Hebrews. Thus, in this book we have the manifestation of this wonderful truth that enhances the One who IS the high Priest of grace and truth.
In Chapter 7 we have a sign post of the Spirit of God, saying, Stop, think of what you are about to read; read it many times, and pray for guidance from the Spirit of God. Ask Him to open the wonders of Christ, and His eternal priesthood. God works like this. In the middle of the book (Chapter 7) the Holy Spirit takes a time out, and wants to speak about the Lord Jesus. He wants to show us things that we know not. He wants to show us things concerning Christ Himself which the Lord Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit would do. We need to understand the earthly appearance of Melchisedec in that it was a pre appearance of the high Priest in heaven Jesus Christ.
We know, in the order of creation, that the heavens were created first. We also know (according to the book of Hebrews) that there is a true tabernacle in heaven not made by the hands of man, but made by the Almighty. It was the Lord Jesus who pitched this tabernacle. He set it up. He created it. And He (as Melchisedec) gave His glory to it in His own glorified Person. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (Hebrews 9:11) It was of necessity that this true tabernacle in heaven would have an eternal priesthood, and this is under the priesthood of Melchisedec. The true tabernacle had to have a divine and heavenly and true Priest of God. And only One could qualify, and that was God Himself in Jesus Christ. This makes our Lord the true high Priest of both time and eternity. Because of the determinate counsels of God, and the divine order of God’s plan of redemption, there had to be a foundation for His plan to begin. And this foundation had to be solely built on God’s righteousness, therefore, the righteous God had to become the high Priest forever after the oath of Melchisedec. (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) (Hebrews 7:21)
Almost all references to the word ‘made’ are related to the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews. For instance, the word ‘made’ in Hebrews 1:2, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Here we have the Son of God as the Maker and Creator. Notice that He is also the apparent heir of all things. When was He appointed heir of all things? It had to be before His manifestation upon earth. It had to be before the foundation of the world. This was when Christ was given eternal heirship of ALL things both seen and unseen. All was given to the Son of His love before the first element of creation was created. He was given the whole history of time and eternity. This includes both the new heavens and the new earth, which He will create, and which He will be exalted as the exalted heir of all things yesterday, today, and forever.
The Purpose for The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
As the Son of God, the eternal manifest image of God, He not only created all things, but He created the living soul, and that soul was Adam. And this is no mystery for the Spirit of God tells us of the wonders of Christ.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14)
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15)
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:2)
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:5)
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. (Romans 11:32)
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33)
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? (Romans 11:34)
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? (Romans 11:35)
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Romans 11:36)
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (Ephesians 1:17)
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18)
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (Ephesians 1:19)
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:20)
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Ephesians 1:21)
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22)
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)
From these verses we see that all things were purposed IN Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:9, and Ephesians 3:11 confirm the purpose, and extended to yesterday, today and forever. This was before the foundation of the world. The word ‘purposed’ is a deliberate word. It is deliberate that God purposed in the determinate counsels of God just as the word ‘determinate’ is full of the purpose of God; thus, the word ‘purpose’ is full of the determinate counsels of God. All things were made by Him, and by His mighty power. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9)
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Ephesians 3:11)
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (Ephesians 1:19)
And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, (Luke 9:43)
To show the purpose of God in Ephesians 1:19, and Luke 9:43 the mighty power of God is revealed only two times in the New Testament both relating to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke’s gospel they marveled at His mighty power, and in Ephesians, we have reference to His mighty power to usward who believe in His mighty power. All this was revealed in the mighty power of God in the Man Jesus Christ. In Hebrews Chapter 2, verse 9, we have another wonder, for the Lord Jesus was ‘made’ a little lower than the angels. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For years unregenerate man has run wild with this verse. They use it to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? The unregenerate cannot see truth through the sinful eyes of Adam. But Adam is determined, for he says, See, See, he was lower than the angels! How stupid of Adam. Read the entire verse. He was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death because angels cannot die! Therefore, God had to be manifested in the flesh so that He could die on the cross as the sacrifice for sins. I say all the time that there was no Adam whatsoever in the Lord Jesus Christ, and men shake their heads at me. He was the GodMan from heaven. God prepared a body so that He (Jesus Christ) could be the sacrifice for sin, and on the cross, Jesus Christ was ‘made’ sin for us, He who knew no sin. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) The fallacy of mankind that Christ was a man IN Adam is a lie from the devil. Christ was the second Man, and He was the Lord from heaven. He was the divine Man who could not sin. There was NO possibility of sin BY Him, or IN Him because He was Melchisedec.
The Foundation of The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Melchisedec IS the foundation of God’s righteous plan of redemption. Melchisedec had to be the Foundation of righteousness and the Minister of righteousness to the lost race of Adam so that souls could be saved. Without divine righteousness, in the plan of redemption, there could be no redemption. The Lord Jesus (the GodMan) knew not the tree of good and evil because this was Adam’s sin.
When Christ was ‘made’ perfect it was in relationship to His sacrifice for sin on the cross. For the GodMan had to defeat sin and death, and the devil. He had to defeat them, in His Being, as both the high Priest of God and the sacrificial sin Offering: He would offer His own body, on the tree of death, for the world. And as the result of His death on the cross, Jesus Christ came forth in the power of resurrection as the continuation of the GodMan sent from heaven. Therefore, He is NOW crowned with glory and honor, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9) This crown of glory and honor is through His grace, and because of His grace, the grace of God through Jesus Christ is brought to mankind. That He, as Melchisedec the Priest of the most high God, and Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, should taste death for every man. There is no limited atonement in this verse. This verse is founded on the righteousness of the oath given to Melchisedec. And it refutes the claims of men and satisfies the claims of God against mankind. The stupidity of man, even with the heavenly witness of God Himself, will still not believe. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
So now that we got angels out of the way, the Spirit of God presents to us another verse specifically using the word ‘made,’ and states to us that He, the Lord Jesus, is ‘made’ like unto His brethren. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17) Notice the definition and the distinction of the word ‘behoved.’ For it behoved him, this takes us into His sacrificial love. For it behoved him to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, therefore, He took on the likeness of His brethren so that He (the Lord Jesus) could redeem them to God. This verse ties the sacrifice of His love to His priesthood, and ties His priesthood to His redeemed, and reveals that His priesthood was in existence prior to His life and His death. Even in the likeness of His brethren, His priesthood could not be put aside. Remember, that the righteousness of God is the foundation of our redemption, and this righteousness is upheld by Melchisedec.
The Eternal Priest – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3) The last part of Hebrews 7:3 abideth a priest continually, shows the continuation of the priesthood of Melchisedec from before the foundation of the earth into the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness will dwell. And WHO is THAT righteousness? You guessed it — Melchisedec, the Son of God And WHY was Melchisedec, the Son of God given? He was given to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17) to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Here we have the action. The action was that He was made reconciliation for the sins of the people, therefore, His people, the children of God, are reconciled through the foundation of righteousness BY the Man Jesus Christ, Melchisedec, and they are reconciled to God. This is the same GodMan who was manifested upon the earth to take away the sin of the world, and to be a Deliverer to those who would believe in Him.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:14) The Holy Spirit has manifested Christ in our heart, soul, and spirit. The Holy Spirit has made us partakers of Christ. Again, the word ‘made’ cannot be used without our relationship to Jesus Christ. We are brought into a relationship by the new birth. We have come out of the womb of darkness by a divine work of the Holy Spirit to put the light of Christ in our heart, soul, and spirit. We have been MADE partakers. We are IN Christ, and OF Christ for this is the Spirit’s work in our redemption to manifest the Redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, in our heart, soul, and spirit: thus, changing us from death to life, from time to eternity, from sinners to sons, and from shame to glory, all in Jesus Christ. We have been permanently separated from this evil world to the GodMan Jesus Christ. For Christ liveth in me. The world does not want us to lay hold of these truths. They want us to wander in darkness bumping into the furniture of sin. They do not want us to have an identity in Jesus Christ. They fight in every way to deny our Savior and the Word of God, and yet, we have a light that shines brighter than all other lights in Jesus Christ. In John’s first epistle, he states who we are: the sons of God; what we are: born of God, and what we will be: the image of Christ. And in this John (through the Spirit of God) tells us that in Christ we cannot sin for the GodMan liveth in me, and He (the Redeemer) cannot sin. The Spirit of Christ has created a being that cannot sin in Adam because this new being is removed from Adam to the high Priest Jesus Christ. Our flesh is already judged in Jesus Christ, and we will die to that flesh, however, the inner man in Christ who lives by the Spirit of truth (for the truth is in Jesus) that being will be steadfast to the end for Christ is in Him.
Christ will not let faith go, for Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
The Garments of Authority – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
In Hebrews 5:5 we have the authority of His priesthood. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. What mankind fails to see in this particular verse is the uniting of His sonship with His priesthood, and that God the Father gave Him the authority of His priesthood after the oath of Melchisedec. As the Lord Jesus walked among men He wore a garment without seam, woven from top to bottom, a complete and unique garment without seam. This garment was so remarkable and so unique that it was foretold by the prophecy that we have in Psalm 22:18.They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. This prophecy was completely fulfilled by the Romans for they saw the uniqueness of His garment and they would not divide it, consequently they cast lots for it and this is shown to us in Luke 23:24, and in John 19:23 and 24.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. (John 19:23)
They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. (John 19:24)
Although these scriptures fulfilled Psalm 22:18, His coat was foretold long before there was a law, for in the coat of many colors of Joseph we have a divine shadow of the Lord’s coat that could not be divided. And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; (Genesis 37:23) Not only do we see the identification of the heir in the coat of many colors, but we also see typified the heart of the Jews as seen in the brethren of Joseph And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. (Genesis 37:18) To continue on this line, we also see the blood of sacrifice sprinkled on Joseph’s coat of many colors. And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; (Genesis 37:31) And then Joseph’s brethren presented the coat of many colors to Jacob. Notice in this section of scripture that the Holy Spirit uses the name ‘Jacob’ and not the name of ‘Israel.’ Even though God had changed Jacob’s name to the name of Israel (a prince with God) here in Genesis we are reminded of the name of Jacob, the ‘supplanter.’ This is not to describe Jacob, but his children who had supplanted the inheritance of the true heir who was Joseph (Jacob’s favored son). For the coat of many colors was the badge or the garment of heirship.
And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. (Genesis 37:32)
And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. (Genesis 37:33)
And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. (Genesis 37:34)
These sons of Jacob also depicted the Jews of the Lord’s day. He walked among the tribes of Jacob, the supplanter, to bring them grace and truth, and yet, they despised Him and put Him to grief. (Isaiah 53) Also in the parable of the vineyard, the son that was sent was the heir of the whole vineyard. The usurpers had stolen the vineyard from the rightful heir, and how marvelous, all of Joseph’s brethren were gathered together, and then lastly, Joseph came to them, and they saw him. In the parable of the vineyard, they see the son, they see the heir, they knew exactly who he is, and they take him outside the vineyard and they crucified Him. He was the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus came unto His own, and His own received Him not. They took Him with evil hands outside the vineyard and crucified Him. They knew exactly who this One was. For in the parable they recognized Him as both Son and Heir just as Joseph’s brethren recognized Joseph afar off because of the coat of many colors: the coat of heirship.
The garments that the Lord Jesus wore proclaimed to the Jews that He was the heir of all things, but it also declared His priesthood Godward. Remember, when the woman touched the hem of His garment, virtue went out from Him, and she was healed. The Holy Spirit is not only showing us the power of the Priest, but the glorious garment as well. We see in the garment the symbol of power and authority of the high Priest, and virtue, that only He could give, went out from Him in power to completely heal the woman. Why is this so remarkable? Because the Holy Spirit of God testifies to us that there was no power on earth to heal this woman. She had spent all of her living, and no physician could cleanse her of her issue. Only He who had all virtue could perform this miracle even though she only touched the hem of the garment of the divine Priest. However, man was not capable of seeing the fulness of the glory and the beauty of this garment for only God the Father could see both the beauty of His Son, and the beauty of the garment. As Christ had veiled His own glory, so also the garment of Melchisedec was also veiled from the eyes of mankind.
In Exodus Chapter 28, we have a description of the garment of Aaron, it is called a garment of glory and beauty. This is an example of the Lord’s glorious garment even though it was veiled from the eyes of men, it was always seen by God the Father. This garment of glory and for beauty in Exodus 28:2 is a type of the Lord’s glorious garment. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. Why should we spend so much time on the Lord’s garments? Here is the reason: in Revelation Chapter 1, verse 6, we see our position before God as both kings and priests unto our God, and his Father. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. As John was writing by the Spirit of God, he reveals to us that He has made us kings and priests, but the key is at the end of the verse when the Holy Spirit says, ‘his Father.’ This is the Heir of all things. This is the One who is described in Hebrews Chapter 1 as being the heir of all things. This is the Son whom the Father sent to the vineyard. This was the One who was sent by the Father to find His brethren for He was the heir. This was the One who has brought us into His kingdom as kings and priests, and joint heirs with Christ. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17) And what has this to do with the garments for glory and for beauty? Now let us venture to Revelation Chapter 19. These are the garments that have been given to the redeemed. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Revelation 19:8) They are arrayed in fine linen. The words clean and white can be compared to Exodus 28 in the garments for glory and for beauty. These garments in Revelation 19 are identified with the saints with the word righteousness, this is the righteousness of God that we have received in Jesus Christ, who is Melchisedec, the Foundation of all God’s righteousness, and we have received this righteousness as joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are now in the vineyard, as the witnesses of God; the world cannot see our garments, but God the Father has already clothed us with the garments of Christ. We have washed our garments and have made them clean in the blood of Christ. And we look forward to the day, when in our righteous garments for glory and for beauty, we will come with Christ as He presents Himself as Lord of Lords, and King of Kings to this world as the true heir of all things.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (1 Peter 2:6)
Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, (1 Peter 2:7)
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. (1 Peter 2:8)
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9)
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)
In 1 Peter, the Holy Spirit is showing us our present position in Jesus Christ that the bride of Christ (every believer) is brought into the priesthood to serve in His house that He alone has built. We find this in Hebrews Chapter 3, for it is His own house that He has built. And in the symbol of priesthood, we walk in His presence and minister to the things within the house. In Revelation 19, the house is now a kingdom of glory, and we are His possession, for He is the King of glory. The world in Psalm 24 asks Who is this King of glory? And the Word of God proclaims, He is the King and Priest of God. The redeemed reply, we know the glory, the honor, and the majesty of our King Jesus Christ. The Bible is absolutely full of the heirship and priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Hannah was barren, and God answered her prayers and gave her a son. She promised this son to God, and gave him to God. This was Samuel. The priesthood under Aaron’s descendants had failed. The Holy Spirit shows us this in the blindness of Eli, and the waywardness and the sin of his sons. Hannah fulfilled her promise to God and brought her son to dwell with God in the tabernacle. Every year she made a coat and brought it to her child. And while in the tabernacle Samuel heard the voice of God calling, Samuel, Samuel. The circumstance of the birth of Samuel was outside the natural realm of man. Samuel’s priesthood was outside of the line of Aaron, for he had a direct divine call from God to serve God all the days of his life, thus, fulfilling the complete promise of his mother to God. In Samuel we find the only one in all of Scripture who was called both prophet and priest, and yet, he was not of the line of Aaron.
So we enter now into Hebrews Chapter 7: Christ did not come from the line of Aaron, He came from a greater line, a line that made Him a priest forever after the oath of Melchisedec. Here are some references from 1 Samuel: 1 Samuel 2:18 -21; also concerning his mothers’ love 1 Samuel 2:22-28. Now back to the garments of the Lord . . .
The Spirit of God tells us that it was woven without seam testifying of His own inseparableness from God the Father. For He, the Lord Jesus, is the lights and perfection of the glory of the Father. And in this perfection He walked among His people as both glory and beauty in the garment that spoke of His heirship, and His divine priesthood. He was stripped of His garments by man. This was man attempting to remove His identification as heir and priest. There was one more detestable thing that man did to Christ, and that was to prepare a crown of thorns to deny His eternal kingship. One more point that I would like to bring out: it was both Jew and Gentile who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one time in world history that the Jews, as a nation, and the Gentiles, as a people, were in complete agreement, and this agreement was to crucify the Son of God. Remember that it was the soldiers of Rome who stripped Him of His garments, and arrayed Him in the regal purple robe of Rome and mocked Him as King. What we fail to see here is that both the Jewish authority and the Gentile authority denied the Son of God as King over all the earth. Although it took awhile, both Jerusalem and Rome burned. Jerusalem the center of the Jewish nation was destroyed and burned in 70 A.D. And Rome (the center of Gentile rule) burned in the great fire of Rome in 64 A.D. Jerusalem never returned to its former glory. Rome became more vile, and sank deeper into debauchery and her self imagined glory became noted as ‘the dark ages.’ Jerusalem lost her glory, and Rome could only build a delusional glory founded on stone, slavery, wealth and war.
Yes, there is a God in heaven, and although His divine wheels of government seem to grind slowly, they accomplish what He intends to do in the history of man. For although man rejected Him as Lord of Lords and King of Kings, He now rules through the clouds in the kingdoms of men. The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, [so] shall it stand: (Isaiah 14:24)
When the Lord Jesus was manifested before man both His priesthood and His kingly authority was hidden from man. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. Melchisedec was only a shadow walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ bringing the Lamb of love to the altar, the Lamb of God to the slaughter. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7) Even though Christ gave His life once for the sin of the world, there were two aspects of His death that we need to see. The first aspect is that He laid down His life for the sin of the world. The second aspect is the condemnation of mankind for it is also recorded that His life was taken from Him, and this is the condemnation that God wants mankind to feel when mankind repents and comes to God through Jesus Christ. Everyone ever born of Adam was and is guilty of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were all under the condemnation of God because of sin, and to show the fulness of the sin of man, it was by the hands of wicked man that Christ was crucified. God will not let mankind escape from this horrible deed of treachery and sin, for the Holy Spirit has been given to condemn this very world. It is only grace that lets the soul escape the divine judgment of God in Jesus Christ. Christ would lay down His life and His life would be taken away from Him.
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:(Acts 2:23)
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. (Acts 5:30)
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. (Acts 3:13)
But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; (Acts 3:14)
Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:(Acts 7:52)
The Plan Before Time Existed Now Broadens and Deepens
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
First we will consider that He laid down His life for us, I will give you the scope of this sacrifice. As the Priest of the most high God, He had to bring an offering for sin. This was the body that God had prepared for Him in Hebrews Chapter 10. As the Priest He brought the Lamb to the altar, and as the Lamb He laid down His life for the sin of the world. Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.(1 John 3:16)
In Hebrews 5:5 the Holy Spirit unites both the priesthood and the sonship or heirship of the Lord Jesus Christ together. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. This verse refers us back to the oath that was given to the Son of God as Melchisedec before the foundations of the world. Let us examine this verse. First we have the duplicate number of grace ( 5:5) and in this number of grace we have both the priesthood and sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son is not mentioned first, His priesthood is first mentioned for His priesthood was placed upon Him before the foundations of the world, before . . . long before the manifestation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
This is the proper order for the Son had to be the foundation of God’s righteousness, and He (the Son) would have to be made the divine Priest BEFORE He was made the sacrificial Lamb. The uniqueness of this verse is met together in both priesthood and sonship. The words from Hebrews Chapter 1 affirms the divine position of priesthood and sonship with the words, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2) Of course, this is in regards to the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. Under the Old Testament there was an established priesthood on earth in Aaron. The sin offering had to come TO the priest first, then, after the transgression (or sin) was laid upon the lamb’s head, THEN the lamb would be offered for sin. Without the priest there could be no offering, and without the offering there could not be any justification for the priest. Do you see how unique the offering of the Lord Jesus was for us? You can almost hear the bells on the hem of the garment of the priest as. He walks through our hearts, the eternal Priest ministering to. His own. And they made bells [of] pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; (Exodus 39:25)
The Perfect and The Perfection – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
To continue on with the word ‘made’ . . . in Hebrews 5:9 let us now enter into the perfection of God. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. How can this be . . . And being made perfect ? Was not the Son of God perfect when He created the heavens and the earth? Was not He perfect when He walked among men? But the Holy Spirit says, being made perfect, was there a flaw, was there a taint on this sacrifice? No. If it had been Adam we could understand, for Adam brought sin into the world, and Adam was a man of the earth, and he was subject to sin. However, the eternal solution to sin was the Lord Jesus BEING perfect, being made perfect in the sacrifice of Himself on the cross of Calvary. Perfection in the salvation of man was brought forth on the cross of Calvary. He gave His life that was perfect, but even His perfect life could not bring eternal salvation for us. He had to take THAT perfection that He was to the cross of Calvary to defeat sin, death, and the work of the devil. In THIS He is made perfect as the Redeemer of man unto all them who obey Him. This is the marvel of His perfection, for all the fullness of the Godhead bodily was in Him. And this is past down to us. We take on perfection because of the perfection of Christ. God the Father justifies us because of the perfect life of Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice offered on the cross to bring the perfection of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is proven in Hebrews 6:4, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, again we have the word ‘made;’ notice that it is in relationship to the gift of God, the gift of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. I also notice that there is a power of creation in this gift for we have received this gift in the power of the Holy Spirit of God, for the Spirit of God has been sent by Christ Himself to bring us (those who believe) into the realm of the kingdom of God. Our creation as new born babes in Christ is of the same power from the same most powerful God who created heaven and earth. This is clarified in Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who has given us life? It is the Son of God, the Creator of all things. His divine power right now is working through the children of God. His divine attributes are being displayed to the sinful world in each and every miracle of the new birth in Jesus Christ. Each one of us has been brought to God by the power of His eternal Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And because we are linked once more to our divine Creator we are upheld with His divine power. He has created us that He might show Himself through the creation of the children of God. Christ cannot divide Himself, even when He was manifested He showed to men that He Himself had all the divine attributes of God, and through the gospel, all these attributes are revealed to us. The glory of being IN the Son of God, and the mystery of the Son of God being in the believer is truly beyond all understanding of Adam. One can only avail this wonderful thought by walking in the faith of the Son of God. We have been brought into a divine relationship based on God’s righteousness and love. Love in His Son, and righteousness in Melchisedec, this is one and the same. In Hebrews 6:13 we read, For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Again, with the eyes of faith, we will examine this verse. The verse introduces us to God, and it was God who made the promises to Abraham, and because God could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself. In Chapter 6, we have Melchisedec, we have the Son of God (Jesus Christ), so now in 6:13 we have the appearance of Melchisedec that connects to Genesis 14:18, 19 and 20.
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. (Genesis 14:18)
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: (Genesis 14:19)
And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. (Genesis 14:20)
This is when God swore by Himself for He was Melchisedec. Many miss this in Genesis that the Son of God (as Melchisedec) is swearing by Himself in blessing Abraham. For there is no greater than He for He holds the scepter of eternity. And He could swear by no greater for greatness is completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Oath and The Order
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Let’s consider the last mention of the word ‘made’ in Chapter 6 of Hebrews, remember that we are closing out the first half of this book. And this is how the Holy Spirit closes His thought about the Son of God. Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 6:20) Once again we see the manifestation of the Son, He is not only Son, but the forerunner, this means that He has gone on before us. And this forerunner in His Sonship, as Jesus Christ, is made a high priest forever after the order and oath of Melchisedec. Here we need to differentiate between order and oath. In the oath it is what He committed to God in God’s righteousness. In the order it is what He became, the high priest after the order of Melchisedec. This priesthood is joined with the word ‘for ever,’ yesterday, today, and forever.
In the priesthood of Aaron there was no oath, there was a consecration to the things that Aaron was to fulfill. Aaron was to act as the high priest on earth as a shadow of the high Priest in heaven. He was representing Melchisedec on earth, therefore, Aaron could not be sworn to the oath of Melchisedec for there was only one true high Priest of God, and that was the Son of God. This oath was unique in that it would never be repeated again. It was an oath that encompassed eternity, and was given IN eternity before the foundations of the world. So Christ is made a high Priest both under the oath and order of Melchisedec. And this established (as I have said) the foundation of God’s righteousness in the eternal plan of redemption because before anything could begin God’s righteousness had to be solidified in an eternal priesthood, and this priesthood was manifested in His Son Jesus Christ. Under the oath of Melchisedec, the only one who could take the oath was God’s Son, Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
In His Melchisedec priesthood He became the forerunner for us on the grounds of His redemptive work on the cross of Calvary as the Man Christ Jesus made perfect by the work of His cross. Even Jesus made a high Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. God has given us such a wonderful Savior in Jesus Christ a Man sent from heaven to redeem us, this same Jesus who was manifested in the flesh became the Redeemer of man. And now, this day, He is in heaven for us. This Man Jesus Christ is the forerunner of a people whom John declared in Revelation 1:6 as the kingdom of kings and priests, as the heirs of Christ, and the members of His priesthood. He has gone into heaven for us as the forerunner of our inheritance and our priesthood in Him. This is one of our privileges that has been given to us. It is a divine privilege to enter into the presence of God and worship Him as priests of God. We are denied this right by the world church, and they deny this right in every way, as they deny the priesthood of the Son of God. This is exactly why they stay away from the book of Hebrews. They deny the Lord’s priesthood because they are usurpers and want to steal His place among His redeemed.
The word ‘forerunner’ carries the authority and divine power of the high Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. They cannot steal our place before the throne of God except we surrender it to them. And this would definitely put us in contention with the Spirit of God. Part of our obedience is to worship our divine Savior and Priest Jesus Christ, and not to give man a place above the Son of God. The forerunner has gone into heaven for us to show mankind that there is a divine Man in heaven who has all power in both heaven and in earth, and He is there because He offered Himself that He might create a divine people who would give blessing, and honor, and glory, and power unto Him who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (Revelation 5:12)
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)
The Eternal Being — The Supernatural Man — The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Let us now enter into Chapter 7. We have closed out Chapter 6, and the Holy Spirit opens a new window. Everything is leading up to the divine priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we approach Chapter 7 we can almost hear the words, Come up hither. Chapter 7 is almost like a parenthesis of God’s thoughts. As Chapter 6 closes with the eternal priesthood of Melchisedec, Chapter 8 begins with the sum of all things. And in Chapter 7, we have the Holy Spirit taking us by the eye of faith and showing us the majesty of the priesthood of the Son of God as Melchisedec. The Spirit of God now brings in the Supernatural, and He describes to us a Being of eternity without mother, without father, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like unto the Son of God. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3) Is this supernatural, or what? This is the most remarkable man that has ever walked the face of the earth, or eternity. Christ was born in a Supernatural way because He is Supernatural. Nothing in the determinate counsels of God was out of His control. The Godhead came into the world in Jesus Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9) Christ took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, but NOT the sin element for He was the Righteousness of God. He was totally apart from sin being God.
In the realm of mankind we have the heart of man, the heart of a sinner and condemned before God. Man’s heart is enmity against God. Man is so twisted by sin that he wants to act and to be as a god. Man does not want God to be God. Man wants to be independent from God, but does not want God to be independent of mankind.
What shakes the very soul is what is expounded by the Church concerning Melchisedec. You would expect the world to deny Him, but when those who profess Jesus Christ deny Him, what have we got left? Faith is empty without Christ. Salvation is null and void without Christ. How can Adam enter into the divine Supernatural without being born again in Jesus Christ? It is impossible for Adam to understand the Supernatural, and this is why so much time is spent in the fantasy world of his own supernatural beliefs, which are far from the real supernatural which is God Himself. I cannot come to God unless I come to a Supernatural Man, and this Supernatural Man is Jesus Christ. And because He is a Supernatural Man He must destroy me (in Adam) before He can take me as a new creation because He creates the new creation in the believer; thus, Adam is taken out of the way. The new creation becomes His people that He calls, My people. And because we belong to Him we share glory and beauty in Jesus Christ. I want you to see the Holy Spirit’s separation of Melchisedec from all men in Hebrews Chapter 7, verse 3. All that is natural is taken out of the way. This is done by the Holy Spirit to show the separation of the Son of God from all of mankind. And remember, the first principle of God in the book of Genesis is separation. He divided the light from the darkness, and He called the light good. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)
Not only did God separate the light from the darkness, but this is the first time that we see the word ‘good’ referring us to the only One who is good, and that is God, the light of the world Jesus Christ. In the beginning of the New Testament, in Matthew’s gospel Chapter 1:1, we have a division between the light and the darkness in the generation of Jesus Christ. This generation has no reference to David, or Abraham. It is a separate divine generation made up of all true believers. After this generation is established in Jesus Christ then God, through the Holy Spirit, gives us the genealogy of Jesus Christ to confirm His qualification to be the Head of this generation. We are a separate people of God. Every believer is part of the body of Christ, and no member can be separated from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ. In this generation the light is separated from the darkness by the divine decree of God in Jesus Christ. Each new miracle, each soul born of the Spirit is a testimony to that divine light which is in Jesus Christ. Compare John 1:4 and 5. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:5)
In Genesis Chapter 1 the darkness didn’t comprehend the light, only the light was called good to give us the distinct definition of God’s light that it is good. In John Chapter 1 the light had come into the world in Jesus Christ to separate His generation from a world of darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. This division was quite evident for the entire realm of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, both religious and rulers had rejected the light for their own darkness.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)
These verses bring out the quality and the qualification for the generation of Jesus Christ because we are created by Him. This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. (Psalm 102:18) A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. (Psalm 22:30) It is the eternal light of Christ that lights His Church, which is His body, and in this we have the content of His generation which makes up His inheritance in the saints. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (Ephesians 1:19) Both the light and the generation of Jesus Christ divide all true believers from man, in Adam, and from the world. To obtain this division, this glorious truth must be believed in faith in Jesus Christ. One must be separated from the earth and man before one can breath the new air of heaven and behold the glory of the heavenly Man Jesus Christ.
We are brought to God by a Supernatural Man, Jesus Christ. He creates us with a supernatural power and work, and this new creation is to join us to the Man in heaven who died for us on Calvary’s cross. You can follow the life of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, but it is the Man in heaven that we are joined to. This is where we behold His glory, for even today He is still rejected by the man of the earth. Adam could never find his own way to heaven, nor could he make a path to bring others, but Christ, the Man from heaven, became our forerunner, and we follow Him, and we behold His glory. Let’s consider Hebrews 7:26, For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Do you see the vastness of this verse? It begins on earth where He is separated from sinners, and takes us higher than the heavens. When we are born again by His divine power through the Spirit of God, we are translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son Jesus Christ. As He is separate from sinners, He also separates US from sinners. When we are born of the Spirit, we will never know Him as sinners. We will know Him as redeemed sinners under the sacrifice of His divine blood. He will never look at us as sinners. He will embrace us as brethren. This is our high Priest made higher than the heavens.
The Battle Lines – The Priesthood and The Law – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
As grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1) He has separated us judicially from the law by His divine grace. In Hebrews 7:12, we see that the Aaronic priesthood was changed. For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. There would be no more priesthood upon the earth. God’s divine Priest would be in heaven in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 7:12 not only was the priesthood changed, but the law that the priesthood ministered over also changed; therefore, the heavenly people born of the Spirit of God and justified by the Spirit of Christ are brought into God’s righteousness and made holy and true before the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the spotless Lamb of God, and we are brought into that spotlessness by His divine sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.
Side Note: The Numbers in 7:12. Just a little number sequence on Hebrews 7:12 —the number 7 not only speaks of God’s rest, but it speaks of His perfection and completeness in all that He does. And the number 12 speaks of the nation of Israel. One day when Israel’s eyes are opened by the divine power of God they will see Him, whom they have pierced, and will mourn for Him, however, He will unveil Himself to them as the Son with healing in His wings. They will rejoice in Him and He will rejoice in them. Now, we as believers rejoice evermore. The number 12 also speaks of the sons of Jacob, and that is continued through the city of our God.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,(Revelation 21:10)
Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; (Revelation 21:11)
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: (Revelation 21:12)
We have three equal divisions of the number 12. It is divided equally by the number 2, the number 6, and the number 4. Where the number 12 is so prominent, we have this in the division of the number 12.
If you divide 12 by 2, you get the number 6, this is the number of man. This encompasses the history of the sons of Jacob as men away from God.
If you divide 12 by 6 you get the number of witness: the number 2, for every word is established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. This we see in the Old Testament in Moses and Aaron. Moses was the ministration of the law, and Aaron was the minister of grace. Of course, this was only a reflection of the true Minister of the sanctuary Jesus Christ. For grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
If you divide 12 by 4 you have 3. Four is the number of the world, north, east, south and west. Three is the number of the divine Godhead showing His divine ownership and power over the world. <A Psalm of David.>> The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)
Consequently, in verse 12 of Hebrews Chapter 7 we have the removal of the law, and it is replaced by divine grace. We have the priesthood of Aaron changed to a heavenly priesthood in Jesus Christ after the oath and order of Melchisedec. Divine grace and the divine priesthood are both permanent and superior to the law that was given to Moses for both the priesthood on earth, and the law of earth is replaced by the divine Person, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In Galatians 3:1 – 3 we read the Word of God, but we do not listen to its voice.
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (Galatians 3:1)
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:2)
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
The Galatians were not listening to the mind of the Spirit of God. God had poured out grace upon them, and they were free in Christ. And then, collectively they began to give up their freedom for the law that had been cast away. The devil crept in unawares. This was probably quoted and taken out of context, Our father worshiped, however, this quote was not completed, ‘they knew not what’ they worshiped. Instead of liberty and freedom in Jesus Christ, the traditions of the Jews began to creep into the collective gathering. So much so that even Peter was carried away by the traditions of the Jews, and Peter had to be rebuked by the Spirit of God through the apostle Paul. There is no place for any bondage in the ministry of grace and truth. For Christ has given us freedom and liberty in Himself, a freedom and liberty that the world cannot comprehend.
One truth that has been drastically perverted is the collective meeting is responsible for the truth, the whole truth. The individual (within the collective meeting) is also responsible for the truth, the whole truth. It is easy to be bewitched by Satan, ask the Galatians, as you read their story. Ask Adam and Eve as you read their story. Ask the nation of Israel as you read their story. And through the epistles consider the Church, and consider that story that is revealed by the Spirit of God in how many ways the Church gives up its freedom for the law and for the traditions of men. The world under the rule of both Jew and Gentile will never lead you to heaven. Only the Spirit of God presenting the Man in heaven can truly set you free. And this is why the true saint finds no earthly resting place, the only resting place the saint can find is in heaven with Jesus Christ. What is the danger of error in the collective gathering? It is a danger for Satan wields error to blind precious souls, to cut off the power of the gospel, and to leave precious souls wandering in darkness.
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. (Galatians 2:19) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21)
Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? (Galatians 4:16)
They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. (Galatians 4:17)
But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. (Galatians 4:18)
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (Galatians 4:19)
I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. (Galatians 4:20)
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? (Galatians 4:21)
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)
The law and the traditions of men were the most dangerous elements in the beginning of the Church, and it remains to this very day. For the law and the traditions of men grow as a canker of division, and this canker takes on many names, and is inflamed in many ways. The traditions of men become religions without Christ and without the power of the high Priest Melchisedec. We are born unto Christ for a reason, to separate us from the world and to separate us from Adam, and all of his ways. There is no organization of man (whether large or small) that can replace Jesus Christ. And yet, in many organizations of mankind their religion, their organization, has told Christ to leave. Over the two thousand years plus that the Church of the Lord Jesus has existed the institutions of men have robbed the Lord Jesus of His priesthood, and of His heirship, however, it is not Christ that has lost, it is man. For God’s purpose in the plan of redemption was to have a divine Man sit upon the throne of heaven in all God’s righteousness and holiness as the Redeemer of man. And only through the righteousness of Melchisedec, the Son of God, can man be redeemed. The world in its present form is the prison of slaves. They are slaves to sin, and only when they are taken out of this world by the salvation of the Son of God can they be set free. He has made this possible by the death of Himself on Calvary’s cross. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. This is why the Spirit of God is so powerful in His message to every believer not to be encumbered with this world or the things of this world.
Verse 7 of Chapter 5 of Galatians not only is directed to the church of Galatia, but it is a keynote of warning to the heart of every believer. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? The Spirit of God wants us to realize the value of the race that we are in. When a runner begins, the only goal, the only thought is to finish the course, and to complete the distance, and cross the finish line. During the course of the run in the marathon of life there are many turns, there are many obstacles, and physical and psychological weariness. There are countless voices to distract from the course, yelling ‘Quit,’ but the runner (the Christian) in determination presses on by the power of the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ. He knows our frame, He knows well our point of weariness, and He knows our strengthens and our weaknesses. It is only His bright light, His strength, His power that keeps us pushing in the divine race that He has set us on.
When I read Galatians 5:7 I think of king Asa, in the Old Testament, in the beginning of his reign he ran well, for God was in his thoughts, however, in his old age, Asa developed disease in his feet, and he sought after the physicians and not after God. He did run well, but fell out of the path of faith, and he died with disease in his feet. With disease in one’s feet one cannot walk with God, one cannot walk the good path or run the race of faith. Laying faith and grace aside for the law or for the traditions of man has led us to a united world church of unbelief. These organizations are more the children of devil, and the ministers of the fires of hell, and not of the faith and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Walking their aisles is the devil’s maze to modern man. They may say, ‘Come worship with us,’ but they do not know who or what they worship; therefore, they entice many into their by-pass meadow of deceit. We see the message to the church of apostasy, to the church without faith in Galatians Chapter 6, verses 7 and 8. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:8)
Even though the law was ended by the sacrifice of Christ, and grace was given, the new man, the new creation is responsible to the One who has created him. Christ is our tree of life, and it is only His fruit, and His Person that we should partake of. We have been given a divine freedom from sin and from the world in Jesus Christ. We are responsible to keep ourselves for Him as a chaste virgin. He is the One and only One who has our loyalty. This separates us to Him, and from the world.
Even though the law is gone, Satan dangles his carrots of tradition with ‘Our fathers worship in this mountain.’ And the traditions of men become a bondage to hinder the believer’s relationship to his God, and his Savior Jesus Christ. The devil has had a host of false prophets through the entire history of mankind. And it is no different today, and this is why the Spirit of God maintains the Word of God so that man may find the truth that is in Jesus, and Jesus alone. We live in an age of deception, and it is quite evident that we are bombarded with lies every day. The entire outlets of media, of entertainment, of education, and of our society are bombarding us with their deceptive lies continually. The only refuge that we have is in the presence of the Lord Jesus. And He will give us the power to discern His truth, and to show us, and to reveal to our hearts and spirits the lies of the world, and the lies of religion. The false prophets, and the false preachers, and the false teachers, etc. have ravished the Church so much so that the Lord has spewed them out of His mouth. They have desired darkness, and now darkness has come upon them. They have refused the light, and now the light has refused them.
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (Revelation 3:15)
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16)
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (Revelation 3:17)
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (Revelation 3:18)
To magnify this thought of the Spirit in Revelation Chapter 3, we have the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 18:8, for He said of Himself that when the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the earth? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8) And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: (Luke 18:9)You say, This is not so! How can this happen? Remember, we have the testimony of the Spirit of God, the Man from heaven came into the world of darkness, and they rejected His light. His light had come to all men, to all nations, to all the religious leaders, to all the leaders of men; His light was in the world of darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. He came unto His own, Israel, and they received Him not. He had ministered to all the people, to the Jews, to the Samaritans, to the Greeks, and to the Romans. He had looked over Jerusalem with tears in His eyes, and He wept as He proclaimed these words over Jerusalem.
Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. (Luke 13:33)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Luke 13:34)
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Luke 13:35)
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: (Matthew 23:34)
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35)
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:36)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37)
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matthew 23:38)
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:39)
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, (Luke 19:41)
For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. (2nd Corinthians 2:4)
We are dealing with the divine tears of history. The tears of God are real concerning His people. The Lord Jesus looked over Jerusalem and with a heavy heart had to give them up. He looked at Lazarus and wept. (John 11:35) And then we have the tears of the Spirit of God, although they come forth from the apostle Paul. It is the mind of the Spirit that brings these words forth for the care of not only one Church, but of all the Churches. For it is the work of the Holy Spirit of God to oversee, to guide, to draw and to weep for our condition, and our rejection of the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of us, who have been born of the Spirit of God, have wept over a family member, or a stranger, holding their hand as they pass into darkness without Christ. The heart cries out with the mind of the Spirit, Come to Christ. The soul cries out in the power of the Spirit, Come to Christ. The Spirit of God Himself, through the redeemed, cries out, Come to Christ. Many times, I write as Paul wrote with a heavy heart, with a tear in my eyes, for the condition of the Church and for the lost of this world. On some occasions the burden for souls has been so great, and so heavy that I cry out within, and ask the Lord to give me the strength to write these things of life and death. Please, see through the eyes of the great high Priest, your Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen to the Spirit of God, commit what is left of your sojourn down here, commit your faith and turn the world upside down. The battle is great, there many warriors, but there are few men of valor. Pick up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and march to the battle cry, ‘He is not here He is risen.’ Tell them about the Man in heaven at the right hand of God, and listen for the sound of the trumpet, and the voice, Come up hither.
The Godhead Bodily – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
The law of Moses, or the laws of religion only leads to bondage. Listen to these simple words from the Savior’s voice, If the son shall set you free ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36) Staying with the word ‘made’ and who was ‘made’ we turn to Hebrews 7:16, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Notice it is not what was made, but who was made. The ‘who’ being Jesus Christ in the body that was prepared for Him. (Hebrews 10) He was not made under the natural forces of man, He was made after the power of an endless life. In Him WAS life, and BY Him all life exists. That life was given and He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh to bring the light of God to man, and to drive out the darkness of sin. He is the life of men, and He is the light of man. All truth must come through Jesus Christ. The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not, and still does not comprehend it today. For the Lord Jesus was made in the power of the whole Godhead, and BY the whole Godhead, and He brought the whole Godhead bodily to mankind. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:10)
All the power of the Godhead was committed and availed in Jesus Christ. This is where we have to relieve the pressure on our brain, and seek the mind of the Spirit. The Lord in His communion spoke of the oneness that He had with the Father. He spoke of their inseparable union, and in this we see the completeness, the cohesion, something that cannot be separated, and this is the Godhead bodily in Jesus Christ. He addressed the Father as a Son, as an obedient Son, and He also told His disciples that He would send HIS Spirit (showing His union with the Spirit of God). Compare John 15:26 with Romans 8:9. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26) But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)
We see the fullness of the Godhead bodily sent of the Father of lights and perfection. This is the Spirit’s voice concerning the Lord Jesus, and it is the Spirit’s mission to glorify the incarnate GodMan. It is for the Spirit of God to reveal the Supernatural Man, and to reveal to man today that this Supernatural Man lives in heaven above in the power of an endless life. In relationship to the Lord’s manifestation, and His death, and His resurrection, He told His disciples as the resurrected Man that ALL power in heaven and in earth was committed unto Him, the Man Christ Jesus. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18) Had God ever manifested Himself in the Old Testament in this way: made of a woman, made under the law? No. The Lord’s manifestation, although made of a woman, was the uniqueness and the supernatural come from heaven. His very conception was totally beyond the scope of Adam and man. There was a divine body prepared for the sacrifice of sin because the Lord Jesus knew that He was THAT divine sacrifice. We see His sacrifice foretold by Abraham as Abraham and Isaac ascended mount Moriah, which is the mount of Calvary, which is the mount of the skull, which is death. Abraham told Isaac that God would provide HIMSELF a sacrifice that God would lay down His life.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Hebrews 10:5)
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. (Hebrews 10:6)
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Hebrews 10:7)
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; (Hebrews 10:8)
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9)
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
In this short scripture section we have the voice of the Son, the will of the Father, and the prepared sacrifice for the sin of the world, and a body totally prepared by the fullness of the Godhead to take away the sin of the world, and carried by the Spirit of God to the womb of Mary.
Paradise in Time – Paradise in Eternity – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
The crown of thorns was immensely symbolic for it not only displayed the curse that the world was under, but because it was made by the hands of sinful men it put the responsibility of the curse, the thorns and the thistles, and sin totally upon mankind. The extent of the sacrifice of Christ cannot be understood in its totality by the sons of men. The enmity of man’s heart, soul and spirit is totally against the Almighty God. There were two known thieves on the side of the Lamb of God, and yet, not one of them bore a crown of thorns. Not one of them was arrayed in a robe of purple. Not one of them was mocked by the crowd, yet, the Lord Jesus bore all their enmity as God Himself. We cannot understand the extent of the fall of Adam, nor can we understand the extent of the sacrifice of Christ. We must behold it and believe it by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
We do understand in the fall of man that it was a fall into eternal darkness with no escape. When Adam stood at the tree (in the paradise of Eden) and partook of the fruit he completely cut himself off from God into eternal darkness. It is only through the great high Priest (who offered Himself as the Lamb of God as the offering for sin) that we can find redemption. Only through the sin offering can man stand in the presence of God. It took the blood of the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, to bring redemption to man for man could not find an escape except God provides an escape for him.
The Lord Jesus was prefigured in the first sacrifice. Remember that the first sacrifice of blood was by the hands of God Himself in the garden. God would provide Himself a sacrifice, a Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The Lord God sacrificed the animals and covered both Adam and Eve with the skins of death to remind them all the days of their life of their sin and what it cost. The first recorded death in the holy scriptures was the death of an innocent victim: a lamb(s). And even with the covering of these skins they were still driven out from the presence of God into a world of thorns and thistles.
Before Adam brought sin into the world, the paradise of God was not only a physical habitation, but a spiritual habitation. This is confirmed in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Chapter 2, verse 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. In this verse, through Jesus Christ, the overcomer is brought back to the paradise of God; this is the spiritual habitation of those who are justified in Jesus Christ. This is the redeemed position of the saint brought into the presence of God. We receive the fruit of the tree of life in Jesus Christ, therefore, Christ returns us to the paradise of God.
Adam was driven out from the presence of God into a world which was under a curse because of his sin. All aspects of the creation of the world were turned upside down because of the sin of Adam. Man was completely cut off from God and dwelt in a land of thorns and thistles. The contempt of man and his hatred for God (for being driven out of the garden) still raged in the hearts of men when they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Their hatred for God and the curse that they were under was symbolized by the crown of thorns which they plated into the brow of the Son of God. This was not the regal crown or the diadem of the Lord of glory, and King of Kings. This was the enmity and utter contempt of mankind against God denying God’s rightful place and sovereignty over man. Remember, the phrase in the book of Hebrews 6:6, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame. They displayed their contempt for God by every action, by every scowl, by every contemptible word for God in the Person of Jesus Christ. They made a show of Him openly to all, and then mocked Him saying ‘come down from the cross.’ Remember that they were the ones who had stated that the whole world would go after Him to save them from their sin and corruption. Therefore, they must kill the heir of all things for the inheritance of the vineyard. Little did they understand that this One had the power of an endless life.
They knew He was the promised Messiah. They knew that He was the promised heir of the vineyard, They knew that He had come from above, yet, Adam, in his fallen state, could not see out of the abyss of darkness. By the hand and the will of both Jew and Gentile, they crucified the Prince of Life. Today the world and the world church treat salvation so blasé, as if we deserve it, after all God has no choice but to save us, how far from the truth and the determinate counsels of God. The expressions of the world church and the world come from the world of Adam, and not from the Man in heaven. The same enmity and contempt for God exist in a gospel of works and penitence. This same contempt exists when man thinks that he has, or has obtained (in Adam) the goodness of God. Only through the divine movement of the Spirit of God wooing, bringing repentance, bringing faith, bringing belief, and therefore, ministering grace can one be saved. It is entirely of God and not of man. Man hides behind the mask of Adam. It is a monstrous mask of mythical love that man has contrived. It is not mankind who ‘so loved the world,’ but it is God who so loved the world.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16
Man (in Adam) lost all the strands of love in his fall, and man cannot and will not know true love except it is given from above. I give you the example: in our own day the word ‘love’ is used so loosely without any meaning, without any purpose, and without any truth. I see two reasons for this: by the world using the word ‘love’ the Christian (who is loved by the love of God) and has the love of God within him, lets down his guard against evil, for he is thinking of the eternal love of God while the world is using the word ‘love’ in guile. Secondly, the more that the word ‘love’ is used, the more it loses its value. And it also confuses the relationship of mankind because from the mouth of man comes his prefabricated love, and in the next breath his spews out hatred for those that he once loved. The Lord Jesus wanted us to understand His true love, the only true love that man can know. He gave this example to His disciples. Herein is love that a man lay down his life for his friends. He was speaking of Himself, and His divine love, and the definition of that love was His life. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) This is the value of eternal love in Christ Jesus our Lord. And it should not be taken lightly because He, in the bonds of true love, laid down His life for us. In the body that was prepared with all the power of heaven and earth there was, and is, an immeasurable power of the divine love of God. And this love brings eternal life to as many as believes in Him who has the power of an endless life. In Hebrews 7:16 I would like to suggest what the carnal commandment was. I believe that it was the commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve in Genesis Chapter 3, verses 16 – 19.
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. (Genesis 3:16)
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (Genesis 3:17)
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; (Genesis 3:18)
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)
I always refer to Adam here only because he was placed in the position of dominion and headship, however, the two main characters in these verses are the serpent and Eve. God was speaking directly to them. God referred to Eve first because she was deceived first, not Adam. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. (1 Timothy 2:13) And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14)
I must say this: even though in our present age all is upside down. The judgment of God in the garden was on both male and female. Remember, in the beginning God called them BOTH Adam. And it was God who formed the bond between man and woman by taking a rib from Adam, this was to establish an inseparable bond that was broken at the tree of good and evil when Eve was deceived. The judgment against Eve was the depth of sorrow that she would bear for her transgression against God. Her pain of childbearing would be like the pain of death, although she would live through this, she would remember the judgment of God upon her (I am speaking of Eve). However, God gave a window of hope in the seed of the woman, not the seed of Adam. Eve did not come from the dust of the ground. Eve (although she was a transgressor) did not betray her standing before God because she had a standing before her husband, and she was given by God to be in subjection to her husband, therefore, God tells us that it was Adam (when he partook of the fruit of the tree) who brought sin into the world. At THAT point Adam forfeited life, he forfeited his dominion, he forfeited his relationship with God, he forfeited paradise for a waste land, he forfeited complete dependence upon God to a rebel’s existence without God. Adam forfeited his estate, he forfeited his position of headship, he forfeited his habitation in a domain of righteousness for a domain of thorns and thistles. He chose sin instead of righteousness.
In the division of the seed of the serpent and the woman, we have the evil seed, and we also have the seed of hope. To the serpent, God presents a seed of evil, and that seed will fight against the seed of hope. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. (Galatians 4:29) The seed of hope, which is born after the Spirit will be in conflict with the seed of the enemy. The devil’s seed will continue to try to destroy the godly seed which we see in the murder of Abel by Cain. This destructive path of murder continued to the fullness of time when they murdered the Prince of Life, and will continue to beyond the millennial kingdom when man (the evil seed) will finally be judged by God at the last judgment at the great white throne of the Almighty God.
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. (Galatians 4:28)
These verses from the book of Galatians fill in a lot of blanks through the history of man. They confirm the divine seed which is Christ. They confirm the seed of promise in Abraham, and they confirm the seed of Christ in us; for we are also children of His promise. Man’s religion cannot fill in these blanks. Religion cannot present to us a divine Being who laid down His life to purchase His divine possession which is His bride, born out of His side with the power of an endless life. The Lord Jesus has always been the center of the determinate counsels of God. He has always been the focal point of God’s will and God’s plan of redemption. In Hebrews Chapter 10, we see the One who delights to do the will of God.
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Hebrews 10:7)
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; (Hebrews 10:8)
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9)
The seed of hope was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man in Adam cannot understand this infinite love of God. For the God of creation saw the garden of the tomb when He slew the first sacrifice in the presence of Adam and Eve in the paradise of God.
God knew the total time line of mankind. He knew all the wickedness that man would bring into the world. He saw and knew the blood of Abel, even though Abel’s time was not yet. He knew that the conflict had already begun between the Almighty God and mankind, and that consequently, mankind would be energized in part by Satan. God’s creation was already groaning from sin that had come into the world. Remember, sin is not only an action, but sin is also a tangible object that has ruined man and God’s creation. It is from the sin of Adam (the tangible sin) that came into the world that God specifically declared of Adam that ‘by one man SIN (tangible sin) came into the world.’ SIN was so dramatic, and so tragically complete that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This shows the magnitude of tangible sin that has been built upon by the sins of mankind from the garden to our present age, and onward. When one sees the magnitude of sin, one can only cry out to God concerning the unclean lips of man and the sin of man. Mankind has become a shedder of blood, and throughout his history he has caused rivers of blood to flow. He has stained the whole world with blood. The Lord Jesus declared to the Jews (thinking not only of just the Jews, but the time line of mankind, more than two thousand plus years ago) that they were of their father the devil, and that he was a murderer from the beginning. This leaves no doubt that the seed of Adam, the seed of inheritance, the seed of the first born, who was Cain, was of the evil seed, the seed of the devil. For it was Adam who had brought sin into the world, and death by sin. Abel’s death, the seed of the woman, was to reveal the conflict that God had pronounced in Genesis Chapter 3. In the death of Abel, in God’s determinate counsels, God would establish His divine faith in Abel, as we see in Hebrews Chapter 11.
The Seed – The Divine Seed – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
God would not be deterred for He gave the woman another seed in Seth. And Seth became the seed of hope. This is the division of the seed of Adam from the seed of the woman throughout the history of mankind. Adam wants his dominion back, and fights against God to acquire the kingdom that he once possessed. Satan wants his kingdom back, and fights against God to acquire it. This conflict was prevalent right up to the flood. In this conflict the battle lines were drawn when the daughters of men co-mingled with the sons of God. This was to take back Adam’s dominion, and to cast the seed of hope out of this world. Yet, Noah found grace in the eyes of God, and by this God kept His seed from the destruction of the world.
In the promises to Abraham, God changed the seed of the woman to the seed of man in Abraham. For in Isaac, thy seed shall be called. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. (Genesis 21:12) And compare this with Romans 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. We read in Hebrews 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called. This phrase Isaac shall thy seed be called is recorded only three times in the entire Bible.
Remember, that in the text in Galatians, that Isaac was born of the Spirit. This shows God enhancing the plan of redemption after the flood based on the seed in Isaac. This would be to fulfill the promises that God made to Abraham, that his seed would be as the sand of the sea, and as the stars of heaven (innumerable). This gives us the earthly promises that will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ, and this is of the earth, earthy. And the stars of the sky (or heaven) bring in the heavenly promise of a great company of just men made perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40)
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,(Hebrews 12:23)
After the flood, God called Abraham out of the darkness of Ur of Chaldees. Through this one man, God established the promise of and for Abraham’s seed. For in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And this seed would lead us to the fulness of time. However, Isaac’s seed was just a type, a shadow of the divine seed which is Jesus Christ. And this seed came forth in the fulness of time. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Notice that in Galatians 3:16 how the Spirit of God goes from the earthly (in the seed of Abraham) to the supernatural and to thy seed, which is Christ. We should understand this divine action that the Holy Spirit of God brought the seed of God (in Jesus Christ) from heaven’s glory and placed that ‘holy thing’ within the womb of Mary. This was a supernatural act to give a supernatural Savior, to bring us into a supernatural world. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. This is the reason that we, as the children of God, are in constant conflict with the world. This conflict is real, and we see it every day, and in every way: men and women divided, rebellious children, nations at strife without and within, war and tumult of peoples, blood upon blood, a tempest of humanity like rabid dogs, evil driving man to insanity until every action and word is evil. The beginning of the words of his mouth [is] foolishness: and the end of his talk [is] mischievous madness. (Ecclesiastes 10:13) This [is] an evil among all [things] that are done under the sun, that [there is] one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness [is] in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3) Man’s hatred for God is magnified by his actions to follow sin and the works of the devil. Man has continued (like Cain) to shed man’s blood. Man is a messenger of sin, thus, sin brings forth death. This all began in paradise, the garden of God. Man is without excuse, for like Satan, and the host of angels in chains waiting for their final judgment, Adam also left his first estate, from paradise to thorns and thistles, from contentment to working by the sweat of his face, and from the presence of the Almighty to the dominion of the prince of this world: Satan. From love to hate, from good to evil, this is mankind, ALL man without hope and without God in this world. Only divine light through the divine seed, Jesus Christ, can one obtain the light of God and eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Man is seen as a tripartite being, he has a heart, he has a soul, and he has a spirit; all of these are under the condemnation of God. All of these have to be changed (supernaturally) by the new birth, the new creation in Jesus Christ. This creation cannot come from the earth, it must come from heaven itself, from the divine seed of hope, the eternal hope in the Savior of man, Jesus Christ, the GodMan who is the foundation of all righteousness.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38)
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:39)
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)
And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. (John 8:23)
The Tree – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
The Lord Jesus came from heaven above. He came specifically to call out a people for Himself. And because He is the divine seed of God (from heaven) He is able to give to them eternal life, and give it more abundantly. For He is not made after the law of carnal commandments, but after the power of an endless life. We need to lay hold on our position in Him, and by Him for we have been brought into His heirship as brethren, and as the sons of God. We have been translated into His kingdom by the mighty power of God. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13) We have been taken out of darkness and put into His light and His life by the Holy Spirit of God. We have been placed in a greater dominion than Adam ever had, even before sin. Adam could not know the power of redemption, and the love of God as proven by his seed Cain. This was the evil seed. And this evil was dealt its final blow on another tree of both death and life. With the tree of Adam, God’s phrase was ‘thou shalt surely die.’ However, the cross or the tree on which Christ was crucified became the symbol of life, and not death. The Son of God went through the travail and pain of death so that He might bring life to as many as believed on Him. The first tree changed man from good to evil, from life to death, and turned man from God to Satan. The cross of the Lord Jesus (the tree of death and life) has changed man from evil to good in Christ, from man and Satan to God (as His children) from death to life in the One who has the power of an endless life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Once again I refer you to my life’s verse Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Every moment of life, every breath, every thought always comes back to this wonderful verse. For we see the wonder of Him who is wonderful. We see the divine Counselor in the bosom of the everlasting Father, we see the mighty God with all power in heaven and earth, we see the Prince of Peace. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)
Priest – King – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Yes, we are still in Hebrews Chapter 7. Are you seeing the tremendous importance of this chapter? This chapter brings together the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ as the King of peace. They are united to show us the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah that will take place in the millennial kingdom of Christ. That He will sit on His throne as both Priest and King.
And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: (Zechariah 6:12)
Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:13)
As the Son of God, as Melchisedec, He has brought God’s righteousness and peace together. He is the BRANCH of Zechariah Chapter 6, and Zechariah 3:8 and 9, Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. (Zechariah 3:8) For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. (Zechariah 3:9)
He will build the temple of the Lord. He will redeem all Israel. He, the Lord Jesus, will sit as both Priest and King upon His throne of righteousness. He is the only One who can bear the title of Melchisedec, as both Priest and King. In the Old Testament it is recorded of king Uzziah that he tried to be both king and priest. He went into the temple of God to offer up incense (which was not his proper position before God). He was a king, and not a priest. Therefore, God struck him with leprosy, and from that point on he lived apart in a separate house until his death.
But Melchisedec is a divine Being, He is a divine Priest, and He is a divine King. And when the Lord Jesus sits upon His throne He will rule Israel and the nations, He will also make supplication for the nations and for Israel. This will be a government of peace, a peace that the world will know for a thousand years.
Zechariah is one of the prophets that has been neglected, yet, the prophecies in Zechariah take us into the very heart of the millennial kingdom. It is very important to see the movement of the Lord Jesus Christ through the history of the Jews. He has intervened throughout their history to preserve them as a nation. He has made supplications for them in their rebellion. In the book of Hosea, God cried out that His heart was turned within Him because of the sin of Ephraim. And yet, Ephraim continued as a wild ass. Even now, in our age, we have this wonder: a people who had been scattered all over the world for thousands of years. They had ceased to be a cohesive nation with a central organized government even before they were invaded by the Roman Empire, and in 70 A.D. they were scattered at the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, yet, in the divine whisper, God called them back to the sands of Israel, and God once again formed a nation that was not a nation. This was through God’s divine counsel. From all over the world He brought the children of Jacob together, and this we see today, this is a reality of the movement of God with the sons of Jacob. In the prophecy of Zechariah, we see this gathering together, but this is only a window of a future nation.
The nation of Israel today is not looking for the Son of God coming from the east as a bolt of lightning. They are still occupying the land in their own independence from God, yet, God is hovering over them to keep them. In the prophecy of Zechariah there will be one more great tribulation for the children of Israel. One day they will be besieged by the whole world. They will be embattled, and they will be wearied, and without hope. Then, they who are left, a remnant out of every tribe will see the lightning coming from the east, even the Son of Man with healing in His wings. The Lord Jesus will come as Captain of the Lord of hosts, as the angel of the Lord, and Jesus Christ, as the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. He will destroy the powers of the nations, and He will establish His millennial kingdom for a thousand years. They will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and will ask Him, What are these wounds in thy hands? And He will tell them, These are the wounds that I received in the house of my brethren. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. (Zechariah 13:6) And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)
God assures the children of faith and grace that through grace and truth their Savior is both the eternal Priest and the eternal King. The Priest brings in ALL righteousness, and the King brings in ALL peace. This is why Chapter 7 of the book of Hebrews divides the book into two sections. For in the fullness of time God divided the world, and heaven with His Son, and Hebrews Chapter 7 is all about the embodiment of grace and truth, and righteousness and peace in Jesus Christ.
The Perfect One
The Urim and the Thummim – The Perfection of God – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
We must move on . . . let’s consider Chapter 7, verse 19 – For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. It is quite evident that the law made nothing perfect. For the law was always to show mankind its own imperfection, and to expose mankind to his own sin, and to enlighten man that he was a sinner for man could not keep the law of God. For the law made nothing perfect. Therefore, we must look for perfection. Where is perfection found? And if found, who can be made perfection? This brings us to the throne of God, and to Jesus Christ who is made perfect so that we might be made perfect in Him. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:9) The Lord Jesus is both lights and perfection. (Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8) He is ALL perfection, and He gives us His perfection. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, ( Hebrews 12:23)
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Hebrews 11:40 also brings in the fullness of time for in the sacrifice and death of the Lord Jesus Christ both Old Testament, and New Testament saints are made perfect in Christ. Although time might divide them, they are joined by the blood of Christ, and as they are a shadow of Israel’s redemption, so we are the shadows of a future completion of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ when all is brought together by the Savior and the Sovereign of all things.
All the shadows of sacrifice, from the garden to Abel, throughout the history of Israel, to the Son of God all the offerings (whether it is before the flood or after the flood) whether it is from the call of Abraham, or the call of Israel, and all the offerings, all the blood of bulls and goats could not make the sinner perfect before God. As the law made nothing perfect, perfection had to come by One who was all perfection. (Proverbs 8) We search for wisdom, yet, we will not obey its call. Wisdom cries out in its own righteousness for man to come to the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. For what the law could not do – For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)
God brought in a better hope in Christ our Lord. There is a big difference between the saint waiting for heaven and the saint living in heaven. Faith opens the door to heaven where the Lord Jesus sits on the right hand of God.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
A Point of Meditation: To the heart, to the soul, to the spirit your eyes are opened to the Sovereign on His throne with all glory and honor. The music of heaven fills the true tabernacle, and this fills your heart with a yearning to spend time in the presence of Jesus Christ. The pen glides with endless thoughts of the glory of Christ. The page is transformed with line upon line, and precept upon precept, and thought upon thought all blending with the Spirit of grace and truth. The heart, the spirit, the very depth of the soul cries out, ‘Let me stay awhile, and let me stay here with You to know more about You.’ In your thoughts you cry out, ‘Don’t send me back, let me abide in this place, my blessed Lord and Savior teach me Thy precepts, tell me more, take me into Thy counsels that I might see the wonder of my God.’ As the blue gives way to the darkness, and the stars stream by the first heaven, the second heaven, and to the third heaven to higher than the heavens, Let me stay awhile and drink of Thy love. Let me eat the true manna, and let me drink from the true fountain of life, embrace me with Your love and make it shine through me to others, to the souls of men lost in this darkness. Give the word, the thought, the very pen of a ready writer to proclaim Thy glory, the glory of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
There is no greater power than the love of God for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. God beseeches man to draw nigh unto Him through the way, and the truth, and the life which is Jesus Christ. God has established this door, and He has given this door to us, and the keeper of this door is the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20) I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9) By the which we draw nigh unto God . . . .
The Oath – The Order – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (Hebrews 7:20)
(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) (Hebrews 7:21)
The oath of Melchisedec is different from the order of Melchisedec. For the oath had to be between two: one giving the oath and the other receiving the oath, and the oath began before the foundation of the world between God the Father and God the Son. The order of Melchisedec covers the responsibility, and the action of the oath that the Lord Jesus was appointed by an oath within the Godhead to a position of the holy and divine Priest, Melchisedec.
The priesthood of Aaron was not divine. Aaron was not deity. He was given (with all the things of God) the tabernacle, the ordinances, the law, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, etc. In this position, Aaron was subject to God to perform the ordinances on earth that God commanded. This all typified the true divine Priest, in heaven, Melchisedec, the Lord Jesus Christ. Under the Aaronic priesthood man was subject to God. God was not subject to man. However, because of the sin of Adam mans’ mind does not work according to divine righteousness. There are many who believe that man is subject to his own history so that history, in some ways, dictates his present and his future. Adam, because of sin, would replace God, the Creator of all things, with an amoeba. Adam was of the earth, earthy, and the Lord Jesus was the Lord from heaven. In verse 20, we see the inner workings and the division of the determinate counsels of God. God allows us to see His thoughts and His very actions before the world was. The Son of God put Himself in complete subjection to God the Father. He was the center point and the actor of God’s total plan of redemption. He would be the Creator of all things by the very hand and Word of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all things were created by Him, and for Him. And by Him all things consist.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15)
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17)
In this plan all had to be founded on the foundation of God’s righteousness before the power of creation could begin. In many ways God would be transforming eternity and bringing parts of eternity into a realm of time. He would then take His desired prize out of time and place it in eternity, and this is the body of Christ and all the redeemed by His blood. Therefore, even creation had to be established by God’s divine righteousness, and this righteousness was IN and BY Jesus Christ. As the foundation of God’s plan, Christ became the foundation stone. And He, through the course of time, would uphold the righteousness of God. When Adam sinned it did not change the righteousness of God, but now the righteousness of God had to enact judgment upon mankind for man had sinned. If we fast forward to the cross, we see the righteousness of God being made sin for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He, being the foundation of righteousness, forged a path by His death so that He might redeem His own, and make them partakers of His divine righteousness. This all comes under the oath of Melchisedec that was given before the foundation of the world.
When the Father sent His Son into the world, it was to display the righteousness of God in His Son. When the Lord Jesus told John that they must fulfill all righteousness He was already looking to the cross of Calvary. His baptism began His saving ministry to all men displaying His capability and His power to persuade man that He was their Savior and God. Under the oath of Melchisedec the Lord Jesus knew the place of the skull from before the foundation of the earth. He knew what it would take to redeem man, and take for Himself a bride in the Church. It would cost Him His life, His blood to overcome and then present His Church to Himself, a glorious Church, a holy Church, founded on His own righteousness. And all this would be completely fulfilled yesterday, today and forever. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
In this book of Hebrews the Holy Spirit begins to reveal the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ in Chapter 2: 17 and 18.
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)
For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)
This begins the revelation of His eternal Priesthood as Melchisedec in relationship to the body that was prepared for Him. (Hebrews 10:5) Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: The high Priest became the bearer of sin to take sin out of the way, but also He was made under the law to fulfill the law in His divine righteousness. And this gave Him the capability to be the embodiment of grace, for even in grace the debt of Adam’s sin had to be satisfied, and only One could satisfy the judicial counsels of God, and that was the high Priest, Melchisedec, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made like unto His brethren to bring the divine priesthood of Melchisedec into the realm of Adam or man. He took on Him the likeness of sinful flesh so that He could judge sinful flesh by His divine righteousness after the oath of Melchisedec. God was manifested in the flesh to take away the sin of the world. In His baptism He was fulfilling divine righteousness so that John could look upon Him and declare that the Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Only God could do this for it was out of the natural order. It had to be a supernatural act from His very conception to His death, and His resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of God. Each step would have to be completed so that He could redeem precious souls out of this world into His presence as the Redeemer and the Man of God’s righteousness in heaven for us. No man could use the words of the Lord Jesus in fulfilling the righteousness of God.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. (Matthew 3:13)
But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? (Matthew 3:14)
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3:15)
These words could only come from the eternal Priest, the foundation of God’s righteousness, the Priest of the divine oath after the order of Melchisedec. The righteousness of God had come down to earth in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was at His baptism that He began His walk to the cross. John, being the son of Zacharias, was a direct descendant of Aaron and the last high priest out of the lineage of Aaron although rejected by man. Therefore, John was the only one who could present the Lamb of God to the world, and in doing so, John was, thus, fulfilling the work of the priesthood of Aaron when he baptized the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, John’s baptism was the baptism of death, as the Lamb was brought to the high priest the sin of the guilty was laid upon the head of the lamb. It was there that the lamb became the sin bearer, consequently, and at the baptism of the Lord Jesus, He became the sin bearer and would bear the sin of the world on the cross of Calvary. Through His ministry as Melchisedec He would complete His course to the cross, and offer Himself as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world to fulfill the divine righteousness of God. In fulfilling the righteous claims of God against mankind because of sin, God would be satisfied. For now in death He could bring forth life. And the cross, although a symbol of death, supernaturally was transformed by God to a tree of life. As the brazen altar (in the tabernacle) began the path to the mercy seat, the total walk of the Priest of God was to bring the blood of sacrifice to the mercy seat. And there on the mercy seat the righteousness of God was completely satisfied. As Christ offered Himself for sin, He also placed His own blood on the mercy seat in heaven, and fulfilled His oath, and order as Melchisedec, the eternal high Priest.
What was the necessity that Christ be both Priest and the offering for sin? Under the oath of Melchisedec, Christ was responsible for fulfilling all righteousness: as the Priest He must bring the sacrifice, and as the Lamb He must BE the sacrifice. This is where the supernatural becomes far greater than our understanding.
The King and His Kingdom – The Plan
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
We now have a Man in heaven who has sat down on the right hand on the majesty on high. He is anointed with the oil of gladness upon His own throne which is His throne of majesty as well as His throne of grace. In considering the oil of gladness, we see the Priest in His anointing upon the throne of His majesty with a scepter of righteousness in His hand, for as Melchisedec He loves and does love righteousness, and He does hate iniquity.
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;(Hebrews 1:3)
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8)
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:9)
One day the Lord Jesus will sit on His millennial throne on earth, however, today He sits on His eternal throne in heaven as King of heaven.
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. (Daniel 4:37)
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: (Daniel 4:34)
Nebuchadnezzar was a king full of pride, and the Lord humbled him, and took away his throne. He suffered seven years as he dwelt among the beasts of the field, eating grass. Then God opened his eyes, and Nebuchadnezzar understood that there was a God in heaven who was the eternal King and Priest; all God’s works were truth and righteousness, or judgment, this was proved at the cross of Christ. Do you know the many titles that God takes under His kingship? Here are some of these titles that I have studied, and like Nebuchadnezzar if you study the position of our glorious King you will understand the wonder of who sits upon the throne the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 – the King (Isaiah 33:17) (Luke 19:38)
2 – the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2)
3 – the King of Israel (John 1:47, 49)
4 – the King of saints (Revelation 15:3, 4)
5 – the King eternal of ages (1 Timothy 1:17)
6 – the King of righteousness and peace (Hebrews 7:1-3)
7 – the King of heaven (Daniel 4:37, 34)
8 – the King of glory (Psalm 24:7, 8)
9 – the King of Kings (Revelation 19:12 – 16)
10 – my King and my God (Psalm 5:2) (Psalm 44:4)
11 – King over all the earth (Psalm 47:2, 7)
12 – King of nations (Jeremiah 10:7)
The scope of the Lord’s kingship thoroughly fills up eternity, and the conclusion is that His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Here is a thought you need to evaluate: there are many who spend countless hours in the study of prophecy, however, in your new birth you are taken out of prophecy for you have been linked to the divine Man in heaven by your new birth, and by your new creation; yes, prophecy can be studied, but we should always remember that we have been removed from this evil world to serve the living God. It is the message of salvation that we are responsible for, prophecy will be fulfilled, but while we are here, as the body of Christ, we have been given the everlasting gospel to preach, to teach, and to pass to all men that God through the message of the gospel will save many souls. His kingdom is truly an everlasting kingdom.
In Zechariah’s prophecy, which I referred to before, the Lord Jesus will sit on His throne in His millennial kingdom as both Priest and King. And as the Lord Jesus is all truth, that the truth is in Jesus, He is also the Spirit of prophecy. He wears the garments of righteousness as Melchisedec, the great high Priest; and He wears the crown of sovereignty as the King of righteousness, both crowns beautifully knit together in the Man in heaven for us the Lord Jesus Christ.
The importance of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ must be monumental in the eyes of the Spirit for in the book of Hebrews beginning at Chapter 2, we are introduced to the divine Priest, and then the Spirit of God continues to paint the spiritual portrait of the high Priest of the oath of Melchisedec. As we have seen the many titles, or positions of the King in Jesus Christ, we only have one title that depicts His eternal priesthood, and this name and title takes in His whole Person, and this name and title is Melchisedec which is given to display both His priestly righteousness, and His kingly righteousness, and gives us the result in the King of peace. (Hebrews 7:1-3) You should see these together in the divine display of the Son of God. As we read in Hebrews Chapter 1, verses 8 – 9, it is God who declared the beginning, it is God who declared the One who is on the throne, for we have these words, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. This is the same Son who purged our sin and has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3) The throne sitter, being the Son of God, could not be any plainer even if the heavens were opened and God declared these very words aloud to mankind, they would still not believe. We have the very words of the Holy Spirit of God, He is the vicar of Christ, and the Holy Spirit has spoken. Consider again, Hebrews Chapter 1:8 and 9.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8)
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:9)
This is the Comforter whom Jesus Christ sent. He is here to put the very words of God into the mind, the heart, the spirit, and into the soul of every believer in Jesus Christ. We have been created, and the Comforter (the Spirit of God) has been given by Jesus Christ to lead us into all truth, and to glorify the Son of God. The Lord Jesus proclaimed that the Comforter would not speak of Himself, but would declare the glories of the Son of God, and He would lead those in Christ through this world with all truth. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)
Melchisedec- The Plan and The Planner
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Why the name Melchisedec? This name is unique for this name could only be given to the anointed high Priest of God, the eternal Priest who is anointed with the oil of gladness. We could compare this with the anointing of Aaron, for Aaron’s anointing was to show us the separation of Aaron from the rest of the children of Israel. His anointing was so important that God’s speaks in Psalm 133 of Aaron’s anointing in verse 2.
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; (Psalm 133:2) And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. (Exodus 30:25) And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. (Leviticus 8:12)
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Psalm 45:7)
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:9)
Compare ‘with the oil of gladness’ in the verses above. First, it is a type (or shadow) of the anointing of the Son of God as Melchisedec, as the King of Kings, as the true prophet of God, and as the Lamb slain before the foundations of the earth. The oil of gladness covers the determinate counsels of God, the total work of creation, the total work of redemption, and may I say, all the way to the new heaven and the new earth, wherein we will dwell with the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole realm of the new heavens and the new earth will not only be founded on His righteousness, but will be upheld and maintained by His righteousness throughout all eternity.
The oil of gladness covers the righteous Priest coming to earth. The oil of gladness covers the Lamb upon the cross. The oil of gladness covers the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The oil of gladness magnifies the Son of God upon His throne, and the Spirit of God leads us into this marvelous truth. He gives us a name — Melchisedec — and this name is sworn under an oath of all righteousness. There is no human definition for the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth of the name Melchisedec.
Do we deserve to see into these glimpses of His majesty? Do we deserve to know these things in the mysteries of God? In the very first book of the bible, in Genesis Chapter 14, God had called Abraham out of Ur of Chaldees, the center of world idolatry where man worshiped the works of his own hands, and did not worship God Almighty. It is in these surrounds of idolatry that God presents Melchisedec in Chapter 14. If we understand the eternity of His oath, we will see the manifestation of the Son of God standing before the patriarch Abraham. This was to tie the high Priest forever under the oath of Melchisedec to the promises He would give to Abraham. When Abraham told the king of Sodom that he had lifted up his hand to the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, he was referring to the manifestation of the Son of God as Melchisedec, the eternal and great high Priest of the most high God who is now made higher than the heavens. And then the Holy Spirit confirmed the eternal priesthood that was given by an oath in Psalm 110, verse 4. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Psalm 110 is a wonderful psalm. This is a psalm of His millennial reign when all His enemies become His footstool; when all His glory is manifested before mankind, and where He will rule on His throne as a Priest (after the order of Melchisedec) as we saw in the prophecy of Zechariah. Psalm 110 also brings in the true Lord of sovereignty in the words of the Holy Spirit through David in verse 1 and 2. <<A Psalm of David.>> The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1) The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. (Psalm 110:2) These verses are tied directly to the manifestation of Melchisedec, the divine Priest. These verses also show the divine King over all His enemies. Psalm 110 and Hebrews 1:8 and 9 are not time sensitive, they span a far greater distance than time allows, from before the foundations of the world to the wonderful millennial kingdom, and then on to the new heaven and the new earth — Yesterday, Today, and Forever.
He was anointed with the oil of gladness before the world was. This anointing carries through the whole span of creation and time. This anointing was upon the Priest, the Prophet, and the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. In our day we see (through the Word of God) the wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ in both time and eternity for the Holy Spirit of God takes us back to the very anointing of the Priest, of the Prophet, and the King with the oil of gladness above His fellows. From that point in eternity the Son of God went forth to create, and lay the foundation of the world.
In verse 8 of Hebrews Chapter 1, God is speaking to the Son, and in both verses 8 and 9 comes before the foundation of the world, and the heaven as the works of His hand. He had these divine positions before the foundation of the world. The Holy Spirit developed these positions (Priest, Prophet and King) through the book of Hebrews. As the Holy Spirit develops the Lord’s priesthood through the book of Hebrews He brings us to Chapter 7 verses 20 and 21, And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (Hebrews 7:20) (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) (Hebrews 7:21) We have the divine oath clarified, that it was a divine oath ONLY given to Melchisedec, the Son of God. We find that Aaron and his sons did not receive this oath. They received a convocation to be the representatives of Melchisedec on earth as they ministered in the tabernacle which testified of the true tabernacle in heaven, and the ministry of the true Priest in heaven, Melchisedec. Aaron’s priesthood was a testimony of the true Priest in heaven after the oath and order of Melchisedec. This is reaffirmed in verse 21 with the very words of Psalm 110, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. It is not Paul tying these verses together; this is the work of the Holy Spirit (through Paul) leading us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is showing us the divine order: that the divine Priest was confirmed by an eternal oath, and in this oath there is no repentance (or change of mind) it is confirmed and upheld by the Almighty God. The phrase in Psalm 110:4 (The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek) will not repent is only repeated three times in the entire Bible. Concerning the oath and the order of Melchisedec God will not change His mind. He settled this position of priesthood by a divine oath that cannot be changed. And in His Son He made a divine order of priesthood that will NEVER be changed throughout eternity. And that oath is sealed with the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, which encompasses the oath that was taken by the beloved Son of God as He was anointed with the oil of gladness to be a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. The phrase will not repent is repeated in Jeremiah 4:28, For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. In this verse we see the weight of the determinate counsels of God. We see the depth of God’s righteousness through His judgments upon the wayward nation of Israel. These words were given in the first person although they came by the mouth of Jeremiah. Examine Jeremiah 1:9, Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Jeremiah 1:9 confirms that through Jeremiah God could speak in the first person by the very words that He placed in the mouth of Jeremiah. Why are these words so important in Jeremiah 4:28, God is, once again, reaffirming to us that He will NOT repent. This is given in a combination of Psalm 110:4, Jeremiah 4:28, that God will NOT repent of the oath of Melchisedec because this oath is the foundation of God’s righteous dealings with mankind both in His judgments and in His grace; all things must be upheld by His own righteousness.
In the foreshadow of the mind of the Spirit in Hebrews Chapter 7, God puts together Melchisedec as King of righteousness, and Melchisedec as King of peace, and this is in His Son, Jesus Christ, who is consecrated for evermore. (Hebrews 7:28) The foreshadow of Melchisedec in the Old Testament is to bring us to the One who is Melchisedec, the Son of God. He is King of righteousness which not only displays His grace, but His grace comes forth because of the judgment that was placed on the Son of God for sins and for our iniquity, therefore, He upheld all God’s righteousness in the judgment upon Himself. And as King of peace (tied to Melchisedec) we remember that the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He would give them His peace not as the world gives peace for He was speaking of a far greater peace: a peace with God. The Son of righteousness with healing in His wings also displays His divine judgment in righteousness, and also displays healing in His wings which in turn is His peace, and He has made peace for us by the death of Himself on the cross of Calvary.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Psalm 91:4)
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)
And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: (Zechariah 6:12)
Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:13)
The Lord cannot turn away from His righteousness to uphold His righteousness. He must judge the sin of man in that He will not repent for this is an immoveable part of His determinate counsels, therefore, the Son of God became the Lamb of God. He became the sin bearer, and God placed His judgment upon His Son to uphold His own righteousness. This was fulfilled in the Priest going to the altar of the cross, and presenting the Lamb of God as the sacrifice for sin: the sin of the whole world. Of this divine act of His determinate counsels, He would not repent. He would not change His mind. He was steadfast to the cross where the beloved Son of God laid down His life. Now all things are under the power, the majesty, and the glory of His Son: His only Son, His unique Son, the Son of His love, the heir of the vineyard. This brings in the work of redemption and the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ took back that which was lost in the power of an endless life.
By So Much
By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. (Hebrews 7:22) We should see the importance of what we have been studying through the book of Hebrews. We have so much: a cloud of witnesses, and the divine thought given to us in the pages of this book by the Holy Spirit of God. For the witness of God is greater than all the witnesses of mankind. What child of Adam could call the worlds into existence? There is none. Who could devise such a plan as the plan of redemption? There is none in the realm of humanity. From the dust of the ground God took man, and man was so complete, and so apart from every beast of the field that the very uniqueness of our being, and the separation of each one of us from each other with a different character, with different intellect, so varied are we that not one man has ever been repeated in the line of Adam. Each of us is unique in every way, and this speaks of a divine Creator. Give a pen to your dog, and ask him to write about you, you know that he cannot. Yet, man has been given a voice, a mind, a heart, a spirit and a soul to glorify the God of creation, however, because of sin man uses his voice to deny the existence of God. To remove the very thought of the creation of mankind, to justify himself apart from God because after all mankind was just an accident. God created man to act, to think, and to speak in righteousness until sin came into this world by the action of one man, the creation of God: Adam. Sin brought Adam to think of evil before good, and before God. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek [after God]: God [is] not in all his thoughts. (Psalm 10:4) Everything in man was given by God to glorify God, however, sin ended any compatibility with the thoughts of God. And this is why in Hebrews Chapter 7, verse 22, Christ was made a surety for us through a better testament, a testament sealed with His own blood.
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23)
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:24)
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (Hebrews 12:25)
Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (Hebrews 12:26)
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:27)
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (Hebrews 12:28)
For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)
He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: (Hebrews 10:28)
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20)
In these verses, we have the foundation of the New Testament in the blood of Christ who is MADE a greater surety than the law of Moses, and the covenant that God made with Israel. This is based on God’s foundation of righteousness in Melchisedec to give us a greater surety, for in this surety we see heaven and earth will pass away, but our Redeemer and His redeemed will live in His power of an endless life. For we are IN Him, and He is IN us. The blood of the cross became the blood of the righteousness of God. And this righteousness, this blood, has touched every heart, every soul, every spirit of His redeemed, and therefore, Jesus Christ has been made the surety of God for us. And this is a better, a greater, a most wonderful testament because it has passed, and surpassed the old. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. (Hebrews 10:1)
The law and commandments had this flaw. They could not take away sin; they could not make a man perfect before God. It took the Son of God to bring the righteousness of God to man in His death upon the tree of Calvary. Even though the law and the commandments were holy in themselves, man failed in his keeping of the law of God. This law was given on a fiery mountain, and it was given to Moses, and man failed at each step of God’s commands. The law was structured so that if one was broken, only one article of the law was broken then the entire law was broken and that individual was then under the condemnation of God to prove to man that he was a lost sinner, and could not abide by the righteousness of God. This left mankind without hope, and without God in this world. Yes, there were those who availed themselves of faith and grace looking to a future Savior who would be the Son of God: the obedient Servant, the Lamb of God, the Savior, the Son of God. Their faith and their grace were brought to perfection in the suffering and the humiliation of the Son of God upon the cross of Calvary where He became a surety of their redemption. And by this surety we have just men made perfect in Him. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. (Hebrews 12:23) Without the blood sacrifice of Christ, the Old Testament saints and those of today, would have no surety of salvation. However, in that one word ‘surety’ God seals our redemption in His beloved Son, and seals the Old Testament saints and makes them perfect as we read in Hebrews 11:40, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. The perfection is the perfection that has been brought by the work of the cross. Christ was made perfect in the things that He suffered, and in His perfection we are made perfect IN Him. In the passing away of the Old, Christ brought in a better testament in Himself, and He accomplished this by completing the work of redemption, and upholding the righteousness of God IN His priesthood after the order of Melchisedec. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (Hebrews 7:26) We truly have the pinnacle of the priesthood of Christ in the phrase of the Holy Spirit and made higher than the heavens. This is the just One, the Holy One of God, the highest Himself. Also notice in this verse that the Holy Spirit expands our vision from earth — For such an high priest became us — to the heaven of heavens with the conclusion that Christ after the order of Melchisedec is made higher than the heavens. Christ was manifested as a man in a body that was prepared for Him to remove Adam, and to nullify sin, and to replace the old with the new. As man was separated from God in his transgression (although both faith and grace was available to man) the fullness of faith and grace had not yet been manifested for He would be manifested as the perfect Lamb of God: Jesus Christ. This is why the Spirit of God declares the fullness of time in Galatians 4:4 and 5. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5) This was more than just a rip in time, for this was the manifestation of the only One who could take away sin forever in Himself: yesterday, today and forever.
In His sacrificial work on the cross we have the counsels of God and the perfect One to fulfill those counsels. We have the Priest, and the Prophet, and the King, and the Lamb giving Himself for us so that we might reign with Him as He is the Man in heaven for us. This was not known before the fullness of time. It took the manifestation of a divine Man to be a Savior of the world.
The angel declared His name before His birth that He would be called Jesus, ‘Savior.’ And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace, (John 1:16) compare this verse with, For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;.. (Colossians 1:19) Now compare these two verses with our verse in Hebrews 7:26, For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. He is made higher than the heavens. What a marvel. He became flesh and blood as a holy Man from that ‘holy thing’ as the angel stated to Mary. This reaffirms the wonder of Him being made higher than the heavens. For we see in Him the fullness of God, we see in Him holiness, and that He was separated from sinners. What a wonderful chain of words in Hebrew 7:26. For this chain of words cannot be broken or separated from the Holy God: Jesus Christ; or separated from the Holy Priest: Jesus Christ; or separated from the Holy sacrifice: Jesus Christ. Consider the chain in these words, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, this is the star burst which in turn makes Him higher than the heavens. This is the last personal verse in the book of Hebrews concerning the word ‘made’ being applied directly to the Son of God as Melchisedec, the high Priest. The phrase For such an high priest became us, is such a unique phrase. The Holy Spirit joins His high priesthood to us in the two words became us;think what is in the parameters of these two words — became us.
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)
We have the fullness of time, we have the Son descending into the earth to give us the brightness of God’s love, and the highest point of that love was on the cross of Calvary in our Savior Jesus Christ. In verse 8 of Chapter 13 we also see the brightness of His glory, and we see the coming of His future glory all in the second Man, the Man from heaven Jesus Christ.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45)
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. (1 Corinthians 15:46)
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47)
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:48)
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49)
The Spirit of God has given us a portrait of the Man from heaven who totally replaced Adam, and in us He has replaced Adam with Himself. Look at the last statement of verse 49, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Therefore, as we are IN Him — He is IN us. We shall bear His image for we shall be like Him far, far, above this poor flesh to ascend into a glorified state in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we continue with the study of this wonderful book of Hebrews we see in the last six chapters the things that surround the great high Priest: the tabernacle (not made with hands), the eternal mercy seat, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the just men made perfect, all because of this One (our great high Priest the Lord Jesus Christ) after the oath and the order of Melchisedec. In this oath we see the fulfillment of the righteousness of God, and we see the surety of our own salvation in Jesus Christ which was fulfilled on the cross of Christ where our Savior laid down His life for us. Then He took it again with the power of an endless life. We now have a holy Man, a great high Priest, a minister of the sanctuary ascended into heaven for us, and who is sat down on the right hand on the majesty on high.
Well, get some sleep, and pray, and rest for this has been an extremely l — o — n — g article with many thoughts about our beloved Savior. I will rest my spirit, and prepare for the voice of the Spirit in Chapter 8, the beginning and the sum of all things. In closing, Yes, I am closing 🙂 🙂 🙂 — we cannot neglect verse 28 of Hebrews 7, 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 consecrated for evermore.
The Spirit of God ties the eternal knot of God’s love for His Son in these words, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. Through these final thoughts of God the Father concerning His beloved Son, the Spirit of God closes this wonderful 7th Chapter of the book of Hebrews with maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever more. Amen.
© Copyright 2018, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)
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