Sharing in the Ministry of Christ: 2. The Priest Ps 110:4 Ex 19:5-6; 1 Pet 2:9-10

Audio: https://www.daleappleby.net/index.php/mp3-sermons/51-recent-sermons/976-2-christ-the-priest

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-1Dr_mk1xA

Introduction

If prophets represent God before people, priests represent people before God[1]. This principle seems universal. And because of personal cost in whatever form, sacrificial. There is a deep sense in the human heart that we need help or mediation in some form in communicating with the God and Father who is “above us all” (Eph 4:6)[2].

Priest from Eternity

As “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8 cf. 1 Pet 1:20) who took himself to the altar of sacrifice Christ must be priest from eternity. When Paul speaks so remarkably of God, “who saved us …because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim 1:9) he highlights the limitless nature of God’s provision for those made in his likeness. Mere finite creatures could never have known or shared in the deepest dimensions of the life of God unless God had become one of us. Sin or no sin we could never have reached our highest goal[3] without the coming of the Son of God amongst us[4]. We needed holy flesh and blood[5] to consummate our vision of God[6]. The biblical writers had a sense of the importance of priesthood which was much deeper than ours. For instance, the priest-king Melchizedek “resembles the Son of God” because he is without “beginning of days” or “end of life” (Heb 5:5-10; 7:3)[7]. To be the Saviour, Messiah must be “priest forever” (Ps 110:4).

Previous ages appreciated the distance between our limited creaturehood and the exalted status of the Lord God in ways we don’t[8]. Sin has turned this distance into an opposition of natures. In the presence of the holiness of God Isaiah anticipates personal disintegration, ““Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”” (Isa 6:5)[9] . When Habakkuk testifies, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (1:13), he means God’s very being is infinitely alien and opposed to our wickedness.

What we call Christ’s vicariousness, his life standing in our place and on our behalf, is an essential attribute of God without which we could not truly understand any of his other attributes[10]. Jesus is priestly at every level of his existence. To properly appreciate what this means we need to reflect on a dimension of priesthood that can easily be overlooked.

Blessing and Priesthood

The creation story in Genesis one is a story of supereminent blessing. Upon making humanity in his image and likeness the Lord unrestrainedly “blessed them” imparting a power to multiply and rule over the world (Gen 1:26-28)[11]. In mediating the power of this blessing by bringing order and direction to creation (Gen 2:15) Adam and Eve were set apart as priests. Sin has deprived humanity of the fulness of this glory (Rom 3:23)[12] but the vocation to bless was passed on through a divinely ordained priesthood under the old covenant.

As High Priest Aaron was commanded to “bless the people” with these words, “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” As ordained by God these words would be effective, ““So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”” (Num 6:22-27). Grace and favour would rest on the nation for prosperity and wholeness through the anointed High Priest (Exodus 29:7ff, 30:30ff, 40:12ff; Leviticus 8:10ff) as he returned from behind the veil of the holy of holies with peace from God. This is a lovely picture of God’s pleasure and affection mediated to an undeserving people. It is a pointer to the ultimate blessing of the great High Priest, Jesus.

At the end of Luke’s Gospel we read, “And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.”  (Luke 24:51). In the fulness of the blessing of the glorified Christ (Rom 15:29) everything that priesthood was designed to be has been reached.

Old Testament Priesthood and Atonement[13]

Priesthood is inseparable from the offering of sacrifice (cf. Heb 5:1). The so-called “sacrifice of Isaac” is particularly clear in relation to how sacrifice operates. Abraham “offered it up (the God sent ram) as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Gen 22:13).  In this arrangement the victim stands in as the worshipper.  In the death of the ram Isaac was set apart for God just as much as if he had shed his own blood. In a way that cannot explained under the old covenant sacrifice dynamically turned away God’s wrath[14]. No one can come before God with empty hands[15]. This was most prominent in the ministry of the High Priest as Israel’s representative in the presence of God (Ex 28:17 -21; 29) on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16). Whilst the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ is unintelligible without its old covenant precursors, there is no intimation that the Messiah would be both priest and victim[16].

Jesus the Great Priest

1. 1.      On Earth

The whole shape of Jesus’ life is a self-offering to God[17], first made visible in his dedication to God as the first – born (Luke 2:22 – 24). He grew in identity as priest and victim[18] and all his actions are priestly. Christ’s baptism[19] and temptations are the beginnings of a conscious priestly action of self-offering to the Father on behalf of humanity. The Spirit which descends upon Jesus at his baptism is directed towards the cross (Heb 9:14).

His constant intercessions are priestly (Matt 14:23; 26:36; Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 3:21; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 11:1; 22:32; John 17). The passion predictions (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32) bear witness to a priestly act to come. Jesus knows himself to be a ransom for many (Matt 10:45; John 6:35-39). The institution of the Lord’s Supper is permeated by the language of self-sacrifice (e.g. Luke 22:19-20)[20]. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11) etc.

The writer to the Hebrews penetrates beneath the outer actions of priesthood when he says, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). In becoming one with us (Heb 2:10) Christ was able to be fully empathetic with our broken and needy state; his frequent experiences of compassion in the Gospels (Matt 14:13-14; 20:30-34; Mark 6:34; Luke 7:12-15)[21] were at the heart of his priestly identity. The perfection of Christ’s priestly work is however heavenly.

Since the atoning sacrifice of the cross (1 John 2:2) brought such pleasure to the Father in heaven[22] it’s no surprise that it’s the heavenly ministry of Christ as high priest which is a New Testament focus.

1. 2.      In Heaven

After his resurrection Jesus ascended in a cloud (Acts 1:9), that is, in the glory of God, back to his Father (John 20:17). As ascended priest above all (Heb 4:14) Jesus intercedes for us and, in Paul’s language, brings us into the Father’s blessing “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). There cannot be any unforgiven sin or cursed thing (cf. Rev 22:3) in the presence of God and his glory[23]. Because of the blood of the cross our sin is not counted against us (2 Cor 5:19). If my sin was present to Christ in God’s eyes at his baptism[24] it was also with me in Christ at my baptism into his death (Rom 6:3-4) and now in his ascended state. My sin-as-forgiven cannot be separated from my relationships with Jesus any more than it can separate me from Christ (Rom 8:31-39)[25].  Unlike the old covenant High Priest who went in and out of the holiest place yearly, Jesus remains in the sanctuary to intercede for us. In him we are permanently present in God’s most intimate presence (Heb 6:19-20 cf. Rom 5:2) set apart as acceptable worshippers (Heb 10:14) free from guilt and enjoying intimacy with the Holy Father (Heb 2:10-11).

Hence the exhortation, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:19-22). The new and living way through Christ means permanent entrance into the holy of holies (Heb 12:22-24), the heart of God itself (cf. John 1:18).

The priesthood of Christ has deprived sin of its power to distance us from God. The scripture, in Hebrews 10:14, “by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy” refers not to a moral perfection but unlimited access to the Father.  My sin can only exist before the face of God (cf. Heb 9:24) as fully forgiven sin[26]. Since Jesus has “put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26) our consciences are being progressively liberated from the power, penalty and pollution of sin. The most extraordinary thing about the Christian life is that it is a life lived guiltlessly before God.

Intercessory Ministry[27]

The intercession that flows from empathetic identification with the needy is an essential element of priesthood[28]. As the Old Testament High Priest entered the holiest place through a beautifully smelling aroma of incense (Ex 30:7; 31:11), Jesus praying for us in the true tabernacle in heaven brings indescribable pleasure to the Father and limitless assurance to our lives. In union with Christ our prayers (Rev 5:8; 8:3–5) and lives (2 Cor 2:15) are indescribably sweet to God. The Church can exercise her priestly vocation with tremendous assurance, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:14-16).

 

Priesthood and/in the Church

Under the blessing of our great High Priest we are a “royal priesthood” (1 Pet 2:9),  Jesus “blood…has made us…a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Rev 1:6). We are the one priestly nation among all nations, for all nations[29]. Jesus as ascended Priest asked the Father for the Spirit at Pentecost and poured him out the Church (Acts 2:33) to release his sacrificially obtained blessings upon us for the world (Luke 24:41; John 21:19). The vast range of charismatic gifts in Christ have been secured by his priesthood exist to serve the Church in its mission to seek and save the lost.

This includes prayer (Matt 18:18-20; Luke 11:11-13; John 14:13; 15:16; 16:23-26; Rom 1:9;  2  Cor.  13:7; Eph 1:16–23; 3:14, 21; Phil 1:311; Col 1:3, 9; 1 Thess  1:2;  5:23) and works of power.  Paul describes himself as “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” and then remarks, “by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God…I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ” (Rom 15:16, 19). To share in the priesthood of Christ is a powerful thing.

The service, prayer and preaching of the apostolic Church was so effective because believers knew that in union with the priestly life of Jesus they had “something to give”[30], and that this was the distribution of his own life through them in the power of the Spirit. Every believer is increasingly united to Jesus (cf. Eph 3:17) and his sacrifice to God the Father, in the daily offering of his/her life. We have the capacity to give to God through Jesus Christ our efforts, joys, sufferings, triumphs, failures and all of who we are and he will accept them (1 Pet 2:5). We are the sacrifice God is looking for (Rom 12:1-2) so that our “minister in the holy places” (Heb 8:2) might pour out this life manifest amongst us. As we function as a “royal priesthood” and “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet 2:9), the overwhelming revelation “God is really among you” (1 Cor 14:23-25) can fall upon those who come within the orbit of our priestly service in Christ.

A few weeks ago, Dale taught on James 5:16, “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Any group of Christians who has a revelation of the High Priest in their midst (cf. Matt 18:20) will confess sin boldly before the throne of grace in the presence of their brothers and sisters (cf. 1 John 1:7-9) and be met with a forgiveness that issues in boundless, triumphant exalted joy[31]. There is something raw, elemental and indescribably wonderful in the spiritual realm about sin placed before the High Priesthood of Christ[32]. The Lord wants to hear about our sins in this way.

 

Conclusion

As sinful depraved and in-themselves hopeless (Eph 2:12), human beings desperately need the services of an intercessory all-forgiving Priest and Advocate with God. We need cleansing and forgiveness from shame, guilt and the fear of judgement. Such a deliverance comes to those who share in the all sufficient office of Christ dwelling each moment in his Father’s glorious presence. Today our great High Priest is praying that the ministry of his gospel Word come forward in power for all his children (Heb 2:13).

A Church that knows itself to be guiltless is a confident Church liberated to pray, prophesy, praise and reach out to the lost because it lives perpetually in mercy and grace “in time of need.” (Heb 4:16). Last Sunday morning Dale pointed to the greatest of the covenant blessing in Deuteronomy 28, “all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord” (v.10). The name of the Lord is now the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In the mediatorial blessings of Christ we can do something extraordinary for lost people. If sinners won’t weep, pray, mourn over their sin and turn to God on their own initiative, in Christ we can do all that on their behalf. This is the glory and honour of sharing in the priesthood of Christ.