LivePrayerSermon 1597. The Priest Ordained by the Oath of God
(No. 1597)
DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 1, 1881,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And inasmuch as not without an oath He was made Priest, (for those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oathby Him that said unto Him, The Lord swore and will not repent, You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec), byso much more was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament." Hebrews 7:20-22.
THOSE Of you who read Scripture carefully will have noticed that the word, "better," is one of the key words of the Epistleto the Hebrews. You are constantly meeting with it. In the opening chapter we read that our Lord Jesus Christ is "made somuch better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Look a little further andyou are taught that He is better than Moses, inasmuch as Moses was faithful as a servant in the Lord's house, but Christ,as a Son over His own house. Further on we find our blessed Lord described as better than Aaron, while His blood is mentionedas speaking better things than that of Abel. And He is declared, in our text, to be the Surety of a better Testament, of whichit is said that it is established upon better promises.
It would be a very delightful subject to work out the betterness of Christ, of His blood, of His Covenant and to show thathowever good other things may be, they must all yield in excellence to Him. It is implied in the use of the word, "better,"that the ordinances of the ceremonial Law were good, in their place, but Jesus is better than the best of all visible things-theeternal Christ is better than the best of all the temporal arrangements which God has made for the good of man. How much betterwhat heart shall conceive? "If the ministration of condemnation is glory, much more does the ministration of righteousnessexceed in glory. For if that which is done away with was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious."
It behooves us, my dear Brothers and Sisters, to have a firmer faith than Old Testament saints because we see more clearlyour ground of trust. Those who lived in the comparative darkness of the previous dispensation were saved by faith and amongthem there were not a few eminent Believers-surely we, also, ought to excel in our confidence in God! Let the 11th chapterof Hebrews stand as a triumphal arch with the names of ancient Believers recorded-these all died in faith and they were nomean men-but inasmuch as we enjoy a brighter light and are living under a better economy, we are called upon to be their superiorsin faith! Our faith should be clearer, calmer, stronger, more effectual in working- we should do greater things than these,in the name of Jesus.
Being endowed more richly with the Spirit of God, the modern Church should attempt grander works than Israel ever thoughtabout and so there should be a shining more and more unto the perfect day. If better are the promises, better and yet bettershould we be under accumulating obligations. My objective at this time will not be so much to enter into details of doctrineconcerning our Savior's priesthood as to utter practical Truths of God and press them on the heart. I shall not attempt toexhaust so wonderful a subject as the parallel between Melchisedec and Christ, but I shall try to strengthen the faith ofBelievers and also to leave unbelievers without excuse if they will still not believe in Jesus Christ, whom God has sent,confirming His mission by an oath.
We need practical results, this morning, and no practical result will content us but this-that you believe on Jesus Christwhom God has sent! To this end were the Scriptures written, as says the Evangelist John, "These are written that you mightbelieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that, believing, you might have life through His name." The objectiveof the written Word of God is also the objective of the spoken Word of God-we would have you hear,
believe and live! Vain are your reading and hearing unless they lead you to a sincere reception of the witness of God concerningHis Son Jesus Christ!
Oh that you may not, on this occasion, hear in vain! To our text, then-and may the Spirit of God graciously be with us inspeaking upon it.
I. Men should believe in Jesus Christ with their whole heart and rely upon Him with unstaggering confidence, first, becauseof OUR LORD'S SPECIAL ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD. The Lord Jesus Christ was ordained to the priesthood, according to the110th Psalm, in a manner distinct from all others. His ordination was unique, for neither Aaron, nor his sons, nor any ofthe priests of the tribe of Levi were ever ordained by an oath. Ceremonies most important, imposing, instructive and impressivewere performed-but there was no oath. God gave promises to the house of Levi, but He expressly stopped short of anything likean oath to them-not because His promise can be broken-but because that promise was conditional and must not be confirmed byan oath, as though it constituted a perpetual engagement.
But our Savior is made a Priest by an oath and it is written, as if to make it exceedingly sure, "The Lord swore and willnot repent." Not because God ever can or does repent, or run back from His oath in any case, but for the confirmation of ourfaith in the Immutability of His Word-for it is expressly added, "He will not repent." By an oath which stands fast forevermore,Christ is made a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. But why, my Brethren, an oath for Jesus and none for otherpriests? First, because of the greater dignity of Christ above all other priests that ever were, for He is the Son of theHighest, and they were not. They were men that had infirmity, but He is sinless. They lived and died and so were changed,but, "Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever." They were ordained to be types and emblems, serving for the time of Israel'sinfancy, but He came as the, "I AM," the substance of the whole!
They were mere men and nothing more, but Jesus counted it not robbery to be equal with God, though for our sakes He assumedour nature. It seemed becoming that God should settle Him in the priesthood by an oath, seeing He is above all and infinitelysuperior to all others that have ever exercised the priesthood! I tremble while I speak of the oath of God, for God's liftingHis hand to Heaven and swearing by Himself because He can swear by no greater, is something so solemn that one scarcely daresto think of it! The Lord will not hold Him guiltless that takes His name in vain! The devout soul is full of awe at the barethought of God in His most fatherly and ordinary acts, but how shall we think of the Lord girt with solemnity, resolute inpurpose, stern in truth, as lifting His hand and taking an oath? Surely this is the innermost sanctuary of mystery, the Holyof Holies!
This oath was for the honor of His dear Son as He assumed the sacred Priesthood on behalf of the sons of men. The glory ofHis Character, the dignity of His work, the certainty of its accomplishment and the supreme excellence of His motive in enteringupon it all lift up the Priesthood of Christ out of the category of all human priesthoods and, therefore, the eternal Fathermarks it by a special mark of distinction-He makes an oath that His only-begotten Son is a Priest forever after the orderof Melchisedec. Another reason is found in the eternal Character of His work. The priesthood of Aaron and his successors wasintended to be temporary. God did not confirm the priests of old in their offices because He held in reserve the right toset them aside when He pleased-and He from the first intended that their functions should be abolished when the fullness oftime should come for another and better Priest to take their place.
They were candles for the darkness, but the sun was to rise and then they would not be needed. They were pictorial representations,but when the Substance was come, they would not be required. He allowed their priesthood to be one of imperfect men becauseHe intended, by-and-by, to supersede it by a perfect and enduring Priesthood. Hence no oath of God attended the ordinationof the sons of Aaron. But our Lord Jesus Christ's Priesthood and all the economy which He has ushered in was intended by Godto be perpetual and, therefore, does He confirm it with an oath. No end of days will ever happen to our High Priest, nor shallthe economy of Divine Grace be supplanted by another and clearer revelation. It shall be developed from strength to strengthand we shall see greater things than these in the days of the personal reign and the millennial Glory, but no new economyof Grace shall overthrow the present.
Think not, O you ungodly, if you reject Christ, that there will yet come a Savior better than He! For you there remains noother Sacrifice for sin. I have heard men talk of "a larger hope"-I believe it to be a larger lie than ordinary if it supposesmore mercy than is revealed in Christ Jesus! There is no larger hope than that which Christ has revealed! If it had been so,He would have told us. Stars can be excelled by other stars, but what shall outshine the sun? One human
Gospel can be eclipsed by another, but how can there be a more loving, tender, gracious Gospel than that which is embodiedin our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Himshould not perish, but have everlasting life"-is that message of Grace to be exceeded? Is greater love yet to be revealed?
No! The Gospel is God's ultimatum! He will go no further-we have the last proclamation of mercy to men, the last Savior, thelast foundation for hopes to be built upon, the last fountain in which sin can be washed away, the last door of hope by whichmen shall escape from the guilt and punishment of sin! I beseech you, avail yourselves of it, for God has confirmed it withan oath that it may stand forever! It is your one and only hope for eternity-lay hold upon it while you may. The oath of Godsets forth the dignity of our Lord's Person and the eternity of His office-see that you despise not One who is thus greatand abiding. By an oath, also, was our Lord set apart because of the reality of His Priesthood and the Substance that dweltin His Sacrifice.
As we have already said, the Levitical priesthood dealt only with the shadows of good things to come and not with the verysubstance of the things. So to speak, the sacrificial bull was not actually a sacrifice, but the representation of the Sacrificethat was to come. The morning and evening lambs did not take away sin, but only mirrored the great blood-shedding of the Lambof God which takes away the sin of the world! In very deed and truth, the men of the house of Aaron who attended at the visiblealtar were not actual priests before the real Altar of the Lord, but only shadows of the true. The real Altar is the Personof Christ! The real Sacrifice is the death of Christ and the real Priest is Christ Himself!
The images of heavenly things were glorious, but the glory of the things, themselves, dwells in Christ and we behold thatGlory full of Grace and truth. Fly, you shadows, since it is clear that is what you were meant to be, for God did not establishyou as abiding things. You did but predict and foreshadow-you were not the blessings which you pictured. In Christ is theactual putting away of sin, the effectual Atonement, the real and efficacious Substitution for guilty men, the Redemptionwhich actually redeems, the Sacrifice which reconciles! In Him dwells the Truth of the matter-He is not prediction but fact-notpromise but fulfillment!
Oh, never listen, for a moment, to those who would spiritualize Christ, Himself, and make out even His Person and work tobe shadows! Certain teachers have risen who seem to look upon our Redeemer's life as a sort of allegory, an instructive parable,or a myth out of which eclectic minds like theirs may spell out mystic truth. It cannot be so! Christ Jesus is a fact-Godwas Man in human flesh-that mysterious Person, the Son of God, the Son of Mary, lived and loved and died and rose again! HisSacrifice, once offered, has forever put away sin and it has bestowed upon Him the power, by His intercession, to save untothe uttermost them that come unto God by Him.
If I had been sent, this day, to be the preacher of the shadows of the Law I would have done my best to obey my Master, butas I am commissioned to preach absolute certainties, I am full of delight and resolved to speak boldly. We preach not fictions,dreams, or parables, but literal facts! What a joy I feel-a joy as true and unfeigned as the glad tidings I deliver! For realguilt, here is actual Atonement and sure forgiveness! For access to God, here is an open way and a tender hand to guide youin it! Trifle not with that which is no trifle, lest when you come into real straits and the waters of death are actuallyaround you, you shall find the lack of the only Friend who can effectually help you in your hour of need!
Death and judgment are no fiction! Seek, therefore, in very deed, for the substantial Grace which can bear you through. Godconfirms the Priesthood of Christ by an oath because it is a real Priesthood! I pray you cast your soul upon it by true andreal faith. But perhaps to us, the main reason of Christ's being installed in the priesthood by an oath of God is this-forthe strengthening of our faith. Brethren, an oath for confirmation among men is the end of all strife. When an honest manhas sworn to it, the testimony stands in evidence and may not be questioned. When God not only gives His promise and His word,but swears to His declaration-who shall dare to doubt? Shall blasphemy go the length of accusing Him of perjury? Shall profanitygive Him the lie in the teeth of His oath?
There was no need for God to swear if there had not been in us a fearful lack of faith, but, "by two immutable things in whichit was impossible for God to lie," He has given us strong consolation by swearing by Himself that it shall be so. I do beseechyou, since God's design is the confirmation of your faith, pray that your faith may be confirmed by it! No measure of faithin Christ can ever be too great. If we trust Him blindly, implicitly, immeasurably with every interest for
time and for eternity, we cannot have ventured too far. He that is ordained with an oath may be rested on without fear- Hecannot fail-it is not possible, while God's own Truth is staked upon His mission and guarantees His success!
Beloved, ought not this great Truth of God bring many tremblers to believe in Jesus Christ? The Christ we preach is not anenthusiastic amateur who has come among men with high purpose but without commission-with good intentions but without authority.No, God, Himself, has appointed Him to His office and settled Him in it in the most solemn manner, swearing, "Your are a Priestforever after the order of Melchisedec." Will you not trust Him with your soul since God entrusts Him with His honor? Willyou not accept the Priest whom God Himself has ordained? Will you not accept the Sacrifice which He has presented, whose efficacyabides forever before God?
I beseech you, men and brethren, as many of you as have not believed in Jesus Christ, look well to it that you do not rejecta Gospel more certain than certainty itself! I know not how else to express the sureness of that to which God has set no lessa seal than His own oath! Right joyfully do we see the whole Nature of the infinite God guaranteeing the office of our gloriousHigh Priest, for, by swearing by Himself, the great Jehovah has made His very Being a hostage for the performance of the Covenantof which Jesus is the Surety and put forward His own Character for Truth as the pledge of Christ's eternal Priesthood! Mayno soul among us dare to refuse a Priest so surely ordained to His office and settled in it by Jehovah Himself!
II. Secondly, we ought to believe on the Lord Jesus because OF THE SPECIAL CHARACTER OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. This is seen in thetenor of the Divine oath, which runs thus-"You are a Priest forever after the order of Mel-chisedec." Very briefly, let memention some of the respects in which our Lord Jesus is a Priest after the order of Melchis-edec. These ought all to be reasonsfor our faith and I pray the Holy Spirit to use them for that purpose. First, our Lord is of the order of Melchisedec as surpassingand superseding all other priests. As surpassing-for Melchisedec comes before human view as priest of the Most High God, blessingAbraham, "and without doubt the less is blessed of the greater."
Abraham, and Levi in his loins, pay Melchisedec homage! Now, whatever may be said about the priesthood of other men, therecan be no doubt about the superior Priesthood of Melchisedec. Abraham acknowledged it at once, so that before there were anyAaronic priests, there was a greater Priest. Before the foundation of the world, when there was no word concerning a priestof the house of Levi, our Lord Jesus Christ was looked upon by God as Priest and Sacrifice for men. It is not said, "Yourshall be a priest," but, "You are a Priest forever." The verb is left out, but the word, "are," in the present tense, is correctlyenough supplied by the translators. "You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." He was a Priest before Aaronand his sons were born or thought of!
Moreover, consider that the decree registered by the Psalmist in the 110th Psalm was published by Revelation hundreds of yearsafter the Law had been given, so that it was not an old decree invalidated by the Law of Moses, but a newly published decreeabrogating, in due time, that which had gone before. Even while the Law was in its palmy days and the priest wore the Urimand the Thummim, there was a note struck in the Psalms of David which intimated the ending of it all because there was anotherPriest, not of the house of Aaron, who surpassed all of them, being made a Priest by oath, even while they were priests withoutan oath. Whatever priesthood there may have been of God's ordaining under the Old Testament, it was evidently all subordinateto the superior Melchisedec-Priesthood of Jesus Christ our Savior and was predestinated to give place to it.
It was a Priesthood which united with itself the dignity of kingship. This Melchisedec, Priest of the Most High God, was kingeven as Jesus Christ is King of kings, as well as High Priest over the house of God. Jesus is, first, Melek Zadok, King ofRighteousness, setting up a kingdom of righteousness and fulfilling all righteousness Himself. And then he is King of Salem,or of peace, bringing peace to those that believe in Him and follow after righteousness. Now, it is a main ground of trustin Jesus that He is King as well as Priest, with power in His arm as well as merit in His blood-with power to rule and governand protect us-as well as with an efficacious Sacrifice to purge our sins.
We ought to trust implicitly in One whose royal Omnipotence supports His sacred merit. Double faith should be bestowed onHim who exercises the double office of the King and the Priesthood. Our faith should also rest on the fact that our Lord was,like Melchisedec, "without father, without mother." We find no father or mother mentioned in the case of Melchisedec becausehe did not come to the Priesthood by natural descent as did the sons of Aaron and in this he is the great type of Jesus, whois not one of a line, but the only Priest of His order! As a Priest, He is "without beginning of
days or end of years," neither taking the Priesthood from a predecessor, nor passing it on to a successor, nor laying it downbecause of old age.
There was no beginning to our Lord's Priesthood, for the witness is, "You are a Priest forever," and there will be no endto it, for even in the glory He-
"Looks like a Lamb that has been slain, And wears His Priesthood still." Our Lord has not left off being a Priest today, poorSinner! Come to Him with your sins and seek reconciliation! He is able to hear your confession and grant you absolution-Hewill present your praise and offer your prayer, for He always lives and because of this He is able to save unto the uttermostthem that come unto God by Him. Melchisedec had no predecessor, no assessor and no successor-and so is it with our Lord. OfHis order there was none before Him-He is the only Priest of His line. None stood side by side with Him, for He needed none.And none can be compared with Him-by His one Sacrifice He has perfected all who accept His Priesthood-what more is needed?
None can follow our Lord in His office. How can there be any successor to Him since He has an endless life and in the powerof that endless life always lives to make intercession for us? Listen, you that need a priest to reconcile you to God! Hereis One ordained to that office from of old who performs His office even now and ceases not from it for a moment! He, at thismoment, asks no help from you, nor from a priest of Rome or Canterbury, or any other place, but is able, Himself, alone, withHis own precious blood and prevalent intercession, to save you to the uttermost! This great Priest of ours is Master of all,for as Melchisedec received homage from Abraham in the form of tithes, so does our blessed Lord receive the reverence of allwho believe.
The day comes when every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the Glory of God the Father!Therefore come and trust Him-trust the Lord of All! O you guilty ones who desire salvation, I beseech you repose upon Him,for He must reign and you must either kiss Him with the homage of your heart, or else He will break you as with a rod of ironin the day of His power! Perhaps one of the main points about Melchisedec is that he is represented as bestowing blessings.When he came to meet Abraham, the chief thing he did was to bless the Patriarch. The Apostle does not refer to the bringingforth of bread and wine by Melchisedec because he regarded it as a temporal blessing included in the greater spiritual one.
Our Lord Jesus blesses all that trust Him-blesses them with the riches of Heaven and earth-with the eternal Word of God whichsustains their souls and with supplies for this mortal life so that they live and praise Him. It is inevitable that blessingshould flow forth wherever He comes. He never touches without healing. He never speaks without consoling. He never comes todwell with a man without enriching. He never belongs to a man without sanctifying and perfecting him. Oh, what a blessed PriestHe is! Who would refuse Him, since He is all blessing? "Virtue has gone out of Me," He said and virtue is going out of Himevery day to the sons of men! "In Him shall the families of the earth be blessed."
Once again, Christ is never to be changed or superseded. He is a Priest forever. As we read nothing of Melchisedec's havinggiven up the priesthood, so depend upon it, Christ never will lay down His office while there remains a single man to be saved."Once a priest always a priest" is true of the Lord Jesus Christ though true of nobody else! Once was He ordained and nonecan take Him from His Priesthood. When once the Father set Him upon the hill of Zion as King, the kings of the earth cannotdash Him from His Throne! O you who pine for certainty and seek everlasting life, come and rest your everlasting hopes onHis everlasting Priesthood!
That is my point all the way through. You have not to trust a mere man. You have not to rely upon one who will die, or leavehis office to another who may not know you or care for you. You are to trust One who cannot change or die! If I were calledupon to be the advocate of human priests this morning. If I were ordained to tell you to trust to the shavelings of Rome,my tongue would cleave to the roof of my mouth for lack of arguments-for what can there be in them that we should trust them?O Sirs, the most brutish delusion in the world is to rely upon any priest of our own sinful race! I would as soon trust mysalvation with the Norwood Gypsy as with a Cardinal Archbishop! Her imposture is not so daring as his!
What can priests do for us? "They can give absolution" you say? The Lord absolve them from the blasphemy of such a pretense!There is ONE pardoning Priest! There is none other under Heaven! He has made all His people, in another sense, to be priestsunto Himself, but as atoning priests, or as men that offer a propitiatory sacrifice, He has ordained
none-and all who pretend to such power must answer for it before the bar of God! Think of Roman and Anglican priests as priestsof Baal and have no fellowship with such deceivers! Pray God to open their eyes that they may, themselves, be delivered fromthe delusion!
As for you and for me, let us keep to the one Melchisedec Priest and yield subjection to none other. In Jesus we are complete-tolook elsewhere would be to dishonor His perfection!
III. I beg you, next, to notice that our text speaks OF THE SUPERIORITY OF THE TESTAMENT UNDER
WHICH OUR LORD OFFICIATES in which, also, we shall find abundant argument for believing in Jesus. It says, "By so much wasJesus made a Surety of a better Testament." Learned men have fought each other very earnestly over the word translated, "testament."Some say that it means, "testament." Others answer that in the Septuagint Greek it is used as the interpretation of the Hebrewword which signifies, "covenant." I feel quite sure that the combatants are both right. I am always glad when I can conscientiouslytake both sides in a battle and I do so in this instance, because it matters nothing which of the two conquers, though itwould be a loss for either side to be defeated.
The word means both testament and covenant. God's Covenant of Grace has had the conditional side of it so completely fulfilledthat it has virtually become a "testament," or a deed of free gift in which the one party is a donor and the other has becomesimply a receiver. Though the economy of Grace is a covenant under one aspect, under another it is not a covenant, not requiringsomething from each of two parties-but it has become a testament or will as to its practical result. The old Covenant wason this wise-if the Israelite people kept to God as their God and if the priests obeyed His Law and offered sacrifices accordingto Divine rule, God would accept and bless them. Thus there was an, "if," in the Covenant. It was conditional and, therefore,liable to failure.
The people said, "All that You have spoken we will do." Eagerly, with all hands up, they cried, "We will do it. We will doit all!" Within 40 days they had broken the Law and the Covenant went to pieces. A man's covenant is sure to be broken ifit promises holiness on the part of the sinful and perseverance on the part of the fickle-minded! Man cannot bear the burdenof the necessary requirements of a covenant with God. Our great High Priest represents another and surer Covenant. There isno, "if," in the Covenant of Grace! It runs thus-"I will," and, "You shall." That is the tenor of it. "For this is the Covenantthat I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put My Laws into their mind and write themin their hearts: and I will be to them a God and they shall be to Me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor,and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be mercifulto their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
Its essence lies in the supreme words, "I will." Therefore, because the conditions of the Covenant of Grace have been fulfilled,it is in no danger of abrogation and Christ Jesus has become the Surety of a better Testament. The first Covenant was typicaland shadowy-it was but a school lesson for children. Just as we give to our boys models of churches or models of ships, sowas the ceremonial Law a model of good things to come, but it did not contain the things themselves. Christ is no Surety ofa mere model or pattern of things in the heavens, but of a Covenant which deals with the heavenly things themselves, withreal blessings, with true gifts from God! The first Covenant was temporary-it was meant to be so. It was meant, in part, toteach the coming Covenant and, in part, to show the weakness of man and the necessity of Divine Grace, but it was never meantto stand.
This Covenant of which Christ is the Surety stands forever and ever. The everlasting hills may bow and the heavens, themselves,be rolled up like a worn-out vesture, but God's Covenant shall stand forever and forever while Christ, its Surety lives. Theold Covenant was a Covenant in which there were imperfections, as Paul says, "For if that first Covenant had been faultless,then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He says, Behold, the days come, says theLord, when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the Covenantthat I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because theycontinued not in My Covenant, and I regarded them not, says the Lord."
In the economy of Grace of which our Lord is the Surety, no fault can be found! And in it there is no fuel for decay to feedupon. There is nothing about it that is weak and unprofitable, for it is, "ordered in all things and sure." "He takes awaythe first," not that He may set up another which shall be removed in its turn, but, "that He may establish the sec-
ond." In this second we have Covenant purposes unalterable from eternity; love infinite and changeless; promises sure andinviolable and pledges given that can never be withdrawn, for the Lord has sworn and will not repent.
How earnestly do I pray that you may have a part in this Covenant! It includes all Believers within its lines. O that youwould believe and so lay hold upon the Covenant once and for all. If you have already believed, I pray you to rejoice in thisCovenant and bless the Lord Jesus who has made it sure for you by His blood.
IV. Now, of such a Covenant or Testament has Jesus Christ become the Priest and Surety. And with that we shall
close dwelling upon THE RELATIONSHIP IN WHICH HE STANDS TO THAT COVENANT. This is our fourth
point. I am sure we did not expect, as we were reading this passage, that we should come upon the word, "surety." The Apostlewas speaking of our Lord as a Priest and he puts it thus, "By so much"-that is, by reason of His being inducted into His officeby an oath-"was Christ made a Surety of a better Testament." However there is the word, "surety," and doubtless there is excellentreason for the unexpected turn in the sense.
Testaments do not need sureties, therefore the passage should be read, "Covenant." But why did he turn from the idea of priesthoodto that of suretyship? How is our Lord Jesus a Surety? He is so, first, because we are absolutely certain that the Covenantof Grace will stand because the Redeemer has come into the world and has died for us. Brothers and Sisters, the gift of Christis a pledge that the Covenant, of which He is the Substance, cannot be dissolved! Christ has been born into the world! GodHimself has become Incarnate-that is done and can never be undone! How can the Lord draw back after going so far?
More, Christ has died! He bears in His flesh, today, the scars of His Crucifixion-that, also, is done, and can never be undone.If God had ever meant that this Covenant should be temporary, He would never have given His Son to bleed and die as the Substanceof that Covenant! It cannot be that so vast an expense should be laid out upon a transient business. Moreover, Jesus livesand as long as He lives, the Covenant must be regarded as a reality. It cannot possibly be that a work should be regardedas fiction when it has been worked out by such an One as He is! The ever-living Son of God did not die to perform a mere representation-theabiding essence of the matter is in His work and He lives to prove that it is so.
The priests of the house of Aaron were poor sureties of the former Covenant, for they could not keep it themselves! But Christhas kept the Covenant of Grace. He has fulfilled all that was conditional in it and carried out all that was demanded on man'spart. It was conditional that Christ should present a perfect Righteousness and a perfect Atonement- He has effected thisto the fullest and now there is no, "if," in it. The Covenant now reads as a legacy, or a will-the will of God-the New Testamentof the Most High! Christ has made it so and the very fact that there is such a Person as Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, living,bleeding, dying, risen, reigning-is the proof that this Covenant stands secure though earth's old columns bow!
But next, Christ is a Surety on God's part. I know that divines say that God does not need a surety, that He is to be trustedwithout it. This is true and He is to be relied upon without an oath, but even as He takes an oath for our sake, so He providesa Surety for our sake that we may believe with stronger confidence. Christ is the Bondsman of God on the Father's behalf,that the Covenant shall be fulfilled. "Look," says the Father, "have you ever doubted Me? Believe My Son. Have I not givenHim to you? Is He not one with you in your nature? Has He not died for you? Surely, if I seem too great and, therefore, tooterrible for the grip of your faith, you may lay hold on the Well-Beloved, your friend and kins-man-and you may see that Igive Him to be for Me the pledge that I intend to keep the Covenant of Grace."
Now, as long as there is a Christ, God's Covenant evidently stands fast, for all the promises are, "Yes and amen in ChristJesus to the glory of God by us." And until it can be proven that Christ has ceased to be, no man that believes in Him isin any mortal danger. Has He not said it, "Because I live, you shall live, also"? The life of every believing man and womanis bound up with the very existence of Christ as the gift of God! And that existence is Divine as well as human- and unlessHe can cease to be, He cannot cease to love, bless, keep His people and be for them all that a high priest and surety canbe! He is God's pledge to us that every word of promise shall stand.
But, then, He is mainly a Surety of the new Covenant on our behalf. Adam entered into a Covenant with God for us, but thatCovenant went to pieces in a very short time. Then the Second Adam became our Covenant Head and Surety and represented usbefore God. "Lo, I come," says He-this is the brief of it-"to stand in their place, to roll away the reproach of Your Law,and so to save that which is lost." Now, the sinner is not saved in a way which casts a slight on Jus-
tice, for Jesus has honored the Law and borne its penalty on the behalf of the men whom the Father gave Him. It was a wonderfulact of Grace, on Christ's part, to become our Surety before the Throne of Justice, but He did it and smarted for it-and fulfilledall that it involved.
Beloved, I would not like to have gone to Heaven over a broken Law-no right-minded man could be eternally happy and yet knowthat the Law of God had to be dishonored before he could be rescued from Hell. What would the universe say but that God wasunrighteous, for He had saved the ungodly and tarnished the honor of His justice by allowing sin to go unpunished-thus provingthat the Law was needless and the punishment superfluous. But now they cannot thus speak concerning any of us who are savedin Christ Jesus! The saved one's sins have been punished-every Believer has borne the punishment of his guilt in the Personof his great Substitute! The Law is satisfied-we owe it nothing, for we have obeyed it actively and passively in the Personof our Surety!
Even the infinite holiness of God can demand nothing of any Believer but what the Lord beholds and accepts on the Believer'sbehalf in Christ Jesus our Representative. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God that justifies?" No,the very act of justifying proves that He cannot lay anything to our charge, for that would be to nullify His own act. "Whois he that condemns? Christ that died?" What? Condemn those for whom He has shed His atoning blood? Rather, Christ has risenagain. Shall He condemn those whom He has justified by His Resurrection? If so, He rose in vain! "Who sits at the right handof God, who also makes intercession for us." Shall He condemn those for whom He has taken possession of Heaven and for whomHe offers perpetual intercession?
Impossible! Impossible! Our Surety, then, has rendered to the Law all its demands. Sing, O Zion! Rejoice, O you people ofGod, for God has rendered unto you double for all your sins! In the Person of your Substitute all that the Law could demandhas been exacted and you are free! O blessed Melchisedec, High Priest forever living, we rejoice in You as the Surety of theCovenant, itself, and also the Surety for both parties of that Covenant! We rejoice that You are the guarantee on both sides-Suretyfor God as you are God and Surety for man as you are Man-Surety of the Covenant as God-Man in one divinely blessed Person!
It comes to this, that we must believe in Jesus Christ and take Him to be our Priest or be out of the Covenant of Grace. Godwill not deal with us without a Mediator and, "there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." Will youhave Him? Will you have Him, or forever be excluded from the Covenant of Grace and, consequently, condemned under the Covenantof Works and cast away forever and ever? Will you, O unbelievers? Will you despise the oath of God? I spoke of it with tremblingjust now, feeling a solemn awe at the very mention of the oath of God. Will you give the lie to that oath? Will you say, "Youhave sworn to Christ that He shall be Priest, but He shall never be mine"? This would be the honest expression of what yourheart feels if you refuse Jesus-will you venture to speak so? Will you reject Heaven's own appointed Savior and deny the witnessof the Lord?
See that you do not do this, for the Lord your God is a jealous God and if you touch His dignity, so far as to strike at Hisoath, what more atrocious crime can you commit? "He that believes not has made God a liar, because He has not believed onthe Son of God." Will you refuse the ever-living Savior? Is there one here so foolish as to be trusting to another priest?Oh, can it be that you are so far gone as to look to a man instead of looking to the Son of God? Dear Friends, if Christ deignsto be Priest for us, we ought gladly to accept Him-there ought to be a rush at Him! We are bound to cry, "Great Priest, intercedefor me! Let Your Sacrifice avail for me! Wash me in the cleansing blood." It ought to be a joy to all mankind to accept thisHeaven-sent Priest and Surety! Will you refuse Him? Will you neglect His salvation?
If you do so, remember you shut yourselves out from the better hope and the better Covenant and the better promises-you arebarring the door of Heaven against yourselves! He who rejects the Savior commits eternal suicide! His blood shall be uponhis own head. This shall be the Hell of his Hell, the very center of its fire, the worm that never dies, that he, himself,put from him everlasting life and counted himself unworthy of the kingdom and would not have Christ, whom with an oath, Godhad set up that whoever believes in Him might live! God bless these all-important Truths of God to every heart for Christ'ssake. Amen.