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Moses
wrote about Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, in the law. For Jesus said to the
Jews: “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me”
(John |
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Joseph, the son of Jacob
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Jacob
loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he had been born to him in
his old age, and when the brothers of Joseph saw that their father loved him
more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
When Joseph was seventeen years old he had two dreams. In his first dream he
saw this: he and his brothers were binding sheaves of grain out in the field
when suddenly his sheaf rose and stood upright, while the sheaves of his
brothers gathered around his sheave and bowed down to it. And in his second
dream he saw the sun and moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. He told
his dreams to his brothers, but they hated him all the more because of his
dreams. One day, since the brothers of Joseph had gone to graze their
father’s flocks near Shechem, Jacob sent his son Joseph to his brothers in
order to see if all was well with his brothers and with the flocks. So Joseph
went to his brothers and found them near |
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In reading
the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, we cannot but acknowledge that he
foreshadowed the Messiah. Let’s see why. |
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As Joseph was
sent by his father to his brothers to see if all was well with them, and they
despised him and plotted to kill him but God prevented them from fulfilling
their evil purpose, so Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God, in the fullness
of the time was sent by God to Israel, that is, to His own house, so that
they might be saved through Him; however, His brothers according to the
flesh, that is, the Jews, did not receive Him, as it is written: “He came
unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). They rewarded Him
evil for good, and hatred for His love, they despised Him and several times
they sought to kill him. But God delivered him from their hands because His
hour had not yet come (Luke 4:28-30; John 7:30; 10:31). |
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As Joseph
was sold to the Ishmaelites by his brothers, so Jesus was sold to the chief
priests and the elders by one of his disciples, called Judas Iscariot
(Matthew 26:14-16). |
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As Joseph
was numbered with the evildoers when he was put in prison because of the
false accusation of the wife of Potiphar, so Jesus was numbered with the
transgressors for He was crucified between two robbers (Matthew 27:38).
However, just as what happened to Joseph was decreed by God, so also what
happened to Jesus was decreed by God; for the enemies of Jesus – by putting
Him to death – did what the hand and purpose of God had determined before to
be done (Acts 4:28). |
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As God
granted Joseph justice against his adversaries by setting him free from
prison, so God granted His Holy Servant Jesus justice against His many
adversaries by raising Him from the dead on the third day, loosing the pains
of death because it was not possible that He should be held by it (Acts
2:24). |
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As Joseph,
after he was released, was put in charge of all the land of Egypt by the king
of Egypt and he saved Jacob and his family and also the Egyptians from death,
so God, after He raised Jesus from the dead, exalted Jesus to His own right
hand as Prince and Saviour so that He might give repentance and remission of
sins to the Jews and to the Gentiles, that they might be saved (Acts 5:31;
11:18). |
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As Joseph
saved the life of many people by a great deliverance, so Jesus Christ has
saved many people all over the world by a great deliverance. However, whereas
Joseph saved those people by selling grain to them, Jesus saved us by giving
us freely His flesh to eat and His blood to drink (John 6:47-58); and
furthermore, whereas Joseph saved those people just from physical death,
Jesus saved us from the second death, that is, from eternal punishment. For
He said that he who eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, and
He will raise him up at the last day (John 6:54). Therefore the deliverance
worked by Jesus is much more glorious than that worked by Joseph. |
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The Passover
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As we saw
before, while Joseph was the ruler of Egypt, Jacob went down to Egypt
together with his whole family (seventy-five in all). Joseph died at the age of
a hundred and ten, and the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly
and became exceedingly numerous. This troubled very much the king of Egypt
who was reigning at that time (he was a king who did not know about Joseph),
who decided to put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor.
So the Israelites became slaves of Pharaoh, and their slavery was very hard.
That slavery lasted four hundred years. At God’s appointed time God sent His
servant Moses down to Egypt to bring His people out of Egypt. So Moses went
to Pharaoh and told him to let the Israelites go out of His country, but he
refused to let them go. Then God struck the Egyptians with some terrible
plagues in order to force them to let His people go out of Egypt. When God
sent the tenth plague, Pharaoh decided to let the Israelites go. Here is what
God said to Moses about the tenth plague, which forced Pharaoh to let the
Israelites go from Egypt: “Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and
upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he
shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. … About midnight will I go out
into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall
die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto
the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the
firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land
of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more”
(Exodus 11:1,4-6). So God said that about midnight He would put to death
every firstborn son in Egypt. However, He said also that on that same night
the Israelites were to eat the Passover. Here is what God said to Moses and
Aaron: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the
first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a
lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the
household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his
house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to
his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without
blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or
from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same
month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in
the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side
posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened
bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden
at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the
purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning;
and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And
thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and
your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's
passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against
all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the
blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a
memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your
generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days
shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven
out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day
until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the
first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there
shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them,
save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye
shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I
brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this
day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the
fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the
one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no
leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened,
even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he
be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all
your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread” (Exodus 12:2-20). As you can
see, the Israelites were to take some of the blood of the lamb and put it on
the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they would eat the
lamb. And that blood would be a sign for them on the houses where they were
and when God would see the blood He would pass over them and the plague would
not be on them to destroy them when He would strike the land of Egypt. The
Israelites did what God had commanded them through Moses and Aaron, and on
that night God killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians and spared all the
firstborn of the Israelites. |
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Now the
apostle Paul said to the Corinthians: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was
sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7 - NKJV). Why did Paul call Jesus ‘our
Passover’? Because Jesus Christ is the true Passover Lamb, who in the
fullness of the time was killed for us, so that by His own blood we might be
redeemed from our sins and delivered from the wrath to come. So the lamb
which was killed on that night in Egypt was only a shadow of the true
Passover Lamb. Let me explain to you why that lamb killed in Egypt was a
shadow of Jesus Christ. |
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The lamb that the Israelites took on the tenth day of the first month and
killed on the fourteenth day, was a male of the first year and without
blemish. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God (John 1:29) “without blemish or
defect” (1 Peter 1:19 – NIV), who was foreordained before the foundation of
the world, but was manifest in these last times for us. In other words, in
the fullness of the time God sent the Passover Lamb (that was with Him in
heaven from eternity) into this world so that He might die for our sins on
the cross of Calvary. |
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● The
blood of the Passover Lamb which was put by the Israelites on the two
doorposts and on the lintel of their houses, was a sign for them, because it
prevented the angel of the Lord from entering their houses and killing their
firstborn. Likewise, the blood of Jesus Christ, which was sprinkled on us (1
Peter 1:2) – and remember that we are God’s house (Hebrews 3:6) – will be a
sign for us, because by it we will be saved from the wrath to come. On that
day, God will destroy his enemies and will spare us, as it is written: “And
they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my
jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”
(Malachi 3:17). God will spare us because the blood of Jesus Christ, the
Passover that was sacrificed for us, is on us, and when God sees the blood of
Jesus Christ He will pass over us and will not bring judgement on us. We are
washed in His blood, and by faith in His blood we will be saved from wrath.
And as on that day in Egypt the Israelites knew that the Lord made a
distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites (Exodus 11:7), so on the
day of the Lord, which is still to come, we will again see “the distinction
between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those
who do not” (Malachi 3:18 - NIV). |
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The bronze serpent
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In the
book of Numbers we read: “And the people spake against God, and against
Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this
light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and
against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And
Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery
serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one
that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent
of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had
bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers
21:5-9). |
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The
serpent of brass foreshadowed Jesus Christ, because just as the Israelites
who had been bitten by the fiery serpents, in order not to die because of
their sins, had to look at the serpent of brass which Moses had made and set
on a pole; so now those who are dead in their sins and trespasses and are on
the way which leads to destruction (that is, to the second death, which is
the lake of fire burning with brimstone) because of their sins, in order to
be made alive and to escape the second death, must look at the Son of God,
that is to say, they must believe in Him. Jesus Christ is the One at whom men
must look to be saved, for He himself said: “And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John
3:14-15). Therefore salvation is not by works but by grace, because it is
obtained only by faith in Jesus Christ. |
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The manna
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In the book
of Exodus we read the following story: “And they took their journey from
Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the
wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of
the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the
whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron
in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we
had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the
flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us
forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then
said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and
the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove
them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass,
that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it
shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto
all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath
brought you out from the land of Egypt: And in the morning, then ye shall see
the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD:
and what are we, that ye murmur against us? And Moses said, This shall be,
when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning
bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur
against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against
the LORD. And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the
children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your
murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation
of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and,
behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak
unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be
filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. And it came
to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the
morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone
up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as
small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw
it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And
Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man
according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of
your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the
children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they
did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that
gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they
hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and
it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it
every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot,
it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as
much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation
came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath
said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that
which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which
remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it
up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there
any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath
unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather
it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh
day for to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto Moses, How
long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD
hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the
bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his
place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. And the
house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander
seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses
said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be
kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed
you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And
Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and
lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. As the LORD
commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. And
the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land
inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land
of Canaan. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah” (Exodus 16:1-36) |
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The bread
God gave to the Israelites in the wilderness foreshadowed Jesus Christ,
because Jesus Christ is the true bread God has given us from heaven, which
gives life to the world. Listen to what Jesus said to the Jews one day:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven;
but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is
he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world ….I am the
bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. …. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world” (John 6:32-33,35,47-51). As you can see, while the
bread given by God to the Israelites did not prevent the Israelites from
seeing death, the bread of God which came down from heaven, that is, Jesus
Christ, enables those who eat it (that is, those who believe in Him) to live
forever; and while that bread did not satisfy the hunger of the Israelites
once for all because in the wilderness they needed to eat it every day, the
bread of God which came down from heaven has satisfied the spiritual hunger
of those who have believed in Him, for Jesus said that he who comes to Him
will never go hungry. |
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The rock
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In the book
of Exodus we read the following story: “And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their
journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim:
and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did
chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said
unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the
people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and
said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD,
saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of
the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in
thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in
Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it,
that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of
Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of
the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD,
saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:1-7). |
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That rock
foreshadowed Jesus Christ, because as that rock was stricken so that water
might come out of it, so Jesus Christ was stricken – the prophet says: “Yet
we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted” (Isaiah
53:4 – NIV) - so that the water of life ‘might come out of Him’ and we might
drink it. However, while the Israelites after they drank that water were
thirsty again, those who drink the water Jesus gives them, will never thirst;
for one day Jesus said to a Samaritan woman: “Whosoever drinketh of this
water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14). |
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The High Priest and the atoning sacrifices
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After God
brought the people of Israel out of Egypt through Moses, He led them to Mount
Sinai, where He made a covenant with the people of Israel. God ordained the
law and commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to make Him a sanctuary, as He
said to Moses: “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among
them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle,
and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it”
(Exodus 25:8-9). The sanctuary (or tabernacle) was built, but it was only a
copy and shadow of the perfect sanctuary which is in heaven. The sanctuary
was divided into two parts, that is to say, the Holy Place and the Most Holy
Place. Here is a brief description of it: “For a tabernacle was prepared: the
first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which
is called the sanctuary [the Holy Place]; and behind the second veil, the
part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the
golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in
which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and
the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory
overshadowing the mercy seat” (Hebrews 9:2-5 - NKJV). |
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The
covenant made by God with the Israelites had ordinances of divine service,
and God chose Aaron and his sons to perform them. Aaron was ordained High
Priest for the Israelites, that He might offer both gifts and sacrifices for
the sins of the people, while his sons were ordained priests. Now the High
Priest had to offer sacrifices also for his sins, and not only for the
people’s sins, for he himself was also subject to weakness and it was because
of that weakness that he could have compassion on those who were ignorant and
going astray (Hebrews 5:2-3). The High Priest offered those sacrifices for
sins once every year, for according to the law he had to enter the Most Holy
Place once every year with the blood of some animals, that he offered for
himself and for the people’s sins. However, he himself and the sacrifices
which he had to offer for sins were only a shadow of the true High Priest and
the true sacrifice which the true High Priest in the fullness of the time
would offer for the sins of the whole world. As for the priests, they were
not allowed to enter the Most Holy Place, but only the Holy Place, where they
entered regularly to carry on their ministry. |
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I have
just said that the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place only once a year:
that occurred on the tenth day of the seventh month. Let us look closely at
what he had to do on that day to make atonement for his own sins and for the
sins of the people of Israel, in order to understand the priesthood of Jesus
Christ. In the book of Leviticus we read: “And Aaron shall bring the bullock
of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for
himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering
which is for himself: And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of
fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense
beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon
the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy
seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the
blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat
eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his
finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is
for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood
as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat,
and before the mercy seat … For on that day shall the priest make an
atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins
before the LORD. …. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make
an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year”
(Leviticus 16:11-15, 30,34). That’s how the High Priest on that particular
day made atonement for his sins and for the sins of the people. |
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Now, since
God has made a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah and with us believing Gentiles (a covenant which is better than the one
God made at Mount Sinai with the Israelites), He has appointed another High
Priest for men in things pertaining to God. And He took him from among men
and ordained Him High Priest forever. What’s the name of this High Priest?
His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for God has said to His Son: “Thou
art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 5:6; Psalm
110:4). Now let me explain to you what the Son of God, who was with God the
Father from eternity in heaven, had to do in order to become the High Priest
of the New Covenant. First, He had to become a man, for the Scripture teaches
that the Son of God, in order to have compassion on us and to be able to help
us, who are the seed of Abraham, had to be made like us in every way (Hebrews
2:17); therefore, because we have flesh and blood, He too shared in our
humanity. So the Son of God, in order that He might become a merciful and
faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God and that He might make
atonement for our sins, took the form of a bondservant and came in the
likeness of men. Second, He had to suffer, and we know that He suffered many
things in the days of His flesh, and because of His sufferings He is able to
help us, as it is written: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted,
he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18 - NIV).
Brothers in the Lord, the Son of God had to be tempted by the devil, that’s
why He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan; the
Son of God had to suffer, that’s why He suffered many things at the hands of
the chief priests, the scribes and the elders and He was rejected by that
sinful generation. The Scripture says: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom
are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to
make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10
- NKJV), and in fact it was through His sufferings that the Son of God was
made perfect forever and He became a faithful and merciful High Priest.
Beloved, it was because the Son of God shared in our humanity that He could
destroy death and “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”
(Hebrews 2:14) and “deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). An angel, being a spirit, could
not do what Jesus Christ has done, for only a true man, holy, just and
perfect could help us and save us from our sins, and thanks be unto God for
He ordained for us such a High Priest, who through all His sufferings was
made perfect for ever; yes, we needed such a High Priest and God knew that
and so He raised Him up; His name is Jesus. |
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As Aaron
did not take upon himself the glory of becoming High Priest, so also Jesus
Christ “did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said
to Him: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You” (Hebrews 5:5 – NKJV. cf.
Psalm 2:7), and “as He also says in another place, You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:6 – NKJV. cf. Psalm 110:4).
So Jesus Christ is High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec and not
after the order of Aaron; let’s see then who was this Melchisedec. The
Scripture says: “This Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high
God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed
him; 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; 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 7:1-3). As you can see, the
greatness of this Melchisedec is shown by the fact that Abraham, the
patriarch, gave him a tenth part of all, but also by the fact that
Melchisedec blessed “him that had the promises,” and “without all
contradiction the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:6,7). Therefore
Melchisedec is greater than Aaron and all the levitical priests, for Levi
himself (who at that time was still in the loins of his father Abraham) who
received tithes from the people according to the law, paid tithes through
Abraham, so to speak, and gave the tenth to someone who did not trace his
descent from Levi, that is, to Melchisedec. |
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Jesus, the
High Priest of our profession, according to the flesh descended from the
tribe of Judah and not from the tribe of Levi, to whom God entrusted the
priesthood. Someone may ask: ‘Why was there need for another High Priest,
after the order of Melchisedec and not after the order of Aaron, to come?’
Brothers, it was necessary for another priest to come because perfection
could not be attained through the Levitical priesthood, so God raised up
another priest from the tribe of Judah, a priest who is after an order more
excellent than the order of Aaron, through whom we have been made perfect in
regard to the conscience. The High Priest of our profession is greater than
the High Priests of the Old Testament because those High Priests were made
priests without an oath, while Jesus Christ was made High Priest with an
oath, as it is written: “The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a
priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:” (Hebrews 7:21; Psalm 110:4);
that is the reason why the Covenant (that is, the New Covenant) of which
Jesus became the guarantee is better than the first Covenant, that is, the
Old Covenant. |
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The High
Priests under the Old Covenant were weak or imperfect, but “the oath, which
came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever”
(Hebrews 7:28 – NIV); those High Priests were many “because they were not
suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:23-25). Brothers, Jesus Christ died, but
the third day He rose again and death no longer has dominion over Him; He is
at the right hand of God where He intercedes for us continually. Jesus is the
Mediator between God and us, and therefore we draw near to God in full assurance
of faith, being sure that His ears are open to our prayers and He answers our
prayers, for we draw near to Him in the name of His Son, who is High Priest
for ever. |
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The High
Priests, under the law, had to offer each year the blood of goats and bulls
to make atonement for their own sins and the sins of the people, but Jesus
Christ offered Himself once for all for our sins. The Scripture says: “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. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have
had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a
remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4). That
means that even though the Israelites offered those sacrifices for their
sins, God remembered their sins each year; their sins were never blotted out
from their conscience, because those sacrifices were imperfect and they were
only a shadow of the atoning sacrifice which the Son of God offered in these
last times for us; the Israelites continued to have conscience of sins for
the ordinances concerning the sacrifices were just fleshly ordinances imposed
by God until the time of reformation, that is, until the fullness of the
time. That’s why it is written that those sacrifices “could not make him that
did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience” (Hebrews 9:9). They
were just fat animals, it was just blood of animals, how could then those
things put away sin by blotting it out from the conscience of those who
offered those sacrifices? But what the blood of bulls and of goats could not
do was done by the blood of Jesus Christ, as it is written: “How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?” (Hebrews 9:14). Brothers, our conscience was defiled by sins,
but it was purged from them by the blood of Christ; when we were washed in
His blood and sprinkled by it, our sins were taken away or removed, and God
remembers them no more, for God has made this promise: “For I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I
remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12; Jeremiah 31:34). So God says: “I have
blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins
…” (Isaiah 44:22); for our old sins like dark clouds were darkening and
enveloping our conscience, but Christ with His own blood made them disappear
and now they can’t be seen even on the horizon. Listen to what Paul says:
“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath
he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses”
(Colossians 2:13), yes, all trespasses, not just some of them, because “the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The
work which is done by the blood of Jesus in the heart of those who accept the
Lord is a perfect work, because the blood of Jesus takes away all the old
sins; that’s why we are bound to thank God for the blood of the Lamb without
blemish and without spot which was shed at Golgotha. |
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Furthermore,
the High Priest of our profession, after He offered Himself to make our
conscience perfect entered “into heaven itself”, says the Scripture, and not
into a man-made sanctuary “that was only a copy of the true one” (Hebrews
9:24 - NIV). It is written: “He went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered
the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal
redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12 - NIV) for us, and again: “Nor did he enter
heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the
Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would
have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world” (Hebrews
9:25-26 - NIV). What Jesus did, when He offered Himself, was done by Him once
for all at God’s appointed time, so that He might establish the New Covenant
or the New Testament. For in order that the Testament of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ might be dedicated it was necessary to prove His death, because
it is written: “In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of
the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died;
it never takes effect while the one who made it is living” (Hebrews 9:16-17 -
NIV). The death of Jesus Christ was proved, therefore the New Testament is in
force; in it He has promised us an eternal inheritance. But remember that in
order that we might become heirs of this everlasting and glorious
inheritance, He, the Only Begotten who came from the Father, had to die. It
is written: “Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without
blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet
wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying,
This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover
he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the
ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without
shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:18-22). Now, as the first
Covenant was dedicated with blood, so also the second Covenant was dedicated
with blood, not with blood of calves and goats, but with the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, for Jesus, after He had proclaimed the commandments of God (as
He said: “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he
gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” John
12:49), pointing to His death, said to His disciples, when He gave them the
cup during the night on which He was betrayed, “For this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew
26:28). Therefore the blood Jesus shed at Calvary is the blood of the New
Testament (or New Covenant), by which the New Testament was dedicated. |
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Jesus
Christ, by His blood, disclosed and opened for us the way to the Most Holy
Place and thus allowed us to come boldly before God; as long as the first
tabernacle was still standing, only the High Priest was allowed to enter the
Most Holy Place, the priests were not allowed to enter it; but through Jesus
Christ, the curtain that divided the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was
torn in two, and now we, as priests of God, have the freedom of approaching
the throne of grace in full assurance of faith. We have free and confident
access into the very presence of God at any time and at any place (Hebrews
9:7-9; 10:19-23). What a privilege, what a honour! Brothers in the Lord, let
us hold fast our faith in the High Priest of our profession until the end. |