It is delightful for the saints of God to contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of His Person, in the character He bears, and in the offices He fills. There are the different functions belonging to the priesthood of the Son of God in His present place in heaven as set forth typically in the priesthood of Aaron, for the Aaronic priesthood gives the present character of Christ’s priestly work above, even if that priesthood is exercised after the order of Melchisedec. The verse before us, Hebrews 7:26, does not deal with the order or character of Christ’s priesthood, but rather brings before us the precious traits of our great High Priest, and indicates how great He is by showing the place into which He has gone.
“Holy”
What marks the Lord Jesus as our great High Priest in heaven marked Him as Man passing through this world, the holiness of His nature and character being manifested in all the circumstances of His sojourn on earth, and in contrast to what marked every other man. In announcing the coming of the Son of God into this world, the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). How jealous is the Holy Spirit in safeguarding the holiness of the nature of the Son of God as He becomes Man and enters this world of unholiness and sin. Although perfectly Man in this world, Jesus was none other than the One proclaimed by the heavenly seraphim, in the ears of Isaiah, as “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3).
Although in constant contact with sinners in His service for God to men, the Son of God could not be defiled by sin. The holiness of His nature repelled sin, while His deep compassion for the sinner attracted those who felt their need of Him. His words of grace to the sinner were, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more,” and to His foes He said, “Which of you convinces me of sin?” (John 8:11, 46). With perfect holiness there is not only sinlessness, but also the hatred of evil, and of the Son of God it was written in Psalm 45 and Hebrews 1, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.”
“As a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19), the Son of God shed His precious blood to redeem His own and put all their sins away, and it was by the Holy Spirit, the eternal Spirit, that He “offered Himself without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14). The Spirit of holiness manifested in every step of the Son on earth, and by which He offered Himself to God, was the power by which the Son of God rose from among the dead, and by which He raised the dead while on earth, and shall yet raise all the dead.
“Harmless”
What mighty power was wielded by the Son of God as Man here below. The disciples marvelled as He rebuked the winds and the sea, not understanding that with them was the same blessed Person who once said to the sea, when the earth was being formed, “Hitherto shall thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” (Job. 38:11). His divine power relieved the sick, opened blind eyes, cleansed lepers and raised the dead; yet that power He never used to meet His own needs, though used to feed the hungry multitudes, nor was it used against His enemies or to shield Himself from their evil designs against Him.
He could have used the divine power that withered the fig tree to blast all who were opposed to Him, but instead He manifested His grace in power for the blessing of all who sought Him in faith. How brightly shines the harmlessness of the Son of God when His foes came to take Him! He asked them, “Whom seek ye?” and when they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth,” He said to them, “I am He,” and “As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward, and fell to the ground” (John 18:4–6). For a moment the divine glory of the I AM shone out and brought all His foes to the ground, but in meekness He submitted to the will of God and allowed His foes to take Him.
Simon Peter, naturally a very brave man, was not harmless like his Master, and would have resisted the agents of the powers of darkness, so drew his sword and cut off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s servant, but it was not in this way that the powers of darkness were to be overthrown, and the Son of God in wondrous grace healed the ear of Malchus (verses 10, 22; Luke 22:51). How harmless was the Son of God as He endured the reproaches of the leaders of Israel, of Herod and the soldiers, and the grave injustice of Pilate. Nor could all the shame, the dishonour and all the insults heaped upon Him bring from Him one angry word, or one deed inconsistent with the harmlessness that had marked His perfect way to the cross where, by weapons unknown to the world, He would break the power of Satan, and secure the mightiest victory over death, and over every foe of God and of His people.
“Undefiled”
All around the Lord Jesus in this world were the evidences of sin, and into contact with this the Son of God came, yet He was untainted with it. There was the defilement of man’s flesh, seen in all its corrupting power in leprosy, yet the Son of God could touch the leper and remain undefiled. Instead of being defiled, the touch of the Son of God brought cleaning to the leper, it removed the defilement of him who had been unclean and separated from his fellows because of his defilement.
There was the moral or spiritual defilement of those into whom the demons had entered, and they were brought into the presence of the Son of God, “and He cast out the spirits with His word” (Matt. 8:16). Not only was it impossible for the Son of God to be defiled by the foul spirits that brought such distress to men, but they could not remain in His presence when He spoke the word. At His bidding the foul and evil spirits had to go, relieving those who had been defiled by their presence. In such as Mary Magdalene the cleansing work of Him who was the “undefiled” was clearly seen, for she was indeed a purified vessel, and meet for the Master’s use.
The Pharisees and scribes might murmur, “This Man receives sinners, and eats with them,” but they knew that Jesus was not contaminated with the sin of those into whose company He had come. He was not with sinners to have part with them, He had come to set them free from the bondage of sin, and to cleanse them from the defilement of sin, so that they might have part with Him in things that were pure and holy. The poor sinner of Luke 7 touched the holy feet of the Lord Jesus, but His feet were not defiled: it was the heart of the poor sinner that was affected, and the Lord was able to say to her, “Thy sins are forgiven…thy faith has saved thee; go in peace” (Luke 7:48-50).
“Separate from sinners”
Although mingling with sinners in His ministry of divine mercy and grace, the Son of God was indeed “separate from sinners.” His nature was not only undefiled but undefilable: He was a Man of another order, the Second Man out of heaven (1 Cor. 15:47). He was the most solitary of men, even whilst in the midst of the multitudes, for none were able to enter into the thoughts and feelings of His heart and mind. By grace, through a work of God within their hearts, the disciples were able to apprehend, in some little way, the words of Jesus, but the only way in which they could be associated with Him was through an entirely new work of God, the new birth, and as receiving from Him, risen from the dead, His own life (John 20:22).
Only upon Jesus could the heavenly dove rest (Luke 3:22; Gen. 8:9), and only to Jesus could the Father say, “Thou art my beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.” He was altogether separate from sinners in the sight of His God and Father. His thoughts, desires and feelings, yea, every inward spring of His being, and every step that He took in obedience to His Father’s will showed how separate Jesus was from every other man in this world. His meekness, gentleness, lowliness of mind, compassion for sinners, and unwearied service to God marked Him as alone among men, separate from the men of this world who sought their own things and to do their own will.
It was because Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners that He was able to die for our sins, and to met all the claims of God’s throne in relation to our sins. Moses had offered to die as a substitute for Israel (Ex. 32:32). It was a noble offer, manifesting his deep love for the people of God and his great regard for God’s honour, but Moses could not be accepted as a sacrifice for sin, for good man that he was, the meekest man in all the earth, it could not be said of him that he was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” Perhaps it might be said of Moses in a relative way, but only of Jesus could it be said absolutely, and without any qualification or comparison. Only Jesus answered to the many types of the Old Testament, where a sacrifice “without blemish and without spot” was demanded. Not a spot was found in His holy nature as born into the world, and not a blemish was acquired in His pathway of holy obedience and subjection to the will of God.
“Made higher than the heavens”
Having accomplished the will of God in His death upon the cross, God intervened and raised Him from the dead, and gave Him this wonderful place, “higher than the heavens.” The exaltation of Jesus to God’s right hand is impressed upon us in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2), as in other Scriptures, for God would have us to understand something of the delight He found in the work of His Son, and in the obedience of His Son, and in all that He was in life as in death as “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”
This is the kind of Priest that God considered “became us.” What were we to have such a priest? In ourselves nothing, sinners by nature, yet redeemed by God through the death of His Son, and bound for the place into which “the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Heb. 6:20). No other priest is suitable for the people of God, only One has this character, this calling, this service, the divine qualifications brought before us here.
We have brought before us what this High Priest is, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners;” we have where He is, “made higher than the heavens,” and we have who He is, “the Son, who is consecrated for evermore” (Heb. 7:28). This is the Priest who offered Himself to God without spot, by the eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14), the “merciful and faithful high priest” who succours us on our heavenly way, and who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities (Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14–16), the Great Priest by whom we enter the holiest to commune with God, and to worship Him (Heb. 10:19–22).
R. 24.8.70