A Priest for Ever-In the Power of an Endless Life
Vii. — 15. And what we say is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest,
16. Who hath been made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17. For it is witnessed of him,
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.
IN the words of Psalm ex. each expression is full of meaning. We saw (v. 4-6) that the word, Thou art Priest is the proof that Christ did not glorify Himself to become Priest, but was appointed of God. We have seen the deep significance of the words, after the order of Melchizedek. We now come to what is implied in its being said, Thou art a Priest for ever.
The word ever or eternal is one of the most important in the Epistle. It is found seventeen times. It contains all that distinguishes the New Testament from the Old; the healthy Christian life of the perfect, from the stunted sickly growth of the babes. To understand what it means we must connect it with God, the eternal One. Eternity is an attribute of Deity and of the divine life, and has its true existence only in the fellow ship of that life. In God there is no change, or ageing, or fading; He is all that He is in an ever-fresh, never-changing, youth. As some one has said: “He is the Ancient of Days, and yet the youngest of all, for He lives ever in the freshness of the eternal strength that knows no past.” The eternal life is that which always remains the same, because it is always in God. And when God speaks to His Son, Thou art Priest for ever, it not only means that the priesthood will never cease, but it points to what is the root and cause of this; it roots in the life and strength of God. Christ is become a Priest after the power of an endless life. Unceasingly, without one moment’s cessation, in unbroken continuity, He lives and works in the power of the divine life.
The contrast will make the meaning clear. He is made Priest, not after the law of a carnal commandment, as Aaron, but after the power of an endless life, even as Melchizedek who abideth a priest continually. Law and life are the contrasts. Every creature naturally acts according to the life that is in it, without any law or compulsion from without. The bird needs no law to bid it fly, or the fish to make it swim: its life makes it a delight. A law is a proof that the life is wanting. The law that forbids stealing is a proof that the life of those for whom it is made is wrong. And a law is not only a proof that the right life is wanting, but it is helpless to produce it. It may check and restrain, but cannot inspire. It can demand, but cannot give; it has power to command, but not to create what it seeks. Aaron became priest after the law of a carnal commandment, a law that made nothing perfect, and was disannulled for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof; Christ, after the power of an endless life. Every act of His holy and blessed priesthood, every application of the fruits of His eternal redemption, is wrought in the power of an endless life.
These two principles mark two systems of religion, two ways of worshipping God, two experiences of the inner life.
The one is that of the law, with atonement and acceptance with God, as typified in Aaron. The Christian trusts in Christ as his Redeemer, and seeks, by the great motive of gratitude, to compel himself to love and obedience. His life is one of unceasing effort. But he is painfully conscious of failure; obedience is not his life and delight. The New Testament offers a better life. Through unbelief and sloth the majority of Christians know little of it. But here it is, opened up by the Holy Spirit, as the mystery of Melchizedek. Jesus Christ is become a Priest after the power of an endless life. These precious words are the key to the higher life. Jesus lives in heaven as High Priest in the power of an endless life. And as He lives, so He works in that power. This is the meaning of His being a Priest for ever. His work does not consist, like that of Aaron, in a series of successive acts, that ever cease, and ever need to be renewed. No, each work He does for us He is able to do in the power of an endless life. He works it within us as a life, as our own life, so that it is our very nature to delight in God and in His will. His priesthood acts as an inner life within us, lifting us up, not in thought but in spirit and in truth, into a vital fellowship with God. He breathes His own life in us. And He works it in as the power of life, a life that is strong and healthy, because it is His own life from heaven. And He works it in the power of an endless, an indissoluble life, a life that never for a moment need know a break or an interruption, because it is the life of eternity, the life maintained in us by Him who is a Priest for ever, a Priest who abideth continually.
And why is it so many Christians experience and prove so little of this power of the endless, the unchanging life that abides
continually? Some know nothing of it, they only know of 16
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Christ as Aaron. And some hear of it but are not willing to give up all to purchase this pearl of great price; to give up the world for this heavenly life. And some, who would fain give up all, cannot, dare not, will not, believe that Christ is indeed Melchizedek, a Priest for ever, a Priest who does everything in eternal life-power.
He abideth a Priest continually. The continuity of His priesthood is never interrupted or broken; as little the continuity of the action of His priesthood; as little the experience of that action. Everything Christ as my High Priest in heaven does for me He does in the power of an endless life, as a Priest who abides continually; what He works can abide continually too. Oh for faith to consider and know and trust Christ Jesus, Priest for ever, Priest after the power of the endless life!
1. The power of an endless life. There is not a more significant or important expression in the whole Epistle. It is life we need, and a strong life, and a life that never gives way, Here we have it — the life more abundant,
2. We shall often have occasion to refer to these words. We are so accustomed to think of a priest as a man who does certain things on behalf of other men, separate from himself, that we apply this mode of thinking to the Lord Jesus. Christ is no outward Saviour, nor can He give us any salvation as an outward thing. All He does for us and to us. He puts into our heart, makes It our life. We need to know that all He does as High Priest for us in heaven. He also does within us as a life He gives. He is Priest, and can save in no other way, than after the power of an endless life. It Is only as a life within us that His priesthood can attain its object.
3. Jesus was crucified in weakness, but raised In the power of Qod. He won the power through the weakness, the sacrifice of all unto the death. Let all who would know Him in the power of the endless life enter into the fellowship of His death, walk in deep humility and meekness and dependence upon Qod, In the path In which He trod to reach the throne.
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