Our text tonight is found at
the beginning of that portion of scripture that we read in
Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. subject then that I want to take
up with the Lord's help is that of Christ's priestly office. It is one of the great themes
that runs through this epistle to the Hebrews. Back in chapter
3, Paul writes, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus." And he goes on to say a great deal concerning
the person of the Lord Jesus in his office and work as that
one who is the great High Priest of our profession. Here in chapter
5 we read those words, how he is called of God's and high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. And Paul says, of whom we have
many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull
of hearing. What remarkable truth, what profound
truth, and so often our minds so dull and so dead. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to grant that gracious enlightenment that comes by the ministry of
the Holy Spirit as we take up this blessed theme of Christ
in his priestly office. It's part of that threefold office
that we see in the Old Testament Scriptures, that foreshadowing
of Him that was to come in the Old Testament. God shepherded
His people Israel by means of princes or kings and priests
and prophets. And the Lord Jesus comes as that
one who is the fulfillment of all those offices. But thinking
particularly tonight of the priestly office of the Lord Jesus. He
is the Great High Priest. as we read here at verse 14,
seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. The Levitical priests were typical
of course of Him that was to come. just as the princes in
Israel and Judah were also typical characters. The prophets were
typical characters in their ministry, Christ coming as the great fulfillment
of all of these things. But it is to the Levitical priesthood
that we have to look for the type. And therefore we see that
there are many points of resemblance between the priests of Levi and
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that in the Old Testaments
those who were the descendants of Aaron were to serve at the
altar and there they were the ones who were to offer sacrifices. and no one else was to intrude
into that particular office, and even when a king such as
Uzziah presumes to do that, he is immediately struck down with
leprosy. It was the duty of the priest
to make the sacrifices. Here in verse 1 of chapter 5,
every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins. But besides serving at the brazen
altar, making the sacrifices, the priests also were those that
made intercession. There was not only the brazen
altar, there was also the golden altar where they were to burn
incense. And in the New Testament, there
in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 3, we read of the incense offered
with the prayer of saints. What takes place then there at
the golden altar in the holy place, the burning of the incense,
and the incense filling that place before the Holy of Holies,
how it represents those prayers that are to ascend to God. They offered sacrifices, they
made intercession, they also were there to pronounce God's
blessing upon the children of Israel. Sometimes at the conclusion
of our service we use that lovely Aaronic blessing that is found
at the end of Numbers chapter 6. The Lord speaks to Moses saying,
speak unto Aaron. and unto his sons, saying, On
this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto
them, The Lord bless them, and keep them. The Lord make his
face shine upon them, and be gracious unto them. the Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And
they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will
bless them." How they were to put that threefold name upon
the children of Israel. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. This is the Aaronic blessing,
the blessing of the triune Jehovah. that is pronounced upon the people
by those priests, the descendants of Aaron. Here then we see three
separate aspects of that ministry that they were to be engaged
in. They made sacrifices, they made intercession, and they also
pronounced God's blessing upon the children. But all of this,
though there is a similarity with the Lord Jesus and His ministry,
all of this is such a feeble representation of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. These men offered sacrifices. What did they offer? They offered
the blood of bulls and of goats. As we see in chapter 10, Paul says the Lord 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 he asks because of 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. As Isaac Watts says, not all
the blood of beasts on Jewish altar slain could give the guilty
conscience peace or wash away the stain. Or they offered animal
sacrifices, the blood of bulls and of goats and of sheep. In
contrast, the Lord Jesus Christ is that One who comes and makes
the great offering, why? He offers Himself. As we see here in chapter 9,
the end of chapter 9, So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Going there at verse 12 in chapter
10, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. Oh, what a pale, what a
pale representation we see in the Old Testament sacrifices
when compared with that great sacrifice that the Lord Jesus
Christ comes to make, because He is not only the priest, He
is also the Lamb, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. He is that great Paschal Lamb. And those who shelter under His
precious blood, how they are accounted free from every sin,
how they're cleansed, how their consciences have been purged
from all those dead works. But then furthermore, we see
that those priests in the Old Testament died. Verse 23 of chapter 7, they truly
were many priests because they were not suffered to continue
by reason of death. They died. But the Lord Jesus
Christ is that one who lives. He is risen again, he lives now
in the power of an endless life. As we see here, in what follows
at the end of chapter 7, this man, because he continues ever
at 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." Theirs was not a continuing
priesthood. There were a succession of priests
serving there at the Golden Altar. All but the Lord Jesus Christ
ever lives And there we are to look to Him, His session in glory
at the right hand of the Father, His very presence of glory on
behalf of all His people. He ever lives to make intercession
for all that come unto God by Him. And then again, is not that
blessing that the Lord Jesus Christ pronounces upon His people
far greater than the Aaronic blessing? In Numbers 22 and verse 6 it
says, Whom thou blessest is blessed, those whom God blesses. What
here we're reminded, without all contradiction, the less is
blessed of the better. All that great blessing of the
Lord Jesus, far greater than anything that was ministered
to the people by the priest of Aaron. There are these These
resemblances that we are to recognize, the offering of sacrifices, prayers
of intercession, the blessing of the people, but Christ, Christ
is a far greater priest than those. And so, besides the points
of resemblance, we have to also observe that there are very striking
points of difference. And what are these? Well, let
me mention just three points of difference. First of all,
think of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those priests of
Aaron were mortal men. We see that in the beginning
of chapter 5. Every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
that One who is the Great God-Man. How does the Apostle continue
here in chapter 5? Verse 5 he says, So also Christ
glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest, but He that said
unto Him, Thou art My Son. Today have I begotten Thee, as
He saith also in another place. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek." Why? This one, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the eternal Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. It was God who was manifest in
the flesh. All the wonder of His person.
And so he is spoken of here as that one who is a great high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. That strange, that remarkable
character that we read of in the end of Genesis chapter 14
after the battle between the kings. How suddenly this man
appears And Abraham, who has been favoured of God and been
victorious in the battle of the kings, pays tithes to Melchizedek. And the Lord Jesus, he says,
is said to be of that particular order. Here in verse 6 of chapter
5, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He's quoting there from the language
that we have in the 110th Psalm. And then, again at verse 10,
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And then in chapter 7, as we
saw in the reading, Paul goes on to say some what more concerning
this man, this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most
High God, who met Abram returning from the slaughter of the kings
and blessed him, to whom also Abram 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
the priest continually. Oh, there is much that is strange
and mysterious with regards to this man. much that we find difficult
to understand. Paul has many things to say,
he says, but they are hard to be uttered. And yet the Lord Jesus is that
one who is a priest in that order. He is not of the tribe of Levi,
the Levitical priesthood doesn't pertain to him. He is of the
tribe of Judah, of whom nothing is said concerning priesthood. So it's a different order of
priests that we see when we take account of his person. He is God-man. And there is,
as it were, in Melchizedek, I'm not so sure that we should say
that Melchizedek is a type of the Lord Jesus, but there is
that that pertains to Melchizedek that clearly points us to the
Lord Jesus Christ and his unchanging priesthood. But thinking more
of these differences between the priest of the Old Testament
and the Lord Jesus there is also that perfection that we see in
Christ's priesthood. Those priests who were the sons
of Aaron were sinful men. What did we read back in chapter
5? Verse 2 concerning the priest who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity and by reason hereof he ought
as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins these
priests of Aaron they themselves were sinful men they don't only
present sacrifices for the sins of the people but they are implicated,
the sacrifice is also offered for their own sins but the Lord Jesus Christ does not really need to make
any sacrifice for himself as was the case with those men even when the priest goes into
the holy place and ventures further into the
holy of holies and he could only do that once in the year on the
great day of atonement as we see there in chapter 9 into the
second with the high priest alone once every year not without blood
which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people
he has to make a sacrifice for himself as well as for them,
but not the Lord Jesus Christ. Not the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is that One who is altogether without sin. And even when Paul speaks of
Him here in our text, as one touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, in all points tempted like as we are, He adds, yet
without sin. He is altogether free from sin. And we see it here at the end
of chapter 7. For such an High Priest became
us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Oh, He is without sin. He has
come to do a work, that work that was committed to Him in
the Eternal Covenant, and he will accomplish all that
will of the Father when he comes to the end of his earthly ministry
after those discourses in John we come into chapter 17 his great
high priestly prayer we see him as an interceding priest and
then subsequent to chapter 17 we see him as a sacrificing priest
but remember what he says in the high priestly prayer I have
glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work that
thou gavest me to do." Always anticipating that He is going
to make that sacrifice obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. And then in John 19 and verse 30 we have that great
statement that He makes from the cross, it is finished. It
is finished. He bows the head and heals up
the spirit. He knew he had finished the work.
He came to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. All that prophetic word back
in Daniel 9.24 How it's so wonderfully fulfilled in the Lord Jesus,
the perfection. The perfection of His work, the
perfection of His priestly work. Every aspect of that work that
the Father had given Him to do, why He accomplished it. Oh, there
are these points of difference. when we consider His person,
when we think of the work and the perfection of the work that
He has now accomplished on behalf of His people. And so He rises
again from the dead and He ascends on high. Why, there we have Him
in that 24th Psalm. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord or who shall stand in His holy presence? He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart and not lifted up his soul unto
vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord." This is the Lord Jesus Christ, or the perfection
of his priestly work. And so now the position that
he occupies as a priest. Yes, the work is finished upon
the earth, but he has entered into heaven
itself. That's what Paul says to the
Hebrews. Chapter 9 verse 24, Christ is
not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Why those priests upon the earth,
as we've said, the high priest, Every year on the Great Day of
Atonement, spoken of, I think it's back in Leviticus chapter
16, the Day of Atonement, Paul speaks of it here in chapter
9 verse 7 following, that the High Priest goes into the Holy
of Holies and takes with him the blood of sacrifice and sprinkles
the blood before the Mercy Seat and upon the Mercy Seat. but
the Lord Jesus, why? He has passed into heaven. Oh, we have it here in verse
14 of this fourth chapter. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that he's passed into the heavens. Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. There He is sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is that one now exalted at
God's right hand. He lives and He reigns there
in glory. Or the position of the Lord Jesus.
Why? We might say that the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself is the very Merciful. We are to come boldly unto the
throne of grace. It says here at verse 16 in this
fourth chapter, the throne of grace, the mercy seat. We are
to come boldly to the throne of grace so we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. And some of the commentators
reckon that Christ is actually the fulfillment of the mercy
seat. the words that's used here in
chapter 9 where Paul is speaking of the
various furnishings in the in the tabernacle he speaks there
at verse 5 chapter 9 of the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy
seat now the words that we have and it's rendered mercy seats.
Well that particular word is used on just one other occasion
in the New Testament. The other occasion is back in
Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. But our authorized version translators
have rendered it differently in Romans 3. In Romans 3.25 we read, "...whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."
It's exactly the identical word that is found here in Hebrews
9.5, Mercy Seat. And so we could render that verse
in Romans, "...whom God hath set forth to be a mercy seat
through faith in his blood." What's the significance of the
Mercy Seat? Well, remember the Great Day of Atonement, when
the High Priest is permitted to go into the Holy of Holies,
to go there where the Ark of the Covenant is, and on the top
of the Ark the Mercy Seat, the very presence of God, the throne
of God, as he promised he would sit there, enthroned in the midst
of his people. And when the High Priest goes
into that place, he has to take the blood of atonement and he
has to sprinkle the blood upon the Mercy Saint and he has to
sprinkle the blood before the Mercy Saint he has to make propitiation
for the sins of the people and that's the Lord Jesus Christ
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation why He has borne
all that wrath that was the desert of the sinner All those that
the Father had given to Him in the eternal covenant, He takes
their sin to Himself and He makes a great atoning sacrifice on
their behalf. All the Lord Jesus, you see,
He's not just the high priest, He's also the sacrifice, the
offering, but He's also the mercy seat, the very place where the
blood is sprinkled. or the glories that belong to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed that great High
Priest. Seeing then that we have a great
High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. But coming to these words in
verse 15, here we see him as such a gracious High Priest.
He's not just a great a great High Priest he is that, a glorious
High Priest but what grace for we have not an High Priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in
all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Oh look at what it says, he is
touched he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities he
is God and he is never anything less
than God but he is also a man and now he is able to empathize
with his people his touch he feels touch with the feeling of our
infirmities what are these infirmities? they are not sins they are sinless infirmities. We're reminded here of the reality
of his human nature, how frail our humanity is. Think of the
Lord Jesus as a man, there in John chapter 4, as he walks through
Samaria, he's weary, he's weary, tired. His body needs rest, he
sits at the well at Sica. That's infirmity. But there's
no sin in that infirmity. But now, here in chapter 5, we
see something more with regards to these infirmities of the Lord
Jesus. We read of Him in the days of
His flesh, at verse 7, when He had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save
Him from death and was heard in that he feared. Oh, how the
fear of God is in his heart. The margin suggests he is piety,
though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things which
he suffered. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Oh, this is our Melchizedek, how he is touched. We read of
him not just touched in a physical sense with tiredness of body,
but how we see him touched in his very soul, how he feels for
those grieving ones at the death of Lazarus. Oh, we're told how
he was groaning in his spirit, We read about the Lord Jesus
wept there at the grave. He was about to raise Lazarus
to life. They're not crocodile tears though,
they're real tears. Here is Mary and she comes weeping. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned
in spirit and was troubled. and said, where have you laid
him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how
he loved him. All these are real emotions that
we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, how He feels these things. How He is a real man and His
touch with all the feeling of our infirmities.
He doesn't just weep at the grave of Lazarus. That last
journey that he makes to Jerusalem, he sees the city, he weeps over
Jerusalem. He wept over Jerusalem. Oh, that face, bejewed with tears. How the Lord Jesus sympathizes. He's such a gracious High Priest.
And we've remarked previously on the significance of the language
as we have it here in this 15th verse, where we have this double
negative. We have not a High Priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Paul could
simply have written, we have an high priest touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. But he doesn't express himself
in that fashion. He multiplies the words. He's
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It's not
the words of Paul, it's really the word of God. And every word of God is a waiting
word. Every word carries authoritarian. And the old Scots commentator
John Brown makes the observation here, this double negation is
equivalent to a strong assertion. Or when he says, as we have it
here in the text, we have not, which cannot, it means to say
he most definitely was. and is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. It carries strength, the way
in which it is expressed here, and it's brought out so sweetly,
of course, in our authorised version, the faithfulness of
the translators, the force of the words, or one like the Lord
Jesus, this gracious high priest, how he feels for his people.
Back in Isaiah we're told, in all their affliction, he was
afflicted. That's how he feels for them.
When Saul of Tarsus, that self-righteous Pharisee, is breathing out all
those threats and slaughters against the early church, those
disciples of the Lord Jesus, and Christ apprehends him there
at Damascus, what does Christ say to him? Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. The Lord Jesus then was risen
and ascended. He was in heaven. Ah, but His
church, His body is upon the earth. And He feels. Oh, He feels
for His people. He feels for you. He feels for
me. If we are those who are truly the children of God, He feels
for us. He's touched for us. Sin in us is an infirmity, that's
true. But all that grief that believers
feel over their sins, is that not a greater infirmity? Oh,
are we those friends who do truly grieve over our sins? Now the Lord Jesus is one who
sympathizes with those poor, sorrowing sinners. I remarked
this morning on that interesting distinction. One came across
it only this last week in reading the writings of one of those
old Scots ministers where he says that sin itself is of the
creature but the sense of sin is of God. And he says that's
a vital distinction. Sin itself is of the creature. God is not the author of sin. We sin. But all the sense of
sin, that's something that comes from God. Today there are so
few sensible sinners. But as dear Joseph Hart says,
all that sinner who feels his sin, that sinner is a sacred
thing, the Holy Ghost hath made him so and the Lord Jesus is
one who feels for that sinner and sympathizes with him in all
that he feels over his sins, you grieve over sins you often think what makes heaven
such a blessed prospect above all things in many respects is
this, no sin Sin, my worst enemy before, shall vex my nose and
ears no more. My sinful foes shall all be slain,
nor Satan break my peace again. Oh, it's bliss, no sin, in the
very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour of
sinners, and His gracious High Priest, who's touched, touched,
with the feeling of our infirmities in all points tempted like as
we are yet without sin how he was tempted remember after his
baptising we read of him being led of the spirit into the wilderness and there he is tempted of the
devil this is immediately after he's been so favoured that he's
baptising the heavens open, the Spirit descends upon him in the
form of a dove, the Father speaks those words, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Oh, what a precious that experience
must have been to him. Was he not then on the mountaintop?
And yet, so soon after, that blessed experience, he's sorely
tried and tempted by Satan. in the wilderness. And how the
devil assaults the very idea of his sonship. The father had
said, this is my beloved son. And when the devil comes with
his temptations, what does he say? If thou be the son of God.
If thou be the son of God. Questioning the very truth of
his eternal sonship. And the Lord overcomes that great
adversary. But then we're told how the devil
departed from him for a season. That wasn't the end of his temptations.
The devil only left him for a season. In fact, when he comes to the
end of his earthly ministry and he speaks to his disciples in
Luke, there in chapter 22 and verse 28, he says, to them, ye
are they which have continued with me in my temptations. All his life was a scene of temptations. How he is assaulted. Tempted
in all points. Tempted again and again and again. Assaulted by Satan. And yet he
says, the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in him. Poor the devil. Why? He will
take all his armoury, he'll throw everything at the Lord Jesus
Christ. and the Lord withstands all the temptations he can find
nothing in the Lord Jesus that he is able to take any advantage
of because he is that one who is holy and harmless and undefiled
he is that one who is pure pure in his birth that holy thing
that was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin
that human nature free from every taint of original sin no actual
sins in his life there's nothing that the devil can take advantage
of and yet he throws everything at him and the Lord resists him
or when the devil comes and assaults us we cannot say the prince of
this world cometh and hath nothing in me there's too much in us
or there's too much in me far too much that old nature and
how quickly the devil can stir up the old nature but here is
one you see who sympathizes he will not let his children be
tempted above what they are able but with the temptation he makes
a way of escape that they may be able to bear it as we read
there in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 there's a way of escape and
what is that way of escape? it's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ this great high priest, this gracious high priest. Here
at the end of chapter 7 verse 26 we read, such an high priest
became us. Now that doesn't mean he became
a man. That is a truth of course. the
Lord Jesus is God but the Lord Jesus is that eternal Son of
God who in the fullness of the time became a man but that's
not what's being said here in this verse at the end of chapter
7 the word that's used literally means suited us was fitted to us always a becoming
High Priest, this one. Such an High Priest suits us. We who are all sin
and He is all holiness and He is harmless and undefiled, He
is separate from sinners. What are we to do with this High
Priest? Why? We are to plead Him, we are to plead his person
were to plead his priesthood. This is what Paul concludes at
the end of chapter 4, having spoken of the great high priest,
the gracious high priest, he says, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. There in verse 14 he says, let
us hold fast our profession or do we hold fast that profession
of our faith? Do we avail ourselves of the
Lord Jesus? What is it to speak of this One
who is the Great High Priest? If we never avail ourselves of
that blessed office that He has, the One who ever lives to make
intercession, And we're so slow to pray. Oh, how hard prayer
is at times. And our reluctance. One feels
oneself to pray. You want to pray. You have no
spirit to pray. And we have to come to this one,
you see. And we find grace there. Grace to help, it says, in time
of need. Every time of need. every time
of need when we least feel like praying that's a great time of
need to try to utter a few words to pour out those broken sentences
to lament our sad state and yet in all of this you see there's
a certain boldness we can come bolder onto the throne of grace
because this one is such a faithful high priest and such a gracious
High Priest and He Himself is ever living, ever living to make
intercession. Oh God grant friends that we
might know Him and that we might make use of Him in this glorious
office, His High Priestly office. We have not an High Priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in
all points tempted like as we are. Yet, without sin, let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Amen.