Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. John wrote, And the word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The
glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This
was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have
all we received in grace for grace. For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We can
say that the revelation of Christ in the New Testament is the unlocking
of all of the mysteries contained in the Old Testament. Those who
fail to see Jesus Christ as the complete fulfillment of all that
was written in the law given to Moses miss the whole purpose
of the giving of that law and still seek perfection by that
which was never meant for that purpose. For the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the
which we draw nigh unto God. Countless barrels of blood were
shed on the altar of the tabernacle and later the temple, but not
one sin was ever canceled thereby. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. God has no regard
to the offerings and ministrations of men, nor can any sacrifice
made by sinners ever be acceptable in his sight. In fact, we read
that the law required that Aaron not only make a sacrifice for
his own sins, but he had to make an offering to cleanse the holy
place and the altar itself. This was required by the law
in order to demonstrate to men the utter impossibility of them
being able to approach unto the true and living God because of
their uncleanness. What sheer folly is it when some
would declare that men can bring their faith to the Lord and He
will have respect unto it? All that comes from man is unclean.
Everything we touch and are by nature is unfit to enter into
His presence. Yet many present what they call
the gospel as a means whereby a man can make a deal with God
by filling in the missing piece of the puzzle, which they define
as faith. Saving faith is not that which
men bring to the Lord, but is rather that which the Lord in
mercy is pleased to give to men according to His sovereign purpose.
Faith is the manifestation of the Spirit's work in those who
believe. The law made Aaron and his sons
after him priests, but could never in any wise give them the
right to enter into the presence of God. In fact, the Lord forbade
them to even enter the Holy of Holies, except as they came with
a sacrifice for their own sin. It is clear that the one who
is our great high priest did not spring from the tribe of
Levi, but was rather the lion of the tribe of Judah, of which
no priestly office was ordained by the law. This demonstrates
that by the deeds of the law, no man can be justified. Yet
that one who is appointed and ordained the great high priest
over the household of God is a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. He was not made a priest by the
law, but was rather ordained with an oath as the high priest
of his people, having an unchangeable priesthood. For as the father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life
in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment
also, because he is the son of man. Sin cannot be canceled by
the blood of bulls and goats, and any priest appointed by the
law cannot minister in the Lord's presence because of sin, which
demonstrates the weakness of the law. That law was a schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, who is consecrated forevermore and exactly
suited to the needs of those for whom he has entered in once
into the Holy of Holies with his own blood. He is that one
of whom Moses wrote, a fit man, who would take the scapegoat
into the uninhabited wilderness, The Lord instructed Aaron to
lay his hands upon the head of this scapegoat, thus imputing
the sins of the children of Israel to the goat. By reason of this
imputation, the goat became their sin. This was done to illustrate
the fact that one would come as the great high priest of his
people and would by his own hand impute the sins of his elect
bride to himself as their sin bearer. Then this goat was to
be taken into the uninhabited wilderness and abandoned there.
Thus we see illustrated the fact that Jesus Christ did indeed
go outside the camp and into the pit of darkness as he cried
out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It was needful
that he be banished from the very presence of God, as that
one upon whom the sins of his people were imputed, in order
to put away their sins forever, as far as the east is from the
west, and be remembered no more. The fit man who led the goat
into the wilderness also returned as proof that the deed was done.
In like fashion, this fit man of whom we now speak has arisen
from the dead, and he has triumphed over that sin which he bore and
sits now in royal state, ever living to make intercession for
those who come unto God by him. Do you see him high and lifted
up? If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.