Hebrews chapter eight, and we're
going to read from verse one. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth,
he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer
gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he
was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in
the mount. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises. But if
that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them,
he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt, because they
continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind, and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the
greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. In that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. Now, if you'll turn with me to
the end of the Old Testament and the book of Malachi, I want
to read a few verses there also. Malachi chapter two, I'm reading
from verse one. And now, O ye priests, this commandment
is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye
will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith
the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I
will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already,
because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed
and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn
feasts, and one shall take you away with it. And ye shall know
that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might
be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with
him of life and peace, And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith
he feared me and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was
in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked
with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should
keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, for
he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But ye are departed
out of the way. Ye have caused many to stumble
at the law. Ye have corrupted the covenant
of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you
contemptible and base before all the people, according as
ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously
every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of
our fathers? Judah hath dealt treacherously,
and an abomination is committed in Israel. and in Jerusalem,
for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved and
hath married the daughter of a strange God. The Lord will
cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out
of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering
unto the Lord of hosts. And this have ye done again,
covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and
with crying out insomuch that he regardeth not the offering
any more, or receiveth it with goodwill at your hand. Yet ye
say, Wherefore? because the Lord hath been witness
between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou
hast dealt treacherously, yet is she thy companion and the
wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one, yet
had he the residue of the Spirit, and wherefore one, that he might
seek a godly seed? Therefore take heed to your spirit
and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting
away. For one covereth violence with
his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to
your spirit that ye deal not treacherously. Ye have wearied
the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied
him? When ye say, Everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in
them, or where is the God of judgment? Amen. May God bless
to us this reading also of his word. It is interesting when we read
these Old Testament passages, to see how these prophets bring
to the attention of the people the wickedness of those religious
systems that were prevailing in that day. And this second
chapter of Malachi is full of these accusations from God brought
to the people, brought specifically and explicitly to their priests
by God's messenger. We talked a little bit before
about how the name Malachi means messenger and how here is a message
for these men and women of their day. And undoubtedly, we can
see that there is a historical context in these prophecies. There is reference here to the
fact that a messenger will come and he will enter into the role
of instituting a new day. And he will himself call forth
another messenger who will enter into his temple. We saw how this
message of the messenger anticipating another messenger spoke about
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. How Malachi anticipated
John the Baptist and John the Baptist anticipated the coming
of Christ. And it's all bound up here in
this little prophecy of Malachi. We'll touch more upon that later. But there is a historical context,
and there were judgments and curses that would fall upon Israel
at the time of the Romans, at the time of the loss of the liberty
and freedom that the Jews had experienced after the captivity
when they had been reinstated back in Jerusalem and given a
certain degree of autonomy. That was all going to be removed.
And the God of judgment would find the fault that he has prophetically
revealed in these passages to come to fruition in the judgments
that he would bring against the Jewish people. But if we were
just to study these in a historical context, we would fail to grasp
the true import of what these passages are about. And we have
to spiritualise them and we have to understand the significance
of them in a spiritual context. And these verses in chapter 2,
they speak grievously about this false religion, this false worship,
this abominable worship. that is being undertaken by these
priests under the guise of the Jewish faith, bringing to the
altar these sick animals, these lame offerings, this that couldn't
be sold. It certainly couldn't be given
as a gift to their governor, but it's good enough to be offered
to God on the altar. And the Lord says that he will
have none of it, but he will bring a curse and indeed has
already brought a curse from the time when the people had
no desire to follow after the spirituality of the law and rather
saw it merely as a form and a ritual and something to do in order,
as it were, to gain God's blessing. You know, the Lord will not put
up with that sort of religious practice. He abhors it. He detests
it. He speaks about spewing it out
of his mouth. The language that is used is
really, in some respects, quite disgusting. It's language that
if we used it in plight company, people would look at us and think,
what are they talking about? God says what he wants to do
with this false religion is to take the dung of these sick animals,
I don't know whether you've ever seen the dung that comes from
a sick animal, and spread it upon the faces of these priests
that worship him in such an abominable way. Don't talk about this in
plight company. but this is what God thinks of
false religion. And we need to be cautious and
we need to be careful and we need to be aware when we come
into the presence of God that we don't take things for granted,
that we are seriously minded about the great activity upon
which we are embarked. These are warnings, and I think
I mentioned this to you last week. Whenever we hear God declaiming
against a people, against individuals, we ought to say in our hearts,
Lord, is it I? Is it me? Is there something
here for me? Am I missing something in my
approach to you? And we could spend some time
this evening thinking about these false religionists, these priests
that God curses. And we could think about the
historical context, but really what I would much rather do and
much prefer to do, and I think you would benefit from more particularly,
is for me to go rather to that portion of this passage which
gives a word of hope and encouragement, a word of blessing, a word in
season. And I want to take you to the
gospel in this passage. And I want to say that the verses
at the start and the verses at the end that speak of God's judgment
are perhaps like that dark back cloth upon which the jeweller
arranges his precious gems and diamonds, because it is the darkness
of the surrounds which gives the real luster to the beauty
of the gospel that is to be found in this passage. And so my thoughts
this evening are predominantly going to be centred upon verse
4, 5, 6 and 7. Because in these verses, I believe
we will discover a fine picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Saviour. Ye shall know, says the Lord,
that I have sent this commandment unto you. This commandment here,
and we need to understand this. Let me mention this point, as
it were, as part of my introduction. I was about to start my main
theme there, but I'm going back to the introduction and giving
you another little rider. Let us realize that when the
Lord speaks about law in these passages and commandment in these
passages, he's not always speaking about the Mosaic law. Indeed,
throughout the Old Testament, wherever it speaks about law
and word, and decrees and commandment. We have to read the context because
very often it has to do not with a word that was given in the
past, but a word which is present and future and prophetic. And the commandment here is a
reference to the gospel. It's the gospel command. The
Lord has sent this message by Malachi. Not to reinforce some
old dispensation legal law upon the people, but to tell them
by the word of the messenger that there is something else
about to happen, that God is making a new revelation, that
there is a change, as it were, a time alteration. A new dispensation is about to
be revealed. And so he says in verse four,
ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that
my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life
and peace. So what is Malachi, what is the
Lord directing us to see here? My covenant was with him of life
and peace. With whom? Who is Malachi speaking
about? Who is the Lord speaking about
as far as this new covenant is concerned? We read from Hebrews,
the fact that there is an old covenant mentioned, or the fact
that there is a new covenant mentioned, makes the first covenant
old. So what is this reference to,
this covenant with Levi? My covenant was with him of life
and peace, Levi. Who was Levi? Levi was one of the sons of Jacob,
third son, I think. and Levi was a violent man. Levi caused his dad a lot of
problems. He had a sister called Dinah
and Dinah went out into the fields one day and she was spied out
in the fields by a man called Shechem. and Shechem liked the
look of this girl. And Shechem took the girl and
forced himself upon her. This was Levi's sister, the daughter
also of Jacob. And Shechem loved the girl so
much so that he said that he wanted to have her as his wife. and that was made as a request
and Reuben and I think Simeon, another brother, they decided
that they were going to avenge Dinah. And so the story unfolds,
you can read about it in Genesis. The story unfolds that these
two men took advantage of the fact that the Shechemites wanted
to ingratiate themselves with the sons of Jacob and they slaughtered
them. In Genesis chapter 34 and verse
30, we read these words. Jacob, the old man, is speaking
to his sons. And Jacob said to Simeon and
Levi, ye have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants
of the land. among the Canaanites and the
Perizzites, and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves
together against me and slay me, and I shall be destroyed,
I and my house. So because, well Levi's reply
to that was what? Did you expect me to do nothing?
This was my sister. But Levi was a violent man, and
he caused Jacob, his father, to lament that his violence might
be prejudicial and jeopardise the well-being of the whole of
the sons of Israel. Jacob, indeed, was ashamed of
the cruelty, and he spoke against Levi, even in his death. So that's the man, that's Levi. But what we also discover in
scripture is that just as the sons of Jacob or the children
of Israel, each of these boys became the patriarch of a tribe. So Levi had a tribe named after
him, his own children, his own family, which became the Levites. And in Deuteronomy chapter eight,
sorry, chapter 10, verse eight, we are told that the Lord employed
the Levites for a particular work. He gave them a particular
work amongst the children of Israel. At that time, the Lord
separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant
of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him
and to bless in his name unto this day. So what was happening
here was that the Levites were being given the responsibility
of administering the Ark of the Covenant. They had to look after
the maintenance and the well-being and the carrying back and forward
and the responsibilities, as it were, the stewardship responsibilities
of the Ark of the Covenant. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter
33. Deuteronomy chapter 33, and we
just get another sort of brief picture by way of insight into
the role of these Levites. Now, this was towards the end
of Moses' life and Moses was blessing the tribes. He had the
tribes come before him, to pass before him and are the representatives
of the tribes. And he spoke about his own legacy
and blessing. towards these tribes as Moses
got to the end of his life. Look at Deuteronomy 33 and verse
8. So he's going through the different
tribes and he comes to Levi. And of Levi he said, let thy
Thumim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One. whom thou didst prove
at Massa, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of
Meribah, who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not
seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own
children, for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thy judgments,
and Israel thy law. They shall put incense before
thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. Bless, Lord,
his substance, and accept the work of his hands. Smite through
the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him,
that they rise not again. So here was a blessing that was
given to these Levites by Moses. And I think that as we consider
some of these things, we might see that there is a strand of
thought in these passages that speak of the offering of incense,
of a perfect offering, an offering of worship that would be acceptable
to God. The reference to the Thummim
and the Urim, which speaks of the perfections of God and the
lights of God, the majesty, the glory of God, and the Holy One
with whom these lights and perfections would reside, speaks not simply
of this tribe of those who would be given an administrative role
in the covenant or the Ark of the Covenant, but rather another
dimension. that this was typical, that this
was metaphorical, that this was a picture of something more profound,
something deeper, something spiritual, that was being committed into
the hands of another, an acceptable one, a holy one, who would administer
the ark of the covenant or the covenant itself in a new and
in a lively way. the light of nature, the grace
and the glory of God, all the perfections would be found in
this one. The lights and the perfections
would be found in this one, both in a divine nature and in a human
capacity. Now here's another thing that
I want to mention to you about Levi. In Numbers chapter 35,
And verse six, we encounter another type, another picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ in connection with Levi. Numbers chapter 35
and verse six. Let me just read the first couple
of verses of chapter 35. And the Lord spake unto Moses
in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Command
the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the
inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in. And ye shall
give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them. Now look at verse six. And among the cities which ye
shall give unto the Levites, there shall be six cities for
refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may
flee thither, and to them ye shall add forty and two cities. So all the cities which ye shall
give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities, them
shall ye give with their suburbs. So this was the inauguration,
the establishment of the cities of refuge. And I don't want to
go in too much to that, that's another thought for another day. But the point that I'm making
is this, that these cities of refuge were granted to Israel
so that there might be a place to which a sinner could flee.
in order to have his case heard before a righteous judge. And that is another type and
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll develop that theme on another
occasion. All I want to point out today
is that here the Levites are being identified again in the
context of the picture of Christ. This is a picture of Christ that
we are having presented to us here in the context of the Levites.
and the guilty are to flee to Christ. He has become our city
of refuge and we go to him in order to find peace. The eternal
promises of life and peace, says Malachi in verse 5. My covenant was with him, that
is Levi, of life and peace. My covenant was with Levi, Levi
where these cities were established. Levi, who had the responsibility
of the administration of the Ark of the Covenant, to whom
the responsibility of managing that Ark was given, that covenant
was given. is a picture of Jesus Christ,
so that where the old symbols and the old shadows were prefigured
in these historical contexts, the spiritual reality which we
see as those who have faith and eyes to see, speaks to us of
Christ and a better covenant and a greater refuge, grace and
peace once again being set before us. The promises of life and
peace are given to him, given to him for his people, given
to him for his bride, given to him for his church, given to
him for those who he accepts and adopts the administration
of these covenant responsibilities for. The Lord Jesus Christ has
become the covenant head. In him, He is the fulfiller of
the covenant. Remember what we read in Hebrews,
how that this new covenant would be established and the laws would
be written in the heart. So it's the Lord Jesus Christ
that is the administrator, the fulfiller, the messenger, the
preserver of these covenant blessings to his people. Levi prefigured
it, spoke of it, suggested it. foreshadowed it. In Jesus Christ,
we find the reality. So here we begin to see something
of the gospel. I have sent this commandment,
this gospel word unto you that my covenant might be with Levi,
saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life
and peace. And I gave them to him. I gave them to him. Life and
peace was given to Christ for the fear wherewith he feared
me and was afraid before my name. The fear with which Christ feared
God. That's an interesting idea. Christ
was given Life and peace, the covenant, the promises, if you
like, the testament, the witness of God that these things are
so, that these promises, because God is not like a man, he cannot
deny his promises. This covenant that was entered
into with Christ was entered into that he would be the administrator
of life and peace to his people because he stood in fear before
his father. This again is speaking to us
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fear that entered into the
heart of Christ as he endured at the hand of his father, the
wrath and the indignation and the judgment and the condemnation
that rightly belonged to that people for whom he administered
the covenant. the wrath and the pain that the
Lord Jesus Christ endured in his body and in his soul as he
anticipated in Gethsemane and as he suffered upon the cross.
He humbled himself, we're told. He humbled himself and he was
obedient to the death of the cross. And the Lord Jesus Christ
undertook that In the garden we're told that he began to be
sore, amazed and very heavy. He took that punishment, he shouldered
that punishment on the cross. And he entered into that place
of dread, that place of darkness, that place of fear, as Christ
in his humanity carried the weight of the sins of his people, that
people that he had entered into covenant relationship with God
for in eternity. Now was the time. Now was the
time that that eternal covenant, that everlasting covenant, that
covenant of life and peace so-called, now was the time that it had
focused upon in all of those years of which Malachi here is
a messenger telling the people in Old Testament language what
to expect with the coming first of John the Baptist and then
the messenger who would enter into the temple, the Lord Jesus
Christ. that he would endure on their
behalf, as it were, as a priest following that Levitical priesthood
or that great high priest of Hebrews. He would be the priestly
offerer. But he was administrator of the
fullness of the covenant. So not only was he the offerer,
but he was the offering. and Christ offered himself upon
the cross and he stood and he bared his soul against the wrath
of sin, the wrath of God against sin. He took that punishment
on the cross and that fear and trauma entered into the soul
and the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will we ever know the
depths of the suffering of our Saviour when He was forsaken
there upon the cross by His Father? Will we ever know the depths
of the darkness and the blackness that swept over the soul of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that Holy One, that perfect One, that pure
One who was made sin, who became sin for us? In Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7
we read, who in the days of his flesh, 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. in that he feared. So there's
the Lord Jesus Christ, there's the fear that entered into the
soul of the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken of in Hebrews after the
event of the crucifixion. but anticipated in Malachi some
400 years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This covenant
was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him for the
fear wherewith he feared me and was afraid before my name. Look at what else the Lord says
by the messenger concerning this one Levi upon whom this covenant
administration now rests. The law, verse six, the law of
truth was in his mouth. Iniquity was not found upon his
lips. Lord Jesus Christ, is the living
word. He is the word, the eternal word
of God. And all he speaks as the eternal
word, everything he says is the living word, is worthy of our
respect and worthy of our attention and worthy of our belief. Everything he says everything
he says, and he gives us his gospel, the gospel of God, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it is so named in scripture,
the good news that there is grace and there is peace to be found
in this one who is the living word. It's a wholesome word that
the Lord Jesus Christ declares. It's a word to nourish his church. It's a word to bless his people. John chapter eight, verse 28.
Then said Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of
Man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing
of myself, But as my father hath taught me, I speak these things. We could have gone through the
book of John and drawn out many references to the fact that the
Lord Jesus Christ spoke the words that his father had given him.
John 8, 38. I speak that which I have seen
with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your
father. These were of their father, the
devil, and such was the distinction, such was the contrast that the
Lord Jesus Christ made with these Jewish leaders, these Pharisees
and the scribes of his day. I have seen these things of my
father. The Lord God had committed into
the hands of Christ this covenant of grace and peace. He had given
this life, this life of righteousness, this life of acceptance, this
life that was going to energise and was going to fill a people
of his choice, the people of his love. And the Lord Jesus
Christ was going to fulfil every obligation. And when he came
and revealed that gospel message, when he spoke of these things,
this gospel of Christ, these doctrines of Christ, when he
spoke these things, he was speaking the very truth of God. He was
telling us the promises that God had made. I will be their
God and they shall be my people.' A people that he had chosen,
a people that he had redeemed, a people that he had accepted,
a people that he had set apart in order to shower his blessings
upon them. My word, says Christ to these
people, hath no place in you. What a terrible statement to
have made against anyone. My word hath no place in you. The word which is truth and the
word which is life has no place in you. Because it's specific
It distinguishes, it's directed, it comes to a people of choice,
it comes to a people that are loved of God. And the Lord Jesus
Christ has it said of him here by Malachi the messenger, speaking
the very words of God, no iniquity was found in his lips. There were many in the day of
the Lord Jesus Christ went to great lengths to accuse him of
sin and transgression. They tried their best. In the end, they had to pay for
false witnesses, liars, perjurers, to be brought in order to say
things against him that were eminently false. But the Lord
Jesus Christ had truth in his mouth and iniquity was not found
in his lips. It speaks of the sinlessness
of our Saviour. It speaks of his life and his
works and his conversation. Nothing was found in him when
he was examined ever so closely that in any way could convict
or condemn him before God. Not my servant, not my Holy One,
not my Levi with whom the covenant of life and peace is. The law
of truth is in his mouth, and there is no iniquity in his lips. In 1 Peter 2, verse 22, the dear
apostle says of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he did no sin, neither was
guile found in his mouth. And hence we discover that the
Lord Jesus Christ was a suitable and an adequate sacrifice to
take away the sins of his people. Then look at what the messenger
Malachi says, verse six, the middle of it. He walked with
me in peace and equity. So here again is a statement
with regard to Levi, this one into whose hands the covenant
administration has been placed. He walked with me in peace and
equity. Isn't that a lovely phrase? that
the Lord Jesus Christ walked with God the Father in peace. Equity means in righteousness. And there is a sense in which
there is an eternal dimension to this mutual peace with which
these two walk together. I don't know whether it would
be improper to say that there is a picture there perhaps, a
reference to the fact that Adam walked with God in the cool of
the evening in the garden and then that was broken. And then
that relationship was lost and there was no more walking in
the cool of the garden between God and man. But Christ, Christ
walked in peace with his father. Isn't that a lovely thought that
here our representative walks at peace with God. John 17 verse
4 says, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. A little verse in Amos, Amos
chapter 3 and verse 3, and it says, Can two walk together except
they be agreed? I want to just take a little
aside here for a moment because there is in our day an attempt,
as there always is I guess in every age, to meld and to merge
and to dilute the glorious doctrine of God's sovereign grace with
the notion that man has a free will and a contribution to make
to his own salvation. And one of the ways in which
that doctrinal merging has been attempted is to look at the way
in which the death of Christ might be preached to men and
women today in a universal way. And there are teachers in our
so-called reformed churches who teach, I'm not gonna get too
complicated here, but who teach a divergence of wills within
the Godhead. They say that the Lord Jesus
Christ died for everyone, that it was a universal atonement,
but that God the Father only chose certain. of those for whom
Christ died, to receive the blessings of salvation, so that he sends
his Holy Spirit only to certain people, although there is a universality
in the death of Christ, by which we can go, therefore, to everyone
and say, Jesus died for you. Jesus wants to save you. He's
made sufficient provision for you. The blood of Christ is sufficient
for all of your sins. Now come to him, knowing that
only those whom God has chosen will actually come to him, but
preaching a universal gospel on the back of a universal atonement. Now I've gone to those lengths
to try and show you that this verse completely undermines that
notion. These two walk together because
they're in agreement. the Lord Jesus Christ came and
died on the cross, he died for those whom the Father had committed
into his care in this covenant of life and peace. They were
given to him in the covenant and he died for them and it is
to them that the Holy Spirit goes through the preaching of
a particular gospel in order to bring them to faith and to
a knowledge of the truth. Amos says, can two walk together
except they be agreed? And yet the Lord God explicitly
says here in Malachi that Levi walked with God and they walked
in peace and equity together. There is no difference in the
wills of the persons of the Godhead. What the Father wills, the Son
wills. What the Son wills, the Holy
Spirit wills. What the Holy Spirit wills, the
Father wills. There is a unanimity here of
purpose in our Godhead. And let no one come to us and
tell us that we can preach our gospel differently by discovering
that there are different wills within the Godhead. according
to the persons concerned and their work. I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do.' The Lord Jesus Christ walked
with God and they walked together because they were in agreement. And the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
every demand that God makes of his people. He was faithful. He was obedient. He was true. He was the spotless lamb. He walked with his father in
equity. He walked with his father in
obedience and in righteousness. All the covenant obligations
that fell upon him were completely and fully satisfied, perfectly
fulfilled. All satisfaction for sin. was made, every debt was paid,
every needful demand was supplied so that nothing remains outstanding. That's what the administration
of the covenant means and that's the significance of drawing in
Levi's name as foreshadowing this work of Christ. The role
of the Levites in maintaining and upholding the ark of the
covenant was to do everything that was necessary for the work
of the covenant there, or the arc of the covenant there amongst
the people of Israel. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
has satisfied every demand and done everything necessary in
this covenant of life and peace. Nothing remains outstanding to
such an extent that not only does Christ walk with God, Now
those for whom Christ died walk with God. We walk with God in
the cool of the evening. We walk with God in the garden
of paradise. We walk with God in Christ and
all of that life and peace that Christ is the administrator of
flows to his people. because of what he has accomplished. This is a reference to his work
of representation. He died for us. He is our substitute. He is our representative. He
is our mediator. He stands before God. He stands
in fear of God because of the wrath which he must endure. but
he walks with God in peace and equity because he is an able
sacrifice for his people. The final point that I want to
draw your attention to is there at the end of verse six. No,
the final but one. He turned many away from iniquity. That is the priestly office,
this Levitical office again of the Lord Jesus Christ coming
to the fore. Our loving Savior secured his
people's inheritance and he ensured their conversion. By his death,
he paid every price He secured liberty for us. Not liberty to sin, but liberty
to follow Him. To live lives according to His
leadership and direction and guidance. To live, as it were,
godly lives, to serve and to honour God. He turns from iniquity
his people through the gospel. As the gospel is preached, so
his people are brought to the experience of faith. They're
brought to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're brought
to see that their sins, though they are many, are forgiven. and out of love and gratitude
and the implantation of that life and peace in our souls,
we joy to follow after him. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 5 says,
the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. but the Lord Jesus Christ has
turned his people from iniquity, not through the imposition of
a heavy, onerous yoke of law, do this and live, but rather
through an easy yoke of gospel truth, which elicits and draws
forth gratitude and thanksgiving from a people desirous to honour
him. The Lord Jesus Christ turns from
iniquity in his example because he says, follow thou me. He turns from iniquity in that
he bestows his Holy Spirit to lead his people and direct his
people and guide and comfort his people in the midst of this
present evil age. He turns from iniquity in the
desires of the spiritual man that he implants by a new creation
in the soul, this new man which desires holy things and the pursuit
of righteousness to the glory of God. And he turns from iniquity
in that he teaches us to be ashamed and disgusted at our own lusts
and natural inclinations and fleshy desires and weaknesses. Many are turned, says Malachi. He did turn many away from iniquity. Many are so turned. Many, but
not all. This is a gathered people. This
is a people for whom Christ has been the administrator of the
covenant. Lamentations 5 verse 21 says,
Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew
our days as of old. Psalm 80 verse 3, Turn us again,
O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Jeremiah 31, 18, Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou
art the Lord my God. It's lovely to see that personal
word coming in there at the end. That individual word, turn thou
me, and that is the plea of the Lord's people. We don't enjoy
the sinfulness and the weakness of our flesh. It's the pleasure
of sin for a season, but afterwards it leaves a bitter taste. And
we ask the Lord, turn us, turn us and shine upon us that we
may come to thee. And this is the final point.
Look at verse seven. For the priest's lips should
keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, for
he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. The Lord Jesus Christ's lips
did keep knowledge. He who is our priest and our
great high priest who has a priestly office as prophet, priest and
king. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
priest and as he had holy lips and kept knowledge, so a knowledge
of the gospel truth is committed to the church and to the people.
And we are his people because he has made us kings and priests. So there's a promise in this
verse for his church. The priest's lips should keep
knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth. Who are
the priests but those that he has made kings and priests to
reign with him? And so we go to the mouth of
the Lord, and we keep that knowledge which he teaches us in his word. Revelation 1-6 says, He hath
made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. He is the messenger
of the Lord of hosts. He is the angel of God's presence
and God's covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
to do His Father's will. He was sent as a priest to atone
for the sins of his people and to be their saviour. He was sent
as a prophet to instruct and to teach them and we hear the
words of his mouth in which there is no iniquity. He was sent as
a king to rule forever and we shall reign with him. Amen.