The book of Hebrews is on the priesthood in its three aspects: the Aaronic priesthood (Christ offered Himself to God as the unique sacrifice for our sins), the kingly priesthood (Christ as our kingly High Priest ministers God into us), and the divine priesthood (Christ is saving us to the uttermost).
Christ is the High Priest according to the order of Aaron for dealing with our sins; He offered Himself to God as the complete and all-inclusive sacrifice for our sins, and now all we need to do is believe into Him and our sins are taken away.
Christ is the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek to minister the processed God into us for our supply, refreshment, sustenance, and everything.
Christ is a divine High Priest who always lives to intercede for us, so that He may save us to the uttermost – He is saving us all the way to the throne to glorify us and make us one with Christ to rule on the throne.
There are three words that describe these three aspects of the priesthood: offering, ministering, and saving.
In His earthly ministry Christ came as the Savior, the Christ, the King, and above all, as the High Priest according to the order of Aaron to deal with the sin once and for all by offering Himself as the sacrifice to not only cover sin but take away and remove sin.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats which were offered as sacrifices for sin only covered the sins; therefore, these sacrifices had to be offered again and again. But Christ came, and He shed His own blood to remove sin once and for all.
Furthermore, Christ in His heavenly ministry is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek to constantly meet us where we are and minister God as life supply into us.
God’s original intention was to be received by man as life and everything so that man would express Him corporately; Christ as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek fulfills God’s original intention.
Finally, Christ is a divine High Priest who lives forever; He can be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, and He is able to save us to the uttermost. Praise the Lord for Christ, our High Priest in three wonderful aspects!
Christ is the Aaronic High Priest: He Offered Himself as Sacrifice to God to Remove Sin
The first aspect of Christ’s priesthood as revealed in the book of Hebrews is the aspect of the Aaronic priesthood, which is for offering sacrifices to God for our sins (Heb. 10:12). It is not the highest order, but it is still an important order to solve the problem of sin, which is a huge problem between man and God.
The Aaronic priesthood solves the problem of sin (see Heb. 7:27; 9:12, 28). God’s original intention, His eternal plan (Gen. 2:9-10) is that He would dispense Himself as life into man to be man’s everything so that man may become His corporate expression.
His eternal intention can be fulfilled by God’s kingly priesthood, which ministers God into us as our supply. However, before this was accomplished, sin came in; therefore, God had to deal with sin first, and then bring us back to His original intention.
Solving the problem of sin was not God’s original intention, but in order for God to accomplish His purpose, He had to deal with sin. Since Satan brought in sin to frustrate God’s purpose, God became a man to deal with sin once and for all, and bring man back to God’s original intention.
The Aaronic priesthood – as detailed in the Old Testament – was a type of Christ as the real High Priest who took care of sin. In the Old Testament we see that the priests had to offer sacrifices for sin again and again, for the blood of bulls and lambs could not remove sin.
However, when Christ came and offered Himself on the cross to God as the unique sacrifice for sins, He not only covered the sins but removed them; now all we need to do is believe into Him and confess our sins, and our sins are removed.
The Lord Jesus once for all offered up Himself for our sins; He bled not the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, and sprinkled that blood in the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption for us. Hallelujah, Christ put away sin by offering Himself to God as the one sacrifice for sins (Heb. 9:26; 10:10-12).
He doesn’t have to repeat that sacrifice – He put sin away once and for all! Praise the Lord!
However, the Aaronic priesthood was only something that was added because of sin; it only deals with sin to remove sin, so once we believe into the Lord and confess our sins, we need to go on to enjoy and receive Him as life into our being.
The Aaronic priesthood solves the problem of sin, whereas the kingly priesthood fulfills God’s eternal purpose.
By believing into the Lord and confessing our sins, He as the High Priest according to the order of Aaron takes away our sin; but enjoying God and taking Him as our life supply, we fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
Lord Jesus, thank You for offering Yourself as sacrifice to God for our sin. Thank You for coming to take away the sin of the world. We believe into You, Lord Jesus, and we accept Your sacrifice on the cross as the unique redeeming sacrifice that not only covers sin but removes sin! Hallelujah, our sin has been taken care of! Now we can come forward to God to enjoy Him as life and receive His divine dispensing for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose!
Christ is a Kingly High Priest: He is now Ministering God into us
According to the work and ministry of Christ, this book has a turn at Hebrews 7:1, a turn from earth to heaven. To the end of chapter 6, what is revealed is mainly Christ’s work on earth, typified by the priesthood of Aaron. That section is the word of foundation. From this verse, Christ’s ministry in heaven according to the order of Melchizedek is unveiled. This section is the word of perfection, which shows us how the heavenly Christ ministers in the heavenly tabernacle. His purifying of sins is typified by the work of Aaron, while His sitting down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (1:3) is according to the order of Melchizedek (Psa. 110:1, 4). His work on the cross on earth, typified by the work of Aaron, affords us forgiveness of sins. His ministry on the throne in heaven ministers to us the overcoming of sin. His cross delivered us out of Egypt; His throne brings us into Canaan. The Hebrew believers participated in His work on the cross. Now they had to press on to enter into the enjoyment of His ministry on the throne. (Heb. 7:1, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible)
The second aspect of Christ’s priesthood as unveiled in Hebrews is the aspect of the kingly priesthood, which is for ministering God into us (Heb. 5:10; 7:1-2).
From Heb. 1 to Heb. 7 the focus is mainly on Christ’s earthly ministry, what He has accomplished on earth and how He fulfilled the law, the prophets, the sacrifices, and all the types in the Old Testament. In Heb. 7:1 we have a turn from earth to heaven, from the priesthood of Aaron to the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek.
The section on the Aaronic priesthood is the word of foundation, and the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is the word of perfection, showing us how the heavenly Christ ministers in the heavenly tabernacle.
When He was on earth, Christ made purification for our sins (typified by the work of Aaron), and then He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty of high (Heb. 1:3); now as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, He ministers God into His people (Psa. 110:1, 4).
His ministry on earth through the cross affords us forgiveness of sin, and His ministry on the throne ministers to us the overcoming of sin. We need to press on to enter into the enjoyment of His ministry on the throne, that is, enjoy His ministry as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
As a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Christ is the King of righteousness and the King of peace (Isa. 32:17; 9:6). He brings in righteousness and peace; after the warfare, when the Lord comes, this earth will be filled with righteousness and peace.
As the kingly High Priest, Christ ministers to us whatever we need; He sees what our need is, and He ministers God to us to meet our need, so that we may live a life for the fulfillment of His purpose.
As the kingly High Priest, Christ dispenses the processed and consummated Triune God into us as our supply to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
Christ is a kingly High Priest dispensing God into us so that He can gain His Body, His bride, and His kingdom; for this He supplies us with Himself and constitutes us with His element.
Today we need to exercise our spirit to turn from the earthly things to the heavenly things and receive the divine transmission, and we will enjoy the divine ministry of God in spirit.
Hallelujah, today Christ is transmitting the Triune God into us – from the heavenlies into our spirit – so that we may be inwardly supplied and reconstituted to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
Lord Jesus, we come to You as our kingly High Priest who ministers to us whatever we need so that we may live a life for the fulfillment of Your purpose. We open to Your dispensing. We open to receive whatever You are transmitting from the heavenlies into our spirit. Supply us, Lord, and minister more of God into us so that we may fulfill God’s eternal purpose. We come to You as our kingly High Priest, a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, to receive Your dispensing, Your transmission, and Your constant supply!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru C. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, msgs. 28, 31-32, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ (2017 Spring ITERO), msg. 5 (week 5), The Revelation, Experience, and Enjoyment of the Ascended Christ as a Merciful, Faithful, and Great High Priest.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Not all the blood of beasts, / On Jewish altars slain, / Could give the guilty conscience peace, / Or wash away its stain. / But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, / Takes all our sins away; / A sacrifice of nobler name, / And richer blood than they. (Hymns #107)
# Our Lord was constituted priest / To be a real life-giver; / Life is the nature of this One / Who can from self deliver: / His life is indestructible, / By it He saves us to the full: / Praise God, He’s fully able! (Hymns #1130)
# Gathered at Thy table, Lord; / Here the bread and wine are spread. / Thou, our High Priest, present here; / We, by Thee, are richly fed. / Thou, Lord, our Melchisedec— / We, the ones You come to feed; / God to us to minister, / Rich supply to us indeed. (Hymns #1111)
About aGodMan
That man should eat and drink of God was the original and initial intention of God in His eternal plan (Gen. 2:9-10). In God’s eternal plan, God intended to dispense Himself into man to be man’s everything that man might become His complete expression. This intention can only be accomplished by Christ’s kingly priesthood, which ministers the processed God to us as our daily supply. However, before this was accomplished, sin came in. Therefore, the problem of sin had to be solved. But solving the problem of sin was not intended by God to fulfill His eternal purpose; it was added later due to the entrance of sin caused by the fall of man. Because of man’s fall, sin came in to frustrate and damage God’s purpose of ministering Himself into man as man’s daily supply. Since Satan had brought in sin to frustrate God’s purpose, the problem of sin had to be solved. Hence, there was the need of the Aaronic priesthood, which was brought in to solve the problem of sin. By this we can see that the Aaronic priesthood was not a part of God’s initial intention but was added later. Many Christians, forgetting the initial things and concentrating on what was added later, neglect the kingly priesthood and concentrate on the Aaronic priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood solves the problem of sin, whereas the kingly priesthood fulfills God’s eternal purpose. The Aaronic priesthood took away sin, and the kingly priesthood brought in God as our grace. (Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 381-382, by Witness Lee)
Amene
Amen..
Amen! Hallelujah for the three aspects of the priesthood! The Aaronic aspect to solve the problem of our sin, the kingly aspect ministering the processed God to us as our daily supply, and the aspect of the divine priesthood to save us to the uttermost.
Praise Lord for His earthly ministry and heavenly ministry to accomplish His eternal economy.
Thank you Lord Jesus for your earthly and heavenly ministry. You took away our sins and now you are dispensing Yourself to meet our needs. Lord Jesus we open to Your dispensing.
Amen Thank You Lord
Praise the Lord!
Amen!!!!!
Amen! PTLORD