Coming to the Throne of Grace in our Spirit to enjoy Christ as our great High Priest

How thankful we are to God that we have such a great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who is now in ascension in the heavenlies and also in our spirit! Having therefore a great High Priest – Jesus Christ, the Son of God – who has passed through the heavens, let us hold fast the confession (Heb. 8:14).

Our High Priest is great: He is excellent, He is wonderful, He is glorious, and He is most honorable. Christ, our High Priest, is great in His person, work, and attainment. He is great in His person – He is the Son of God, God Himself (Heb. 1:5, 8), and He is the Son of Man, man himself (Heb. 2:6).

In His person, Christ has both the divine nature and the human nature – He is both the son of God and the son of Man. He not only knows about the things of God and the things of man, but He is in the things of God and the things of man.

He is a Great High Priest, a high priest like no other. Christ, our High Priest, is great in His work. He has made purification of sins and propitiation for our sins (Heb. 1:3; 2:17). He also took away sin and has solved the problem of sin.

Christ tasted death not only on our behalf but on behalf of everything (Heb. 2:9). In His work, Christ is great.

Christ, our High Priest, is great in His attainment. He was crowned by God with glory and honor, brought to a most high and glorious place, and He entered into the Holy of Holies in the heavens (Heb. 6:20; 9:24; 2:9).

Our Christ is quite amazing and great: He is great in His person, in what He is, He is great in His work, in what He does, and He is great in all His attainments, in what He has accomplished and attained.

As such a One, a great High priest, Christ was tempted in all respects like us – yet without sin. He has passed through the heavens, He has attained to the highest position and was crowned with glory and honor, yet He is also touched with the feeling of our weaknesses (Heb. 4:14-15).

He is so great yet so nigh, so near, so able to emphasize, so easy to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. When we see such a great High Priest, what can we do but open to Him, come forward to Him with boldness in our spirit, and receive mercy and find grace for timely help!

As our Great High Priest, Christ bears us before God in the Holy of Holies

In the Old Testament, when the high priest went into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, he had on his shoulders two onyx stones on which the names of the children of Israel were engraved (see Exo. 28:9-12).

Also, on his breast he had the breastplate in which there were twelve precious stones set, each being engraved with the names of the children of Israel (Exo. 28:15-30). In other words, when the high priest went into God’s presence, he didn’t go alone: he bore the people of God before God on his shoulder and on his breast.

The shoulder is the place of strength and the breast is the place of love; therefore, the people of God were borne on the shoulder of strength and breast of love before God by the high priest, and they were in God’s presence.

Similarly, Christ as our great High Priest ministers to God and goes in God’s presence in the Holy of Holies. When He is in the Holy of Holies before God, He is not alone: we are with Him, on Him, being borne by Him on His shoulder of strength and breast of love.

When God looks at Christ, our High Priest in the Holy of Holies, He sees us upon His shoulder and upon His breast. Christ bears us before God continually in His strength and in His love.

Even right now, no matter whether we’re up or down, weak or strong, open or not too open to the Lord, Christ as our great High Priest bears us before God in strength and in love.

The reason we go on in our Christian life, even though nothing around us or in us encourages us to go on or motivates us to continue, is because Christ as our great High Priest bears us before God continually, interceding for us and ministering God into our being.

Our names are on His shoulder of strength and on His breast of love; if we feel that we just can’t go on, that we have no more strength to fight, or that we want to give up, we need to remember that our great High Priest is still bearing us before God.

Thank the Lord for this. Where would we be without Him bearing us before God continually? By ourselves we are not strong enough to go on, but because He is bearing us constantly in His love and strength before God, we advance in the Lord little by little every day.

As Christ bears us before God in the Holy of Holies, He also ministers the processed and consummated Triune God into our being (Heb. 8:2).

He is the minister of the heavenly places, in the heavenly tabernacle; on the one hand the Lord sustains us and bears us before God, and on the other, He constantly ministers God into our being for us to grow in life, be perfected, be brought on to maturity, be built up in the Body, and fulfill His purpose.

Thank You Lord Jesus, our great High Priest, for constantly bearing us before God in Your strength and love. Thank You, Lord, for our names are written on Your shoulder of strength and Your breast of love. Without Your bearing us in love and strength we cannot go on. Without Your ministering God into us we cannot fulfill Your purpose. Lord, we come to You as our great High Priest, for we know that You can be compassionate and touched with the feeling of our weaknesses. We need You, Lord!

Responding to Christ’s Priesthood by Coming to the Throne of Grace in our Spirit

Our Christ, the great High Priest, is ministering in the heavens, always bearing us before God, interceding for us, and ministering God to us.

How can we, men on earth, cooperate with Him in His heavenly ministry? Heb. 4:16 gives us the key: let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

We need to come forward to the throne of grace; this throne is the throne of God, but toward us it is full of grace, flowing out grace to us.

Where is the throne of grace today? On the one hand it is in the Holy of Holies in the heavenlies, but on the other hand, in our experience, the throne of grace is in our mingled spirit. This is why we need to come forward from our wandering mind, our soul, and our feelings and emotions – we need to come forward to our spirit, where the throne of grace is today.

Our spirit is the gate of heaven, where Christ is the heavenly ladder joining us, the people on earth, to heaven, and brings heaven to us. Whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the gate of heaven and touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ as the heavenly ladder.

As we see and realize that we have such a great High Priest, Christ, who on the one hand is exalted in heavens and on the other He can be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, we need to come forward to the throne of grace in our spirit.

Our spirit today is the place of God’s habitation (Eph. 2:22); our spirit is the gate of heaven (Gen. 28:12-17) where Christ is the ladder that joins us to heaven and brings heaven to us.

We need to respond to Christ’s priesthood by coming forward with boldness to the throne of grace in our spirit to receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

What do we need? We don’t know – but we know that, whenever we come to the throne of grace in our spirit, we receive grace and mercy for timely help. The Lord knows what we need, and as we come forward to Him in spirit by exercising our spirit, we enjoy the divine dispensing of grace and mercy to meet our need.

There’s no need to wait, do something special, or go to a particular place so that we can touch the Lord; as long as we are in our spirit, we touch the throne of grace, we have the gate of heaven, and we enjoy grace and mercy.

This is very real and experiential in our daily life. Whenever we say from the depths of our being, Oh Lord Jesus! – we are immediately in the Holy of Holies, in our spirit, touching the throne of grace. In this way, we receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

How much we need to touch the throne of grace in our spirit!

Lord, we respond to Your priesthood by coming forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help! Thank You, Lord, for being in our spirit as the heavenly ladder joining us to the heavens and bringing the heavens to us. We want to turn to our spirit, remain in our spirit, and live in the Spirit so that we may be constantly connected to the throne of grace and receive mercy and grace for timely help. Hallelujah, Christ as our great High Priest is constantly ministering grace and mercy to us to meet our need as we turn to our spirit, contact the Lord, call on His name, and remain in the spirit!

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. 27, 35, 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:
  # Thou art the Priest from us to God, / The holy Priest for us, / Like Aaron called of God from men, / For us Thou servest thus. / In love Thou bearest us to God, / The great High Priest to serve; / With love Thou intercedest there / And dost with strength preserve. (Hymns #193)
  # For we do not have a High Priest who cannot / Be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, / But One who has been tempted in all respects like us, / Yet without sin, yet without sin. / Let us therefore come forward / With boldness to the throne of grace / That we may receive mercy and find grace / For timely help. (Scripture song)
  # I come before Thy throne of grace / With hungry heart on Thee to feed, / Thy grace and mercy to receive / To help me in this hour of need. (Hymns #813)