who is a propitiation for our Sins We have an Advocate that is we have one that stands up for us in our stead and appears on our side Also it hath reference to a Favourite of the Kings Court that is oft in the Kings presence and ready to speak for his Friend So Joseph was an Intercessor for his Father and Brethren unto King Pharaoh when they came into the Land of Egypt Gen. 47. Joseph was a Favourite of the King of Egypt And he appeared in the presence of the King for his Father and Brethren You shall find the Prophet Elijah offers to make himself an Intercessor to the King for the Shunamitish Woman 2 King 4. 13. Wouldst thou be spoken for to the King In this sense Jesus Christ is said to be our Intecessor He is said to appear in the 〈◊〉 of God for us Heb. 9. 24. For Christ is not entred 〈◊〉 the Holy places which are the figures of the true 〈◊〉 into Heaven it self Now to appear in the presence of God for us and to make Intercession for us This is not to be understood as if Jesus Christ in Heaven did prosâ—rate himself to the Father for us and make actual prayers for us It is not so to be understood In the days of his Flesh he sent up strong cryes to God in his state of Humiliation Heb. 5. 7. but it is not agreeable to his state of Glory that Jesus Christ should now send up Prayers and Supplications to God for us But when it is said that he appears in the presence of God for us and makes Intercession for us the meaning is this That he doth present himself in Heaven as our Surety and as our Sacrifice and as one that hath made satisfaction to all the demands of the Law and also manifesting his Will That all that come unto God by him should have the benefit of his Death He doth appear before God as the Sacrifice for our sins that the benefit may come to every Soul that come unto God by him that is the meaning Therefore it is said Heb. 12. 24. The Apostle tells them they are come to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel Abels blood did speak when Abel said nothing his blood did speak and cry And so the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ speaketh his Death speaketh His Suffering speaketh That is always before the Holy God for an expiatory Sacrifice for sin to them that believe on him An Expiatory Sacrifice And this was typified of old by the High-priests carrying the Blood of the Sacrifice into the most Holy place sprinkling that Blood upon the Mercy-seat see Levit. 16. 15. Then shall he kill the Goat of the Sin-offering that is for the People and bring his Blood within the Vail and do with that Blood as he did with the Blood of the Bullock and sprinkle it upon the Mercy-seat When the Priests of old did kill the Offering whether it was a Goat or whether it was a Bullock he was to take of the Blood of the Beast and carry it within the Vail What is that You must know that in the Temple there were three parts there was the outward Court which the Gentiles might come into as well as the Jews then there was the Temple where the people generally went to Pray and where the Sacrifices were slain and then there was the third place which was called the most Holy place the Sanctum Sanctorum and that was separated by the Vail the Vail was drawn before it and when the Priest had Offered the Blood of the Sacrifice he was to go within the Vail where was the Mercy-seat and where God did give his Answers to his Peoples Requests and this Blood of the Sacrifice was to be sprinkled upon the Mercy-seat Why so Why to signifie that God would shew Mercy unto his People by way of Atonement and Sacrifice that he would shew them Mercy that way because of the uncleanness of the Children of Men therefore God would have no Communion with them but by the Blood of Atonement And this was a Type of Heaven it self Christ saith the Apostle is gone into the most Holy place to Heaven it self there to appear in the presence of God for us And as the High-priest of old did carry the Blood of the Sacrifice into the most Holy place on Earth so our Lord Jesus Christ did carry his Blood into Heaven which is the most Holy place of all which speaks better things than the Blood of Abel which cries for vengeance but the Blood of Jesus Christ calls for mercy for every one that comes to God by him This is the meaning of his making intercession for us But now in the Third place Why doth the Apostle say in the Text that Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Why is Christs ability to save us put upon his ever living to make intercession The Scripture mind it doth lay a great stress here and the weight and burden of our Salvation is laid in this upon Christs ever living to plead and maintain the great end of his death and suffering for poor sinners he ever liveth and the Reasons are these First If Jesus had died and never rose again our hopes of Salvation by him had perished with him and been buried in his Crave If Christ had died and never rose again our hopes of Salvation by him had died also and been buried in the Grave with him Mind what the Apostle speaks to this purpose 1 Cor. 15. 14. If Christ be not risen then is our Preaching in vain and your Faith is also vain If Christ be not risen our Preaching is in vain How is that Our preaching Salvation by Jesus Christ is in vain it is to no purpose if he be a dead man still and your Faith is vain your Believing in him is vain if he be in the state of death still Why so Because in the Grave there is no work nor no knowledge the dead know nothing the dead can do nothing therefore if Jesus Christ were in the state of Death if he were in the Grave and not risen again it is in vain for us to preach Salvation by Jesus Christ and your believing in him for Salvation is vain But in as much as he ever liveth and is come out of the state of Death he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him You may observe in Scripture that that time that our Saviour Christ died and was laid in the Grave his Disciples and Followers on Earth their hopes died with him as you may read in Luk. 24. of the two Disciples going to Emmaus what a sad discourse they had together when Christ asked them what communication they had together they said unto him Concerning one Jesus of Nazareth which
Oath The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck These words are taken out of Psal 110. 4. Now for an Oath we must consider there are two sorts of Oaths vain and prophane Oaths and sacred Oaths As for vain and prophane Oaths which men use in their common talk are especially forbidden in the third Commandment Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain To swear lightly and vainly by the name of God or by their Faith and Troth these are great provocations to the Lord. As you may see in Jer. 23. 10. For the Land is full of Adulterers for because of swearing the Land mourneth the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up Prophane swearing and false swearing which is a common thing among your bad people causeth the Land to mourn But then as there is a prophane and vain and common swearing which brings a Curse along with it so there is a sacred swearing and that is when men are lawfully called thereto to confirm a testimony An Oath for confirmation is the end of all strife saith the Apostle Now this holy and sacred swearing is here attributed to God the Father concerning the Priesthood of his Son Jesus Christ And you may observe in Scripture that God is said to swear two ways 1. Sometimes he swears in his wrath to confirm his threatnings and often in his mercy to confirm his promise 1. Sometimes God is said to swear in his wrath to confirm his threatnings As you may see Heb. 3. 11. In v. 10. saith he I was grieved with that generation they do always err in their hearts So I sware in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest Mind it The people were now in the wilderness and they were going into the Land of Canaan the Land of Rest the Land of Promise but they grew so bad and so provoking to God whilst they lived upon his mercy in the wilderness that at last God sware they should not enter into his Rest the Land of Canaan God confirmed by an Oath why by an Oath to drive them to the more terrour to take them off from their presumption God threatned they should not enter into his Rest and he confirms it by an Oath that they may have no hopes of entring into his Rest But 2. Often in Scripture God is said to swear in mercy for the confirming of his promise that his people might have stronger consolation Not but that Gods promise of it self is sure But he condescends to our weakness that we might have stronger consolation See Heb. 6. 17 18. Wherein God more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation You see here the Apostle declares the end of Gods adding an Oath to his Promise That Believers might have more comfort that their hearts might be strengthned and their patience might be strengthned till the promise was accomplished He sware by himself because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself Mind that When men swear to confirm a thing they swear by the Great God who knows their ways and thoughts And so they are said to swear by a greater But because God could not swear by a greater saith the Apostle he sware by himself For this was one of the titles of God the Great God When the poor Heathens that had not the Scriptures they by the light of Nature sware by God who made Heaven and Earth Under the title of Optimus Maximus that was the term they gave the great God the best of the great Gods Now because God could not swear by a greater he sware by himself that he would bless Abraham and all the faithful And here in the Text when he is setting up his Son the Lord Jesus Christ as our great High-priest that we might have greater consolation it 's said The Lord sware and will not repent We know God cannot repent both words are true for the Lord is not as man that he should repent Why doth David and the Apostle after him take up these words The Lord hath sworn and will not repent I answer there is a special Emphasis in it First of all God speaks thus of himself after the manner of men that we might be put out of all doubt of his truth and faithfulness For though he is most unchangeable in his words in his promises and in his purposes as the Apostle James hath it James 1. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning God is immutable But he speaks thus after the manner of men that we might be put out of all doubt that he will not repent Secondly There is still a higher intendment of the Holy Ghost in these words The Lord hath sworn and he will not repent i. e. He will never abrogate or disannul the Priestly Office of Christ as he did that of Aaron For so you read in the words before which were spoken to the last day God did abrogate and did make void the Covenant concerning the Levitical Priesthood But now he will never revoke this or disannul this He hath sworn and will never repent Though God be unchangeable yet we find in Scripture that he sometimes revokes his threatnings and calls them back again As for example God threatned by Jonah that Nineveh should be destroyed in forty days But God revoked it because there was a tacit condition in the threatning therefore he revoked it So when God sent Hezekiah the Message concerning his death he sent his Prophet to him to bid him set his house in order For saith he in the name of the Lord thou shalt die and not live Yet upon Hezekiahs humbling himself by prayer the Lord called back that word again and added to Hezekiahs life fifteen years In this sense the Prophet Joel is to be understood You find in chap. 2. in the last part of it that the Lord threatens dreadful Judgments to the people Now in verse 12 13. saith the Prophet Wherefore also now thus saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your hearts with fasting and with weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Who knows if he will repent and return and leave a blessing behind As if he should say The threatning is gone forth for your destruction but if ye will return unto God who knows but that he will repent and leave a blessing behind That is he may call in his Threatnings and alter his Dispensation So that
on Earth so that the Pharisees said he was a Wine-bibber and a friend of Publicans and sinners The Answer is thus Our Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on Earth did converse with sinners for the saving of their Souls but never converst with them in their sin And so he is said to be separated from sinners Christ could have no more communion with their sins than Light with Darkness Yet he converst with sinners as he came to save and to seek them that were lost He came to save them not to mingle with them in their sins Therefore you may observe in Luke 19. when he goes to Zacheus his house some of the people murmured and said He is gone to be a Guest to a man that is a sinner in verse 7. But what saith Christ in verse 10. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save those that were lost Therefore he was to go to be a Guest to a sinner to save those that were lost It was easie with Christ to keep and converse with sinners and yet keep himself from the defilement of their sins As it is with a Physician he can go into the house of a sick person and yet keep himself free from the Contagion of the Disease The Adversaries of Christ could never charge him with any defilements of sin and herein the purity of our Lord Jesus Christ is set out to us And it became us to have such an High-priest But then here is the next thing which is his Exaltation Made higher than the Heavens That is an expression that carries much in it Here we have the Exaltation of our great High-priest He is made higher than the Heavens Heavens in the Plural number The Scripture mentions three Heavens First The Lowest Heaven is the Airy Heaven where the Fowls of the Air flie And of this you read in Gen. 1. about the 8th verse God called the Firmament Heaven when he had separated the Earth from the Heaven The second or middlemost Heaven is the Starry Heaven which God shewed to Abraham in Gen. 15. where the Sun Moon and Stars are contained But then There is a Third Heaven which is the place of the blessed where God doth manifest himself in his Glory and that Third Heaven the Apostle speaks of in 2 Cor. 12. 2. he tells us that he was caught up into the Third Heaven that is the place where the blessed are This is that which Solomon calls the Heaven of Heavens in that passage of his in 2 Chron. 2. 6. But who is able to build him an House seeing the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him that is God Now saith the Apostle here in my Text Jesus Christ our High-priest is made higher than the Heavens he is made higher than the Terrestrial Heaven higher than the Starry Heaven and I pray mind what an Emphasis the Scripture puts upon this compare the words of the Text with Ephes 4. 10. the Apostle saith That he Ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things The Apostle in the Text saith that he is made higher than the Heavens and here he saith he is Ascended far above all Heavens Why Because in his exalted state of Glory he is taken up above to Gods right hand which is above all the Created Glory in Heaven For though the great God made a Heaven for the holy Angels and for the glorified Saints and doth there manifest his Glory so far as they are capable of receiving it yet still God is above all the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him saith Solomon How God is a Heaven in himself You know the Prophet tells us that he inhabits in Eternity and liveth in Eternity Now this Eternity was in God himself before the Heavens were made and tho he manifests himself in his Glory among the Saints and Angels yet he is above all and so the Glory of Christ is far above all the Glory of the Saints and Angels for the Glory of Christ is to sit at Gods right hand as the Apostle saith Heb. 1. 13. He gives us Glory in Heaven and his Angels have Glory in Heaven but Jesus Christ hath higher Glory than all these for he is at the Fathers right hand and he dwells in God himself and inheriteth Eternity see Ephes 1. 20 21. when the Apostle who is speaking of raising up Christ from the dead he saith He set him on his own right hand in Heavenly places far above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominions Mind how high the Apostle goes with this when he raised up Christ from the dead he set him on his own Right hand far above all Principalities and Powers and Dominions What Principalities and Powers are these Why the holy Angels for Heaven is a Kingdom and there is a Government and an Order in Heaven There is Principalities and Powers there is Angels and Arch angels But when God raised Jesus Christ from the dead he raised him above the Angels he set him far above the Glory of the Saints And tho he prayed that the Saints might be where he is it is not meet that we should be received in that height of Glory where he is but we are to have the Glory of Christ communicated to us so far as we are capable to receive him as he is the second Person of the Trinity The Saints cannot reach to that Glory he is in but they shall have it so far as they are capable to receive him Phil. 2. 9 10. Wherefore God hath highly Exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name That at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of things in Heaven of things in Earth of things under the Earth All the holy Angels and Saints in Heaven do bow unto our Lord Jesus Christ and do homage to him in our Nature Why Because the Father hath made him higher than the Heavens above all the Glory of Heaven He is not only holy harmless separate from sinners but made higher than the Heavens And such an High-priest became us Now for Application This Doctrin is Four ways Useful to us First This shews the Riches of Gods Goodness and Mercy to poor sinful Man that he should appoint such a High-priest to interceed for us such a one as is not to be found among all the Children of Men. God had the whole Creation before him Angels and Men but there was no Person could be found that did become us that was fit to be our High-priest but he that is higher than the Heavens the Son of God Oh the great goodness of God! It will take up an Eternity to adore God for his goodness in our Salvation by Jesus Christ God hath done much for us in our Creation he hath made us rational Creatures out of nothing he hath made a World for us to inhabit and given us Dominion over the works of his hand hath made us but a little lower than the Angels which made
High-priest who hath undertaken to fulfil all Righteousness for us and undertakes as a Surety for us SERMON VIII Hebrews 7. 23 24. And they truly were many Priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death But this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood BEing in our course of going through this Chapter the last day in the Morning Exercise we concluded with v. 22. where Jesus is said to be made a Surety of a better Covenant The scope of the Apostle in all this Chapter is to magnifie the Priesthood of Christ above the Levitical Priesthood His Argument that we insisted upon the last day was taken from his solemn Institution in his Office He was made a Priest with an Oath and by vertue of that he became a Surety of a better Testament These things have been opened Now these two verses which I have read for our consideration and instruction this morning contain another Argument that the Apostle useth to prove that the Priesthood of Jesus Christ doth far excel all the Priesthoods under the Law And the Argument is drawn from the mortality of the Levitical Priests and the immortality of Jesus Christ the Son of God That Priesthood that was mortal was never so excellent as that which was immortal The Priests of Levi were mortal but the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is immortal and unchangeable and therefore a more excellent Priesthood We begin with v. 23. For they truly were many Priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death They truly were many Priests These words are two ways to be expounded First They were many together And then they were many successively 1. They were many together For though there was but one High Priest to the Jewish Church yet there were many Priests to offer Sacrifices under him For he was not able one man was not able to offer Sacrifices for all therefore there were many Priests But Jesus our High Priest had the assistance of no creature he is alone There is but one God and one Mediator the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is but one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus no other And this is brought in ordinarily to confute that Errour of the Papists who offer up Expiatory Sacrifices They have their Priestly Office to offer up Expiatory Sacrifices for the living and the dead And as our Protestant Divines say If they had no other Errour it would justifie our separation from them because they derogate from the Office of Jesus Christ and set up a Priestly Office in Gospel-days to offer an Expiatory Sacrifice But we have but one High Priest and one Saviour which is sufficient for the Salvation of our Souls But then This word many Priests is also to be expounded many successively That is there were many Priests saith the Apostle because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death There were many Priests under the Law but they could not continue by reason of death therefore their Office passed from one to another One takes up the Priestly Office and then dies and then another succeeds him But Jesus Christ he hath an Office that doth not pass from one to another There is none can succeed our Lord Jesus Christ in his Priestly Office There is none can finish that work which he begun But the two general points that lie before us in this Text to be considered of this morning are 1. The Mortality of the Levitical Priesthood which concerns us all And then 2. The Immortality of our High-priest the Son of God He is our Priest for ever 1. The Mortality of the Priests of old saith the Apostle in the Text They were not suffered to continue by reason of death That word death concerns all Mankind How many of the Children of Adam Sons and Daughters of Adam since the beginning of the World They are all dead But this present Generation and a little time will bury all of us That Doom which God denounced against Adam in Gen. 3. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death that reaches all that come out of the Loins of Adam We bring sin into the World with us and sin brings death as you have it in Rom. 5. That death came in by sin By one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men Every one that is born into the World is born in sin Every one that is born into the World by ordinary generation and so cannot continue long in the World by reason of death Indeed there are and ever have been many of the Children of Men that have had great priviledges and dignities above others But none ever were exempted from death except some few as Enoch and Elijah Some have been Kings and great men of the Earth some have been made honourable Prophets some Apostles some Ministers have in their days been burning and shining Lights But all are dead they were not suffered to continue any of them by reason of death All are gone The Prophets do they live for ever and your Fathers where are they Kings Lords and Potentates of the Earth and mighty men death hath Lorded it over them all they were not suffered to continue by reason of death Therefore it should teach us while we live to spend our days well to do what good we can to honour God what we can and to say to our own Souls Let me not lose my time for I cannot continue long by reason of death Solomon tells us in Eccl. 9. 10. which every one should well observe Whatever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might because there is no work in the grave whither thou art going But while men are on Earth God hath appointed every one to do something for his honour and glory For mind it the Levitical Priests tho' they were not suffered to continue because of death because they were mortal yet this did not exempt them from the service of God tho' they were chosen from among men and so subject to death yet they were to attend the service of God while they lived There is a sort of people and I mention it for their sakes There are a sort of people I say that because life is short therefore they will give up themselves to ease sloth and pleasure and make as much as they can of a short life These were the people in Isa 22. 13 14. And behold joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die And this thing was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Thus says many a poor creature that hath no conscience of duty to God or Man He will take all the pleasure he