Holiness and Mediation.
'And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it,
HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that
Aaron may bear the iniquity of the _holy_ things, which the
children of Israel shall _hallow_ in all their _holy_ gifts; and
it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted
before the Lord.'--Ex. xxviii. 36, 38.
God's house was to be the dwelling-place of His Holiness, the place
where He was to reveal Himself; as the Holy One, not to be approached
but with fear and trembling; as the Holy-making One, drawing to Himself
all who would be made partakers of His Holiness. Of the revelation of
His Holy and His Holy-making Presence, the centre is found in the person
of the high priest, in his double capacity of representing God with man,
and man with God. He is the embodiment of the Divine Holiness in human
form, and of human holiness as a Divine gift, as far as the dispensation
of symbol and shadow could offer and express it. In him God came near to
sanctify and bless the people. In him the people came their very
nearest to God. And yet the very Day of Atonement, in which he might
enter into the Most Holy, was but the proof of how unholy man was, and
how unfit to abide in God's Presence. In himself a proof of Israel's
unholiness, he yet was a type and picture of the coming Saviour, our
blessed Lord Jesus, a wondrous exhibition of the way in which hereafter
the holiness of God should become the portion of His people.
Among the many points in which the high priest typified Christ as our
sanctification, there is, perhaps, none more suggestive or beautiful
than _the holy crown_ he wore on his forehead. Everything about him was
to be holy. His garments were holy garments. But there was to be one
thing in which this holiness reached its fullest manifestation. On his
forehead he was always to wear a plate of gold, with the words engraved
on it, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. Every one was to read there that the whole
object of his existence, the one thing he lived for, was, to be the
embodiment and the bearer of the Divine holiness, the chosen one through
whom God's holiness might flow out in blessing upon the people.
The way in which the blessing of the holy crown was to act was a most
remarkable one. In bearing HOLINESS TO THE LORD on his forehead, he is,
we read, 'to bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of
Israel hallow; that they may be accepted before the Lord.' For every sin
some sacrifice or way of atonement had been devised. But how about the
sin that cleaves to the very sacrifice and religious service itself?
'Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.' How painfully the worshipper
might be oppressed by the consciousness that his penitence, his faith,
his love, his obedience, his consecration, were all imperfect and
defiled! For this need, too, of the worshipper, God had provided. The
holiness of the high priest covered the sin and the unholiness of his
holy things. The holy crown was God's pledge that the holiness of the
high priest rendered the worshipper acceptable. If he was unholy, there
was one among his brethren who was holy, who had a holiness that could
avail for him too, a holiness he could trust in. He could look to the
high priest not only to effect atonement by his blood-sprinkling, but in
his person to secure a holiness too that made him and his gifts most
acceptable. In the consciousness of personal unholiness he might rejoice
in a mediator, in the holiness of Another than himself, the priest whom
God had provided.
Have we not here a most precious lesson, leading us a step farther on in
the way of holiness? To our question, How God makes holy, we have the
Divine answer: Through a man whom the Divine Holiness has chosen to rest
upon, and whose holiness belongs to us, as His brethren, the very
members of His own body. Through a holiness which is of such efficacy,
that the very sins of our holy things disappear, and we can enter the
Holy Presence with the assurance of being altogether well-pleasing.
And is not just this the lesson that many earnest seekers after holiness
need? They know all that the Word teaches of the blessed Atonement, and
the full pardon it has brought. They believe in the Father's wonderful
love, and what He is ready to do for them. And yet, when they hear of
the childlike simplicity, the assurance of faith, the loving obedience,
and the blessed surrender with which the Father expects them to come and
receive the blessing, their heart fails for fear. It is as if the
blessing were all beyond their reach. What avails that the Holy One is
said to come so nigh? their unholiness renders them incapable of
claiming or grasping the Presence that offers itself to them. Just see
how the Holy One here reveals His way of making holy, and preparing for
the fellowship of His Holiness. In His Elect One as Mediator, holiness
is prepared and treasured up enough for all who come through Him. As I
bow to pray or worship, and feel how much there is still wanting of that
humility, and fervency, and faith, that God has a right to demand, I may
look up to the High Priest in His Holiness, to the holy crown upon His
forehead, and believe that the iniquity of my holy things is borne and
taken away. I may, with all my deficiency and unworthiness, know most
assuredly that my prayer is acceptable, a sweet-smelling savour. I may
look up to the Holy One to see Him smiling on me, for the sake of His
Anointed One. 'The holy crown shall always be on His forehead, that they
may be accepted before the Lord.' It is the blessed truth of
Substitution--One for all--of Mediatorship; God's way of making us holy.
The sacrifice of the worshipping Israelite is holy and acceptable in
virtue of the holiness of Another.
The Old Testament shadow can never adequately set forth the New
Testament reality with its fulness of grace and truth. As we proceed in
our study, we shall find that the holiness of Jesus our sanctification
is not only imputed but imparted, because we are _in Him_; the new man
we have put on is created in true holiness. We are not only counted
holy; we are holy, we have received a new holy nature in Christ Jesus.
'He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all _of One_;
therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren.' It is our living
union with Jesus, God's Holy One, that has given us the new and holy
nature, and with that a claim and a share in all the holiness there is
in Jesus. And so, as often as we are conscious of how unholy we are, we
have only to come under the covering of the Holiness of Jesus, to enjoy
the full assurance that we and our gifts are most acceptable. However
great be the weakness of our faith, the shortcoming in our desire for
God's glory, the lack in our love or zeal, as we see Jesus, with
Holiness to the Lord on His forehead, we lift up our faces to receive
the Divine smile of full approval and perfect acceptance.
This is God's way of making holy. Not only with the holy place, as we
have seen, but with the holy persons too, He begins with a centre, and
from that in ever-widening circle makes holy. And that this Divine
method will be crowned with success we may be sure. In the Word we find
a most remarkable illustration of the extent to which it will be
realized. We find the words on the holy crown once again in the Old
Testament at its close. In the day of the Lord, 'there shall be upon the
bells of the horses, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.' The high priest's motto
shall then have become the watchword of daily life; every article of
beauty or of service shall be holy too; from the head it shall have
extended to the skirts of the garments. Let us begin with realizing the
Holiness of Jesus in its power to cover the iniquity of our holy things;
let us make proof of it, and no longer suffer our unworthiness to keep
us back or make us doubt; let us believe that we and our holy things are
acceptable, because in Christ holy to the Lord; let us live in this
consciousness of acceptance, and enter into fellowship with the Holy
One. As we enter in and abide in the holiness of Jesus, it will enter in
and abide in us. It will take possession and spread its conquering power
through our whole life, until with us too upon everything that belongs
to us the word shall shine, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And we shall again
find how God's way of holiness is ever from a centre, here the centre of
our renewed nature, throughout the whole circumference of our being, to
make His Holiness prove its power. Let us but dwell under the covering
of the Holiness of Jesus, as He takes away the iniquity of our holy
things, He will make us and our life holy to the Lord.