under the new covenant, as there were sacrifices under the old; and
that this sacrifice did every way answer that, or those; indeed, they
did but suffer for sin in show, but He in reality; they are the shadow,
but He as the substance. O! when Jesus Christ did come to make Himself
a sacrifice, or to offer Himself for sin, you may understand that our
sins were indeed charged to purpose upon Him. O! how they scarred his
soul, how they brake His body, insomuch that they made the blood run
down His blessed face and from His precious side; therefore thou must
understand these following things—First, that Jesus Christ by covenant
did die for sin. Secondly, that His death was not a mere natural death,
but a “cursed death,” even such an one as men do undergo from God for
their sins, though He Himself had none, even such a death as to endure
the very pains and torments of Hell. O sad pains and inexpressible
torments that this our Sacrifice for sin went under! The pains of His
body were not all; no, but the pains of His soul; for His soul was made
an offering as well as His body, yet all but one sacrifice (Isa 53).
[As Christ did not suffer in His body without suffering in soul, nor
yet in soul without His suffering in body; it was because not the body
without the soul, but both the body and soul of the saints should be
for ever saved]. To signify, that the suffering of Christ was not only
a bodily suffering, but a soul suffering; not only to suffer what man
could inflict upon Him, but also to suffer soul torments that none but
God can inflict, or suffer to be inflicted upon Him. O, the torments of
His soul! they were the torments indeed; His soul was that that felt
the wrath of God. “My soul,” saith He, “is exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death” (Matt 26:38). “Now is My soul troubled, and what shall I
say?” (John 12:27). The rock was not so rent as was His precious soul;
there was not such a terrible darkness on the face of the earth then as
there was on His precious soul. O! the torments of Hell and the
eclipsings of the Divine smiles of God were both upon Him at once; the
devils assailing of Him, and God forsaking of Him, and all at once! “My
God, My God,” saith He, “why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46). Now
in my greatest extremity; now sin is laid upon Me, the curse takes hold
of Me, the pains of Hell are clasped about Me, and Thou hast forsaken
Me. O sad! Sinners, this was not done in pretence, but in reality; not
in show, but in very deed; otherwise Christ had dissembled, and had not
spoken the truth; but the truth of it His bloody sweat declares, His
mighty cries declare, the things which and for what He suffered
declare. Nay, I must say thus much, that all the damned souls in Hell,
with all their damnations, did never yet feel that torment and pain
that did this blessed Jesus in a little time. Sinner, canst thou read
that Jesus Christ was made an offering for sin, and yet go in sin?
Canst thou hear that the load of thy sins did break the very heart of
Christ, and spill His precious blood? and canst thou find in thy heart
to labour to lay more sins upon His back? Canst thou hear that He
suffered the pains, the fiery flames of Hell, and canst thou find in
thy heart to add to His groans by slighting of His sufferings? O
hard-hearted wretch! how canst thou deal so unkindly with such a sweet
Lord Jesus?
Quest. But why did Christ offer Himself in sacrifice?
Answ. That thou shouldst not be thrown to the very devils.
Quest. But why did He spill His precious blood?
Answ. That thou mightest enjoy the joys of Heaven.
Quest. But why did He suffer the pains of Hell?
Answ. That thou mightest not fry with the devil and damned souls.
Quest. But could not we have been saved if Christ had not died?
Answ. No; for without the shedding of blood there is no remission; and
besides, there was no death that could satisfy God’s justice but His,
which is evident, because there was none in a capacity to die, or that
was able to answer an infinite God by His so suffering but He. 9
Quest. But why did God let Him die?
Answ. He standing in the room of sinners, and that in their names and
natures, God’s justice must fall upon Him; for justice takes vengeance
for sin wheresoever it finds it, though it be on His dear Son. Nay, God
favoured His Son no more, finding our sins upon Him, than He would have
favoured any of us; for, should we have died? so did He. Should we have
been made a curse? so was He. Should we have undergone the pains of
Hell? so did He.
Quest. But did He indeed suffer the torments of Hell?
Answ. Yea, and that in such a horrible way too, that it is unspeakable.
Quest. Could He not have suffered without His so suffering? Would not
His dying only of a natural death have served the turn?
Answ. No, in nowise. [1]. The sins for which He suffered called for the
torments of Hell; the conditions upon which He died did call for the
torments of Hell; for Christ did not die the death of a saint, but the
death of a sinner, of a cursed and damned sinner; because He stood in
their room, the law to which He was subjected called for the torments
of Hell; the nature of God’s justice could not bate Him anything; the
death which He was to suffer had not lost its sting; all these being
put together do irresistibly declare unto us that He, as a sacrifice,
did suffer the torments of Hell (Gal 3:13). But, 2. Had He not died and
suffered the cursed death, the covenant had been made void, and His
Suretyship would have been forfeited, and, besides this, the world
damned in the flames of Hell-fire; therefore, His being a sacrifice was
one part of the covenant; for the terms of the covenant were that He
should spill His blood. O blessed Jesus! O blessed grace! (Zech
9:10,11).
Quest. But why, then, is His death so slighted by some?
Answ. Because they are enemies to Him, either through ignorance or
presumption; either for want of knowledge or out of malice; for surely
did they love or believe Him, they could not choose but break and bleed
at heart to consider and to think of Him (Zech 12:10,11.)
Christ the High Priest of the New Covenant.
FOURTH, [A fourth office of Christ under the new covenant is His
priestly]. Thus, passing this, I shall now speak something to Christ’s
priestly office. But, by the way, if any should think that I do spin my
thread too long in distinguishing His priestly office from His being a
sacrifice, the supposing that for Christ to be a priest and a sacrifice
is all one and the same thing; and it may be it is, because they have
not thought on this so well as they should—namely, that as He was a
sacrifice He was passive, that is, led or had away as a lamb to His
sufferings (Isaiah 53); but as a priest He was active—that is, He did
willingly and freely give up His Body to be a sacrifice. “He hath given
His life a ransom for many.” This consideration being with some weight
and clearness on my spirit, I was and am caused to lay them down in two
particular heads.
And therefore I would speak something to is this, that as there were
priests under the first covenant, so there is a Priest under this,
belonging to this new covenant, a High Priest, the Chief Priest; as it
is clear where it is said, We “having a high priest over the house of
God” (Heb 3:1; 5:5,10; 7:24-26; 8:1, 4; 10:21).
Now the things that I shall treat upon are these—First, I shall show
you the qualifications required of a priest under the Law; Second, his
office; and, Third, how Jesus Christ did according to what was
signified by those under the law; I say, how He did answer the types,
and where He went beyond them.
First, For his qualifications:—
1. They must be called thereto of God—“No man taketh this honour unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as Aaron” (Heb 5:4). Now Aaron’s
being called of God to be a priest signifies that Jesus Christ is a
Priest of God’s appointment, such an one that God hath chosen, likes
of, and hath set on work—“Called of God an High Priest,” etc. (Heb
5:10).
2. The priests under the law they must be men, complete, not
deformed—“Speak unto Aaron,” saith God to Moses, “saying, Whosoever he
be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not
approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that
hath a blemish, he shall not approach; a blind man, or a lame, or he
that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, or a man that is
broken-footed, or broken-handed, or crook-backt, or a dwarf, or that
hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones
broken; no man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest
shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire; he
that hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his
God” (Lev 21:17-21). What doth all this signify but that, (1.) He must
not be lame, to signify he must not go haltingly about the work of our
salvation. (2.) He must not be blind, to signify that he must not go
ignorantly to work, but he must be quick of understanding in the things
of God. (3.) He must not be scabbed, to signify that the priest must
not be corrupt of filthy in his office. (4.) In a word, he must be
every way complete, to signify to us that Jesus Christ was to be, and
is, most complete and most perfect in things pertaining to God in
reference to His second covenant.
3. The priests under the law were not to be hard-hearted, but pitiful
and compassionate, willing and ready, with abundance of bowels, to
offer for the people, and to make an atonement for them (Heb 5:1,2). To
signify, that Jesus Christ should be a tender-hearted High Priest, able
and willing to sympathize and be affected with the infirmities of
others, to pray for them, to offer up for them His precious blood; He
must be such an One who can have compassion on a company of poor
ignorant souls, and on them that are out of the way, to recover them,
and to set them in safety (Heb 4:15). And that He might thus do, He
must be a man that had experience of the disadvantages that infirmity
and sin did bring unto those poor creatures (Heb 2:17).
4. The high priests under the law were not to be shy or squeamish in
case there were any that had the plague or leprosy, scab or blotches;
but must look on them, go to them, and offer for them (Lev 13), all
which is to signify, that Jesus Christ should not refuse to take notice
of the several infirmities of the poorest people, but to teach them,
and to see that none of them be lost by reason of their infirmity, for
want of looking to or tending of. 10
This privilege also have we under this second covenant. This is the way
to make grace shine.
5. The high priests under the law they were to be anointed with very
excellent oil, compounded by art (Exo 29:7; 30:30). To signify, that
Jesus, the Great High Priest of this new covenant, would be in a most
eminent way anointed to His priestly office by the Holy Spirit of the
Lord.
6. The priest’s food and livelihood in the time of his ministry was to
be the consecrated and holy things (Exo 29:33). To signify, that it is
the very meat and drink of Jesus Christ to do His priestly office, and
to save and preserve His poor, tempted, and afflicted saints. O what a
new-covenant High Priest have we!
7. The priests under the law were to be washed with water (Exo 29:4).
To signify, that Jesus Christ should not go about the work of His
priestly office with the filth of sin upon Him, but was without sin to
appear as our High Priest in the presence of His Father, to execute His
priestly office there for our advantage—“For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens” (Heb 7:26).
8. The high priest under the law, before they went into the holy place,
there were to be clothed—with a curious garment, a breastplate, and an
ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle, and
they were to be made of gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
fine linen; and in his garment and glorious ornaments there must be
precious stones, and on those stones there must be written the names of
the children of Israel (read Exodus 28), and all this was to signify
what a glorious High Priest Jesus Christ should be, and how in the
righteousness of God He should appear before God as our High Priest, to
offer up the sacrifice that was to be offered for our salvation to God
His Father. But I pass that.
Second, Now I shall speak to His office. The office of the high priest
in general was twofold. 1. To offer the sacrifice without the camp. 2.
To bring it within the veil—that is, into the holiest of all, which did
type out Heaven.
1. [First part of the high priest’s office]. (1.) It was the office of
the priest to offer the sacrifice; and so did Jesus Christ; He did
offer His own Body and Soul in sacrifice. I say, HE did OFFER it, and
not another, as it is written, “No man taketh away My life, but I lay
it down of Myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again” (John 10:17,18). And again it is said, “When He,” Jesus,
“had offered up one sacrifice for sin, for ever sat down on the right
hand of God” (Heb 10:12). (2.) The priests under the law must offer up
the sacrifice that God had appointed, and none else, a complete one
without any blemish; and so did our High Priest, where He saith,
“Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body has Thou prepared
Me,” and that I will offer (Heb 10:5). (3.) The priest was to take of
the ashes of the sacrifice, and lay them in a clean place; and this
signifies, that the Body of Jesus, after it had been offered, should be
laid into Joseph’s sepulchre, as in a clean place, where never any man
before was laid (Lev 6:11, compared with John 19:41,42).
2. [Second part of the high priest’s office]. This being one part of
his office, and when this was done, then in the next place he was, (1.)
To put on the glorious garment, when he was to go into the holiest, and
take of the blood, and carry it thither, etc., he was to put on the
holy garment which signifieth the righteousness of Jesus Christ. (2.)
He was in this holy garment, which hath in it the stones, and in the
stones the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, to
appear in the holy place. “And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and
grave on them the names of the children of Israel: six of their names
on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone,
according to their birth” (Exo 28:9,10). And this was to signify, that
Jesus Christ was to enter into the holiest, then He was there to bear
the names of His elect in the tables of His heart before the Throne of
God and the Mercy-seat (Heb 12:23). (3.) With this he was to take of
the blood of the sacrifices, and carry it into the holiest of all,
which was a type of Heaven, and there was he to sprinkle the
mercy-seat; and this was to be done by the high priest only; to
signify, that none but Jesus Christ must have this office and
privilege, to be the people’s High Priest to offer for them. “But into
the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people”
(Heb 9:7). (4.) He was there to make an atonement for the people with
the blood, sprinkling of it upon the mercy-seat; but this must be done
with much incense. “And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the
sin-offering which is for himself, and for his house, and shall kill
the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself: and he shall take
a censor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the
Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it
within the veil: and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the
Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is
upon the testimony, that he die not: and he shall take of the blood of
the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat
eastward, and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with
his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the
sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the
veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock,
and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat.” (Lev
16:11-15). Now this was for the priest and the people; all which doth
signify that Jesus Christ was after His death to go into Heaven itself,
of which this holy place was a figure, and there to carry the sacrifice
that He offered upon the Cross into the presence of God, to obtain
mercy for the people in a way of justice (Heb 9). And in that he is
said to take his hands full of sweet incense, it signifies that Jesus
Christ was to offer up His sacrifice in the presence of His Father in a
way of intercession and prayers.
I might have branched these things out into several particulars, but I
would be brief. I say, therefore, the office of the priest was to carry
the blood into the holy place, and there to present it before the
mercy-seat, with his heart full of intercessions for the people for
whom he was a priest (Luke 1:8-11). This is Jesus Christ’s work now in
the Kingdom of Glory, to plead His own blood, the nature and virtue of
it, with a perpetual intercession to the God of Mercy on behalf of us
poor miserable sinners (Heb 7:25).
[Comfortable considerations from Christ’s intercession]. Now, in the
intercession of this Jesus, which is part of His priestly office, there
are these things to be considered for our comfort—
1. There is a pleading of the virtue of His Blood for them that are
already come in, that they may be kept from the evils of heresies,
delusions, temptations, pleasures, profits, or anything of this world
which may be too hard for them. “Father, I pray not that Thou shouldest
take them out of the world,” saith Christ, “but that Thou shouldest
keep them from the evil” (John 17:15).
2. In case the devil should aspire up into the presence of God, to
accuse any of the poor saints, and to plead their backslidings against
them, as he will do if he can, then there is Jesus, our Lord Jesus,
ready in the Court of Heaven, at the right hand of God, to plead the
virtue of His Blood, not only for the great and general satisfaction
that He did give when He was on the Cross, but also the virtue that is
in it now for the cleansing and fresh purging of His poor saints under
their several temptations and infirmities; as saith the Apostle, “For
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His
Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life”—that
is, by His intercession (Rom 5:10).
3. The maintaining of grace, also, is by Jesus Christ’s intercession,
being the second part of His priestly office. O, had we not a Jesus at
the right hand of God making intercession for us, and to convey fresh
supplies of grace unto us through the virtue of His Blood being pleaded
at God’s right hand, how soon would it be with us as it is with those
for whom He prays not at all (John 17:9)? But the reason why thou
standest while others fall, the reason why thou goest through the many
temptations of the world, and shakest them off from thee, while others
are ensnared and entangled therein, it is because thou hast an
interceding Jesus. “I have prayed,” saith He, “that thy faith fail not”
(Luke 22:32).
4. It is partly by the virtue of Christ’s intercession that the elect
are brought in. There are many that are to come to Christ which are not
yet brought in to Christ: and it is one part of His work to pray for
their salvation too—“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe,” though as yet they do not believe “on Me,” but
that they may believe “through their word” (John 17:20). And let me
tell thee, soul, for thy comfort, who art a-coming to Christ, panting
and sighing, as if thy heart would break, I tell thee, soul, thou
wouldst never have come to Christ, if He had not first, by the virtue
of His blood and intercession, sent into thy heart an earnest desire
after Christ; and let me tell thee also, that it is His business to
make intercession for thee, not only that thou mightest come in, but
that thou mightest be preserved when thou art come in (Compare Heb
7:25; Rom 8:33-39).
5. It is by the intercession of Christ that the infirmities of the
saints in their holy duties are forgiven. Alas, if it were not for the
priestly office of Christ Jesus, the prayers, alms, and other duties of
the saints might be rejected, because of the sin that is in them; but
Jesus being our High Priest, He is ready to take away the iniquities of
our holy things, perfuming our prayers with the glory of His own
perfections; and therefore it is that there is an answer given to the
saints’ prayers, and also acceptance of their holy duties (Rev 8:3,4).
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to
say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth
to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for
this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament,” or covenant, “that
by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called,” notwithstanding all
their sins, “might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb
9:11-15).
Third. The third thing now to be spoken to is, to show where and how
Jesus Christ outwent and goes beyond these priests, in all their
qualifications and offices, for the comfort of poor saints.
1. They that were called to the priesthood under the law were but men;
but He is both God and man (Heb 7:3,28).
2. Their qualifications were in them in a very scanty way; but Jesus
was every way qualified in an infinite and full way.
3. They were consecrated but for a time, but He for evermore (Heb
7:23,24).
4. They were made without an oath, but He with an oath (Verses 20,21).
5. They as servants; but He as a Son (Hebrews 3:6).
6. Their garments were but such as could be made with hands, but His
the very righteousness of God (Exo 28; Rom 3:22; Phil 3:8,9).
7. Their offerings were but the body and blood of beasts, and such
like, but His offering was His own body and soul (Heb 9:12,13; 10:4,5;
Isa 53:10).
8. Those were at best but a shadow or type, but He the very substance
and end of all those ceremonies (Heb 9:1,10,11).
9. Their holy place was but made by men, but His, or that which Jesus
is entered, is into Heaven itself (Heb 9:2,3,24).
10. When they went to offer their sacrifice, they were forced to offer
for themselves, as men compassed about with infirmity, but He holy,
harmless, who did never commit the least transgression (Heb 7:26;
10:11).
11. They when they went to offer they were fain to do it standing, to
signify that God had no satisfaction therein; but He, when “He had
offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of
God,” to signify that God was very well pleased with His offering (Heb
10:12).
12. They were fain to offer “oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins”; but He, “by one offering hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified” (Heb 10:11,14).
13. Their sacrifices at the best could but serve for the cleansing of
the flesh, but His for cleansing both body and soul—the blood of Jesus
Christ doth purge the conscience from dead works, to live a holy life
(Heb 9:13,14).
14. Those high priests could not offer but once a year in the holiest
of all, but our High Priest He ever liveth to make intercession for us
(Heb 9:7; 12:24,25).
15. Those high priests, notwithstanding they were priests, they were
not always to wear their holy garments; but Jesus never puts them off
of Him, but is in them always.
16. Those high priests, death would be too hard for them, but our High
Priest hath vanquished and overcome that cruel enemy of ours, and
brought life and immortality to light through the glorious Gospel (Heb
7:21,23; 2:15; 2 Tim 1:10).
17. Those high priests were not able to save themselves; but this is
able to save Himself, and all that come to God, by Him (Heb 7:25).