that he was imperfect in his obedience. Answ. There was a time wherein
it might have been said, Christ had not done all that he was to do for
us on earth. But it doth not follow thereupon, that he therefore was
imperfect in his obedience; for that all his acts of obedience were
done in their proper time, and when they should, according to the will
of God. The timing of performances adds or diminishes as to the
perfection of obedience, or the imperfection of it. Had these Jews
killed the passover three days sooner than the time appointed, they had
transgressed (Exo 12:6). Had the Jews done that on the fourth day to
Jericho, which was to have been done on the seventh day, they had
sinned (Josh 6:10-16). Duty is beautiful in its time, and the Son of
God observed the time. ‘I must,’ saith he, ‘work the works of him that
sent me, while it is day,’ that is, in their seasons. You must keep in
mind that we speak all this while of that part of Christ’s perfection,
as to duties, which stood in the number of performances, and not in the
nature or quality of acts. And I say, as to the thing in hand, Christ
had duty to do, with respect to his office as high priest for us, which
immediately concerned himself; such duties as gave him a legal
admittance unto the execution thereof; such duties, the which, had they
not orderly been done, the want of them would have made him an undue
approacher of the presence of God, as to that. Wherefore, as I said
afore, by what he did thereabout, he consecrated, or sanctified himself
for that work, according to God, and was accepted for his piety, or in
that he feared and did orderly do what he should do.
Fourth. The next thing preparatory to the execution of this office of
high priest was the sacrifice itself. The sacrifice, you know, must, as
to the being of it, needs precede the offering of it; it must be before
it can be offered. Nor could Christ have been an high priest, had he
not had a sacrifice to offer. ‘For every high priest is ordained to
offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man
have somewhat also to offer’ (Heb 8:3). And I bring in the sacrifice as
the last thing preparatory, not that it was last, as to being, for it
was before he could be capable of doing any of the afore-named duties,
being his body, in and by which he did them, but it was the last as to
fitness; it was not to be a sacrifice before the time, the time
appointed of the Father; for since he had prepared it to that end, it
was fit as to the time of its being offered, that that should be when
God thought best also (Heb 10:5).
Behold then, here is the high priest with his sacrifice; and behold
again, how he comes to offer it. He comes to offer his burnt-offering
at the call of God; he comes to do it in his priestly garments,
consecrated and sanctified in his own blood; he comes with blood and
tears, or by water and blood, and offereth his sacrifice, himself a
sacrifice unto God for the sin of the world; and that too at a time
when God began to be weary of the service and sacrifices of all the
world. ‘Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me,’ thou
hast fitted me; ‘in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast
had no pleasure; then said I, Lo I come, in the volume of the book it
is written of me, to do thy will, O God’ (Heb 10:5-7).
[Christ the sacrifice as well as the high priest, and how he offered
it.]
Thus you see our high priest proceeded to the execution of his priestly
office; and now we are come to his sacrifice, we will consider a little
of the parts thereof, and how he offered, and pleads the same. The
burnt-offering for sin had two parts, the flesh and the fat, which fat
is called the fat of the inwards, of the kidneys, and the like (Lev
3:12-16). Answerable to this, the sacrifice of Christ had two parts,
the body and the soul. The body is the flesh, and his soul the fat;
that inward part that must not by any means be kept from the fire (Isa
53:10). For without the burning of the fat, the burnt-offering and
sin-offering, both which was a figure of the sacrifice of our high
priest, was counted imperfect, and so not acceptable.
And it is observable, that in these kind of offerings, when they were
to be burned, the fat and the head must be laid and be burned together;
and the priest ‘shall cut it into his pieces with his head and his fat;
and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire
which is upon the altar’ (Lev 1:12). To signify, methinks, the feeling
sense that this sacrifice of his body and soul should have of the curse
of God due to sin, all the while that it suffered for sin. And
therefore it is from this that this sacrifice has the name of
burnt-offering, it is the burnt-offering for the burning, because of
the burning upon the altar all night, until the morning; and the fire
of the altar shall be burning in it.
The fat made the flame to increase and to ascend; wherefore God speaks
affectionately of the fat, saying, The fat of mine offerings. And
again, ‘He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied’
(Isa 53:10-12). The soul-groans, the soul-cries, the soul-conflicts
that the Son of God had, together with his soul-submission to his
Father’s will, when he was made a sacrifice for sin, did doubtless
flame bright, ascend high, and cast out a sweet savour unto the
nostrils of God, whose justice was now appeasing for the sin of men.
His flesh also was part of this sacrifice, and was made to feel that
judgment of God for sin that it was capable of. And it was capable of
feeling much, so long as natural life, and so, bodily sense, remained.
It also began to feel with the soul, by reason of the union that was
betwixt them both; the soul felt, and the body bled; the soul was in an
agony, and the body sweat blood; the soul wrestled with the judgment
and curse of the law, and the body, to show its sense and sympathy,
sent out dolorous cries, and poured out rivers of tears before God. We
will not here at large speak of the lashes, of the crown of thorns, of
how his face was bluft[23] with blows and blood; also how he was
wounded, pierced, and what pains he felt while life lasted, as he
suffered for our sins; though these things are also prefigured in the
old law, by the nipping or wringing of the head, the cutting of the
sacrifice in pieces, and burning it in the fire (Lev 1). Now, you must
know, that as the high priest was to offer his sacrifice, so he was to
bring the blood thereof to the mercy-seat or throne of grace, where now
our Jesus is; he was to offer it at the door of the tabernacle, and to
carry the blood within the veil; of both which a little.
[Christ a willing and an effectual sacrifice.]
1. He was to offer it, and how? Not grudgingly, nor as by compulsion,
but of a voluntary will and cheerful mind: ‘If his offering be a
burnt-sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he
shall offer it of his own voluntary will’ (Lev 1:3). Thus did Christ
when he offered up himself, as is manifest by that which follows. (1.)
He offered a male, ‘himself,’ without blemish (Heb 7:27). (2.) He gave
himself a ransom; he ‘gave his life a ransom’ (Matt 20;28). (3.) He
laid down his life of himself (John 10:18; Luke 12:5). (4.) He longed
for the day of his death, that he might die to redeem his people. (5.)
Nor was he ever so joyful in all his life, that we read of, as when his
sufferings grew near; then he takes the sacrament of his body and blood
into his own hands, and with thanksgiving bestows it among his
disciples; then he sings an hymn, then he rejoices, then he comes with
a ‘Lo, I come.’ O the heart, the great heart, that Jesus Christ had for
us to do us good! He did it with all the desire of his soul.
2. He did it, not only voluntarily, and of a free will, but of love and
affection to the life of his enemies. Had he done thus for the life of
his friends, it had been much; but since he did it out of love to the
life of his enemies, that is much more. ‘Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to
die; but God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom 5:7,8).
3. He did it without relinquishment of mind, when he was in: no
discouragement disheartened him; cry and bleed he did, yea, roar by
reason of the troubles of his soul, but his mind was fixed; his Father
sware and did not repent, that he should be his priest; and he vowed,
and said he would not repent that he had threatened to be the plague
and death of death (Hosea 13:13,14).
4. He did it effectually and to purpose: he hath stopped the mouth of
the law with blood; he hath so pacified justice, that it now can
forgive; he hath carried sin away from before the face of God, and set
us quit in his sight; he hath destroyed the devil, abolished death, and
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel; he hath
wrought such a change in the world by what he has done for them that
believe, that all things work together for their good, from
thenceforward and for ever.
[Christ the altar.]
I should now come to the second part of the office of this high-priest,
and speak to that; as also to those things that were preparatory unto
his executing it; but first, I think convenient a little to treat of
the altar also upon which this sacrifice was offered to God.
Some, I conceive, have thought the altar to be the cross on which the
body of Christ was crucified, when he gave himself an offering for sin;
but they are greatly deceived, for he also himself was the altar
through which he offered himself; and this is one of the treasures of
wisdom which are hid in him, and of which the world and Antichrist are
utterly ignorant. I touched this in one hint before, but now a little
more express. The altar is always greater than the gift; and since the
gift was the body and soul of Christ—for so saith the text, ‘He gave
himself for our sins’—the altar must be something else than a sorry bit
of wood, or than a cursed tree. Wherefore I will say to such, as one
wiser than Solomon said to the Jews, when they superstitiated the gift,
in counting it more honourable than the altar, ‘Ye fools, and blind,
for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the
gift?’ (Matt 23:18,19).
If the altar be greater than the gift, and yet the gift so great a
thing as the very humanity of Christ, can it—I will now direct my
speech to the greatest fool—can that greater thing be the cross? Is,
was the cross, the wooden cross, the cursed tree, that some worship,
greater than the gift, to wit, than the sacrifice which Christ offered,
when he gave himself for our sins! O idolatry, O blasphemy![24]
Quest. But what then was the altar? Answ. The divine nature of Christ,
that Eternal Spirit, by and in the assistance of which he ‘offered
himself without spot to God’; he, through the Eternal Spirit ‘offered
himself’ (Heb 9:14).
1. And it must be THAT, because, as was said, the altar is greater than
the gift; but there is nothing but Christ’s divine nature greater than
his human; to be sure, a sorry bit of wood, a tree, the stock of a
tree, is not.
2. It must be this, because the text says plainly ‘the altar sanctifies
the gift,’ that is, puts worth and virtue into it; but was it the tree,
or the Godhead of Christ, that put virtue and efficacy into this
sacrifice that he offered to God for us? If thou canst but tell thy
fingers, judge.
3. The altar was it of old that was to bear up the sacrifice until it
was consumed; and with reference to the sacrifice under consideration,
the tree could not bear up that; for our sacrifice being a man,
consisting of soul and body, that which could bear him up in his
suffering condition, must be that that could apply itself to his
reasonable and sensible part for relief and succour, and that was of
power to keep him even in his spirit, and in a complete submissiveness
to God, in the present condition in which he was; and could the tree do
this, think you? Had the tree that command and government of the soul
and sense of Christ, of the reason and feeling of the Lord Jesus, as to
keep him in this bitter suffering, in that evenness and spotlessness in
his torment, as to cause that he should come off this great work,
without the least smell or tang[25] of imperfection? No, no; it was
through the Eternal Spirit that he ‘offered himself without spot to
God.’
Quest. Wherefore then served the cross? Answ. I ask, and wherefore then
served the wood by which the sacrifices were burned? The sacrifices
were burned with wood upon the altar; the wood then was not that altar,
the wood was that instrument by which the sacrifice was consumed, and
the cross that by which Christ suffered his torment and affliction. The
altar then was it that did bear both the wood and sacrifice, that did
uphold the wood to burn, and the sacrifice to abide the burning. And
with reference to the matter in hand, the tree on which Christ was
hanged, and the sacrifice of his body, were both upheld by his divine
power; yet the tree was no more a sacrifice, nor an altar, than was the
wood upon the altar; nor was the wood, but the fire, holy, by which the
sacrifice was consumed. Let the tree then be the tree, the sacrifice
the sacrifice, and the altar the altar; and let men have a care how, in
their worship, they make altars upon which, as they pretend, they offer
the body of Christ; and let them leave off foolishly to dote upon wood,
and the works of their hands: the altar is greater than the gift or
sacrifice that was, or is, upon it.
[How Christ executes the office of high-priest.]
We come now to the second part of the office of this high-priest and to
show how he performeth that. In order to which, I must, as I did with
reference to the first, show you what things, as preparatory, were to
precede the execution of it. We have here, as you see, ‘our passover
sacrificed for us,’ for our encouragement to come to the throne of
grace; and now let us look to it, as it is presented in the holiest of
all, and to the order of its being so presented.
1. First, then, before there was anything further done, I mean by this
high-priest, as to a further application of his offering, the judgment
of God was waited for by him, with respect to his estimation of what
was already done, to wit, how that was resented[26] by him; the which
he declared to the full by raising him from the dead. For in that he
was raised from the dead, when yet he died for our sins, it is evident
that his offering was accepted, or esteemed of value sufficient to
effect that for the which it was made a sacrifice, which was for our
sins; this, therefore, was in order to his being admitted into heaven.
God, by raising him from the dead, justified his death, and counted it
sufficient for the saving of the world. And this Christ knew would be
the effect of his death, long before he gave himself a ransom; where he
saith, ‘This also shall please the Lord better than an ox, or bullock
that hath horns and hoofs’ (Psa 69:31). And again, ‘For the Lord God
will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set
my face like a flint, and I know I shall not be ashamed. He is near
that justifieth me; who will contend with me? Let us stand together;
who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God
will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax
old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up’ (Isa 50:7-9). All this is
the work of the Lord God, his Father, and he had faith therein, as I
said before. And since it was God who was to be appeased, it was
requisite that he should be heard in the matter, to wit, whether he was
pacified or no: the which he has declared, I say, in raising him up
from the dead. And this the apostles, both Paul and Peter, insinuate,
when they ascribe his resurrection to the power of another, rather than
to his raising of himself, saying, ‘this Jesus hath God raised up’
(Acts 2:32). ‘God hath raised’ him up ‘from the dead’ (3:15), ‘whom God
raised from the dead,’ and the like (4:10, 5:30, 8:56, 13:30). I say,
therefore, that God, by raising up Christ from the dead, hath said,
that thus far his offering pleased him, and that he was content.
2. But lest the world, being besotted by sin, should not rightly
interpret actions, therefore God added to his raising him up from the
dead, a solemn exposing of him to view, not to all men, but to such as
were faithful, and that might be trusted with the communicating of it
to others: ‘Him,’ saith Peter, ‘God raised’ from the dead, ‘and showed
him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of
God, even to us who did eat and drink with him, after he rose from the
dead’ (Acts 10:40,41). And this was requisite, not for that it added
anything to the value and worth of his sacrifice, but for the help of
the faith of them that were to have eternal salvation by him. And it is
for this cause that Paul so enlargeth upon this very thing, to wit,
that there were them that could testify that God had raised him up from
the dead, namely, that men might see that God was well pleased, and
that they had encouragement to come boldly by him to the throne of
grace for mercy (1 Cor 15:1-8). And this exposing of him to view, was
not for the length of a surprising or dazzling moment, but days and
nights, to the number of no less than forty; and that to the self-same
persons, to wit, ‘the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also,’ says
the text, ‘he showed himself alive after his passion, by many
infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God’ (Acts 1:2,3). Thus God
therefore being willing more abundantly to show him unto the world,
ordered this great season betwixt his resurrection and ascension, that
the world might see that they had ground to believe an atonement was
made for sin.
3. But again, a third thing that was to precede the execution of the
second part of this his priestly office was, the manner and order of
his going into the holiest; I say, the manner and order of his going.
He was to go thither in that robe of which mention was made before, to
wit, in the virtue of his obedience, for it was that which was to make
his way for him as now sprinkled with his blood. He was to go thither
with a noise which the Holy Ghost calls a shout, saying, ‘God is gone
up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet’ (Psa 47:5). This
was prefigured by the bells, as I said, which did hang on the border of
Aaron’s garments. This shout seems to signify the voice of men and
angels; and this trumpet the voice and joy of God; for so it says, he
shall descend: ‘For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God’ (1
Thess 4:16). Even as he ascended and went up; for Aaron’s bells were to
be heard when he went into, and when he came out of, the holy place
(Exo 28:33-35). But what men were to ascend with him, but, as was said
afore, the men that ‘came out of the graves after his resurrection?’
(Matt 27:53). And what angels but those that ministered to him here in
the day of his humiliation? As for the evil ones, he then rode in
triumph over their heads, and crushed them as captives with his chariot
wheels. He is ascended on high, he has ‘led captivity captive, he has
received gifts for men’ (Eph 4:8).
Thus then he ascended unto, into the holy paradise, where he was waited
for of a multitude of the heavenly host, and of thousands of millions
of the spirits of just men made perfect. So approaching the highest
heavens, the place of the special presence of God, he was bid sit down
at his right hand, in token that, for his sufferings’ sake, God had
made him the highest of every creature, and given him a name above
every name, and commanded that at the name of Jesus now all things in
heaven should bow, and promised, that at the day of judgment, all on
earth, and under it, should bow too, to the glory of God the Father
(Phil 2:6-11). Thus he presented himself on our behalf unto God, a
sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, in which God resteth for ever,
for that the blood of this sacrifice has always with him a pleasing and
prevailing voice. It cannot be denied, it cannot be outweighed by the
heaviness, circumstances, or aggravations of any sin whatsoever, of
them that come unto God by him. He is always, as I said before, in the
midst of the throne, and before the throne, ‘a Lamb as it had been
slain,’ now appearing in the presence of God for us. Of the manner of
his intercession, whether it was vocal or virtual, whether by voice of
mouth, or merit of deed, or both, I will not determine; we know but
little while here, how things are done in heaven, and we may soon be
too carnal, or fantastical in our apprehensions. Intercession he makes,
that is, he manages the efficacy and worth of his suffering with God
for us, and is always prevalent in his thus managing of his merits on
our behalf. And as to the manner, though it be in itself infinitely
beyond what we can conceive while here, yet God hath stooped to our
weakness, and so expressed himself in this matter, that we might
somewhat, though but childishly, apprehend him (1 Cor 13:11,12). And we
do not amiss if we conceive as the Word of God hath revealed; for the
scriptures are the green poplar, hazel, and the chestnut rods that lie
in the gutters where we should come to drink; all the difficulty is, in
seeing the white strakes, the very mind of God there, that we may
conceive by it.
But the text says he prayeth in heaven, he makes intercession there.
Again, it saith his blood speaks, and, consequently, why may not his
groans, his tears, his sighs, and strong cries, which he uttered here
in the days of flesh? I believe they do, and have a strong voice with
God for the salvation of his people. He may then intercede both vocally
and virtually; virtually to be sure he does, and we are allowed so to
apprehend, because the text suggesteth such a manner of intercession to
us; and because our weakness will not admit us to understand fully the
thing as it is, our belief that he maketh intercession for us has also
the advantage of being purged from its faultiness by his intercession,
and we shall be saved thereby, because we have relied upon his blood
shed, and the prevalency of the worthiness of it with God for us;
though as to this circumstance, the manner of his interceding, we
should be something at a loss.
The Word says that we have yet but the image of heavenly things, or of
things in the heavens. I do not at all doubt but that many of those
that were saved before Christ came in the flesh, though they were, as
to the main, right, and relied upon him to the saving of their souls,
yet came far short of the knowledge of many of the circumstances of his
suffering for them (Heb 10:1). Did they all know that he was to be
betrayed of Judas? that he was to be scourged of the soldiers? that he
was to be crowned with thorns? that he was to be crucified between two
thieves, and to be pierced till blood and water came out of his side?
or that he was to be buried in Joseph’s sepulchre? I say, did all that
were saved by faith that he was to come and die for them, understand
these, with many more circumstances that were attendants of him to
death? It would be rude to think so; because for it we have neither
scripture nor reason. Even so, we now that believe that ‘he ever liveth
to make intercession for us,’ are also very short of understanding of
the manner or mode of his so interceding. Yet we believe that he died,
and that his merits have a voice with God for us; yea, that he manages
his own merits before God in way of intercession for us, far beyond
what we, while here, are able to conceive.
The scripture saith that ‘all the fulness of the Godhead’ dwells in him
‘bodily’ (Col 2:9). It also saith that he is the throne of God, and yet
again, that he sits ‘on the right hand of the throne’ (Isa 22:23; Heb
12:2). These things are so far from being comprehended by the weakest,
that they strain the wits and parts of the strongest, yet there is a
heavenly truth in all. Heavenly things are not easily believed, no not
of believers themselves, while here on earth, and when they are, they
are so but weakly and infirmly.[27] I believe that the very appearing
of Christ before God is an intercession as a priest, as well as a plea
of an advocate; and I believe again, that his very life there is an
intercession there, a continual intercession (Heb 9:24; Rom 5:10).
But there is yet something further to be said: Christ, the humanity of
Christ, if in it dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, how then
appears he before him to make intercession? or if Christ is the throne
of grace and mercy-seat, how doth he appear before God as sitting
there, to sprinkle that now with his blood? Again, if Christ be the
altar of incense, how stands he as a priest by that altar to offer the
prayers of all the saints thereon, before the throne?
[How these mysteries are to be learned.]