(2) The mediators of the old covenant {angels, MoseSfJoshua, Aaron) inferior to theone Mediator of the new. — The Law was spoken through angels. The Son is greater than any angel, not only in His Divine glory, but also in the glory of His humilia- tion. For, as perfect man. He was the first to achieve the high destiny of mankind set forth in Genesis and in the Psalms (P-2'8). Jesus is the Moses of the new dispensation, but greater than Moses, as a son is greater than a servant. He wrought a greater deliverance than that of Moses, and led the way to a more perfect rest than that which Joshua won for his people. To that rest He will bring us, if only we remain constant. The story of those who fell of old in the wilderness is a solemn warning of the fatal consequences of apostasy. Let us press on, remembering that the Leader who has sufiered with us is also our High Priest who will bring us to the throne of grace {31-41S).
(3) The Son revealed as Priest after the eternal order of Melchizcdck. — The essential conditions for all priesthood are two — perfect sympathy with sinful men, and a Divine call to the office of priest. These conditions are perfectly fulfilled in Christ. He is Priest not after the order of Aaron, but after the eternal order of Melchizedek (5^'^"). Throw off your dullness and lay hold on the meaning of Christ's Priesthood, for therein lies the Christian hope. Christ is man and one with us. We can therefore follow Him into the inner sanctuary of God's own presence whither as Priest He has gone on our behalf (S^-e-"). The Psalmist declared that the Christ should be Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Notice that the promise of this new priesthood, spoken while the Aaronic priests were in possession, shows tbat the order of Melchizedek is better than that of Aaron. Its superiority is emphasized by the Divine oath with Avhieh the promise is introduced. The account of Melchizedek given in Genesis declares both by its statements and by what it leaves unsaid what are the marks of this priesthood. It is royal, righteous, peace- bringing, personal, dependent not on lineal descent, but on the inherent fitness of the priest ; it is eternal. Abraham, and by implication Levi, did homage to this priesthood when they paid tithes and received a blessing, thereby acknowledging the presence of something greater than themselves. These marks of the eternal priesthood find their
perfect fulfilment in Jesus. Perfect kingship is manifested in the royal condescension of His earthly humiliation, and righteousness in His sin- less life as man ; abiding peace is the result of His cleansing of man's sin. He was not bom of the tribe of Levi. His Priesthood is. inherent in Him- self, working ' according to the power of an endless life' (7^^). It can never be superseded because it has perfectly fulfilled the object for which all priesthood exists (7).
(4) The priestly ministrations of Aaron and of Christ: their sanctuaries, their basal covenants, their sacrifices. — We have, then, a High Priest who has entered upon His regal state of Priesthood in heaven, the true sanctuary. But priesthood im- plies sacrifice. He must therefore have something to ofler ; but what and where ? Not in the earthly 'Holy of Holies' — that is already occupied. Be- sides, the Bible warns us that the earthly sanctuary is only a shadow of the heavenly reality. Christ's priestly ministry and sacrifice belong to the realm of realities, just as He is the Mediator of a new and better covenant than that of the JeAvs. For we must face the fact already realized by Jeremiah — the old covenant was imperfect and must pass away when the new and perfect covenant is estab- lished (8). The Levitical service of the old covenant was not lacking in outward splendour, but its magnificence served only to emphasize its ineffec- tiveness. The structure of its sanctuary was specially designed to illustrate its weakness. The entrance to the Holy of Holies was covered by a veil beyond which not even priests might pass. One man alone could ever enter there, and for him the way was beset with danger and open only once in the year. Even so his annual sacrifice was no real atonement. The material offerings — blood of bulls and goats — professed to deal only with ritual errors {dyvorj/xdrui', 9'). They could not cleanse the conscience or take away real sin. All these things — the inaccessible sanctuary, the sin-stained high priest, the annual inefiective sacrifices — clearly indicated that the true atonement was not yet found (9^"^"). Christ our High Priest, on the other hand, has found for men eternal salvation. For He entered into no material sanctuary but into the very presence of God once for all. His sacrifice was no mere symbolical cleansing of ritual errors. It efTected the actual taking away of the accumulated sins of men, and opened the way of free access to God. For it was not material but spiritual, not annual but ofl'ered once for all ; it was the ofiering of His own life (9'^"^').
Thus the new covenant rests on the death of its Mediator. Does this idea seem strange ? The following analogies may help you to understand : («) a testament is a covenant, but it has no value unless the testator die ; (b) the old covenant was inaugurated with the ofiering of the life of bulls and goats ; (c) in the Levitical Law every atone- ment is symbolized by the offering of the life of beasts. By such offerings the earthly sanctuary was cleansed. But nothing short of the most perfect conceivable offering is sufficient for the perfect heavenly sanctuary, and what ofiering could be more complete than the voluntary laying down of the High Priest's own life? Such a spiritual sacrifice has eternal validity. It can never be re- peated because by the taking away of sins it has established for ever that perfect union with God which all sacrifice symbolizes. When Christ next appears it will be as Deliverer of those who are expecting Him (9'5-28),