1. As our Great High-Priest, He _represents_ us in the sanctuary above. And, oh, what a Representative!--God's beloved Son, the glorified Man, whose name is above every name!--"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God _for us_." (Heb. ix. 24.) Oh, what dignity! what nearness to God is ours! Oh that our hearts appreciated it more! When Aaron appeared before the Lord in his garments of glory and beauty, he represented the children of Israel. Their names were engraven in precious stones in the beautiful breastplate. Blessed type of our real and everlasting place in the heart of Christ, who appears, not _annually_, like Aaron of old, but _continually_ in the presence of God _for us_. The name of each believer is kept continually before the eye of God, in all the glory and beauty of Christ, His well-beloved Son. He is our righteousness, we possess His life, enjoy His peace, are filled with His joy, and radiate His glory. Although without right, title, or privilege in ourselves, we have all in Him. He is there _for us_ and _as us_. His name be forever praised.
"He stands in heaven their Great High-Priest, And bears their names upon His breast."
It is by His continual intercession in heaven that saints on earth are succored and sustained in their wilderness journey, and, at the same time, upheld as worshipers within the vail, in all the sweet fragrance of His own divine excellencies; and neither their ignorance nor their lack of enjoyment of these things alters or affects their blessed, glorious, and eternal reality, "seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. vii. 25.)
2. As our Great High-Priest, He presents to God the gifts and sacrifices of His worshiping people. Under the law, the worshiper brought his offering to the priest, and by him it was presented to the Lord, on His own altar. Every thing was arranged by the priest, according to the word of the Lord. How perfectly all this is done for the worshiper now by his High-Priest in heaven! Our prayers, praises, and thanksgiving, all pass through His hands before they reach the throne of God. What a wonderful mercy this is, when we think of our confused and mixed services! So much that is of the flesh mingles with that which is of the Spirit. But the blessed Lord knows how to divide and separate between them. That which is of the flesh must be rejected, and consumed as wood, hay, and stubble, while that which is of the Spirit is precious, preserved, and presented to God in the value and sweet savor of His own perfect sacrifice. "_By Him_ therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His name." (Heb. xiii. 15.) The kindness of the Philippians to Paul was "an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." Hence the importance of the exhortation, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." (Col. iii. 17.)
III. In the third place, we observe that _the Christian's only place of worship is inside the vail_, "whither the Forerunner is for us entered." Outside the camp is his place as a witness; inside the vail is his place as a worshiper. In both positions Christ is surely with him. "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." "Having therefore, brethren, _boldness to enter into the holiest_ by the blood of Jesus." (Heb. xiii. 13; x. 19.) To know these two positions in communion with Christ Himself, through the teaching of the Spirit, is unspeakable blessedness. The Church has no divinely consecrated place of worship on earth. Our place is in heaven, in virtue of the sacrifice and of the priestly ministry of Christ there for us. Whatever may be the character of the building in which Christians are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, their true and only sphere of worship is the heavenly sanctuary. Through faith in God's word, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, they worship Him in "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."