LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Moving towards Perfection (2)
A second aspect of Hebrews that puts us on the road to maturity is the understanding of the Lord's priestly ministry, and the believer's participation in it.
If we did not have the book of Hebrews we would have no possibility of knowing much about the work of Christ beyond the cross. When David says in Psalm 110: "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek", which is the word that Hebrews quotes three times, he was pointing to an event that occurred in heaven "after the law", a ministry that the Lord would develop after his exaltation and enthronement at the right hand of the Father.
That ministry is so perfect that the Lord was not only the High Priest who presented the perfect offering to the Father for our sins, but He Himself is the offering presented. This is what John refers to when he says that "he is the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:2). "Propitiation" here implies the complete work of redemption, that is, what he did as propitiator, and as offering on the mercy seat. This is the work of the cross.
But Hebrews takes us beyond this, by showing us the Lord, his redemptive work completed, as intercessor before the Father. This is the High Priest "who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (7:25). Our position is now doubly assured before God, for Christ is our propitiation, and also our Intercessor.
These two aspects of Christ's work, one on earth and the other in heaven, are intended to make believers perfect, to bring them to maturity. God's will is not only to save us, but to transform us into the image of Christ. And that requires a work of Christ after the cross, which sustains our walk in the present time.
The apostle John goes even further by presenting the Lord as our parakletos (advocate), that is, one who intervenes after the Christian has sinned. To put it simply, the Lord, as High Priest, intervenes because of our weakness before our fall and, as Advocate, if we should fall. God's wonderful provision for us!
God's desire in showing us the wonderful priestly ministry of our Lord is also to lead us along the same path, so that Christians also exercise the ministry of intercession. This is a noble task, and the one that brings us closest to the heart of God. Mature Christians are intercessors par excellence. An intercessor is one who forgets himself in order to take upon himself the causes of others, as if they were his own, which is an expression of God's love, perfect and overflowing.