God Promises and Delivers

Their prince shall be one of themselves;
    their ruler shall come out from their midst;
I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
    for who would dare of himself to approach me?

declares the Lᴏʀᴅ.

And you shall be my people,
    and I will be your God.  (Je 30:21-22)

Jeremiah has been describing the future restoration of Israel and Judah.  Among these is the promise one who will arise from among them and is one of them—i.e. one of their flesh-and-blood brethren.  This is important because he will have two offices in regard to his brethren: king and priest.  God will supply one who will both rule and intercede for the people by drawing near to God.  The only other mention in Scripture of one having this dual role is Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God (Ge 14:18).  There must be one chosen of God to be priest after the order of Melchizedek, who will also rule in peace (as Salem is translated).

After assuring their election, the Lord promises that He will be their God.  This is a wonderful, comforting promise to a nation acting wickedly, but I realize two things.  First, He wants a people.  He wants His elect.  Second, He promises to draw them to Himself and to make Himself available as their God as an act of divine volition and not of their desire.  And being on the heels of the king-priest promised, we might assume that the promised on coming to the people to do all this work is God Himself.  No other person would be able to function in the way needed to bring reconciliation between God and man.

Perhaps you know that I am describing what could only be accomplished and explained through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  It bears repeating.  Here in Jeremiah we have yet another promise of a messiah, who would fulfill, beyond our expectations, all that our God required of both us and Himself and reconcile Creator with created.

What a great God!  What a great Savior!  What a great salvation!

Our High Priest's Ministry, the Salvation of Men

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tabernacle that the Lord set up, not man.  (Heb 8:1-2)

He left till last the greatest honor, presenting Him seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty.  Aaron, the forebear of priests, remember, who was the first to receive the role of high priesthood, entered the divine sanctuary with fear and trembling, whereas this person has a seat at the right hand.  He included the word minister, of course, because he is treating of a high priest.  What ministry does He discharge after offering Himself once and for all, and no longer offering a further sacrifice?  How is it possible for Him at one and the same time to be seated and to minister?  Only if you were to say the ministry is the salvation of men, which He procures in lordly fashion.… It belongs to a high priest to offer gifts to the God of all.  It was for this reason that the Only-begotten became man, assumed our nature, and offered it for us.

Theodoret of Cyrus, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”

Lamb of God So Pure and Spotless, Lamb of God for Sinners Slain

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  For the law appoints men sin their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.  (Heb 7:27-28)

He mentioned two things which those granted the priesthood did not have: they made the sacred offerings unceasingly, and sacrificed for themselves, being also in their own persons sinners in being human.  People subject to sin do not enjoy such confidence in making offerings.  He, on the other hand, does neither—the one because he has no part in sin, and the other because the one sacrifice is adequate for salvation.  While they offered other sacrifices, he offered his own body, being priest and victim in his own person, and as God receiving the gift along with the Father and the Spirit.

Theodoret of Cyrus, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”

Perfect Sacrifices Require a Perfect Lamb and Priest: God Provided Both

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
    of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain
    the covering that is cast over all peoples,
    the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
    and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
    This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”  (Isa 25:6-9)

This was the reason he likened not Christ the Lord to Melchizedek, but Melchizedek to Christ the Lord: one was a type of the other, and the other the realization of the type. [Heb 6:19-20]  In respect of the priesthood, of course, Melchizedek did not imitate Christ the Lord; rather, Christ the Lord is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.  Being a priest belongs to human being, whereas accepting offerings belongs to God.  Yet by becoming incarnate, the only-begotten son of God also became our high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not by aggregating to himself the position but by concealing the divine status and accepting the lowly condition for the sake of our salvation.  This is why he was called lamb, sin, curse, way, door, and many other names like that.

Theodoret of Cyrus, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”

Jesus, the Great High Priest

Yesterday, Aaron gave a message another in a series on the unfinished work of Christ, this one dealing with his current work as our great high priest.  The passages covered were from Hebrews (given with my one-word subjects).

4:14-16 – Sympathizer
7:23-25 – Intercessor
6:19-20 – Forerunner

My only disappointment with the message came at the end, because it concluded.  The glories of Christ are incomparable and a delight to hear.  This message could easily have been expanded into multiple weeks.  I am not finding fault.  I am just longing for more.