The writer to the Hebrews sees in Christ the perfect Sacrificial Offering, whose shed blood would represent the Great Atonement for the remission of sins. Not remission for all in the universal sense, but rather for those who enter into fellowship with the Father and Son, thereby making themselves amenable to the Law of Christ.
The strict adherence to the rigid principle of perfection in the offerings under the Mosaic constitution was carried to an even stricter finality in the offering of the perfect Sacrificial Lamb.
It is of deep significance that in Christ alone should reside the dual function of Priest and Sacrifice, a combination nowhere else instanced in the Scriptures. The Psalmist illustrates the exalted priestly office of Jesus in simple, though beautiful language : “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psa. 110.4) .
The priesthood contemporaneous with Christ, practised in the mechanics of deceit and duplicity, were wholly alien to the Melchizedek order, and were preoccupied with the preservation of the privileges of office.”Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we ? for this man doeth many miracles . . . If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him : and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” (Jno. 11. 47-48).
Christ presented the ecclesiasticism of his day with an entirely new concept of spiritual values, both in precept and practice. His religious philosophy was based upon an eternal priestly order : “For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb. 7. 17).
The faithful followers of Jesus saw the deep conscious rectitude in the priestly form of the Lord’s Anointed. “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.” (Heb. 9. 11).
The Redeemer suffered “without the camp” of the ecclesiastical body of his day, and bore, alone, the burden of all those called to be saints. The spontaneous love inherent in the warmth of his evangelism stood out in sharp contrast to the cold,clinical outlook of the religious leaders.
High Priests, Elders, Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees were all in the category of those who “killed the prophets”. In the narrow confines of their bigotry they failed to respond to the challenge of conversion. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” (Matt. 23. 37).
Christ was prepared to be extraneous to the ecclesiastical chicanery in order to sanctify the people with his own blood . . .” (Heb. 13. 12). Thus we see the spiritual significance of Jesus’ being both Priest and Sacrifice, a burden which he willingly bore for sinners : “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews enjoins Christ’s followers to “go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” This moving appeal implies more than intellectual acceptance of Christ, and infers something deeper than academic acquiescence in his religious philosophy. The urgent message is for His disciples to become completely aligned with the Christ that “was wounded for our transgressions”, and “bruised for our iniquities.”
Suffering and self-denial in this present life will not go unrewarded : “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth (Prov. 11. 31) It is true that disciple ship is accompanied by trial and tribulation, for how else could the faith of the saints be proved ? “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
The prize of an eternal inheritance is indeed a glorious one, and the days of pilgrimage can be lightened in the quest for the mind of Christ. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” Monarchical prerogatives and priestly privileges will be the incomparable reward for those adorned in garments clean and white : “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests : and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5. 10)’
Fervent discipleship compels an allegiance wholly divorced from mundane encumbrances, and encourages an awareness of, and interest in, a citizenship distinctly different from that within our metropolitan boundaries. “For our citizenship is in heaven ; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 3. 20 ( R. V. ) ) .
The affections can only find their spiritual level when refined “without the gate”, keeping ever before us the heart-rendering finale at Calvary, outside the boundaries of Jerusalem, where that selfless enactment made possible for us a new and fuller life in the Lord. “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One