In Hebrews i, Christ is seen as Apostle-the One sent of God, and part of chapter 2 describes Him as High Priest. Hence chap. 3 opens thus:" Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (confession), Christ Jesus."
As the Apostle He came to us with the light of God. He was God Himself, and came among us in order to speak to us, instead of speaking by prophets as He did formerly. God has spoken unto us by (in) His Son-literally, "in Son." The Son is the Speaker to man. He declared what God is in His nature, especially did He this at the Cross. And what He said is final, as it is complete. No one can succeed the Son in making God known to man, and nothing could be added to what was said by Him. He fully revealed God. Anything said by any apostle since Jesus died has added nothing to the revelation of what God is, but has been a result of that revelation. Thus it is that there is no allusion in this epistle to any apostle but one -Christ Jesus. The revelation of God, with all the consequent grace in which we stand, has all come to us from Him. In that sense, He is the only Apostle; no other could even be mentioned.
Furthermore, Christ Jesus is the Apostle of "-our confession." The precious truth He brought to us, and which has been implanted in our hearts, is that which we confess. It is called "the confession of our faith" (Heb. 10:23). The Faith is our confession. It was "our confession" long before the "Westminster confession" was heard of, and it was brought to us from heaven by its Apostle. Therefore we are exhorted to consider" Him. His greatness is set forth in Hebrews i in order to show the importance of what He said, and thus to emphasize His apostleship. Hence, the more we consider Him, the more we shall understand and enjoy that for which we are eternally indebted to Him.
Again:we are to consider the " High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus." Now, as the High Priest He represents us in the presence of God:He is on our behalf Godward. In this Scripture, however, He is said to be the High Priest of " our confession :" that is, He is the One who takes care of the entire range of truth which, at such cost, He brought to light.
Do we "consider" Him in this capacity as we should ? We are not now considering by what means He accomplishes this, nor what place His people may have in this connection; we are meditating on the fact that it is Himself who maintains "our confession." What a touching incentive this to take courage! How often have some been cast down at the wide-spread absence of desire after the precious things of God. They may have seen some of the rising generation of Christians indulging themselves instead of denying themselves, and therefore without spiritual appetite, and making no progress in the Christian path. Or perhaps they have seen older brethren becoming depressed and losing purpose of heart. Nevertheless, let us all remember that, whatever levity or lethargy may exist among God's people the High Priest, has undertaken to safeguard the truth, to support "our confession."
How good it is then to consider HIM. There is no darkness in His blessed presence, neither can there be despair. Of old He ordained that His disciples should be "with Him," before aught else (Mark 3:14). Even so is it now. He would have His own much in His company. He would have us becoming better acquainted with Him daily. He would have us increasingly rely upon His love and His power-
" Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end." R. J. R.