Apostle and High Priest

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (confession),Christ Jesus" (Heb. 3:i).

" No man hath seen God at any time;" but " the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him " (Jno. i:18). In Jesus, the eternal God has come to us, His glory being veiled in flesh. In Jesus we see, we hear, we learn who God is-His character, His ways, himself. " I and the Father are one," He said to the Jews. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," He answered to Philip; "how sayest thou, then, Show us the Father ?"

That we might better see Him, hear Him, know Him, the Holy Spirit has given us a four-fold view (as of a great monument seen from four different standpoints), a four-fold record of the life, teachings and works of this Sent One from the bosom of the Father. How we should eat His words, and meditate upon His ways as He opens to us the heart of God, the ways and purposes of God-the treasuries of God! Consider, then, the Apostle of our confession-the revelation we have received of Him, the truth which we confess.

Now, in Christ risen and ascended, those begotten of God on earth are presented to the Father as the "brethren" whom He has sanctified and cleansed by His blood, whom also He represents before the Majesty on High. On the shoulders of Aaron, Israel's high priest, and on the jewels of the breastplate upon His breast were engraved the names of the sons of Israel.

Weary traveler, faint-hearted believer, see thy name engraved and borne there upon the heart and shoulders of our High Priest !

"O God, we come with singing,
Because Thy great High-Priest
Our names to Thee is bringing,
Nor e'er forgets the least :
For us He wears the mitre,
Where "Holiness" shines bright;
For us His robes are whiter
Than heaven's unsullied light."

Holy hands

In i Tim. 2:8, the apostle uses a significant expression in connection with prayer:" I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands."

To pray " everywhere" is in contrast, no doubt, to the Jewish custom of "going to the Temple to pray" (see Acts 3:i; Luke 18:10); this was according to Solomon's words at the dedication of the Temple (i Kings 8:33-49):"When thy people Israel be smitten . . . and shall turn again to Thee, and confess Thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto Thee in this house, then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel." But when He who was the glory of Israel was finally rejected by them, their house was also left finally desolate, and the Romans then razed it to the ground-not one stone was left upon another. The time is now come, as our Lord said to the Samaritan woman, when the true worshiper worships the Father in spirit and in truth. What " holy hands " are to be extended in supplication to "Him that is holy, Him that is true." "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be-reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:23, 24) -"Lift up holy hands, without wrath or doubting."