Jesus, My Great High Priest

But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11, 12

 

Jesus, my great High Priest,
Offered his blood and died;
My guilty conscience seeks
No sacrifice beside.
His pow’rful blood did once atone,
And now it pleads before the Throne.

To this dear Surety’s hand
Will I commit my cause;
He answers and fulfills
His Father’s broken laws.
Behold my soul at freedom set;
My Surety paid the dreadful debt.

My Advocate appears
For my defense on high;
The Father bows his ears
And lays his thunder by.
Not all that hell or sin can say
Shall turn his heart, his love, away.

Should all the hosts of death
And pow’rs of hell unknown
Put their most dreadful forms
Of rage and mischief on,
I shall be safe, for Christ displays
His conqu’ring pow’r and guardian grace.

Isaac Watts 1709

Jesus the Joy of Heaven

Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.

And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. Revelation 22:4

Jesus  is the Beloved One of his people. Above all the attractions of heaven, the Church longs to see the beauty of its Saviour. If there were no Jesus, there would be no heaven; Jesus is the “all in all” of heaven. Believers in every age of the world have summed up their hope and expectation in the one desire of seeing the Lord. David’s prayer in Psalm 27 tells of this longing, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.”

Christians are waiting for the Lord Jesus, who will return, according to his own promise, to receive us unto himself, that where he is we may be also. (John 14:3) This gives us hope even though in this world we see much sin and defilement in ourselves and others. We see the bitter fruit of this sin, which is sorrow, anguish,  troubles, and afflictions. We find our choicest earthly comforts are vain and meaningless. The world has no resting place for us. We are strangers and pilgrims in the world. Even now, our citizenship is in heaven. Philippians 3:20 says, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

To be in love with heaven  we must be weaned from earth; it is then that we long with intense eagerness to find a refuge in our eternal home.       H. Watts

If our way grows rough, it leads to an unspeakably joyful end. One moment with Christ will make up for it all. Whatever other joys are in store for us, and there are many others, fellowship with Christ will be the greatest of them all. Heaven will be light with the light of his presence, and its inhabitants will enjoy eternal fellowship with him.  “The light of heaven is the face of Jesus; the joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus; the melody of heaven is the name of Jesus. The harmony of heaven is the praise of Jesus. The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus. The employment of heaven is the service of Jesus. The duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus. The fullness of heaven is Jesus Himself.” …Anonymous (note found in D.L. Moody’s Bible)

What great joy is laid up in store for us in the future, when we shall be permitted to see God’s face in righteousness. To be permitted to gaze upon the face of an eastern monarch was considered a high honour; so great an honour indeed that the penalty of death occasionally followed an unauthorized attempt to gaze upon it. In allusion to this beholding the face of God, it is said of the redeemed in the book of Revelation, “And they shall see his face, and his name shall be written in their foreheads.”

And how shall we see God’s face? We shall see him in the person of Christ. And what face is to be compared with His? –a face more brilliant than ten thousand stars; a face in which shines resplendent every virtue that can make glorified humanity attractive; a face beaming with loving-kindness, compassion, mercy, wisdom, and grace; a face more beautiful than that of the loveliest of created beings; a face of which Samuel Rutherford has nobly said, “Oh, sun, in thy shining beauty, put on a web of darkness, and cover thyself before thy brightest Master and Maker.” This is the face that we shall see; the face of the once “Man of sorrow,” the face now of the Man of heaven’s glory.  H. Watts

Christ has “died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 10 This is our hope, not only to go to heaven, but to “live together with Him.” It is also Christ’s great desire that all his people “live together with Him.” Just before his death, Christ fervently prayed for his loved ones, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 Christ is not going to be disappointed. He died upon The Cross of Calvary that we might “live together with him.”

He comes — for, oh; His yearning heart
No more can bear delay —
To scenes of full unmingled joy
To call His Bride away.

Our relationship with Christ is permanent. Many times he has told us, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Death severs our ties with dearest loved ones, but death has no power over our relationship with Christ. He is our God in life; our God in death; our God forever. The full realization of this relationship will be in heaven. Christ loves us now, and we rejoice in that love (see 1 Peter 1:8), but when we fellowship with him in heaven, we will know that love more clearly, fully, and blessedly. Heaven will be a home of perfect love and joy, and will continue forever. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3,4

I will close this post with an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon, The Throne of God and of the Lamb. “To loving hearts great is the bliss of heaven’s unbroken fellowship of saints: it will indeed be a great joy in heaven to see all who loved the Lord below. How happy we shall be when these blessed reunions take place. Still, I think that all of you will agree with me that the heaven of heaven is that we shall be “with Christ, which is far better” –that we shall behold his face and partake of his glory. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be the centre of our delights. To have reached home in the heavenly Father’s house, to have seen our Elder-brother, and to be sure that we shall abide with him and go no more out: oh, that is what we pant for! We long to hear his voice welcoming us to our new abode.”

Come in, thou blessed, sit by me;

With my own blood I ransomed thee,

Enjoy my perfect favour;

Come in, thou ransomed spirit, come,

Thou now must dwell with me at home;

Ye blissful mansions, make him room,

For he must stay for ever.”

And then may our quick response be—

“I am coming! I am coming!

By the blood of Christ I’m coming!”

image credit: juliejigsaw

Christ is All Our Joy

But Christ is all, and in all. Colossians 3:11

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4

Christ is the appointed Savior of mankind and our eternal interests are wholly dependent upon Him. Our deliverance from the penalty and power of sin was accomplished for us, exclusively by the Savior himself, when he died upon The Cross. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12. He finished all the work of redemption, bestows all the benefits, and is entitled to all the glory. Every hope which the Christian cherishes arises from this—Christ is All.

The whole misery of the guilty man, in time and in eternity, arises from his being without Christ. The whole security and comfort of the pardoned man, springs from his being in Christ. The whole blessedness of the glorified man, is comprised in the one fact, that he is with Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is himself the fountain of all blessings to the soul of man. Stephen Tyng

Christ is the great, sure, and abiding joy of his own people. He pardoned our sin, covered our guilt, vanquished death, and restored our fellowship with the Father. If we have nothing but Christ, we do not want for anything, for Christ is all. We may not have the wealth, health, gifts, employments, or honors that other men have, yet if Christ has given us himself, his blood to redeem us, his spirit to quicken us, his grace to renew us, and his peace to comfort us, we have all we need. “If a man has Christ, he has all for eternity; and if he has not Christ, he is poor, and blind, and naked, and will be miserable for ever.” (Spurgeon)

It is not what we are, not what we feel, or not what we can do, but it is what Christ has done, and what Christ is to us that blesses us. Let us have a higher view of Christ, that we may see him as all our satisfaction. Let us so know him that in our temptation, he may be our defense; in our darkness, our light; in sorrow, our joy; in despondency, our hope; in prayer and communion with God, in patient waiting upon and in active work for God, he may be our all and in all. These oft quoted words from a sermon by Edward Reynolds speak beautifully of the all-sufficiency of Christ:

All the good things that can be reckoned up here below, have only a finite and limited goodness: some can clothe, but cannot feed; others can nourish, but they cannot heal; others can enrich, but they cannot secure; others adorn, but cannot advance; all do serve, but none do satisfy; they are like a beggar’s coat made  up of many pieces, not all enough either to beautify or defend.

But Christ is full and sufficient for all his people, he ascended on high that he might fill all things (Eph. iv.10), that he might pour forth such abundance of Spirit on his church as might answer all the conditions, where-unto they may be reduced: righteousness enough to cover all their sins; plenty enough to supply all their wants; grace enough to subdue all their lusts; wisdom enough to resolve all their doubts; power enough to vanquish all their enemies; virtue enough to cure all their diseases; fullness enough to save them, and that to the uttermost.

Over and besides, there is in Christ something proportionable to all the wants and desires of his people: he is bread, wine, milk, living waters to feed them. (John vi. 55, 57). He is a garment of righteousness to cover and adorn them (Rom. xiii. 14); a physician to heal them (Matt. ix. 12); a counselor to advise them (Isaiah ix. 6); a captain to defend them (Heb. ii. 10); a prince to rule, a prophet to teach, a priest to make atonement for them, a husband to protect, a father to provide, a brother to relieve, a foundation to support, a root to quicken, a head to guide, a treasure to enrich, a sun to enlighten, and a fountain to cleanse: so that as the one ocean hath more water than all the rivers of the world, and one sun more light than all the luminaries in heaven, so one Christ is more all to a poor soul, than if it had the all of the whole world a thousand times over.   Edward Reynold

Christ alone is the object of our spiritual joy. We are united to Christ in whom all fullness dwells and we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings by God the Father in Christ.” see Ephesians 1:3. It is therefore our sweet privilege always to rejoice in Christ Jesus. If we search the scriptures, which testify of Christ; if we dwell much in meditation on his person, his offices, his blood, his righteousness, his intercession; we shall perceive never-failing springs of joy. “The great duty believers owe to Christ, is, to glory in him, and to make their boast of him; therefore he is made all in all to us, that whoso glories, may glory in the Lord.” (Matthew Henry)

Photo Credit: Tigr

The Father’s Love For His Children

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 1 John 3:1

O, how amazing it is, that the great God of heaven should give us a place in His family. From this time forward, we who were at enmity with God, are mutually allied to Him, and counted among His children. We were infinitely distant from Him, and were among those who “had no hope” and were “without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) Who are we, that the glorious Jehovah, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, should manifest His grace to us!

It is the unspeakable privilege of the Christian to approach God, not as an angry Judge, but as a kind and loving Father. Sinful men are by nature children of wrath. Upon our receiving Christ Jesus, by faith, as our Lord and Saviour, we are taken into the special favor of God.  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12 We are no longer strangers and enemies, but children, and all the dealings of God with us are paternal dealings. As His children we are loved, taught, governed, corrected, protected, helped, and provided for by Him.

As soon as we come to God through Christ, we become members of God’s very own family and receive something of the nature and life of God Himself. We are transformed people and a new creation. We are born again. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 God the Father receives our homage and worship when we approach Him through Christ Jesus His Son. We who were doomed and damned in our sins, and alienated from God, have been brought near to Him by the blood of Christ.

Writing of the Father’s love, A.W. Pink said, “Consider  and adore the nature and extent, the marvel and magnitude, the uniqueness and superlative excellence of that love. It is in marked contrast, both in character and in greatness, with all other. It is incomparable, transcendent, infinite. Its cause is inexplicable; its effects are most glorious…Love is especially sensitive: ‘God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us‘ (Romans 5:8) …We are invited to look upon and admire the Father’s love in its infinite condescension, in its gratuitous character, in its blessed application.”

The love expressed by this name, Father, has no parallel. It had no beginning and it will have no ending. It is from everlasting to everlasting and is unchangeable. Whenever God’s children hear the name Father, it should excite in them thankfulness for His everlasting affection. He cannot cease to be a Father, and they cannot cease to be His children. His name is a security to them, that they cannot perish. He has pledged, by promise and oath, to love, to bless, and to keep them forever. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. John 10: 27-30

Jesus himself is the supreme proof of the Father’s love. From eternity, and out of His free and unchanging grace, the Father appointed His Son to be our Saviour. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.1 John 4:9,10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “Christ is the very image of God’s love. He is love itself incarnate. His coming into the world, and dying for us, is proof and evidence the most affecting and overwhelming.”

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us!

abba, Father! we adore thee

Abba, Father! we adore Thee,

Humbly now our homage pay;

‘Tis Thy children’s bliss to know Thee,

None but children “Abba” say.

This high honor we inherit,

Thy free gift through Jesus’ blood;

God the Spirit, with our spirit,

Witnesseth we’re sons of God.

Thine own purpose gave us being,

When in Christ, in that vast plan,

Thou in Christ didst choose Thy people

E’en before the world began.

Oh, what love Thou, Father, bore us!

Oh, how precious in Thy sight!

When to Thine own Son Thou gav’st us,

To Thy Son, Thy soul’s delight.

Though our nature’s fall in Adam

Shut us wholly out from God,

Thine eternal counsel brought us

Nearer still, through Jesus’ blood;

For in Him we found redemption,

Grace and glory in Thy Son;

Oh the height and depth of mercy!

Christ and His redeemed are one.

Hence, through all the changing seasons,

Trouble, sickness, sorrow, woe,

Nothing changeth Thine affections,

Love divine shall bring us through;

Soon shall all Thy blood-bought children

Round the throne their anthems raise,

and, in songs of rich salvation,

Shout to Thine eternal praise.

Lyrics by:

Robert Stephen Hawker (1804-1873)

Image credits: kelsey_lovefusionphoto, Sultry

When the Burden Crushes

Prayer is a precious privilege to be enjoyed.

What! Is it no privilege to have a door of access
ever open to God? Is it no privilege when the
burden crushes, to cast it upon One who has
promised to sustain?

When the corruptions of an unsanctified nature
are strong, and temptations thicken–is prayer
no privilege then?

And when perplexed to know the path of duty,
and longing to walk complete in all the will of
God, and, as a child, fearing to offend a loving
Father–is it then no privilege to have a throne
of grace, an open door of hope?

When the world is slowly stealing upon the heart;
or when that heart is wounded through the
unkindness of friends; or is bleeding under severe
bereavement–is it then no privilege to go and tell
Jesus?

Say, you poor, you needy, you tried, you tempted
souls! Say, if prayer is not the most precious and
splendid privilege this side heaven!

Cease to pray, and…

your grace withers,
your vigor decays,
your comfort dies.

“Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and
may find grace for help in time of need.” Heb. 4:16

-Octavius Winslow, “Evening Thoughts”

Image credit: One From RM