Every high priest taken from among men
The high priesthood of Christ
I. CHRIST’S PARTICIPATION OF OUR NATURE, AS NECESSARY TO HIM FOR DISCHARGING OF THE OFFICE OF A HIGH PRIEST ON OUR BEHALF, IS A GREAT GROUND OF CONSOLATION UNTO BELIEVERS, A MANIFEST EVIDENCE THAT HE IS, AND WILL BE, TENDER AND COMPASSIONATE TOWARDS THEM.
II. IT WAS THE ENTRANCE OF SIN THAT MADE THE OFFICE OF THE PRIESTHOOD NECESSARY.
III. IT WAS OF INFINITE GRACE THAT SUCH AN APPOINTMENT WAS MADE. Without it all holy intercourse between God and man must have ceased. For neither
1. Were the persons of sinners meet to approach unto God; nor
2. Was any service which they could perform, or were instructed how to perform, suited unto the great end which man was now to look after; namely, peace with God. For the persons of all men being defiled, and obnoxious unto the curse of the law, how should they appear in the presence of the righteous and holy God (Isaiah 33:14; Micah 6:8).
IV. THE PRIEST IS DESCRIBED BY THE ESPECIAL DISCHARGE OF HIS DUTY, OR EXERCISE OF HIS OFFICE; WHICH IS HIS OFFERING. BOTH GIFTS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN.
V. WHERE THERE IS NO PROPER PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE THERE IS NO PROPER PRIEST. Every priest is to offer sacrifices for sin; that is, to make atonement.
VI. JESUS CHRIST ALONE IS THE HIGH PRIEST OF HIS PEOPLE. For He alone could offer a sacrifice for our sins to make atonement.
VII. IT WAS A GREAT PRIVILEGE WHICH THE CHURCH ENJOYED OF OLD, IN THE REPRESENTATION WHICH IT HAD BY GOD’S APPOINTMENT, OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. IN THEIR OWN TYPICAL PRIESTS AND SACRIFICES.
VIII. MUCH MORE GLORIOUS IS OUR PRIVILEGE UNDER THE GOSPEL SINCE OUR LORD JESUS HATH TAKEN UPON HIM, AND ACTUALLY DISCHARGED THIS PART OF HIS OFFICE, IN OFFERING AN ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND COMPLETE SACRIFICE FOR SIN. Here is the foundation laid of all our peace and happiness.
IX. WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH GOD ON THE ACCOUNT OF SIN, THAT IT MAY BE EXPIATED AND PARDONED, AND THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD WHO HAVE SINNED MAY BE ACCEPTED WITH HIM AND BLESSED, IS ALL ACTUALLY DONE FOR THEM BY JESUS CHRIST THEIR HIGH PRIEST, IN THE SACRIFICE FOR SIN WHICH HE OFFERED ON THEIR BEHALF. (John, Owen, D. D.)
Compassion on the ignorant
Divine compassion
There was no person in the Hebrew economy that was so revered as their high priest. He became more corrupt in the political times preceding Christ; but the name high priest, as interpreted by the whole history of the Hebrew people, was one that was not only reverenced, but loved. He was ordained, it is said, to have compassion; he was their highest ideal of purity; he stood in the grandeur of a supposed inspiration; he represented God, or, still better, he represented the people to God; he was their advocate; he stood in their place officially, and in every way helped to bring men up without any oppression; he was a minister of mercy to them; and you could not have struck a bell that would roll through the air with such melodious sound as by saying that Jesus Christ stood as a high priest to the people, and that compassion was the great attribute of Jesus; that He not only represented the people in their wants, but that He was a forthcomer of the very God Himself, and represented God to mankind as far as men obscured by the flesh are capable of understanding God. You cannot measure the infinite wisdom, and you cannot measure the eternal glow and glory of love, and you cannot in the infirmities of human life in all its relationships have any satisfying representation of the richness and infinite element of the Divine nature. So, in searching for some emblem the apostle strikes through to the centre, and says that Jesus Christ is a High Priest to represent--what? On the one side to represent the infirmities of men. He is clothed with them Himself; He is touched with a feeling of our infirmities; lie knows the height, and depth, and length and breadth of human experience and human need, and He is gone up to stand before God, our High Priest there; and not only to represent the wants of mankind, but in doing that He represents to us what is the interior character of God Himself, and what is the economy of the Divine love. In the earlier periods of the world’s history God was revealed in those aspects that would be most powerful to restrain animalism. The revelation of God’s motive power was toward the part that the man could understand; it was a physical manifestation of God as a God that governs the material world, which has certain fixed laws that cannot be broken without penalty immediate or remote; and so He was represented in the earlier periods of the world as the all-compelling Governor of the world. Pain in this world and suffering are God’s merciful ministers to keep men in the road. “So,” says God, “I will by no means count it a matter of indifference whether a man lives right or wrong. He shall live right or he shall suffer, because I am a God of mercy and love.” So the Old Testament had a sublime conception of God, but when you come down to the prophets, when lust immeasurable threatened to overwhelm society, when the great curse of idolatry was licentiousness, then God says: “I will not relax one particle of My eternal law; I will wait till the crooked grows straight, till the inferior is exalted, I will have compassion on men; when they are transgressing their own nature and My moral law and all things pure and holy, I will still have patience, that I may bring them back again.” There is the ideal of the Old Testament. But, coming down to a later period, when men were brutal they needed a little thunder, and the prophets gave it to them. They developed the regent character of God. “I abhor wickedness and My fury shall burn to the lowest hell, I will not tolerate it; I have not built the world for this: wicked men and devils shall not desecrate it; I will put forth a hand of strength, and I will clothe Myself in garments of blood! I will walk forth so that the land shall tremble in My indignation; wickedness shall not prevail; purity in manhood and Divine excellence shall prevail.” And so the thunder of God’s justice and the threatenings of God’s law were sounded out continually because men were on so low a plane that they needed just that development of the Divine nature. But that has given a disproportionate idea of God’s character. Men have been taught that He is the implacable thunderer. Another reason is that it is easier for us to thunder than it is to love. But it was not until the sun rose at the Advent that there came a morning outburst that gave us sight, not of the administration of God’s government among men, but of the heart of God Himself in Jesus Christ. There we see the inside of God; and what was that? If Calvary does not teach it, if His walk among the poor and needy does not teach it, if all the acts of mercy do not inspire you with the knowledge, if you need it shaped into a doctrine, then hear it here. He represents that the inner nature of God, as represented by Jesus Christ acting in place of the high priest, was one that could “have compassion on the ignorant and on those that are out of the way”--all error, all stumbling, all sin, all violation of the ideal of duty. The infinite bounty of Divine love is not savage nor partial, it is universal, it is intense beyond description. What is infinite? That beyond which the thought of man cannot go; that that has, to our thought, no boundary, extent beyond ending. What is infinite compassion? That that would wrap this globe round and round a thousand times, like the folds of a garment round the body, with Divine thoughtfulness, Divine mercy, Divine love. What is infinite love? What is a mother’s love? The purest and tenderest thing that is known on earth is the overhanging heart of a mother upon the cradle that has in it that little nothing which we call a babe, that can give nothing back, that receives everything arid returns nothing. Yet the love of the mother is but one drop of the ocean as compared with the love of the great Father of mankind--infinite, infinite! (H. W. Beecher.)
Compassion on the ignorant
I. COMPASSION AND FORBEARANCE ARE TWO THINGS WHICH ANY MAN WHO WOULD DO GOOD TO HIS FELLOW-MEN OUGHT TO POSSESS TO A VERY LARGE DEGREE.
1. You will have plenty of use for all the compassion and all the tenderness that you can possibly command, for this will help to draw around you those who are ignorant and out of the way. Love is the queen bee, and where she is you will rind the centre of the hive.
2. By this same spell you will hold those whom you gather, for men will not long remain with an unloving leader, even little children in our classes will not long listen to an unsympathetic teacher. The earth is held together by the force of attraction, and to the men upon it that same power is exercised by love and compassion.
3. Compassion in your heart will be greatly useful in moving sinners to care for themselves. Mr. Knill at one time was distributing tracts at Chester, and went out where there was a company of soldiers. Many received the tracts, but one man tore the little book in pieces before the good man’s eyes; and on another occasion the same individual said to the soldiers, “Now make a ring round him.” The men stood round the preacher, and then the wicked fellow cursed him in such a frightful manner that Mr. Knill burst into tears to hear such awful sounds. The sight of Knill’s tears broke the heart of the blasphemer: nothing else could have touched him, but he could not bear to see a strong man who was at least his equal, and, probably, his superior, weeping over him. Years after he came forward to own that the tender emotion displayed by Mr. Knill had touched his inmost soul, and led him to repentance.
4. You want great compassion to insure your own perseverance, for if you do not love the children of your class, if you do not love the people whom you try to benefit as you go from house to house, if you have no compassion on the dying sinners around you, you will soon give up your mission, or go about it in a merely formal manner.
5. Compassion of heart can alone teach you how to speak to others.
6. Now, there are many reasons why we should have a great deal of compassion and forbearance. Think what patience God had with you, all those years before your conversion, and multitudes of times since; and if He has had patience with your, should not you have patience with your fellow sinner even to the end? There is one reflection which may help you. Remember that these poor souls who sin as they do should be looked upon by you as persons who are deranged, for sin is madness. And do recollect this--if you do not have compassion you cannot do them good. If you become weary of them, and speak sharply, you cannot bless them; and, perhaps, if you are not the means of blessing them, nobody else may be. Ah, is it your own husband? Wife, win him. Do not drive him from bad to worse by scolding. Sister, is it your brother? Woo him and win him to Christ. Do not vex him by becoming acid and sour.
II. COMPASSION AND FORBEARANCE PRE-EMINENTLY DWELL IN JESUS CHRIST.
1. He has compassion on the ignorant. Very many persons are wilfully ignorant of Christ. Is not this enough to move the Lord to anger? And yet His patience continues. Come to Him just as you are and confess your wilful blindness, and He will put it away, and enable you to understand the things which make for your peace. Stone are ignorant, however, because they have been cast where they could not well know; they were born in an ungodly family, or, what is much the same, among those who have only a mere formal religion. They do not know the truth, but they can scarcely be blamed for it. Well, Christ is able to teach you. Come and sit at His feet, for He will have compassion on your ignorance.
2. He will have compassion upon those that are out of the way. Who are these people? Some are out of the way because they never were in it and never knew it. Many are in a very emphatic sense out-of-the-way sinners.. They have gone to such extravagances that they are out of the way of common morality, and quite startle their careless comrades. Well, my Lord Jesus will have compassion on you out-of-the-way sinners. However far you have gone, only turn to Him, for pardon is freely published. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The human sympathies of Christianity
Every religion professes to reveal to us the supernatural; every philosophy professes to teach u, moral duty; but Christianity alone has, together with these, approached man with tender and helpful sympathy. Even Judaism did not. Assuredly infidelity does not; it may be very philosophical, it may inculcate a very pretentious morality, but it has no tenderness and sympathy; it has nothing like the Christian ideas of human brotherhood, and Divine Fatherhood. And yet, is not this precisely what we need? Not stern injunctions to be good, but sympathy and help in trying to be good. What is it, think you, that makes your destitute neighbour, who lives in a garret, and dines upon a crust, and shivers in the cold, and writhes in his pain, talk calmly of his condition, uttering no word of complaint, looking rather at the alleviations of his sorrow, than at his sorrow itself; speaking of mercies even where you can hardly discover them. Is it religious cant, think you? If it be, this cant is a very wonderful thing. It can do what nothing else save Christianity can do: it can make a suffering and poverty-stricken man patient through long weary years. What is it, again, that enables the tradesman when misfortune comes upon him, or the husband, when the mother of his children is smitten down, and his house is darkened, to kneel down before God with a breaking heart, and to rise up calm and comforted; what is it, but this very Christianity teaching him, not only that his sins are forgiven, but that God, even while he lives on earth, is his Heavenly Father; watching over his life, and appointing every experience of it, solely intent upon doing him the greatest possible good? Let us look a little, then, at these human sympathies of Christ and Christianity. You will see from the chapter that the apostle is speaking of the necessary qualifications of a high priest; and he says that one of these is, that he should be full of human sympathies--“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” And these requisites, he goes on to say, are very eminently found in Christ. Here, then, we encounter “the great mystery of godliness,” the great fundamental fact of Christianity, upon which all its cardinal doctrines rest, that “God was manifest in the flesh”; that He was essentially Divine, became also properly human--the “Emmanuel, God with us.” I call this the most wonderful, the most practical, and the most powerful thought that the world has ever conceived. Why did He become Incarnate? The general answer is--that by “compassing Himself with infirmity He might have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” Let me show you this in three things. We are ignorant of God’s righteousness, and out of the way through our guilt. We are ignorant of God’s holiness, and out of the way through our sinfulness. We are ignorant of God’s happiness, and out of the way through our misery. And to have compassion on us in each of these respects, Christ became incarnate--compassed Himself with infirmities; for our pardon, for our purity, and for our peace. And these are our three great human necessities.
1. First, the apostle tells that He became incarnate to procure our pardon. “He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death”--that He might be capable, that is, of suffering death. A wonderful thought that--the express purpose for which the Divine Son took our nature was that He might die for us! “Herein is love.” “In this the love of God is manifested.” Other persons come into the world to live; Jesus Christ came into the world to die. In the very midst of His transfiguration glory “He spake of the decease which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem.” In the very midst of His resurrection triumph, He told His disciples that “thus it was written, and thus it behoved Him to suffer.” And so perfectly were they filled with the idea of His death, that they described themselves as preachers, not of Christ’s teaching, although He “spake as never man spake” not of Christ’s life, although He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners”--but of Christ’s death: “We preach Christ crucified.” And why this strange and exclusive theme of preaching? Plato’s disciples preach his doctrine--Moses’ followers preached his laws. Why do Christian preachers preach only Christ’s death?--glory in a cross? Why, just because we are “ignorant and cut of the way,” and this Cross precisely meets our first great need as transgressors; it is Christ’s first great proof of redeeming compassion, the first great reason for which He compassed Himself with human infirmity that He might have compassion upon our guilt. It was not merely that He humbled Himself, but that He humbled Himself m this manner, did for us by taking our nature what He could not have done in any other way, and laid down His life for us.
2. And then Christ, as our merciful High Priest, has compassion upon us in our impurity, and takes upon Him our nature that He may set us an example of holiness. Here is a second great reason for His being “compassed with infirmities”--a man like ourselves. He shows us how pure and perfect, and obedient, and patient human life may be. “He learned obedience by the things that He suffered.” “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He did not permit either temptation or suffering to sway Him in His obedience: He would fast in the wilderness rather than sin, He would endure the bitter anguish of Gethsemane rather than oppose His Father’s will. And having such experience of duty and temptation and suffering, He learned how arduous human virtue is--how much grace and strength it requires. Do you not see, then, how great and precious a purpose of His incarnation this is, to set us a perfect human example? He does not enjoin holiness merely, or describe it in a book--He embodies it in His life; He comes into our sinful world and homes, not as a holy God, but a holy Man; so that if we would be holy, we have only to “consider Him,” to “walk even as He walked,” to “follow His steps.” We learn duty from His obedience; love from His tenderness. We clasp His hand, we walk by His side, we witness His life, the beautiful and perfect exhibition in Him of the moral possibilities of a sanctified manhood.
3. He can have compassion upon us in our sorrows. And for this again He was “compassed with infirmities.” It is not without deep significance that He is called “the Man of sorrows,” and said to be “acquainted with grief,” as if grief were His familiar acquaintance. Emphatically is He “the Man Christ Jesus,” “bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh”; “both He that sanctifieth and they that are satisfied are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” In all His earthly experience of duty, and temptation and sorrow He is never less, He is never more than a proper Man, “A Brother born for the day of adversity.” Oh! how wonderful this is, and yet how precious, that He “the Creator of the ends of the earth, who fainteth not neither is weary,” should incarnate Himself in the weakness of a little child and in the woes of a sorrowful man! And yet this is precisely what we needed; it is an assurance that comes home to our deepest hearts. Do you not often feel the unspeakable worth of a friend who understands your trials and difficulties and sorrows, who can lovingly enter into all your experiences, and give you counsel and sympathy? Then must it not be infinitely more precious to go to One, who, while on the human side of His nature He can thus be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because in all points tempted as we are,” is also on the Divine side Almighty to help, and loving to pity? (H. Allon, D. D.)
Our compassionate High Priest
Often, when we are trying to do good to others, we get more good ourselves. When I was here one day this week, seeing friends who came to join the church, there came among the rest a very diffident, tenderhearted woman, who said many sweet things to me about her Lord, though she did not think that they were any good, I know. She was afraid that I should not have patience with her and her poor talk; but she said one thing which I specially remember: “I have to-day put four things together, from which I have derived a great deal of comfort,” she told me. “And what are they, my sister?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “they are those four classes--‘the unthankful and the evil, the ignorant and those that are out of the way.’ Jesus ‘is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil,’ and ‘He can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way,’ and I think that I can get in through those four descriptions. Though I am a great sinner, I believe that He will be kind to me, and have compassion upon me.” I stored that up; for I thought that one of these days I might want it myself; I tell it to you, for if you do not want it now, you may need it one of these days; you may yet have to think that you have been unthankful and evil, ignorant and out of the way, and it will give you comfort to remember that our Lord Jesus is kind to the unthankful and to the evil, and that He “can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.”
I. THE SORT OF SINNERS FOR WHOM OUR HIGH PRIEST IS CONCERNED.
1. The people who claim Christ’s aid are generally those who have a very low opinion of themselves. The proud and self-satisfied cannot know His love; but the poor and distressed may ever find in Him comfort and joy, because of His nature, and by means of His intercession.
2. As with the high priest of old, amongst those who come to our High Priest are many whose fear and distress arise from ignorance.
(1) There is a universal ignorance. As compared with the light of God, we are in the dim twilight. He that seeth best only seeth men as trees walking.
(2) But, in addition to the ignorance that is universal, there is also a comparative ignorance on the part of some; and because of this the compassion of Christ flows forth to them. There are, first, the recent converts--young people whose years are few, and who probably think that they know more than they do; but who, if they are wise, will recognise that their senses have not been fully exercised to discern between good and evil. Others there are who are ignorant because of their little opportunity of getting instruction. Upon these our great High Priest has compassion, and often with their slight knowledge they show more of the fruits of the Spirit than some of us produce even with our inure abundant light. There are many that are of a very feeble mind. They could never explain how they were saved; but they are saved.
(3) There is also a sinful ignorance. Now comes another description of the sort of sinners for whom our High Priest is concerned. There are many whose fears arise from being out of the way. The Lord “can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.” I remember that, when I felt myself to be a very great sinner, these words were very, very much blessed to me. I read them, “and on them that are out of the way”; and I knew that I was an out-of-the-way sinner. I was then, and I am afraid that I am now, somewhat like a lot out of the catalogue, an odd person who must go by himself. Very well; our High Priest can have compassion on those that are odd, and on those that are out of the way, on those who do not seem to be in the common run of people, but who must be dealt with individually, and by themselves. He can have compassion upon such.
But now let us look at the more exact meaning of the text.
(1) To be out of the way is, in the case of all men, their natural state.
(2) In addition to that, men have gone out of their way by their own personal folly. We had enough original sin; but we have added to that another kind of originality in evil.
(3) Some are out of the way because of their seduction from the way by others. False teachers have taught them, and they have taken up with the error brought before them by a stronger mind than their own. In some cases persons of evil life have had a fascination over them.
(4) Many are out of the way because of their backslidings after grace has come to them.
(5) Others are out of the way because of their consciousness of special sin. Come to this compassionate High Priest, and trust your ease in His hands; they were pierced because of your sin.
II. THE SORT OF HIGH PRIEST WITH WHOM SINNERS HAVE TO DEAL.
1. He is One who can bear with ignorance, forgetfulness, and provocation.
2. He is One who can feel for grief, because He has felt the same.
3. He is One who lays Himself out tenderly to help such as come to Him.
4. He is One who never repelled a single person.
III. Now, I want to speak to those of you who are the people of God. I want to remind you that there may be a blessing even in your weakness; and that this may be the more clearly seen we will look, in the third place, at the SORT OF INFIRMITY WHICH MAY BE SANCTIFIED AND MADE USEFUL. The high priest of old was compassed with infirmities, and this was part of his qualification. “Yes,” says one, “but he was compassed with sinful infirmities; but our Lord Jesus had no sin.” That is quite true, but remember that this does not make Christ less tender, but more so. Anything that is sinful hardens; and inasmuch as He was without sin, He was without the hardening influence that sin would bring to bear upon a man. He was all the more tender when compassed with infirmities, because sin was excluded from the list. We will not, then, reckon sin in any form as an infirmity likely to be turned to a great use, even though the grace of God abounds over the sin; but let me speak to some of you who wish to do good, and set forth some of the things which were sore to bear at the time, and yet have been rich in blessing since.
1. First think of our struggles in finding mercy. If you have not had a certain experience, you cannot so well help others who have; but if you were compassed with infirmity at your first coming to Christ, you may use that in helping others to come to Him.
2. Again, our grievous temptations may be infirmities which shall be largely used in our service. You cannot be unto others a helper unless you have been compassed with infirmities. Therefore accept the temptations which trouble you so much, as a part of your education to make you useful to others.
3. Our sickness may turn out to be in the same category.
4. Our trials, too, may thus be sanctified.
5. Our depressions may also tend to our fruitfulness. A heart bowed down with despair is a dreadful thing. “A wounded spirit who can bear?” But if you have never had such an experience you will not be worth a pin as a preacher. You cannot help others who are depressed unless you have been down in the depths yourself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The compassionate High Priest
I. COMPASSION AND FORBEARANCE, WITH MEEKNESS, IN THOSE FROM WHOM WE EXPECT HELP AND RELIEF, IS THE GREAT MOTIVE AND ENCOURAGEMENT UNTO FAITH, AFFIANCE, AND EXPECTATION OF THEM.
II. We live, THE LIFE OF OUR SOULS IS PRINCIPALLY MAINTAINED, UPON THIS COMPASSIONATENESS OF OUR HIGH PRIEST; namely, that He is able to bear with us in our provocations, and to pity us in our weaknesses and distresses. To this purpose is the promise concerning Him (Isaiah 40:11). There are three things that are apt to give great provocations unto them that are concerned in us.
1. Frequency in offending.
2. Greatness of offences.
3. Instability in promises and engagements.
These are things apt to give provocations, beyond what ordinary moderation and meekness can bear withal; especially where they are accompanied with a disregard of the greatest love and kindness. And all these are found in believers, some in one, and some in another, and some in all.
III. Though every sin hath in it the whole nature of sin, rendering the sinners obnoxious unto the curse of the law; yet as there are several kinds of sins, so THERE ARE SEVERAL DEGREES OF SIN, some being accompanied with a greater guilt than others.
1. There is a distinction of sins with respect unto the persons that commit them. But this distinction ariseth from the event, and not from the nature of the sin itself intended. Regenerate persons will, through the grace of God, certainly use the means of faith and repentance for the obtaining of pardon, which the other will not; and if they are assisted also so to do, even they in like manner shall obtain forgiveness. No man therefore can take a relief against the guilt of sin from his state and condition, which may be an aggravation, and can be no alleviation of it.
2. There are degrees of sin amongst men unregenerate, who live in a course of sin all their days. All do not sin equally, nor shall all be equally punished.
3. In the sins of believers there are different degrees, both in divers, and in the same persons. And although they shall be all pardoned, yet have they different effects; with respect
(1) Unto peace of conscience.
(2) Sense of the love of God.
(3) Growth in grace and holiness.
(4) Usefulness or scandal in the Church or the world.
(5) Temporal afflictions.
(6) A quiet or troublesome departure out of this world; but in all, a reserve is still to be made for the sovereignty of God and His grace.
IV. OUR IGNORANCE IS BOTH OUR CALAMITY, OUR SIN, AND AN OCCASION OF MANY SINS UNTO US.
V. SIN IS A WANDERING FROM THE WAY.
VI. NO SORT OF SINNERS ARE EXCLUDED FROM AN INTEREST IN THE CARE AND LOVE OF OUR COMPASSIONATE HIGH PRIEST, BUT ONLY THOSE WHO EXCLUDE THEMSELVES BY THEIR UNBELIEF.
VII. IT WAS WELL FOR US, AND ENOUGH FOR US, THAT THE LORD CHRIST WAS ENCOMPASSED WITH THE SINLESS INFIRMITIES OF OUR NATURE.
VIII. GOD CAN TEACH A SANCTIFIED USE OF SINFUL INFIRMITIES, AS HE DID IN AND TO THE PRIESTS UNDER THE LAW. (John Owen, D. D.)
Tenderness
Our relation to the things under us is the most certain touchstone of our character. Here we display quite freely what we are. We embody, on a small scale, as it may be, the spirit of fathers or the spirit of despot. We employ our superiority of power, whatever it is, either to bring to a clearer light the signs of God’s counsel in external nature which wait for our interpretation, or to assert ourselves in the impotence of caprice as able to preserve, or to deface, or to destroy that which it., indeed, God’s work. We either use that which is at our disposal arbitrarily for our own pleasure, or we deal with it as representing some fragment of a complicated order of life. We depress our dependents and our subordinates, the weaker men who come within our influence, that we may be isolated in the splendour of a lonely tyranny, or we strive to lift them little by little towards our own level, that in the great day of revelation we may be seen standing by the throne in the midst of many brethren; for, when we speak of the things under us, we must give to the phrase a much larger meaning than we commonly attach to it. It reaches far beyond the men who are under us. The revelation which has been made to us of the Divine plan of creation shows that we are placed in a world over the whole of which we have to exercise dominion, charged, as the true ruler must be charged, with a responsibility towards every part of it. We have from the first a responsibility towards the material fabric of the world, no less than towards the hosts of sentient beings by which this material fabric is peopled. And then, as the ages go forward, our responsibility increases. The feebler races which fall behind in the development of life become subject to the stronger, and the feebler men to those who in any respect have been endowed with the prerogative of command. Thus the sphere of the responsibility of those to whom power is given becomes indefinitely varied, but in each case the position of authority brings with it the burden of noble cares. We all must and do exercise dominion for good or for evil, and we all need the spirit of tenderness that our dominion may he a blessing. Tenderness is for dominion what sympathy is for fellowship. Tenderness pierces through the surface to the heart of things. It is true of tenderness, in every application of the pregnant figure, that it “will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax.” It discerns the element of strength in that which is most frail, and the element of life in that which is darkest. It sees in forms transitory and common Divine gifts to be handled reverently. It sees in simple and subject types of life memories, as it were, the promises of a great plan slowly fulfilled from stage to stage. It sees in the rudest human mind a mirror for reflecting, however imperfectly, the image of a Father in heaven; and, as we trust the varied vision, new thoughts pass into our own souls, and we become conscious of hidden forces about us which are able to still the sorrowful impatience of our eager desires. Tenderness in each direction quickens our spiritual sensibility, and under inspired teaching, nature and creaturely life and even man’s failures disclose mysteries of hope. It springs out of our Christian faith. It is the obvious expression of our Christian faith in regard to the things under us. There is, I say, a tenderness towards material things which belongs to the Christian character. And this tenderness, born from the recognition of God in His creatures, shows itself both in use and in contemplation. There is something of touching solemnity in the form of the Jewish thanksgiving over bread and wine, which may go back even to the apostolic age, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe.” The words remind us that the least and commonest comes from Him who sways the whole. He Himself is seen in His gifts, and in that presence there can be no wastefulness, no carelessness, no ungrateful discontent. Even light and food may be dishonoured by reckless indifference; and we may miss, by blind prodigality, the teachings which come through trivial acts to tender souls. It is, perhaps, yet more obvious how tenderness finds a place in the contemplation of material things. To the hard and the impatient there is no sanctity in the purple mountain-side, no beauty born of murmuring sounds, no majesty in the light of setting suns. The silence that is in the starry sky, the sleep that is among the lonely hills, have for them no particular message; but, none the less, sanctity, beauty, majesty, tidings of great truths are there, and the quiet eye can gather the spiritual harvest. Thus we can see how tenderness has its scope and blessing in mute, insensate things; but perhaps it is most called for in our dealings with animals. These lie in our power in a peculiar sense, and-we need to school ourselves that we may fulfil our duty towards them, for we have a duty towards them. They are not only for our service or for our amusement, they are committed by God to our sovereignty, and we owe to them a considerate regard for their rights. Our responsibility in this respect is easily forgotten. We have all felt, I fancy, something of that irrational pleasure in the capricious use of power which Browning has analysed in his portraiture of Caliban. The boy strikes down the butterfly, the man shoots the swallow on the wing, simply because he can and because he chooses. But these wanton acts are not indifferent. They tend to reveal and to mould character. They break the righteous conditions of our sovereignty. The thought has a wide and a pleasant application, for, looking at the question from this light, I do not see bow the pursuit of amusement can justify the slaughter of animals, or how the pursuit of knowledge can justify their torture. Neither amusement nor knowledge is an end for man. Both must be followed in full view of the supreme aim of life, and in remembrance of the abiding character on which each action leaves its mark. But it may be said we shall gain an insight into the hidden causes of disease, and a mastery over them, through the sufferings which we deliberately inflict on the creatures which are within our control. So far as I can ascertain, the expectation has not been justified by facts, nor can I discover the least reasonable ground for supposing that we shall learn any secrets of life which it is good for us to know by the way of calculated cruelty. If the world were the work of an evil power, or if it were the result of a chance interaction of force and matter, it would be at least possible that we might have gained results physically beneficial to ourselves by the unsparing sacrifice of lower lives. But if He who made us made all other creatures also--if they find a place in His providential plan--if His tender mercies reach to them--and this we Christians most certainly believe--then I find it absolutely inconceivable that He should have so arranged the avenues of knowledge that we can attain to truths it is His will that we should master only through the unutterable agonies of beings which trust in us. If we have guarded the spirit of tenderness in our bearing towards the material world and the animal world, we shall be prepared to apply it also towards weaker races and weaker men who are in a greater or less degree brought within our influence. Every one holds a position of superiority as parent or employer, as richer than others in experience or knowledge, as endowed with authority by years or position; and every one knows the daily vexations which come through the thoughtlessness, or ignorance, or indifference, as it seems to us, of those whom we wish to help in the fulfilment of their duty. Every one, again, has suffered from the temptation which bids the stronger assert his will by his strength, and overbear what he thinks to be an unintelligent opposition, and claim deference as an unquestionable right. At such times we are on our trial, and sympathetic tenderness alone will save us from falling; for tenderness will trace back the wayward act to some trait of natural character which gentle discipline can mould to good. It will discern that involuntary ignorance is to be dealt with as a form of intellectual distress. It will win respect before it claims deference for the authority with which it is entrusted. It will, in a word, turn stumbling-blocks into stepping-stones, and find, by them, the way into many hearts. But it is in dealing with the poorest that tenderness will help us most; and when I speak of the poorest, I mean those who are poorest in thought, in feeling, in aspiration even more than those who are poorest in earthly things. The poor man needs relief--the poor in virtue no less than the poor in money. The bankrupt in noble thoughts is set up again only when he sees the good for which he was made, and sees that it is still within his reach. This prospect tenderness can disclose to him--a tenderness which in view of the saddest spectacles of human failure, kindles in the believer a fire of piety, a light of natural affection, and reveals in the brother for whom Christ died the possibility and the hope of service; for tenderness, no less than reverence and sympathy, flows from Christ only as an inexhaustible source. (Bishop Westcott.)
Compassion qualifies for helpful service amongst men
The following beautiful tradition about Moses is handed down to posterity:--He led the flock of his father-in-law. One day while he was contemplating his flock in the desert, he saw a lamb leave the herd, and run further and further away. The tender shepherd not only followed it with his eyes, but went after it. The lamb quickened his step, hopped over hill, sprang over ditches, hastening through valley and plain; the shepherd unweariedly followed its track. At last the lamb stopped by a spring at which it eagerly quenched its thirst. Moses hastened to the spot, looked sadly at the drinking lamb, and said: “It was thirst, then, my poor beast, which tormented time, and drove thee from me, and I didn’t understand; now thou art faint and weary from the long, hard way, thy powers are exhausted; how then couldst thou return to thy comrades? “After the lamb had quenched his thirst and seemed undecided what course to take, Moses lifted it to his shoulder, and bending under the heavy burden, strode back to the flock. Then he heard the voice of God calling to him, sating: “Thou hast a tender heart for My creatures, thou art a kind, gentle shepherd to the flocks of man--thou art now called to feed the flocks of God.” (Jewish Messenger.)
Our Lord’s sympathy
Human sympathy, we must remember, may, and in many cases does, from its very fulness become weakness. The sympathy of a mother for a child will too often prevent her from inflicting necessary punishment. The sympathy of the benevolent for the poor and suffering may, without caution, tend to the encouragement of vice. Sympathy is essentially a woman’s virtue, but the quickness of feeling which overpowers judgment is also a woman’s infirmity. There is, in fact, no virtue which more powerfully demands law and limitation before it, can safely be yielded to. But the dignity of our blessed Lord’s sympathy is as remarkable as its depth. He sympathised with the shame of the sinner whom He pardoned, but He never excused the offence. “Thy sins are forgiven thee; go, and sin no more,” are the words which have touched the human heart, and worked repentance and amendment of life in thousands since the days when they were first spoken; but no one could ever claim them as an encouragement to sin. The dignity of our Lord’s sympathy was, in fact, shown by His obedience to the law which bade Him exhibit God’s perfection. He never allowed one virtue to interfere with another. Mercy and truth might meet together, righteousness and peace might kiss each other, but the one never entrenched upon the province of the other; if it had there would have been no perfection. And if we, like Christ, would rightly sympathise; if we would in our degree bear the griefs of our fellow-creatures, without any weakness of judgment or absence of due proportion, we must view those sorrows as Christ viewed them, and soothe them in His spirit. To relieve all anguish, to remove all pain, that is not to be our object. If it were, we might well in sorrow close our doors to the suffering, and, shutting out their misery from our view, give ourselves up to our own enjoyment. For sympathy is pain. When we feel with and for another, we must in a measure suffer; and, looking at the sad amount of wretchedness in this fallen world, we may, perhaps, at first sight be pardoned if we deem it better to be without sympathy--neither to require it for ourselves, nor to offer it to others. The loss on the one side may, we may well think, be counterbalanced by the gain on the other.
Compassion on the ignorant
Men who are ignorant should not be met with scorn, nor fault-finding, nor neglect, for they need compassion. We should lay ourselves out t,, bear with such for their good. A disciple who has been taught all that he knows by a gracious Saviour should have compassion on “the ignorant.” A wanderer who has been restored should have compassion on “them that are out of the way.” A priest should have compassion on the people with whom he is one flesh and blood, and assuredly our Lord, who is our great High Priest, has abundant compassion upon the ignorant.
I. WHAT IS THIS IGNORANCE? It is moral and spiritual, and deals with eternal things.
1. It is fearfully common among all ranks.
2. It leaves them strangers to themselves.
(1) They know not their own ignorance.
(2) They are unaware of the heart’s depravity.
(3) They ale unconscious of the heinousness of their actual sin.
(4) They dream not of their present and eternal danger.
(5) They have not discovered their inability for all that is good.
3. It leaves them unacquainted with the way of salvation.
(1) They choose other ways.
(2) They have a mixed and injurious notion of the one way.
(3) They often question and cavil at this one and only way.
4. It leaves them without the knowledge of Jesus. They know not His person, offices, work, character, ability, readiness to save.
5. It leaves them strangers to the Holy Spirit.
(1) They perceive not His inward strivings.
(2) They are ignorant of regeneration.
(3) They cannot comprehend the truth which He teaches.
(4) They cannot receive His sanctification.
6. It is most ruinous in its consequences.
(1) It keeps men out of Christ.
(2) It does not excuse them when it is wilful, as it usually is.
II. WHAT IS THERE IN THIS IGNORANCE WHICH IS LIABLE TO PROVOKE US, AND THEREFORE DEMANDS COMPASSION?
1. Its folly. Wisdom is worried with the absurdities of ignorance.
2. Its pride. Anger is excited by the vanity of self-conceit.
3. Its prejudice. It will not hear nor learn; and this is vexatious.
4. Its obstinacy. It refuses reason; and this is very exasperating.
5. Its opposition. It contends against plain truth; and this is trying.
6. Its density. It cannot be enlightened; it is profoundly foolish.
7. Its unbelief. Witnesses to Divine truth are denied credence.
8. Its wilfulness. It chooses not to know. It is hard teaching such.
9. Its relapses. It returns to folly, forgets and refuses wisdom, and this is a sore affliction to true love.
III. How OUR LORD’S COMPASSION TOWARDS THE IGNORANT IS SHOWN.
1. By offering to teach them.
2. By actually receiving them as disciples.
3. By instructing them little by little, most condescendingly.
4. By teaching them the same things over again, patiently.
5. By never despising them notwithstanding their dulness.
6. By never casting them off through weariness of their stupidity. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Ignorance
It is a sad thing for the blind man who has to read the raised type when the tips of his fingers harden, for then he cannot read the thoughts of men which stand out upon the page; but it is far worse to lose sensibility of soul, for then you cannot peruse the book of human nature, but must remain untaught in the sacred literature of the heart. You have heard of the “iron duke,” but an iron Christian would be a very terrible person: a heart of flesh is the gift of Divine grace, and one of its sure results is the power to be very pitiful, tender, and full of compassion. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Ignorance is the devil’s college. (Christmas Evans.)
The sin of ignorance
In that the ignorant are here brought in as an instance of such sinners as were to have sacrifices offered up for their sins, the apostle giveth us to understand, that ignorance is a sin. It is expressly said, “That if any soul sin through ignorance, he shall bring a sin-offering” Numbers 15:27-28).
1. Ignorance is a transgression of the law of God, for it is contrary to that knowledge which the law requireth: but every transgression is sin (1 John 3:4).
2. Ignorance is a defect of that image of God, after which God at first created man; for knowledge was a part of that image (Colossians 3:10).
3. Ignorance is an especial branch of that natural corruption which seized upon the principal part of man, namely, his understanding.
4. Ignorance is the cause of many other sins (Galatians 4:8; 1 Timothy 1:13). Therefore it must needs be a sin itself.
5. Judgments are denounced against ignorance, as against a sin (Ho 2 Thessalonians 1:8).
6. Ignorance is a punishment of other sins (Isaiah 6:10; John 12:40). Though ignorance be a sin, yet ignorant persons are here brought in as a fit object of compassion. Christ renders this ground of His praying for the Jews that had a hand in crucifying Him (Luke 23:34). And Peter allegeth it as a ground of His tendering mercy unto them (Acts 3:17). Ignorance is a spiritual blindness, so as they see not the dangerous course wherein they walk, and in that respect are the more to be pitied. (W. Gouge.)
Ignorance causes neglect of religion
It’s ignorance of the price of pearls that makes the idiot slight them. It’s ignorance of the worth of diamonds that makes the fool choose a pebble before them. It’s ignorance of the satisfaction learning affords that makes the peasant despise and laugh at it; and we very ordinarily see how men tread and trample on those plants which are the greatest restoratives, because they know not the virtue of them; and the same may justly be affirmed of religion, the reason why men meddle no more with it is--because they are not acquainted with the pleasantness of it. (Anthony Horneck.)
Ministers must remember the ignorant
When I preach I sink myself deep down. I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of whom are here in this church above forty; but I have an eye to the multitude of young people, children, and servants, of whom are more than two thousand. I preach to those, directing myself to them that have need thereof. Will not the rest hear me? The door stands open unto them; they may begone. (M. Luther.)
Offer for sins
The great sacrifice
I. THE ABSOLUTE HOLINESS AND SPOTLESS INNOCENCE OF THE LORD CHRIST, IN HIS OFFERING OF HIMSELF, HAD A SIGNAL INFLUENCE UNTO THE EFFICACY OF HIS SACRIFICE, AND IS A GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT UNTO OUR FAITH AND CONSOLATION. No other sort of high priest could have done what was to be done for us. Had He had any sin of His own He could never have taken all sin from us. From hence it was that what He did was so acceptable with God, and that what He suffered was justly imputed unto us, seeing there was no cause in Himself why He should suffer at all. And we may see herein
1. Pure unmixed love and grace. He had not the least concern in what He did or suffered herein for Himself. This was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich, for our sakes He became poor. And will He not pursue the same love unto the end?
2. The efficacy and merit of His oblation, that was animated by the life and quintessence of obedience. There was in it the highest sufferings, and the most absolute innocency, knit together by an act of most inexpressible obedience.
3. The perfection of the example that is set before us (1 Peter 2:21-22).
II. WHOSOEVER DEALETH WITH GOD OR MAN ABOUT THE SINS OF OTHERS, SHOULD LOOK WELL IN THE FIRST PLACE UNTO HIS OWN. There are four ways whereby some may act with respect unto the sins of others, and not one of them wherein they can discharge their duty aright, if in the same kind they take not care of themselves in the first place.
1. It is the duty of some to endeavour the conversion of others from a state of sin. How can they press that on others, which they neither know what it is, nor whether it be or not, any otherwise than as blind men know there are colours? By such persons are the souls of men ruined, who undertake the dispensation of the gospel unto them, for their conversion unto God, knowing nothing of it themselves.
2. It is our duty to keep those in whom we are concerned, as much as in us lieth, from sinning, or from actual sin. With what confidence, with what conscience can we endeavour this towards others, if we do not first take the highest care herein of ourselves?
3. To direct and assist others in the obtaining pardon for sin is also the duty of some. And this they may do two ways
(1) By directing them in their application unto God by Jesus Christ for grace and mercy.
(2) By earnest supplications with them and for them. And what will they do, what can they do, in these things sincerely for others, who make not use of them for themselves?
4. To administer consolation under sinning, or surprisals with sin, unto such as God would have to be comforted, is another duty of the like kind.
And how shall this be done by such as were never cast down for sin themselves, nor ever spiritually comforted of God?
III. No DIGNITY OF PERSON OR PLACE, NO DUTY, NO MERIT, CAN DELIVER SINNERS FROM STANDING IN NEED OF A SACRIFICE FOR SIN. THE HIGH PRIEST, BEING A SINNER, WAS TO OFFER HIMSELF.
IV. IT WAS A PART OF THE DARKNESS AND BONDAGE OF THE CHURCH UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT, THAT THEIR HIGH PRIESTS HAD NEED TO OFFER SACRIFICES FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN SINS. It is a relief to sinners that the word of reconciliation is administered unto them, and the sacrifice of Christ proposed, by men subject unto the like infirmities with themselves. For there is a testimony therein, how that they also may find acceptance with God, seeing He deals with them by those who are sinners also. But these are not the persons who procure the remission, or have made the atonement which they declare. Were it so, who could with any confidence acquiesce therein? But this is the holy way of God. Those who are sinners declare the atonement which was made by Him who had no sin. (John Owen, D. D.)