1.02. Messiah as Priest and King

    “And their Illustrious One”¹ (their Glorions One) “shall be of themselves, and their Ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me: for Who is this that pledged” (literally mixed up) “His heart to approach unto Me? Saith Jehovah.”—Jeremiah 30:21.

¹ The word is אַדִּיר֜וֹ (Adirow), which is third person singular of אָדר (’āḏar). From this comes doubtless αδρος in the Greek, which means great, rich, strong, and adorea in the Latin, which means glory, praise, renown, and probably also the English adore. There is a month in the Jewish calendar called אֲדָ֑ר (’^aḏār), which was perhaps so called from the fact that since it answers to March in the warm eastern countries, the earth is at that time clothed with glory and beauty. This word is several times used in the Hebrew Scriptures to describe the “might” (1 Samuel 4:8), the “excellence” (Psalms 8:1, Psalms 8:9), and “glory”, (Exodus 15:6; Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 33:21) of the God of Israel; and in Isaiah 42:21, this is the word (in Hiphil) which is used to describe the new glory which was to be thrown over the law on account of the Messiah’s perfect obedience to it. “It pleased Jehovah for His righteousness’ sake to magnify the law and make it honourable.” (וְיַאְדִּֽיר) The Targum renders אדירו “kings,” but it has no more reason for putting it in the plural than had the translators of the Authorised Version. The word משל it renders “Messiah,” showing that the ancient Jews viewed this passage as Messianic. Among Jewish commentators, even Kimchi interprets the passage of the “King Messiah.”

CHAPTER II.

MESSIAH AS PRIEST AND KING In the chapter whence this passage is taken, the Messiah is already introduced (Jeremiah 30:9) under the title David. whose seed according to the flesh He was to be (Jeremiah 23:5-6); and already we get a glimpse of His Divine character, for He claims equal allegiance and service with Jehovah; but when Jeremiah comes to the end of the prophecy which he was Divinely appointed to write down in a book (Jeremiah 30:2), he recurs to the Person on Whose glory he, in common with all the prophets, loved to dwell, and shows how the rays of blessing which are here promised to Israel emanate from Him Who is the source and cause of them all, and stops to note several aspects of His character, each of which is pregnant with blessing and consolation to Israel and to all those whose eyes have been opened to see the King in His beauty. THE ILLUSTRIOUS ONE

Jesus Christ is the central figure in the history of the universe, and wherever, and at whatever period, we cast our glance, He is the most prominent object among all which present themselves to our view. Nineteen centuries before His advent, Abraham, gazing into the future through the telescope of faith, beheld Him as the brightest star, whose rays not only gladdened his own heart (John 8:56), but were to rejoice the hearts of all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3).

Nearly two thousand years later the seer of Patmos, still gazing into the future, but from a more favourable point of observation, beheld this “bright and morning star” as the centre round Whom the ages revolve, in Whose light the favoured of all times and nations walk and shine, even after this heaven and earth have passed away (Revelation 21:1). Then, looking the other way, in the depths of the fathomless past, Paul saw Him as the One by Whom God made the worlds (Hebrews 1:1-2); and Solomon, who directed his vision to the time before creation, beholds Him still as the central figure in the bosom of the everlasting Father and exclaims, “Jehovah possessed Him in the beginning of His way before His work of old. He was poured out” (or begotten) “from everlasting, from the beginning before the earth was. When there were no depths He was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was He brought forth, while yet He had not made the earth nor the plains nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens He was there, when He fixed a circle to the face of the deep. When He established the clouds above; when He strengthened the fountains of the deep; when He gave to the sea His decree that the waters should not pass His commandment; when He appointed the foundations of the earth. Then was He by Him as One brought up with Him; and He was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him!” A modern historian, not gifted with inspiration, who with his keen eye also pierces through the past, but the more immediate past compared with that to which Solomon directed his gaze, still does not fail to behold Jesus of Nazareth as the most glorious Person of all who come within the compass of his vision and exclaims, “The great and central event in all history is the death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The centuries circle round the cross. Hundreds of stately figures—some in dazzling lustre, some in deepest gloom—crowd upon our gaze as the story of the world unrolls before us; but infinitely nobler than the grandest of those is the pale form of Jesus hanging on the rough and reddened wood at Calvary—dead, but victorious even in dying—stronger in that marble sleep than the mightiest of the world’s living actors, or than all the marshalled hosts of sin and death. Not the greatest sight only, but the strongest ever seen; for there, at the foot of the cross, lie Death, slain with his own dart, and Hell, vanquished at his very gate. All that have ever lived, all now living, all who shall come after us till time shall be no more, must feel the power of the cross!”² Group Jesus with Moses, Buddhah, Confucius, Mohammed, and all the distinguished of all ages; and who is the brightest star in that constellation? Why, it is Jesus, from Whom proceed the brightest rays which diffuse love, light, life, peace, and joy in the midst of misery-stricken humanity. Nor does the lustre of His name fade with time, but is “as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day;” ever increasing, until that light, which only at first appeared as rays of starlight (Numbers 24:17), shall be transformed to the gaze of a regenerate and God-fearing world into the rays of a Sun—“the Sun of righteousness,” Who shall arise with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2). “His name shall endure for ever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed.”

² W. F. Collier’s “Great Events of History.” THE RULER. This is the second title Jeremiah gives the Messiah in our text. This word מֹֽשְׁל (Mowshel), translated in the Authorised Version “Governor,” and which I have rendered “Ruler,” is frequently used to describe one into whose hands the reins of government have been entrusted by someone else, either as a token of special favour or from a conviction that the person thus honoured is best fitted to manage affairs. Thus Pharaoh made Joseph מֹֽשְׁל (Mowshel = ruler) of all his substance (Psalms 105:21; see also Genesis 45:8). That this is a title of the Messiah is clear also from another and undisputed Messianic prophecy in Micah, where the prophet applies this very name to Him Who was to be born in Bethlehem Ephratah and was to be appointed by Jehovah Ruler in Israel (Micah 5:2). Now what does this title applied to the Messiah imply? Why, that God made Him “Lord over all His house and Ruler of all His possessions”—that He hath given to Him “the key of David, so that He can open and no man shut, and shut and no man open!” Especially is this the case with everything that concerns the salvation of our souls. Having mentioned Joseph as a type in this respect of the Messiah, I recollect that the bread, the means to keep the people from physical death, was more especially in his keeping; so the “bread of heaven,” the only means to prevent spiritual and eternal death, is in the sole keeping of the crucified Jesus—the greater than Joseph. There seems to have been some amount of prejudice against Joseph on the part of some of the Egyptians, for, when they were famished, instead of going direct to him in whose hands they knew the corn was, they went and “cried to Pharaoh for bread, but Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph, and what he saith unto you, do” (Genesis 41:55). So there are many now who when they feel the pangs of soul-hunger either ignore or deny that God hath exalted Jesus Christ to be the Prince and Saviour, to dispense repentance and the forgiveness of sins to Israel and unto all nations; and desire to approach God by any way whatever except by the only one which He has Himself appointed; but God says, “No one cometh unto Me but by Christ” (John 14:6); “He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6); “I am only able to save unto the uttermost all those who come unto Me by Him” (Hebrews 7:25).

“Jesus is the Mowshel; into His hands I have committed all things; and surely you may learn this lesson, that, since I, the infinitely wise God, have entrusted all things to His hands, you cannot do better than entrust your affairs, especially the affairs of your soul, to Him.”

Now, I want to compare again our text with Micah 5:2, where the same title is applied to the Messiah; and His twofold nature—the human and the Divine—will be easily seen. In our text it says, “Their Ruler shall proceed from the midst of them,” but in Micah it says, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth are from of old, even from the days of eternity.” That these two passages speak of the same Person there is no doubt, and yet one says that He proceeds from the midst of Israel and Palestine, and the other says, “Yes; He is born in Bethlehem Ephratah, but His goings forth are from the days of eternity!” This is easy enough to understand if we remember and believe what the Scriptures teach us with regard to Messiah’s character—that He is Emmanuel, God in the fulness of time manifested in the flesh—the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, Who spoke from the beginning, before the time that anything was, but Who, at the appointed time, was “sent” by “the Lord God and His Spirit” (Isaiah 48:16); but what explanation can Judaism or Unitarianism give of it? But now let us for a moment direct our gaze to another aspect of Messiah, and consider Him as the GREAT HIGH-PRIEST, Who for us drew near to God in the attitude of Representative and Intercessor; for this is how the Spirit of God represents Him to us in the latter part of the passage we are considering, the words used³ being exactly the same as those describing the attitude of the priests “drawing nigh” to God to minister on behalf of the people (Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 21:17, etc.).

³ קָרַב and נָגַשׁ At first sight it may seem a difficulty to understand how the regal and priestly functions could be vested in the same person, for the Lord Messiah was, according to the flesh, to spring out of Judah, “of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood;” but it is clear if we remember that the Messiah was to be the second Adam to the human race—the great Patriarch Who was to resume the privileges enjoyed by the patriarchs before the introduction of the law, and act for His own family, not only as Head and Leader, but also as Priest. In the person of Christ, especially in His official capacity as Priest, all tribal and national distinctions are lost. He is not only the Seed of David and King of Israel, but also the Son of man—Chief and Father of all His redeemed family. Anyhow it is distinctly prophesied of Him that “He shall be a Priest upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both” (Zechariah 6:13); and again in Psalms 110:1-7, He that is to “rule in the midst of His enemies” (Psalms 110:2) is spoken of in this wise, “Jehovah hath c, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek!” (Psalms 110:4) The fact that Messiah so unites different functions in His person does but prove His more than human character.

I do not wish to dwell long on this point here, as I have elsewhere spoken of Christ in His capacity of Priest; but I merely point out briefly the relation of sacrifice and priest and the special Order of Christ’s priesthood.

How unscriptural and inconsistent therefore are the ideas of those people who, while they admit that in this dispensation “there remaineth no more sacrifice” on account of the fulfilment all have received in Christ, still hold to a system of priesthood, as if it had not received a fulfilment in Christ too, so that there remaineth no more priest as well as no more sacrifice!

“Who is this,” asks the Almighty, “that engageth His heart to approach unto Me?” For mere man, except the children of Aaron, who ministered by Divine commission in the Temple at Jerusalem, it is sacrilege and presumption to set himself up as priest and approach God as mediator; but there is One Who is qualified to do so on account of being God—man—Divine as well as human; and being unique in this respect, He calls forth the admiration of Jehovah. Then, too, He can be called a Priest, because He had a sacrifice to offer—the body which God hath prepared Him (Psalms 40:6; Hebrews 10:5).⁴

⁴ There is, indeed, a priesthood in the New Testament, but the dignity is the common possession of all Christians. ‘An holy priesthood.’ For the worship and ceremonies of the Jewish Church were all shadows of Jesus Christ, and have their accomplishment in Him, not only after a singular manner in His own person, but in a derived way in His mystical body, His Church. The priesthood of the law represented Him as the great High-priest, Who ‘offered up Himself for our sins,’ and that is a priesthood altogether incommunicable; neither is there any peculiar office of priesthood for offering sacrifice in the Christian Church but His alone Who is Head of it. But this dignity that is here mentioned of a ‘spiritual priesthood’ offering up ‘spiritual sacrifices’ is common to all those who are in Christ. As they are living stones built on Him into a spiritual temple, so they are priests of that same temple made by Him (Revelation 1:6). As He was, in a transcendent manner, temple and Priest and sacrifice, so, in their kind, are Christians all these three through Him; and by His Spirit that is in them their offerings through Him are made acceptable. . . . “Whereas the dignity of their priesthood” (the Levitical) “staid in a few persons, all those who believe are now this dignified to be priests unto God the Father. And this was signified by the rending of the veil of the Temple at His death, not only that those ceremonies and sacrifices were to cease, as being all fulfilled in Him, but that the people of God, who were before by that veil held out in the outer court, were to be admitted into the holy place as being all of them priests, and fitted to offer sacrifices. . . . There is here the service of this office, namely, ‘to offer.’ There is no priesthood without sacrifice, for these terms are correlative, and offering sacrifices was the chief employment of the legal priests. Now, because the priesthood here spoken of is altogether spiritual, therefore the sacrifices must be so too, as the apostle here expresses it.”—ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON’S note on 1 Peter 2:5.

His priesthood is not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek, the superiority of which over the former is seen in the fact that Melchizedek received tithes from, and blessed the Aaronic “in Abraham” (Hebrews 7:4, Hebrews 7:10); “and without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.” The main points of difference between the two systems, which differences, indeed, are the special characteristics of the two covenants to which they variously belong, as is shown in Hebrews 7:1 &c., are these:—

The priesthood of Christ now does not therefore, like the Aaronic priesthood, consist in the offering of sacrifices for sins, there being no more necessity for it; but like Melchizedek, who received from Abraham, as God’s representative, offerings of his services, so Christ receives from His people the offering of their services, which, together with their praises and prayers, He offers up mixed with His own merits and intercessions. It is true that to His own family He is now the Mediator, Who, in case of estrangement through sin, makes reconciliation, but He does so on the ground of the blood once shed on Calvary, and not by repetition of sacrifice.

Like Melchisedek, too (Genesis 14:18-19), our great High-priest comes out from time to time to meet us with bread and wine, by which He reminds us that not only was He the Lamb of sacrifice, by becoming which He satisfied the demands of a just God; but that He is also the Lamb of food, and that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we too shall be satisfied (John 7:48-58).

Now I would conclude the exposition of our text by remarking on the special manner in which it describes the Messiah as identified with His people in the presence of God. “Who is this that has mixed up His heart to approach unto Me, saith Jehovah?”⁵ We know that for anyone to mix himself up in anything is to identify himself with it, and with whom but man could Messiah thus mix Himself up? Have not His delights always been with the children of men? Yes, He has—blessed be His name!—mixed Himself up with our nature and all its infirmities by becoming man; He has mixed Himself up with our sins by becoming Surety for us and answering for us the demands of Divine justice; He has mixed Himself up with all the trials and temptations incident to our pilgrimage through this moral wilderness on our way to the glory in His own presence, so that He may mercifully “be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,” and be ready to grant us grace and help in every time of need. He has also mixed Himself up in our sorrows and afflictions, so that “in all our afflictions He is afflicted” and Himself “carries our sorrows” and bears our burdens; and now in the heavenly sanctuary, in the immediate presence of Jehovah, in a far more glorious sense than Aaron, in the earthly sanctuary, represented Israel, by bearing their names on his breast (Exodus 28:12, Exodus 28:29; Exodus 39:6-7), does our glorious great High-priest represent us. Our names are not on His heart, but in His heart, and the oneness of Christ with His people is not merely a legal oneness, as that between Aaron and Israel, but also a vital union. Oh thought full of Divine comfort! In every state in which as followers of His we can possibly be found—in life or death, in prosperity or adversity, in health or sickness, in joy or sorrow—even in circumstances in which the dearest and nearest of our earthly relations can be no partakers with us, Jesus, the blessed and exalted great High-priest, has for ever mixed up His heart with ours! And note, it is His heart that He has thus mixed up with us, thus implying that He did it willingly.

⁵ A similar exclamation of surprise and admiration with regard to the person of the Messiah is to be found in Isaiah 43:1. “Who is this?” exclaims the prophet, inspired by the Spirit of God, and there the answer comes that it is the Judge Who comes in vengeance “to tread His enemies in His anger and to trample them in His fury, so that their lifeblood shall sprinkle His garments and stain all His raiment.” Who so fit to be our great High-priest as Jesus, Who is full of compassion and can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities? And again who has such a right, and is in every way adapted, to ascend the throne of judgment as He, Who has ascended the cross and to redeem this godless, ungrateful world did thereon shed His own blood? But let us remember that in our text it is more especially in relation to Israel that Messiah is thus represented as Priest; and not only will He exercise this function, together with His kingship on the throne of David, after He returns to build again the Tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; but even now, at the Father’s right hand, He is exalted, “a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins;” and, for my part, I cannot bring myself to believe that the concern Christ manifested for His brethren according to the flesh when on earth and His intercession for them on the cross ceased with His ascension to glory. No; the same One Who “ever lives to make intercession for us” says also “that for Zion’s sake He will not hold His peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake will He not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.”

If I look at Christ as Priest in relation to Israel, I see Him now, as it were, within the veil, and Israel without, anxiously waiting, not knowing whether the work of atonement has been completed; but soon their great Day of Atonement will be ended, and Israel’s great High-priest come forth again from within the veil, with lifted hands, to pronounce upon them again the benediction of Jehovah as a sign of acceptance and favour.⁶ Then indeed “shall all Israel be justified, and shall glory!”

⁶ On the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 16:1-34.), Aaron first entered into the holy of holies with the blood of the bullock to make an atonement for himself and his house, then came forth again and re-entered with the blood of the goat, to make an atonement for Israel. In either case, his reappearing from within the veil was the assurance to the expectant throng without that the work of atonement had been accomplished. Now Christ has, as it were, accomplished atonement for the priestly house which represented the Christian Church as united with Him; but, as far as Israel is concerned, He is now re-entered within the veil, so that until He shows Himself to them again, they can have no assurance that their atonement is complete. In this connection it may be remarked that after His resurrection Christ only showed Himself to the household of faith.