Till There Stood Up a Priest With
We must seek the direct witness and testimony of the Holy Spirit to determine our Christian standing and experience the assurance of faith.
F.B. Meyer emphasizes the necessity of direct assurance from the Holy Spirit in our Christian lives, paralleling the experience of those excluded from priesthood due to lack of proper documentation. He highlights that mere reasoning or external validation is insufficient; believers must seek the inner witness of the Spirit to confirm their identity as children of God. This assurance allows Christians to fully partake in the blessings and communion with God, as it removes doubts about their sonship. Meyer encourages believers to wait in the presence of Christ, who, through the Holy Spirit, provides the confidence needed to approach God boldly. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper experiential knowledge of faith that transcends mere inference.
Text
Till there stood up a priest with
Urim and with Thummin. Ezra ii. 63.
IT must have been a great disappointment to these people who found themselves excluded from sharing as priests. Their names were not on the register, and so they had to wait until a properly‑qualified authority could adjudicate their case. The mere inference of reason was not enough; they needed the direct corroboration of the anointed priest with Urim and with Thummim.
So in our life it is not enough to rely on the inference of reason, or to allow our Christian standing to be determined by the evidence of a document. We must seek the direct witness and testimony of the Holy Spirit. How many Christians there are who have no experimental knowledge of what the Apostle meant when he said that the Spirit witnesseth with our spirit that we are born again. They are always referring to inference, and the testimony of others; and therefore their consciousness varies, and they cannot eat of the holy bread of God. But when the Spirit of God speaks through the Urim and Thummim, and certifies that we are the children of God, giving us the white stone with its new name, and revealing Christ as dwelling within us, we have, immediately, boldness to enter into the holiest of all, and eat of the holy things.
Assurance is needful before we dare to appropriate the things which are freely given to us of God. Who of us is not able to verify this from his personal experience? We could not enjoy the Father's table, so long as there was a doubt about our sonship. But the assurance of faith may be ours as we wait in the presence of our great High Priest, speaking to us by the Holy Spirit, who witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God.
Sermon Outline
- The Need for Direct Witness
- The Role of the Holy Spirit
- The Importance of Assurance
- Assurance is necessary before we can appropriate God's gifts
- Assurance brings boldness to enter into the holiest of all
- The Spirit reveals Christ within us
Key Quotes
“We must seek the direct witness and testimony of the Holy Spirit.” — F.B. Meyer
“When the Spirit of God speaks through the Urim and Thummim, and certifies that we are the children of God, giving us the white stone with its new name, and revealing Christ as dwelling within us, we have, immediately, boldness to enter into the holiest of all, and eat of the holy things.” — F.B. Meyer
Application Points
- We must seek the direct witness and testimony of the Holy Spirit to determine our Christian standing.
- Assurance of faith is necessary before we can appropriate God's gifts.
- We must wait in the presence of our great High Priest, speaking to us by the Holy Spirit, to experience the assurance of faith.