Greatness
Ministry by G. R. Cowell
– Memorials: Volume 2

In considering these things we shall also be impressed with the greatness of God. The expression “the greatness” is used in verse three,

• “set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high”.

• Again in chapter 8: 1-2, it says,
  • “We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens; minister of the holy places”,

• showing that the service of God as established in Christianity proceeds in the presence of the greatness, the Minister of the holy places having sat down there.

• We need to accustom ourselves to what is great; and indeed to become more accustomed to what is spoken of as “the greatness”.

In chapter 1 the greatness of the Son is stressed. It is a stabilizing thing for our souls to apprehend the greatness of Christ.

• If understood, this would free us from the vauntings of men.

• We are living in days when the pride of man is very much in evidence, especially in his achievements.

• But man and his glory fade into complete insignificance in the light of the greatness of the Son.

• In chap. 2: 9 He is called Jesus. Think of how great Jesus is! In chapter 1, amongst other things, it says,
  • “by whom also he made the worlds”, and then,

  • “having made by himself the purification of sins”; and at the end of the chapter it says,

  • “And, thou in the beginning, Lord, hast founded the earth, and works of thy hands are the heavens. They shall perish, but thou continuest still; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a covering shalt thou roll them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same”.

• What an answer to the vauntings and the pride of man!

The chapter thus begins with God; and it then goes on to describe the glorious Person of the Son, who is said to be

1. the One by whom God made the worlds;

2. the One who, by Himself, made purification for sins;

3. and the One who is shortly going to roll up as a covering the things which His hands have made, and they shall be changed.

So that three great operations are brought forward;

1. the operation of creation;

2. the operation of purification;

3. and finally the rolling up and changing of the present order of things – one view, I suppose, of the bringing in of the new heavens and the new earth.

In the light of such operations, in which the creature can have no part, man’s pride is put into its proper place in our judgment;

• and we become worshippers, not only of God, but of the Lord Jesus.

Rem. The Hebrews needed this and we need it today.

G.R.C. We need it very much in order that we may be preserved as true Hebrews, that is as ‘passers-through’, not influenced by man’s world nor by man’s pride.

• Abraham, the Hebrew, is the father of us all, and this epistle would help us to be just passers-through. We seek not here a continuing city; we seek the one to come.

• We are not detained by occupation with men’s achievements. They do not disturb us, nor, in one way, concern us.

• The things which men discover about creation magnify the One we know as Creator, but to unregenerate man they bolster up his pride.

• But we are passers-through; we do not belong to this world; we are in the world but not of it; our anchor is within the veil,
  • “which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us”, Hebrews 6: 9.

J.P. Would you distinguish more clearly between what is great and the greatness?

A.N.W. Is the idea of “the greatness” incomparable? There is a comparison as to the Name; it is more excellent; but the greatness on high seems to be incomparable.

G.R.C. I am sure that is right. It is superlative.

• As regards what is great, you have, as to the Lord,
  • the great high priest in chapter 4,

  • a great priest over the house of God in chapter 10,

  • and then the great shepherd of the sheep in chapter 13.

• These are offices which He occupies. But we have to understand that the Lord is greater than any office He holds.

• We delight in His offices; but the services He renders are to help us to discern the greatness of the Person who holds them. He is greater than any position He could occupy.
  • “Thou art greater, glorious Saviour, than the glory thou hast won”.

• He has His own part in the greatness on high. He is said to have
  • “set himself down on the right hand of the greatness”,

• that is, He is the great Operator there.

• There is the greatness: we cannot define it. It is one of the indefinable expressions of scripture, introduced to produce a state of worship – prostration.

• “The greatness”: who can describe what it means? Yet surely the Spirit would give an ever increasing impression of it in our souls.

• Deity is in mind. In Colossians we have “the fulness”, but in Hebrews “the greatness”. And we are called to serve in the presence of the greatness.

• Our service will take on the quality it should have in the measure in which we, by the Spirit, have some apprehension of the greatness.

• But, as this chapter indicates, the One who has sat down at the right hand of the greatness has His own part in the greatness: Who He is, it plainly shows.

• As at the right hand, in manhood, He is the great Operator in relation to the greatness; everything is done through Him.

C.A.M. Your opening remarks would give great scope to the word “spoken”. God has seen fit to express Himself in this most glorious way.

G.R.C. In verse 1 we are brought face to face with God.

• “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son”.

• That is a marvellous thing – God has spoken in Son. If God has spoken in Son, His must be the last word.

• In the beginning, He spoke and it was done. It was the same Person through whom He spoke. But how much greater this speaking!

• There was majesty in the speaking at the outset – He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast.

• But now God has spoken in Son. The One by whom He made the worlds has become incarnate.

Rem. It is wonderful that the Lord has come into manhood in order that He might speak, and be tangible and approachable.

G.R.C. The incarnation is a marvellous thing. It is referred to in this chapter,

• “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”.

• And in John 1: 14, “And the Word became flesh”.

• It is the most amazing thing, and essential if God was to be declared.

Ques. Does His being established heir of all things – verse 2 – refer to Christ in manhood?

G.R.C. The first thing that is said as to Him is, “whom he has established heir of all things”. It is in manhood that He is the Heir.

J.R.H. Would you link up “heir of all things” with His operation in creation? I was thinking of the way it is put,

• “whom he has established heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”.

• Is it the all things that He has made to which He becomes Heir?

G.R.C. Yes. In Colossians it says,

• “all things have been created by him and for him”, Colossians 1: 16.

• He was to come into manhood, and as the Heir take up everything He had made.

J.B. God has spoken formerly in many parts and in many ways, but now He has spoken to us – I should suppose the ‘us’ means Christians – in Son.

• Is there a difference between the knowledge of God as now revealed in Son, and what was known through the former speakings?

• Is God in Christianity known differently as being revealed in the Son?

G.R.C. There is a great difference, and all hinges on the incarnation. God had no beginning, as we know;

• but the economy of God, as resulting from the incarnation, had a beginning. But it has no end.

• When John speaks of that which is from the beginning, he refers to the beginning of the manifestation of God in the Person of the Son.

• It is not exactly our subject here, but the incarnation has brought out the Father’s affections; the Fatherhood of God has become known; the Person of the Father is known.

• It was not until there was an adequate Object in manhood, the Word become flesh, that the Father’s affections could come into display. Scripture says,
  • “The Father loves the Son”, John 3: 35; then the Lord says,

  • “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you”, John 15: 9; and, in verse 12,

  • “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you”.

• The basis of the whole matter is the Father’s love for the Son.

J.B. I have often thought that

• “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Ephesians 1: 3,

• is the highest known relationship that we enjoy; because it is by the Spirit of His Son in our hearts, and that is greater than what is known in creation.

G.R.C. The relationships we have been brought into exceed any that have gone before or will come after. It says in this chapter,

• “and again, I will be to him for father, and he shall be to me for son”.

• Think of that! Think of what it meant for the Father to have such an Object! How it drew out and brought into display the Father’s affections!

• And those affections remain; and the economy, i.e., the revelation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Matthew 28: 19, remains; and we are brought into it.

Ques. Does that not bring out the greatness of His manhood? We should see that this is our link – His manhood.

G.R.C. Exactly.

J.H. Would you see with Abraham the yearnings of God. anticipatively, of the present dispensation in which there is now an Object for the Father’s love to express itself upon?

G.R.C. I think so. Genesis begins with God – “In the beginning God” – and in type, develops His eternal thoughts as to God and man; but, as the book proceeds,

• the idea of Father and Son is brought out typically in Abraham and Isaac, because the economy and its relationships are essential if God is to secure His initial thoughts as to man – God and man.

Ques. Would the angel’s word to Mary in Luke 1: 32, “He shall be great” indicate that there was something new in the way of greatness about to appear?

G.R.C. Quite so. “He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest”.

• It is very instructive to see the way in which titles of God conveying attributes of deity and majesty are carried through into the New Testament.

• In Luke the title “Highest” – i.e., Most High – is carried through. We do not lose any of these titles; we carry them through.

H.O.E. It has been said that the link between what is absolute and what is relative is love.

G.R.C. That is good, because in the manifestation of God as in the economy wonderful affections are brought into display

• – the Father’s love for the Son, the Son’s love for the Father, and the Spirit’s love for the Father and the Son.

• It all turns us back on what God is in His nature. God is love.

Rem. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”, Hebrews 13: 8. We are reminded of the unchangeable character of the Person of the Son.

G.R.C. We need always to keep in mind that the Lord Jesus has changed His circumstances and condition,

• but that in His Person He is unchanged and unchangeable.

• This chapter brings this out,
  • “thou art the Same, and thy years shall not fail”, Hebrews 1: 12.

• It is in manhood that He is being addressed. because it speaks of years.

• Before the Lord Jesus came into manhood He had no experience, in that sense, of years. But now He knows what years mean. He is the One who came into time, but who does not belong to time.

Rem. One is impressed with the love of God as shown in our Lord Jesus Christ – the depth of it; and it is the same today.

G.R.C. Quite so, and so Paul prays to the Father in Ephesians 3,

• “that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell”.

• The Father would strengthen us in our affections to embrace the One Who is the Centre of His affections.

• And He loves Him so much that, according to the riches of His glory, He is bringing about a universe adequate for Christ as the Centre;
  • and all the families named of the Father are but to form a setting adequate for Christ as the Centre.

• Christ is the great Object of His affection. And the prayer goes on,
  • “in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what [is] the breadth and length and depth and height”.

• The Father would have us to understand every dimension. Every dimension speaks of divine love.

J.S. Would you say we need to appreciate the way the moral side has been met, more in relation to Christ’s greatness than to our need?

G.R.C. Exactly. I think we have to take account of the fact that God acts by Himself and for Himself.

• That is the force of the word here, “having made by himself”. The note indicates that it is by and for Himself.

• That is to say, before we can begin to take up service acceptably we have to learn to take account of the work of God in which no creature hand has had any part.

• The idea of sabbath is that God rests in what He has done by Himself and for Himself, with no creature hand assisting. Genesis 1 records His own actions; no angel assisted, no creature hand assisted.
  • He did all by Himself and for Himself, and then rested from all His work.

• Similarly redemption is a work done by Himself and for Himself, and another great rest is brought in – God’s rest in Christ and His finished work.

• And when His work in new creation is finished He will say, “It is done”. His eternal rest will commence.

• We have to learn to take account of God’s work in creation, in redemption, and in new creation; to see that all is done by Himself and for Himself, the creature having no part in it; and to rest our souls in that.

• To be acceptable, our service should flow from an apprehension of what God has done by, and for, Himself.

Rem. And what God has done by Himself and for Himself is in accord with His own thought, as we sometimes sing “O God, the thought was Thine”.

G.R.C. Exactly.

A.N.W. To the “by” and “for” we may add “of”. Is the Trinity involved, “Of him, and through him, and for him are all things”, Romans 11: 36?

G.R.C. Literally those prepositions mean ‘out of Him’, and ‘through Him’, and ‘unto Him’ are all things.

Ques. Is the expression “the greatness” a title of God or a feature of Deity?

G.R.C. I had not thought of “the greatness” as a title. I do not know how to describe it. It is a kind of indescribable expression to give our minds an impression of Deity.

• I suppose these different expressions do bear on one another; but this expression, “the greatness” requires contemplation. How incomparable and superlative it is!

• And the wonderful thing is that according to chap. 8 the service of the sanctuary proceeds in the presence of the greatness.

F.W. In the end of verse 12 we have “but thou art the Same”. Has that some connection with the greatness?

G.R.C. “The Same” is a divine title.

F.W. Would the greatness of Christ set us free from all forms which are just a shadow of the things to come?

G.R.C. It would indeed. And in that connection,

• “But Christ being come high priest of the good things to come, by the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand”, Hebrews 9: 11,

• speaks of what God has done by and for Himself.

Rem. We have the expressions Mighty God, and Father of the age, in relation to time.

G.R.C. “Father of the age” refers to the world to come, the place Christ has in that great day, “the habitable world which is to come, of which we speak”, as it says in chapter 2: 5.

Ques. Would the greatness be seen in verse 3, “the effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power”.

G.R.C. It says in the note as to “effulgence”, ‘That which fully presents the glory that is in something else’.

• I think “the greatness” is indescribable – unspeakable; it is Deity really.

• But then the Son is the effulgence of God’s glory and the expression of His substance; so there is the outshining which, in measure, the creature can take account of; but the greatness lies behind it all.

Rem. In John’s gospel we have frequent reference to, “Art thou greater?”, and I wondered if John would have us formed in an appreciation of the greatness of Christ.

G.R.C. “Art thou greater than our father Abraham?” brings out the great truth. He says,

• “Before Abraham was, I am”, John 8: 58.

• It is a truth which would run alongside what we have in this chapter.

A.N.W. The last psalm says, “Praise him according to the abundance of his greatness”.

A.B.P. We could know nothing of this greatness except it had been manifested in Christ, whether as Creator, or as the One who has made purification for sin.

• Have you in mind that the demonstration of the greatness of the Person helps us to worship God as God?

G.R.C. Quite so. What has been manifested gives the Spirit scope to give us an impression of “the greatness”.

• While we enjoy, according to our measure, the effulgence of God’s glory and the expression of His substance – we cannot compass these things, but we enjoy them according to our measure –
  • the Spirit would maintain in our souls the sense of what is behind all – the greatness.

• It brings about prostration of soul. It is a thing we should know more about – prostration.

Rem. “God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints”, Psalm 89: 7.

G.R.C. That refers to God in the midst of His people here. This epistle goes on to say that we have come to God, Judge of all; another great statement; and we prove Him in that way in the council of His saints.

• But behind all that is “the greatness”, that which the creature cannot penetrate; but the expression is here in scripture to affect us, and the Spirit would so affect us that our worship would end in prostration.

Rem. So we can see what the work of God has accomplished, but behind that work is what is un- knowable and unseeable.

G.R.C. Exactly.

A.N.W. What can be said? How can we express ourselves in words in the spirit of prostration?

G.R.C. The Revelation is a great book of prostration. At the end of chapter 4,

• “the twenty four elders shall fall before him that sits upon the throne, and do homage to him that lives to the ages of ages; and shall cast their crowns before the throne”, verse 10:

• that is prostration in the presence of the greatness.

• Then the remarkable thing is in the next chapter where the Lamb comes into view. One of the elders says,
  • “Behold, the lion which is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David”;

• that is another allusion, not only to the manhood, but to the deity, of Christ. Then in verse 8,
  • “And when it took the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb”, that is prostration,

  • “having each a harp and golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song”.

• All this shows that prostration of soul may include an ascription of praise and worship. They fell before the Lamb.

Rem. Do you think the Lord is aiming at this with the woman in John 4,

• “God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”.

• The very word ‘prostration’ is used, is it not?

G.R.C. It is the same word that is used of the elders, they do homage. There are two words for worship in the New Testament:

1. one involving public priestly service,

2. and the other homage or prostration of heart and soul.

• And the two things should go together.

• It is essential that God should be served in a public way worthy of Himself.

• There should be the public expression in song and thanksgiving of that which is due to Him. Before angels and men He should be suitably addressed.

• But it would be of little value without prostration of soul.

F.K.C. The woman had to have the moral question solved, and yet it did not hinder this matter from coming out. The Lord Himself says, “The hour is coming and now is”.

G.R.C. It would not hinder if we understood the verse

• “having made by himself the purification of sins, set himself down”.

• There is majesty in this. Think of a Man, speaking with all reverence, who could do things by and for Himself, and then set Himself down.

• It was no presumption, for He Himself has part in the greatness. So He set Himself down at the right hand of the greatness on high – the great Operator.

Ques. Why is it purification here and not redemption?

G.R.C. I have often wondered why the word ‘purification’ is used.

• In chapters 3 and 4 of John purification is in mind, although it is the water aspect rather than the blood.

• There was a discussion going on as to purification in John 3, and the Lord’s dealings with the woman in chapter 4 show the working out of it.

• The gift of the Holy Spirit is to bring about practical purification in view of worship. So it says here,
  • “having made by himself the purification of sins”.

• The Lord does it having in view a system permeated by the Holy Spirit, an anointed system.

• Purification of sins must take place from the judicial standpoint before a system can exist where the Spirit is all pervading. It is only in such a system that God is worshipped as He should be.

G.A.S. The expression is used as to purification of all things.

G.R.C. In Colossians you have the idea of reconciling,

• “and by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross”, Colossians 1: 20.

• And as Hebrews proceeds, things are brought into this matter, as in chapter 9: 22,
  • “and almost all things are purified with blood according to the law, and without blood-shedding there is no remission”.

• There is a remarkable combination in that chapter because verses 19 and 20 refer to Exodus 24, the application of the blood to the book and the people; but verse 21 goes on to the day of atonement.
  • “And the tabernacle too and all the vessels of service he sprinkled in like manner with blood; and almost all things are purified with blood according to the law”.

• And he goes on to show that the heavenly things –literally, the heavenlies – have to be purified by the blood of Christ. Earlier in verse 14 he says,
  • “how much rather shall the blood of the Christ… purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God”.

A.N.W. Is there not a peculiar lustre in regard of the making purification of sins as against the glory of upholding all things by the word of His power?

• He does not make purification by the word of His power; it is by Himself, and the great glory reflects back on Him, as the note says.

G.R.C. It is very affecting to think of all that it meant to Him.

A.B.P. Is purification properly in view of approach?

G.R.C. I think all is in view of God being served. The purification of sins here is of the widest scope.

• The whole system is purified and so becomes an anointed system in which God dwells in the midst of fragrant praise.

A.B.P. And therefore it leads up possibly to Hebrews 10,

• “Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies”.

G.R.C. Yes, exactly.

Ques. Does the mention of the Lamb in Revelation carry this thought of being purified in relation to worship?

G.R.C. Yes, “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood”.

• It is very affecting to consider the distinction our brother has referred to, between upholding all things by the word of His power and the work He accomplished where power alone was not adequate.

• It meant, as this epistle develops, the sacrifice of Himself. Marvellous thing that He should go that way!

• The One who felt perfectly about sin, because He is Himself God, as Man took up the whole question sacrificially. It is a stupendous thing to contemplate!

• The One who offered Himself as the Victim was no less in His eternal Being than the Father and the Spirit. And it was by the eternal Spirit that He did it.

• It is a great matter for contemplation – the way Jesus went, and what He bore. There is much in scripture about it:
  • Leviticus 16, Colossians 1, Hebrews 9, 2 Corinthians 5, and other passages, develop different aspects of the great work of atonement or reconciliation,

• and we ought to acquaint ourselves with them all in a spirit of worship.

Rem. The purification being made, the evidence of it will always remain; we will always be affected by the sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus, and the shedding of His blood.

G.R.C. I think upholding all things by the word of His power is a comprehensive idea. He brought things into being – by Him God made the worlds.

• But it is linked on with this idea of purification. It says,
  • “who being the effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, having made by himself the purification of sins, set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high”.

• He is upholding the physical universe in view of all that is coming in, purification having been effected;
  • and He is also upholding, we may say, the spiritual universe, the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man.

• He is upholding all things in view of the day when the present heavens and earth will be rolled up as a covering, and be changed, and the eternal state brought in. It is a magnificent view of Christ!

J.G.H. Would our appreciation of the greatness of Christ, as presented in these various features, be the measure of our worship? Would it be proportionate to our apprehension of the Person?

G.R.C. Exactly. I believe we will never make much progress in our souls until we learn the habit of prostration before Christ.

• We can understand the idea of prostration before God; but the elders in Revelation – they refer to ourselves of course – fall down before the Lamb.

• We need to know more about that. We might be so affected in our private devotions as to prostrate ourselves physically. But that is not the main point, because it might be nothing more than an outward form.

• It is prostration of soul. One has often been affected in thinking of the Lord’s prostration. It says He
  • “fell upon his face”, Matthew 26: 39, and

  • “he fell upon the earth” in Gethsemane, Mark 14: 35.

A.N.W. I am glad to hear you refer to that. You have referred to Revelation 5 several times, but the last touch is

• “And the four living creatures said, Amen; and the elders fell down and did homage”. Say a word as to that.

G.R.C. What would you say yourself?

A.N.W. I only thought of something further still, possibly unexpressed.

G.R.C. That is good; for, as you say, in verses 8 and 9 they fall down, but also express something in song.

• But I suppose at the end of the chapter, ‘Voice by voice in silence fails’. The worship becomes inexpressible, you mean?

A.N.W. Yes, I thought that.

J.G.H. We sometimes think that the greatest depth of feeling with us is in relation to help received in some personal crisis, or a crisis in the testimony, but the greatest feeling comes in when prostrated in worship.

G.R.C. I am sure that is right. If we want to be ready for crises which may arise, we need to be constitutionally worshippers;

• and habituated to prostration before the Lord Jesus, as well as before God, in our private devotions. How blessed it would be if we knew more of this!

Rem. It is said of the man in John 9, as soon as the Lord mentions the title Son of God, that he did Him homage. That is prostration in the true sense.

G.R.C. Yes, it is the same word as that used in Revelation. It is the idea of prostration of soul.

Ques. Paul fell on the earth when the Lord appeared to him. Would that be in line with this thought of prostration?

G.R.C. Quite so. Paul was prostrated when the Lord appeared to him. He began his career that way. It is a good beginning to fall on the earth before the Lord Jesus.

• But then think of the Lord Jesus falling upon the earth, not in the way in which we are speaking, but because of what was immediately before Him, the question of purification of sins!

• He was about to pour out His soul unto death, and it so affected His soul that it says,
  • “And, going forward a little, he fell upon the earth”, Mark 14: 35;

  • and according to Matthew, “he fell upon his face”, Matthew 26: 39.

• If He, as the Leader of our salvation, has gone to that extent, where do we stand as to prostration before Him? How worthy He is of the unreserved homage of our hearts!

I think the passing through of chapter 4: 14 would link with the High Priest going through into the holy of holies.

• We are told in this epistle that the tabernacle of old was a figurative representation of the things in the heavens; and the high priest of old passed through into the holy of holies.

• In chapter 7 it says that He has gone higher than the heavens, higher than the creature can go; but I believe that first allusion is to stress that He passed through.

• And in passing through, He has made the way through for us into the holy of holies.

A.B.P. Does chapter 9 suggest what there is in the spheres He has passed through? We have reference to the golden pot with the manna, Aaron’s rod that sprouted and the tables of the covenant.

G.R.C. It includes the days of His flesh, and all that He passed through and carried through. And all of that is involved in the fact that He has passed through the heavens.

• He has entered in, into the very presence of God, as it is put at the end of chapter 6,
  • “entering into that within the veil, where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec”.

• So we have such a great High Priest, One who has passed through.

A.N.W. However far we go in with Him, we shall ever recognise that He can go farther. He says in John 6: 62,

• “If then ye see the Son of man ascending up where he was before?”

• We shall ever have that to engage us, shall we not?

G.R.C. I am sure we shall. In fact, if we truly enter the holiest, we get an impression, as nowhere else, of Who the Person is.

• In the holiest, if we are truly in it, we are no longer occupied with His offices, but with Himself.

• His priesthood and other offices which attach to Him are glorious, and they are to help us. He has passed through, and He would help us to take advantage of the new and living way which He has dedicated for us.

• But once we are within the veil we begin to get impressions of Who the Person is; and, as you say, if that is so, we realise at once that we cannot limit Him at all.

• In every way He is beyond us in His Person; and yet, in His manhood, He graciously takes us alongside Himself, as He says, “with me where I am”.

J.R.H. Please say something as to the Son of God, “Jesus, the Son of God”, chapter 4: 14.

G.R.C. That is important as bearing on what we are saying as to our moving in. He has passed through to make a way through for us.

• That is the force of “Having therefore a great high priest”.

• He is our Representative. He has gone through on our account.
  • “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God”.

• This is not stressing so much the greatness of His Person, nor that He has gone into the uncreated sphere into which we cannot enter.

• It is stressing rather that He has gone into a place which we can enter; we are associated with the Son of God.

F.W. You are suggesting that He passed through in His own right because of His Person.

G.R.C. That would be true, but passing through as the great high priest has involved the offering of Himself.

• If we think of the type, in passing through He would pass the altar of burnt offering. He is the Altar, and He is also the Victim upon it.

• He has passed through in such a manner as to make a way through for us: He has entered in as forerunner for us, chapter 6: 20.

• So that the passing through involves all that He did in opening up the way for men.

A.B.P. Would you link 2 Corinthians 3 with this – changed “from glory to glory”? Is that like the way in?

G.R.C. Looking on the glory of the Lord is another way of speaking of the holiest.

• Hebrews, while it exhorts us to enter the holiest, does not tell us what we do when we are there. We have to go to other scriptures for that.

• But there are passages in this epistle, for example chapter 1: 3, which help us as to what we behold there; the scripture you quote is another which helps us much.
  • In the beginning of chapter 3 we have
    “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”,

  • and again in chapter 10: 23,
    “Let us hold fast the confession of the hope”.

Ques. Has the passing through a triumphant character?

G.R.C. It has. He passes through triumphantly into the presence of God, as our great High Priest. This question of our confession is a great matter.

J.S. Does this give the present moment its wondrous character? We are not yet associated with Christ as coming out, but we are associated with the One who has gone in.

G.R.C. That is very good. The Christian confession would involve that. It is not only what we profess with our lips;

• but our whole manner of life is to bear testimony to the fact that our place is within the veil where Christ is. That is the confession.

Well, this chapter tells us of the High Priest and what He has done. Before we can function as priests properly, we have to go in.

• We come out from the holiest to function as priests. It is not our functioning as priests which takes us in.

• We may have the idea that we have to function first at the burnt offering altar, and then at the incense altar, and at last we shall get into the holiest.
  • That is not the truth at all.

• The truth of the matter is that we go in because we have such an high priest. We go in on the basis of what He is, and of what He has done.

• He has made the way, and our way is to go straight into the holiest: then we come out to serve.

J.R.H. When you speak of what He has done, you are referring to the fact that by His own blood He has entered into the holy of holies?

G.R.C. Yes, we may look at that in another reading. One’s thought was that in this reading we should contemplate the greatness of His priesthood;

• and then perhaps, in our next reading, the greatness of the high priestly work-the offering of Himself.

A.N.W. The High Priest we have heard of, but the great High Priest is something very distinctive.

G.R.C. Even the expression high priest is not much used in the Old Testament. Here, as you say, the word “great” is added – “a great high priest”.

J.B. Is He great in the eye of God because of the work He has done at Calvary?

G.R.C. It says in chapter 5: 1,

• “For every high priest taken from amongst men is established for men in things relating to God”.

• And then it says in verse 4,
  “And no one takes the honour to himself but as called by God, even as Aaron also”.

• It is a beautiful view of Christ, as “taken from amongst men”.

• He grew up before Jehovah as “a root out of dry ground”, Isaiah 53: 2. And God called Him into this office.

Ques. Does the thought of our confession involve that God has been revealed, and that we are in the light of God as revealed? Christianity involves the revelation of God.

G.R.C. It does. It involves God having spoken in Son, and all that that means,

• “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”, John 1: 18.

• And it involves our calling in relation to that revelation.

Ques. Does the greatness of His Person give character to every office He takes on, so that He must be a great High Priest?

G.R.C. Quite so. He adorns the office, and makes it great.

A.B.P. The verses read in chap. 5 bring in the thought of experience, and of history. He who had said to him

• “Thou art my Son, I have today begotten thee”,

• is the One who says,
  “Thou art a priest for ever”;

• there is a passage of time between those two points.

• One relates to the incarnation, and the other to His installation as Priest; but in between has come His perfecting in manhood. Is that what you have in mind?

G.R.C. Quite so. It is the One who marked Him out as His Son,

• “Thou art my Son, I have today begotten thee”, who says,

• “Thou art priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec”.

• But then in order to be qualified, speaking with reverence, for that office, it was necessary that He should pass through certain experiences.

• And it is very affecting, when we think of the greatness of His Person, to contemplate Him passing through these experiences in the days of His flesh.

• Think of the 102nd Psalm where He says,
  • “My God, take me not away in the midst of my days!”

• Then we have the answer, prophetically in Psalm 102: 24-27 and again in Hebrews 1: 10-12,
  • “And, thou in the beginning, Lord, hast founded the earth, and works of thy hands are the heavens. They shall perish, but thou continuest still; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a covering shalt thou roll them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the Same, and thy years shall not fail”.

• Think of the experience the Lord Jesus passed through when He cried, “My God, take me not away in the midst of my days!” It links with verses 7-9 of our chapter –
  • “Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears – and having been heard because of his piety – though he were Son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered; and having been perfected”.

• That was the way He was perfected for the priestly office.

C.D. The contemplation of that calls out the adoration of our hearts!

G.R.C. Then think of Him in the garden of Gethsemane falling upon the earth, falling upon His face! Think of the strong crying and tears!

C.D. The contemplation of this is the kind of food we need for our souls to build us up constitutionally.

G.R.C. It would inculcate in us the principle of obedience; we should love obedience. He is the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him.

• Is it not easy to obey a Person like this? Is it not easy to obey One whose right it ever was to command – who commanded and it stood fast at the beginning –
  • and yet who for our sakes became flesh, and, in the days of His flesh, learned?

• He went through experiences which He had never been through before. It had never been His to obey. But He came into a condition in which He was committed to obey,
  • “Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will”, Hebrews 10: 7.

• And obedience meant for Him a price that it has meant for no one else. What obedience cost Him! And how He felt the cost!

• And yet He never turned aside. He learned obedience in the fullest way in which it could be learned.

F.K.C. He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; take away this cup from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt” Mark 14: 36.

G.R.C. The perfection of His sonship is stressed there, in that He says, “Abba, Father”.

P.W. “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”, John 8: 29. It is the word from His lips as to His Father.

G.R.C. He was truly Son. In Matthew 26: 39, it says, “And going forward a little he fell upon his face”. An extraordinary statement!

“… he fell upon his face, praying and saying, My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me”.

• Think of what obedience cost the Lord!
  • “… becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”, Philippians 2: 8.

• Think of a Divine Person, the One by whom the worlds were made, learning obedience in the most costly way which could be conceived.

• So that the many sons whom God is bringing to glory love obedience.

• It is a delight to obey a Person like that! He is the Author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him.

Rem. So that He gave the Father fresh cause to love Him, as moving in this way.

G.R.C. He did. What a delight for the Father’s heart! “On this account the Father loves me”, John 10: 17.

Ques. And do we not want to come in on that line, to give the Father cause for delight in us, because we obey, as in some measure following in His steps?

G.R.C. We do, I am sure.

W.T.L. Would you say it was a voluntary matter on the part of the Lord Jesus to become obedient unto death?

G.R.C. It was a voluntary matter prior to incarnation.

• He says, “Sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou willedst not … then he said, Lo, I come to do thy will”, Hebrews 10: 8-9.

• He does not say, Lo, I am sent; but Lo, I come to do thy will.
  • “Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will”, Hebrews 10: 7.

• That was a committal – to use your word, a voluntary committal. No one could have imposed it on Him. He says, Lo, I come to do thy will.

• But having come, there could be no drawing back. He was committed to obedience. So, as having come, He was the sent One.

W.T.L. Philippians 2 would have the same bearing that you suggest, would it not? Before the incarnation He had that mind.

G.R.C. Well, I am not sure that that is referring to His mind prior to incarnation. It says,

• “For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God”.

• “Subsisting in the form of God” implies what we are saying, that no one could have imposed it on Him. But it does not say He left the form of God; it just says,
  • “who subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death”, Philippians 2: 6-8.

• It is beautiful, it is all put there as what He did Himself; and I think that is what you have in mind.

• But then the passage ends that He became obedient, because that was the force of His coming in a bondman’s form. It was to be obedient,
  • “becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”.

• In manhood here the mind was seen in Him, because in John’s gospel He makes remarks which show that He thought it not an object of rapine to be on equality with God.

• His enemies realised that His remarks implied that He was equal with God. And it was not an object of rapine for Him to assert equality with His Father, because He was and is equal. He says:
  • “Before Abraham was, I am”, John 8: 58.

• He did not hesitate to say these things, because it was not presumption; and yet He humbled Himself and pursued the way of obedience.

H.O.W. In Psalm 2: 7 we have, “I will declare the decree: Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; I this day have begotten thee”.

• Does it mean that He had the right to go in as Son of God?

G.R.C. You mean that personally He could have gone in without going into death?

• But then He would never have been our great High Priest; He would never have qualified, speaking with all reverence, for that great office.

A.B.P. Death seems to be the supreme test, does it not? In Philippians it is,

• “even unto death and. that the death of the cross”.

• Psalm 102 which you quote says,
  • “My God, take me not away in the midst of my days!”;

• while this chap, 5 of Hebrews says,
  • “supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death”.

• That seems to be the setting, that the greatest test of all was death.

G.R.C. It was; so that the things that He suffered include death. They include the atoning sufferings

• – the supreme test – and apart from the atoning sufferings He could never have been our great High Priest; He could never have been the Author of eternal salvation.

• There were other sufferings, sufferings which enable Him to sympathise. They all enter into His being perfected.

• He knows what every trial is which we go through; He can sympathise with us.

• But there is that which He went into which we could never go into, and that is death in all that death meant to Him, bearing the judgment and wrath of God.

A.N.W. So while He is the Centre of the excellent glory on the mount, the subject of conversation is His departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.

G.R.C. Quite so. That was essential, if He were to be perfected.

• “He learned obedience from the things which he suffered; and having been perfected”, Hebrews 5: 8-9.

Ques. Psalm 102 is called, ‘A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah’, and contains expressions like,

• “I am become like the pelican of the wilderness, I am as an owl in desolate places”.

• Is that typical of the manhood of Jesus and what He went through?

G.R.C. Those experiences enable Him to sympathise and succour those who are in the same path.

• We were speaking of the word ‘Hebrew’ this morning – those who are passers-through.

• And the Lord has felt what it is to be a stranger and a sojourner, and like a sparrow on the housetop and a pelican in the wilderness;

• and He sympathises with and supports those who are true Hebrews, true passers-through, recognising that they have no continuing city here.

Ques. Peter uses the expression,

• “but gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”, 1 Peter 2: 23.

• Does that not show how willing Jesus was to go to any length to fulfil God’s will?

G.R.C. Yes, there again He becomes the Model for us.

Ques. Could we link it with Psalm 16: 10,

• “For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou allow thy Holy One to see corruption”?

• This is not from death, but out of death.

G.R.C. You mean that He was not seeking to avoid death;

• but the entreaties were to Him that was able to save Him out of death, prepared, as He was, to go the whole way? So that although the Lord says,
  • “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me”; He immediately says, “but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matthew 26: 39.

• He immediately accepts the cup, having faced all the consequences in the presence of His Father, with this in mind that God was able to save Him out of death.

• He would go the whole way into death in all that death meant. And we must remember that what He went into no creature could have gone into.

• The lost will never taste what Christ tasted; it is impossible. They have not the sensibilities.

• What Christ endured in the suffering of atonement was His alone. So the Spirit of God would help us as to depth.

• The more we are formed in divine sensibilities, the more we can get some sense of what the depth was.

• We were speaking this morning of breadth and length and depth and height. We need all four dimensions: the Spirit of God would help us.

• The Lord Jesus has gone higher than the heavens: and, in passing through, He has taken us to the greatest height to which the creature can go.

• But in order to take us there, He has gone to the lowest depth, depth to which a creature could never go.

A.B.P. You have spoken of the depth and the height, and I am wondering if the breadth and length would be the extent to which He has filled out the will of God in manhood.

G.R.C. And in result, of course, it will fill a universe.

• “Lo, I come… to do, O God, thy will”.

• God indicated even to Abraham that His will was connected with the filling of heaven and earth with Abraham’s seed;
  • and that is enlarged in the New Testament – the filling of heaven and earth with families named of the Father.

• There is the breadth and the length, but there is also the depth and height.

T.L.S. Intimacy seems to enter into both the thought of the Son and the thought of the Priest – the word “Thou”.

G.R.C. These remarks are touching, for we are let into conversation between the Persons of the Godhead.

• “Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee”, Hebrews 1: 5, and

• “Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec”, Hebrews 5: 6,

• on one side; and then on the other side the words the Lord Jesus used as coming into the world,
  • “Wherefore coming into the world he says”, Hebrews 10: 5.

• It is worthwhile everyone reading J.N.D’.s remarks in the Synopsis on that passage.
  • “Coming into the world he says … Lo, I come”;

• his remarks are very affecting, bearing upon what our brother has already mentioned as to the Lord coming of His own volition.

• No one could have imposed it upon Him. “Lo, I come”! But having come to do God’s will, He was committed to it. From thenceforward His only path could be unquestioning obedience.

A.B.P. It is interesting to see in Hebrews 5: 10, how “addressed by God” is ‘saluted of’, according to the footnote, suggesting the feelings which enter into the Father addressing the Son as having gone into heaven.

G.R.C. Psalm 110 is very beautiful, isn’t it? Just as in Psalm 102 we get the Divine answer to the One who says,

• “take me not away in the midst of my days!”,

• so in Psalm 110, having passed through this qualifying experience in the days of His flesh, He is saluted as High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec.

• “The Lord” in verse 5 is a divine title – Adonai.
  • “The Lord at thy right hand will smite through kings in the day of his anger”.

• The One who learned obedience by the things that He suffered, and, who having been perfected, is now installed as High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, is none other than Adonai.

• The title ‘Adonai’ implies lordship in the absolute right of Deity; not that He was made Lord, but that He is Lord because of who He is.

J.G.H. Would it be right to take account of His experiences in the days of His flesh as being entirely commensurate with His inherent qualifications, which the truth of His Person involves?

G.R.C. It is because of who He is in His Person that He could go through such experiences.

• It is a most affecting thing to think of such an One coming into a condition where He could have experiences which would not be possible in conditions of Deity.

• None but He could have gone through them. And so, as having gone through them, and having been installed in His high priestly office, He is called by His divine title, Adonai, in Psalm 110: 5.

• It would link with Ephesians 4, that He has “ascended up above all the heavens”; that is really Adonai. Psalm 68 is quoted in that chapter,
  • “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men”, Eph. 4: 8,

• and in Psalm 68 the One who ascended on high was Adonai – see verse 8; that is why it could be said that He has ascended up above all heavens.

J.G.H. Could we say then that the truth of His Person not only gives character to the office, but also to the experiences as Man which qualify Him for the office?

G.R.C. Well, none but He could have gone through such a path of obedience.

• It is not only that none but He could sustain the work of atonement,

• but none but He could have taken it up in the sense of having a perfect apprehension and abhorrence of sin as God Himself has, because He is God.

J.A.P. Many of us would like help on the subject of the High Priest. Why does the writer turn from the Aaronic priesthood to the Melchisedec?

G.R.C. I think it is a question of the order of the priesthood.

• He is Priest in the power of an indissoluble life, which involves the truth of His Person. That is what we come to in chapter 7, Melchisedec as a type, as it says,
  • “without father, without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but assimilated to the Son of God, abides a priest continually”.

• It maintains the title “Son of God”. It does not say ‘the Son’, because it has in mind His priesthood and His associating us with Himself within the veil;

• but yet it establishes the fact that the One who thus associates us with Himself, under the title Son of God, is nevertheless a Person of the Godhead;
  • that he is “without father, without mother, without genealogy; having neither beginning of days nor end of life”.

• Although in manhood He is the Son of God, and thus our High Priest, yet in His Person He is God. And that is the qualification for the order of priesthood that is in mind.

• The Aaronic order was continually changing, because those who filled it out were subject to death.

• But the great distinction is that He holds the priesthood in the power of an indissoluble life, because He is a Person of the Godhead.

J.A.P. Is that where John comes in, “In him was life”, John 1: 4? Is that the life you are referring to?

G.R.C. “In him was life”, would refer to the life manifested in Him here in manhood.

• “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”.

• That is, there was a Man here living wholly in relation to God, living indeed as an only begotten with a father, and that was light for men, as indicating what was in God’s mind for men, although He was unique in it.

• But I think the indissoluble life here refers to the truth of His Person.

• The marvellous thing is that our High Priest, though truly Man, is a Person of the Godhead. And He therefore holds the priesthood unchangeable.

C.A.M. Would it be right to say that when we are thinking of Divine Persons essentially we are outside of anything as to history and sequence?

• When it comes to Aaronic priesthood, and the functioning of it, we come back to happenings in the region of time.

• I was thinking of the greatness of His Person.

• Indissoluble life and so forth is a view we are likely to bring into history, whereas it really belongs to an order outside history.

• The truth of His Person is something greater than happening and history and sequence.

J.S. So that in the Old Testament the priesthood was not great enough to support the system of things that God had in mind in the way of blessing for His people, but now all that is changed.

G.R.C. That is right. So while the function of the priesthood is still Aaronic – that is, we have a priest who can sympathise and succour and support us as we enter in –

• yet the order of priesthood is not Aaronic. The order of the priesthood is that of Melchisedec.

• The wonderful thing is that our High Priest, with all the tender feelings of a Man, having learned obedience by the things which He suffered and having been perfected,
  • is, in His Person, no less than God. He lives in the power of an indissoluble life.

• So we should look for a moment at Melchisedec, and see how kingship shines, as well as priesthood, in Him. I think that is what is in mind in Psalm 110,
  • “Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet”.

  • And then, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in holy splendour”.

• As we apprehend Him at the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens, we become willing in the day of His power, in holy splendour. We come under His authority as King.

• He is the King of righteousness and the King of peace. You cannot have peace without righteousness, therefore it must be
  • “first being interpreted King of righteousness”, as it says here.

• There is only one King who has ever lived who is a King of righteousness, and that is Christ Himself.

• He is the King of righteousness, and therefore King of peace and Priest of the Most High God.

• I think you can see the order, in that way, because if you have righteousness and peace then God can have His portion.

• Thus you need kingship first, which would link with those who obey Him. So this passage says,
  • “This Melchisedec” [the word Melchisedec means king of righteousness] “King of Salem, priest of the most high God”.

• They are the titles brought in here. And if we obey Him, we come into righteousness and peace, and become available to Him as Priest of the most high God.

Verses 1-4 of Psalm 110 lead up to His priesthood. It says in verse 3.

• “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in holy splendour”;

• a beautiful expression, the service of God proceeding in holy splendour. Then, in verse 5,
  • “The Lord at thy right hand will smite through kings in the day of his anger”.

• That is future; that is the next step.

• At present, the Kingly Priest has gone in; and there is the company, still on earth actually, who belong to Him within the veil; and the service is proceeding in holy splendour.

• But soon He will assume publicly His kingly power, and He will smite through kings in the day of His anger.

J.R.H. In the meantime He drinks of the brook in the way.

T.L.S. Does His kingship mean that there is authority in the priesthood?

G.R.C. Yes, He “shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne”, Zechariah 6: 13. So it says further down,

• “For it is clear that our Lord has sprung out of Judah”, Hebrews 7: 14.

• That is, He is the King. But the particular point at the present time is that He is the Priest, He has gone in.

J.B. In John 13 where the Lord is washing His disciples’ feet He says,

• “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”, John 13: 14.

• Is that the effect it should have on us?

G.R.C. I think so. What is in mind there is “part with me”.

• He came from God and was going to God, John 13: 3. It is a question of going in. And as the chapter proceeds here it says,
  • “For such a high priest became us”, Heb. 7: 26.

• It is a remarkable statement. We have had His greatness as the High Priest displayed before us in the previous passages;

• and now there is this remarkable expression as to the saints, that such a High Priest became us. What an impression this gives us of the greatness of the saints, through divine grace!

Ques. Do we need the High Priest in order that the service might be carried on in power? There is so much in us that needs to be displaced, and infirmity may hinder us, but the High Priest takes care of that.

G.R.C. His offering of Himself has made the way in for us; He has entered in as our Forerunner. Our place is within the veil, where He is.

• But then, as you say, we are encompassed with infirmity; and He has not only endured the atoning sufferings to make the way in for us,

• but He has been through every form of pressure down here, so as to be able to sympathise with us and succour and save us completely.

• This is so that we may be free at all times to enter the holiest in order that the service of God should go on in power – a people willing in the day of His power, in holy splendour.

A.J.D. The greatness of the saints – “such a High Priest became us” – is there a connection between that and the Sanctifier and sanctified all of one?

G.R.C. “For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”.

• The service of God at its highest level is to be carried on by the saints of this dispensation.

• Such a High Priest became us, in order that that service, which is essential for the Divine glory, and to satisfy Divine affections, should go on in power.

A.J.D. We are sustained on the high level which is proper to us as having such a great High Priest.

G.R.C. “Now a summary of the things of which we are speaking is, We have such a one high priest”, Hebrews 8: 1. He is ours! We have Him!

• He “has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens”.

• Now think of that! The service of the sanctuary goes on in the presence of the throne of the greatness in the heavens.

• And we have a great High Priest who has sat down there, so that the service might be on a level which is in consonance with the throne of the greatness in the heavens.

Ques. Does the truth of His being Priest in the power of an indissoluble life involve that He imparts that life to us?

G.R.C. I do not think I would go so far as that. We do, of course, partake in His life in His glorified manhood, by the Spirit;

• but I think “indissoluble life” refers to what is intrinsic in Himself because of Who He is.

Rem. You would confine it to the Lord personally?

G.R.C. Yes. The great point for us to lay hold of is that we have such a One High Priest. We have One like that! He is ours!

• He upholds all things, of course, by the word of His power; but He is in a particular way ours to uphold us in the service. And He is sitting down
  • “on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens”,

  • and He is “minister of the holy places”.

• We have a High Priest, but God has the Minister of the holy places.

• What He is for us as Priest is to sustain us in view of His service Godward as the Minister of the holy places.

• But have we apprehended that the Minister of the holy places is sitting down?

• When Jesus came into the midst He was standing. But have we apprehended that assembly service Godward, when it reaches its full volume, is in a sitting position?

• The Minister is sitting down, and sitting down at the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens.

Ques. Why are you stressing the sitting down?

G.R.C. It suggests the remarkable dignity of the system, that the Minister is sitting down.

• Aaron never sat down; but now the Minister is sitting down, and the saints are sitting down;
  • God “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2: 6.

• Think of the dignity of the whole system! The Minister is sitting down, and the company associated with Him within is privileged to sit down in the presence of the greatness.

• It is the most marvellous thing that creatures should be brought into such a position.

• If human majesty appeared in this hall at this moment we should stand, and rightly so;

• but, in the presence of the infinite majesty of God, God has so ordered things, has so ennobled us in infinite grace, that we can sit.

Rem. This Person has brought in completion both for God and for us according to His system of glory.

G.R.C. Paul says God has made us sit down. We would not have thought of doing it. God has raised us up together, and made us sit down together.

• But one wonders how far we have apprehended the greatness of all this! The Minister is seated, and the saints are seated in the presence of infinite greatness.

A.N.W. It is the opposite of the prostration attitude you left us with this morning.

G.R.C. It is not far removed, you know, because the elders were sitting around the throne and then they prostrated themselves. It is in this restful attitude that our souls are ready for prostration, I believe.

Rem. David went in and sat before Jehovah.

G.R.C. Yet, David was beyond his dispensation.

J.R.H. Would you say sitting implies that we are set free from everything that is natural, for the moment?

G.R.C. I would. We are set at rest in the presence of the greatness, and it is a marvellous thing to consider.

Ques. In the sitting position, one of great restfulness, is there any thought of the service continuing in that restful state before God? The service goes on before God for ever.

G.R.C. Yes, Christ is sitting, and as thus seated He maintains the service.

• As to our being physically seated in the service of praise, we need to remember that a reverential attitude is always necessary.

• It is not right to speak of being in the presence of God, and yet to adopt a careless attitude which we would not adopt even in the presence of human greatness.