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In the previous messages we have seen that according to the book of Hebrews, Christ is the One superior to the angels both as the Son of God and the Son of Man (chs. 1—2); He is the One superior to Moses as an Apostle worthy of more glory and honor (ch. 3); and He is the One superior to Aaron as a High Priest according to the order of Mechizedek (chs. 4—7). In this message we will see that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the Forerunner.
Hebrews 6:19-20 reveals that Christ is our Forerunner. The Lord Jesus as the Forerunner has entered “within the veil” for us, “having become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Verses 19 and 20 do not say that Jesus has entered the heavens; rather, they say that He has entered within the veil, that is, within the Holy of Holies. This indicates that today, the place where Jesus is, is the Holy of Holies. According to the Old Testament type of the tabernacle, God dwelt in the Holy of Holies. The Lord Jesus entered the heavens, which are today the Holy of Holies within the veil, to be a High Priest for us according to the order of Melchizedek. In the ministry of His priesthood, Christ is ministering to us all the divine riches in the heavenly atmosphere.
In Hebrews 6 all the believers are encouraged to go on to reach maturity (v. 1), that is, to go on to the heavenly ministry of Christ in the Holy of Holies in the heavens. To go on to this ministry, we must learn how to follow the Pioneer, the Christ who has become the Forerunner within the veil. In order to go on to this heavenly ministry, we have to enter the veil.
As the Forerunner, the Lord Jesus took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and enter the heavenly haven to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchizedek. As such a Forerunner, He is the Author of our salvation (2:10). As the Forerunner, He cut the way to glory, and as the Author, He entered into glory.
The Lord Jesus is the Forerunner, the Pioneer, who has cut the way into glory within the veil. To be within the veil is to be in glory. As our Forerunner, our Pioneer, Christ cut the way into glory and is now in glory. We are all running in God’s race, and the man Jesus Christ is our Forerunner in this race. He has run the race, becoming the first to reach the goal. He was the first to enter within the veil, where He is now waiting for us. We need to experience Christ as the Forerunner and follow Him to run the race.
The Lord as the Pioneer and Forerunner is the example, the model, of a person who has entered into God’s glory. He suffered and entered into glory (Luke 24:26; 1 Pet. 1:11). The glory into which Christ entered is the full expression of God. When the Lord was in the flesh, God was concealed within Him. Within Him was the seed of the divine glory. In Jesus, the Nazarene with blood and flesh, was the seed of God’s divine glory, but this glory was concealed within Him just as the glory of a carnation is concealed within the carnation seed. When the carnation seed falls into the earth, dies, and grows until it reaches the stage of blossoming, the carnation seed is brought into glory. Jesus was such a seed. He fell into the earth, died, and grew up (John 12:23-24). By His growing up, His whole being, including His humanity and His human nature, was brought into the glorious expression of God. That was His glory. The Lord suffered death and entered into the glory, into the full expression of the Divine Being. After His resurrection, He was God’s glorious expression. That was the glory into which He entered. He is the example, the model, because He was the first One who pioneered into glory, the One who paved the way.
This Pioneer, this Forerunner, entered within the veil. The veil is that which separates us from God’s expression. By passing through death, Jesus entered within the veil. There within the veil is nothing but the expression of God. He is there now in glory. There is a man in the glory. This means that there is a man in God’s expression. Even more, there is a man who is God’s expression, a man who is God’s glory.
This wonderful man Jesus, who is the model, example, Forerunner, Pioneer, and Captain, one day entered into us. We might have been unconscious of it, but He entered into us. Who is this Jesus who has come into us? He is not only the Savior — He is the One who took the lead to run the race into glory, the One who has entered into the full expression of God, the One who, even today, is this full expression of God. This Jesus, who is God’s expression, the effulgence of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3), is the Jesus who has come into us. Therefore, Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
This glory is still a hope to us because it has not yet come out of us. Once we sow a carnation seed into the earth, we have the hope of its blossoming. Although we cannot see it blossoming yet, we believe that it will blossom. Christ within us is the hope of glory. Since the seed of glory has been sown into us, we all hope to see it blossoming.
On the one hand, this wonderful One is within the veil, dwelling there in the expression of God and as the expression of God. On the other hand, He has come into us and is now within us. He does not have to leave the glory in order to come into us. While He is within the veil and within us, He is ministering from there to here. He entered within the veil as the Pioneer, the Forerunner, entering into the glory which is the full, glorious expression of the Divine Being. Now He is in glory as the Captain of our salvation. One day this Captain of salvation came into us, but in His coming into us He never left the glory. Rather, He brought the glory into us. He came into us, and the glory came with Him. In other words, the Captain of salvation came into us to be the seed of glory. Now we all have this seed of glory within us. He took the lead to pioneer the way into glory. Since He was the first to enter into glory, He, as our Forerunner, is fully qualified to be the Captain of our salvation.
Hebrews 6:18 speaks of having “fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” The Greek word translated “have fled for refuge” means to flee intensively; it refers to an intensified fleeing. In order to enter into the Holy of Holies within the veil, the Lord Jesus fled everything. He fled His mother, His brothers, and Judaism and entered within the veil (Matt. 12:46-50). He fled everything to enter into the presence of God within the veil, where we anchor our hope with full assurance (11, Heb. 6:19).
Today, like our Forerunner, we need to flee into the Holy of Holies within the veil, that is, into our spirit. Instead of staying in our staggering soul and our wandering mind, we need to flee into our spirit. We must flee whatever situation we are in. Every situation is a stormy sea, for it can hold us back, keeping us from entering into today’s rest. Consider the type of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. Although approximately two million came out of Egypt, only two of them entered into the rest. All the others were distracted. We face the same possibility today. There is not one thing which cannot hold us back. We must flee everything into the Holy of Holies where our Forerunner, Jesus Christ, has entered within the veil. This is what it means to run the race.
We should flee from our disposition, our views, and our thoughts into the Holy of Holies. If we do not flee, we will be under the hand of the devil. Our Forerunner has already entered into the Holy of Holies. Today we all need to flee to the Holy of Holies, to the presence of God. We must flee until we have nothing else to flee from, until we are directly touching God and are face to face with Him. In this way we will be with God in the Holy of Holies, and there will be no need for us to flee anymore.
After showing that the heavenly Christ is within the veil, the book of Hebrews encourages us to enter within the veil (10:19-20, 22). Within the veil, we can look away unto Him (12:2) and consider Him (3:1; 12:3). We need to have direct contact with Him. Since He is within the veil, we also must enter within the veil so that we may see Him, look at Him, and consider Him in order to receive His transfusion and infusion. To enter within the veil means to enter into the Holy of Holies, where the Lord is enthroned in glory. Hence, we must be in our spirit, where, experientially speaking, the practical Holy of Holies is today. To enter within the veil is to enter into our spirit. When we turn to our spirit and exercise it, we enter within the veil (1 Tim. 4:7-8). We must exercise our spirit in order that we may enter within the veil to have direct contact with the heavenly Christ, the man in the glory, beholding Him to be transfused and infused with Him so that we may become His corporate reproduction. Moreover, to be within the veil is to be in the Holy of Holies, a realm where we partake of Christ and enjoy Him as the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life, issuing in God’s corporate expression for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose (Heb. 9:3-4).
In Hebrews 6:20 we are told that as the Forerunner, Christ has entered within the veil, “having become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Bible reveals two orders of the priesthood: the order according to Aaron and the order according to Melchizedek. The order of priests according to Aaron was a matter of man bringing his needs to God, because these priests were chosen from among men. By contrast, the order according to Melchizedek was a matter of coming from God to man, imparting God to man. The order of Melchizedek is revealed in Genesis 14:18-20, where we see that Melchizedek came from God with bread and wine to meet and bless Abraham who had fought in battle for God.
There are two directions, a “two-way traffic,” in these two orders of the priesthood. In the first order the direction is from man to God, and in the second it is from God to man. Christ as our great High Priest has these two orders with two directions. He is the High Priest according to the order of Aaron and also the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. On the one hand, according to the order of Aaron, Christ as the Son of Man was chosen from among men to go to God with all the needs of man. On the other hand, according to the order of Melchizedek, Christ as the Son of God came from God to impart God into us and bless us with God.
As the Forerunner, the Lord Jesus is now within the veil, in the Holy of Holies in heaven. His purifying of sins is typified by the work of Aaron, whereas His sitting down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3) is according to the order of Melchizedek (Psa. 110:1, 4). His work on the cross on earth, typified by the work of Aaron, affords us forgiveness of sins. His ministry on the throne in heaven ministers to us the overcoming of sin. His cross delivered us out of Egypt; His throne brings us into Canaan. We participated in His work on the cross. Now we need to press on to enter into the enjoyment of His ministry on the throne. We need to enter into the full participation in His priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek. If we do this, we will have a complete overcoming of sin, and sin will be absolutely under our feet. We will be in the Holy of Holies, having nothing to do with sin but continually enjoying grace.
As our High Priest, the heavenly Christ is not according to the order of Aaron but according to the order of Melchizedek. We need to be occupied with the present Melchizedek. Melchizedek is not a High Priest for the purpose of offering sacrifices to God for our sins but for ministering the processed God as grace into us. Now sin is over, and grace is here. Sin has gone, and the enjoyment of God has come. It is no longer a matter of offering sacrifices for sin but rather a matter of ministering bread and wine for our enjoyment.
The book of Hebrews reveals that although Christ completed His redemptive work, He is very active as our High Priest, ministering Himself into us as the processed bread and wine for our daily supply. This is why today the heavenly Christ is a High Priest not according to the order of Aaron but according to the order of Melchizedek. Today Christ on the throne is not the sacrifice-offering High Priest; He is the bread-and-wine-ministering High Priest. First, we need Christ’s priesthood as typified by Aaron to offer the sacrifices for sin. Then we need His priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek to minister the life supply to us.
Having the processed God ministered into us as our supply fulfills God’s eternal purpose. However, offering the sacrifices for sin is merely to deal with the negative situation. God’s original purpose was not to redeem us; it was to impart and work Himself into us. Since we became fallen, He had to rescue us, redeem us, and reconcile us to God. Whereas this is the function of His priesthood, as typified by Aaron, His priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is for God’s original purpose. If we had not fallen, we would not have needed the priesthood typified by Aaron, but we would still need Christ’s priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek to minister God into us. Most Christians know only Christ’s priesthood as typified by the priesthood of Aaron for reconciliation. But according to Hebrews, Christ as our High Priest is not mainly the One who offers the sacrifice for sin, but the One who ministers into us the processed God as the bread and wine.
It is significant that when Melchizedek met Abraham, he ministered to Abraham, the one who fought for God’s interests, the bread and wine as the life supply from God. Likewise, Christ as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek is supplying the divine elements as bread and wine to us who are today’s fighters for God’s interests on earth.
In Hebrews 4:14 we are told that we have “a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,” and in verse 16 we are told to “come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.” When we come to chapter 5, we see that the High Priest whom we meet at the throne of grace is not a priest typified by the order of Aaron but a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, ministering to us the bread and wine as our supply. Today we can come to the throne of grace and enjoy such a positive High Priest ministering the bread and wine. Instead of trying to be a success by our own effort, we simply need to come forward to the throne of grace and touch our High Priest who ministers to us bread and wine. This is the best meal. As much as we need a physical breakfast every day, we also should enjoy Christ as our breakfast every morning. The best dining table is the throne of grace where we enjoy Christ in such a positive way. Christ is our Melchizedek today. How we need to come forward to the throne of grace to Him, the One who ministers the bread and wine!
