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Scripture Reading: Heb. 8:1-2, 6; 9:15-17
We have a marvelous testament and a wonderful Executor. The testament is actually the whole Bible. It began as God’s speaking. Then it became His promise. Later it became His covenant. Now that everything has been accomplished through Christ’s death, it is a testament, or will, with every item of its content bequeathed to us. All the things in this will are ours.
We have a wonderful Executor to see that this will is carried out. He is God, yet He became a man. He lived on this earth and tasted all the sufferings of human life. At the end of His experience of human living, He died on the cross. By this means He dealt with our sins, overcame Satan, terminated the whole old creation, and solved all the problems. He satisfied God and met all His requirements. After three days of rest, He came forth from death and entered into resurrection. In resurrection He has uplifted humanity and has Himself become a life-giving Spirit. This is the compound, all-inclusive Spirit. This wonderful person — God and man, dead and resurrected, living forever, strong, and capable — is executing whatever is in this will for our benefit and enjoyment.
How privileged we are to live in the stage when the will is in effect and to have such a capable Executor to enforce all its provisions for us to enjoy!
The book of Hebrews tells us that Christ is our High Priest, not according to the order of Aaron but according to the order of Melchizedek (7:11-17). At the end of His human living on the earth, He acted as High Priest, offering Himself as a sacrifice to God. This earthly part of His priesthood — to offer the sacrifice for the accomplishment of redemption — is typified by Aaron, the high priest chosen by God from among His people. Now that this has been accomplished, Christ in resurrection is the heavenly High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek.
What is our heavenly Melchizedek doing? He is no longer offering sacrifices; He is now the serving One. As a minister is a serving one, supplying those whom he serves with what they need, so this Minister provides us with the heavenly supply, ministering God Himself into us.
In the account in Genesis 14:18-20, when Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings, Melchizedek, priest of God the Most High, came out to meet him with bread and wine. Melchizedek was not an offering high priest but rather a serving priest. Abraham must have been weary after battling with the kings. In his exhaustion he surely needed a supply. Christ is now doing in the heavenlies what Melchizedek did for Abraham: He serves us with a life supply for our need. There is no need for any more sacrifices; His one offering satisfied God forever (Heb. 10:12).
Christ’s heavenly priesthood is to serve us with bread and wine. Christ is also “a Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man” (8:2). The true tabernacle is the heavenly Holy of Holies, where Jesus has entered within the veil as our High Priest (6:19-20). Besides being the High Priest interceding for us and the Mediator executing the new testament, our Christ is Intercessor, Executor, and Minister. We have such a High Priest.
This service is based upon the testament. It is not groundless but, rather, firmly based. Suppose, as an illustration, there is a bank with plenty of money. I have no cash in my pocket, so I go there to get some money. Unfortunately, I have no account there, or my account has insufficient funds. My request for money has no ground. Suppose, instead, someone has deposited ten million dollars in this bank. If I go to the bank and show his signature over a request for me to be given the money, I shall have the ground to request money from his account.
All too often we approach God in our need and beg for His mercy. We shed tears and pray, “Father, how I need Your mercy! Do have mercy on me in my sad condition. I thank You that You are the merciful God.” Beseeching in this way is like going to the bank and saying to the manager, “Oh, do have mercy upon me! I am desperately in need of money. Pity me, and let me have some money to meet my bills.” Would it not be foolish to use this approach to get money from a bank? We have no ground if we plead in this way.
What is the ground on which we make our requests known to God? It is the will, the very testament that Christ has enacted and bequeathed to us. On this ground Christ is carrying out His heavenly priesthood and interceding in the heavens. We need this Executor to interrupt our begging prayers and remind us, “Why are you praying in such a pitiful way? Come to the throne boldly. Come to the bank and claim your money. Here is the will. I am your Executor. You may be young and foolish, but I am your Attorney. Who would dare cheat you? I am the Son of God, the One who died on the cross for you and who is now living in resurrection.”
How do you handle the day-to-day troubles that beset you? I am afraid that especially the sisters shed their tears and groan to the Lord. You forget the testament and the Executor. The Bible and Christ are far off. Only your tears are nearby. I have the same tendency myself. I do not shed tears, but sometimes I wonder what to do when trouble arises. Then I remember that I must look to the Lord. I call, “O Lord Jesus! Have mercy on me!” He truly is merciful. While I am calling on Him, He reminds me of the testament and of His position as my Executor and Attorney. How many times He has reminded me! Then I realize afresh that the Son of the living God, the very Christ in resurrection, is taking sides with me, is standing with me, is interceding for me, and is executing His will for me. I am strengthened. I turn from my anxiety and praise Him. Sisters, save your tears. Praise Him instead for executing the will for you.
How blessed we are to be in the Lord’s recovery! What we have heard is foreign to the ears of many of those outside. When we were in Christianity, we may have heard about Daniel’s seventy weeks, the ten horns, and the four beasts. But very little, if anything, came to us about the testament as our bequest and the living Christ as the Executor. We have seen what others have not seen. Now we are enjoying what many others have not had a way to enjoy. We do not realize how much we have been blessed.
After the interceding and the executing of the will, this very Intercessor and Executor is the Minister, bringing us whatever it is that we need and serving it to us. Here on earth I may be having trouble upon trouble. My situation causes me worry and anxiety. I cannot see any way out. This may be my case on earth. But Hallelujah, a different situation prevails in the heavens.
There the High Priest is interceding for me. The Executor is carrying out the provisions of the will. In addition, the Minister picks up the very peace I need and supplies it to me. This peace was promised to me in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” It was promised also in Philippians 4:7: “The peace of God, which surpasses every man’s understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”
When troubles come, however, I forget these promises, which have become bequests, and remember only my worries. I forget all about what has been bequeathed to me, but He does not. He comes as the life-giving Spirit indwelling my spirit. He comes as the heavenly Melchizedek, this time bringing not bread and wine but peace. This One comes to visit me. Within me, for no observable reason, I am suddenly filled with peace. The worry is gone. The anxiety has vanished. How has this change come about? I have experienced Christ’s heavenly ministry as the High Priest, as the Executor, and as the Minister.
No doubt you too have had experiences like this. In the past, however, you did not understand them. Now the light and knowledge have come to you. No trial should overcome you. You have a High Priest interceding for you. You have One executing the provisions of His will on your behalf. And you have a Servant supplying you with the right thing at the right time. In every situation that arises, this heavenly ministry is acting on your behalf. After many experiences of His care, you will gradually realize that there is no need for you to worry. Christ is there ministering in the heavens for you.
Christ is interchangeably called High Priest, Minister, and Mediator in Hebrews (8:1, 2, 6; 9:11, 15). The High Priest is the Minister, and the Minister is the Mediator. The term Executor is not explicitly used, but it is implied in chapter 9: “He is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that, death having taken place for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those who have been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, the death of him who made the testament must of necessity be established. For a testament is confirmed in the case of the dead, since it never has force when he who made the testament is living” (vv. 15-17). Christ in His death enacted the new covenant and bequeathed it to us as the new testament. After death He entered into resurrection and became the One to enforce the new testament. These four titles — High Priest, Minister, Mediator, and Executor — all refer to Christ in resurrection.
This very Christ is now the Lord in the heavens and at the same time the Spirit within us. “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). As Lord, He is in the heavens. As the Spirit, He is within us. As the One in the heavens, He is exercising His rulership, headship, and priesthood. He exercises His rulership for the spreading of the gospel so that God’s chosen people may be brought in. He exercises His headship to cause all His members to grow and function so that His Body might be built up. He exercises His priesthood to rescue us from all our troublesome entanglements by interceding, by executing the provisions of the new testament, and by serving us whatever we need; this is how He keeps us from falling. All these are His activities as Lord in the heavens.
Whatever He carries out as Lord, He applies to us as the Spirit. How are all His heavenly functions to be realized by us? Whatever He intercedes, executes, and ministers is transmitted into our spirit. As the Lord in the heavens, He is like the electricity in the power plant; as the Spirit in our spirit, He is like the electricity in this building. The Lord in the heavens and the Spirit in our spirit are one. There is a continual transmission between the heavens and our spirit so that whatever transpires there is immediately applied here.
Notice that this traffic is between the heavens and our spirit. Our mind does not count. It is our mind that causes us to worry. When the heavenly transmission comes, the wonderful reality strengthens our spirit. Then our spirit rises to shout, “Praise the Lord!” The transmission has come to our spirit, not to our mind. The Spirit in our spirit is the very One who is Lord in the heavens.
Romans 8 confirms that the One who is the Spirit is the very One who is the Lord. Verse 26 tells us that “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Then verse 34 says that Christ Jesus “is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Who is interceding for us? It is the Lord Spirit. In the heavens it is the Lord; in us it is the Spirit. The same is true of Melchizedek. There is only one Melchizedek. In the heavens He is the Lord; in our spirit He is the Spirit. Doctrinally, we have no satisfactory explanation for this twofold reality; from our experience, however, we do have the confirmation.
You may be coming back from work exhausted, wondering how you will find things at home. Unexpectedly, while you are thinking, you sense that you are supplied and strengthened. What is the source of this supply? It has come from the very Christ who is both Lord in the heavens and the Spirit within us. He is interceding for you, caring for you, and executing the new testament for you. Based upon this testament, He picks up the life supply and comes to support you with the very thing that you need. You experience Him as Lord, Spirit, High Priest, Executor, and Minister. He is also the Mediator, transmitting what you need from God the Father, who is the source, into your spirit to supply and support you.
Surely we have all experienced this heavenly ministry of Christ. How is it that we have been kept from falling all these years? I can testify that this is what has preserved me for over fifty-five years. In His earthly ministry He died for me on the cross. Now He is serving me in resurrection; this is His heavenly ministry. Its main element is the priesthood for the members of His Body. Of course, He did exercise His rulership to see that I was saved and thus brought to God. He also exercised His headship over me to cause me to grow and function and so be built up in His Body. But mostly it has been His priesthood, which He has exercised again and again to preserve me. Hallelujah for our heavenly High Priest! We have been sustained, preserved, and supplied by His interceding, His executing the testament, and His ministering to us what we have needed. I have had no lack. A rich life supply has been my portion.
His preserving and sustaining of us are fully wrapped up with His priesthood, which is based upon the will. The will is in our hand, and this High Priest is both in the heavens and in us. In the heavens He is the Lord. In us He is the Spirit. This Lord Spirit constantly ministers the life supply to us. The supply that comes to us is heavenly, because heaven is its source. Our High Priest is ministering to us in the true tabernacle, the heavenly Holy of Holies, which is joined to our spirit by Him as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51). By His ministering to us the heavenly supply, He is making us a heavenly people. We are a people on this earth living a heavenly life.
