rifice just
as he had done before the change. And now a priest under the Christian
dispensation can not offer acceptable worship as did either the Jew or
the patriarch. The worship that once brought to one the divine blessing
would now bring upon him a curse. How strange it is, then, that the
denominational world in large measure go back to a different priesthood
for their ideas of religion and salvation.

Under the law the kings and the priests were of two distinct tribes.
These were of the tribe of Levi; those of the tribe of Judah. Hence it
is written: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver
from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the
gathering of the people be." Christ was of the tribe of Judah; hence
He, like Melchisedec, is both priest and king. He could not be a priest
of the Aaronic order, for he was of a different tribe--a tribe of which
Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. Hence all the efforts to
make Him a priest of that kind are refuted by that simple fact. Many
insist that Christ was inducted into His priestly office at His
baptism, and many vain speculations are based thereon. But this can not
be. Christ was not a priest while He was on the earth, says Paul in
these words: "Now, if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all,
seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law" (Heb.
viii. 4). He could not be a priest on earth, because the Aaronic
priesthood was then in force, and He was not of the Aaronic family.
Since He could not be a priest while on earth, it is folly to talk of
His becoming a priest at His baptism. He could not become a priest till
the law of the priesthood was changed, and that was not changed till
after His death. The Aaronic priesthood was in full force till His
death. He was made high priest, not by the legal ritual, but by the
oath of God; and this oath was "_after the law_," not while it was in
force. The law continued till His death, hence it was after His death
that He was made high priest by the oath of God. He was a sacrifice
when He died, not a priest. He could not be priest and sacrifice at the
same time. After His ascension He, as high priest, made atonement with
His own blood which He shed as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Hence a number of facts show the utter folly of claiming that He was a
priest among men.

It is through Christ as high priest that we worship God. We can worship
acceptably in