that
is of lasting worth in the old covenant. For the idea of the covenant is
reconciliation with God, and this is embodied and symbolised in the
high-priest, inasmuch as he alone entered within the veil on the day of
atonement. Having the high-priest in a greater Person, we have all the
blessings of the covenant restored to us in a better form. The Epistle
to the Hebrews is intended to encourage and comfort men who have lost
their all. Judaism was in its death-throes. National independence had
already ceased. When the Apostle was writing, the eagles were gathering
around the carcase. But when all is lost, all is regained if we "have"
the High-priest.

The secret of His abiding for ever is His own greatness. He is a _great_
High-priest; for He has entered into the immediate presence of God, not
through the Temple veil, but through the very heavens. In chap. viii. 1
the Apostle declares this to be the head and front of all he has said:
"We have _such_ an High-priest" as He must be "Who is set on the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." He is a great
High-priest because He is a Priest on a throne. As the representative
Man, Jesus is crowned. His glory is kingly. But the glory bestowed on
the Man as King has brought Him into the audience-chamber of God as
High-priest. The kingship of Jesus, to Whom all creation is subjected,
and Who sits above all creation, has made His priestly service
effectual. His exaltation is much more than a reward for His redemptive
sufferings. He entered the heaven of God as the sanctuary of which He is
Minister. For if He were on earth, He would not be a Priest at all,
seeing that He is not of the order of Aaron, to which the earthly
priesthood belongs according to the Law.[64] But Christ is not entered
into the holy place made with hands, but into the very heaven, now to be
manifested before the face of God for us.[65] The Apostle has said that
Christ is Son over the house of God. He is also High-priest over the
house of God, having authority over it in virtue of His priesthood for
it, and administering His priestly functions effectually through His
kingship.[66]

The entire structure of the Apostle's inferences rests on the twofold
argument of the first two chapters. Jesus Christ is a great High-priest;
that is, King and High-priest in one, because He unites in His own
person Son of God and Son of man.

One is tempted to find an intentional antithesis between the
awe-ins