OUR calling is not from Egypt to Canaan, but from this present evil world to the presence of God and the Lamb in heavenly places. We are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We are purchased, made nigh to God, sanctified by the blood of the Son of God. He died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Our promised inheritance, therefore, is not “a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates....a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass,” (Deut. 8:8, 98A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. (Deuteronomy 8:8‑9)) but “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”― “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven.” (2 Cor. 4:1 Pet. 1:44To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).)
The SACRIFICE by which we approach God is not that of bulls and goats, which can never put away sin, but the sacrifice of Christ, which is so everlastingly efficacious as to purge our conscience, and to give us boldness with confidence in coming into the presence of God. We enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. It was the Lord from heaven, the Lord of Glory, Jehovah’s Shepherd, the Fellow of the Lord of hosts, the Son of man, the man Christ Jesus who alone could and did put away sin; and this He did by the sacrifice of Himself.
Our HIGH PRIEST also, is not like Aaron, made after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. He, therefore, continueth forever, having an unchangeable priesthood. He is consecrated for evermore by the oath of God, a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man; He is a Mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises. He hath entered into heaven itself by His own blood, now to appear in the presence of God for us; thus He perpetually presents to God that one offering by which He Lath perfected us forever. Hence “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by HIM, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” No other priest could sit down; for he never finished the work, but was offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which could never take away sins. But so perfectly finished was the redemption-work of Christ, so eternal in its efficacy, that after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God.
God’s testimony to the finished work of Christ was not only in raising Him from the dead, but when Jesus offered Himself and died upon the tree, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Prior to this, no one could enter into the Holiest (the place of nearness to God), under penalty of death (except the High Priest once a year with blood and incense); but the finished work of Christ so purged our sins, and satisfied divine justice, that the rent veil sheaved that the believer could now come at once into God’s holy presence, on the ground of what Christ had done. The Holy Spirit now bears witness, in the heart and conscience of believers, to God’s estimate of Christ’s work, declaring, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” and, by Christ, gives us access unto the Father.
“By Him, our Sacrifice and Priest,
We enter through the veil.”
Further: we were quickened, when dead in trespasses and sins, and have passed from death unto life. We have been delivered from the power of darkness, and have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. So that we are not now viewed as standing in the first Adam, but God, who is rich in mercy, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, to the praise of the glory of His own grace. It is in Christ, who is at the right hand of God, then, that we now stand. “God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” We may not always realize and enjoy this, nevertheless, the fact remains unaltered, that “our old man is crucified with Christ,” and that we “are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power.” God has already accomplished this for us in a crucified and risen Saviour. “We are members of His body, His flesh, and His bones.” Careless walk will grieve the Holy Spirit, and hinder our joyful apprehension of this wondrous grace; still, Christ is the Righteousness, Life, Forerunner, and Great High Priest, now in the heavenlies, for “all that come unto God by Him.” “As He is, so are we in this world.” “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” So that the believer may well sing,
“Jesus hath lov’d me,
I cannot tell why;
But this I can find,
We two are so join’d,
He’ll not be in glory
And leave me behind.”
Our dwelling-place, therefore, through faith, is in heaven. We now know Christ in God’s presence for us; as the Apostle says, “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Our true riches, honor, life, treasure, and fullness of blessing, are in heaven, and there our affections should be. “We are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,” and “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with Him in glory.” In reference to the world, we look for its terrible and just judgments, but our hope, our blessed hope is, that Christ will come from heaven, and take us unto Himself. All our obligations are heavenward; we are not debtors to the flesh; neither have we life, or peace, or righteousness from the world; but Christ gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus known in power upon our souls, will alone enable us to abide in heavenly places, to show forth heavenly-mindedness, and to know that all our resources of wisdom, honor, joy, and blessing, are in Christ. Thus realizing that we have died unto sin, and are crucified to the world, that our life is hid with Christ in God, we shall be able to say, “Our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, and fashion it like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” (Phil. 3:20, 2120For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20‑21).)