At the close of Luke, the Lord takes the disciples forth from Jerusalem, and walks on with them till He reaches Bethany, the place which had already witnessed resurrection. (John 11) There He ended His walk, and having lifted up His hands and blessed them, He was parted from them and taken up into heaven.
There is a moral beauty in the ascension taking place at the spot which had already (as has been observed by others) witnessed resurrection. The blessing, too, at the moment of the parting, is full of meaning. It tells us that it is blessing which now remains to us as the fruit of his death and resurrection; and it tells us also, that to bless us still, is His care and business in the heavens to which He has now ascended.
But there is more. After the Lord had left them, as we further see in Luke 24, the disciples return from Bethany to Jerusalem, but it is to find it a kind of New Jerusalem. They do not require it as a city of solemnities and ordinances, and legal appointments; but to us it is as a temple of praise, and fill it with sacrifices of joy and thanksgiving. “They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.” This is very beautiful, and this ought to give us our character as a people who are ever living in the fresh joy and liberty which the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus inspire. We ought to be saints of that order, worshippers who have been at Bethany with a risen Jesus, and there seen His ascension as the purger of our sins, up to the highest place in heaven, and this will be confirmed to us when we read other New Testament Scriptures.
When we go from the closing verses of Luke to the Epistle of the Hebrews, we find there that the Holy Spirit is leading us to a sanctuary of praise, a temple of peace offerings and burnt offerings, which the accomplished and accepted work of Christ has erected for us in the present dispensation. And I would trace this for a little moment or two.
We learn from Heb. 13:1010We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. (Hebrews 13:10), that we have an altar whereof we are to eat. Now it is simple and natural to read this as insinuating a peace-offering; because that was the only offering of which the offerer himself partook. (See Lev. 1-7) But this again intimates that the sin-offering had already been accepted, because the worshipper with a peace-offering must be clean. (See Lev. 7:2020But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. (Leviticus 7:20)). It was the expression of communion, and in that place, and in that relationship to God. He must be clean, fit for the divine presence, by the justification and acceptance of his person, through a sacrifice for sin already accomplished.
This being the intimation of chapter 13:10 in the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is deeply interesting to go back to the earlier parts of it, and discover that a feast upon, or after a sacrifice, has been spread out before us there, and we are called to sit and eat of it. I mean this in the whole argument of the Epistle, from chapter 1 to chapter 10 the glories of the Lord Jesus now in heaven, after the sacrifice of Himself here for our sins, are shown us; and as they pass before us one after another, we are exhorted to enjoy the sight of them. This is surely the spreading a table for us, or the setting of us at a feast upon a sacrifice; or, as I may express it, a calling of us to the altar in God’s house with a peace offering. And now, according to all this, we are told at the end of chapter 13:10, that we have this feast, that we are at this altar, and we are warned not to leave it for any service inconsistent with it. This is the conclusion drawn from the previous teaching, and all this gives a beautiful character to the whole Epistle.
In connection with this, or rather in company and furtherance of it, I would look at the earlier part of the Epistle, in the light of which I have now referred to it, as showing us a feast upon a sacrifice.
Chapter 1. —In this chapter the Lord is declared to be seated in the high heavens, in personal and official excellency above angels, as the result of His having here on earth purged our sins; and we are exhorted to listen, to Him while speaking to us from that place, and in that character. Will it not, I ask, be meat and drink to our souls if we do so? Shall we not be sitting at the feast upon a sacrifice?
Chapter 2. —Here He is shown to us as crowned with glory and honor waiting for the Headship, and all this because He has already gone through humiliation. and suffering for us, and we are told that “we see” Him there. May I not again ask is not this a feast upon a sacrifice? What less is the sight of such a one in such a place and condition. We see the One who died for us glorified. Yea, because He died for us
Chapter 5.-7. —In these chapters the same Lord Jesus is presented to us as the High Priest of our profession, so constituted on the ground of His wrought-out salvation for us, on the fact that He made Himself the author of such salvation by His sufferings, perfected by death. And we are told to use Him in this character, for He is just the One we need. Surely this is but another part of the same altar feast, at which the saints of God in this gospel day by grace are seated.
Chapter 8. —Here again His glory, though in another form of it appears before us. But still as the One who has accomplished the remission of sins He is declared to be now in the heavens, the Mediator of the New Covenant which speaks of grace, and of His doings for us, and of nothing else; and we are taught to know that it is in this Covenant we are interested, and we are counseled no more to deal with. the old Covenant, under which, indeed, we are condemned. Again, I say, this is of the same character. If we do as we are here taught to do, our souls will still be feeding upon a sacrifice.
Chapter 9., 10. —Here in these chapters, closing as they do the doctrinal part of this wondrous Epistle, we learn that the altar of sin offering has been forever satisfied, that the one offering of Himself by the Christ of God has answered all its demands; it will never look for another victim. The Lamb is in glory upon the accomplishment of atonement, and we are sanctified and perfected forever. And the word of command to us is this, to be true to this great fact, and with boldness to enter into the holiest—the divine presence, on the title of it.
This is truly the crowning and finishing of all this story of mysterious grace. This is not only spreading the feast for us, but setting us in perfect ease at the feast; telling us to be of good courage and of animated hearts because of thoroughly relieved consciences, in the full brightness of the divine presence. Thus we may surely say, we have reached the altar of the present temple of God, as an altar of peace offerings. We have communion with God in full peace of soul, because of reconciliation through the offering of Him who was made sin for us.
But we are also ministering at the altar of burnt offering, as after the day of atonement. To exhibit this, we may again look at the Epistle to the Hebrews, as we have already traced it. I may now call to mind that in every light in which the Lord Jesus is seen in the course of that divine writing, He appears as the One who has put away sin. Every sight that we get of Him there, is as the Ascended One, crowned with glory and honor. He is seen in excellency above angels in expectation of His enemies being made His footstool. And then in the prospect of the Lordship of all things, as the victorious Deliverer of sinners from the fear of death, as Mediator of the new Covenant, as one who has been welcomed to the highest seat of heaven, as the Doer of God’s will here on earth, in behalf of us sinners. As the Great High Priest of the sanctuary which God Himself has built in the heavens. All this constitutes a coronation with glory and honor. “Many crowns are on His head,” as we sometimes sing together. But each of them tells us that it is because He has made atonement, and put away sin forever.
This is so as we have before largely seen. The Lord Jesus is not now girded with the simple white linen garments, the symbols of holiness and humiliation, to go through atoning after the pattern of Aaron at the beginning of the mystic 13th day of the 7th month. (Lev. 16:44He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. (Leviticus 16:4)) But in Priestly robes of glory and beauty, after the pattern of Aaron at the end of that wondrous day, celebrating as in Heaven the accomplishment of reconciliation. (Lev. 16:23, 2423And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 24And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. (Leviticus 16:23‑24)) We see Him as after the day of atonement, and not as going through it. And on this depends the different services of the two ages; the Legal or Mosaic and Evangelic. In the former, atonement was foreshadowed; in the latter it is celebrated. Sin was present then. Had in remembrance afresh every year. Now, it is put out of sight, and gone forever. Services in the temple were then typical of atonement; now, they are commemorative of it. The only thing which now remains to be done of all the earthly services of the 10th day of the 7th month, as we read them in Lev. 16, is the offering of the burnt-offering, which was done at the end of that day. Because the blood of the true sacrifice for sin has been accepted in heaven. In Levitical language it has been sprinkled on the mercy-seat in the Holiest; it has been applied by faith to the conscience of the sinner; the resurrection, too, like the dismissal of the scape-goat, has published the putting away of sin forever. Yea, moreover, the body o;’ the victim has been burned without the camp—Jesus is rejected by the world-and thus nothing remains but the offering of the burnt-offering; the rendering to God, the God of salvation, an act of worship and thanksgiving, on the ground of perfected atonement. Therefore, we read, in this same Epistle, and in the same place of it, this fine allusion to the day of atonement and to the offering of burnt-offering which closed it. “For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin, are burnt without the camp; wherefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate; let us go forth, therefore, unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him let us, therefore, offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks, to His name.” (Chapter 13:11-15) Thus in v. 15, this Epistle sets us at the altar with a burnt-offering, at the end of the day of atonement; as in v. 10, the same chapter, had set us at the altar with a peace-offering. And we are commanded, or invited, to offer the sacrifice of praise continually, and to give thanks to His name. And this is the temple-service which we saw the disciples rendering in Luke 24, after they had returned from Bethany to Jerusalem.
What rich present fruit to the soul from the work of Christ, or from the cross and resurrection! Being near Him with a peace-offering, in the enjoyment of communion. Being before Him with a burnt-offering, in the character of a worshipper!
Surely the sequel is easily weighed. The Epistle to the Hebrews erects an altar, not to receive a sin offering; but where the believer may appear with his peace-offering as in communion; and with his burnt-offering as a worshipper!