Continued…
CHAPTER XII
PERFECTION
Again it is written:
“The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had
no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance
again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins.” Hebrews 10:1-4.
This again shows
that though perfection was the aim in all the ministry that was performed under
the law, yet perfection was not attained by any of those performances.
They were all simply
figures for the time then present of the ministry and priesthood by which
perfection is attained; that is the ministry and priesthood of Christ.
Those sacrifices
could not make the comers thereunto perfect. The true sacrifice and the true
ministry in “the sanctuary and the true tabernacle” do make the comers
thereunto perfect: and this perfection consists in the worshipers having “no
more conscience of sins.” But since it is “not possible” for the blood of bulls
and goats to take away sins, it was not possible, though those sacrifices were
offered year by year continually, so to purge the worshipers that they should
have no more conscience of sins. The blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes
of an heifer sprinkling the unclean could and did sanctify to the purifying of
the flesh, but of the flesh only. And even this was “but a figure for the time
then present” of “the blood of Christ,” which so much more purges the
worshipers that they have no more conscience of sins.
“Wherefore when He
cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a
body hast Thou prepared Me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast
had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come … to do Thy will, O God. Above when he
said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou
wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
He may establish the second.” Hebrews 10:5-9.
Here are mentioned
two things: “the first,” and “the second.” What are these two things? Which is
“the first,” and which “the second”? The two things mentioned are sacrifice,
offering, burnt offerings, and offering for sin—all as one—and the will of God.
Sacrifice, offering,
burnt offerings, and offering for sin—all as one—are “the first,” and “the will
of God” is “the second.”
“He taketh away the
first that He may establish the second.” That is, He “taketh away sacrifice,
offering, burnt offerings, and offering for sin, that He may establish the will
of God. And the will of God is “even your sanctification” and your perfection.
1 Thessalonians 4:3; Matthew 5:48; Ephesians 4:8, 12, 13; Heb. 13:20, 21.
1Th 4:3 For
this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from
fornication
Mat 5:48 Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Eph 4:8
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:12 For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ
Heb 13:20 Now
the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Heb 13:21 Make
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is
wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
But this could never
be accomplished by those sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and offering
for sin which were offered by the Levitical priesthood—they could not make the
comers thereunto perfect. They could not so purge the worshipers that they should
have no more conscience of sin. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sin. Therefore, since the will of God is the
sanctification and the perfection of the worshipers; since the will of God is
that His worshipers shall be so cleansed that they shall have no more
conscience of sin; and since the service and the offerings in that earthly
sanctuary could not do this, He took it all away that He may establish the will
of God.
“By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for
all.” The will of God is “even your sanctification.”
Sanctification is
the true keeping of all the commandments of God.
In other words, this
is to say that the will of God concerning man is that His will shall be
perfectly fulfilled in man. His will is expressed in His law of ten
commandments, which is “the whole duty of man.”
This law is perfect,
and perfect- ion of character is the perfect expression of this law in the life
of the worshiper of God. By this law is the knowledge of sin. And all have
sinned and have come short of the glory of God; have come short of this perfection
of character. The sacrifices and the service in the earthly sanctuary could not
take away the sins of men and so could not bring them to this perfection. But
the sacrifice and the ministry of the true High Priest in the sanctuary and the
true tabernacle do accomplish this. This does take away utterly every sin.
And the worshiper is
so truly purged that he has no more conscience of sins. By the sacrifice, the
offering, and the service of Himself, Christ took away the sacrifices and the
offerings and the service which could never take away sins, and by His perfect
doing of the perfect will of God He established the will of God. “By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all.” Hebrews 10:10.
In that former
earthly sanctuary and service, “every priest standeth daily ministering and
offering
oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” But in the service in the
sanctuary and the true tabernacle, “this Man, after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth
expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:11-14.
Thus perfection in
every respect is attained through the priesthood, the sacrifice, and the
service of this our great High Priest at the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens in His ministry in the sanctuary and the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
“Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to
us: for after that He had said before, this is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin.” Hebrews 10:15-18.
And this is the “new
and living way” which Christ, through the flesh, “hath consecrated for us”—for
all mankind—and by which every soul may enter into the holiest of all—the
holiest of all places, the holiest of all experiences, the holiest of all
relationships the holiest of all living. This new and living way He “hath
consecrated for us through the flesh;” that is, He, coming in the flesh,
identifying Himself with mankind in the flesh, has, for us who are in this
flesh, consecrated a way from where we are to where He now is, at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens in the holiest of all. In His
coming in the flesh—having been made in all things like unto us and having been
tempted in all points like as we are—He has identified Himself with every human
soul just where that soul is. And from the place where every human soul is, He
has consecrated for that soul a new and living way through all the vicissitudes
and experiences of a whole lifetime, and even through death and the tomb, into
the holiest of all at the right hand of God for evermore.
O that consecrated
way!
Consecrated by His
temptations and sufferings, by His prayers and tears, by His holy living and
sacrificial dying, by His triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension, and
by His triumphal entry into the holiest of all, at the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in the heavens! And this “way” He has consecrated for us.
He, having become one of us, has made this way
our way; it belongs to us.
He has endowed every
soul with divine right to walk in this consecrated way; and by His having done
it Himself in the flesh—in our flesh—He has made it possible, yea, He has given
actual assurance, that every human soul can walk in that way, in all that that
way is and by it enter fully and freely into the holiest of all.
He, as one of us, in
our human nature, weak as we, laden with the sins of the world, in our sinful
flesh, in this world, a whole lifetime, lived a life “holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners,” and “was made” and ascended “higher than the
heavens.” And by this He has made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every
believer can in this world, and for a whole lifetime, live a life holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and as a consequence be made with
Him higher than the heavens.
Perfection,
perfection of character, is the Christian goal—perfection attained in human
flesh in this world.
Christ attained it
in human flesh in this world and thus made and consecrated a way by which, in
Him, every believer can attain it. He, having attained it, has become our great
High Priest, by His priestly ministry in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain.
Perfection is the Christian’s goal, and the High Priesthood and ministry of
Christ in the true sanctuary is the only way by which any soul can attain this
true goal in this world. “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary.” Psalm 77:13.
“Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to
say, His flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” And “Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that
promised.” “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that
burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound
of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them any more. … But ye are come unto
Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to
the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that
of Abel.” O, then, “see that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.” Hebrews 12:18-25.
The Consecrated Way
— Alonzo Jones
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