Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

TENTING TOWARD SODOM
uttermost them that draw near unto God through him”
(Heb. 7:24-21) ; He alone “ever liveth to make interces-
sion for” His saints, This authority is His by virtue of
WHO HE IS, The Living One: He who is alive for ever-
more; He is without beginning or end (Rev. 1:1, 4, 8,
17-18; John 8:58), and therefore His power is that of an
endless life (Heb. 7: 16). While in the flesh He exercised
this moral power as He saw fit (cf. Luke 5:17-26, 23:39-
43); now that He is Acting Sovereign of the universe
and Absolute Monarch of the Kingdom of God, He alone
has the right to intercede for His people at the Right
Hand of God the Father (Mark 16:19, 14:62; Luke 22:69;
Acts 2:33, 5:31, 7:11; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20-23; Heb.
1:3, 8:1, 10:12, 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22). All authority (moral
power) has been given unto Him in heaven and on earth
(Matt. 28:18); and He must reign until He has put all
His enemies, including death itself, under His feet for ever
(1 Cor, 15:20-23, Phil. 2:9-11; 2 Cor. 5:4).
2. The true priest must be characterized by purity.
This fact manifests itself in our desire for the prayers of
a good man in times of trouble; even a dying man would
summon all his energies to spurn the prayer of a hypocrite
offered in his behalf; such a prayer is an abomination to
God and to man (Jas. 5:16; Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:46-49;
John 15:16; Col. 3:17). “A preacher is not a priest,
except as every Christian man is a priest; but he is called
upon to discharge certain priestly functions, to comfort
the sorrowful, support the weak, pray with the dying; and
the demand for his personal purity is as righteous as it is
instinctive and universal.” The Jewish high priest wore
on his forehead a plate of pure gold, on which was en-
graved, “Holiness to the Lord,” God thus affirming the
holiness of his ministry.
Now our High Priest alone meets this demand for
personal purity. Heb. 7:26--“Such a high priest became
us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and
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