Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

THE GOSPEL IN THE MOSAIC ECONOMY —The Perfect High Priestby Pastor Stuart Fowler,of The People's Church, Macleod,Victoria, AustraliaThe High Priest under the Levitical order wasbounded by ceremonial restrictions and precepts clearlydesigned to signify his separation from all defilement.He must be physically perfect, without blemish; hemust marry none but a pure virgin of pure Hebrewdescent; he must not defile himself by contact with thedead, not even for his own father or mother; he must notparticipate in any way in the customary practicesassociated with mourning; in short, ceremonially he wasto be distinguished by a purity and holiness above allothers (Lev. 21:10-24).SPECIAL PREPARATIONYet, when he came to perform the ritual of the Dayof Atonement this purity was not deemed sufficient. Forthat occasion he was required to "bathe his flesh in water"before putting on the holy garments. This was an unusualprovision. In the everyday ritual of the sanctuary thepriest was required to wash his hands and feet beforeofficiating, but this washing of the High Priest on the Dayof Atonement included his whole body, and not only hishands and feet (Lev. 8:6, 7; 16:4).Further, before he was considered fit to begin hisministry on that day he must offer a sin offering forhimself and his house. Normally the sin offering was usedwhen there was specific sin that required cleansing. Forthe High Priest on the Day of Atonement a sin offeringwas required regardless of any knowledge of specific sin.Only after this had been offered was he fit to proceed withthe priestly ministry of that solemn day (Lev. 16:6, 11-15).Thus, as plainly as it was possible to do so with aninherently sinful creature, the ritual of the Day ofAtonement set forth the necessity of the priest who shouldmake atonement for the people being himself without sin.Only by means of a priesthood free of all the defilementsresulting from sin could man's sin be atoned.We deliberately refrain from speaking of the HighPriest being represented to Israel on the Day ofAtonement as sinless. We prefer to speak of his absoluteceremonial purity, since he was, by nature, a child ofAdam sharing the common guilt and corruption of Adam'srace which could never be purged by any amount ofceremonial cleansing. However, this absolute ceremonialpurity of the High Priest was sufficient to convey to everybelieving Israelite the essential truth that sin can be takenaway only by the mediation of a priest who is himselfwithout sin.8Doubtless the precise manner in which God shouldultimately accomplish what was thus plainly revealed inthe shadows of the Levitical ritual was not altogetherclear, yet, there can be no doubt that every Old Testamentbeliever knew, by faith, that God would make just suchprovision as He showed was needed. To us it is plain thatthis high Divine requirement for the High Priest,foreshadowed in Aaron, has met its perfect fulfillment inour Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of ourprofession.ABSOLUTELY SINLESSIt is an essential part of His qualification to be ourHigh Priest that He is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separatefrom sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (Heb.7:26). If we would not destroy the very foundations of oursalvation it is essential that we maintain undiluted thisconfession as to the absolute sinlessness of our Lord.To have any real redemptive meaning our confessionmust go beyond the mere external fact that theChrist did not sin. We can do justice to the Scripturalevidence only by maintaining that sin was utterly contraryto His whole nature. Other men are conceived, withoutexception, in sin and are shapen in iniquity (Ps. 51:5). TheChrist, by contrast, from the first instant of His conceptionin the womb of the virgin was wholly free of any germ orseed of sin. Thus, not only as regards His every outwardact, but equally as regards His whole inner nature He was,in the most absolute sense, without sin (I Peter 2:22; 2 Cor.5:21; 1 John 3:5). The human nature assumed by theeternal Son in the incarnation was in every respect likethat of every child of Adam with this one important andnecessary exception that it was wholly free of any taint ofsin (Heb. 2:16-18; 4:15).Only thus could there be a true union of the divineand human natures in one Person, since it is impossiblethat God should be made a party to sin, even in a germinalform; only thus could the Christ represent a sinful race inthe presence of God, for it was impossible that one inwhom is any spot of sin should enjoy the favor of eternalholiness; and only thus could He offer Himself an acceptableransom for many, since any defilement of sinmust so reduce the value of the sacrifice as to make it aworthless offering.UNSOLICITED MEDIATIONEvery action of the High Priest on the Day ofAtonement was an act of mediation on behalf of theCOVENANTER WITNESS