Message One

The Heavenly Christ—
a Kingly and Divine High Priest

Scripture Reading: Heb. 7:1—8:2

1. The book of Hebrews is focused on the heavenly Christ, and the chief point concerning the heavenly Christ is that He is a Priest not according to the order of Aaron but according to the order of Melchisedec—1:3; 4:14; 8:1; 9:24; 12:2; 5:6, 10; 6:20:
   1. Hebrews is primarily concerned with the priesthood of Christ, and all the aspects of Christ in chapters one through six are the necessary qualifications for Him to be a kingly and divine High Priest, who can minister to us whatever we need and save us to the uttermost—8:1; 7:11, 25.
   2. The heavenly Christ revealed in Hebrews is the present Christ—the Christ now, the Christ today, and the Christ on the throne in the heavens, who is our daily salvation and our moment-by-moment supply—8:2; 4:14-15; 7:26.
2. According to the work and ministry of Christ, the book of Hebrews makes a great turn in 7:1, a turn from the outer court on earth to the Holy of Holies in heaven—8:2; 9:11-12, 24:
   1. This turn is from the altar for sin in the outer court to the throne of grace in the Holy of Holies, where God meets with us and speaks with us and where we are one with God in His economy—13:10; 10:12; 4:16.
   2. This turn is from the suffering Jesus on earth to the glorified Christ on the throne of God in the heavens—7:26; 12:2; 8:1.
3. We need to pass through the physical realm of Christ’s earthly ministry and enter into the mystical realm of Christ’s heavenly ministry:
   1. “I am burdened to tell you that you need to enter into a realm, a sphere, a kingdom, which is much higher than the realm you are in now. This higher realm is the mystical realm of Christ’s heavenly ministry” (The Divine and Mystical Realm, p. 25).
   2. Regarding these two realms, there is a sharp contrast: earthly versus heavenly, physical versus mystical, judicial versus organic, and objective versus subjective:
      1. In His flesh Christ carried out His earthly ministry by accomplishing God’s judicial redemption objectively in the physical realm— Col. 1:22; Heb. 9:12-15.
      2. As the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17) Christ in His heavenly ministry is accomplishing God’s organic salvation subjectively in the mystical realm— Rom. 5:10.
      3. Today we are not being saved judicially and objectively by Christ in the flesh in the physical realm of His earthly ministry; rather, we are being saved organically and subjectively by Christ as the life-giving Spirit in the mystical realm of His heavenly ministry.
4. If we would enjoy the heavenly ministry of Christ, the heavenly Christ must become subjectively objective to us in our experience—Heb. 1:3; 13:21:
   1. Christ is objective, but we may have the subjective experience of the objective Christ—Rom. 8:34, 10; Col. 3:1; 1:27.
   2. Christ is now the Lord in the heavens and also the Spirit within us—Acts 2:33a; 5:31; Eph. 1:19-21; 2 Cor. 3:17:
      1. The Lord in the heavens and the Spirit in our spirit are one—1 Cor. 6:17.
      2. Whatever the Lord carries out in the heavens, He applies to us as the Spirit in our spirit.
   3. At Bethel, the house of God, which is the gate of heaven, Christ is the heavenly ladder that joins earth to heaven and brings heaven to earth—Gen. 28:10-17; John 1:51; Eph. 2:22; Heb. 4:12, 16.
5. As a kingly and divine High Priest constituted with the power of an indestructible life, the perfected Son of God is interceding for us that we may be saved to the uttermost—Heb. 7:15-17, 24-26, 28:
   1. Christ is kingly according to His royal status and divine according to His divine nature, the basic element that constitutes Him to be a divine High Priest—7:1, 28.
   2. Christ has been constituted the High Priest according to the powerful element of an indestructible life, the divine, eternal, uncreated, resurrection life that has passed through death and Hades; therefore, His divine priesthood is the presence of life and the absence of death— 7:16, 23-25; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18.
   3. The divine High Priest is the perfected Son of God—Heb. 7:28:
      1. As the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16) Christ needed no perfecting, because He is eternally perfect; however, as the firstborn Son of God (Heb. 1:6; Rom. 8:29) He has been perfected through His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection.
      2. The firstborn Son of God is completely perfected, equipped, and qualified to be our divine High Priest.
   4. As our High Priest Christ cares for us by interceding for us—Heb. 7:25:
      1. He appears before God on our behalf and prays for us that we may be saved to the uttermost and brought fully into God’s eternal purpose—Heb. 9:24; Rom. 8:34.
      2. The Lord’s interceding will motivate our inner life-seed to develop, grow, and permeate our whole being that we may be transformed and conformed to His image and ultimately be brought into His glorification—Mark 4:26-29; Matt. 13:3-8; Rom. 12:2; 8:29-30; Heb. 2:10.
   5. As our High Priest Christ is the heavenly Minister, ministering heaven as a condition of life into our spirit that we may have the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power to live a heavenly life on earth—8:2.