After the interceding and the executing of the will, this very Intercessor and Executor is the Minister, bringing us whatever it is that we need and serving it to us. Here on earth I may be having trouble upon trouble. My situation causes me worry and anxiety. I cannot see any way out. This may be my case on earth. But, hallelujah, a different situation prevails in the heavens!
There the High Priest is interceding for me. The Executor is carrying out the provisions of the will. In addition, the Minister picks up the very peace I need and supplies it to me. This peace was promised to me in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” It was promised also in Philippians 4:7: “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”
When troubles come, however, I forget these promises, which have become bequests, and remember only my worries. I forget all about what has been bequeathed to me, but He does not. He comes as the life-giving Spirit indwelling my spirit. He comes as the heavenly Melchisedec, this time bringing not bread and wine, but peace. This One comes to visit me. Within me, for no observable reason, I am suddenly filled with peace. The worry is gone. The anxiety has vanished. How has this change come about? I have experienced Christ’s heavenly ministry as the High Priest, as the Executor, and as the Minister.
No doubt you too have had experiences like this. In the past, however, you did not understand them. Now the light and knowledge have come to you. No trial should overcome you. You have a High Priest interceding for you. You have One executing the provisions of His will on your behalf. And you have a Servant supplying you with the right thing at the right time. In every situation that arises, this heavenly ministry is acting on your behalf. After many experiences of His care, you will gradually realize that there is no need for you to worry. Christ is there ministering in the heavens for you!
Christ is interchangeably called High Priest, Minister, and Mediator in Hebrews (8:1, 2, 6; 9:11, 15). The High Priest is the Minister, and the Minister is the Mediator. The term Executor is not explicitly used, but it is implied in chapter nine. “He is Mediator of a new covenant, so that, death having taken place for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, those who have been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament there must of necessity be the death of him who made it. For a testament is confirmed where there has been death, since it has no force when he who made it is living” (9:15-17). Christ in His death enacted the new covenant and bequeathed it to us as the new testament. After death He entered into resurrection and became the One to enforce the new testament. These four titles—High Priest, Minister, Mediator, and Executor—all refer to Christ in resurrection.
This very Christ is now the Lord in the heavens and at the same time the Spirit within us. “Now the Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). As Lord, He is in the heavens. As the Spirit, He is within us. As the One in the heavens, He is exercising His rulership, headship, and priesthood. He exercises His rulership for the spreading of the gospel, that God’s chosen people may be brought in. He exercises His headship to cause all His members to grow and function, that His Body might be built up. He exercises His priesthood to rescue us from all our troublesome entanglements by interceding, by executing the provisions of the new testament, and by serving us whatever we need; this is how He keeps us from falling. All these are His activities as Lord in the heavens.
Whatever He carries out as Lord, He applies to us as the Spirit. How are all His heavenly functions to be realized by us? Whatever He intercedes, or executes, or ministers, is transmitted into our spirit. As the Lord in the heavens, He is the electricity in the power plant; as the Spirit in our spirit, He is the electricity in this building. The Lord in the heavens and the Spirit in our spirit are one. There is a continual transmission between the heavens and our spirit, so that whatever transpires there is immediately applied here.
Notice that this traffic is between the heavens and our spirit. Our mind does not count. It is our mind that causes us to worry. When the heavenly transmission comes, the wonderful reality strengthens our spirit. Then our spirit rises to shout, “Praise the Lord!” The transmission has come to our spirit, not to our mind. The Spirit in our spirit is the very One who is Lord in the heavens.
Romans 8 confirms that the One who is the Spirit is the very One who is the Lord. Verse 26 tells us that “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Then verse 34 says that Christ Jesus “is even at the right hand of God, Who also intercedes for us.” Who is interceding for us? It is the Lord Spirit! In the heavens it is the Lord; in us it is the Spirit. The same is true of Melchisedec. There is only one Melchisedec. In the heavens He is the Lord; in our spirit He is the Spirit. Doctrinally, we have no satisfactory explanation for this twofold reality; from our experience, however, we do have the confirmation.
You may be coming back from work exhausted, wondering how you will find things at home. Unexpectedly, while you are thinking, you sense that you are supplied and strengthened. What is the source of this supply? It has come from the very Christ who is both Lord in the heavens and the Spirit within us. He is interceding for you, caring for you, and executing the new testament for you. Based upon this testament, He picks up the life supply and comes to support you with the very thing you need. You experience Him as Lord, Spirit, High Priest, Executor, and Minister. He is also the Mediator, transmitting what you need from God the Father, who is the source, into your spirit to supply and support you.
Surely we have all experienced this heavenly ministry of Christ. How is it that we have been kept from falling all these years? I can testify that this is what has preserved me for over fifty-five years. In His earthly ministry, He died for me on the cross. Now He is serving me in resurrection; this is His heavenly ministry. Its main element is the priesthood for the members of His Body. Of course, He did exercise His rulership to see that I was saved and thus brought to God. He also exercised His headship over me to cause me to grow and function and so be built up in His Body. But mostly it has been His priesthood which He has exercised again and again to preserve me. Hallelujah for our heavenly High Priest! We have been sustained, preserved, and supplied by His interceding, His executing the testament, and His ministering to us what we have needed. I have had no lack. A rich life supply has been my portion.
His preserving and sustaining of us are fully wrapped up with His priesthood, which is based upon the will. The will is in our hand, and this High Priest is both in the heavens and in us. In the heavens He is the Lord. In us He is the Spirit. This Lord Spirit constantly ministers the life supply to us. The supply that comes to us is heavenly, because heaven is its source. Our High Priest is ministering to us in the true tabernacle, the heavenly Holy of Holies, which is joined to our spirit by Him as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51). By His ministering to us the heavenly supply, He is making us a heavenly people. We are a people on this earth living a heavenly life.