Altar Etiquette

In discussing the role of High Priest, we could perhaps take a brief detour to discuss something of the role of the altar; in particular what we might term altar etiquette.  A passage which reveals the insufficiency of our own altars and also how we should approach the altar at which the superior High Priest ministers, is described for us:

“And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.  You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.  An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen.  In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.  If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.  And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.” (Ex.20:22-26)

(I am indebted to some of these themes from R. Kendall Soulen’s book, “The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity”[1])

Everything begins with the revelation, as we saw in the Prologue to the letter of the Hebrews, that God has spoken - “I have talked with you from heaven”.  That statement demands our attention.  We must listen to what follows!

No idols.  God is unique and must be held so.  There must be nothing of our self-creation or our own design; we must put nothing alongside God, whether family, career, personal time, finances, or anything else.  Those things that we put alongside in reality are the real gods in our lives.  To put anything alongside Him will eventually lead us toward apostasy.

No dressed stones.  God is present with us, so we bring nothing of self-making, nothing added to God; none of our own works.  Oh and how easily we think that we can offer something better, sometimes even thinking we are a new-and-improved Jesus-model!  We try our best to impress, when we should do our best because we are impressed!

No nakedness.  We ought not to reveal our shame on the altar as it is the place where God blesses us.  We must not bring anything of self-revelation; nothing against God.  The hiding of genitalia became a sign of shame for Adam (and mankind) in his sin as he realised he and the woman were naked (Adam didn’t say, "God I disobeyed", but, "God I'm naked"!).  It became a picture of that which alienated Man from God, and at the altar God does not want our shame to be the focus, because as High Priest Jesus has purified us from our sin.

To summarise the etiquette of the altar: impress no-one; prove nothing; make no excuses.  To be fit for the Kingdom we need to let God use us as we are, for who we are, with what we have.  If we will work with what we have, God will cause His name to be honoured and remembered; we respond by honouring Him, and He will come and He will bless. 

---

[1]               Soulen, R. K. “The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity: Distinguishing the Voices, Vol.1”, (WJK, 2011)

A Superior High Priest (5:11-9:14)

The desire among God’s people for a High Priest was not altogether wrong, after all it was a system that God Himself introduced, but a human High Priest would never be sufficient.  Primarily it is because he could never sacrifice himself for he was not without blemish.  Therefore a substitute would always be required.  And because a substitute is required, it had better be the best there is - and that is why we need a High Priest direct from God.  Really…what better sacrifice could there be than the one given direct from God, even God Himself?

The sacrifice had to be of God's work, not man's work (cf. Ex.20:22-26).  If, indeed, something did need Man's work, it had to be made exactly according to God's blueprint.  The blueprint for a sacrifice was a death - the death of something of God, not something of man.  This was shown to Adam right in the beginning: God sacrificed an animal that He had created, not anything that came from Adam’s making or growing.  The most perfect sacrifice then would have to be the most perfect thing of God, and that was His own Son.

This portion of the letter to the Hebrews (5:11-14) contains a strong rebuke.  If faith weakens it leads to unbelief, which leads on to disobedience, and finally to apostasy.  The writer wants them to be aware of the implications of Jesus' High Priesthood; it is fundamental to growth and maturity.

As High Priest Jesus became like us, in order to reveal a perfect 'us'.  He came to perfectly represent us to the Father, and the Father to us.  We don't have to come to our High Priest just for forgiveness; we come to Him for the whole disclosure of God - His compassion, mercy, truth, faithfulness, longsuffering, love and forgiveness. 

We have a High Priest… and it is not us!  Jesus came as our High Priest, not as someone who could fail, but one who is superior in everything.  He shows us a better way, with better things, built on a better foundation; a foundation that is unchangeable (6:17-20, cf. 7:21).  His ways are perfect forever, sealed with an oath, steadfast and true.  He provides a better salvation (6:9), and we have a better hope (7:19), secured for us in heaven (Col.1:5).  He offers a better covenant (7:22), guaranteed to save us to the uttermost (7:25).  He holds out a better promise (8:6); a promise that we will know Him (8:10-12), and that we will receive mercy and forgiveness (8:12).

A Superior Originator (1:5-5:10)

Jesus is the superior originator; all things originate from Him (1:2) - "one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist" (1Cor.8:6).  In particular, He is the originator of glory.  He is the originator of faith - He is its author and perfecter (12:2).  He is superior to angels, superior to Moses, superior to Joshua and superior to Aaron.  As powerful as each of these were in their time, and even though they played a significant part in the history of God's people, originating different things in their dealings among them, they could not originate or bring the people into glory, only Jesus could.

Angels (1:5-2:18) Angels have power - they brought a message that was binding (2:2) - and every disobedience to their message would be punished.  But it was not as great and binding as the message that Jesus brought: the great and glorious message of salvation.  It is such a superior message that the angels longed to look into it but were unable to (1Pet.1:12).

A brief comparison of the superiority of Jesus to angels puts things into perspective.  Angels don’t have the glory; it was given to Jesus (2:9).  They didn’t become like us, but Jesus did - to restore and re-affirm glory (2:10).  They could never understand us, but Jesus became like us and knows how we are tempted (2:18).  They serve the recipients of God’s glory - those destined for salvation (1:14) - they are not here to be served (Col.2:18).  They do not rule; the enemy is not subject to their judgement.  God’s glory does not help them, but helps those who receive His glory.   Man was created to be the image of God - the “carriers of glory” - not angels!

Jesus' superiority is a source of great comfort and security for us.  If the content of the message of salvation is superior to the message of angels, then the "binding" of that message upon us is more superior to the binding of the message of the angels.  It confirms the permanence - the binding - of our salvation.

Moses (3:1-19)  Since we are considering the superiority of Jesus to other key figures, a continued comparison is in order:  Moses.  Perhaps more than any other he had the greatest impact on the life of Israel.  Yet we see that where Moses performed miracles, Jesus is the miracle!  Whilst Moses was faithful in the house as a servant, Jesus is the Son of the house.  Moses was faithful in the house, but God built the house.  Moses spoke of things to come; Jesus was that which came. 

Moses' greatest task was bringing deliverance to Israel; he led them to freedom from the oppression of Egypt.  Jesus, however, brought the greater deliverance; He brought a freedom that is spiritual and eternal, not merely physical, geographical or sociological. 

It is worth noting that circumstantial deliverance doesn't bring freedom, but only relief.  In fact, it does not even necessarily release faith!  Scripture is full of example, and so are our churches, of people who have been helped by God through various trials and difficulties, but, once the disaster is past, they soon forget about God who saved them.  Now, because of the superiority of Jesus, we have the security of knowing that we have deliverance and a freedom that is entirely independent of circumstance!

Joshua (4:1-13)  The inclusion of Joshua is interesting.  He brought God's people into their inheritance in the Promised Land, but that was only ever going to be a temporal rest.  He gave people rest from their enemies, but not rest for their hearts (hence their constant disobedience).  Jesus has come to give us a superior rest, an eternal rest, the rest of God.  He gives us a heart-rest even in the presence of our enemies.

  

Aaron (4:14-5:10)  Aaron, the high priest - what a role he played in Israel; what a role the high priest, as an office, continued to play throughout Israel's history.  We will go on to compare more of how Jesus is superior to the priesthood later, but perhaps, for our benefit, the most significant thing is that the high priest could only bring salvation to the people for one year: every year he would have to go before the altar and seek forgiveness for Israel's sin.  But Jesus, our eternal and permanent High Priest, saves us forever, once-and-for-all (10:14).

All of these beings, heavenly or earthly, played a significant role in the story of redemption.  Each in their own way was an originator, be it a message, or a Law, deliverance, a rest or a religious tradition.  To attach some key word to each we could say that angels represent the supernatural, Moses the prophetic, Aaron the religion and Joshua the warfare.  Yet none of them could originate anything eternal.  That privilege belongs to the one who is superior to them all, Jesus Christ.

What does this mean for us?  How does it help us to be fit for service?  It has to be that, even if we consider all that others have done, and are tempted to ascribe to them our allegiance, we serve someone who is far above anything that anyone else can do.  It should fill us with awe and wonder!  And so, to be well-placed in bearing fruit for God, we need to be a priesthood who bring a message of freedom, rest and eternal life to others: the Good News, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Superiority of Christ

In order to be fit for the Kingdom, to be well-placed for service, intent on ploughing, planting and bearing fruit for the Father’s glory (Jn.15:8), we have to have the right goal in sight, the perfect goal.  That goal is Jesus; the one who is superior to all others - a superior originator, a superior high priest, and a superior mediator. 

The problem we find in the letter to the Hebrews is one which we find all too often today and is one of putting other people or things alongside Jesus or even above Him!  The writer begins to remind the readers that there is nothing and no-one who can match Jesus; He is as far above all things in superiority as can be imagined; nothing created can even begin to be compared to Him.  He is incomparable.

In a modern culture littered with rampant idolatry and self-obsession we have to constantly be reminded of the superiority of Jesus.  He is the centre of all things.  All things come from Him and exist for Him.  Until we are fully convinced of Jesus’ superiority we are always going to struggle with the temptation to let our lives drift away from what is true.  The writer to the Hebrews knows this, and spends time expounding the superiority of Christ.  We must get to grips with who He is.