Works of John Bunyan — Complete

by John Bunyan

2. Words. Now in the gospel these letters are put all in a word, and Christ is that word, that word of God's mind; and therefore the gospel makes Christ that priest, Christ that sacrifice, Christ that altar, Christ that holy place, Christ that throne of grace, and all; for Christ is all: all these meet in him as several letters meet in one word.

3. Meanings. Next to the word you have the meaning, and the meaning is more difficult to be learned than either the letters or the word; and therefore the perfect understanding of that is reserved till we arrive to a higher form, till we arrive to a perfect man; 'But when that which is perfect is come, then that' knowledge 'which is in part, shall be done away' (1 Cor 13:10). Meantime our business is to learn to bring the letters into a word, to bring the ceremonies to Christ, and to make them terminate in him; I mean, to find the priesthood in Christ, the sacrifice in Christ, the altar in Christ, the throne of grace in Christ, and also God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself by him. And if we can learn this well, while here, we shall not at all be blamed! for this is the utmost lesson set us, to wit, to learn Christ as we find him revealed in the gospel: 'I determined,' saith Paul, 'not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified' (1 Cor 2:2). And Christians, after some time, I mean those that pray and pry into the Word well, do attain to some good measure of knowledge of him. It is life eternal to know him, as he is to be known here, as he is to be known by the Holy Scriptures (James 17:3). Keep then close to the Scriptures, and let thy faith obey the authority of them, and thou wilt be sure to increase in faith; 'for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith' (Rom 1:17, 16:25-27).[28]

Believe then that Christ died, was buried, rose again, ascended, and ever liveth to make intercession for thee: and take heed of prying too far, for in mysteries men soon lose their way. It is good therefore that thou rest in this, to wit, that he doth so, though thou canst not tell how he doth it. A man at court gets by his intercession a pardon for a man in the country; and the party concerned, after he had intelligence of it, knows that such an one hath obtained his pardon, and that by his interceding, but for all that he may be ignorant of his methods of intercession, and so are we, at least in part, of Christ. The meaning then is that I should believe, that for Christ's sake God will save me since he has justified me with his blood; 'being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him' (Rom 5:9). Through his intercession, or through his coming between the God whom I have offended and me, a poor sinner: through his coming between with the voice of his blood and merits, which speaketh on my behalf to God, because that blood was shed for me, and because those merits, in the benefit of them, are made over to me by an act of the grace of God, according to his eternal covenant made with Christ. This is what I know of his intercession; I mean with reference to the act itself; to wit, HOW he makes intercession. And since all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, and sine he also, as to his humanity, is the throne of grace; yea, and since he also is the holiest of all, and the rest of God for ever, it has been some scruple to me, whether it be not too carnal to imagine as if Christ stood distinct in his humanity; distinct, I say, as to space, from the Father as sitting upon a throne, and as so presenting his merits, and making vocal prayers for the life and salvation of his people. The more true meaning in my apprehension is, that the presence and worth of the human nature, being with the divine, yea, taken into union with God for ever, for the service that was done by God for it, in the world, in reconciling his elect unto him, is still, and ever will be, so deserving in his sight as to prevail—I know not how else to express it—with the divine nature, in whom alone is a power to subdue all impossibilities to itself, to preserve those so reconciled to eternal life.

When I speak of the human nature, I mean the man Christ, not bereft of sense and reasons, nor of the power of willing and affecting;[29] but thus I mean, that the human nature so terminates in the will of the divine; and again, the will of the divine so terminates, as to saving of sinners, in the merit and will of the human, that what the Father would the Son wills, and what the Son wills the Father acquiesces in for ever. And this the Son wills, and his will is backed with infinite merit, in which also the Father rests, that those, all those whom the Father hath given him, be with him where he is, that they may behold his glory (John 17:24). And now I am come to the will and affections of the high-priest.

II. NATURAL. [The natural qualifications of Jesus Christ to be our high priest.]

This leads me to the second head, namely, to the natural qualifications of him. And,

First. This is one thing that I would urge, he is not of a nature foreign to that of man; the angels love us well, but they are not so capable of sympathising with us in our distresses, because they are not partakers of our nature. Nature hath a peculiar sympathy in it; now he is naturally one with us, sin only excepted, and that is our advantage too. He is man as we are, flesh and blood as we are: born of a woman, and in all points made like unto us, that excepted which the Holy Ghost excepteth. 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham' (Heb 2:14,16). This doth qualify him much; for, as I said before, there is a sympathy in nature. A man will not be so affected with the hurt that comes to a beast, as he naturally will with the hurt that comes to a man: a beast will be more affected with those attempts that are made upon its own kind to hurt it, than it will be with those that are made upon man. Wherefore? Why, there is a sympathy in nature. Now that Christ, the high priest of the house of God, is naturally one with us, you see the Scriptures plainly affirm. 'God sent forth his Son, made of a woman' (Gal 4:4); he was 'made of the seed of David, according to the flesh' (Rom 1:3); from the fathers of whom, 'as concerning the flesh Christ came,' &c. (Rom 9:5; 2 Tim 2:8). And this must needs then to make him a well-qualified high priest (Heb 2:14,15). We will not now speak of the necessity of his taking upon him the human nature, to wit, that he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver his people; for that would be here too much beside our matter, and be a diversion to the reader. We are now upon his High Priest's office, and of those natural qualifications that attend him, as to that; and I say, nature is a great qualification, because in nature there is sympathy; and where there is sympathy, there will be a provocation to help, a provocation to help with jealousy and indignation against those that afflict. A bear robbed of her whelps is not more provoked than is the Lord Jesus when there are means used to make them miss of life eternal, for whom he hath died, and for whom he ever lives to make intercession. But,

Second. As there is natural sympathy in Christ to those for whom he is an High Priest, so there is relative sympathy; he has not only taken to or upon him our nature, but he is become one brotherhood with us; now you know brotherhood will carry a man further than nature; so then, when nature and relation meet, there is a double obligation. 'For both he that sanctifieth,' which is Christ, 'and they who are sanctified,' his saints, 'are all of one,' which is God; and they are all of God, as children of a Father; 'for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee' (Heb 2:11,12). Now a relation is much, and a natural relation most of all. Why, here is a natural relation betwixt Christ the High Priest, and those for whom 'he ever liveth to make intercession'; a natural relation, I say, and that with respect to the humanity which is the nature subject to affliction and distress; 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same' (Heb 2:14). So then it is for a brother that he is engaged, for a brother that he doth make intercession. When Gideon knew by the confession of Zeba and Zalmunna, that the men that they slew at Tabor were his brethren, his fury came into his face, and he sware they should therefore die (Judg 8:18-21). Relation is a great matter. And therefore it is said again, 'In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful High Priest' (Heb 2:17). A brother is born for adversity; and a brother will go far. This therefore is a second thing or another qualification, with which Christ Jesus is furnished to be an High Priest; he is a brother, there is a brotherly relation betwixt him and us; therefore by virtue of this relation he maketh intercession for us more affectionately.

Third. There are other things in Christ Jesus that makes him naturally of an excellent qualification with reference to his priesthood for us, and they are the temptations and infirmities wherewith he was exercised in the days of his humiliation. It is true, temptations and infirmities, strictly considered, are none of our nature, no more are they of his; but yet, if it be proper to say temptations and afflictions have a nature, his and ours were naturally the same; and that in all points too; for so says the text, 'He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin' (Heb 4:15). Are we tempted to distrust God? so was he: are we tempted to murder ourselves? so was he: are we tempted with the bewitching vanities of this world? so was he: are we tempted to commit idolatry, and to worship the devil? so was he (Matt 4:3-10; Luke 4:1-13). So that herein we also were alike; yea, from his cradle to his cross he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, a man of affliction throughout the whole course of his life.

And observe it, He was made so, or subjected thereto by the ordinance of God; nay, further, it behoved him to be made so, that is, to be made like unto us in all things, the better to capacitate him to the work of his priesthood, with the more bowels and compassion. We will read to you the text; 'Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be,' qualified to be, 'a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted' (Heb 2:17,18). See here how he is qualified, and to what end; he was tempted as we are, suffered by temptations as we do, in all points and things as we are; that he might be bowels, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, in things pertaining to God, to make up the difference that is made by sin between God and his people, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Yea, he by being tempted, and by suffering as he did, he is prepared and enabled so to do; 'for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.' Wherefore, I also call this qualification both natural and necessary; natural, because in kind the same with ours; that is, his temptations were the same with ours; the same in nature, the same in design, the same as to their own natural tendency; for their natural tendency was to have ruined both him and us, but God prevented. They also were necessary, though not of themselves, yet made so by him that can bring good out of evil, and light out of darkness; made so, I say, to us, for whose sakes they were suffered to assault and afflict him, namely, that he might be able to be merciful, faithful, and succouring to us.