Hebrews 7:26
Made Higher Than the Heavens – Part 1
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (Hebrews 7:26)
There is a realm beyond creation. It is the great eternity in which the eternal God dwells. This dwelling place is higher than the heavens. It is beyond all of man’s conceptions, but we, the children of God, have a high priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God has place Him higher than the heavens for He is both the Creator and the Man in glory. And in this mystery, who has known the mind of God? It is only through His divine revelation that we have come to know our own Creator. I present a question, If God was to create the heaven and the earth, would He not start with a master plan of all that He wanted to accomplish? In God’s plan how far apart is the garden of Eden from the eternal state? The beginning in Eden can only be concluded in His final creation of the new heavens and the new earth. In man’s world, if he desires to build a city building there is an elaborate plan drawn out: a team of engineers design the plan, and then the regulators issue and approve the multiple permits that must be adhered to in this building. Should not God, the Creator of all things, be able to outperform His creation and creatures? With man’s building if the building develops a crack in a wall, if the floor gives way, if the structure becomes weak because of faulty planning, or weak materials, or poor workmanship than man is at a loss, however, God does not have these restrictions and problems. For the divine Creator of all things knows the smallest grain of sand from the largest mountain. He knows the lowly servant, and He has watched the king on his throne. In the history of man, and in the history of His creation, He knows the end from the beginning, and the beginning to the end. In any given day, He knows the leaves that fall from the trees, He knows the sparrows that fall to the ground, and He knows the beauty of the lilies of the fields. He sees the sparkle of the rivers and the streams, and He holds back the mighty oceans with the word of His power. God’s plan is flawless. All has been taken into consideration, and all is written in His holy and righteous guidelines, and specifications. We know in part only because God has revealed Himself to us. He has given a flawless and eternal word which He Himself has written by the Holy Spirit of God. Every word, every line, every verse, every chapter, and every book in His one eternal book has His divine seal of His holy and righteous blood.
The Perception of Wisdom
In many ways man has rejected all that is of God. The first rejection of God took place when Adam brought sin into the world; consequently we now have two wisdom’s in the world in direct conflict with each other. Adam now possesses the wisdom of man, which was flawed by sin. But God was determined to speak, and to keep His wisdom in this world although it would not be of the world.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (1 Corinthians 1:19)
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (1 Corinthians 1:20)
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21)
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: (1 Corinthians 1:22)
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:23)
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24)
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25)
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (1 Corinthians 1:26)
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (1 Corinthians 1:27)
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Corinthians 1:28)
That no flesh should glory in his presence. (1 Corinthians 1:29)
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31)
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.(1 Corinthians 3:18)
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.(1 Corinthians 3:19)
And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.(1 Corinthians 3:20)
They who are wise in this world have the wisdom of their earthly treasures, of their earthly fame, and of their earthly power. But God has made all this foolishness. For what shall a man gain, should he gain all the wealth of the world, all the power and might of dominion, and lose his own soul. The soul is more precious than all the treasures of this earth, and yet, we ignore the existence of the soul, we ignore it’s presence, and we ignore it’s need. God in His wisdom sent His only begotten Son to give Himself a sacrifice for that one soul, for that one treasure. Souls have been saved by the death of Christ on the cross, but the value of every one of those souls is greater than all the treasures and kingdoms of this earth. How great is the darkness of man when he will ignore the need of his own soul?
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (2 Corinthians 2:15)
To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:16)
For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17)
As the children of God, we stand on the same ground as the world stands. We walk the trails of this earth, we spend our time and our life here; the difference is in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are redeemed, and we carry in our heart and soul the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: God’s glorious plan of redemption. And as we share this wonderful news with the world, it continues to grope in darkness in it’s own wisdom. All the physical problems that man suffers, all the material problems that he has, all the political rule that is over him is tainted and stained by the sin of Adam. When Adam brought sin into the world, he brought in all the woes, all the heart aches, all the misery, and all the sufferings that man would ever have. It was not just Adam under sin, but the whole world under sin. This made Adam a slave to sin, and all his descendants have come into this world under the bondage and slavery of the sin of Adam. In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, the Spirit of God opens our eyes to the tremendous enmity of man against a holy and righteous God; for man looks on his own wisdom, and approves his own wisdom, how foolish can this be. If wisdom is tainted by sin, how can it be wisdom at all. By man’s own foolishness, and vain imagination he denies that he has any wisdom at all. (Romans 1:18-32) Through the corrupt wisdom of man he has cast off the cords of God. That which binds him to God is cast off.
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? (Psalm 2:1)
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, (Psalm 2:2)
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalm 2:3)
In Psalm 2 we have the outpouring of man’s wisdom used against the Almighty. Man has refused God’s counsel and then takes counsel against His own Creator. Man in his own wisdom (tainted by sin) is out of control, and is foolish in the wisdom that he displays; therefore, man (in his foolishness) takes counsel against the Lord and against His Christ. By man’s wisdom, and by his brutal hand, he has crucified the Prince of life, and has rejected Him who is at the right hand of the majesty on high, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is now higher than the heavens. And Christ, and Christ alone is, and will be, Judge over all the earth. In man’s darkness, God sent forth wisdom in His beloved Son, (Proverbs 8, Luke 11:49, 1 Corinthians 1:24) yet man loved darkness and refused both light and life in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ not only took sin out of the way, and nailed it to His cross, but in His suffering and in His death He put Adam to death once and for all. He destroyed death in His very Person, and by His resurrection we have proof of His glorious life as a Man in heaven for us. By His resurrection we see sin and death, and both the Devil and Adam were done, and in the fullness of time, life and light came by Jesus Christ. For us who love the Lord, it is the song of the sons of God to proclaim the honor and majesty, and the glory and holiness of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We, as the sons of God, sing of His great love and mercy, and the marvelous grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
The Divine Mind
Although Christ has been made higher than the heavens it is not the place that thrills us as much as who He is. It is who has been made higher than the heavens. He is our Savior, He is our Rock to lean upon, He is our Intercessor with God, and He is the Declaration of God’s grace to us. In Philippians, Chapter 2, verse 5, the Spirit of God declares, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:. The Spirit of God is teaching us to be Christ-minded, the Spirit of God is guiding, and we should reflect on this mind that was in Christ. It is this mind that should reflect Christ in us. We have the mind that was in Christ from His birth to His death. We have the same mind of the glorified Christ in His resurrection and ascension on high. His mind should be an active mind in us. We have passed from death to life in Christ. Our life, or our being, should not only show forth the death of Christ in us, but should exhibit the life of Christ; not only His walk upon the earth, but a reflection of the Man in glory at God’s right hand. We have not the mind of Adam, but the mind of Christ; therefore, each Christian should be like-minded, do you have that mind that was in Christ Jesus? Do you have the wisdom and knowledge of God which is higher than the heavens? The world has turned professing Christianity upside down. The earth dwellers (those whose heart and eyes are only focused on the things of the world) have used the traditions and counsels of man to throw off the yoke (Matthew 11:30), to throw off the cross of Christ for the wisdom of man. In addressing Christians, we should all be of one accord, and this bond is the crimson thread that the blood of Christ ties each and every child of God to the Man who is higher than the heavens. But the oneness of Christ has been replaced by spiritual division and unbelief. The church has taken upon itself every name under the sun. It has lost it’s witness for Christ for it is no longer of Christ. The wisdom of the world has taken away the glories that belongs to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Person of Christ, the Son of God, has been asked to step aside so that man can have his own glory. The Apostle Paul with one of his rebukes instructs the church that nothing should be done through strife or vain glory. The preacher, today, must be an entertainer, an exalter of man and the church program while lost souls are perishing on the brink of hell fire. The wisdom of man has never been the lover of the souls of men. This is exhibited by man in his quest to have dominion over his brother, and to rule him in sin, and not in righteousness: Cain was a good example. Are we like Cain, are we going to declare to God, Am I my brother’s keeper? This was Cain’s denial of his responsibility to his younger brother Abel. Do we look upon the suffering of others, and take that suffering into our own hearts and souls? Was not this the mind that was in Christ Jesus our Lord?
In the life of Christ there was not one hour, or one minute wasted in His direction and thought. All His actions displayed the God that was in Him: the One who He was. All His steps revealed to the world who He was: the Son of the living God. And although He was the Son of God, He displayed all the servitude of a devout servant to His father. When He fed the multitudes, they knew not where the bread and the fishes came from, His inner circle of disciples knew, but the multitudes were ignorant of the miracle that He performed. He spoke words of kindness, and displayed miracles and gifts of kindness with every opportunity of His holy divine nature.
Christ Jesus – Jesus Christ
When the Spirit of God uses the name Christ Jesus, there is a divine plan and purpose in His design. When Christ is used first, we see the anointed of God with all preeminence seated at the right hand of God, and made higher than the heavens. When Jesus is used first, we see the son of man, the man of sorrows, acquainted with our griefs, the true sacrifice for our sin. Even in the very arrangement of His name, Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus, we see the holy mind that was in the holy one, we see the anointed one that He was not of man, but of God. He was God manifest in the flesh, and this mind is higher than the heavens.
The Expounder and Interpreter
What counsel has He availed to us? It is far beyond our own thoughts, this mind of God wants us to surrender to His divine plan that we, the children of God, who are born of God, and not the will of man, that we should reflect Him; for we have been given a wonderful instructor and guide, the Person of the Holy Spirit of God. He is to lead us into all truth, not man’s truth, but God’s truth. We are to avail ourselves of this truth of God. This is a wonder that the Spirit of God can minister to us the mind of Christ that we might reflect on Him who loved us unto death. That we might rejoice in His resurrection and allow the Spirit of God to illuminate, and reflect the Person of Christ to us. Should not we follow the Spirit’s leading even though the world might reject us; for what greater rejection have we witnessed in this world then in the rejection of God’s dear Son? God does not give us the impossible, He has given us an extensive guide in the word of God. He has given us a qualified Expounder and Interpreter in the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God has been given to us to lead us into all, I say all, truth.
In musing this morning I thought of those standing at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, I considered the knowledge and the revelation that they possessed at that point in time. They did not have the knowledge of what would take place on resurrection morning; even the centurion who proclaimed, Truly, this was the Son of God, could not have fathomed that this lifeless body before him would come forth in resurrection power, and ascend to the right hand of God, and be made higher than the heavens.
If I go back 125 years from today (April 30, 2017), and consider men like C. I. Scofield, John Nelson Darby, C. A Coates, J. B. Stoney, F. W. Grant, William Kelly, Adolph Saphir, William Dennett, and many more; these men were part of the great awakening when the Spirit of God revealed truth from the word of God that had been hidden by the wisdom of man. We, today, have seen more things transpire, the word of God has been opened to those who are of a willing heart, and the Spirit of God has given them understanding with the mind of Christ from the man who has been made higher than the heavens. I rejoice in the little knowledge that I have for it is an ocean of God’s love in my heart and understanding. I pray every day for more understanding and wisdom in the word of God, that the eyes of my understanding would be completely opened by the Spirit of God in His glorious word. Should we not follow the Spirit’s leading in these dark days? Should not the mind of Christ, from His throne of righteousness, have sway over our souls, hearts, and minds?
God does not give us a spirit of fear in an evil world, but a spirit of victory in Christ, our Lord. If we walk in the Spirit of Christ we will know that we will suffer at the hands of man. Christ has gone into death’s dark veil for us. He has put away sin, and death so that we can know His presence and His life on this earth. Christ is the High Priest who has been set on the throne of righteousness after the order of Melchizedek. He performs His priesthood by coming to us from heaven’s glory with the wine and the bread of His redemption power. This is communion with the Man who is higher than the heavens. As Abraham partook of this wonderful communion with the Lord Jesus, after the defeat of the kings, and after the rejection of the king of Sodom, Abraham lifted up his hand to the most high God, Possessor of heaven and earth, who is made higher then the heavens.
As we possess this mind of Christ, we take on the thoughts of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We are to be holy, we are to be harmless, we are to be undefiled, and we are to be separate from sinners; for this is who He is, and this is who possesses us. We are brought into spiritual righteousness by the victorious work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is not our flesh, for the flesh wars against the spirit. It is the divine nature that has been given to us at our new birth, or as we are (a new creation). We have been made a new creation, and we wait for the new heaven and the new earth wherein righteousness will dwell. In the creation (recorded in Genesis) God created the heavens and the earth, and then after all was prepared, He created man, in the image of God created He him. Sin violated the holy presence of God, and separated man in man’s sin from God. God began in Genesis by preparing a world set for mankind, and then created man for that world; since the cross, God is creating a new man (born again) for a world to come. God is creating a people that will be prepared for the new creation. When the Lord Jesus declared, a man must be born again, He was emphasizing that God (in a new birth) was preparing a people for a new creation. This new creation will come when all is finalized in the great white throne judgment of Adam. For all the sin that is passed will be declared in Adam’s presence, and his representatives (his descendants) will be cast into the lake of fire.
God has a people prepared for Him, the lovers of His dear Son, and then He will create a righteous dwelling place for them in a new heaven and a new earth. This will be accomplished by the One who has been made higher than the heavens. He will speak this new creation into existence by the word of His power. So you ask, What about the earth that now is? Peter tells us that this earth will be dissolved by fire. Is not this fire the judgment of God against a creation tainted by sin? (2 Peter 3:12-13) The blood of Abel and all of God’s righteous servants cry out so that God must dissolve what is, so that there is no trace of the old creation, and all can be brought into this new creation in purity without any shadow of the old. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. (Isaiah 65:17) When Paul stated that we are a new creation, and old things have passed away, and behold all things are new; it is not just a reference to those who will dwell in eternity and make up the Bride of Christ, but their dwelling place, as well, will be new: for the old things have passed away. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13) And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1) The Man in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ is the forerunner of those who will populate the new heaven and the new earth. Adam was made in the image of God, and in the image of God made He him. We, as the dwellers of the new heaven and the new earth, are made in the likeness of Christ. (Colossians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17)
The Perfect Servant — The Mind of Christ
As we trace the life and walk of the divine Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) among mankind, we see a humility that has never been known by man except in God’s dear Son. He was the perfect servant of God. He sought out no reputation, although He was in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with the Father. He compared Himself in oneness, to both God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. This is the mind of Christ that God wants us to have. Think of that night when He was betrayed, He loosened His garment and girded Himself with the towel of a slave. He took the lowest point in the presence of His subjects, and then proceeded to wash their feet. He was Master of all, and yet, He washed the feet of slaves sold under sin. He had taken on this form of a servant. (Philippians 2:7) In Philippians, Chapter 2, we see the servant of Mark’s gospel, for in this gospel we have God’s obedient servant in Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew, He is the King; in the Gospel of Luke, He is the son of man; and in the Gospel of John, He is the Son of God, and in the Gospel of Mark, He is the perfect servant. We see Him as the beast of burden, carrying the burdens of man. He is the true servant of Isaiah, Chapter 53. And He is the servant sent down from God in Hebrews, Chapter 10. He serves man, both in lowliness and in humility.
Not Desired — Despised — Rejected
We can trace Him as He was made in the likeness of man in that He had no form nor comeliness, and when the world beheld Him, they saw no beauty that they should desire Him. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3) Although He had created all things, He was rejected of man. This is profound humility, and this humility started with His very birth on the earth, and continued to His death of the cross. In His walk among His creation (man), He veiled His glory, He restrained His power, and although He was the servant of the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth, He sought not the power of the earth and earth dwellers. God, the great I AM, became man, and obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The God of heaven and earth, who could not die, became man that He might lay down His life, and put away sin by the death of Himself upon the cross of Calvary. Tell me, wisdom of this world, Where were you when He cast the stars in the sky? Where were you, when God Himself breathed the first breathe of life as a man, as a child born in a trough, in a stable for cattle? His first breathe to His last breathe was taken from a position of humility in power.
It was the Son of God, who gave breathe and life to the first man, Adam. And as the second Man, Jesus Christ, He has come to give the breathe of life to those who will believe, which are not born of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And this is the One, the glorified One, the man Christ Jesus who is made higher than the heavens. Amen.
© Copyright 2017, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)