In the previous post, we discussed some benefits of having Jesus as High priest. In this post we will consider some other benefits.
Jesus sanctifies your mind
“You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.”
Beloved, you can see that Aaron was to wear an inscription on His forehead all the time. This inscription was to make the thoughts of Aaron the High priest and that of the whole people of Israel (whom he represented) holy and acceptable to God.
You know, the thought of mankind is the place the devil accesses and fights his battles. So, Satan tries to pollute the mind of believers because he knows that is what practically controls a person in life.
Take responsibility for your mind
Your mind has the capacity of becoming a loose place where Satan can do as he likes. That is why you have to take a hold of it. You should not let it loose its soundness – 2 Tim. 1:7.
Don’t let it loose for Satan to obsess or mentally torment you with, say, pornography, premature death, the ‘sickness in’ your family line, rejection etc.
Beloved, you have responsibility to control your thoughts.
You know, people who live ‘loose’ set their minds on ‘loose’ things, because the mind controls behaviour – Rom. 8:5. For example, if you ‘feed’ on Television programs that promote sexual perversions, same sex marriages, and extra marital affairs, it will surprise you how you would gradually gravitate toward some of those things.
Typically, you will move from despising them to tolerating them and to accepting them, and (if not careful) to practicing what you once despised, to your amazement.
So, your mind is your responsibility, not God’s.
He has saved your spirit for you to take charge of your mind with His grace. And, you are well able. Hallelujah!
Jesus’ holy thoughts are yours
One of the ways of taking charge of your mind is to know that the thoughts that the devil flushes into your mind are not yours. Your thoughts are rather Jesus’ ones that are holy and accepted before God.
These may not be flashed to your mind, so you must reckon them as yours. As your High Priest, Jesus represents you before God. So, you have to assume His pure mind as yours. You know, He is your righteousness and so you have His righteous mind – 1 Cor. 1:30; 2:16.
Therefore, just as Aaron’s inscription of holiness made God accept the children of Israel as having the ‘pure thoughts of Aaron’, so the pure holy thoughts of Jesus your High Priest makes God accept Jesus’ thoughts as yours.
This is important to understand because often the devil likes to defile believers with filthy and selfish thoughts. This way, (to them) their thoughts taint their holy sacrifices to God.
Now, Satan’s intention is to so cripple believers from performing the holy things that they should do: like prayer, praises, meditating on the Word, attending church, witnessing and doing the work of the ministry etc.
Yes, he wants you to feel so defiled and unworthy that you shun anything to do with holy things.
So, you have to take charge of your mind this way before renewing it with the Kingdom-Word of God – Rom. 12:1-3.
This is because renewing the mind is a gradual and lifelong process. Besides, the same mind is used in renewing it. So you should have grip over the mind (in the way I have just shown you) in order to use it to renew it.
The rich in mind
Our dearest Jesus Christ said “blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”, not ‘blessed are the poor in mind…’ – Matt. 5:3.
In other words, God wants you poor in spirit in order to depend on Him, but rich in mind in order to use it. The result of this is that you will enjoy the Royalty, Rule and Realm of God.
The use of the mind
You know, some believers do not use their minds when it comes to spiritual things or the things of God. These do not know that our High Priest has sanctified the use of their minds before God. No wonder, God tells us to come and reason with Him in order to ultimately enjoy the good of the land – Is. 1:18-19.
Beloved, God does not want you to suspend your mind, will and emotions that He gave you because they have been sanctified by your High Priest – Heb. 6:19-20,
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul (i.e. the mind, will and emotions), both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunners has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”.
Note that by Jesus as your High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, your soul can enter the Holy Presence of God.
This is because your Forerunner Jesus has entered to sanctify your mind. Therefore, you can come there just as you are – with your whole being, including your mind.
Partial understanding of mysteries
The spiritual things that you should not use your mind on are issues like: fully understanding the Triune God, the mystery of iniquity, mystery of faith, and the mystery of Godliness. These will somewhat be understood by the mind “in part”, but will become clearer later – 1 Cor. 13: 12.
Aside from these mysteries, please fully engage your renewed mind in thinking through the issues of God in order to properly implement them in your practical life.
This is because your dearest High Priest sanctifies your mind because His holy mind is yours. Hallelujah! Jesus gives you perfect revelation and directions
The ‘final benefit’ you receive in Christ Jesus as your prefect High Priest is that: He gives you directions and revelations when you know He holds you close and loves you so – Ex. 28:29-30,
“So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgement over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the LORD continually.
And you shall put in the breastplate of judgement the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgement of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually”
Aaron’s holy garments
Aaron the first Levitical High priest was given six holy garments for His work. He wore a short trouser and a blue robe that reached down to his feet. On the robe he had an ephod or apron that was held in place by shoulder straps.
The colours of the apron was pure gold beaten into a sheet, cut into threads and woven with other threads of blue, purple, scarlet or orange-red and white – Ex. 28:3-4; 39:28. These are all royal colours. It teaches us to take up ruler-ship of the earth through Jesus our High Priest.
On the front of the apron or ephod was a breastplate, having four rows of three precious stones, making a total of twelve small stones – Ex. 28:15-21. Carved on each precious stone of the breastplate was a name of the twelve
tribes of Israel according to their birth order, a name on a stone.
On Aaron’s two shoulders was an Onyx stone each on which were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, six names on one stone. This means that Jesus Christ your High Priest carries you as a King on His shoulders – Lk. 15:3-7.
Yes, He wants to expose you to ruler-ship and the attitude of taking responsibility as kings over the earth – Rom. 5:17.
Jesus prays for you by name
Of course, Aaron was to wear a turban, a gold crown bearing the inscription HOLINESS TO THE LORD and a sash. But the breastplate which covers the heart symbolizing love is described as one of judgement – Ex. 28:15, 29.
This means that because of His love for us, our perfect High Priest Jesus bore our judgement on Himself before God. It was so that we are not judged or condemned (not just in the Judgement to come) but even now – Rom. 8:1.
Beloved, because of God’s great love for us, Jesus has the names of all His people engraved on His heart even as He appears before God in loving intercessions for us – Heb. 7:25.
So, if no one even prays for you, remember that there is someone who does so out of love. His name is Christ Jesus. Now, what is important here is that you stay engraved in His love.
In other words, live in the fact that God in Christ loves you – Jud.21,
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”.
This means to remember that He loves you forever. When you do, then you can look forward to receiving Jesus’ grace from now until you can express your eternal life in future. Wow!
The Urim and Thummim
There were two stones kept by the High Priest called Urim and Thummim. These were stones that were kept in the breastplate or love of the High Priest. These two stones were used by the priests to find out the will or directions of God.
Now, Urim means ‘lights’ and Thummim means ‘perfec-tions’.
And so, when you are fully conscious of the love of God and the grace of Jesus Christ, you will receive light or revelations and perfect directions for your life.
That is what I want to leave with you. Your perfect High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, lets perfect revelations and directions (for all aspects of your life) to come to you, when you understand His Heart of perfect love for us.
So my friend, stay where you will have ‘lights and perfections’ in all you do i.e. with the consciousness of Jesus’ Heart of love for you.
