“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into (through) the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession” (Hebrews 4:14). What an honoring and inspiring introduction to the qualifications and supremacy of our Lord Jesus Christ! Hebrews one to three reveal Him as Creator, incarnate Son, and “worthy of more glory than Moses.” These glories were preparatory and qualifying for the remainder of the revelations of the offices our Lord fulfills in this epistle. Having passed through the heavens, He is our “Forerunner,” by appointment, our “Great High Priest after the pattern of Aaron and the order of Melchisedec,” and the “Great Shepherd of the Sheep.”
In Acts 1:1-11 the apostles watched as their Lord rose away from the earth and was taken up into heaven. He passed through the realm of Satan’s domain uncontested. All evil principalities and powers must fall back. He who broke their power by His triumphant cross-work and resurrection passed through the heavens and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (“in the heights,” Hebrews 1:3). What a moment of triumph and glory in the history of time and eternity! All times and seasons, past, future, and our present age, are determined in their destiny by this glorified Man. This is the “chief point,” that is stated in Hebrews 8:1. There is a glorified Man in the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
It is written of Solomon as a young man, “Solomon loved the Lord” (1 Kings 3:3). As a man about 80 years of age he had learned more of the excellencies of God and in Ecclesiastes 5:8 he stated so nobly of His supreme greatness, “He is higher than the highest.” Does this not declare our Lord as having no beginning? He precedes all; He is the ever great I AM, and thus shall never be succeeded. He is the unchangeable One in all sufficiency of power, wisdom, and knowledge. He is supreme in the singularity of His person, a glorified Man, preeminent, having passed through the heavens. In this position of glory our Lord is declared in Hebrews 6:18-20 to be the security of our hope. It appears this hope is the coming of the Lord in glory to establish His millennial reign.
The millennial Psalm 89 speaks prophetically of the Son of David, our Lord, at His revelation as being “higher than the kings of the earth.” The Lord’s return to earth to judge and reign 1000 years is assured because He lives in the power of an endless life, having passed through the heavens. Should our tongues not be filled with His praises to whom all the kings of the earth shall bring their homage? The great enemy Anti-Christ, man’s choice as king of all kings, will be slain by the Word proceeding from the mouth of the King of Kings, our Lord and Redeemer (Revelation 19:19-21).
Presently our glorious Lord is “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:21-23). He is higher than all. To Him “every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9).
May we, as redeemed by His precious blood, give Him the honor and pleasure of devoted hearts and yielded lives. What privilege is ours to declare His gospel, teach His doctrine, and manifest His grace in attitude and works. “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). He who has passed through the heavens awaits the moment to step to the air and call us home to Himself. “Bye and bye when I look on His face, I’ll wish I had given Him more.”
