THE HEAVENLY
MINISTRY OF CHRIST
Read and pray: “And He said, Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)
THE MINISTER WHO SUPPLIES US
After interceding and executing the testament, this same Intercessor and Executor is the Minister, bringing us everything we need and serving us according to our needs. Here on earth I may be facing problem after problem. My situation leaves me worried and anxious. I cannot see any way out. That may be the case on earth. However, hallelujah, a different situation prevails in the heavens!
There the High Priest is interceding for me. The Executor is taking care of the arrangements of the testament. Moreover, the Minister takes the peace that I need and supplies me with it. This peace was promised to me in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” It was also promised in Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
When a problem arises, however, I forget these promises that have become my inheritance and remember only my worries. I may forget everything that was bequeathed to me; nevertheless, He does not forget. And He comes as the life-giving Spirit who dwells in my spirit.
He comes as the heavenly Melchizedek, this time not bringing bread and wine, but peace. It is He who comes to visit me. Within me, without any apparent reason, I suddenly become full of peace. The worry disappears. The anxiety is gone. How did this change take place? I experienced the heavenly ministry of Christ as the High Priest, the Executor, and the Minister.
Most certainly you also have experienced something similar. In the past, however, you did not understand what it was. Now light and knowledge have come to you. No trial should leave you defeated. You have a High Priest to intercede for you. You have the One who executes the provisions of His testament on your behalf.
You have a Servant to supply you with the right thing at the right time. In every situation that arises, this heavenly Minister acts on your behalf. After many experiences of His care, gradually you will realize that there is no reason to worry. Christ is there, ministering in the heavens for you!
Christ is called High Priest, Minister, and Mediator interchangeably in Hebrews (8:1, 2, 6; 9:11, 15). The High Priest is the Minister, and the Minister is the Mediator.
The term Executor is not used explicitly, but it is implied in chapter nine: “For this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that, death having occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, it is necessary for the death of the testator to occur; for a testament is confirmed in the case of those who have died, since it has no force at all while the testator lives” (9:15–17).
In His death Christ established the new covenant and bequeathed it to us as the new testament. After death He resurrected and became the One who executes the new testament. The four titles—High Priest, Minister, Mediator, and Executor—refer to the resurrected Christ.
IN THE HEAVENS AND IN US
This same Christ is now the Lord in the heavens and at the same time the Spirit in us. “And the Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). As the Lord, He is in the heavens. As the Spirit, He is in us. As the One in the heavens, He exercises His sovereignty, His headship, and His priesthood.
He exercises His sovereignty for the spreading of the gospel so that God’s chosen ones may be brought into Him. He exercises His headship so that all His members may grow and function, that His Body may be built up. He exercises His priesthood to rescue us from all our complicated confusions through intercession, through the execution of the provisions of the new testament, and through ministering what we need; and thus He keeps us firm so that we do not fall. All these are His activities as the Lord in the heavens.
Everything that He carries out as the Lord, He applies to us as the Spirit. How can we perceive all His heavenly functions? Everything that He intercedes, executes, or ministers is transmitted to our spirit. As the Lord in the heavens, He is the electricity at the power plant. As the Spirit in our spirit, He is the electricity in the building where we are now.
The Lord in the heavens and the Spirit in our spirit are one. There is a continual transmission between the heavens and our spirit, so that everything manifested there is immediately applied here. Notice that this transmission is between the heavens and our spirit. Our mind does not count. It is our mind that makes us worried.
When the heavenly transmission comes, this wonderful reality strengthens our spirit, which then rises up to exclaim, “Glory to God!” The transmission has reached our spirit, not our mind. The Spirit in our spirit is the very Lord in the heavens.
Romans 8 confirms that the One who is the Spirit is the same One who is the Lord. Verse 26 tells us that “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Then verse 34 says that Christ Jesus “is at the right hand of God and also intercedes for us.”
Who intercedes for us? It is the Lord Spirit! In the heavens He is the Lord, and in us He is the Spirit. The same is true concerning Melchizedek. There is only one Melchizedek. In the heavens He is the Lord, and in our spirit He is the Spirit. From a doctrinal standpoint, we do not have a satisfactory explanation for this double reality; but in our experience, however, we do indeed have the confirmation.
Perhaps you return from work exhausted and wonder how things will be at home. Unexpectedly, while you are wondering, you sense that you are being supplied and strengthened. What is the source of this supply? It comes from Christ Himself, who is both the Lord in the heavens and the Spirit within us. He intercedes for you, cares for you, and executes the new testament on your behalf.
Based on this testament, He takes the supply of life and provides you with it exactly according to what you need most. You then experience Him as the Lord, the Spirit, the High Priest, the Executor, and the Minister. He is also the Mediator, who transmits to your spirit what you need from the Father, who is the source, in order to supply and sustain you.
THE SUSTAINING PRIEST
Surely we all have experienced this heavenly ministry of Christ. Why have we remained standing without falling all these years? I can testify that this is what preserved me for these fifty-five years.
In His earthly ministry, He died for me on the cross. Now He serves me in resurrection, and this is His heavenly ministry. Its main element is the priesthood toward the members of His Body. Of course, He exercised His sovereignty to make sure that I would be saved and thus brought to God.
He also exercised His headship over me to cause me to grow and function and thus be built up in the Body. However, it is His priesthood that He exercises most to preserve me. Hallelujah for our heavenly High Priest! We have been sustained, preserved, and supplied by His intercession, the execution of the testament, and His ministering to us according to our needs.
I lacked nothing. My portion is a precious supply of life. Our preservation and our sustaining through Him are fully guaranteed by His priesthood, which is based on the testament. The testament is in our hands, and the High Priest is both in the heavens and in us.
In the heavens He is the Lord; in us He is the Spirit. The Lord Spirit continually ministers the supply of life to us. The supply we receive is heavenly, because the heavens are its source. Our High Priest ministers to us in the true tabernacle, the heavenly Holy of Holies, which is joined to our spirit by Him as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51). By ministering the heavenly supply to us, He makes us a heavenly people. We are a people on the earth who live a heavenly life.
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: Praise to the Lord – “His All-Inclusiveness”
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