Our High Priest

In the Old Testament, worshippers were required to bring a sacrifice to the priest who would offer it up to God on their behalf. Worshippers and their sacrifices could not go directly to God. There always had to be a middleman, the high priest, who was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices that could atone or compensate for the sins of the people. Before he could offer their sacrifices, the officiating priest "shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house" (Leviticus 16:6, KJV). In other words, he was just as guilty a sinner in the eyes of God as the people whom he represented.

Outside of doing his duty, the interaction between the priest and the worshippers was impersonal. He could not help them as they were all in the same boat; only that his job was special. Entering into the presence of God, there was no guarantee he would come out alive. According to Jewish tradition, "the High Priest wore a rope around his waist as he made his way - absolutely alone - into the Holy of Holies. The rope he wore served a very practical purpose. Because, in the event that the High Priest said or did something wrong, it was generally believed that he would be struck dead for his offense. Yes, right then and there. As only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the rope enabled his assistants to safely pull the corpse of the High priest out of the inner-sanctum in the event of mishap." That's some serious stuff!

However, the New Testament book of Hebrews provides us with the complete representation of Christ's fulfillment of the law including the priesthood and every sacrifice. Jesus Himself has become our high priest forever (Hebrews 6:19). No longer are we as worshippers represented by an impersonal human priest, but the writer reminds us that in Christ "we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (4:15). In Chapter 2 he writes, "For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted" (vv. 16-18, NIV).

Our high priest "who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens . . . needeth not daily, as those [human] high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself" (7:26, 27). In his book Called to Worship, Vernon Whaley observes, "His sacrifice was eternal, and it purchased for us eternal life, eternal cleansing, eternal covering, and eternal forgiveness. Though we are sinners, and God still has no tolerance for sin, He now looks at us through Christ's finished work on the cross. . . . [Christ] not only presented the offering, He was the offering." Thanks to our great high priest, unlike all the saints before Him, we can come "boldly" and directly "to the throne of grace", worshipping God face-to-face and enjoying Him personally, obtaining mercy, and finding "grace to help in time of need" (4:16). Praise the Lord!

God is No Man's Debtor

She had promised God and she was determined to keep her promise. Grateful to Him for blessing her womb after years of barrenness, Hannah handed young Samuel to Eli, the priest, with the words, "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: therefore also I have lent [given] him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent [given] to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:27-28a, KVJ). Samuel was not only asked of and received from God (v.20); now he was being lent to God.

On this point Bible scholar Matthew Henry writes, "(1) Whatever we give to God, it is what we have first asked and received from Him. All our gifts to Him were first His gifts to us. Of thy own, Lord, have we given thee, 1 Chronicles 29:14, 16. (2) Whatever we give to God may upon this account be said to be lent to Him, that though we may not recall it, as a thing lent, yet He will certainly repay it, with interest, to our unspeakable advantage." Read the second point again - "Whatever is lent to God . . . He will certainly repay it, with interest, to our unspeakable advantage." So how did God repay Hannah?

Remember, prior to God answering her prayers, Hannah longed for children but "the Lord had shut up her womb" (1 Samuel 1:5-6, 11). One child would have been enough for her; however, God was not finished. The narrative continues, "And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, ‘The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord.’ And they went unto their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:20-21). For the act of lending her first born to the Lord, she who was barren was "repaid" with interest - five more children! She went from being seen as a cursed woman to one who was blessed to her "unspeakable advantage!"

God is no man's debtor. As Creator and being all-sufficient within Himself, He is never in debt to anyone. Everything that we have - the house, the car, the finances, the children, and everything else - come from Him "and of thy own have we given thee" (1 Chronicles 29:13-14). In other words, we are giving back to God what was already His and was always His! However, it is comforting to know that He often rewards those who joyfully give back to Him from what they have been blessed with. And when He does, it is often "with interest." Just ask Hannah. Then try it for yourself.

A Mother's Influence

According to the first chapter of 1 Samuel, Hannah, after giving birth to and weaning her first child Samuel, promptly "brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh" (v. 24). There she vowed "as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord" (v. 28) and left her boy in the care of the prophet.

According to one source, "In the East, to wean is not just to give milk, but to give the milk of the Word. This is why the children sleep with the mother until she teaches them the milk of the Word." Others suggest it meant "when he was weaned from his mother, in the sense of being able to get along without her care." Without any clear meaning, it is assumed that Samuel was between 6-12 years old. Regardless of the age, what we know is that he spent this time learning the ways of God, the ways to worship God. So much so that when he got to Eli, he did not miss a beat - "he worshipped the Lord there" (v. 28).

How did he know how to worship? From his mother. How strong was her influence? Strong enough that he was able to maintain true worship while in the house of Eli and his sons who were "priests of the Lord" (v. 3). Eli was an enabler and his sons were living contrary and immoral lives (1 Samuel 2:22-25). Because of his mother's influence we are told, "But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod . . . . [he] grew before the Lord. . . . And [he] grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men. . . . And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli" (2 Samuel 2: 18, 21b, 26; 3:1).

Parents, especially mothers, whether through right instructions, prayer, being examples, or any combination, your early influence over your child(ren)'s lives are extremely significant. They often stand or fall based on what they have been taught one way or another. They live what they learn and in cases where they do not uphold truth, or follow the straight and narrow path, it is not that they have forgotten. Keep on modeling, keep on praying; they cannot outrun your prayers.

Worshipping Right in Difficult Places

According to the narrative, Hannah, much ridiculed by her husband's second wife about her barrenness, after persevering in prayer and supplication before the Lord, finally conceived and gave birth to her first son, Samuel (see 1 Samuel 1:1-20). We are told that after the child was weaned, Hannah "brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh" (v. 24, KJV) and before Eli the priest she vowed, "as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord" (v. 28) before leaving Samuel with Eli and returning home. From then on, "the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest" (1 Samuel 2:11).

But something was not right in Eli's house, for "the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord" (v. 12). Not only that "the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord: for men abhorred the offering of the Lord" (v. 17), but Eli knew "all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation" (v. 22), and made "the Lord's people to transgress" (v. 24). Yet in this difficult and somewhat salacious environment, something remarkable was taking place. We are told, "But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod . . . . And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. . . . And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men. . . . And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli" (vv. 18, 21b, 26; 3:1). Do you see what I see? Right worshipping in a difficult place!

As a child, it would have been easy for Samuel to have adopted the ways of the adults around him who were supposed be his examples of worshipping and serving the Lord. However, we see the opposite; he was in a bad environment, but the environment was not in him! In other words, he did not allow himself to be influenced by said environment. By God's grace his heart remained true to worshipping God in the ways he had learned from his worshipping mother. The same can be true for us as well. No matter the negative environment in which we find ourselves - at work, home, school, or wherever else - it does not have to influence our behaviour and / or our worship. God's grace is still able to empower us to "live soberly, righteously, and godly" wherever we find ourselves (Titus 2:11-12). We can still worship the right way. Easy? No! Possible? Yes! Just ask Samuel.

"I Know You Love Me"

It was one of those songs that did not catch my attention right away. However, as the week progressed, I found myself not only humming the tune but looking up the words. Not only was the first stanza deep in its message, it was like a recurring theme in my head: "Oh Lord You've searched me / You know my way / Even when I fail You / I know You love me." Powerful stuff!

It is one thing to search ourselves. We know there are places in our lives where we will conveniently not look. Places where we have stashed our "forbidden things" which we believe nobody but ourselves know about. Yet, it is another thing to have God do the searching. He leaves no stones unturned, no doors unopened, nothing is hidden from His eyes. I am reminded of the words of the Psalmist David, "O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me" (Psalm 139:1, KJV). Bible Scholars tell us that the word rendered 'searched' has a primary reference to searching the earth by boring or digging, as for water or metals. It involves a thorough investigation. This kind of thoroughness is required because as Jeremiah reminds us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). In effect David was saying, as Bible commentator Adam Clarke puts it, "Thou hast investigated me; thou hast thoroughly acquainted thyself with my whole soul and conduct." Jesus spoke about what was in the heart (Mark 7:18-23). It is easy to deceive ourselves; to believe we are "OK" when we are not. Only God can do an honest search of the human heart.

Yet, if the words of the songwriter are to be believed, even after searching the recesses of the heart and seeing all it contains, we can still say of God with confidence, "I know you love me." There is nothing to lose and everything to gain to invite such an investigative search. It cannot be a one time thing either. It is no wonder David ended the Psalm with the earnest request: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (vv. 23-24, KJV). In other words, like a prosecutor interrogating a witness or a defendant, keep on investigating my heart and my thoughts. Why? "Because Thou seest all that is in my heart. Nothing is, or can be, concealed from thee" (Barnes Notes). I do not have to be afraid of this level of transparency because irregardless of what you find, "I know you love me."

A clean hand and pure heart are what God desires (Psalm 24:3-4). Only He can search and cleanse the heart. Today is a good time to echo the words of the Psalmist and invite Him to do so; to really make it personal. Trust me, He will not be turned off by what He sees.