V. 26.— For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. The Apostle then proceeds to describe the character of our High Priest. "Such an High Priest became us.” We have the same expression, chap. 2:10, “ For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” It corresponded with and necessarily resulted from His character, that the Captain of our salvation should be fully qualified for His office through sufferings. In exercising mercy, God could not cease to be just and true. There could be no jarring of His glorious attributes. He had denounced death as the wages of sin, and fallen man must die after a life of sorrow and suffering. When He constituted His only-begotten Son the Head of the seed of the woman, it was necessary that this second Adam should take part with the children whom God had given Him in flesh and blood; that He should be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and not only so, but that He should be made free among the dead, because the wages of sin is death. The full penalty was exacted of Him. The first man had violated the law of God, as if its burden was too grievous to be borne; and it behoved the second Adam, the surety and representative of God’ s chosen family, to wipe off the foul aspersion by cheerfully obeying that law; although now, in consequence of sin, his obedience was connected with self-denial and suffering. He tasted all the bitterness of death, as the expiator of the guilt of His brethren, and as the reward of His obedience unto death, receiving a new and endless life, which He communicates to all His brethren. In the passage under consideration, we are taught that it necessarily resulted from our circumstances that our High Priest should be holy; not merely separated from His brethren, to stand between them and God; not only free from any bodily defect or blemish; but holy, perfectly and absolutely holy, as God is holy, harmless, and undefiled even in passing through this polluted world. [The priests under the law were liable to contract defilement, both by contact with anything unclean, and by bodily infirmities; but our High Priest is undefiled. He was purity itself; nothing could render Him unclean. It is remarkable that our Lord proved this by laying hands on lepers, and touching the dead. Matthew 8:2-3; Luke 7:14. Temptation proved like the application of fire to an incombustible substance.]The prince of this world came, but he found nothing in Jesus on which his venom could fix; neither the pangs of hunger, the desire of admiration, nor the possession of power led Him for a moment to swerve from that undeviating obedience which the holy law required. He could challenge His enemies to convict Him of sin, and He could appeal to His Father for His love to the law. It is exceeding broad; it extends to the thoughts and intents of the heart; but He felt no wanderings of desire that the obedience it required should be less extensive. Being Himself infinitely holy, as Immanuel, God with us, the image of the invisible God, an image so exact that he who saw Him saw the Father, the law was in His heart on account of its perfect purity. Psalms 119:140. Another qualification essential to our High Priest was that He should be made higher than the heavens. The Apostle had already proved the superiority of Christ to the angels. He had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, Hebrews 1:4; nay, had been described as God seated on His eternal throne, Hebrews 1:8. He had ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. Eph. iv. 10. In delivering their commission to His Apostles, He informed them that all power was committed to Him in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18. As God over all, He ever possessed this power; but, in the passage referred to, he speaks of it as given to Him in the character of Mediator. Power was given Him over all flesh, that He might give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. John 17:2. As the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so the Son quickeneth whom He will. John 5:21. All that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and receive from Him their irreversible sentence. Such is the matchless glory of our High Priest, and such an high priest became us. It is the property of wisdom in the use of means neither to employ such as may prove insufficient, nor such as are redundant. This is exemplified in the character of our High Priest; all His power and glory are essential to the discharge of His office. Such an high priest became us. We see, then, in our great High Priest every necessary qualification; unspotted holiness, to meet the utmost demands of the law. We are taught that the heavens are not clean in the sight of God, but He is ever well-pleased in His beloved Son. He sees all His own perfections fully reflected by Him. Those whom He came to deliver were dead; the curse of God lay heavy on them; and so great was the work of redeeming His people, that the whole creation was, so to speak, put in motion for their recovery; and therefore angels, principalities, and powers were made subject to Him, and thus He was made higher than the heavens.