2. There is added to this of his holiness another, and that is harmless. 'For such a High Priest became us who is holy, harmless' (Heb 7:26). A harmful man, when he is in office, O how much mischief may he do! Such an one is partial in doing his office, such an one will put the poor by his right, such an one will buy and sell a cause, a man, an interest, will do or not do, as his harmfulness prompts him to it; 'so is a wicked ruler over the poor people' (Prov 28:15). But now our Jesus, our High Priest, is holy, harmless; he will wrong no man, he will deprive no man, he will contemn no man, he will deny to no man that comes to God by him, the benefit and advantage of his blessed intercession; he respecteth not persons, nor taketh reward. A harmful man will stomach, and hate, and prejudice a man; will wait for an opportunity to do him a mischief; will take the advantage, if he can, to deny him his right, and keep from him his due, when yet it is in the power of his hand to help him. O! but Christ is harmless, harmless as a dove, he thinks no ill, intends no ill, doth no ill; but graciously, innocently, harmlessly, makes intercession for thee; nor will he be prevailed with to prejudice thy person, or to forbear to take up thy name into his lips, be thy infirmities, and weaknesses, and provocations never so many, if thou indeed comest to God by him. He is holy and harmless, so he is more fit to become our High Priest and make intercession for us.
3. Again, this is not all; he is also undefiled: 'For such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled.' This term is put in to show that he neither is, nor can be found, nor now, nor at any time, faulty in his office. A holy man may be defiled; a harmless man may be defiled. We are bid to be blessed and harmless; in a gospel sense, every Christian is. O! but Christ is so in a legal sense; in the eye of the law, perfectly so. This is a great matter, for it shows that nothing done by us can tempt him to be hurtful to us, so there is nothing in himself that can tempt him to be. A defiled man has that within him that will put him upon using his office unfaithfully, though he should have no provocation from those for whose good he is to execute his office. Still, he that is undefiled—undefiled in a law sense—as our Lord Jesus is, is such an one as doth not only not do hurt, and not act falsely in his office, but one that cannot, one that knoweth not, how to be unfaithful to his trust. He is holy, harmless, undefiled; this is a great thing. He has not the original of hurtfulness in him; there is no such root; there is a root of bitterness, springing up in us, by which not only ourselves, but often others are defiled (Heb 12:15). O! but our High Priest is undefiled, not corrupt, nor corrupteth; he doth his office fairly, faithfully, holily, justly, according to, or answering, our necessities, and the trust reposed in him, and committed to him. But,
4. This is not all; as he is holy, harmless, and undefiled, he is separate from sinners in his conception, composition, and place ordained for him to execute this part of his High Priest's office. He was not conceived in the womb by carnal generation; he was not made up of polluted and defiled nature; he officiateth not with those materials that are corrupt, stained, or imperfect, but with those that are unspotted, even with the spotless sacrifice of his own unblemished offering. He, nor his offering, has any such tang as had the priests and their sacrifices under the law, to wit, sin and imperfection; he is separate from them in this respect, further than is an angel from a beast. He has none of the qualities, actions, or inclinations of sinners; his ways are only his own; he never saw them, nor learned them, but of the Father; the none upright among men, wherefore he is separated from them to be a priest. Again,
5. As he is thus, so again, he is said to be 'higher than the heavens.' For such a High Priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. The text saith that neither saints nor heavens are clean in God's sight. 'Behold he puts no trust in his servants,' he chargeth his angels with folly; and again, 'Behold he putteth no trust in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight' (Job 4:18, 15:15). Wherefore, by this expression, he shows us that our High Priest is more noble than either heaven or angel: yea, more clean and perfect than any. It also shows us that all the heavenly host are at his command, to do as his intercession shall prevail with the Father for us. All angels worship him, and at his word they become ministering spirits for those who shall be heirs of salvation.
Besides, by this word he shows, that it is impossible that our High Priest should degenerate or decay; for that he is made 'higher than the heavens'; the spirits sometimes in the heavens have decayed (2 Peter 2:4). The heavens themselves decay and wax old; and that is the farthest that by the Word we are admitted to go (Heb 1:10-12). But as for him that is above the heavens, that is made higher than the heavens, that is ascended up far above all heavens; he is the same, and 'his years fail not' (Heb 1:12). 'The same yesterday, today, and for ever' (Heb 13:8). This therefore is added, to show that Christ is neither as the angels, nor heavens, subject to decay, or degenerate, or to flag and grow cold in the execution of his office; but that he will be found even at the last, when he is come to the end of this work, and is about to go out of the holy place, as affectionate, as full of love, as willing, and desirous after our salvation, as he was the first moment that he was made High Priest, and took upon him to execute that his blessed office for us. Wherefore our High Priest is no such one as you read of in the law (Lev 21:18). He is no dwarf, hath no blemish, nor any imperfection; therefore is not subject to flag or fail in due execution of his office, but can save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, 'seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' And it is well worth our consideration, that it is said he is made thus; that is, appointed, instituted, called, and qualified therefore of God; this shows the Father's heart as well as the Son's, to usward, to wit, that this priesthood was of him, and the glorious effects thereof by him. 'Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.'
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