The Priest Who is the Source of Eternal Salvation
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Introduction: Last week we considered Jesus as our Great High Priest. First, we saw Him as the Great High Priest who has offered up the perfect sacrifice and who has gone into the very presence of God where He lives and intercedes on our behalf. Second, we saw Him as the Great High Priest who knows exactly what we go through. Having shared in our human weakness, He understands the frail condition of humanity in our emotions, our pain, and our temptations, yet He understands it without sin. Third, we saw Him as our merciful and gracious High Priest. Knowing our weakness, he is able to have compassion on us, and, unlike human kings, we are invited to His throne which overflows with grace.
So, what does all of this mean for my life today? Well, for those who have not yet accepted Jesus as their Great High Priest, the Holy Spirit invites you to come to the throne of grace. Jesus knows your frailty and He promises to extend grace to help in your need of salvation. For those who have accepted Jesus as their Great High Priest, we are invited to do two things: 1). We are invited to “hold fast our confession.” Hold fast to your unshakable hope that is anchored in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 2). We are invited to the throne of grace. This answers the question, “What do I do with the confidence I have in the hope of Christ?” Now knowing that Jesus sympathizes with us in our weaknesses, we know that He is for us (not against us), and we now can have the boldness to approach the very throne of God where we can receive grace upon grace.
The Qualifications of a High Priest
The Qualifications of a High Priest
Every high priest is a man appointed by God
Every high priest is a man appointed by God
Like we discussed last week, the role of a high priest is to go before God on the behalf of men, but in order to go before God on the behalf of men a priest had to be a man. In order to represent man, the priest had to be a man.
Example: Republican form of government; standards for becoming the president of the United States
Angels cannot represent man before God. Angels do not fully understand what it is like to be human because they have never experienced humanity. So, every high priest had to be a man and his job was to be a representative for man. Now how did Jews, to whom Hebrews is written, understand the representative role of the high priest?
Leviticus
And Moses said to Aaron, “Go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.”
Because they knew the law, the Jews would have understood that the high priest would offer gifts of dedication (meal offerings; restricting that which would spoil and adding that which would preserve) and sacrifices of atonement for their own sins and the sins of the people. In preparing for the offering, the high priest would first have to make an offering in order to atone for his own sin, and because he was also a sinner he could deal compassionately with the people. Being a man in need of an atoning sacrifice, Old Testament high priests had the ability to have compassion on those who are ignorant and misguided since he himself is subject to the same kind of weakness.
Ignorant and Misguided?
Ignorant and Misguided?
This phrase refers to people who sin as a result of not knowing or as a result of being deceived. The Old Covenant provision for sin is identified in .
So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the Lord, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
In the Old Testament there is no provision made for unrepentant and deliberate lawbreaking.
‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people.
So, the emphasis here is that the Old Testament high priest showed sympathy since he himself was a victim of human weakness to resist sin.
No man takes this honor for himself
No man takes this honor for himself
Becoming a high priest was not something you could simply do because you wanted to. The high priest was appointed by God Himself. Even from the beginning of the priesthood, God appointed Aaron.
“Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Priests not only ministered to God, but priests ministered at the direction of God.
Note: Consider Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face; and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him.
Numbers 16:28-
And Moses said: “By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”
Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!”
Transition: So, in order to be a priest you had to be a man, you had to be appointed by God Himself, you had to be sympathetic to human weakness, and you were required to offer sacrifices for men.
Jesus’ High Priestly Appointment
Jesus’ High Priestly Appointment
So, in writing to Jews, where do you think the author is leading them? Yes! He is leading them to the place that shows them that, like Moses, the priesthood of the Old Testament symbolized and was a shadow of the perfect High Priest of the New Testament who can be none other than Jesus Himself.
Appointed by God
Appointed by God
First, Jesus did not appoint Himself or seek to glorify Himself to the position of High Priest. Instead the one who exalted Jesus is the same one who said 1). You are My Son Today I have begotten You. 2). You are a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
These are both quotations from the Old Testament that Hebrew readers knew referred to the Messiah.
“I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
Even though Jesus was the Son of God He did not seek to take the position for Himself or give honor to Himself, but it was the Father that glorified Him.
Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
Now we will discuss in more detail what is meant by a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but for now the writer tells us that there is a great message that has to do with Jesus’ being of the order of Melchizedek but it is hard to explain since they were slow of hearing. In other words, because the readers were not willing to let go of the Old Covenant priesthood they could not understand the far better picture of Christ’s priesthood. So for now we will leave that part alone (to be continued in Chapter 7).
He could sympathize with man
He could sympathize with man
Jesus could sympathize with man because He understood what is was like to be man. There was a period of time when He was in the flesh, and when he was in the flesh he faced unimaginable temptation. The writer then points us to the point in Jesus’ life when he most likely faced the greatest temptation.
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.
What did he pray for? That he would be assured of the resurrection.
Did the Father answer His prayer?
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Was it ultimately fulfilled? Yes! Jesus is risen!
Through this experience, he learned (found out; experienced) obedience. He learned what is was like to face temptation and He resisted it to the point of blood. Having now experienced temptation, he can sympathize with us whenever we face it.
The Sacrifice for man
The Sacrifice for man
Having been victorious over temptation, Jesus then obeyed. Philippians tell us that He obeyed to the extent of death on a cross. It is through that obedience that He became the perfect Author of eternal salvation.
Became Perfect?
Became Perfect?
He became perfect in the sense that He completed every requirement for Him to be the perfect High Priest.
Now, being able to perfectly identify with man and having offered the perfect sacrifice, the One who was appointed by God is now the source of eternal salvation. He is truly the Perfect High Priest. He did what no priest had ever done - provided eternal salvation. All other priests could offer was momentary forgiveness, but Christ offers eternal salvation to all who obey Him. The kind of obedience referred to here is not the obedience of the law given on Sinai, but the obedience which would come from Mt. Moriah.
Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,
Conclusion: Sadly, not all obey by faith. Whoever does not believe does not truly obey. Whoever does not come to Christ as the author or source of eternal life will never have it. So, here is the Holy Spirit’s invitation in this passage: by faith, leave the priesthood of the law and come to the Priest of Grace.