Our Great High Priest

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Heb 4:14-16 ESV

How often do we forget or ignore the reality that Jesus is our great high priest?

Do we know that he is our Savior? Check.

Redeemer? Got it.

Substitute? Yep.

Son of God? Amen!

Lord? Harder, but I think we usually get this too.

But High Priest? I'm not sure we know what to do with Jesus in this role. So instead of pressing in and allowing the Spirit to bring the Word to bear, we just move on. After all, it is easier, isn't it? What's the old saying? Ignorance is bliss...

And yet, as one reads through the book of Hebrews, one gets the sense that Jesus as High Priest was significant both to the author and to the people to whom he was passionately ministering. Here are just a few thoughts to whet your appetite and I pray pull you deeper in to both seeing and savoring more of who Jesus is.

First, Jesus, as our high priest, is not approaching the throne from the outside like every other high priest before him, but he is coming out from the altar. He is coming from heaven itself. He really is the Son of God, with all that reality implies. Later the author of Hebrews will clearly state that Jesus does not have to continually offer a sacrifice for himself as all prior high priests did. And, the sacrifice he did offer was not for his sins but for ours. Jesus is the one and only high priest sent from heaven for us.

Next, we hold on to our faith because Jesus is our high priest. Elsewhere the Bible is clear that Jesus preserves us. John 10 is a great example of this. And yet the author of Hebrews is exhorting his flock hold fast to their confession. The reason he gives is simply because Jesus, the Son of God, came from heaven to be our great high priest. Maybe it goes without saying, but I find it quite compelling that the Biblical writers don't often feel the need to coax or cajole us into obedience. For them it is a simple reality. If Jesus is who he says he is, obedience is not an option.

Beyond this is the truth that the role of high priest was to represent men and women before God. The high priest needed to identify with God and his holiness and yet also identify with mankind and our falleness. The priests in the Old Testament could not do this perfectly because they were just as sinful as the rest of us and thus couldn't really identify with God.  And, if Jesus had simply been God or even an angel, he couldn't identify with us. But in his incarnation Jesus, Son of God, sent from heaven for us can now sympathize with our temptation to sin. He now knows hunger and grief and humiliation and abandonment. Yet without sin. Because Jesus came here, not just as an observer, but as a participant, we can never claim that he doesn't get it or that my temptation or sin or circumstance is somehow greater than the Spirit can overcome. And because he is our sympathetic high priest, he is ready to forgive us and accept us when we confess, repent and believe.

And finally (at least for this post) Jesus, Son of God, sent from heaven to be our sympathetic high priest, has opened the door for us to the very throne of God. This is significant because it is a reversal of the at least part of the curse from Genesis 3. Man and woman were banished from God's presence due to their rebellion. But now, in Christ, we can return to the God who loves us. And we can return not as conquered foes nor as groveling servants, but as confident, beloved children. And as children our confidence is in our loving Father who will richly give us grace and mercy. It is amazing to think that God is always going to give us what is best in response to our prayers. Not always what we want, but always what is best.

So Jesus is our great high priest. He is certainly many other things, but let us remember that it is because he is interceding for us right now that our faith has not failed, we are able to have victory over sin and we are confident that there is an inheritance kept in heaven for us that is unfading, in unblemished and imperishable.

To God Alone be the Glory