Jesus, Our Great High Priest

Hebrews 4:14–5:10 “14 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. 15 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. 16 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.

5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;

6 as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”

Jesus, our Great High Priest

Isn’t this good news this morning, that we have a High Priest who is our advocate?

In the book of Exodus, we read the story of how God brought His people out of slavery and bondage in Egypt

A miraculous deliverance in which God clearly showed His favor on His people

As they were obedient to Him, they did not suffer the plagues that the rest of the Egyptians suffered

And God brought them out by His might hand, and went before them and led them to Mt. Sinai, the Mountain of God

And there He met with them and gave them the Law

Page upon page

Precept upon precept

Standard upon Standard

I want us to put ourselves in the shoes of these Israelites for a brief moment if we can

They had just come out of generations of bondage in Egypt.

For over 400 years they had been sojourners, strangers, in a land that was not their own.

Abused, mistreated, looked down upon, even killed, made to work and toil.

Many of them had doubtless forgotten about God

But then, God! The God of their forefathers, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shows up and their lives are uprooted, or rescued, (depending on how you thought about it)

And they find themselves in the wilderness meeting Him!

And this God is giving them His law

And as they listen to the Law, their heads have to be spinning.

There are laws about

sacrifices

tabernacles

priests

planting and harvesting

diseases

sexual morality

And it just doesn’t seem to stop

They have to be wondering, “What have we gotten in to?”

This God is demanding far more of us than the Egyptian gods demand from them!

We will never be able to measure up! There is no way that we can keep all these commandments!

We are weak! We will constantly be under the judgment of God because we can’t do everything that He demands of us!

But this is where we see God’s incredible mercy and love for His people

Because, while He did demand perfection, He also knew full well the humanness and weakness of His people

He knew their inability to be perfect

And so He gave them priests

Priests who would minister in the tabernacle, keeping the lamp lit which symbolized the presence of God

Keeping the incense burning which represented the prayers of the people

Priests who would help them bring their sacrifices to God

Priests who would serve as mediators between them and their Holy God

And God set up over all the priests, the High Priest

The High Priest dressed in his priestly garments

Beautifully fashioned out of gold, and red and blue and purple thread

A turban on his head

a robe, a coat, a sash

A breastplate and ephod

And here is the really amazing part

Bearing the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on two onyx stones enclosed in settings of gold on his shoulders

And engraved on 12 different jewels close to his heart embedded in his breastplate

The High Priest literally bore the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on his body

And once a year, this high priest, in addition to all his other duties, he would

prepare himself by washing himself carefully

Putting on his high priestly garments in just the right way

With the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on his shoulders

And next to his heart on the breastplate

And he would take a bull and offer a sin offering for his own sins

And then he would take two goats and they would cast lots

And one goat would be offered as a sin offering for the people

And then the High Priest would take blood from the bull and from the goat

And then, literally bearing the 12 tribes of Israel on his shoulders and heart,

And he alone would venture through the Holy Place, and into the mercy seat, the Holiest of Holy places

And he would take some finely ground incense and put it on the incense alter and make a thick cloud of smoke that would cover the mercy seat, Leviticus 16:13 says “so that he would not die”

And he would sprinkle the blood of this bull and this goat on the mercy seat

And in front of the mercy seat

English Standard Version Chapter 16

Leviticus 16:16

And then he would come out and sprinkle some of the blood on the alter of burn offerings to cleanse and consecrate it

And then he would lay his hands on the live goat, and confess all the sins and transgressions of the people and they would chase that goat into the wilderness

Never to return

Showing that God had forgiven their sins, and would never bring those sins up again.

Think about this!

What a burden that this High Priest had to bear!

He bore the sins of the entire nation of Israel into the presence of God

All of their

failures

sins

rebellion

fear

Weaknesses

anger

lust

greed

All of it! All the sin of every single person he bore into the Holy of Holiest places and “made atonement”

He made amends

He purchased the pardon for every single person

What a burden he bore

But what incredible mercy from God

God in His mercy made a way for His people to be right before Him.

His laws, and His ways were not meant to be an impossible burden for the people. Rather, they were mean to set His people apart as His chosen treasure.

And the way that the people remained right before their Holy and Awesome God, was through the faithfulness of a single high priest. One who was weak and sinful himself

one who had to take care of his own sins before bearing the sins of the people

But this high priest was only a picture or a type of someone who was greater. One who was to come and be a perfect High Priest

Today in our passage from Hebrews, we see the fulfillment of what God had in mind

His Perfect Son, Jesus, is our High Priest

And the picture that we are given today is that each of us desperately needs Jesus, our High Priest.

Each of us is beset by

Weakness

Fear

Failure

rebellion

lust

Greed

envy

Each of us is prone to these things, and each of us needs a High Priest to make atonement for us!

This picture of Jesus being our High Priest is not new

The writer of Hebrews actually introduces this idea to us way back at the end of Chapter 2

English Standard Version Chapter 2

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

propitiation—appeasing the wrath of God

And then again in chapter 3:1

“....consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.”

But then, it seems like he sort of abandons this idea and goes on to something else.

Except he doesn’t. He doesn’t at all abandon the idea/

Because what follows is the author giving us what I call a parenthesis

It’s like he says, “you need to know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT high priests. He is our Perfect High Priest”

But then he says, “You know what, before I go any farther, I need to explain why this is so significant.

And what he proceeds to do is give us quite a lengthy warning about unbelief, rebellion, and developing a hard heart?

Why does he do this? Because he knows that this is a danger for all of us

And he uses the picture of the children of Israel in the wilderness who had been show amazing mercy by God, yet who just couldn’t seem to stop complaining and rebelling

We’ve talked about all of that

But his point is that this can be our story if we don’t “take care” as he says

And what makes this warning even more ominous (if I can use that word), is verses 11-13 of chapter 4.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

All of us are prone to the same kind of rebellion and hardness of heart that got the Israelites into trouble with God

And there is no way that we can hide it from Him

Because His word pierces deep into our hearts.

It’s sharper than you can possibly make any sword or knife

So sharp that goes all the way through us. It goes so deep that it even discerns what is in our hearts

And what is in our hearts is often an absolute mess!

You mean, I can’t hide that from God?

He demands perfection, holiness. And I know that my heart is far from it!

And like the Israelites who were hearing the Law read to them for the first time, if this really soaks in

it can make us say, like Isaiah did when he saw the LORD on his Holy Throne, “Woe is me! I am undone!”

But there is great news! The most wonderful news

Because right on the heals of this dire warning about the Word of God being like the sharpest of swords

There is one of the most incredible, amazing, hope-filled, life-giving passages anywhere in Scripture

One that should fill our hearts with such joy and love for Jesus:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

14 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. 15 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. 16 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.

WE have a High Priest! Yes, we are weak, and prone to rebellion and hardness of heart

But we have a High Priest!

Yes, we struggle with things like lust and pride and discord

But we have a High Priest!

And not just any High Priest!

Our High Priest is not like the high priests in the OT

Look at what it says about our Great High Priest

We have an exalted High Priest—He has passed through the heavens, vs. 14

Do you remember the picture of the High Priest in the OT?

On the day of atonement when the high priest offered sacrifices for the sins of the nation,

He would take the blood of the goat and the bull,

he had to pass through the tabernacle into the Holies of places where he offered the blood as a sacrifice

Now what was the tabernacle?

The tabernacle was a physical, man-made representation of the dwelling place of God. The place of God’s presence

Even though God had chosen the tabernacle as the place for His presence to dwell, still, It was made out of cloth and wood and gold. It was temporal, fallible

The tent that was used as the Tabernacle is no more! No one knows where it is!

But that’s OK

Because It was just a representation of a type of something much greater!

And it says here that Jesus, our High Priest, passed through the Heavens!

what is the significance of this?

it’s significant because the author is emphasizing the deity of Jesus!

He is telling us that our High Priest is, in fact, one with God Himself

And that He has made His sacrifice for sins, and has ascended into the eternal dwelling place of God

Not an earthly dwelling place, or an earthly place of worship that will one day pass away,

But the eternal dwelling place of God where He is eternally glorified

We have a perfect High Priest

Again, do you remember the picture of the OT high priest?

Do you remember what he had to do before he shouldered the sins of the nation?

he had to cleanse himself!

he had to take a bath

he had to put on his garments just so

he had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins

he had to take care that he did not enter the presence of God without first making himself presentable.

It was up to him!

Why? Because the high priest was a sinful man just like everyone else

just like you and I

He had problems with rebellion and hardness of heart himself

And he had to take care to make himself presentable before going in to the presence of God!

But, unlike the OT high priests, our High Priest is perfect. “Without sin”!

He did not have to make himself perfect before offering His sacrifice

He was already perfect, without sin, without blemish or spot

And He had to be because He was both High Priest and Sacrifice

He not only gives carried the sins of the whole world on His shoulders, He also sacrificed Himself which meant that He had to be without blemish and without spot

The perfect lamb

We have a sympathetic High Priest

in chapter 5, the author draws us back to the OT high priest and he says this about him:

He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness

in other words, the OT high priest in no way could be harsh and condemning toward his people because he himself was a weak man

and he knew exactly what the people under his care were going through because he experienced the same thing

He himself was sinful and he himself had to offer sacrifices for his own sin

That was what the OT high priest was like

So, in our human way, we might tend to think like this:

well, if the OT high priest could be gentle with his people because he was a sinful man himself

Then the opposite must be true for our perfect High Priest, right?

There’s no way He could understand! He’s perfect, right? He doesn’t know what it’s like to sin and need forgiveness

Actually, just the opposite, says the author!

He does in fact know what it’s like

Because He came in the flesh. And in the flesh, he was tempted in every respect, or in every way that we are

Are you tempted to lust? So was Jesus

are you tempted to lie or mislead people? So was Jesus

Are you ever tempted to let anger control you? So was Jesus!

in every way, the passage says, Jesus was tempted just like we are

The author emphasizes the humanness of Jesus in 5:7

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence

This is referring to Jesus praying in the Garden before his crucifixion

Jesus felt pain and agony, temptation and sadness

yet, in all that that he experienced, He did not sin. He remained perfect before God

Jesus was both perfect High Priest and perfect Sacrifice

And because of this, we have a tremendous privilege

Our privilege

our privilege is that we, ourselves can enter and draw near to the mercy seat, or the throne of grace

One more time, back to the OT tabernacle.

Who was it that was allowed to enter the most Holy Place and draw near to the mercy seat? only the High Priest

How often was he allowed to do this? Only once a year

And what do you think he was feeling as, once per year he prepared to enter the Holy of Holies, and the made his way toward the mercy seat?

We aren’t told what he was feeling but I can’t imagine that he wasn’t feeling at least a little afraid.

perhaps a lot afraid!

Because what if he had forgotten something? What if he didn’t do something just right, and in the right order

what if there was something wrong with the bull and the goat, and he hadn’t noticed it?

He’s probably making a list and checking it twice, and going over everything that he has done in his head

Because the result could very well be that he would enter the presence of the LORD, and his sacrifice would be found unacceptable, or he would be found unacceptable

and he would be struck down!

I’m guessing that he felt at least a little timid as he went in there!

But look what it says we can do! We can draw near the mercy seat with confidence.

KJV, with boldness

Our perfect High Priest has gone before us into the dwelling place of God and we can follow Him there with confidence

Folks, this just should make our hearts sing for joy as we strive to grasp the incredible truth of this.

And it should revolutionize the way that we live

Do you read the dire warning about the Word of God being like a sharp sword that is revealing our hearts, and does that make you shrink away in shame?

Do you read those verses and it makes you look for a place to hide? Or you try to put up your shield?

Or do you allow the truth of God to penetrate your heart, expose you heart, and do you let it reveal to you your need for a Great and Perfect High Priest?

And then do you draw near to Him? Do you come boldly, desperately, hungry for Him, with hearts of love and praise and gratitude for what He has done?

Folks, today I need a High Priest like this. I need Jesus

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Instructions for consecrating the Priests—Exodus 28-29.

Consecrating the Priests—Leviticus 8-9.