Hebrews 5

High Priest,

Here in Chapter 5 the writer reminds us of what the HP does and how he is selected for that position.

Note first- the HP is appointed from Men and For Men for thing pertaining to God.

Not just anyone could be the High Priest. See .

Aside - the Northern Kingdom allowed anyone to be a priest as they moved into idolatry.

The job of the HP was to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

The HP wore the names of the 12 tribes on his shoulders and on the breastplate, & 21.

What could carrying the names on his shoulders and breastplate symbolize? Carrying their burdens on shoulders and keeping their names near his heart.

What gives us the right to approach God now without a priest?

In Vs 2 notice why the HP would have compassion. Why? he is also subject to weakness.

In Fact he not only offers sacrifices for the people but also for himself. How is that different from our Great HP, Jesus Christ.

Today, we also are prohibited from being our own priest. It is great arrogance to think we can approach God on our own, without a priest. But it is also great superstition to think we need any priest other than Jesus Christ Himself. God provides Jesus as a mediator and priest, and we must use the priest God provides.

High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek, 5:5 - 6

So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”;

Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest: Jesus did not make Himself High Priest. Instead, just as much as Jesus was declared to be the Son (in ), He was also declared to be a priest forever (in ).

Today I have begotten You: This refers to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. At that time He fully assumed His role as our great High Priest, having been perfected ().

Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated that He was not a priest like Aaron, who had to atone for his own sin first. The resurrection vindicated Jesus as the Father’s Holy One ( and ), who bore the wrath sinners deserved without becoming a sinner Himself.

A priest forever: This is an important contrast. Jesus’ priesthood (like Melchizedek’s) is unending, but no High Priest descended from Aaron ever had a forever priesthood.

will more fully develop the theme of Jesus as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek

Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” of whom we have much to say,

..when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, … Whe did this happen?

In the Gardern of Gethsemane, See

How did Jesus learn obedience? Simply by submitting to the Fathers will.

Obedience is God’s first and best choice in teaching us. What are some other methods?

Having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation: Jesus’ experience of suffering – and subsequent resurrection – made Him perfectly suited to be the author (the source, the cause) of our salvation.

Sometimes when a person dies and leaves an inheritance, it never gets to the intended heirs. Jesus died leaving an inheritance, and He ever lives to make sure His people receive it. As Spurgeon said it, “He died, and so made the legacy good; he rose again and lives to see that none shall rob any one of his beloved of the portion he has left.”

Some don’t want Jesus to be the author of their salvation. They want to write their own book of salvation – but God won’t read it. Only Jesus can author your eternal salvation.

And hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

Being dull of hearing is not a problem with the ears, but a problem with the heart. The hearer isn’t really interested in what God has to say. Not wanting to hear the Word of God points to a genuine spiritual problem. It can even be a reason for unanswered prayer, according to : One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

When the Word of God starts to seem dull, we should regard it as a serious warning sign.

Immaturity -

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

By this time: According to the time they had been followers of Jesus, they should have been much more mature than they were.

There is an important sense in which every Christian must be a teacher, because we can all help disciple others. We really only master something after we have effectively taught it to someone else. Teaching is the final step of learning.

What are the first principles of the oracles of God?

Babe is the greek word “nepios”. A breast feeding infant. Only able to take milk.

We can take solid food of the Word if we have been “excercised” that is by using our spiritual senses to discern good and evil.

Signs that one is spiritually a Babe:

i. Have you become a babe? Perhaps your Christian life is unstable. Babies are handed from one person to another, and spiritual babes are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine ().

ii. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are divisive in your Christian life. Babies each have their own crib that they stick to, and spiritual babes have their particular denomination or church that they think of as “my church.”

iii. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are star-struck by Christian celebrities of one kind or another. Babies are focused on one particular person (their mother), and spiritual babes glory in men (I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, as in ).

iv. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are spiritually asleep. Babies need a lot of sleep, and spiritual babes spend much time spiritually asleep.

v. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are fussy and cranky with others. Babies can be cranky, and spiritual babes will fuss over any little thing.