Our Great High Priest

OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST Spring Valley Mennonite; November 3, 2019; Hebrews 4:14-16 In our Protestant tradition we reject the idea of priests and their place as mediators between God and man; this was one of the positive and biblical outcomes of the Reformation. Each believer has direct access to God, a doctrine called the “Priesthood of the Believer.” This was a radical idea for those from a Jewish background, for the priesthood was an established part of the Jewish tradition having been ordained by God in the Law of Moses. The tribe of Levi was God’s choice to serve in the Tabernacle, and later the Temple at Jerusalem. To clarify the difference between Levites and Priests, all Priests were Levites, but not all Levites were Priests. The Levites consisted of several clans, but the clan of Aaron and Moses was designated to be the Priestly clan, higher in status and responsibility from the other families of Levites. The other clans basically served the needs of the priests. Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the first High Priest under the Law, and his son Eleazar succeeded him. All Jewish priests were descendants of Aaron and only the priestly line could offer sacrifices and serve inside the Tabernacle/Temple structure. The other Levites served in such duties as providing wood for the altar, and water for the required cleansings. They also served as gatekeepers, musicians and guards. The High Priest was the acknowledged religious leader in Israel, and he had the distinct privilege and duty to be the mediator between God and the people. The High Priest was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies, the separated part of the Tabernacle and Temple where the Ark of the Covenant rested. The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the Tabernacle/Temple (called the Holy Place) by a thick veil. Other members of the Priesthood served in the Holy Place and in the courtyard offering sacrifices on the large bronze altar. Within the Holy of Holies, the covering of the Ark was called “the Mercy Seat.” It had two angelic figures on top, and between these two cherubim God chose to localize His presence. Once every year the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial animal on the Mercy Seat, atoning for the sins of the people of Israel. The High Priest could do this only after offering a sacrifice for his own sins. One significant development in the Jewish priesthood, particularly regarding the High Priest: in the days of Jesus, the High Priesthood had deteriorated to primarily a political position, subject to and by appointment by the Roman government. When the Babylonians destroyed the Temple roughly 500 years earlier, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared, never to be recovered. At that time, the Glory of the Lord departed from the Temple, never to return. Herod’s Temple, though a magnificent structure, had no Ark, and the blood of the yearly sacrifice was poured out on a large rock in the holy of holies. This absence of God’s presence explains how the corrupt and evil High Priests of Jesus’ time could enter the Holy of Holies of the Temple on the Day of Atonement with impunity. At the death of Christ, the veil in the Temple was ripped from top to bottom, symbolizing that through Jesus all now have access into the very presence of God. The High Priesthood of Jesus is central to the message of Hebrews. Jesus is the Great High Priest for all believers. Turn to Hebrews 4:14-16 (Read). I’m borrowing another’s outline of these verses, as the text states that Jesus is our great High Priest for three reasons: His perfect Priesthood, His perfect Person, and His perfect Provision. (I could never come up with such perfect alliteration!) First, let’s consider: I. JESUS’ PERFECT PRIESTHOOD We remember that Hebrews was written to those from a Jewish background. A Jewish person’s religious identity would identify with the High Priest, so this becomes a focus in this letter. From the first chapter of Hebrews, we find in verse 3 that Jesus as High Priest made purification of sins. In chapter 2, verse 17 Jesus is said to be our merciful and faithful High Priest. In chapter 3, He is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. And now in chapter 4, Jesus is our Great High Priest. The Jewish High Priest passed through the separating veil to enter the presence of God in the Holy of Holies; likewise, Jesus passed through the barrier between earth and heaven and presented Himself as the perfect sacrifice. After the sobering message of the previous verses which warned of the danger of not entering God’s rest because of unbelief, we now find this encouraging message for true believers: in contrast to the corrupt and political Jewish High Priests, we now have a perfect and GREAT HIGH PRIEST, the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus did not pass through the Temple to gain the presence of the Father but ascended into Heaven through the created heavens. The disciples saw Jesus ascend through the clouds. Ephesians 4:10: He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things. We do not have a High Priest in Jerusalem, but a High Priest in heaven at the right hand of God. As the High Priest passed through the veil, Jesus passed through the heavens. It is noteworthy that it was in His resurrected body that He ascended, a glorified body, fit for heavenly dwelling. Jesus was the first-fruits of all we who will also be resurrected. This is the significance of the phrase “the Son of God”, the One begotten by the Father in the incarnation, when the second person of the Trinity took on human flesh. Because this is true, that the Jewish High Priest has been replaced by our Great High Priest, we are to stand firm, holding fast our confession that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that we have been saved by grace through faith. The Jewish religion has been replaced by Christianity; the old has passed away and the new has come. The Old Covenant has been replaced by the New. Jesus is our High Priest by virtue of His Perfect Priesthood, accepted by God and seated at the right hand of the Father. He also is High Priest: II. (HE IS HIGH PRIEST) BY VIRTUE OF HIS PERFECT PERSON Before the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he first had to make sacrifice for his own sins, then he could offer the sin offering for all the people. The elaborate sacrificial ritual of the Day of Atonement is described in Leviticus 16: • The priest bathed his entire body (not just washing his hands and feet); • Put on the white linen tunic with white undergarments, sash, and turban instead of the richly ornamented High Priests robe.  This was to show the purity of the priest. • He then sacrificed a bull for his sin and the sin of his family; • Filled a censer with burning coals from the altar and two handfuls of incense and entered into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of God and the mercy seat (on top of the ark) resided. This was the only time during the year the High Priest could enter this place of God's presence. When he walked in he was to place the incense on the coals of the censor and this would form a cloud over the mercy seat.  This symbolized the need to shield the priest from the eyes of the Holy God. • The priest would exit and get some of the bull's blood and would return and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and then seven times on the ground before the mercy seat. This was to atone or pay for his own sin.  • Then the priest turned to two goats and cast lots over them.  One was chosen for sacrifice and one was chosen as the scapegoat.  A piece of crimson wool was tied to the horns of the scapegoat, and a thread was bound around the goat to be slaughtered (Yoma 4.2)  • Next the sacrificial goat would be killed.  The blood of the goat would be brought into the Holy of Holies by the High Priest and the same ritual of sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat and on the ground before the ark would be performed. This was for the sin of the people. • When emerging from the Holy Place he took the mixed blood of the bull and the goat and put it on the horns of the altar (outside of the Holy of Holies), and sprinkled the altar to cleanse the tabernacle from the contamination of the sins of the people. • Then the priest laid his hands on the live goat and confessed the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites and "put them on the goats head".  • This goat was then led away into the dessert. • The priest bathed, put on normal robes and completed the burnt offerings of the bull and goat and other offerings. But Jesus as our Great High Priest was without sin. While Jesus went to the Jerusalem Temple, He never offered any sacrifices for sin. God’s standard for a sacrificial animal was perfection, meaning that it could have no defect. Unlike the corrupt High Priests, Jesus could offer Himself as the perfect and sinless sacrifice for sin. Yet, He was tempted in all manner as we are, yet without ever yielding to that temptation and sinning. It is a common saying when we justify our sins to say, “I’m only human” meaning to be human is to sin. So, was Jesus truly human having never sinned? Could He truly have been tempted in the same way we are? Was it possible as God to be tempted—was it possible for Jesus to have sinned? Yet this verse clearly states that Jesus is able to understand our susceptibility to sin because He was also tempted. In answer to Jesus’ true humanity, let me quote from Millard J. Erickson’s excellent Christian Theology: “(A)…question remains, “Is a person who does not sin truly human?” If we say no, we are maintaining that sin is part of the essence of human nature. Such a view must be considered a serious heresy by anyone who believes that man has been created by God, since God would then be the cause of sin, the creator of a nature which is essentially evil. Inasmuch as we hold that, on the contrary sinning is not part of the essence of human nature, instead of asking, “Is Jesus as human as we are?” we might better ask, “Are we as human as Jesus?” For the type of human nature that each of us possesses is not pure human nature. The true humanity created by God has in our case been corrupted and spoiled. There have been only three pure human beings: Adam and Eve (before the fall), and Jesus. All the rest of us are but broken, corrupted versions of humanity. Jesus is not only as human as we are; he is more human. Our humanity is not a standard by which we are to measure his. His humanity, true and unadulterated, is the standard by which we are to be measured.”i It is also a mistake to think that we cannot understand something unless we have experienced it. Jesus never sinned, yet He is most qualified to understand temptation and sin. John MacArthur gives the illustration of a physician: “Some may wonder how Jesus can completely identify with us if He did not actually sin as we do. It was Jesus’ facing sin with His perfect righteousness and truth, however, that qualifies Him. Merely experiencing something does not give us understanding of it. A person can have many successful operations without understanding the least bit about surgery. On the other hand, a doctor may perform thousands of complicated and successful operations without ever having had the surgery himself. It is his knowledge of the disease or disorder and his surgical skill in treating it that qualifies him, not his having had the disease. He has great experience with the disease—much greater experience with it than any of his patients—having confronted it in all of its manifestations. Jesus never sinned, but He understands sin better than any man. He has seen it more clearly and fought it more diligently than any of us could ever be able to do.1 Jesus faced the most severe of temptations and came through them victoriously. Since He faced the worst, we are given assurance that it is possible to resist temptation in His strength. He faced rejection, betrayal, hatred, misunderstanding, the lure of prestige and wealth (cf. the temptation in the wilderness), the lure of taking the easy way out, the misuse of power for personal gain, the temptation of accepting short-term goals verses long-term, and the enticement of pride and self-exaltation. It is worth noting that to be tempted is not sinful. As it has been said, “We cannot keep a bird from flying over our head, but we can prevent it from building a nest in our hair!” Because Jesus has faced every type of temptation, He is able to be sympathetic with our weaknesses. Jesus is our Great High Priest by virtue of His perfect Priesthood, His Perfect sinless Person, and: III. HIS PERFECT PROVISION This brings us to one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible: verse 16: “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.” Therefore—because Jesus understands and is sympathetic toward our weaknesses—we can approach the very Throne of God because it is a Throne of Grace! We can come to God because we come in the name of Jesus, Our High Priest Who has made the perfect provision for our sin. The Old Testament Day of Atonement was a picture of what Jesus would do on the Cross. His body and blood was the perfect sacrifice, and unlike the yearly offering of the Jewish High Priest, Jesus offered Himself once for all. The sacrifice need never be repeated. Jesus is our mediator in Heaven, approachable and sympathetic. We can confidently enter God’s presence because of God’s mercy and grace. We have received mercy—we don’t get what we deserve which would be justice; because Jesus took our sin upon Himself and died so that we might live. And that mercy and grace is not for only for our conversion but is available whenever we have need of it. We might become acutely aware of this need in time of personal crisis, but as we mature, we realize we need grace and mercy every single day. As the old hymn states, “I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord.”