Jesus: Our Great High Priest

Greater Than: A Study in Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Sin has always been the great obstacle that has not only kept us from God but that actively seeks to lead us away from God. The hope of the nation of Israel to address their death in sin was to have a high priest offer up to the Lord a sacrifice on their behalf. This sacrificial system was so limited and in many ways nothing more than an act in futility. The high priest would offer a blanket sacrifice for the sins of the nation. There was an absence of personal relationship in the process. The high priest was also offering up a sacrifice for the same sins that he was guilty of committing. Jesus though stands as our high priest and in Him, we find the hope that the high priests of Israel could not provide. In Christ, we find One who has overcome sin, One who has stood firm through temptation and suffering and One who can offer an eternal sacrifice that satisfies all of our sin.

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Empty Hope

New Year’s Resolutions. We often make these statements of change because it is just what you do. When resolutions or any other change is not motivated by the actually need to change, our steadfastness to the process will quickly wain. This becomes dangerous to our hearts. Our hearts become hard because our failed resolution becomes an obstacle to change. We failed before, what will make this time different?

This mentality becomes especially dangerous when it is applied to our relationship with God.

Hebrews 4:14–16 NIV

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

As the Lord set up the nation of Israel, he put into place an intercessor between God and His people. This intercessor would mediate between God and man. They would serve as a spokesman of the Lord to His people and a spokesman for the people to the Lord.

There was inherent limitations with the high priest as our intercessor. The high priest was just a man, driven by humanly desires, limited by humanly weaknesses. The high priest was stuck in the same vicious cycles of sin and repentance that the people were caught in. While the high priest could offer a sympathetic ear, he could not provide a greater hope. This is seen in the very fact that the priest had to offer up a sin offering before he could offer up the sin offering for the nation.

The limitations of the high priest of Israel can also be seen in the level of access that they had to the Father. The high priest would rarely ever enter the throne room of the Lord. When the high priest would enter into the holy of holies, a rope would be tied around his waist in fear that he would fall down dead in the presence fo the Almighty. Their access to the Father was restricted by the same sins that separated every man from God. The hope of this system was empty. Never would there be a man who could overcome the basic obstacles of our humanity.

A Greater High Priest

Hebrews

Hebrews 4:14–16 NIV

Jesus is our greater high priest. He is not limited by humanities failures and shortcomings. He has direct access to the Father. he serves in the heavenly realms, seated at the right hand of the Father.

He is the son of God. His position and relationship to the Father is not based on a sacrifice, offering, or deeds. His very nature grants him perfect and complete access to the Father.

Jesus is a greater high priest who can not only sympathize with our struggles and temptations, for He himself has endured them, but He overcame them. Jesus can offer us a hope that overcomes our circumstances. He offers us a grace that transcends our shortcomings.

In Jesus, we find hope to overcome the human condition, a path without sin and death. What the high priests of Israel could never give, Jesus gives freely.

But it is fear that keeps us where we are, clinging to a broken system, holding firm to our sacrifices, offerings, and deeds. The writer of Hebrews has been speaking at length about rest. God has been offering us rest since the beginning. We have seen that this rest that the Lord is offering is face life yolked to Christ, to face tomorrow under the lead and guidance of the our Savior.

Fear keeps us paralyzed. Fear makes us believe that things would be better if we could go back to where we were. Fear makes us believe that we will find different results by doing the same things. Fear keeps us from moving forward with Jesus and tightens our grip on our sacrifices, offerings and deeds. Fear denies our logic and tells us that what God says is not what He means. Fear makes our excuses into our reality.

We have a greater high priest who has faced fear and temptation and yet did not sin. We have a great high priest who laid down his life as an offering so that we might gain access to the Father. We have a high priest who sits at the right hand of the throne of grace as the payment and seal of that grace.

A New Approach

Hebrews 4:16 NIV

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Because of our greater high priest, Jesus, we have access to the Father. We can boldly come before Him and call Him Our Father. We have hope for every situation and circumstance.

This is a new year, a God given fresh start. How will this year be different? Will you embrace what Christ has laid down his life to give? Will you boldly approach the throne? Will you willingly yolk yourself to Christ? Will you respond out of faith?

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