Hebrews 7:11-28

Appetiser

When God created the first man, He placed him in a garden; God’s Garden in Eden (Ezekiel 28:13). That place, therefore, was the first temple: God’s dwelling place on earth. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)—which makes Adam a priest. In that Garden he lived and worked, until he sinned against God.

As a consequence of that sin, Adam and his wife were cast out of the Garden of Eden, and God set two angels to guard its entrance: “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:23-24). No longer can mankind have direct access to God.

But in His kindness, He later revealed through Moses the plans of a building, called the Tabernacle, and set up a priesthood from among His chosen people. These men alone were allowed into the Tabernacle, to serve God there. Aaron, Moses’s brother, from the tribe of Levi would become the head of the priests, and from generation to generation they would be the link between God and His people. These men can represent God’s people to God, and being consecrated for His service, can also represent God to His people. “Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” (Hebrews 5:1)

No Israelite would dare to think of drawing near to God in the way these priests were allowed to: the Tabernacle was off-limits to anybody who was not a priest, on penalty of death, as God told Aaron. “But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.” (Numbers 18:7)

Main Course

Jesus’s better priesthood, v11-25

Pudding

We need a priest to represent us before God. Are we any less sinful than they were? Have we got any more right to God’s presence than they did? Can we, as it were, climb over the wall of Eden, somehow dodging the angels guarding the entrance? “No one comes to the Father”, Jesus says. The way is still barred. God has not changed. But Jesus continued: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) And it is because in Jesus alone have we got a High Priest Who can really bring us to God: “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. […] 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.” (Hebrews 4:14, 16)