The Ultimate Care Package: Christ Our High Priest

Intro

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

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. 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. 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.

There are multiple things that make up the perfect care package, I just shared a few things that would make up mine. Part of knowing what to put in someone’s care package requires knowledge of likes, dislikes and ultimately an intimate knowledge of their needs. God has looked at his creation and has prepared the ultimate care package, because he knows what we need.

Last week we looked at part one of what makes up the ultimate care package. Christ our prophet. Nohan taught us that a prophet not only told us what was to come by foretelling, but a prophet also told us the Word of God by telling-forth. “ The Lord has said, declared, he spoke...” In the OT we saw how there was one to come who would save us and in the NT we find that fulfillment in Christ, The Word! We learned how Jesus fulfilled the role of prophet, not just by foretelling or telling-forth, but by being the Word of God incarnate.

This week we will be looking at another aspect of this care package, Christ our priest. We’re going to look to understand the OT role of a priest, How christ fulfills that role and what that means for us today.

Let’s dive in.

OT Priests

In order to understand Jesus as our high priest, we need to try and understand what the role of a priest was. First, the priesthood wsa reserved for those from the lineage of Aaron. Next, a priest wsa consecrated to the priesthood, in other words they were set apart for holy use, or the service of God. Which required very special anointing oil and a special sacrifice.

After that everything else is pretty chill. They just have to be the ones to perform all the offerings and sarifices we read about in the OT, which if you know about them, you know it’s chill. But, if you don’t know about it, here’s a list with a few things: the burnt offering, meal offering, dough offering, sin offering, guilt offering, release of the scapegoat, peace offering, heave offering, drink offering, incense offering, thanksgiving offering etc.

The priests also had to wear the special garments: a priestly tunic, linen undergarments, sash, robe, priestly turban, ephod (with Urim and Thummim), and a for the high priest a breastplate with 12 stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Lets look at the high priest. They had that extra set of garments and the next level of responsibility. They wore the special breastplate with the 12 gems in it. On each gem was inscribed the name of each of the tribes of Israel. They also carried with them the Urim( ureem) and thummim (thumeem). They were used by the high priest for diviniation purposes. Basically to decided on who was right or wrong in a case, also to tellforth the will of God, which I mentioned earlier is the funciton of prophet, but there’s some overlap here. An allegorical translation of the words urim and thummim are revelation and truth.

Along with it’s representative garments there was added resposibility. The biggest responsibility, to be the only one to enter the Holy of Holies. The basic build of a temple was the outer courts, inner courts, tabernacle, holy of holies. The holy of holies was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and where the presence and glory of God dwelt among his people. The high priest was only allowed in once a year and under very specific cleansing rituals, lest he die. On this special day, the day of atonement, the high priest would enter and offer up the blood sacrifice for the whole nation, atoning for theirs and his sins. Another thing to note is that the high priest was human, only a human can understand and atone with the corect heart for his people.

The Work of Christ Chapter 6: Christ’s Human Priesthood

‘every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God’ (Heb. 5:1). That meant offering gifts and sacrifices for sins both for himself as well as the community, interceding for those he represented, teaching the people, and pronouncing the blessing of Yahweh on them. He was appointed to this task by Yahweh himself. He was able to empathize with the people, since he himself was one of them, experiencing the same sufferings and temptations as they did.

All this put together is what people call mediatory and expiatory work. meaning that the high priest mediates for us before God, he is our go between, like when we send our cousin to go ask our parent’s to let us stay over their house, that mediation. Expiatory meaning that the work and sacrifice that was offered to God on atonement day was cleansing and for the nation, not just one person.

The work was mediatory, expiatory and healing.

“Healing is at present customarily described as a process which often involves "medical, surgical, or psychiatric treatment of a pathological condition." This treatment "culminates in the func- tional repair, and sometimes the actual regeneration, of a previously diseased or damaged part of the body or mind."30 The OT view of "healing," however, is directly related to restoration of that broad state of well-being and peaceful relationship with God, self, fellow- beings, and environment embraced in the OT's holistic concept of "health." GERHARD F. HASEL

The work that was done for the country was a healing work, not just physical or mental, but spiritual.

The Perfect Healer

So as we shift our focus to Jesus, I want us to try and retain some of the things I mentioned, especially about the high priest’s work.

First off, Jesus is our perfect healer, Holistically. There are about 37 recorded miracle or signs that Jesus performed in the NT. 28of those 37 were physical healings. He healed people of blindness, deafness, demon posession, lameness, muteness, hemmoraging, and among all of these, phyiscal death. Ultimately, there was not ailment that the creator and sustainer of life could not heal, not even physical death stood in the way.

Jesus heals physically, but more permanently, he heals spiritually. His life and death have been made ours. The rightousness he attained by fulfilling the law perfectly is counted as our righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We are right before God and made whole by JEsus’ work.

The Perfect Offerer

Jesus, though he never claimed to be a high priest, was and is the perfect high priest. Where a HP had to offer up sacrifices for His own sins and transgressions, Jesus doesn’t because He is holy and sinless. So, If jesus is sinless, how can he sympathize with us, how can he make the offering for us, if only a human can offer a sacriffice. This is where we see the doctrine of Jesus being fully God and fully man. Jesus, the Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us (john 1:14). Not only that, but we can look at his temptation in the desert and say with certainty as our verses today say:

Hebrews 4:15 NASB95

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus Is the perfect offerer because He passed from the heavens downwards, was born in flesh, lived and was tempted, conquered sin and holy and blameless. He is also the perfect offere because he passed throught the heavens upwards.

Hebrews 5:7–10 ESV

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. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:19–20 ESV

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

These two sets of verses show us that he was appointed by God, that unlike other high priests he is perfect and blameless and that he is the perfect Mediator, because he resides with God the father, sitting at his right hand.

For the execution of His priestly work, it is apparent how Christ needs to be both divine and human. His deity qualifies Him to find acceptance with God and to perform a work of eternal significance and power. His humanity is essential to secure real contact with those whom He came to redeem, to make possible their identification with Him by virtue of His prior identification with them

The Perfect Offering

Jesus is our perfect offering. He lived and died perfectly. As learned last week there was one to come by who’s stripes we would be healed. By an act of prohesy John the baptist said this in

John 1:29 ESV

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

This was in reference to the spotless lamb necessary not only for the passover sacrifice, but the lamb necessary for the atonement day sacrifice, the scape goat on whom our sins have been put upon.

Hebrews 10:1–14 ESV

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Jesus is our perfect offering.

MAL side note*

So what does that mean for us?

When we gather at christmas a big focus can be “how can I give or how can I recieve?” It’s easy to get lost in the madness and beauty of the season and forget that ultimatley we are celebrating the ultimate gift, this ultimate care package that we recieved from God, who knows us perfectly.

Things are never easy in the holiday season. Our hearts are conflicted with joy and sadness. Joy in celebrating that we have eachother and sadness for those we have lost, especially this and last year as we have been affected so heavily by covid.

As these weeks progress we get to put together this complete picture of a complete saviour, Jesus christ. When we look at christ as our perfect high priest we can have assurance that all that is necessary is provided. In the stress of the holidays we need to remember that god gives us all that we need. That as the world around us is shaken and imperfect and sufffereing, as we’re suffering, that have a steadfast hope, Jesus christ.

Hebrews 10:19–25 ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We celebrate the birth of The Word, our Saviour and the return of our King.

“Come thou long expected Jesus, Let us find our rest in Thee”