The Sword & Great High Priest

Open in prayer

Introduction

For those of you that do not know me, my name is Franklin and I’m a new pastoral intern at Doxa church, a church that partners in the gospel with Union Gospel Mission, and that Jeremy went through that 2 year internship and now works here.

I’m joyful to be preaching here, as I’ve been told you are gracious, and considering this is my first time preaching all together. God Help us!

Let’s read the text the Lord has for us this evening

Text

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession.

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

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

This is the Word of the Lord,

Intro - Context of the Text

Tonight's message is titled, The Sword & Great High Priest

Author

Before we get into the unpacking the text, considering you may or may not be currently studying the epistle to the Hebrews, it’s essential for us to obtain a big picture view and larger contextual understanding of this letter and where it fits in the whole of God’s book before we hone in to the text for tonight.

Written between 60 and 70 AD, the author was indeed highly proficient in in the Old Testament Scripture written in Greek, called the Septuagint, and the human author of this letter was pastorally concerned, that much is clear. Although we cannot indefinitely say who this earthly author is, we can draw from Scripture to propose who it may have been.

The author was indeed a male, as the masculine gender participle is revealed in verse 32 of chapter 11, and this man was a Jew. He knew Timothy, he was influenced by Priscilla and Aquila, and likely, although contrary to some estimation, was not an Apostle, but rather a disciple that sat under great influence of the Apostle’s teaching , perhaps knowing Apostles & key disciples within the early church closely. Our human author was actively carrying out the work of the Gospel of Jesus that had brought him out of Judaism and into Christianity.

He must have had great oratory skill because the style of this letter presents itself rich with purpose as a word of exhortation for the superiority of Jesus Christ . And although the literary treatment concludes like an epistle from Paul the Apostle, stylistically the early church fathers recognized a monumental difference in the writing from Paul’s other authored letters. Hebrews as a letter reads as an oral sermon and document of theology to be heard as a sermon to directly apply and admonish the hearers.

All that being said, I would like to propose rather confidently to you that the human author is none other than Apollos, a Jew, a native of Alexandria , a major centre in Egypt, a intellectual bastion of Greek Hellenistic culture, competent in the Greek OT Scriptures as the author of Hebrews was, who greatly encouraged those through grace that believed the Gospel, he powerfully refuted the Jews in public showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus, also speaking in the Synagogues (which seems awfully in line with this epistle). And I do believe that understanding the author and the audience helps us understand the text. We read all of this regarding Apollos recorded in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 18:24-28 by Luke’s account in a manner at the very least, consistent with the author and epistle of Hebrews,

Audience

The audience of the letter of Hebrews were readers that spoke Greek, their Bible was only the Old Testament in Greek, they were Jewish, and they heard the Gospel from apostles. These Jews were presently facing intense persecution as Jewish Christians dispersed and scattered, possibly by the wicked emperor Nero, as shown in chapter 10: 32-34. And their persecution would have been all the more painful as they were additionally expelled from Jewish institutions of their childhood whilst being shamed for their confession of Christ. They must have been confused, or at least lacking assurance of the hidden character of Jesus’ glory and fulfillment of the Old Testament they knew. Rather insecure due these realities and experiencing a transition of church leadership, and likely fearing death, the author is greatly concerned for them. Their ongoing temptation to turn away from the faith, to fall into unbelief of our Lord, perhaps going back to Judaism, or to give up their pilgrimage toward ultimate rest and God’s city altogether.

The heart of his letter and these verses tonight are for encouragement, exhortation, to stir his readers to active and courageous response, what active and courageous response you might ask? To persevere in the pilgrimage of the Christian faith. And with God’s Word to provide clarity of precisely who our Lord, Jesus, The Son of God, is.

Outline

With a sacred fixation on who Christ is the letter breaks down as follows:

in chapters 1 & 2 The author communicates that Christ is superior to the Angels,

chapters 3 & 4 that Jesus Christ is the greater Moses,

Chapters 4 through 7 the author expounds upon Christ Jesus as the incomparable superior high priest in the ancient order of Melchizedek, superior to all human priests in the old testament. In that He alone as God and Sinless Man and able to eternally take up this role, and thus provides and instills into the believer confidence to approach God’s throne to persevere.

Chapters 8-10 covers The Superiority of the Priestly ministry of Christ, holding a superior ministry in a superior temple, of superior covenant in the new coming from the old, as a superior tabernacle Christ’s body itself, as the Superior Sacrificial lamb of God that unlike old testament animal sacrifice, Christ’s sacrifice is superior once for all in cleansing of sin, cleansing the conscience,

and finally our author concludes with a benediction and greetings in chapters 10-12 to exhorts the audience to persevere in the faith, I believe, similar to Paul as influenced by him, Apollos was.

Primary Themes

This wonderful work of literature, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is rich in high literary style, and is special in it’s incredible focus on Christ’s High Priesthood, it’s set apart from any other New Testament books to do so.

We see Greater grace from the OT covenant sacrificial system to a new High priest,

we see greater glory as the new Covenant mediated by Jesus, the Christ,

we see greater accountability as Jesus sanctifies us for the true worship of God,

and we see greater covenant bond with God for all those in Christ gaining access to draw near to Heaven with a clean conscience linked inseparably with Him who saves.

Christ centered

Our Christ is central. He’s the superior Prophet as God’s Son,

He is the Superior sacrifice able to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,

He is the superior Priest as He is the fulfillment of the OT priest Melchizedek, Jesus is not merely fallen human priest, but is an eternal high priest, the very substance of what all earthly priests and the priesthood pointed to, as God and Man.

He is our Lord. We see Hebrews in the larger comprehension of all of Scripture as fulfillment of the Old Covenant sanctuary, sacrifices, and priesthood. Jesus fulfills OT types and prophesies. And these Jews needed to hear how, they needed to know who our Lord is, that He is the Christ, and that apart from Him we are hopeless, but with Him, we are able to persevere.

Have you ever been told Jesus Christ fulfills the Old Testament, well how so? We must clearly perceive how He does .

God has gifted us Hebrews to accurately speak concerning Jesus, powerfully refute Judaism, show by Scripture that the Christ promised in the OT is Jesus. As well as gain encouragement and exhortation to personally know our Savior, the Messiah.

Big Idea

No one can hide from God’s sight and the righteous judgement of His Word.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became our Eternal Great High Priest to handle our sin. He is Superior in Substance and Sufficiency for our redemption.

And He welcomes us to receive mercy and grace directly from Him, as He sits rightfully on His throne.

We will unpack the text in 3 major points tonight,

the first point ex-posited from verses 12-13 in which the Word of God cuts to expose our need for the Great High Priest,

then in 14-15 Point 2, Our Great High Priest is Jesus, the One Human without Sin

And finish with Point 3 drawn from verse 16, that We Gain Merciful & Gracious Unlimited Access to God through Our Great High Priest

1. The Word of God cuts to expose our need for the Great High Priest

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,

and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,

and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight,

but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.

A. The Author uses the phrase in verse 12, the Word of God, to point to the entirety of divine special revelation both written and incarnate.

The characteristics presented are that of living and effective to highlight the enduring vitality of Scripture. But In the revealing of God in His Word, the Bible, which is also a form of special revelation. God supernaturally inspired the authors of Scripture to accurately record His message to humanity, while still using the human authors styles and personalities. The Word of God is living and active as we see in this verse. The Word of God is inspired, profitable, and sufficient according 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

God determined to have the truth regarding Himself recorded in written form, because He knows the inaccuracy and unreliability of oral tradition. Since God is the author of Scripture, it is not a dead, nor normal book. God who is eternal is without beginning or end, and as He lives, Scripture lives. Which is to say, that God’s word is living.

Active, we might say in what sense? Active in that it is not lifeless, it accomplishes everything God wills. It is actively at work according to God, and it’s sharpness is distinguished by it’s piercing judgment. Sharper than any double edged sword as a sword that can pierce and divide the soul demonstrates the invasive quality of the Word to the deepest recesses of our being, even to our thoughts and intentions, and is able to place us under God’s judgement.

When we approach Scripture with a humble method of interpretation in principles of submission rather than a haughty interpretation of suspicion or arrogance, then it is not we who read Scripture, it is Scripture that reads us. Scripture untangles our heart as humans and unearths sin like no other book can nor has. No other book has or can discern the thoughts and intentions of our hearts as only God’s Word can and does. It spiritually cuts through the sin and darkness of the human heart to restore spiritual health and vitality for Christ.

B. In verse 13 we see the shift to the Word of God as God Himself due to the intrinsic link betwen God and Scripture, just as God’s word graciously reveals God to man in power on one edge of the sword, on the other edge it makes man accountable before God as judge. not to eternal life, but to eternal death.

We cannot hide from God’s judgement, Psalm 119:160 states every one of His righteous rules endures forever. When we die, and our soul leaves our body, we will ALL give an account to Him who knows, and not by our standard, but by His. First I will speak to those not in Christ, then, to those in Christ.

To the one who denies the Word of God and denies Jesus’ Person and Work to save them, that is, the Gospel news. I give you you great warning from Romans 2 & 3

None will escape the judgment of God, if you take lightly the extended riches of His kindness and patience which should lead you to repentance, but instead, in stubbornness you continue to hold unreprentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

There is no partiality with God. On that day, “God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” And less you say you are without sin, Scripture says in Romans 3 There is none righteous, not even one, that no one seeks for God, and that the path of peace before Christ, we have not known. That there is no fear of God before our eyes before being saved, and that all fall short of the glory of God, including I, and without being Justified before God through the gracious gift of Christ Jesus you cannot escape and will receive eternal and righteous holy wrath.

This does not have to be you. God is the righteous Judge, He is just, we are guilty, and if it ends there we would live hopelessly aware of currently living under condemnation and a future of eternal wrath poured out on us. But He did provide His only Son so that whomever believes on Him may have eternal life. Depending on what we do with Jesus Christ, we either experience eternal life with God, or eternal wrath from God. Which you must decide, and I plead of you to stop ignoring. No decision is a decision, it is the decision to actively remain under condemnation, but the good news to the Christian is that there is no condemnation for those in Christ.

When God reveals Himself to us, we in turn realize that we are all naked and exposed, stripped bare before our own eyes and before Gods ineffable character. As John Calvin stated “It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked on God’s face, and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinize himself”

Ultimately, Scripture is a gift for us so that we do not mimic those that disobeyed Him, it is our only guide and light to our path to trusting God and finding full satisfaction in Him. Acknowledging our sin against Him, casting it away, turning to Jesus Christ, and trusting in Him alone. He lived the perfectly righteous life you cannot. He died the death we deserve for that sin, bearing the full weight of God’s wrath for sin in our place condemned he stood, and after his irrefutable death, He rose again, to the witness of many, and He ascended to the right hand of God, to His throne of Grace, of which He sits now fulfilling His rightful role, in whose presence I preach first and foremost.

By the undeserved unmerited favour of God for you, His grace, a gift, you receive by trust in His Word and in His Person and in His Work as the only sufficient means to save you. That leads all Christians on the path of humility. We must be students that do not anticipate graduation until glorification, that none are saved by our own good deeds, or by meeting our own standards, but understanding that in this posture Scripture leads to Salvation, and one saved, the ongrowing progress toward Christlikeness. We become like what we study and behold. This is the gospel news, Christ crucified for you sinner. In love, and patient, with you, whilst you hated Him. Oh the kindness of Our Lord, is His grace still resistible to you?

2. Our Great High Priest is Jesus, the One Human without Sin

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession.

15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,

but One who has been tempted in all things like we are yet without sin.

D. We read in verse 14 that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, the son of God, and to take hold of this confession which is ours who believe.

An Earthly Sinful Priest and the Priesthood in the old testament, ultimately is not sufficient. We need an eternal Great High Priest of Greater Substance to mediate for all eternity before the Father on our behalf.

The Son of God transcends all, being God. For those who do not believe in Christ, nor believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Word that took on humanity, you may not take hold of our confession. For He is not your High Priest.

But to the believer, we become vessels of His Mercy instead of vessels of His wrath, because all of God’s righteous wrath was poured out onto Christ, it is finished. Jesus Christ is our Confession that we take hold of. Throughout centuries Christians have been claiming their confession. It’s not a sacred or secret Mantra or a kind of secret linguistic key, it is the very identity of the Christ we follow and the very heart of the confession we make, Christians believe and confess Jesus Christ as the resurrected Lord, He is God and we are His.

In the face of temptation and trial Christians are particularly tempted also to abandon this confession, we don’t want to emulate the Israelites in the wilderness. Letting temptation and trial erode our confession. No, instead, be encouraged, take hold of, CLING!

not by our own strength or through a confession to an earthly perishing prophet or a priest, but by faith in our great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God.

E. In Verse 15 we can anchor our lives to the sinless nature of Christ’s High Priesthood in His humanity.

Why do we need a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses?

Jesus could not have fully identified with us and fulfilled His ministry of standing in our place on the Cross nor as the Great High Priest if He had not also identified with us in our temptations and remained without sin. Our Lord knows all our temptation according to this Scripture. Temptation and sin must be distinguished as does this mean that it is possible to be tempted and not sin?

After all if temptation itself were sin, we would not have a sinless Savior according to this text, but it says without sin, under important investigation we must think. We typically think about temptation more graphically to sexual sin, or the temptation to evaluate our self as superior to others, or temptation to steal, cheat, or lash out in anger.

Yet, when we examine Jesus’s temptation in Matthew 4 we see how basic temptation can be, that even temptation to eat can be a temptation if satisfying physical hunger results in disobedience to God.

Although a man can commit adultery in the heart, this cannot imply that every time a man sees a woman he considers attractive that he is committing adultery. Otherwise we would have to stop looking at one another at all. It’s the lustful intent there that’s the actual issue, it is the crossing from temptation into sin.

Jesus never crossed the line of temptation turning into attraction into sin. Never once did He permit that temptation to become sin. He always resisted. But His temptation was the most intense of all, He never had relief of giving into it.

If Jesus had sinned His atonement would not have been sufficient because He could not have propitiated God’s wrath against Sin. Full atonement was made in the cross of the sinless One, Jesus Christ. Old Testament priests could only offer sacrifices that would delay God’s judgement against sin, only buying time, but Jesus’s sacrifice accomplished complete atonement for sin Once and for all. Through the Person (fully human fully God) & His Work (Life, Death, & Resurrection), the kingdom of God is at hand, Jesus called us to repentance and trust in Him, He that rose from the grave to His rightful place in Heaven, He Ascended to the Heavens, establishing His His work on His throne in the Heavens. He is not sitting around doing nothing, He intercedes on our behalf on His throne. Be encouraged Christian, He knowsour weaknesses with sympathy. He is not capricious.

3. We Gain Merciful & Gracious Unlimited Access to God through Our Great High Priest

16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace,

so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

G. Verse 16 calls us into boldly approaching the Throne of Grace.

For those who are in Christ, God’s throne is immeasurable grace, The great High Priest who intercedes on our behalf sympathizes with our weakness so that we may approach His throne with confidence to receive that which we ultimately need, His mercy & His grace.

We know God has fully and finally put away all of our sin in Jesus Christ, we are able to enter into His rest. However those that are not in Christ, God’s throne is of terrible judgement. For at His throne those who reject Christ bear the full penalty of their sins. For those who reject Christ, the throne of grace is throne of righteous wrath poured out onto them to be feared.

How could we approach the throne of Grace with confidence if not for the work of Christ, if it were not for Him our approach would be futile, hopeless, timid, we wouldn’t dare enter God’s presence in prayer if we did not know Jesus as the One who is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9 states.

Christ mediates for us before the Father so that we may stand before God and not be cast from His presence for all eternity. And therefore no Christian lives under this threat, though walking humbly before their God working out their faith in fear and trembling awe and respect for Him, Righteous judgement has been replaced by radical Mercy. A withholding of the punishment we deserve, and this reveals who our God is, He is merciful.

Let us not doubt His mercy toward us, and not shrink back from His presence, but instead draw closer to Him with a boldness and confidence knowing that He went willing to the Cross, so surely He is willing to equip us with mercy and grace in our times of need.

Conclusion

The Humanity of Christ tethers Him to us, it exalt His Work, His love for His creation as THE Creator, Sympathizes with our Weakness, though sinless, He put on Human Flesh. He did feel agony in the Garden sweating blood before His crucifixation, but He obeyed the Father willingly, not sinning. Why? So that He could gift mercy and provide grace for us. Be encouraged in prayer to go to Him more, and in time of our need during temptation or after falling into sin, the kindness of our Lord leads us to repentance when we are before His throne. Let us seek His face without ceasing, for His glory and our ultimate joy.