Our Great High Priest – Part I
HEBREWS 4:14-16
JESUS CHRIST IS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST…
NAS Hebrews 4:14-16 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 cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 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.
THIS IS A VIVID AND BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF THE COMPASSIONATE CHRIST who is our Savior, pictured here as our great high priest.
“THE FEARFUL PROSPECT OF JUDGMENT THAT IS HELD OUT TO THE COMMUNITY IN VV. 11-13 IS BALANCED BY THE REMINDER OF THE HIGH PRIESTLY MINISTRY OF JESUS IN THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY. In the description of Jesus as ‘a great high priest,’ the Greek term for ‘great’ is a qualification of excellence (recalling the Old Testament Apocrypha book of 1 Maccabees 13:42, ‘Simon the great high priest and commander and leader of the Jews’; Philo). His greatness is expressed in the language of transcendence. He has passed through the heavens to the presence of God (cf. 9:24). The implied reference to the heavenly sanctuary provides yet another dimension to the discussion of the place of rest in 4:1-11. Jesus’ high priestly ministry is the guarantee that God’s people will celebrate the Sabbath in His presence.” – Lane
“PRIEST” IS NOT A WORD THAT FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANS use a lot. Even though the apostle Peter calls Christians “priests”…
NAS 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
WE ARE “PRIESTS” ONLY IN THE GENERAL SENSE OF BRINGING GOD TO OTHER PEOPLE THROUGH OUR PREACHING AND TEACHING AND THROUGH OUR WITNESSING. THAT IS THE BASIC MEANING OF A PRIEST.
IN SHORT, A PRIEST IS A GO-BETWEEN WHO BRINGS GOD TO MAN AND MAN TO GOD.
BUT HERE ARE SOME STRONG WORDS THAT NEED TO BE SAID about priests and Christianity after the Cross. They come from John MacArthur. I have only slightly altered them to fit our purposes here. Please read carefully and please do not misunderstand these words:
“NO CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD WAS EVER ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST OR THE APOSTLES. No special order of priesthood – other than mentioned by Peter – or system of sacrifices is either taught or recognized in the New Testament. All claims of special priestly mediation between God and men – in offering forgiveness for sins, making atonement for sins by supposedly repeating Christ’s sacrifice through a ritual (the ‘Host’ [Communion]), or any other such claim or practice – is entirely unbiblical and sinful. Such practice, it must clearly be pointed out in the interest of truth, is open defiance of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Any formal religious priesthood on earth now implies that the final and perfect atonement for sin has not yet been made. There is absolutely no place in the economy of Christianity for a formal, ritualistic priesthood. Any that is established is illegitimate and a direct affront to the full and final priesthood of Jesus Christ Himself. Christians have a perfect and great high priest and He has already made, once and for all, the only sacrifice that will ever need to be made for sin – the only effective sacrifice that could be made for sin. Any other priest who attempts to reconcile men and God is a barrier rather than a mediator. By faith in Jesus Christ any person can enter directly into God’s presence. When Jesus died, the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom. Access to God was thrown wide open to anyone who would come on God’s terms.”
THESE STRAIGHTFORWARD WORDS ARE NOT MEANT TO BE UNKIND BUT ONLY TO HONESTLY AND CHRIST-HONORINGLY INFORM.
HEBREWS 4:14-16 IS A PASSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT. Last week we studied a wonderful passage on the Word of God the Bible. But if we are honest, it was also a rather sobering message in that it dealt with, among other things, the severe penalty of disobedience. God warns us that we must not miss entering His rest – that rest being the ceasing of our labors and anxieties and the placing our trust completely in Christ. If we are disobedient to that warning, God further warns that the Word of God, which we saw was the Bible, would judge us. Even believers must heed this warning. Believers, of course, will not face condemnation in the final judgment when unbelievers throughout history will stand without excuse or recourse before God. But believers will face Christ in the Judgment Seat of Christ, a unique event occurring shortly after the Rapture. At this momentous occasion believers are to receive rewards for the things they did in their lives that honored God. These rewards, you might say are rewards for obedience. If the believer has little to show for the time he or she spent in relationship with Christ, there will be few rewards. We seek these rewards so that we may in turn place them in worship before the feet of Jesus. So, even if we are believers, there is a very real sense in which we have reason to fear God’s judgment. But after giving us the warning of vs. 12-13, the writer now seeks to encourage believers.
NAS 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (cf. Romans 14:10)
ONE WRITER I READ THIS WEEK TITLED VV. 14-16 IN HEBREWS, “ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE READERS.” If you find yourself today dealing with hardships or disappointments or some kind, I urge you to consider these verses carefully. There is encouragement in this passage for you from the Word of God.
WE HAVE LEARNED ALREADY IN OUR STUDY OF HEBREWS THAT JESUS IS GREATER THAN THE O.T. PROPHETS. Greater also than the angels. Greater as well than the revered Moses. This week we will see that He is also greater than Aaron the first and most prominent of O.T. priests. Throughout the history of the nation of Israel and their structured religious system there were many high priests, but none was ever termed the “great high priest.” “Great” sets Jesus apart from all the others.
“THE GREAT ORIGINALITY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS IS THAT it, alone among all the writings of the New Testament, applies to Christ the title of priest and high priest. In the gospels, the other epistles, and Revelation, we do not find Jesus so designated.” – Albert Vanhoye
“THEREFORE” (ουν [oon] for Greek students) is translated “since then” by the ESV, which means essentially the same thing, and predictably connects directly to “therefore” in 2:17…
NAS Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
OUR PASSAGE FOR THIS WEEK ALSO CONNECTS TO…
NAS Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When (as our high priest) He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;
“HE SAT DOWN” – The fact He is said to have “sat down” is most revealing. Earthly priests never sat down. They were offering sacrifices continually. Some sources say there were no chairs or benches in the Tabernacle or Temple. When Christ is said to have sat down shows that His one-time sacrifice was sufficient for all time. Sitting at the “right hand” of God was also significant. There is no more exalted position. No angel, none of the prophets or patriarchs could ever be seen as equal to Jesus.
OUR PASSAGE FOR THIS WEEK ALSO CONNECTS TO…
NAS Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS IS A MAJOR THEME OF HEBREWS. Some would say it is the major theme. In looking ahead in the book, I saw that we will be talking about the high priesthood of Jesus from a number of passages through chapter 10. Understanding the priesthood of Jesus Christ is essential to understanding the writer’s argument in the book. The knowledge of Christ’s great high priesthood brought encouragement to the original readers of Hebrews and brings encouragement to us today.
SCHOLARS POINT OUT THAT VS. 14-16 COMPRISE AN ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT CROSSROAD IN THE BOOK OF HEBREWS. A crossroad in this sense: these three verses in chapter 4 call to mind several prominent thematic roads down which the author has already traveled, and then, at the same time, these verses point to what some scholars see as the most prominent theme in the entire book: that of the Priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Priesthood of Jesus is “a vitally important theological motif that extends with vigor all the way to 10:25. Therefore, the passage serves as both a conclusion to the exhortation of the immediate context, running from 3:1-4:16, and as an opening for the great central conception on the high priesthood of Christ. It is, thus, an overlapping transition, a theological crossroad, a passage difficult to overstate the importance of in terms of understanding the organization of the book.” – George Guthrie
SOME OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND IS IN ORDER. Even though I will not be able to give you the detail I would like due to space and time restrictions, it is my hope that the remarks and the few passages I will quote from the O.T. will give you a sense of the O.T. priest and in particular the specialness of the high priest, and provide you with a sense of context for this and upcoming blogs from Hebrews.
AARON IS MENTIONED ONLY THREE TIMES IN THE BOOK OF HEBREWS (5:4; 7:11; 9:4) BUT HE IS A MAJOR PART OF THE O.T. BACKGROUND. Aaron is mentioned over 350 times in the O.T.
AARON WAS THE OLDER BROTHER OF MOSES…
- The meaning of Aaron’s name is unknown…
- Aaron belonged to the tribal family of Kohath who was the son of Levi. Kohath had a son named Amram who was the father of Moses and Aaron…
NAS Exodus 6:16 And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the length of Levi’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred and thirty-three years.
- Aaron was completely subordinate to Moses, even though he was the eldest. Aaron was completely ignored in Scripture until Moses showed reluctance to obey God’s call as the deliverer of Egypt…
NAS Exodus 4:14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
- Aaron was 83 years old at the time…
NAS Exodus 7:7 And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
- All the priests were anointed with oil…
NAS Exodus 40:12-15 “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. And you shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me. And you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them; and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing shall qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.”
- Yet apparently the anointing of Aaron and his successor was different from that of ordinary priests. Therefore, the high priest was, in a special sense, “the anointed priest.”…
NAS Leviticus 4:3-5 if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD a bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. And he shall bring the bull to the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slay the bull before the LORD. Then the anointed priest is to take some of the blood of the bull and bring it to the tent of meeting,
- Note that the O.T. priest was considered capable of sinning, just like anyone else. So, this vividly contrasts and underscores Jesus’ perfect priesthood in Hebrews 4:16-5:10.
- Here the high priest is called “the anointed priest.’ Some modern Bibles (NET, NLT) even translate this passage “high priest.” (Also, the Greek word used by the LXX [Septuagint: the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew O.T.] in v. 3 of Leviticus 4 is αρχιερευς (ar-kee-er-e-oos), which is the Greek word for “high priest.”
WHILE THE JEWS MAY HAVE ESTEEMED AARON due to his exalted position as the first high priest, Scripture does not at all present him as a perfect man. Far from it. If one reads the character of this brother Moses correctly, he sees that Aaron owed his exalted position to two things: a ready tongue and his kinship to Moses. Aaron’s character showed tragic flaws in several prominent O.T. incidents: the golden calf (Ex 24:9-14); the water from the rock at Meribah (Num 20); and the incident following Moses’ marriage to a Cushite woman (Num 12). In these instances Aaron exhibited rashness, disobedience, and even disloyalty to his brother. One source I consulted this week said that Aaron’s life had a tragic ending. Scripture tells the sad story of Aaron’s death…
NAS Numbers 20:23-29 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, “Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people, and will die there.” So Moses did just as the LORD had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And after Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
IT IS A SAD STORY, IS IT NOT? An interesting note which almost adds to the sadness, depending on how you look at it, is the fact that the normal time for mourning was seven days (Gen 50:10). So, the length of the mourning over Aaron testified to the importance of Aaron as high priest and his loss to the nation of Israel…
WE’LL CONTINUE NEXT WEEK, LORD WILLING…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
