THE PERFECT, APPOINTED HIGH PRIEST

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

In the same way, Christ did not take on Himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”

And He says in another place, “You are a Priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 5:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If there’s one main point that the writer of Hebrews wants to drive home with his readers, the Jewish Christians of the first century, it’s that Jesus was superior to anyone they held in esteem within their prior belief system.

As we look at the opening six verses of chapter 6, we find the author invoking the special, divine position of the Jewish high priest. Look again at his words here:

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. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

In the same way, Christ did not take on Himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”

And He says in another place, “You are a Priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

In the Old Testament, we know the tribe of Levi was appointed by God to serve Him, carrying out duties within the tabernacle and its furnishings priests but only the descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron were permitted to be priests, carrying out services in the tabernacle, teaching from the Law of God, and serving as judges over the Israelite people. With this, we can note that while all priests were Levites, not every Levite had the privilege to be a priest.

And so you can see how exclusive a group the priests were, an elite group of God servants who carried out His will and way. Out of that group, one priest would be selected to be the high priest and garner the special responsibilities that came with it, chief of which was offering up sacrifices on behalf of the Israelite people to bring atonement for their sins and restore their peace before God, albeit temporarily.  

Going back to our passage, we find the writer of Hebrews doing a little refresher with the Jewish Christians, reminding them how the high priest was “appointed to represent people in matters related to God”, one of which was “to offer gifts and sacrifices” for all sins, the sins of the people as well as his own. This honor of appointment wasn’t something the high priest would boast over as if it was his greatness that led to the opportunity. Rather, the priest would give all credit to God for the calling, a calling that had first been given to his ancestor Aaron.

Fast forwarding to Jesus, we understand that God decided to overhaul the sacrificial atonement system, designating one final intercessor who would present a divine offering of epic proportion. That intercessor was His Son Jesus who didn’t take (it) on Himself to gain the “glory of becoming a high priest”. Rather, He was assigned the right to serve as High Priest forever, justifying and interceding for all sinners who would place their trust in Him. And you may remember that this happened when Jesus said, “It is finished” and then drew His last breath on the cross:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:50-51

This curtain is what separated the Holy of Holies (or Most Holy Place) from the Holy Place. The priests would do their work for 364 days of the year inside the Holy Place but on the Day of Atonement (also known as Yom Kippur), the high priest, and only him, would pass through the curtain where it was believed he was in the very presence of God Himself to offer up a blanket atoning sacrifice for all the Israelites. The curtain served as a separation between God and man except for the single day a high priest would enter to be the intercessor and seek peace and forgiveness for the Jewish people.

When Jesus died and the curtain tore in two, it was symbolically indicating that there would no longer need to be separation between God and His people, whether Jew or Gentile. All one had to do to gain peace with Him, not just for the moment but forever more, was to believe in His Son, the perfect, anointed High Priest, the only One who could bring anyone to His Father (John 14:6).

Friends, as Christians, we need to be in a spirit of thanksgiving and praise every single day. Because God didn’t wish for us to perish in our sins nor did He want us to go through a life of perpetual sacrificing to try and gain a peace with Him that would never be fully attainable. And so He willingly chose to offer up the final sacrifice in Jesus, allowing Him to bear the sin of the world in death before resurrecting Him back to life in power before placing Him in authority over everything in Heaven and on earth, the great Intercessor and High Priest atoning for the sins of all who place their belief in Him.

Thanks be to God for the amazing gift of His Son Jesus, our Savior.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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