Our Lord Jesus has many roles.
He's the king. He's been our sacrifice. He's
Lord. He's the agent of creation, our
savior, the judge. He's, in some ways, you can say
he's the prophet, priest, and king. But one of the things that
struck me lately in reading Hebrews was that he's our high priest
forever. And there's that word forever.
And it's very interesting because he's going to be that forever.
And I thought we'd just talk about that for a little while
this afternoon. You know, we humans, especially us Christians,
have a lot of troubles every day. We've got all kinds of things
happening to us physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, everything
else coming our way. And this message about him being
our high priest forever is a tremendous one for us. Let's look at Hebrews
chapter five, verse six. As he saith also in another place,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now
this particular quotation from the Old Testament, which is in
Psalm 110, verse four, is quoted three times in Hebrews, then
we have it in chapter seven, 17 and 20. For he testifieth, thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then again,
in 20, in as much as not without, no, sorry. I must have that reference
wrong. But there's another place that
says it also. This is a fantastic subject. And what I thought we would do
is just take a run through Hebrews very quickly and mention all
the ways in which our Lord Jesus is our high priest and what that
really means to us day to day and the comfort that we get from
that. We have the whole imagery in the Old Testament of the priesthood.
It's fantastic imagery. and has a lot to it. You have
the tabernacle with all the furniture, and you have these priests, Aaron
the first one, but you have all these high priests going into
the temple and offering the sacrifices, and then you have the Day of
Atonement once a year where they get to go into the Holy of Holies.
These were all pictures for a later time of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for instance, the high priest,
Aaron, had his garments, and the Lord's very particular about
his garments. In Exodus 28, he had this ephod
that he put on first, and it had two onyx stones on his shoulders. And the two onyx stones were
inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, the names
of the people, in other words, on his shoulders. And they, quote,
bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial. So every time Aaron went into
the temple area, he was bearing the names of the 12 tribes on
his shoulder. This is typical of our names
written in the Lamb's Book of Life that the Lord Jesus bears
before the Father. And then he had a breastplate
that he put on, the breastplate of judgment, had four rows of
three stones each. These were all different precious
gems, and each of the 12 represented a tribe of Israel. So there he
has on his shoulders the names of the 12 tribes, and there he
has on his breastplate of judgment the 12 tribes. And so he is constantly
bearing the people by name before the Lord, and that's exactly
what our Lord Jesus does for us. In Exodus 28, verse 29, it
says, so Aaron shall bear the names over his heart when he
goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually.
And this is where he bore the judgment of these people before
the Lord. What is a priest? We have these
images in our mind of what a priest is, and we get a lot of false
images all the catholicism around us of those priests, and they
are not what a priest is, so just try to forget that, wipe
it out of your mind. A priest is basically a mediator,
isn't he? In 1 Timothy 2.5, it says that
we have one mediator between us and the Lord, the man Christ
Jesus. And then in Hebrews 8.6, it says,
but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. So really, it's defining a priest
right there as a mediator. That's what he is. He represents
us to the Father, and the Father's message comes through him to
us. So he is the go-between. We cannot ever not have a mediator
throughout all eternity, the way I understand it. He will
be our mediator, our high priest. We have to have him. There's
something that we also need to be careful of, and that is when
you talk about a mediator, I think some Christians have the image
of a mean, very harsh heavenly father, and a more benevolent
savior, and that they're kind of pitted against each other.
That is not it at all. This is one God we serve, one
Godhead, and the Father actually originated the whole plan of
reconciliation. It's not a mean father and a
nice son and he went to bat for us. This is totally a false concept. But he is a mediator to represent
us. Sinners to Jehovah, the Father,
and the Father to sinners, And we are to pray in his name. All
of this is captured into the same idea of a mediator. When
we pray, we pray in the Lord Jesus' name. It doesn't mean
we can't ever talk to Jesus directly. It means that as Jesus taught
us to pray, we are to mostly pray to the Father and through
Jesus, but we're always aware of his presence there as a mediator
in the only way that we can address the Father. So let's run through
Hebrews, a few passages in Hebrews, with this theme of the new priesthood. You have the Old Testament priesthood,
and that was a shadow, and that was a type, and that was a foreshadowing
of the Lord Jesus to come, but it's very imperfect, and yet
it tells us in so many images what's gonna happen. So let's
look at, first of all, in Hebrews 4, let's pick up this imagery.
And the first thing we want to look at is the fact that the
Lord Jesus, as our high priest, is compassionate. He understands
our weaknesses. We need to understand this. Hebrews
4, verses 14 through 16. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest. This is all present tense, this
is not past tense. that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. So this is the first characteristic
that Hebrews talks about in him being our high priest, is that
he's compassionate. In our day-to-day weaknesses,
he's compassionate to us and he understands our weaknesses. Now, that is not to say in any
way that he tolerates our sins, because as we know, he never
had any internal drive to sin. but he does understand our weaknesses. There's a difference there. So
when we are in some situation during the day that involves
our weaknesses, he understands where to go to him, where to
rely on him as our high priest. And so in time of need, that's
what it says. Then let's look at the fact that
he was appointed by the Father. This is another characteristic
of his high priesthood. Chapter five, verses one through
six. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. who
can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the
way. For that he himself also is accomplished with infirmity.
And by reason hereof, he ought, as for the people, so also for
himself, to offer for sins. Now this is talking about the
human Old Testament priests. They did have sin, okay? And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another
place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
So he's a greater high priest because he was appointed by God
to be that high priest forever. You remember the story of Melchizedek.
We're not going to go back and look at it. It's very interesting.
A pastor has mentioned him recently. And he was, Melchizedek means
king of righteousness. Melchi is Hebrew for king, and
tzedek is righteousness. So he was king of righteousness,
but he was also evidently the king of Jerusalem. at the time. You know the story that Abraham
was coming back from battle with the other kings. They had defeated
their foes. They had all this spoil with
them. And Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek. This was way
before the law came along. But he offered tithes to Melchizedek. And Melchizedek was a type. He was either Christ himself
or he was a strange character that it says had no beginning
or end, that could either mean that we don't know his genealogy,
or that he really did not have a beginning and end, that thus
he was Christ. I don't know exactly how to take
the man, but he was a type, at least, of the Lord Jesus to come,
and a great high priest. The whole thing about this was
that Abraham, who was the father of Levi and the priests later
on, was offering tithes to this man before all that happened. So you have the tithe in his
loins offering the tithes to someone greater. So it's a type
of Christ. And the whole passage here in
Hebrews 5 is that he's our high priest forever because God appointed
him to be. He's appointed him to be that
forever. So that's the second thing about him. The third thing
is in Hebrews 5, 7 through 11, and this is really something,
I think. He suffered. He suffered for
us. He was not only, he is not only
our priest, he was the sacrifice itself. So that's said here in
Hebrews 5, 7 through 11. Who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death
and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered And being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him, called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek,
of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing
ye are dull of hearing. So this passage in the Greek
is very vivid about the fact that the Lord Jesus offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. When he went into that garden
for us, he had strong crying and tears. This was an intense
time, and he did all of that for us. Then in, now that all
relates to the fact that he has compassion on us. In chapter
seven, we get into the fact that this eternal priesthood of Lord
Jesus is greater than the Levitical priesthood. In chapter seven,
verses one through 18. In other words, the priesthood
has changed. The previous one was very, very
imperfect. flawed. This one is perfect. It's a changing of the covenant,
a changing of the priesthood, changing of the law for a better
one, a better hope. And let's just read through that.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High
God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings
and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of
all, first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after
that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. At Jerusalem,
without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God, abideth the priest continually. Now consider how
great this man was. and to whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Verily, they that are
of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood,
have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the
law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins
of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted
from them, that's Melchizedek, received tithes of Abraham and
blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. So Melchizedek was greater than
Abraham. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he
receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And
as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes
in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of
his father when Melchizedek met him. If therefore perfection
were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received
the law, what further need was there that another priest should
rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order
of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed,
there is made of necessity a change also of the law. So this is a
change out of the whole system, the priesthood, the law, the
covenant. For he of whom these things are
spoken pertains to another tribe of which no man gave attendance
at the altar. Jesus came from Judah, that was
not the priestly tribe. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning
priesthood. And it is yet far more evident,
for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth
another priest, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there
is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before, for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. And it goes on to say
the law couldn't make anything perfect, it was just showing
us our sins. But now we have a perfect high
priest. So, our high priest is compassionate,
he's appointed by the Father, he's suffered terribly for us,
he's better than the Levitical priesthood, And then in chapter
seven, verses 20 to 22, we have a better covenant with him. And
that says, inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest, for
those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath
by him that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. It
says again and again and again through him. By so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better testimony. better covenant. Then, in chapter 7, verses 23
to 25, the next characteristic is that he always lives to make
intercession. What is intercession? You know,
I think before, recently, I had the image of our Lord Jesus,
always before the Father right now, always as our lawyer, and
he is our advocate, always reminding the father of the crucifixion,
of the payment for sin, of the fact that, you know, I paid for
Tom's sins. Please forgive him for the ones
he's doing today, et cetera. And there is an element of that,
of course, but that sacrifice was made once and for all, and
it's done. So what is the intercession for
that's happening right now? What is it involved? The more
I think about it, the more I think that it means that he's interceding
for us in our daily lives because of our weaknesses. And part of
that's having to do with sin, with the ability to withstand
temptation and things like that. But there's a lot more to it.
We have a lot of weaknesses every day, and he's interceding for
us. So just keeping that in mind,
let's read some of these verses. In chapter seven, verses 23 to
25. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
So there was a continuous string of them. But this man, because
he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore,
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. So it's not just for our sins,
it's for our living that he makes intercession. There's two related
verses, I think, in Romans. Let's go back, keep your finger
there, but let's go back to Romans 8. 26 and 27. A fantastic verse, two verses. Romans 8, 26 and 27, likewise,
the spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And we know, oh,
sorry, I skipped it. The spirit himself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches
the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he
makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
So not only does our high priest make intercession for us, but
the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. And of course, this is
all part of one God. Then Romans 5.10 is another significant
verse. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. I think that's
saying the same thing. That's part of the ongoing intercession,
is that, yes, he paid for our sins, that's done, that's gone,
and it's done forever. But now, we're saved by his life
every day. We're saved by his life. He intercedes
for us. He knows our weaknesses. We can
go to him for things. The next thing is in chapter
seven, verses 26 through 28, is that he's perfect and has
no sin, and he's offered a sacrifice once and for all. Chapter seven,
verses 26 and 28. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. who needs not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. For the law makes men high priests
which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since
the law maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. So he's
perfect. He didn't have to, his sin offering
was not for his own sins first and then for ours, it was totally
just for ours. And it's been done once and for all, and it's
not to be done ever again. Unlike the Old Testament priests,
every year, or more than that. You know, when Solomon dedicated
the temple, just to give you an idea of how much blood went
through that first temple, or tabernacle, When Solomon dedicated
his fantastic building tabernacle in 1 Kings 8, there were 22,000
bulls offered and 120,000 sheep offered on that one day. Just
put the math to that and see what was going on and how much
help he had to have to do that. And that was all just a picture
of the eternal sacrifice, the one sacrifice that was gonna
really pay for things. That couldn't pay for anything.
That was just a picture later on. Then, what is our high priest
doing now? Let's end with a few thoughts
about that. Chapter eight, verses one and
two. We've already seen that our high
priest has offered himself once for all. And that's done. So
what is our high priest doing right now for us? Chapter eight,
verses one and two. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. So he's kind of summing up all
of Hebrews here. We have such a high priest who is set on the
right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister
of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched
and not man. What's the true tabernacle? What
was the tabernacle a picture of? We know what the sacrifices
were a picture of. What was the tabernacle a picture
of? The same thing, Jesus Christ. The tabernacle was his body offered
for us. So he's now seated at the right
hand of the majesty, And he's a minister of the sanctuary of
the true tabernacle. Now look at chapter 9. We're
going to end up in chapter 9 and chapter 10 trying to nail down
what's going on with our Lord right now, day to day. And I
realize there's no time with him. That's our own invention. So chapter 9, verses 11 through
14. But Christ, being come and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sacrifice
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? Then drop down to verses 23 to
28. It was therefore necessary that the pattern of things in
the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the truth, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God first. Nor yet that he should
offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many And unto them that look for him
shall he appear a second time without sin unto salvation. So
it was a one-time sacrifice. Now, chapter 10, verses 11 through
14. And every priest stands daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man After he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. What does it mean when you sit
down? It means you're done working. It means you're finished. From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now you don't see this in the
King James, this is a wonderful verse. The sanctified is a present
passive part of sin. So really what it says is, for
by one offering he hath perfected forever, past tense, actually
perfect tense, he hath perfected forever them that are continuously
being sanctified. Well how can that be? How can
you be perfect and yet be being sanctified? Well, that's what
Christianity is. You're perfect, we are perfect
legally in the sight of God. We are perfected by the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. But the fact that we are being
continuously sanctified just means we're really Christians.
And that's the proof of it. So to wrap up, What are we to do in all of this? Chapter 10, verses 19 through
22, I think, is a tremendous wrap-up for all of this talk
about him being our high priest. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus. So we're
bold to actually go into the Holy of Holies. We can actually
go into the, quote, Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could do
that every year. And so now we can go in there, and we can go
in there boldly. Why? Because of our own doing? Of course not. Because of his
sacrifice. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, there's another picture. The
veil in the temple that was ran in two during the crucifixion,
what a happening that was. Thick, thick old veil. And it
was ripped from the top to the bottom when he was crucified.
And you know the graves were open there. What a time would
have been to see. by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, the veil was his flesh ripped for us to get into the
Holy of Holies. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithfully
promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love
and good works. And then it goes on to say, don't
forsake the gathering together. So this is what we're supposed
to be doing every day. We're supposed to be going into
or living inside the Holy of Holies because of what Christ
has done for us and going, even the pastor prayed it this morning,
going to the throne of grace to get help in times of need
for mercy and grace every day. One final comment. Did you know
we are priests, too? Look at 1 Peter 2, well, we don't
need to turn there. 1 Peter 2, 5 and 9 says we're
a holy priesthood. So that's the priesthood of the
believer, the fact that the holy means that we don't need a priest,
because we've got a priest in Christ. And then Revelation 26
is interesting. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall
reign with him a thousand years. So we have a great high priest
forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, and we should
go to him every day of our lives.