“Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17) “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.” (Hebrews 4:14) Picking up with the offices of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come to the office He holds as High Priest. There are many titles to which Christ Jesus holds; Savior, Redeemer, Bread of Life, Lord, Creator, Son of the Living God, Only Begotten Son, Beloved Son, Holy One of Israel, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,Forerunner, Last Adam, King of Kings, Lord of Lords,Deliverer, Head of the Church, The Almighty, Alpha and Omega, Master, King of the Jews, High Priest, Prophet, Teacher, Advocate, Immanuel, Mediator, Judge, Chief Cornerstone, Author and Finisher of our Faith, Lamb of God, Good Shepherd, The Shepherd and Overseer of Souls, The Word, Fountain of Living Waters, Rock, Messiah, True Vine, Branch, Bridegroom, Dayspring, Shiloh, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Bright and Morning Star, The Image of the Invisible God, I Am, Son of Man, Son of David, Carpenter, Our Passover, Rose of Sharon,The Way, the Truth and the Life, King of Israel, Christ and more. Each of these titles hones in on particular aspects of who He is and what that means for us. However, when thinking of the three main offices of Christ, this speaks more to His complete role as Mediator between God and humanity. Not only this but they speak of the revelation of God’s will, the offering of the atonement for sin, and His ultimate reign over all creation. Christ perfectly fulfills these offices and in so doing He has brought about reconciliation and salvation for His own.
Before we dive too deeply into this office as High Priest, what exactly does a priest do, what does it mean to be a priest? When thinking of the Old Testament priesthood it spoke of someone who mediated and ministered through acts of service within the priesthood. These priests were given authority to teach the sacred texts and perform sacred duties. They were viewed as the representative between the people and God. They taught proper reverence, gratitude, praise, worship, sacrificial giving, devotion, and the way of life that defined the faith. Their most renowned role was one of mediator and intercessor;offering prayers and sacrifices on behalf of God’s people. Think of the Ark of the Covenant, inside the Ark was the tablets with God’s law written on them, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the manna God had provided in the wilderness. God’s law was to be taught to the people. “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.” (Malachi 2:7) They were to rightly interpret and enforce the law, acting as judges among the people at times. “‘If any case is too difficult for you to judge, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the judgment in the case. And you shall do according to the terms of the judgment which they declare to you from that place which Yahweh chooses; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they teach you. According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.” (Deuteronomy 17:8-11)
These priests had to ensure that the law of God was accessible and comprehensible to all God’s people. “Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, were providing understanding of the law to the people while the people stood in their place. They read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading.” (Nehemiah 8:7-8) Sacrificial duties were a huge role in the life of these priests, seeking to make intercession to God for the people by offering the many sacrifices that the law had required. It was the High Priest alone who was called once a year to enter into the Holy of Holies, behind the veil, on what is known as the Day of Atonement to place the blood of the sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant. “but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for thesins of the people committed in ignorance.” (Hebrews 9:7) Even before the Levitical priesthood, we see the word priest appear in the word of God during the time of Abraham. “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. Then he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ Then he gave him a tenth of all.” (Genesis 14:18-20) Now mind you, Melchizedek would have been a priest apart from the law of God. There was nothing that was declared (at least that is given us in Holy Scripture) that he was to be priest through God’s law/ordaining. Levitical priesthood on the other hand was according to the law of God, whom Levi was first called to be the father of the priesthood and through his lineage there would be an ordaining of priests.
Jesus Christ is called our High Priest and is in reference to both of these priesthoods. He was ordained as priest like Melchizedek apart from the law given on Sinai. “just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” (Hebrews 5:6) See, the Levitical priests offered sacrifices to intercede for God’s people.However, the sacrifices of bulls and goats, their blood could never atone for sin. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4) Jesus offered thesupreme sacrifice to satisfy the Law of God when He offered Himself for our sins. “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” (Hebrews 7:26-27) “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus’ sacrifice was only needed once, and by this sacrifice He has gained eternal redemption for all who come to God through Him. “and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)
Jesus not only taught the word of God but was the very Word of God made flesh. He spoke with authority, authority as of the only Begotten Son of the One True and Living God. He explained the Law of God far better than any, having enlightened people to the very heart of the law, that our issues are not merely the externals when it comes to sin, but that the heart of our problem is the problem of our heart. We sin in our hearts long before it manifests itself in any outward physical or verbal act. He prayed for His own and continues this mediation and intercession as He now sits at the right of the Father. He is the supreme Judge who will return to judge the living and the dead. All that sin under the law will be judged by the law, and God ultimately will judge the secrets of all people’s hearts. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10) Jesus being God from everlasting to everlasting had become man, taking on flesh through His incarnation, that He would suffer death and serve as our High Priest. “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels—Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9) Though He was God, having become man, He was subject to all that we are, weakness, temptation, struggles, and in so doing He can relateand sympathize with us. “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.”(Hebrews 4:15) He is the truer and better High Priest, He is our Great High Priest. “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.” (Hebrews 4:14) He has given to His own the confidence to come unto the throne of grace. “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.” (Hebrews 4:16)
“Therefore, let us fear, lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have fallen short of it. For indeed we have had good news proclaimed to us, just as they also; but the word that was heard did not profit thosewho were not united with faith among those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, ‘As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken somewhere in this way concerning the seventh day: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’; and again in this passage, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news proclaimed to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again determines a certain day, ‘Today,’saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall into the same example of disobedience. 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. 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.” (Hebrews 4)