What Child Is This? - part 2
preached Dec 16, 2018
Jesus is the Great High Priest
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
Hebrews 3:1-3
Jesus is the greater Moses. As we discussed last week, Jesus is fulfilled the role of prophet greater than any other prophet before, because He is the Son, Immanuel, God with us. He receives glory as the "builder of the house", not the house.
Today, we will look at Jesus as our Great High Priest who fulfills the role of the priest. In the Old Testament, the priests would offer the sacrifices for the people. Especially important was the Day of Atonement when the High Priest would sacrifice a lamb for the people’s sin. However, these sacrifices were not permanent, and thus, each year and in each season, the priests would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. Through these acts of worship, the priests would help the people draw closer to God and intercede on their behalf in regards to sin.
Today, we will see that Jesus also performs these three actions, however He does so in a way that brings permanent rest and a permanent state of union with our Creator.
He is able to do this, because of what we read in 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 is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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.
Our High Priest came to us from Heaven. He is not a man like the priests from Aaron's line, dealing with his own weakness and sin. He is the perfect Son of God.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Though perfect because of His divinity, Jesus still sympathizes with us, because He lived as a human, tempted in every way, though able to avoid sin.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Because our High Priest is both God and man, we can approach God with confidence. We are confident in His ability to meet our spiritual needs and confident that He sympathizes with our state wanting to meet our needs. Since we can have such confidence, let's look confidently with how Jesus meets our spiritual needs.
He offered the perfect sacrifice for sin.
First, Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice for our sin. This sacrifice is once and for all. It finishes the work of the sacrificial system. Our faith does not have to be placed in bulls and grain which only worked for a short time, but our faith is in the perfect Lamb of God who died once and for all people.
Look at 7:22-28:
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:22-28
Notice in verse 24 He holds His office forever, because He is forever. Jesus will never die, and so no other priest will ever need to take His place. Second, in verse 26, He is "holy, innocent, unstained, separated form sinners, and exalted above the heavens", which means he is not subject to the weaknesses of human priests. And last, in verse 27, He does not have to offer sacrifices for himself, because He is sinless, and His sacrifice is once for all as He offered up himself. He is the perfect Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. He is the High Priest that offered Himself as the sacrifice.
Jesus is the perfect priest.
Skip down to chapter 9:11-14:
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:11-14
The penalty for sin is death. And where the old covenant allowed for animals to be a temporary fix for a substitute, the new covenant provides greater security in that Christ died on our behalf.
It is the final sacrifice.
"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God". Our sin needed a death payment. That is the price and curse of living outside of God's design. God is the source of all life, there is no other. To disconnect ourselves from that source is to be put in a state of corruption and death. The animals were tokens of faith to bring people back to God, but they cannot last because humans were the culprits. Thus, a perfect human was needed for our sins. Jesus, God made man, lived the perfect life in our stead, and then He laid himself down on our behalf.
The sacrifice was Himself.
He brings us near to God.
Second, Jesus brings us near to God. Take a look at the Temple diagram to see how this works.
The Temple was designed to physically demonstrate a spiritual truth. The people would enter the outer courts as they drew in for worship. As they moved inward, the altar was the place for sacrifice. It was only when the sacrifices had been made that the people could worship, and the priests could enter the holy place. The priests, being sanctified by the sacrificial system, could then offer the people's praises and prayers. Then, and only once a year, could the High Priest enter the Holy of Holies for the people. In the tabernacle days of Moses and Joshua, this same Holy of Holies was where the presence of God would rest with the people as they travelled the wilderness. The fire by night and smoke by day would hover over the Holy of Holies, then leave to lead the way.
The tabernacle, and then the Temple, stood as the physical place for the people to draw near to God. But only the priests could be within the holy places.
Now, through Jesus, we are no longer bound to the outside courts.
Look at 10:14-22:
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:14-22
Jesus' sacrifice perfects those of us being sanctified.
Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
The writer is quoting from Jeremiah here, stating the prophecy of old. God's laws will be placed on our hearts and minds. We do not need priests to enforce the Law, because if we are in Christ, then the Holy Spirit Himself will convict us of sin and teach us.
Which, by the way, brings us to an important aspect of the Christian life: If we are living in defiance to God's law, the law of grace and love, then we must step back and really examine our faith. What is our faith in? Is it in the finished work of Christ, or something else? People who live in defiance of God's law, whether in the error of sinful libertinism or the error of legalistic lack of grace, have put their faith in the wrong place. Faith in Jesus removes the guilt of sin, both in the sense of I am not obligated to atone for my sin through works and legalism--it is paid, and in the sense of I am not bound to continue in sin--I am free to live as God has designed me to live.
Therefore, verse 19, "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus..." Did you catch that? We have confidence now to enter the holy place. We all can enter the holy place of God. Everyone is welcome in the place of priests, because Jesus has made a way. His sacrifice at the heavenly altar sanctifies all who put their faith in Him.
We can draw near to God, because we have full assurance that Jesus has reconciled us to God. You don't have to be timid or scared to enter God's presence. I told you last week, some people think God is mad at them. The opposite is true. He has made a way for us to boldly enter His presence. The guilt we feel about our sin is a natural product of being corrupted by sin. Sin makes us think God doesn't love us, or that we can't be made right. It's an infection in our heads that gets us thinking wrong. God loves you, YES EVEN YOU. That is the Gospel, that is the good news. Where sin has corrupted us all, Jesus paid the price for that sin. Jesus laid down his life so that we can live, and live boldly in the presence of God.
Jesus gives us boldness to approach God.
Faith in Jesus gives us boldness to live "with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." The process the priests would go through in order to make themselves ready to enter the Holy Place was a shadow of what Jesus has done for us. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and makes us ready to enter the Holy Place to meet with God.
Jesus intercedes on our behalf.
So, Jesus provides the necessary sacrifice by sacrificing Himself.
Jesus brings us closer to God by cleansing us from unrighteousness and reconciling our hearts to His giving us boldness to enter His presence.
Last, Jesus intercedes on our behalf.
Under the old covenant, the priests would offer prayers and praises for the people. Now, we know the people would sing for themselves and they would pray at times by themselves, but corporately, the people would not be in the Holy Place directly with God. They needed a mediator.
Now, under the new covenant, Jesus continues to be our mediator. Why do we need a mediator? If we are free to enter His presence, can we not pray for ourselves and speak freely with God? Absolutely, and yet there are times when we don't know what to pray. Or, there are times when we don't know what we need.
Have you heard this one?
"There are things you know, things you know you don't know, and things you don't know that you don't know."
The issue is that we only know our old life. Before we put our faith in Christ, we only know the way of death and sin. Now, we have a new life, but we don't know how to live it. It is too foreign. We don't know what we don't know.
Jesus helps us to live in our new nature and new life.
Remember Hebrews 8:10-12 which quotes from Jeremiah, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts” and also, “for they all shall know me…for I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
Jesus intercedes by teaching us and showing mercy.
Now also look at 9:15
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:15
This is one of those verses you should highlight in your Bible. It has our three points together:
He is the mediator of new covenant
Through His death
For redemption of sins
So that we can receive the promised inheritance.
Jesus' death invokes an eternal inheritance promised before the foundations of the earth. When God created the heavens and the earth, humans were given dominion over the earth. We were to be God's image on earth to administer it, care for it, and build upon His creation. That dominion has been corrupted by sin and we live a false image of God when we live in sin. However, God's promise to us still existed.
In order for us to receive our inheritance, we had to be remade in God's image.
Think of the story of the Prodigal Son.
The son had an inheritance, but he did not want to wait for his father. He wanted it too soon. But the father gave him over to his selfishness, and the son went away from his home. The inheritance is squandered away until the son realizes his sin. He returns home in repentance and the father rejoices.
Have you thought about the inheritance though? Did the father lose everything he had when the son left? Not really, because when the son returned, the father is able to celebrate and continue to bless the son with a robe and a fattened calf.
One way sin is described is rebellion against God. We tend to think of that as breaking God's rules, but if you remember, we are supposed to inherit the earth. We were given dominion over it. The problem is not our dominion over the world, but what we have done with that dominion. Rather than exercise godly judgment and live as God designed, we have taken our inheritance and squandered it--living with pigs and in poverty.
When Jesus paid the price for our sin, He reconciled us to God and cleansed us from unrighteousness. But, he also reinstated the original promise for us to inherit the earth. What was promised to Adam but Adam destroyed, is now promised again in Christ who sets us free from the corruption and power of sin. We are promised an eternal inheritance because Christ has died to set us free.
So what is this inheritance?
For that, let's turn to 1 Peter 1:3-5:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
In God's great mercy, we have been born again to a living hope, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven. It is an everlasting inheritance that cannot be destroyed. In verse 5, by God's power we are guarded through faith for salvation until it is revealed in the last time.
In a word, our inheritance is heaven.
And when we look in Revelation for a glimpse at what that looks like, we see that God is going to recreate the Earth again. Heaven and Earth will exist in harmony together. Humans will once again walk and talk with God in their midsts.
Our inheritance is to live with God in eternity--freed from all influence of sin and death. To live in complete joy, complete peace, and complete goodness, that is our inheritance--to see our Savior and Creator face to face and know how deep and how wide the Father's love for us is.
Jesus intercedes on our behalf in order for us to learn more about living in eternal life now. He helps us navigate away from sin and toward eternity with Him as we live in this in-between time.
So, as our Great High Priest, Jesus has sacrificed Himself in order that we can join with Him in Heaven for Eternity. Peace for today, and peace for eternity is found in Him. Place your faith in Him today. Be cleansed of your sin and learn to live in the light and glory of God our Creator.