Our High Priest

Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:24).

The tabernacle in the wilderness was the place where God communed with the Jewish people (Ex 25:8; 29:45-46). Moses painstakingly built the earthly tabernacle according to the plan given by God of the temple in Heaven (Ex 25:9).  Dwelling among Israel was God’s idea, according to God’s design, and by God’s own initiative. There’s no place for culturalism, tradition, or individualism in worship. To be true and accepted, worship must be in God’s way and according to His direction.

Yearly, on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish high priest entered the tabernacle and sprinkled the blood of a spotless lamb upon the covering of the ark called the Mercy Seat. The service behind the veil took only minutes, and then the high priest exited until the next year.

While He was on the earth, Jesus want allowed into the temple in Jerusalem. He didn’t serve as a priest. He never performed a priestly duty. He couldn’t. He was of the tribe of Judah rather than the priestly tribe of Levi. But when Jesus died, was raised from the dead, and ascended to the Father’s right hand, He appeared in Heaven’s tabernacle. There He presented Himself to the Father as the completed Sacrifice for sin. By doing so, He became the High Priest of the Church (Heb 2:17).

Today He represents believers in Heaven, doing what we could never do ourselves, and intercedes for us based on His wholly righteous merit (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 1 Jn 2:1).

The writer to the Hebrews says that Christ’s appearance in Heaven in the presence of the Father was for us, meaning that He did it on our behalf. He isn’t our High Priest because of he pay and benefits He receives, but He serves willingly and lovingly on our behalf. The Church of God has no priests because Jesus is our eternal High Priest. His perfect sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for all of eternity. He alone is the ever-open Door to the Father, eliminating the need for a human priest or mediator to make a way for us.

The Great High Priest of the Church

A priest has a specific religious role. He stands as a mediator bringing the worshiper into the presence of God.

Every Jewish priest was born into his position by virtue of his relationship to Levi, the third-born son of Jacob. No priest could appoint himself, and no one else appoint him. He was either born a priest or he was no. His right of priestly service was inherited through his sonship in Levi’s family.

The New Testament Book of Hebrews is a masterpiece of literature and theology. The writer takes great pains to show from the Old Testament that Jesus is God’s ordained great High Priest, using the term some 21 times. As the great High Priest of the Church, He was sent from Heaven to Earth to be the Mediator between God and Man. Jesus wasn’t self-appointed to the office, nor was He ordained by men. He received His priestly office by virtue of His deity and humanity. As the God-Man, He alone perfectly mediates between the two parties, reconciling sinful humanity to the all-holy God.

Hebrews 2:9 says, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

Every human priest arises from among the pool of humankind. Jesus, however, the eternal Second Person of the triune Godhead, veiled Himself in lowly human flesh. He didn’t offer the blood of bulls and goats to cover humanity and appease the wrath of God against the sinner. Instead, He gave Himself to suffering and death as the perfect sacrifice. He subjected Himself to the same weaknesses and temptations we face so He could sympathize with us in His great High Priestly role.

By the grace of God, He consumed what was meant for us. By winning redemption through His sacrifice, God the Father highly exalted Him, crowning His Son with both glory and honor. And we exalt Him through our thanksgiving and praises.

The Mediator

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17)

As Moses met with God to receive His commandments, the people of Israel built a golden calf to worship with food, alcohol, and sex. In His justice, God said He’d destroy them all, but Moses interceded on behalf of God’s chosen people. Israel’s mediator asked God to be forgiving and merciful, remembering His covenant of grace and blessing to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants.

So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people (Exodus 32:14).

The following day, Moses went up on Mount Sinai to speak with God. Israel’s mediator, one who stands between, confessed that God’s people were not innocent or good, but committed a great sin (Exodus 32:31). God forgave, but His justice against the sinners and their sin still had to be satisfied. Moses offered himself to God as a willing substitute to personally pay the penalty for the nation’s sin (Exodus 32:32). Israel still had consequences for their sin, but God spared their lives.

Then Moses asked to see God’s face.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows … He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed … and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

• Part 1 of 3.

Jesus Didn’t Wear a Halo

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:4-5)

Before going to the cross and dying, Jesus prayed to the Father that He be glorified.

When Jesus left Heaven for earth to redeem humanity, the Bible says He chose to hide His glory in the frailty of human flesh (Philippians 2:5-8). At His birth, He didn’t wear a halo!

His humanity was necessary because only a Man could die in the place of mankind. The glory of His deity was concealed through most of His earthly life, except for rare moments when the Father chose to reveal it, like in Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matthew 16:13-17; 17:1-8).

In His prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus asked the Father to make His eternal glory evident again, but as God and as human. He prayed to be glorified because His work of redeeming sinners was to be completed in a matter of hours (John 17:2-4).

As the Saviour, He mediated – He was the bridge – between holy God and sinful humanity. He brought righteousness and bought forgiveness for those who would believe on Him and His work at the cross. As the God-Man, He accomplished what no one else in the universe could do. As Man, He could suffer and die. As God, He could be without sin and satisfy a holy God.

Jesus didn’t ask the Father to glorify His deity. That glory was eternally present, hidden behind the veil of human flesh. He prayed that His humanity be glorified. His humanity needed to be glorified so He could abide as the God-Man in the presence of God in Heaven.

One day, God’s elect children will also be glorified. Our glory, however, isn’t because of anything we’ve been or done, but what Jesus did for us through His death and resurrection (Romans 8:28-30). Our glorification will be a sharing in His glory so we can enjoy His beauty as God’s people, in God’s place, in God’s presence.

Joy Has Dawned – Stuart Townend & Keith Getty (2004)

Joy has dawned upon the world,
Promised from creation:
God’s salvation now unfurled,
Hope for every nation.
Not with fanfares from above,
Not with scenes of glory.
But a humble gift of love:
Jesus born of Mary.

Sounds of wonder fill the sky
With the songs of angels,
As the mighty Prince of Life
Shelters in a stable.
Hands that set each star in place,
Shaped the earth in darkness,
Cling now to a mother’s breast,
Vulnerable and helpless.

Shepherds bow before the Lamb,
Gazing at the glory;
Gifts of men from distant lands
Prophesy the story.
Gold, a King is born today,
Incense, God is with us,
Myrrh, His death will make a way,
And by His blood He’ll win us.

Son of Adam, Son of heaven,
Given as a ransom,
Reconciling God and man,
Christ our mighty Champion.
What a Saviour, what a Friend,
What a glorious mystery:
Once a babe in Bethlehem,
Now the Lord of history.