The Person, Position & Work of Christ

This morning we are going to be exploring the book of Hebrews to find out how Jesus is qualified to be our Great High Priest.

The High Priest is a term we sometimes sing about but rarely delve into because it is a subject which we find difficult to grasp not having come from the Jewish culture.

In Old Testament times the priests originally served in the tabernacle (which later became the temple).
These priests were always from the Tribe of Levi and were responsible for serving in the tabernacle, teaching the people the law of God, and prayed to God on behalf of the nation.
Everything about the Tabernacle and the Priests was designed by God to be a copy or symbol for the real throne of God in heaven.
Therefore, everything had a specific design and purpose.

An ancient Levitical High Priest would have looked like this:

Ephod
Over his linen robe the High Priest wore garment called an 'ephod'.
It was made of linen with gold, blue, purple and scarlet.

Onix Stones
The two sides of the Ephod were clasped together at the shoulder by two onyx stones set in gold. Each of these onyx stones was engraved with names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Six names, in order of birth, were carried on one shoulder and six on the other.
This meant that every time the High Priest went into the Holy Place he carried the names of the tribes before the Lord and represented these people to God.
These stones symbolised the burden of the high priest, that he would bear the weight of the people before God.

Breastplate
Over the ephod the High Priest wore a breastplate.
On the front of the breastplate were fastened twelve precious stones in four rows of three. On each of these stones were engraved the name of one of the tribes of Israel.
The stones on the breastplate represented the twelve tribes of Israel.
The twelve stones were together in one breastplate showing the oneness of the people of God. And they always hung close to the high priests heart.
Their position on the high priests chest showed God's affection for His people.

Mitre (Turban)
On his head the High Priest wore a hat called a “Mitre” made of fine linen which was wrapped around his head in coils like a turban.
On the front of the Mitre on the high priests forehead, attached by a blue lace ribbon, there was the golden plate engraved HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
This was a constant reminder of holiness to the covenant people in Israel and to the High Priest in his calling.
God had told them to be holy because He was holy.

Yom Kippur
One of the jobs which the High Priest had to do was performing the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, "Yom Kippur."
This was to cover the nation’s sins from the judgement of God and receive forgiveness. It took place on the 10th day of the 7th month, Tishri.
By our calendar that would be around the end of September or early October.

The purpose of the Day of Atonement was to re-direct God's anger for the sins of the past year and seek his favour in the one that lay ahead.
It was the most important day in the Jewish sacrificial calendar.

However; although the order of priests and the sacrificial system was designed by God, it didn’t work because the people were sinful.
Every year the same sacrifices had to be made.
Not only that, but the High Priest was also unable to properly do the job.
He was also just a sinful man and couldn’t do the job as he should.
And every time the high priest got old, they had to find a new High Priest to stand before God and mediate for the people.

The old covenant law and the old covenant sacrificial system weren’t good enough. Because the temple was just a copy or ‘type’ theologians say, of the throne of God.

The High Priest was just a precursor or ‘type’ of the great High Priest who was going to come and minister in heaven at the very throne of God and make a sacrifice for sin.
Not like the sacrifices that the priests had been doing year after year, but a one time, all-encompassing sacrifice for all humanity.

It was time for an overhaul.
It was time for Jesus.

But how does Jesus qualify to be our Great High Priest?

Jesus - Son of God & and Son of Man

Hebrews 1 and 2 describe Jesus as both God and Man at the same time.
This is a key theological point in Christianity, that Jesus was both %100 God and %100 man at the same time.
In Chapter 1 verse 3 Jesus is described as “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

Jesus was God in all his fullness and entirety.
But then in chapter 2 verse 14 we read: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death.” Jesus was also human.

This matters a great deal because if Jesus is God the Son than that means that he knows everything about us.
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
It also means that because Jesus is the son of God, He is able to forgive sin, destroy the work of the devil and enter heaven to talk with God the father on our behalf.

Jesus is also just a man.
This makes Jesus perfectly able to understand us, and perfectly capable of bearing our burdens.
He knows what it’s like to live on this planet.
He knows what it’s like to feel heart ache, fear, sadness and pain. (Heb 4:14-16)
But the most important reason why it is so important for Jesus to be human is because it was the only way that He could have made atonement for our sin.
Only as a human did Jesus sacrifice on the cross have any saving effect on humanity.

The fact the Jesus is both God and Man qualifies Him to do what no other human priest could do.

Jesus – Great High Priest of the order of Melchizedek

Not only is Jesus better qualified as our high priest; He also comes from better stock.
As I mentioned earlier the tribe of Levi were given the right to become the Priests of Israel. So the High Priest was always a Levite.
He would serve from the time they were 25 to the age of 50 and then someone else would be selected among the people to be the new High Priest.

It was very important that only descendants of Levi could become Priests.
Unfortunately Jesus was a descendant of Judah.
How could Jesus become a High Priest if he wasn’t a descendant of Levi?

Answer: God played a trump card.

God himself through the writings of David in Psalm 110:4 proclaimed Jesus as “a Priest Forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
God pulled out the Ace of Hearts.
He pushes the status quo aside and introduces a something else.

But why? Hebrews 7:11-22 gives us the answer:

11 So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?
12 And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 13 For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. 14 What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

15 This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. 16 Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,
“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
18 Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. 19 For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

20 This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, 21 but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,
“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.

The old ways were not working.
The earthy priesthood couldn’t bring the Israelites to God.
They couldn’t make anybody perfect or sinless or holy enough to draw near to God.
The High Priests couldn’t even keep themselves holy and therefore had to continually make sacrifices to atone for their own sin.
Not only that but every 25 years or so a new High Priest had to be found and the whole things would have to start over again.
So God sets the old aside and brings in his own personal wild card.

The bible mentions in Genesis 14 that Melchizedek was the king of Salem and was a Priest of God long before the time of Moses when the law of God was written.
He lived during Abraham’s time and at one point when they met, Abraham gave a tithe of his possessions to Melchizedek.

This showed the position of Melchizedek as High Priest.
The writer of Hebrews points out the theological implications of this.

If Abraham would give his Tithe to Melchizedek, then by default Levi the unborn son of Abraham also gave the Tithe to Melchizedek.
This reveals the Priesthood of Melchizedek to be greater than the Priesthood of Levi.

In Hebrews Melchizedek is seen to resemble Jesus:
Although Melchizedek would have had a father and mother and although he would have died at some point. It was never recorded. So in history it is as though he always was and never died.

Hebrews 7:2 says: … First, the name Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness”; then also, “King of Salem” means “King of Peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.”

So God trumped the old levitical system, fulfilled the old covenant, and established the new covenant through Jesus, who became the new and eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

The fact that Jesus was ordained by God into a greater and permanent priestly line qualifies Him to be our Perfect High Priest.

Jesus – Perfect and eternal sacrifice, once and for all time

As mentioned previously; the priests under the old covenant law were forever sacrificing animals to try and “keep up” with their own sin and the sin of the people.
Every time the priest or the people sinned, another sacrifice was required in order for the people to have relationship with God.

Jesus however lived his life without sin.
He was totally pure.
And as we heard a few weeks ago at Easter, Jesus laid down his own perfect, sinless life as the sacrifice for all mankind.
He then rose from the dead, ascended alive into heaven, and is even now seated at the right hand of God the father.

This means that Jesus sacrifice was all encompassing, because he was both human and also entirely without sin.
Not only that but Jesus sacrifice was also for all time, because he didn’t stay dead but rose back to life and now lives eternal in heaven; thus beating the power of sin and death and ensuring that his sacrifice was once and for all time.

The very fact that Jesus sacrifice was for all people, for all time, qualifies him to be our High Priest and all sufficient saviour.

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As we live our lives, whatever we may be doing, whatever we might be going through this week. I pray we can remember this image in our hearts.

Jesus, as our great high priest, is seated at the right hand of the father.
He has beaten the power of sin and death, he has paid the penalty for our sin and transgression, and He has been crowned in glory and righteousness in the highest heaven. And even now YOU are on his mind.

The Israelite Priests were just the for shadow or copy of what Jesus was going to be.
They were clothed in such a way as to symbolise the high priest Jesus.
The Turban the high priest wore with the gold plate engraved “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” Jesus is the fulfilment of that symbol. He is perfect and has made his perfection cover our imperfection.
He is quite literally our “Holiness” to the eyes of God that Father.
Enabling us to have relationship with God and enter the Holy of Hollies.

The High Priest needed a golden bandana to remind God of the Holiness he represented. But Jesus quite simply IS Holy.

The ephod the high priest wore had those two onyx stones with the name of Gods people engraved upon them.

The stones rested on the Priests shoulders to symbolise the burden of Gods people.
Jesus work on earth put the weight of all of us upon him.
And now He carries our burdens and our futures on his mighty shoulders.

The breastplate that the high priests wore symbolised Gods people being on his heart as he entered the holy of holies.
And guess what? You, me and every single other person who calls on the name of Jesus are at this very moment being held safely in His heart.
And He constantly intercedes to the Father on our behalf.

So with that image in our minds…
Let us have faith in Jesus.
Let us trust that He is indeed qualified to be our high priest.

Hebrews 10: 19-25 says:

19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death,[b] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Through Jesus we can draw near to God himself.
We can have relationship with Him again because our sins have been washed away.
Through Jesus we can trust in this faith that we have because we know that Jesus is faithful and will not let us down.

He has proven Himself to be worthy of our praise.

This week I want to encourage us to hold unswerving to the faith we have in Jesus.

He is qualified to secure our trust.

I also want to encourage us as a family.
To challenge each other in our Christian walks.
Hebrews says to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
Let’s commit to spending time together, to growing each other’s faith, praising our mighty God, and to drawing near to Him.
Because we have a great high priest who has made it all possible, and He deserves our praise.