Jesus Christ: Qualified as High Priest

Hebrews 5:1-10

February 11, 2001

 

Paul declared there is "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all" (I Tim. 2:5-6). Part of the Old Testament economy was the ministry of the priest. He served in mediatorial fashion for Israel. Most important among the priestly family of Levi was the high priest, a descendent of Aaron. He had the responsibility to bear upon his shoulders and over his heart the sin and spiritual needs of the people of God before the mercy seat of God. He stood before God on behalf of the people. If God accepted him and his sacrifice, then the people were accepted before God. So intimately enveloping was the mediatorial relationship that the whole of the people of God were represented in the high priest. Their spiritual standing depended upon his success in the exercise of his office as high priest. Yet in reality, everything the high priest did had no lasting value. He was a foreshadowing of the great high priest, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Our writer intentionally contrasts the high priests of ancient Israel with the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. As they were appointed, so was He-as eternal high priest. As they offered sacrifices, so did He-the sacrifice of his own life's blood. As they were to deal fairly and gently with the people, so did He-for he sympathizes with our weaknesses and knows our temptations. But here the comparison stops. For the high priests of Israel needed a high priest themselves! They were sinners. They had no edge before God in spite of their noble office. While offering sacrifice for the sins of the people, they first had to offer sacrifice for their own sins (v. 3).

 

The existence of the office of high priest presupposes the existence of the sinfulness and helplessness of man. If man were not a sinner then he would have no need for a high priest to mediate the way to God for him. He could approach God in the nakedness of his humanity without fear of wrath or judgment. But such is not the case. "No creature is hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Every secret sin we harbor, every defiling habit we consider sanctified to ourselves, every rebellious thought and attitude, God sees-and with him we have a day of reckoning.

 

Such condition of every human heart pleads for God to provide the priestly mediator worthy in his own being and nature to open the way to God for us. Not that we assert this need for God on our own! For the bent of our natures is contrary to the ways and will of God. Every man does what is right in his own sight-not right in the sight of God. But in the richness of divine mercy and for the sake of his own glory, God has shown kindness to sinners by providing the one high priest who can fully identify with us in our weakness and at the same time satisfy all of the righteous requirements of God.

 

Christ's high priestly work stands at the center of his redemptive activity. It is as a sinner recognizes that Jesus Christ is his very own high priest that he believes unto salvation. Martin Luther pointed out, "It is not enough for a Christian that Christ was instituted high priest to act on behalf of men, unless he also believes that he himself is one of these men for whom Christ was appointed high priest" [quoted by P. E. Hughes, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 175]. As we understand that Christ alone is qualified as high priest, then we will keep our faith focused upon him. How is he your high priest?

 

I. Jesus-High Priest in his Person

 

The New Testament writers make much of the person of Christ; and rightly so, for the whole of our salvation hinges on his qualification for the divine offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. As this writer has shown in the first and second chapters, it was not an angel or a host of angels that took on the infirmity of a human nature nor did they bear the judgment of God on behalf of the undeserving. But it was the Son, declared by the Father, revealed in the incarnation, and made glorious in his death and resurrection that "by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (2:9).

 

It seems that this pastoral writer wanted to help his weak flock to look at Jesus Christ from every angle. For their thoughts of abandoning the faith or falling back into Judaism or trusting in angelic mediators in the place of Jesus Christ put them into eternal harm's way. Their fears of imminent persecution could be assuaged by a greater confidence in Jesus Christ and understanding the effectiveness of his work. Let us too find strength for the journey by seeing the person of Christ as revealed in our text.

 

1. Declaration of the Son

 

After giving a thumbnail sketch of the office of high priest, the writer moves to Jesus Christ. The high priests of their past had taken office only after divine appointment. They were accountable to Him before whom they offered "both gifts and sacrifices for sins," a phrase that points to the whole mediatorial work of the high priest, to "deal gently with the ignorant and misguided." This meant that they were not to be too hard on one side or too soft and nonchalant on the other. They were to take "the middle course between apathy and anger" [L. Morris, EBC, 47]. And why were they to do this? Obviously one reason was because the people lacked knowledge of the ways of God and followed the bent of wrong direction. But also because the high priest was himself "beset with weakness." For this reason he had to offer confession and sacrifice for his own sins before sprinkling the blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy seat for the people.

 

Our writer agrees to a point concerning Christ and the other high priests. "So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest," that is, Jesus did not claim this office himself. It was by divine appointment and declaration that our Lord is high priest. Never do we find Jesus Christ glorifying himself. Throughout the Gospels we see over and over that Jesus sought to glorify the Father. Even in his death, he sought the glory of the Father who required death of him and sent the Son for this purpose. But there is a major difference in Jesus Christ and the other high priests. "But He who said to Him, 'YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU'; just as he says also in another passage, 'YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK'." 

 

None of the angels were declared to be the Son of God. The same is true of the high priests. They were sons of Aaron, the first high priest in the tribe of Levi and father and grandfather of all who followed. Quoting from the second Psalm a passage already quoted in 1:5, the writer now declares the uniqueness of the sonship of Jesus Christ. In that Psalm the ancient hymnist muses on the nations' rebellion against the Creator as Sovereign. Here he declares that God the Creator has "installed" His King-Jesus Christ the Lord-to rule the nations! How does he identify this King? "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU." Even in the face of Neronian persecution these struggling believers could have confidence that God the Son reigns! They did not have to go on in fear but with confidence that his purposes would be accomplished because he reigns over the nations. 

 

The emphasis on "You are My Son" points to the Incarnation. He is the eternal Son of God without beginning or end; but he is also the Son born in time-born of woman, embracing a human nature forever. We could think of his reigning over humanity from his lofty heavenly throne without being human. But we could not think of him serving as our high priest without being one of us. Thus the Incarnation is the declaration of the Son of God becoming a son of man, so that as high priest mediating the way for us, we might become sons of God.

 

2. Appointment of the Mediator

 

Here is the mysterious entrance of Christ being "a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." All of the other high priests were of the Aaronic order, in the lineage of Aaron. But Melchizedek, that mysterious figure in Genesis to whom Abraham paid tithes, was both king and priest. Aaron's sons were priests, not kings. But the Messianic second psalm declares Christ as King. Now our writer quotes from Psalm 110 that declares this same Messiah to wear the robe and crown of high priest "according to the order of Melchizedek." While Melchizedek will be a primary character in our study of chapter seven and beyond, let me suffice our understanding of him by pointing out that Melchizedek "represented a non-Jewish, a universal priesthood" [B. F. Westcott, quoted by P. Hughes 181]. This priestly work of Jesus Christ would not be limited to the borders of Israel or the race of Abraham's sons. For in the sufficiency of the work of Jesus Christ, "He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation."

 

We must not miss the emphasis of verse six. For the writer stresses that while the Jewish high priests were appointed divinely in the order of Aaron to serve their office, the appointment of Jesus Christ supercedes all of them. His appointment is unique in that he has no claim to the high priesthood humanly speaking since he was from the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Levi. The high priesthood was not up for grabs or given to the highest bidder. It was a sacred trust of Aaron's sons. But Christ was appointed as the only high priest whose mediatorial work would have eternal value. All of the others were mere shadows of Him who would be appointed by God as Mediator. Without a mediator we have no way to God. We have seen that time after time in analyzing our sinful condition. Only one has been appointed. Only one has been accepted by God: the Son whom he declared, "a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

 

Here was the predicament facing this first century audience. Some were thinking that they could chart their own course to God. They could divine their own way to eternal life. Much like the multitudes in our own day that think that the rules change or bend for them, they thought that obedient faith in Jesus Christ was not the only way to God. But the only priest whose work is "forever" is Jesus Christ. Therefore, the only one who can break through the barrier of our sinfulness and deliver us in righteousness to the Creator is the One who bore God's judgment for us at the cross.

 

Are you one whose faith in Jesus Christ is slipping and sliding away? There's one anchor for the soul-Jesus Christ.

 

 

II. Jesus-High Priest in his Practice

 

Our writer gives us a picture of the humanity of God the Son as he faithfully exercised his divinely appointed office of high priest. In seeing Christ bearing the emblems of his mediatorial office the struggling believer can find new courage to press on in the face of trials, persecution, and even doubts. Paul reminds us concerning Christ, "Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:6-7). As man Jesus Christ was not less than God. He remained God throughout his earthly pilgrimage. Yet, to use J. B. Phillips translation, "For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man." Jesus Christ lived as a man-for that is exactly what he was (and is!). Just as we live in dependence upon the Father and his provisions, so did Jesus Christ. That is why the writer is pressing this point, for these struggling believers needed to see that Christ had set the way of obedience before them. They were to be strengthened by looking to him who "learned obedience from the things which he suffered."

 

1. Agony of his office

 

Our writer could have said, "In the days of his humanity," in order to soften the effect of Christ being a man. But he chose to use the coarse, earthy sounding term sarx or flesh to emphasize that Jesus Christ's humanity and dependence upon the Father as a man was real. "In the days of His flesh, he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and he was heard because of His piety." It is obvious that the pastoral writer refers to the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane in which Jesus Christ faced the travail of his soul before the Father. He was soon to be arrested, mocked, falsely accused, scorned, scourged, and then led to the cross. It was not the physical agony of the cross that weighed upon our Lord. Some have made much of this and indeed it was no small thing. But we are encouraged to think of Ridley, Latimer, Rogers, Anne Askew, and Tyndale who faced the agony of the flames joyfully and with resolution. It was something greater taking place that brought such cries from our Lord. Philip Hughes captures it:

But now in the Garden the moment has come, in his self-identification with mankind, to plumb human depravity and fallenness to its very depths as he prepares, in all his innocence and purity, to submit himself in the place of sinners to the fierceness of God's wrath against the sins of men. This meant an experience incomparable in the horror of its torment, from which his whole being shrank instinctively but which was inescapable if the purpose of his coming was to be achieved [182]

All of the purity of his soul would be opened to the pitch-black darkness of human sinfulness. Our lies, lusts, deceitfulness, anger, complaining, cheating accompanied an innumerable host of sins, saturating as a sponge in water upon the spotless bosom of Jesus Christ. Our rebellion against the Law of God and our unbelief in him as a merciful redeemer, in all of its lurid detail strikes the Son. In his own being he felt the combined weight of the world's sins. That is why we find him agonizing in the Garden as he fulfilled his high priestly office. He was soon to "appear before God" on our behalf, sprinkling his own blood upon the mercy seat, satisfying the divine cry of "Justice, Justice, Justice!" See him bearing your sin. See him agonizing over his separation from the Father. See how he feels the pains of hell upon his own spotless soul. And for whom? For someone who has known the glories of the gospel and is creeping back into the world or retreating to his own devices.

 

Get your eyes off of your own complaints and your own self-pity! Look at Him who "offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears." What was he doing? As the only sinless man he was expressing the agony of bearing sin; and as the only great high priest he was submitting to the will of the Father. And the Father "heard Him because of His piety." He does not hear us because of our "piety" or godly fear. He hears us because of Jesus Christ! Rather than die in the Garden from the horrid weight of separation from the Father and bearing the weight of our sin, the Father sustained the Son through the trauma of the cross, so that he might declare, "It is finished!" His prayers were heard and the answer came as he successfully bore the judgment of God for us at the cross and then rose from the dead in victory.

 

2. Culmination of his office

 

What did Jesus do throughout the earthly journey to the cross? He fully obeyed the Father. "Although He was a Son [or 'Son though He was'], He learned obedience from the things which He suffered." Let us come back to our first century audience. The bottom line was that they struggled with following or obeying Jesus Christ. Do you find yourself in the same position? Their faith was being called into question by their hesitation to obey. So the writer turns their attention-and ours-to Jesus Christ. We can rejoice that Jesus Christ obeyed the Father! The Son's obedience was with the full responsibility of being high priest for all the redeemed. We might pay closer attention to our obedience and actions when we have a responsibility because there is a sense of accountability for a right performance. Our eternities rested upon the obedience of Jesus Christ. Without his sinless life and perfect obedience, the cross was useless. There was no adequate sacrifice if the sacrificial victim was polluted by the very sins that he was seeking to atone for.

 

The condition of Christ's obedience involved suffering. He joyfully obeyed the Father and simultaneously suffered through trials and temptations of immense proportions (4:14). And why did our high priest do this? The writer answers, "He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal life." Since Jesus Christ faithfully fulfilled his office as high priest-and continues to do so in heaven on our behalf-then you too walk in obedience to him. You too continue on in the faith. You too be steadfast in persevering as believers. Because Jesus Christ was faithful in his obedience he enables you that have found refuge in him to persevere in the faith.

 

III. Jesus-High Priest in his Perfection

 

When a group of astronauts return from space and touch down, they can tell mission control, "Mission accomplished!" That is what our text is expressing to us. Jesus finished the redemptive mission the Father sent him to do. We who believe are on the receiving end of all the richness of knowing him. What cause do we have to look elsewhere for salvation? Can we find it in ourselves or in another religion or in another priest? "And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek."

 

1. Integrity as Mediator

 

The perfection that our writer mentions is not that of one who was imperfect and needed to make changes. Instead it points to completion or fulfillment of every demand upon him. "And having been made perfect" implies that there was no stone left unturned when it comes to your salvation; there is nothing left dangling. I dare say that there are some among us who are likely struggling over this. It is so common to think that Jesus has done a wonderful job, but there's a little left for me to do to finish the task of salvation. What can you add to that which Jesus has fulfilled? Can you be more obedient than him who is "without sin"? Can you add to the satisfaction of God in the smiting of his own Son with his fully measured wrath? Can you do more than the One who was raised from the dead?

 

With complete integrity the Bible can declare Jesus Christ to be "the source of eternal salvation" for all of you who obey Him. There is never a hedging at this point. There is never Jesus Christ plus anything added to the invitation to be saved. Nor do you find Jesus Christ plus something for your assurance. All of our hope rests in him.

 

Skeptics in our day cast doubt upon Christ being who he claimed to be. Others sneer at the bloody cross as though it was the evidence of a primitive religion, adequate for ancient times, but not one sophisticated enough for modern times. But the point of repeating Christ's unique designation "as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek" is to awaken us to the veracity of Jesus Christ alone as our Mediator.

 

Do you know Christ, not as a mediator, but as your Mediator? "Yes I do," you say. Then continue on in the faith, obediently following Jesus Christ. "Be diligent to enter His rest." He continues to mediate for you. Every breath you draw in Jesus' name, every prayer you utter, and every act of service comes because he mediates for you. You may find yourself weak and your spiritual limbs barely dragging along. But you have a high priest who represents you before God and who invites you to the bounty of his grace for weary pilgrims. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

 

2. Integrity as followers

 

How far could this little band of believers go and still be called believers? Our writer shows his concern for them and calls them to demonstrating their faith by obedience. "He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." This is an obedience that follows or better, accompanies faith. Westcott observed, "Continuous active obedience is the sign of real faith" [P. Hughes 188]. Here is precisely what James expands upon in his epistle, that a true faith will sow itself in obedience.

 

Let's be honest. Much of what is claimed to be Christian is pure antinomianism. That is, there are many who want the eternal benefits of Christians without desiring the present, ongoing walk of obedience as Christians. They are lawless-without Christ. Does that describe you? Then wake up to what is truly Christian. Turn from your hypocrisy to the high priest who has mediated before God on your behalf.

 

Conclusion

 

Strength for the journey, however difficult it might be, is found in your great high priest. See Christ as your High Priest. See him representing you before the Father. And keep going on in the journey until you see your high priest face-to-face.

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