Once a year, in the old Jewish sacrificial system, the high
priest went into the innermost part of the temple, called the Holy of
Holies. He made sacrifice on this day,
the Day of Atonement, for the whole nation of Israel. No one except this one man on this one day
was allowed to enter this room. Hebrews
6:19-20 tells us, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and
secure. It enters the inner sanctuary
behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our
behalf. He has become a high priest
forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (NIV).
Jesus is our high priest.
There have been many high priests since the first high priest, Aaron,
was appointed just after Israel left their slavery in Egypt. There were certain requirements that a person
must have to be a high priest. Jesus
met, and often exceeded, those prerequisites.
First of all, how would a man even become a high
priest? He does not simply decide in his
own mind that he will be a high priest.
God chooses him to be such. Aaron
was chosen by God to be high priest.
Jesus also was chosen by God to be high priest.
Before a priest could offer sacrifices for the people, he
had to be free of sin himself, so he first had to offer sacrifice for his own
sin, then offer sacrifices for the people.
Jesus, on the other hand, was sinless His entire life; that is, He never
caused offense to God, and so His relationship with God has remained
intact. For that reason, there is no
need for Him to offer sacrifice for Himself.
He has a constant connection to the Father that is not broken. Because of this, He is most qualified to be a
priest, an intercessor, for us.
As a sinless man, one might think that Jesus is unable to
understand where we are coming from as people dealing with sin and temptation
on a consistent basis. Jesus, though He
never sinned, was tempted during His life on earth. He simply chose not to give in to those
temptations. He withstood temptation to
the farthest reach of it, something we have never experienced because we give
in to the temptation before it can reach its full strength. He understands temptation and the strength of
it. He can sympathize with our
struggles. He understands us, so He can
“deal gently” with us as the author of Hebrews says.
When God began to form the children of Jacob, the
Israelites, into a nation, He appointed the Levites as the priestly tribe. The first high priest was Aaron, and his
descendants were to follow him in that role.
The tribe of Judah was the tribe of the kings. King David was from
the tribe of Judah, and the Messiah was prophesied to come from this
tribe. It is obvious from the
genealogies in Matthew and Luke that Jesus was the tribe of Judah. Jesus is qualified biologically to be
king. How then can Jesus be a priest when
He is part of the tribe of Judah, the tribe of the kings, and not of the tribe
of Levi, the tribe of the priesthood?
The answer to this takes us far back into the history of
Israel, even before the nation was a nation, before Israel was named
Israel. Abraham, in Genesis 14, came to
the aid of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities who had been attacked and defeated by
neighboring kings. After Abraham and his people won the battle,
Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the priest of God Most High, brought out
bread and wine. He blessed Abraham, and
Abraham gave him a tenth, a tithe, of everything that he had. The author of Hebrews states that Jesus is a
high priest as Melchizedek was a high priest.
Melchizedek was not of the tribe of Levi; neither the priestly line nor
Levi the man had even come to exist.
Hebrews explains that since the Levitical priesthood and the law were
unable to save people, another priest and another law was needed to take the
place of the previous.
How is it that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek? Is it only that neither one were
Levites? Or is there more? Hebrews tells us that Melchizedek had no
father or mother and no genealogy. He
had no “beginning of days or end of life.”
He had always been. He is a
priest forever. Hebrews says that Melchizedek
and Jesus were both “one who has become priest not on the basis of a regulation
as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible
life.” Through the history of the nation
of Israel, there was a succession of high priests. One would fill this role for a number of
years, and then when he died, another would take his place. With Jesus, there
is no succession because there is no death.
Jesus is a priest forever.
Finally, what raises Jesus higher than the priests before
Him is the quality of the sacrifice offered.
In the past, sacrifices were rams, bulls, doves and other animals. We are told, though, that the blood of
animals cannot forgive sins. Those
sacrifices were looking forward to and pointing to a greater sacrifice. The greater sacrifice that was offered was a
pure, unblemished sacrifice, the life of the high priest Himself. Jesus became not only the high priest who offered
the sacrifice but also the sacrifice which was offered.
Jesus has become our high priest in that He has fulfilled
and exceed the requirements of high priest.
The scripture describes to us a high priest who is able to completely
wipe away sins because of His special capability to serve in this role and His
offering of His own life for the atoning sacrifice.
