Active Obedience (pt 4)

Jesus’ Perfect Life Allows Him to be the Perfect High Priest and Sympathizer.

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.” From Hebrews 4 to the end of the book the fact that the complete fulfillment of the priestly purpose is found in the Son alone is well developed. Jesus is shown to not only meet the qualifications of the Old Testament priesthood, but also to be far superior.

In the Old Testament the priests were to be holy and set apart unto God. They were the mediators who stood between the presence of God and the people they represented. The institution of the order of the priesthood was an accommodation of God to the weakness of men. He called and set apart the line of Aaron to serve the nation in this holy office. The priests’ main task was to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. The priests were in essence butchers, whose hands were consistently dripping with blood from all these sacrifices.

“As our great High Priest, Jesus was like the Old Testament high priests, and yet in one respect he was not like them, for these high priests only killed the sacrifice for the expiation while Jesus himself suffered the death.” Jesus does not have to stand in the Holy of Holies (like the Old Testament priests) to offer His sacrifice unto God; He has “passed through the heavens” and has presented His perfect life sacrifice in the very presence of God almighty.

The author of Hebrews makes it clear that the extent of Jesus’ temptations were similar to ours, yet He endured them “without sin.” In the beginning of His ministry He was tempted 40 days in the wilderness with Satan. Towards the end of His ministry He faced overwhelming agony and temptation in the garden of Gethsemane, as His natural human desires shrank away from following God’s perfect will. Jesus sufferings on the cross were so great that their magnitude will never be equaled. All this suffering by the Lord makes Him the great and perfect High Priest.

Because of these human experiences Christ is now able to sympathize with His own children in a special way. Compassion and sympathy are necessary requirements to His priestly office. Jesus offers compassion, mercy, and grace to any sheep that call out His name in time of need. “Nothing is wanting to us, for encouragement to expect victory in the trials of our faith: we have a great, and at the same time a compassionate High Priest, who has without sin endured exactly the same temptations as ourselves, so that we can supplicate divine assistance with the joyful confidence of certainly obtaining it.”