The author of Hebrews describes Jesus functioning as a High Priest before God. The writer is careful to point out that Jesus is not only qualified to be the high priest because he is called by God, but he is qualified because he was a human, he suffered along with us, and was tempted just like us. But unlike us, he was sinless, and therefore is the “perfect” high priest, far superior to any earthly high priest.
The fact that “God became Flesh” is at the heart of this passage. This passage in Hebrews tells us that not only can we speak to God, we can do so with confidence because of the work of Jesus, who really was one of us.
Structurally, Hebrews 4:14-16 and 10:19-23 form a frame around the central section of the book. Having shown that Jesus is superior to the angels and Moses, our writer now turns to the religious system of the Hebrew Bible, beginning with the high priest, but also including the priesthood, sacrifices, and Tabernacle / Temple.
Jesus as the Great High Priest is central to Christian faith (4:14). The title “great high priest” is not the normal title for the High Priest. Normally the top priest was called the “great priest” in Hebrew, the Greek is “chief priest.” This is “great chief priest”, a title that was applied to the first of the Hasmonean high priests after the Jewish war of independence in the mid second century B.C. Simon (d. 164 B.C.) was the only High Priest to be called the Great High Priest, 1 Mac. 13:42, 14:27.
What did the title “high priest” imply at the time Hebrews was written By the first century, the high priest was as a much a political figure as he was a religious leader. Control of the temple and the priesthood gave the office a great deal of power, and this power was usually led to great wealth. It is unlikely, however, that the writer of Hebrews has this sort of power in mind. He consistently looks to the idea image (“the shadow”) from the Hebrew Bible in order to describe the “substance” of Jesus.
In the Hebrew Bible, the High Priest was the representative for the people on the Day of Atonement. He was the only person allowed to enter into the holy of holies on that day, and then only after a series of sacrifices. The High Priest therefore is the only person in Israel who was allowed to enter the “presence of God” and he was the only one that was allowed to make atonement on behalf of the people.
Looking ahead at the argument of the next five chapters, our high priest was not only the sacrificer, but the sacrifice, offering himself for our sin. How could he be both? Because he was the Son of God. He is functioning as a High Priest, but as God he is also functioning as the recipient of the sacrifice.
Why is Jesus such a great high priest? What makes him worth “grasping firmly”?
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 27, 2012 at 4:12 pm
irishanglican ~ Fr. Robert
Hebrews 7:16 is a great verse: “Who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.” And then verse 17, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” (Note Ps. 110: 4)
Indeed the great reality of the Life of Christ, is as the Virgin Birth (Matt.1:23), Jesus Christ is our Immanuel (God with us)…The Incarnate Christ!
January 30, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Greg Salmon
It seems to me that the Jewish high priest had a very complex job. He couldn’t just pray for the nations sins to be taken away, but instead had to go through a number of sacrifices and rituals to become “right with God”. Jobes says, “The priest first atoned for his own sin… and then presented the blood of the sacrificed animal in the temple” (95). She goes on to add that during Passover over 17,000 priests were needed to complete all the sacrifices. Hebrews 7:27 says, “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.” This is one of the reasons why Jesus was such an awesome high priest; he took care of all the complicated rituals through His “ONE” sacrificial death on the cross.
Hebrews 7:26 says, “Such a high priest meets our need- one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” This is the second reason why I think Jesus is such a great high priest. Jesus didn’t have to get right with God before He atoned for the sins of the world. He was already a perfect person.
Perhaps the most exciting reason why Jesus is the ultimate high priest is because of what Hebrews 10:12 says, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” I learned this week that the priests job was never finished so they didn’t ever sit down. However, this verse says that Jesus sat down by God signifying the final act of atonement for the sins of the world.