Our High Priest

Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." 6 As He also says in another place: "You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek"; 7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek," 11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The great sign God cares for us is His provision. We think of how He feeds us, or how He provides us with water, or of warmth, or of family or occupation. The list of the things God provides us by His goodness is vast and probably endless, (if we were to seek to name them all from a human perspective.) Who, for example, knows where their next heartbeat is coming from? Or how about life itself?

Of all the things God has provided us, however, the greatest is His provision of a High Priest.

In order to fully understand the nature of the importance of the position of High Priest, you have to go back to the Torah, to discover what God had in mind for how He would relate to His people. God related to the Israelites through the office of the High Priest. It was the High Priest who would go into the Holy of Holies once per year to make atonement for the people. It was the High Priest who would hear from God and speak to the people about God’s desire for them.

In short, the position of High Priest existed to allow people to know and understand the love God had for His people, and that He desired to be in loving relationship with His people – rather than being followed by those under coercion in some sort of religious fanaticism.

The position of High Priest indicates to us how it is Holiness can relate to lowliness. The High Priest stands between God and man. Of course, our High Priest is Jesus Christ.

-  Pastor Bill