Jesus our Great High Priest, Hebrews 4:14-16

As we begin this study today in Hebrews, I think it may be important to ask the question, what is a priest?  Practically all religions utilize a priesthood.  And yet in the Protestant Evangelical tradition we don’t use priests.  We have a pastor.  We have certain officers such as deacons.  But we don’t have priests officiating in the sanctuary.  And so it might be necessary to explain why, and explain what the Bible says about priests, as a precursor to our study today.

According to the common understanding of both Greeks and Hebrews of the time when this epistle was written, priests were men who offered sacrifices and in general  busied themselves with sacred rites in a temple or sanctuary.  They were considered go betweens, or mediators between man and God.  They were considered holy in that they were consecrated to their work.  They were not concerned with profane things, but holy things of God. In Judaism especially, the religion of the Israelites, it was considered a sacred profession that was the birthright of the Levites. In other words, you had to be born a priest.   And they worked in the temple daily, performing their sacrifices and sacred rituals.

In addition to that position, you also had a high priest.  These were men who came from the ranks of the Levites, who originally were  selected by God to officiate as a priest, but as the leader of the priesthood, and who would enter once a year into the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement.  He was often called the chief priest, because his position was foremost of the priests.

Now as I said, we don’t have priests officiating in the church today at least in most Protestant evangelical churches.  And the primary reason is that we no longer have sacrifices to offer.  Hebrews 7:27 tells us that Jesus has offered one sacrifice for all time.  On the day He was crucified, you will remember that God tore in two the veil separating the temple from the Holy of Holies, rending it from top to bottom, signifying that the way to enter the Holy of Holies was open to all through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Thus, we no longer need a priest, or even a high priest from the order of the Levites, to act as an intermediary for us.

But on the other hand, the book of Hebrews is going to spend a great deal of time telling us that Jesus is our great high priest.  And so if we are to understand Jesus, then we need to understand the function of the High Priests among the Jews, but particularly we need to understand how Jesus fulfills that office.

And by the way, in this new covenant, we that are saved are the new priesthood.  Peter said in 1Peter 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [God's] OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  That’s what our job is now that we have become saved, to function as priests of God, as Romans 12:1 states, “presenting our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, which is your reasonable service of worship.  John declares the same thing in Revelation 1:6 “and He has made us [to be] a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--to Him [be] the glory and the dominion forever and ever.”

And what the author of Hebrews is telling us in this passage is that we have a Chief Priest over us, who has gone into the heavenly holy of holies, and is officiating at the heavenly altar, so that we might have access to God and find help in time of need.

Now in chapter 3, vs 1 we were told to consider Jesus.  And so we have been doing that, considering Jesus in contrast to angels, to prophets, and to Moses, He is superior in every respect.  And today we are considering Jesus in light of His office as a High Priest, that we might better understand our position and the promises that we have in Him.

I could focus on a variety of human problems today with hopes that I might engage at least a few of you folks’ attention, in that you share a similar situation in your life.  But in the wisdom of God, I prefer to follow the teaching of this book, to fix our eyes on Jesus, and when we do that, we might find that he is sufficient to meet every need, whatever the need may be. Rather than focus on the problems, let us consider the solution to every need, which is Jesus.  And it is in His office of Great High Priest that we see Him most sufficient.

Now this idea of a Jesus as our Great High Priest has already been introduced to us in two other places.  The first was in chapter 2, vs17, “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”  The second mention is in chapter 3, vs1, which says, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.” 

Now then let us consider Him as our Great High Priest. In chapter 4, vs 14, it says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” 

But before we parse the rest of the verse, I want to point out the words, “we have.”  Let’s not overlook the little words in scripture.  It’s not that we just know about, but we have, we possess, or we belong to, such a great high priest.  We have a part in Him.  We have appropriated His work on our behalf.  That is really what constitutes our faith in Him, and what makes our faith efficacious. He has become our Lord and Savior and our Great High Priest by virtue of our faith and trust in Him.  He is ours, and we are His.  So let’s not overlook that important distinction.

A good illustration of that proprietary relationship to  the high priest is that in ancient Israel the high priest wore the names of the tribes of Israel on their breastplate, as part of their priestly garments.  They were identified with those who they were representing.  So it is with Jesus as our High Priest.  Our names, the Bible says in Isaiah 49:16, are written on His hands.  So He has become a man like us, one of His brethren, so that He might be our representative, our faithful high priest.

So now we have learned what it means to be our high priest, but what is indicated by “Great” High Priest? There were many high priests after the order of Aaron, but none of them were ever called great.  So what is meant by that title?  Well, I believe if we follow the order we have seen so far in Hebrews, it is quite simply that He is superior to every previous high priest. He is greater than every high priest that has ever come before.

And if you turn ahead a couple of chapters to chapter 7,  starting in vs 16, we see some characteristics of His greatness.  First it says that He became a priest not on the basis of ancestry, He was not of the tribe of Levi, but of Judah. He was appointed by God and not by man. And furthermore it says that He became a priest forever because of His indestructible life.  In other words, all Levitical priests eventually died and were buried, and thus their ministry ended.  But Jesus’s ministry continues forever, because He rose from the dead and as our text indicates, He ascended into heaven where He continues to intercede for us.

Secondly, He is our Great High Priest because His temple is greater.  In chapter 9 vs 24 we read that “Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”  So He is greater because the earthly high priests officiated in an earthly holy place which was only a type of the one in the heavens, but Jesus has entered to the heavenly tabernacle, into the very presence of God’s throne, which is clearly greater.

And thirdly, He is our Great High Priest because He is not only human as all the other priests were, but He is also divine, as no other priest could claim.  And we see that illustrated back in our text, in vs 14, in HIs name and title.  Jesus is His human name.  It was a rather common name, Joshua in Hebrew, but Jesus in the Greek.  And it meant, “Jehovah is salvation.”  The angel said to Mary when he announced His birth, “And you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”  So in His humanity, He is able to represent His people, and He is able to be the substitute for mankind.

But He was not only fully man, but fully divine, which is represented in His title, “the Son of God.”  John chapter 1 tells us that He was in the beginning with God, and that He was God.  Jesus claimed that He came from God and He was going back to the Father.  Jesus always called God His Father.  Only as the Son of God, equal in divinity, but separate in roles, could He atone for the sins of the world.  And only as God could He be the Great High Priest who passed through the heavens and sat down at the right hand of the Father.  

Now let’s just clarify that phrase, “passed through the heavens.”  Generally speaking, when the Bible speaks of the atmosphere, it refers to it as the heavens.  It includes the immediate atmosphere around the earth, as well as the sun, moon and stars.  But the passage is not so much describing a geographic location as it is describing the act of Christ entering or passing through the veil that hides the heavenly realm, or the spiritual realm.  Ephesians 2 says about us Christians in vs 5-6 “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus.”  

That’s talking about something that happens upon salvation. Upon salvation we are vicariously seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.  But for that to be true of you and me it must be true spiritually.  And it is in that spiritual realm that Jesus has passed through.  That was typified in the earthly high priest who once a year went into the Holy of Holies, by passing through the veil.  And so Christ has gone before us, passing through death, being raised incorruptible, and passed into the heavenly realm, the spiritual realm,  into the very presence of the Father. In that spiritual realm, He is above all power and authority, outside of time and space, and not confined to earthly limitations.  Thus He is greater because the scope of His ministry is spiritual, and not limited to the physical.

Now this faith in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, this faith in HIs work of atonement, this faith that appropriates His office of High Priest over us, is called in vs14 our confession.  And the Spirit says through Hebrews that since Jesus is our Great High Priest, we must hold fast our confession.  Now what does it mean to hold fast?  It means to secure it.  To make something fast is to secure it.  It actually refers back to that idea of possession.  We appropriate these truths and secure them, trust firmly in them.  To have unshakeable faith in who Jesus is, and what He has done, and what He ever lives to do.  It’s the same idea as standing firm in your faith.  Be confident, be assured in who He His and what He will do.  So we must stand firm in our confession of our faith, holding fast to His promises.  “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” according to Hebrews 11:1.

And faith is the means by which all that Christ has done and will do is appropriated by us.

Now vs 15 says that we can have that confident confession of our faith because Christ  sympathizes with us, in all our weaknesses, in all our temptations and trials, because He has been tempted and tried in all points like we have, yet without sin.  Jesus, in His humanity has suffered in every thing that we suffer.  Vs. 15 “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.”  To sympathize is to relate to, and have compassion on, and He does so because He has shared similar experiences.

But our confidence comes not just because He has suffered the same things that we suffered, but that He did so without succumbing to sin.  A fellow human can commiserate with you in your suffering, but offer little help in overcoming temptation and trial.  Jesus, suffered in all things as we have, yet He triumphed over them, by not succumbing to sin.  I believe it was the theologian FF Bruce who said, “Such endurance involves more, not less, than ordinary human suffering.”  In other words, the suffering that Jesus endured without sin, is far greater than our suffering.  Thus, in overcoming it, He shows that He is able to help us in our suffering. Jesus withstood all temptation, He withstood all the strategies of Satan, all the pitfalls of the world, He withstood all the weaknesses and indulgences of man, and emerged the victor.  And because He is the victor over death and sin and the world, He is able to save to the uttermost those that trust in Him. We can hold fast our confidence because He overcame the world, and He is able to come to our help and defense.  Because He was sinless.  HIs sinlessness is an important attribute of His effectiveness as our Great High Priest.

I need to speak to something at this point that may offend some people here.  And I would say that I do not go out of my way to be offensive.  But just the other day I picked up a  silver medallion and chain.  I bought it just because it was in the junk jewelry section of a thrift store and I saw it was marked sterling silver, so I knew it was worth more than what they had it marked for.  It was a good deal.  But the medallion was commemorating the Virgin Mary. And around the outer band of the medallion was engraved the words, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”

Now folks, I must tell you that in no place in scripture is it indicated that Mary was conceived without sin. Romans clearly states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. They have taken one of the essential attributes of Jesus, the Son of God, that qualifies Him to be our Great High Priest, and given it to someone else.  Mary was blessed among women for she was chosen to bear Jesus as her child.  But sinlessness is the attribute of God, not any man or woman. And Mary was only a woman who had the same weaknesses that we have.  She had the same need for a Savior that all men have.  Mary was a sinner just like you and I are sinners.  Mary was saved by faith in Jesus Christ. But in no way was she born without sin. And the scripture no where teaches that.

Then, on the reverse of the medallion is a large letter M, which symbolizes that Mary is the Mediatrix, which means she is the mediator between man and salvation, and that Jesus bestows graces through her.  Once again, this false doctrine is taking away from Jesus the characteristic that He only provides.  He, and He alone,  is the mediator between God and man.  1Tim. 2:5 says “For there is one God, [and] one mediator also between God and men, [the] man Christ Jesus.” 

And furthermore, to show how insidious this doctrine of Mary is, it is based on the idea that she was assumed into heaven, bypassing death, because she had never sinned.  So once again, the fact that Jesus passed through the heavens has been appropriated to Mary as well, which puts her on the same plane as Jesus Christ.  I would just encourage you to see for yourselves if there is any mention of such a thing in scripture.  There is none. It is a false doctrine that leads to a worship of Mary, and a perversion of the intercessory doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The whole point of this passage before us today, is to say that we have a Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who has passed through the heavens, who was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, and now lives to make intercession for us, to help us in our time of need, because He has experienced what we experience, and because we are His people, and He is our High Priest, who represents His people before the Father.  And as such people, who belong to Christ, we are to body enter into the throne of grace to find help in time of need.  We don’t need to go through other human intermediaries. In fact, such people can never help us.  We don’t need to appeal to other humans who have passed into death to speak on our behalf.  Jesus performs that role for us, and He performs it perfectly, because He is the Great High Priest.  And to try to put another person in HIs place, or to make you go through another agency to get to Jesus, is to put a stumbling block before you, and diminish the work of Jesus Christ by saying that it was not sufficient.  Let me assure you, Jesus is sufficient. He and He alone is able to save. He alone is able to know our hearts.  He alone is sinless.  Consider Jesus!  Don’t be deceived into looking at any one else but Jesus.  He is sufficient.

Now the last verse in our text sums up our response to our confession of faith in all that Jesus has accomplished and will accomplish as our Great High Priest.  It says in vs. 16, Therefore, [since all these things are assured concerning Jesus as our Great High Priest,]  let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Therefore, since all these things are assured concerning Jesus, we can come boldly to the throne of grace. A throne speaks of authority and power, while grace conveys the idea of compassion and provision. These two thoughts are combined in Jesus Christ. He is the God of infinite power, Creator of the Universe, Judge of the Earth, sitting on His throne after all authority in heaven and earth have been given to Him.  And, yet He welcomes us in complete and utter sympathy with us. Because He is one of us, and we are one with Him. We can come boldly because we are confident that He is ours, and we are His, by virtue of the atoning sacrifice which He made on our behalf.  His sacrifice for us is more than sufficient so that we may be bold to enter the throne of grace.

Notice what He provides to those who come to Him; mercy and grace.  Mercy is not getting what we deserve.  Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.  Christ doesn’t just give us mercy, but He gives us grace.  He not only forgives the penalty of our sin, but He gives us His righteousness and eternal life. He gives us complete and perfect access to God. Mercy and grace, and they are offered by our Great High Priest, who offered Himself as an sacrifice for our sin.  No other priest could make such a sacrifice, because no other priest was without sin.  And furthermore, because no human priest could take away sin.  Only Jesus Christ can forgive sins.

The author concludes that we might find help in time of need. I don’t know what needs you may have today.  But one primary need I know is applicable to every man and woman here today.  We all need to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior for the remission of sins.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ can we have eternal life.  As I quoted earlier, there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.  Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except by Me.  Jesus became our Great High Priest so that those who believe in Him would find mercy and grace in time of need.   I hope that no one comes short of the grace of God by not accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Only through faith in Christ can we say that He is our Great High Priest, and only by His intercession can we find help in our time of need.  He stands ready to help you in your need.  Come to Jesus, He is mighty to save.