The Son as High Priest
Hebrews 4:15-5:10
Introduction: A Merciful High Priest (4:15-16)
Consistently Hebrews starts with Christ's office (as Son and as priest)
and then turns to look at his work and its implications for us.
Because Jesus is a faithful high priest who has passed through the heavens,
therefore, hold fast your confession.
Because Jesus is a merciful high priest who can sympathize with you in every way,
let draw near the throne of grace with confidence.
In 2:17-18 we saw the program for chapters 3-5
"Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect,
so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God,
to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted,
he is able to help those who are being tempted."
In chapters 3-4 we saw how Jesus is the faithful High Priest-
the faithful Son over the house-greater than Moses,
and through whom we enter God's rest.
Today we will look at part 2 of this section-
how Jesus is a merciful high priest.
In order for the Son to fulfill his task as our Redeemer,
he had to experience testing through the suffering of death,
he had to be tempted as we are-yet without sin!
he had to become a merciful high priest.
Only then could he help those who are in need.
You can have confidence that Jesus can help you, because Jesus has been tempted, too.
When you hear the word "sympathize" what do you think of?
Someone who comes alongside and says "there, there!"?
That is not the point here.
This is not a "psychological" sense of "sympathize,"
because Christ has shared the experience of suffering.
But the best part of this is that he is shared the experience of suffering and temptation,
but without the result of sin!
So then, Hebrews calls us to draw near with boldness to the throne of grace.
Because Jesus has passed through the heavens,
therefore you need to have confidence to enter the heavenlies as well!
The verb "to draw near" is the verb that is frequently used in the OT to refer to the priests
"drawing near" to God in worship.
And you are to draw near-to come into the very presence-of the living God
with confidence-with boldness.
We'll keep coming back to this idea of drawing near with boldness throughout Hebrews,
because this is the basic result of the sacrifice that Jesus has offered.
He has brought you near to God
1. The Old Priesthood of Aaron (5:1-4)
In order to appreciate this,
we need to understand something about the old priesthood.
Because, quite frankly,
in the year 2005, it sounds awfully strange to people to hear
that you need a priest in order to bring you near to God!
I mean, hey, "God made me, God loves me,
he's my bud"--
this whole priest business is hierarchical,
and we don't go for that hierarchy stuff anymore!
Why would you need a priest to come near to God for you?
A. The Priest and His People
Because of sin.
As we've seen from chapters 3-4, the rebels in the wilderness could not enter God's rest
because of their unbelief.
They did not believe God's promises, but rebelled against him,
and they died in the wilderness.
Now Hebrews explains the importance of the old priesthood.
The point of the old priesthood was that we needed someone to act on our behalf,
offering gifts and sacrifices for sins.
(Read verse 1)
As was the case with Moses, Hebrews will not compare Christ
with the worst of the priesthood-but with the best.
He will take the first high priest-Aaron-in his most glorious moment:
when he enters the holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement.
There were lots of priestly rituals,
there were daily and weekly and monthly sacrifices,
but Hebrews will deal only with the greatest moment
in the high priest's work-
the moment when the high priest enters the holy of Holies
in order to deal with the sins of the people.
But the high priest was chosen in order to represent the people before God.
The consecration of the priests in Leviticus 8 was an elaborate ritual,
designed to set apart Aaron and his sons for this important service.
(And did you notice when they entered their service in 9:1?
On the eighth day?
The consecration of the priests lasted seven days-
they could only enter God's presence on behalf of the people
on the eighth day!
Thus signifying that there must be another day beyond the seventh day
-a day when man would enter God's rest.)
But the high priest was not only appointed to act on behalf of men,
he also should be seen as able to be compassionate-to "deal gently" with
the ignorant and wayward.
The sacrifices of the Day of Atonement were designed to deal with the unintentional sins
of the people-those committed in ignorance.
And the high priest was well suited to the task, because he was one of the people.
Hebrews says that the high priest could deal gently with such,
but the old priesthood could not truly sympathize,
because the old high priests were beset with weakness itself.
Now, this is not a common feature of intertestamental Judaism.
Some went so far as to say that the high priest on the Day of Atonement
set aside his humanity and became an almost divine figure!
But Hebrews, reflecting upon what Christ did, realizes that the Levitical priesthood
was actually beset by weakness-and not in a good way!
(READ v3)
The old high priesthood was one of us in every way-including sin.
Therefore the old high priesthood could not bring a final salvation.
If you have a bunch of sinners offering sacrifices first for themselves,
then how can their sacrifices make you right with God?
And a sinless high priest was unthinkable, according to the Levitical system.
Every high priest was bound to offer sacrifices for himself!
B. The Humility of the High Priest
But even this weak and ineffectual high priesthood was an honor.
And no one would dare take this priesthood to himself,
unless he was called by God, just as Aaron was.
In spite of his weakness and sinfulness,
the high priesthood was the highest position that a sinful man could occupy.
Because he alone could enter the holy of Holies and bring the sacrifices for sins.
But he could only do this if God called him to the task.
To arrogate this to himself would be the height of pride and folly.
2. The New Priesthood of the Son (5:5-10)
B. The Humility of the Son
And so of course we see that Christ did not exalt himself either.
Once again we start from the similarity!
The Son was "just like" Moses-and yet so much greater!
The message has come to us "just as" it came to the fathers in the wilderness,
but with greater power and efficacy!
Even so the Christ-the Messiah-is just like the high priest,
who did not exalt himself to the post,
but was called by God.
When was Jesus called to this high priesthood?
Hebrews roots Jesus' high priesthood in his sonship.
And as we've seen,
in one sense-in his deity-Jesus is the Son of God from all eternity (1:2-3)
in another sense-in his humanity-Jesus is the Son of God from his birth,
but in a third sense-in his exaltation-Jesus is the Son of God
from his resurrection.
He is the exalted Son, the eschatological Son, because he has become
all that Adam was supposed to be-
all that Israel was supposed to be-
all that David was supposed to be.
That is all very familiar to Hebrews' audience.
This is the message that Peter and Paul had preached.
But Hebrews recognizes that there is
something more that the Psalms said about the Messiah-
something else that is crucial to this eschatological Sonship.
Because just as Psalm 2 says "you are my Son, today I have begotten you,"
so also Psalm 110 says "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
In other words,
it is because he is the Son of God
that he is able to become the merciful and faithful high priest.
The language of "sonship" is usually royal language.
Kings are called "sons of God"-not priests.
But that is the problem with the Levitical priesthood.
The problem with the Levitical priesthood is that the high priest is not the Son of God.
Hebrews started off by saying that Jesus is "like" Aaron, because he did not exalt himself,
but was called to the high priesthood,
but Jesus is a different order than Aaron.
In the Christ, the priesthood is united with the kingship,
because the Christ is the Son of God.
Psalm 110 is the key to this.
Because Psalm 110 uses the image of a Melchizedekian priesthood.
We'll talk more about this when we get to chapter 7,
but suffice it to say that Melchizedek was both a king and a priest.
In other words, in the order of Melchizedek we have a true "hierarchy."
Did you know that hier-archy is simply "high priest" backwards?
High priest in Greek is "arche hierus"
Flip-flop that.
"Hier - arche" (priest-rule)
So hierarchy is what happens when you turn a chief priest into a priest-chief!
And this is actually the basic point of the book of Hebrews.
Our high priest is also our king, Jesus.
Hebrews 1-2 established Jesus as the Son of God,
the ruler of all things, and the one under whom God has subjected the age to come
Just as Hebrews rooted the rule of Christ in his eschatological sonship-
the inheritance that he received at his exaltation-
so also Hebrews roots Jesus' high priestly office in that same exaltation.
In the days of his flesh (in other words, during his earthly life),
he offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears,
to him who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
This sounds a bit strange at first.
He cried out to him who was able to save him from death-
and he was heard?
But didn't Jesus die?
Some liberal scholars have even gone so far as to claim that a "not" is missing!
And that the text should read "he was NOT heard!"
But Hebrews point is that he WAS heard.
Did God save Jesus from death?
Yes.
Jesus died.
But he did not remain dead.
He was delivered from the power of death,
and was raised from the dead.
Verses 8-10 are crucial for understanding the whole of Hebrews:
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."
What did he learn from his suffering?
Obedience.
He learned from what he suffered obedience.
Israel was the son of God.
Why then did the wilderness generation fall in the wilderness?
Because of unbelief (3:19).
This is also called "disobedience" (3:18).
Adam was the first son of God.
Why did he fall into an estate of sin and misery?
Because of disobedience/unbelief.
The Son of God must learn obedience.
Obviously, as the eternal Son of God he did not need to learn obedience;
it was in order that he might become the eschatological high priest
that he had to learn obedience.
Why is Jesus a merciful high priest who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses?
Because he has endured weakness.
He has suffered.
He learned obedience the hard way.
And so he was made perfect.
This word "perfect" does not mean "morally perfect."
He was sinless.
This word was regularly used in the LXX to refer to the consecration of the priests.
In Lev 8:33, it says that when the days of your perfection are completed.
Our translation says "ordination."
So the ordination of the priest was viewed as his "perfection."
He is now perfectly able to enter his duties as high priest.
The point is that Jesus was "ordained" through suffering.
He was perfected as our high priest,
and thus became the source of eternal salvation.
A. The Priest and His People
The Christ is similar to the OT high priest in that he was called by God,
but his identification with his people is where the difference begins to be revealed.
The Aaronic high priest was identified with his people
because he, too, was a weak and helpless sinner.
But the Messiah is identified with his people
because of his suffering-because of his death,
whereby he took upon himself the penalty that his people deserved.
The high priest did this symbolically.
The high priest bore the sins of the people figuratively-
as he stood before God with the blood of the lamb upon his clothes.
But the picture of the high priest in his bloody garments,
standing before the mercy seat,
is a picture of futility.
He is covered with the blood of an animal.
He offers a sacrifice of limited power.
When he comes out of the holy of Holies he comes bearing a temporary salvation.
But he'll have to do this all over again next year!
But Jesus passes through the heavens and comes not to the mercy seat,
He comes not to the footstool (heaven is your throne, earth is your footstool),
but to the very throne of God.
The high priest was perfected through his seven-day consecration,
and entered his service on the eighth day,
becoming the source of salvation to his people.
But Jesus was perfected through his eighth-day resurrection from the dead.
And thus he is designated a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
These verses 8-10 set the foundation for the exposition of the priesthood of Christ
in chapters 7-10.
Having firmly grounded the priestly office of Christ in his sonship,
Hebrews will go on to explain what it means that Jesus is our great high priest.
He will show what he means by "the order of Melchizedek,
and why Jesus ascension must be understood in terms of a priestly sacrifice.
Yes, you heard me, the ascension is where the sacrifice is seen.
Jesus is perfected through his death.
He is ordained and consecrated to his priestly task through the suffering of death.
But only when he ascends to the Father,
does he do the priestly work of presenting the sacrifice to God.
Conclusion:
The point of all this can be summarized very simply:
Because the Son of God is the great High Priest,
who brings you into the heavenly Holy of Holies,
therefore you may now come before the living God.
Hebrews 10 will say that you have now been consecrated as priests in Jesus.
And because you are priests,
you are also sons (chapter 12).
But the fact that you are sons and priests
means that you will also suffer.
You must endure discipline as sons.
You must endure suffering as priests.