Jesus Our Great High Priest

Jesus Our Great High Priest

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

KV Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Approaching others can be a very stressful and difficult thing because we aren’t sure what response we will get. Many times I had to approach my parents with news (some good, some bad and some just surprising or shocking news). One time I had to write my parents an email even though we lived in the same house because I had no confidence to look them in the face and see their reaction. It is truly difficult to approach others with confidence. But in this passage we will learn about how to approach God confidently. How can we do it? He’s a holy God! Quite simply, we can do it because Jesus is our Great high priest who can sympathize with us because he understands our every need. He was tempted in every way but was without sin. When we come to him, we can have assurance that we can find grace and mercy so that we can stand before the holy God. May God bless you to have confidence to approach his throne of grace in your time of need.

Part 1 (Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, chapter 4:14-16)

Let us read verse 14 together. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” The word “therefore” reminds us of the previous passage, especially 4:13, which reads, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Though we try our best to hide our weaknesses and bad thoughts and actions from others, we will not be able to hide anything from God. Everything will be uncovered and laid bare before him. Who can say “I am completely innocent and not guilty” before the eyes of the Lord? Before we know God personally we can be very upset about this. We deserve God’s just punishment. No one can escape from God’s judgment. Without God’s mercy and grace, we are hopeless sinners. But we have hope because we have a great high priest, the Son of God, who has gone through the heavens. The high priests of the Old Testament era because of their sin could only go through the outer courts onto the holy of holies once a year. But now the author is saying we have a great high priest who has gone into the ultimate holy of holies, the heavens and took his place at the right hand of God. When I came back and settled down in College Park after going to China, I longed to see the White House. But when my wife and I visited last year but we couldn’t get past the outer gate. I could only stand there and look with curiosity because I had nobody to invite me in. However, a few months ago, Missionary Jacob was invited to go inside the actual White House building as part of a pastor’s conference. He felt greatly honored and was talking about that for months on end. Because of his role as pastor of this church, he got an invitation to enter but only once.

As the great high priest, Jesus is inviting us to enter a more honorable and much much holier place, God’s rest. He can invite us because he is the great high priest who has gone into the heavens himself and is sitting at the right hand of God. Who wants to go to the heavens and enter God’s rest? There is no other way to enter God’s rest but through coming to him. We are sinful human beings and without dealing with our sin problem, we can’t approach a holy God. As we can see in chapter 5, the high priest’s job was to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. They had to do this time after time but Jesus did this once and for all by sacrificing himself on the cross in obedience to God’s will. By God’s grace, we no longer have to offer up such things as burnt offerings but instead we must come to him and believe firmly that he sacrificed himself for our sins. As Christians, we can invite others to the outer gate through Bible Study and prayer and encouragement. However, for us to enter God’s rest we must each approach him personally. Without coming to him with our sins and burdens we will never find true rest and we can never stand before the holy God.

What should be our attitude toward him? Look at verse 14 again. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” As we have learned previously, the Hebrews believers of this day were experiencing a lot of suffering and persecution due to their faith in Jesus. As such they were tempted to leave and go back to Judaism where they could live comfortably and blend in with the rest of the crowd. Even though this happened thousands of years ago, we are faced with similar situations today. Everyday we are tempted to conform to the ways of this world. In these times, we should remind ourselves we have a GREAT high priest who has gone through the heavens. Why should we let go or give up on something great? Many people find marriage so great that they don’t want to give it up and go back to being single. Some people find single life so great that they never want to give it up to get married. After Jacob wrestled with God he found him so great he said “I won’t let you go until you bless me”. We shouldn’t give up our faith for we have a GREAT high priest but instead hold firmly to the faith we profess. I pray we may each see the greatness of Jesus in our daily life and cling to him and never stop trusting him. He is the source of salvation, the author and perfector of our faith.

What kind of high priest is Jesus? Let us read verse 15. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” Whenever I have a problem or worry I want to go to someone who I think will sympathize with me. As children, we tend to go to the parent who we think will be more gracious to us. But the best people to go to find sympathy are those who have struggled with the same things and overcame them. On Wednesday afternoons, I have to watch my son while my wife takes a class in the seminary. Since he no longer wants to just sleep, we watch TV together sometimes. The only channel we can pick up clearly is Fox so we are forced to watch the Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy and many others. One time the parents brought in their 13 year old son who was involved in a gang. Though they tried hard to help him to end his dangerous behavior, they couldn’t get through to him. Finally the judge ordered him to visit an ex gang member who had lost 17 friends to street shootings but managed to get out alive by the grace of God. I’m sure his parents and many others had told him to get out but in the end this was the person that helped him to change. The judge was confident that this man could help because he had been in the boy’s shoes. He knew the boy’s desperation and had overcome the situation himself.

We learn from verse 15 that Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he was tempted in every way. What does it mean that Jesus was tempted – just as we are. Jesus was tempted by hunger, poverty, loneliness. He was tempted to hate and take avenge to those who crucified him. He was greatly tempted to save his own life and not to take the cross. He was exactly like us. He was thirsty, hungry, sleepy, tired. He was hurt when his disciples left him and he felt great pain when he was hung on the cross. He was tempted to come down from that cross but instead obeyed God’s will. In all of Jesus’ temptations, he was without sin. Here the tempted in every way doesn’t mean the same exact circumstances but the same manner of being tempted to choose selfish action and reaction. Whenever we are tempted we have a choice, we can obey God by doing what is right or we can do what we’d like to do at that moment. Being tempted is inevitable as we live in this fallen world. Everyday seemingly good people fall to temptations which they struggle with their whole lives. Often times our temptations leave us feeling so weak and powerless that eventually we give into them. We can only struggle with our temptations with our willpower for so long. We give in because we think our life will get better. It may get easier if we give in but it never gets better. I have many weaknesses but I had one specific weakness that really tempted me to give up my life of mission and service to God. As many of you know, I had a terrible stammering problem. I didn’t want to take the cross of teaching the bible and being a messenger of God’s word because of this. It was extremely painful in the beginning because my weakness was openly exposed and it didn’t make any sense to me. It would have been much easier for me if I had found something that didn’t require me to open my mouth. However, as I began obeying God’s word and taking up my cross my speech got better and better and my life has gotten better and better. I can testify that obedience to God is greater than giving into temptation. When we don’t give in but obey God, we can experience his greatness in our lives. Jesus is greater than angels, he is greater than Moses and he’s greater than the Levitical high priest because he had 100% obedience and was without sin. When we are in need we must come to him and learn from him.

Let us now read verse 16 together. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” This is our key verse this week but it may as well be our daily key verse. Because of Jesus’ complete obedience to God in his sinless earthly life we can now approach God any time and any place through his son Jesus. He is our great our high priest and when we come to him we receive mercy and grace according to our key verse. However, many times we fail to approach him even though we are in great and desperate need.

Last week I got lost going to a meeting in DC and ended up missing the entire meeting. I had gotten all dressed up with new clothes, took a shower and shaved my face but yet I met no one because I drove around for 2 hours and couldn’t find the place. When I got home I was hoping to find sympathy from my wife but instead she criticized me for not approaching someone to ask for help. I think that story is a lot like it will be when we are called by him to give an account. He may ask us about each temptation which we gave into “why didn’t you approach the throne of grace at that time?” We will only find help if we ask. If we approach the throne of grace, we will receive mercy and grace. If we don’t approach the throne, the throne is still there but it has nothing to do with us. Unlike this world, when we approach the throne of grace Jesus will not laugh at us or be unable to give us directions. He is able to sympathize with us and to help us in our time of need but we have to approach him.

Loneliness can be one of the biggest temptations in our Christian life. If we strive to live a life that is pleasing to God by submitting our lives to him, we’ll be very different from the rest of the world. Jesus was the loneliest person to ever walk or breathe on this planet. Nobody ever understood him his whole life, not even his parents and definitely not his 12 disciples. After he was nailed to the cross, he even felt forsaken by God crying “Father, why have you forsaken me?”. Shepherd Tommy Pham is the first Christian in his family. His family doesn’t understand him. Earlier this year his brother, Tony, came to him and questioned him strongly about why he was spending so much time at the church. It must have seemed really weird to Tony, that he spends more time at church than with his own family. Tommy was tempted because Tony has a stronger character and more willpower than Tommy but he held firm to his faith and instead approached the throne of grace by praying for Tony continuously. Just last week, Tony accepted Bible study with Msn James Park. Because Tommy had faith that Jesus could understand him he came to him and blessed him with much grace to see his brother studying God’s word.

It is hard to approach people because we don’t know their response. Though I don’t like it when they approach me, I have a great deal of respect for salesmen and telemarketers because they have great faith to approach others the way they do. Though they seem to get rejected 98% of the time with a lot of cold looks, obscenities and threats they persevere with their act. What great faith they have! The good news for us is that we don’t need the same kind of faith, the faith that depends on chance or risk or our own ability. You may say, what the heck are you talking about? Verse 16 says “Let us then approach the throne of grace”. It is called a throne of grace for a reason. Though we don’t deserve it, when we approach it we can find mercy and grace. That is a promise given to each of us, not just wishful or hopeful thinking. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”. Jesus is inviting us all to come to him and have rest. When we come to him we will find rest and mercy and grace, not condemnation and rejection. It is not a game of chance. I ask you a question, in light of verse 13 which says “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Do you have enough faith NOT to come to Jesus? Can you stand before the holy God on your own when your day comes? Therefore, let us come with confidence for he is a great high priest who sympathizes with us because he suffered just like we do. Our confidence rests not in who we are or what we have done but in Jesus himself. May God help us all to see the superiority of Jesus and come to him as we are so we can receive his mercy and grace.

Part 2 (Jesus is qualified to be our great high priest, 5:1-10)

In 5:1-10, the author narrates the basic duty of a high priest and explains why Jesus is qualified to be our high priest even though he was not born in a priestly family. Look at verses 1-3. Every high priest is selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins. He should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’. Who was qualified to be a high priest? Could anyone become a high priest by passing the “NPQT - National Priesthood Qualifying Test”? No. You had to be chosen by God. God chose primarily Aaron’s descendants to be priests. (Lev 8:30; Ex 28:1)

But we know that Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron, a descendant of Levi. He was a descendant of David, a descendant of Judah. Obviously, some Jewish believers raised the question about the legitimacy of Jesus’ priesthood? Look at verses 5-6. “So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have become your Father.’ (Ps 2:7) And he says in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’” (Ps 110:4) Psalm 2:7 prophesied God’s appointment of the Messiah as his Son, and Psalm 110:4 prophesied God’s appointment of the Messiah as an everlasting priest, following not the general order of Aaron but the special order of Melchizedek. Jesus’ priesthood is validated because Melchizedek is superior to that of the Levitical priesthood. Jesus is not only superior to angels and Moses. He is also superior to all high priests, including Aaron.

Verses 7-10 describe Jesus’ high priestly prayer and his life of suffering which led him to a sacrificial death as the one who is appointed as priest in the order of Melchizedek. Look at verse 7. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Jesus was a man of prayer. He always prayed. He prayed early in the morning, he prayed during the day and prayed in the middle of night, and sometimes the whole night. Through his prayer, he carefully followed God’s will and guidance. Prayer was an act of submission, ministry and worship as the high priest. He prayed for himself, and the twelve disciples and all the believers who would later believe in him through the twelve disciples. He is still praying for each of us because he sympathizes with us. He wants to see us overcome our temptations and find mercy and grace at his throne.

Look at verses 8-10. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” Let’s pay special attention to verse 8. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” Jesus was the son of God but he still had to learn something? It is really amazing to think about this. What did he learn? Physics? Chemistry? English? No. He learned obedience! Why? The Hebrews were tempted to leave their faith due to their suffering. We are tempted to give in to our temptations because of our suffering. When we suffer we think the life will get better if we give in and do whatever we want to do. But that never happens. What did Jesus do when he suffered? When he suffered, he obeyed. Even though he was God’s son, obedience wasn’t natural for Jesus. He had to learn it. In our suffering the lesson we should learn is to obey. What was Jesus’ fruit of obedience? Perfection! Through his obedience, Jesus was made perfect and became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Suffering itself cannot bring perfection, only obedience. We all say that nobody is perfect. Most say that the reason is because we’re only human. However, the real reason is we don’t obey. Jesus became the source of salvation through his obedience. It was the ultimate blessing. We all pray to become a source of blessing but the only way we can do this is through obedience. Let us each learn obedience from Jesus and practice it in our daily lives.

Now, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. In order to enjoy God’s rest -- eternal salvation -- we need to obey him. Obedience to Jesus is the core of the Christian faith. How can we obey Jesus unless we approach the throne of God’s mercy and grace in prayer? Can any of us have God’s rest without approaching the throne of God’s mercy and grace by faith? How can we be filled with the Spirit of Christ unless we come to the throne of God’s mercy and grace everyday? It’s impossible to have true comfort, rest and spiritual strength unless we make every effort to approach the throne of God. God’s throne is holy. But it is overflowing with His mercy and grace. Do you feel tired, anxious, tempted in any way? Come to Jesus as you are, our great high priest, approach his throne with confidence. He is inviting each of us no matter our situation, he can help. Lets read our key verse.