Christ our great High Priest: Jesus is better

0:00Thanks for tuning in to Manna, a short daily meditation to feed hungry souls with God's Word. These episodes were prepared by our day ministers for a radio broadcast called Voice of the Church and are now republished by the Reform Perspective Foundation, a Canadian charity that applies biblical truth to the issues of our time, here's today serving. Well, hello listeners and welcome back to our final meditation in the Book of Hebrews, part 4 of our series Jesus is Better. And today we consider how Jesus is our great high priest from Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16. We read here from God's Word beginning in verse 14. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Remember we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

1:05Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Well dear listener, have you ever lacked confidence for something? Now I remember going into many exams in high school with a pit in my stomach and with no confidence whatsoever because I failed to study and do my homework. You know thankfully God helped change my bad habits when I got to college, but maybe you felt a lack of confidence in an area of your own life, perhaps a lack of confidence in the workplace or in sports or as a parent or in a relationship when you first started to date someone. The Hebrews here were lacking confidence in Jesus Christ. Because of certain trials going on they were tempted to let go of their confidence in Christ altogether. In the preacher here provides a great encouragement for why these Christians should hold on to Jesus in their pilgrim journey.

2:06And we too are reminded here of why we should hold on to Jesus and the answer is because he is our great high priest. Jesus is not only a mighty prophet who reveals God to us as we learn from our first meditation. And he is not only a king who rules over all things, but he is also a great high priest. And there are two adjectives about his priestly ministry that we see from this text. He is a high priest to his supreme and he is a high priest to his sympathetic. First we see here in verse 14 he is a high priest to his supreme. Here we read since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Here the greatness of Jesus is highlighted for us. He is not only a priest but the text says he is a great high priest. But what makes Jesus so great? First we are told because of where he is. He has passed through the heavens.

3:09One of the historic creeds, the apostles creed puts it this way. He is seated at the right hand of God. Perhaps you right remember where the high priest had to go once a year in the Old Testament to be in God's presence. Well once a year on the day of atonement the high priest would go into the temple through various sections and they would pass through the veil that separated the holy of holies from the holy place. And the high priest would go into God's presence in the holy of holies once a year to offer a sacrifice for sins at the mercy seat. But as soon as he was done he had to leave that place or else he would die in God's presence. But that temple of the Old Testament was only an earthly temple. It was man-made. It was temporary. It was a symbol of an even greater reality. But we are told here that Jesus has passed through the heavens. He has passed through the heavenly curtain into the very presence of God.

4:15And Hebrews tells us that there he remains as our great high priest. Hebrews 1 verse 3 says, after making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Unlike those numerous priests in the Old Testament whose work was never done this high priest finished his work and he sat down. Now he is enthroned as the supreme high priest overall. It's so Christian sing today in a beautiful song. Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfectly a great high priest whose name is love whoever lives and pleads for me. But he is great not only because of where he is but also because of who he is. Hebrews says this is Jesus the Son of God. And this highlights his humanity.

5:16He is the one born of Mary. He is Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God, both true God and true man. And the preacher here highlights the humanity of Jesus to remind us that we have our own flesh and blood on the throne in heaven. And we are assured that where he is we will be also if we trust in him. Therefore, the pastor to the Hebrews says, let us hold fast our confession because there is someone who has gone through the wilderness before us and who is now at the right hand of God and where he is we will be also if we trust in him. But this text not only shows us the supreme nature of Jesus is priestly ministry but also how he is able to sympathize with us. Notice the sympathetic character from verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who

6:19in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. The after magnifying the supremacy of Jesus as our high priest, the author wants to make sure that we know he is accessible to us on earth. You know, sometimes in our world we can admire certain untouchable people because of their greatness, celebrities, sports stars, politicians and so on. And sometimes these people of great status can't relate to the average Joe very well. What we are told here although Jesus is supreme, he can sympathize with us as human beings. The preacher here uses a double negative to prove this point. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us in other words he can. What does it mean that Jesus shows us sympathy? Sympathy means to enter into someone's experience, to feel what they feel. It can literally mean to suffer with someone. But sympathy is far more than just a feeling.

7:22It's also active help. The New Testament calls Christians to this kind of sympathy when it says, weep with those who weep. And again bear one another's burdens. Well as our great high priest Jesus can show us that kind of sympathy here on earth. But maybe we wonder how is it that he can sympathize with us as the Son of God? Verse 15 tells us first because he experienced temptation. Who in every respect was tempted as we are. When someone wants to encourage you to understand their situation they might say, you need to put yourself in my shoes or walk a mile in my shoes. Well God did that for us in Jesus Christ. He put himself in our shoes. And he didn't just walk a mile in our shoes, but he lived the whole life of obedience and temptation. Jesus didn't suffer every single temptation we face, but he did experience all kinds of

8:25temptation. And his temptations were even more intense than ours. Although he was the Son of God, he did not rely upon his divine nature in times of temptation. And he lived as a true man, empowered by the Spirit just like us. And because he was completely holy the evil temptations that came to him were even more intense. He experienced direct temptation from the devil and the wilderness. He struggled his whole life with the weight of the cross and was tempted to abandon his mission. Even from the cross and his most vulnerable moment they said to him, if you are the Son of God, come down from there. Jesus knows what it's like to walk in the wilderness like us. But not only that, verse 15 tells us, he overcame temptation. He was tempted in every way like we are, yet without sin. The Son Sypathy comes from the fact that he has suffered temptation, but was also victorious

9:30over temptation. He overcame temptation in a way that we never have. He did not give in to sin and thought, word, or deed. And this was essential for Christ's ministry and necessary for our salvation. We needed a Savior. We need a champion. Someone born from among men, but someone who is greater than us who can save us. Perhaps we think that Jesus can't sympathize with us if he never sinned, but that's not true. Sypathy with a sinner does not depend upon the experience of sin, but on the strength of the temptation overcome. And so why ought we to hold fast to Jesus? We can hold fast to Jesus not only because he is supreme as our high priest, but because he sympathizes with us. Even now Christ still has a body at God's right hand, and he knows what it's like to

10:30help us in our weakness because he walked in our shoes. Therefore, our weakness does not disqualify us from coming to God, on the contrary, because we are weak. Jesus invites us to Himself to draw near to the throne of grace that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. These Hebrew Christians need confidence to hold on to Jesus, and at times in our lives we need courage and strength to press on as well. The Word of God reminds us here that we have reasons to hold fast to Christ in our wilderness journey. Here's our great high priest to his supreme and sympathetic towards us. Therefore, may we hold fast to Jesus today. Let us continually come before God's throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What has been a joy to meditate upon this topic through the book of Hebrews on how Jesus

11:32is better. Thanks for listening today, and take care until next time.