Jesus Is Our Eternal High Priest

JESUS IS OUR ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST

HEBREWS 7:23-28 NOVEMBER 3, 2002

HEBREWS 7:23-28

23Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

26Such a high priest meets our need--one that is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Who is Jesus? The Lord asked that of His disciples and they had many different answers about who the people said He was. We, too, would have many different answers. We recognize Him as Savior, Redeemer, Good Shepherd, The Door, The Way, The Truth and the Life, and the list goes on and on. This morning, we’re reminded that He is our High Priest. In order to get a better picture of that, we need to remind ourselves of the high priests of the Old Testament, and how they were the only ones who were allowed to go in to the most Holy of Holies. They were the only ones that were allowed to offer sacrifices. They were the only ones who were allowed to intercede on behalf of God’s people.

This morning, our text tells us that Jesus is our eternal High Priest. As you listened to the text maybe you heard some of those comparisons. We are going to look at those comparisons today, from the Old Testament high priest to the New Testament high priest, Jesus.

In the Old Testament, the high priest was to descend from the tribe of Levi. Jesus did not. He was from the tribe of David, he descended from David. The psalm writer points out that makes Jesus what He is—the eternal high priest. In Psalm 110:4 we are told: "The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ’You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek’"(PSALM 110:4). He was referring to David and his sons. Now, David did not live forever. His sons did not live forever except for one and that was Jesus. To learn more about Melchizedek, you would have to go home today and look at the beginning of chapter seven and chapter 6 about the priesthood of Melchizedek and how Jesus really is that king of righteousness, that priest who was referred to in the Old Testament.

We want to consider this morning that

JESUS IS OUR ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST

I. Our High Priest saves completely

II. Our High Priest always intercedes

I. Our High Priest saves completely

Our text tells us the difference already about the Old Testament high priests and the New Testament high priest by telling us these astounding statements. 25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him. Jesus was different from the Old Testament high priests, they could not save completely. They would always wonder if the sacrifices were enough. They were ones who were not completely sinless, so they could not save completely; not like Jesus. He goes on to explain: 27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. In the Old Testament it was really a double offering for sacrifices. The priest would never go into the temple with the sacrifices of the people without first going in with his sacrifices for his sins. Then he would go back out and get the sacrifices of the people.

Jesus was different. Our text tells us: ‘(Jesus) sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.’ The big difference there is that the high priest had to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his sins and then for the sins of the people. Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all because He is able to save completely. Once for all because His sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice. He not only came as the high priest, but He brought the sacrifice of the high priest, which was Himself (again, another difference from the Old Testament high priest.)

One more comparison to consider: For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak (meaning they were sinful; they did not endure forever); but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. The easy comparison of the New Testament high priest, who is the perfect, eternal high priest, Jesus Himself, who lives forever, was not weak but strong and was that perfect sacrifice. If the people didn’t think He was the perfect sacrifice, he describes in verse 26 just what he means. It states: Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. In this one simple verse, he explains a lot about Jesus as the perfect, eternal high priest. Jesus was all the things man was not—holy, blameless and pure. This Jesus who came to live among sinners, was still separate from sinners because He did not sin. This Jesus who came down from heaven to live on earth for a time, was exalted above the heavens because He was the very Son of God. He was the perfect, eternal high priest.