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.
The importance for us today is the same importance it was for these readers back then—that Jesus is our eternal high priest, He is able to save completely. He doesn’t offer sacrifices over and over, but He offers Himself as a sacrifice once for all. Not just for a few, not just for believers, but that sacrifice is such a perfect sacrifice, it is for the sins of the whole world. Paul says in Romans: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly"(ROMANS 5:6). He refers to the unbelievers; that Christ died for them, but he says also for us! We’re held in the grips of ungodliness. We were powerless—powerless to change our lives; powerless to save ourselves; powerless to bring any sacrifice to God’s throne of grace. Then Christ came as the High Priest and as the sacrifice. He died for the ungodly and died for us.
That’s the important thing to remember too in our lifetime. People in this day and age do many things for themselves. We, too, do many things for ourselves. We prepare for our future, (maybe we over-prepare for it because of the very self-centered society in which we live). The things that we do are for our ‘own good’, for our ‘own glory.’ Sometimes we say, ‘Well, it’s for our own family; it’s for their benefit,’ but really, when it comes down to it, isn’t our family just an extension of ourselves? We get into that mind-set, that feeling that the world has, that we ought to be taking care of ourselves and looking out for ourselves. Sometimes we think that Jesus did the same thing, yet He’s just the opposite. He did everything, not for Himself, but for us. We need to remember that in our lives, that when Jesus did all these things, He did it for us.
Paul says in Corinthians: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"(2 CORINTHIANS 5:21). He didn’t suffer, die and come back to life to prove a point. (He did a little bit—to show that He was stronger than Satan, stronger than death.) He did it for us. Jesus didn’t do it to say, ‘Look what I have done!’ He did it to say look what has been done for you. He is our perfect, eternal High Priest.
This was a problem during the time of the Reformation. There was a big struggle in the life of Martin Luther. It was the teaching of the church and thus the feeling of the people of that day too…’What can we do to save ourselves? How much work do we have to do in order to gain eternal life?’ This idea of Jesus having done everything was a strange teaching, but yet it was what scripture taught. People tried to work their way into heaven. The church taught that a person couldn’t get into heaven except by good works. The church taught that if they paid enough money to the church, they could release souls from purgatory. Those things bothered Luther. They didn’t make sense as he read the Scripture. These are the same problems that we have today, where people try to earn their salvation or try to rest on their own laurels and say ‘Look how good I am!’ just don’t hold up in the face of God.
God tells us: "Jesus our Savior saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (He saved us because of His love for us, His mercy.) He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit"(TITUS 3:5). It’s important to remind ourselves of that day after day when we’re so used to doing things for ourselves, accomplishing things for ourselves, and forgetting that God’s grace for us comes without our effort, without our desire. How can it depend on us when we are born as enemies of God?
Jesus is our eternal High Priest, and this Jesus, our Savior, saves us completely and
II. Our High Priest always intercedes
We turn back to verse 25. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. This too, is another job description of the Old Testament high priest. They were there to offer sacrifices of the people to God on the people’s behalf. They were there also as God’s spokesmen, a ‘go-between’. The people came and brought their requests to the priest and the priest went and spoke to God on their behalf. God would speak to the priest and they would come back and speak to the people. They interceded on their behalf. There is a difference here as we compare this to Jesus. The priest didn’t always know what the people wanted until they came to say, ‘We need this…we need rain…we need more food…we need...’ and the priest would intercede on the people’s behalf. Jesus always lives to intercede. He knows what we need. He knows what the world needs. His whole mission in life is to plead on our behalf.
We have one more comparison. Our text states: Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. The priesthood was set up—Aaron, the first priest, his sons—but they died; more sons—they died. There were many priests, but they were stopped because death came to them all, just as death comes to all men. That was the Old Testament. Now the New Testament—‘but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.’ We need to think about that again…that Jesus lives forever. That’s easy to understand, but He has a permanent priesthood. He knows exactly what everyone needs, from birth to death. He’s our ‘intercessor’ if we want to put it that way. He lives to intercede for us.
You and I confess in our Christian creeds—the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed—the fact that Jesus came to this earth, lived, died, was raised again, ascended into heaven, now sits at God’s right hand. As we have learned through the years, God’s right hand is a symbol of power, a symbol of authority, and a symbol of glory. Now, if you were listening closely, you realize as Jesus sits there, He’s not just sitting there for His own glory; He’s not just sitting there basking in God’s glory either. He’s sitting there at God’s right hand interceding for us. When our heavenly Father would look down on this earth, He would see only sin. As our heavenly Father looks down on this earth, He might think that it’s worse than the times of Noah. Yet Christ is there at His right hand, interceding on our behalf. Christ is there saying, ‘these sinners are now clothed with my robe of righteousness.’ John says: "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One"(1 JOHN 2:1). He says, ‘If anyone does sin.’ Now, we know that we all sin.
Yet, as we all sin, we can come to our heavenly Father, realizing Jesus speaks in our behalf. That’s our comfort and joy and rejoicing today as we look at God’s word that He has given us. We realize that we don’t have to go to a priest or a high priest or to the pastor and say, ‘Speak to God on our behalf.’ Instead, we can go directly to God, Himself, not because we have any merit or worthiness on our part, but because Jesus has covered us with His robe of righteousness. Jesus has given us a free pass to speak to God, our heavenly Father. In Ephesians we’re told: "In Christ Jesus our Lord (our high priest) and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence"(EPHESIANS 3:12). During Luther’s time, that was something the church didn’t teach. It was only through the church leaders that people could come to God, and we see that during the time of Jesus…the church leaders were the ones who held the ‘keys to the kingdom of God.’ The Lord reminds us that you and I are given the blessed privilege of coming to God as individuals because Christ is there on our behalf. He intercedes for us pleading our case day after day. How busy He is to remind the Father not to destroy us because of our wicked words, our sinful actions, or our evil thoughts. He pleads on our behalf as our eternal, perfect high priest.
Jesus does that with words, we’re told, but He also does it with His actions. As He sacrificed Himself on the cross, Jesus poured out His blood and gave His body for us for the forgiveness of sins. We celebrate that again today with the sacrament of Holy Communion where the Lord says, ‘This is my body…this is my blood…this is the sign, the assurance that your sins are forgiven…that I am the great High Priest who has forgiven all your sins.’ Peter reminds us that we’re not redeemed with gold or silver. He says, "(You were redeemed) with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect"(1 PETER 1:19). Here, we’re given another title of who Jesus is—our lamb.
Jesus is our eternal high priest. He is our perfect high priest. He saves us completely because we cannot save ourselves. He intercedes on our behalf because we daily sin much. He sits there in heaven, exalted as our eternal high priest. In Philippians, we would agree with the apostle Paul when he writes: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth"(PHILIPPIANS 2:9,10). At the name of Jesus, you and I celebrate our Reformation history, which God’s word is still true today, that Christ saves us completely and He intercedes on our behalf…Jesus, our eternal high priest. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
