Christ: A Better High Priest
Hebrews 4:14–5:11
Introduction.
This idea of Christ being our high priest is introduced all the way back in 1:3.
The passage informs us that this Son of God purged our sins, something the high priest typically did.
We return to that idea for a moment in 2:17–3:1.
There we read that He is a merciful and faithful High Priest, offering propitiation for our sins, helping those who are being tempted.
But here we dwell on that idea for about a chapter, but the writer returns to the concept later in Ch. 7 and even Chs. 9 & 10.
The qualifications and duties of the high priest are actually detailed in 5:1-4.
Recall in the OT that the job belonged to the sons of Aaron, Moses’ older brother.
The job then passed to the elder son of the current high priest.
It was likely going to pass to Nadab, but he was killed in Lev. 10 for offering profane fire before the Lord with his brother Abihu—and this before either had any children.
Instead, the job passed to the next oldest son, Eleazar.
It went to Ithamar’s family, Aaron’s youngest son, during the time of the judges, then returned to Eleazar’s during Solomon’s reign.
During the intertestamental period and even into NT times, the high priest had become a political appointment serving the needs of whatever leader they had at the time, whether it be the Greeks or the Romans.
A particular Jewish sect, the Essenes located in Qumran by the Dead Sea, had written off the high priesthood by this time, seeing it as corrupt—which it was.
But the writer of Hebrews speaks of it in its idealized OT sense, ignoring the corruptions that had arisen more recently.
Preview.
Sympathetic (4:14-16).
Aaronic Qualifications (5:1-4).
Christ’s Qualifications (5:5-10).
Body.
Sympathetic (4:14-16).
Recall.
We had just finished talking about how Christ offers us a better rest than what was offered the Israelites, and we must be diligent to enter that rest!
He also has the power through the Word to make sure that entering that rest happens.
But we are also left bare at the judgment; we cannot hide behind anything.
Thankfully we have a high priest who can sympathize with us and our weaknesses.
This great High Priest has passed through the heavens (4:14).
He is great, better than any high priest that has come before!
And He passed through the heavens, no doubt when He ascended into heaven 40 days after His resurrection.
Later in Heb. 9, we will read of Christ serving in the heavenly tabernacle, exalted above all else.
There is a focus that Jesus is the Son of God, which is given as proof later in our text today of His high priestly qualifications.
There is also a further exhortation to hold fast to the confession.
I think we’re finding this theme here in Hebrews, the theme of holding fast, of not letting go, of remaining faithful to Christ.
The writer strongly urges his readers to be faithful.
Sympathizing with our weaknesses (4:15).
The writer has established that, while Christ is better than the angels, He was still made a little lower than the angels, made as a man.
While angels, and certainly those better than angels, have no discernible weaknesses, those of us who belong to the race of men do.
How many times have you failed? How many times have you succumbed to temptation in your life?
Are we weak? Oh yes. While some may be stronger spiritually than others, that doesn’t mean failures never happen.
Jesus came to live here as a man—He knows what it’s like!
That’s why He came here, well, one reason, so He could experience temptation and know how strong it can be.
And in Matt. 4 and Luke 4, we read of Satan taking opportunity while Jesus is fasting and in a weakened state to tempt Him with what would no doubt be something Jesus wanted.
You see, we aren’t tempted by things we don’t want (James 1:14).
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
In His temptations, Jesus was enticed with food when He was fasting and hungry, by power, and by pride.
But each time, He thwarted Satan’s temptations by keeping Scripture with Him at the ready—that Word of God is powerful, isn’t it?
And He was able to resist these temptations, not falling for Satan’s traps.
You see, being tempted isn’t sinful—succumbing to those temptations is.
And He wasn’t judgmental toward those who have fallen for temptation—as we all have.
No, He is sympathizing and understanding.
We may not always approve of someone’s actions, but we can understand them.
And we can understand them without having to succumb to them ourselves.
For instance, I’ve never been drunk, but because I have my own weaknesses, I can sympathize with someone who has been—I certainly don’t approve of it, but I understand it.
As a result, we can boldly approach the throne of grace (4:16).
Where else might we obtain mercy and find grace but the throne of grace, the throne of God?
When I first studied this verse, my first thought was that this seemed rather arrogant and presumptuous.
This is the throne of God we’re talking about here. What makes us think we can boldly approach it?
But that’s not the attitude we are to have when we do this.
Think of Queen Esther. Recall how she approached the throne of King Ahasuerus. She was afraid that he would have her killed for approaching his throne.
This is not a fear that we have.
In fact, this Greek phrase can be translated as confidently, or with confidence!
We know the promises He has made, and we know He can keep them.
So we can be confident that grace and mercy be given to us when we need it.
But only the true High Priest can do this.
So how do we know Jesus meets those qualifications?
Aaronic Qualifications (5:1-4).
Taken from among men (5:1).
The first qualification is that he must be a man.
He cannot be God or an angel or any other created being.
This is why Jesus had to come as man, so He could fulfill this requirement, being made a little lower than the angels.
Appointed for men in things pertaining to God.
He is appointed, chosen.
This so that He might help in areas that concern the relationship between God and man.
He is to offer both gifts and sacrifices.
We see this throughout the OT system, that the high priest is heavily involved in such actions, helping to bridge that gap between God and humanity.
Compassionate toward others (5:2).
There are two types of people who might go astray under consideration here: the ignorant and the weak.
Those who are ignorant, well, they just don’t know any better.
Of course, in order to help them, they can be taught what’s right, so they can do what’s right—that saying, “When you know better, you do better.”
That’s why teaching our children and members is so important!
But even when you know better, you may still go astray because of weakness.
When we talked about unintentional sins when covering the sin offering, ignorant sins were among them, but so were sins committed due to weakness.
The high priest can take compassion on them, because any sins that he commits would be due to his own weakness.
Offer sacrifices (5:3).
Of course, the primary duty of the high priest is to offer sacrifices for sins.
Not only those of the people, but for his own sins, too.
The Hebrews writer makes a big point of that in Ch. 7, but for now, recall that Jesus was without sin Himself.
So He made a sacrifice for all mankind, but did not need to for Himself.
He is a better high priest because He is without sin!
Called by God (5:4).
Another major qualification is how one is appointed to become a high priest.
As we stated, later in the intertestamental period and even in the NT era, the high priest was chosen by the non-Jewish civil leaders of the time.
But before, in the proper arrangement, they were called by God—they did not appoint themselves to this position.
Aaron was given this task first. Did he deserve it? After that golden calf stunt in Exo. 32, I’d say he most certainly didn’t.
But God gave it to him anyway and to those who came after him whether they deserved it or not.
So we see that Jesus did not appoint Himself high priest, but it was God who did.
Christ’s Qualifications (5:5-10).
Appointed a Priest Forever (5:5-6).
In these two verses that the writer quotes, they both come from Messianic Psalms, Psalm 2 and Psalm 110.
They help to prove the point he is trying to make, that Christ didn’t make Himself high priest, but that God put Him in that position.
The writer quoted from Psalm 2:7 previously in his argument that the Christ was better than the angels (1:5)—He is the Son of God, the Son of David.
This would make Him King, but the second quotation, from Psalm 110:4, connects the Son with the Priest.
This was already proven in Psalm 110:1 quoted in Heb. 1:13, these two prophecies are connected.
Some Jewish sects believed that there would actually be two Messiahs, one from the line of David—a king, and one from the line of Aaron—a priest.
They didn’t think a king could also be a priest, but this passage shows otherwise.
God has appointed Him to this position, and since Jesus is never to die again, He will be in this position forever.
Of course, the writer spends much more time with this and some of the objections to His priesthood in Ch. 7, so we’ll talk a good deal more about Melchizedek then.
Vehement Prayers (5:7).
Jesus, while He was here on this earth, prayed often.
When we study His prayer life in the gospel accounts, we see that He did not take it lightly.
This is a clear reference, however, to a specific prayer, the prayer He made in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He prayed so hard in that garden, Luke says that it was to the point that He was sweating drops of blood (Luke 22:44).
And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Doctors say that this can happen when someone is under immense stress, and we can imagine knowing what He was about to go through that this was certainly the case.
It isn’t hard to imagine that vehement cries and tears were involved in this prayer: “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
And He prayed to the One He knew could handle his problem, the One who could save Him from death.
And this passage says that He “was heard because of His godly fear.”
Obviously He died, and His death was excruciating, so in what way did God hear Him?
There are many different opinions on this, but we do know that God sent an angel to Him after His prayer (Luke 22:43).
Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.
He was heard, and He was encouraged to go through what had to be done.
And why was He heard? Because of His godly fear—let us take note and exercise godly fear as He did: “not my will, but Yours, be done.”
Even when we are going through our worst moments, when we pray, God hears us! Take comfort, my brothers and sisters.
Learned Obedience (5:8).
We have an idea that if someone needs to learn obedience it’s because they were disobedient before.
While that’s typically true, we can say that’s not the case for Christ.
He learned obedience by being obedient, even to the point of allowing Himself to be captured, put on trial, mocked, scourged, and nailed to a cross until He was dead.
Even in His weakest moments, hanging their from that cross, it would have been easy to excuse Him if He refused to go through with it.
But He let it happen, and through it, He learned obedience.
Author of eternal salvation (5:9-10).
Because of His willingness to go through such pain and agony, He was perfected.
That doesn’t mean He was sinful before—as the writer just through saying, He was without sin (4:15).
No, He had finished His primary mission here on this earth, to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
And what were some of His last words on that cross? “It is finished” (John 19:30).
So Christ was perfected in that He had completed His mission, His redemptive work was done.
But He still had to carry that blood to the heavenly tabernacle above.
That is when He becomes our great High Priest, having sacrificed Himself, taking His saving blood to heaven, and sprinkling it on the mercy seat above.
But our writer saves that for Ch. 9, so we will discuss that then.
For now, we see that He is the author of eternal salvation, He is in charge of it, captain of it, the pioneer and trailblazer of our salvation—but only for those who obey Him!
And He is called to be a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, which the author saves for another time (Ch. 7), as will we.
Conclusion.
The writer insists that he really wants to get into this topic (4:11).
Sadly the people aren’t ready to hear it.
They had become dull of hearing.
And he goes on to say that they need to be taught the basics again.
So next time, we will consider the importance of spiritual maturity.
He is our great High Priest.
He is better than Aaron and every priest to have come after him.
He was sinless, yet can sympathize with our weaknesses.
He was sinless, yet still prayed His heart out.
He was sinless, yet He suffered and died.
No, He was not a son of Aaron, but He was made a priest by God, according to the order of Melchizedek.
We will see what that means for us next month or whenever we get to Ch. 7.
But for now, we recall one key verse as we close this evening (5:9).
He is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Will you obey Him this evening?