The Book of HEBREWS
James J. Barker
Lesson 12
CHRIST, OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST
INTRODUCTION:
One of the great themes of the epistle to the Hebrews is
Christ is our great high priest (2:17; 3:1; 4:14, 15; 5:1, 5, 10; 6:20; 7:26;
8:1, 3; 9:7, 11, 25; 10:21; 13:11).
- OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST IS SINLESS
(4:15)
- OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST IS NOT DESCENDED
FROM AARON
- OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST IS AFTER THE
ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC
I.
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST IS SINLESS
(4:15)
- The priests
represented God to man, and man to God.
- None of the
other high priests were sinless.
They were “taken from among men” (5:1), and all men are sinners – except
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man – “God manifest in the flesh” (I
Tim. 3:16).
- The other
high priests went into the tabernacle to offer up sacrifice for their own sins
(5:1, 3; cf. 7:27; 9:7).
- Consider
Leviticus 16:11, “And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering,
which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and
for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for
himself.”
- But Christ
is sinless. He is Man, as well as God. And as man, He has in all points been
tempted like us, yet He is “without sin” (4:15).
- Our Lord
said to the Jewish religious leaders, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John
8:46).
- Our Lord
also said, “For the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing (no inbred
sin) in me” (John 14:30).
- Second Corinthians 5:21 says Christ “knew no sin.”
- First Peter
2:22 says, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth.”
- First John 3:5 says, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away
our sins; and in him is no sin.”
- Our Lord was “tempted like as we
are” (4:15), yet His temptations were entirely from without. Ours are from both within and
without.
- E. Schuyler English said our Lord’s
temptations “proved His matchless worth, declared His holiness, and testified to
His deity.”
- If Christ were not sinless, He could
not be “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:9).
- The Old Testament priests offered up
“both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (5:1). But Christ offered Himself (cf.
7:27).
- “Compassion on the ignorant” (5:2)
refers to sins of ignorance (cf. Lev. 4:1-4).
- God does make a distinction between
sins of ignorance and those committed presumptuously (cf. Numbers
15:24-31). Provision was made for
sins of ignorance, but those who sinned committed presumptuously were often
stoned to death (cf. Num. 15:30-36).
- The point here is that the high
priest would “have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the
way,” because he himself was also “compassed with infirmity” (5:2). In other words, the high priest
recognized the tendency of men to sin because he himself was a
sinner.
- But Christ is far better than any of
the high priests because He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin” (4:15).
II.
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST IS NOT DESCENDED
FROM AARON
- Today men
surrender to preach the Gospel. They volunteer to serve as pastors and
evangelists and missionaries. “This
is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good
work” (I Tim. 3:1).
- But no man
could aspire to the position of priest. “And no man taketh this honour unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (5:4).
- In
Judges 17, we read about a mixed-up fellow named Micah, who “had an house of
gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who
became his priest” (Judges
17:5).
- n I Kings 12:28, we read that wicked King Jeroboam “made
two calves of gold, and said…Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt.”
- King Jeroboam started his own religion, “and made priests
of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi” (I Kings
12:31).
- But all of
this was in violation of God’s Word.
Just as much of what is going on today in churches is in violation of
God’s Word.
- The worse
thing about Korah’s rebellion – referred to in Jude 11 as “the gainsaying of
Core” – was that Korah and his rebels intruded into the priest’s office.
- Numbers 16:5
says, “And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow
the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near
unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto
him.”
- Moses said
to Korah, “Seek ye the priesthood also?” (Num. 16:10).
- Aaron was “called of God” (5:4) to
be the high priest. That is why Moses said to Korah, “For which cause both thou
and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what
is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?” (Num.
16:11).
- Aaron was “called of God” (5:4) to
be the high priest, but our great high priest is not descended from Aaron. He is not from the tribe of
Levi.
- Hebrews 7:14 says, “For it is
evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which
tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.”
- Revelation 5:5 refers to the Lord
Jesus Christ as “the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the
Root of David.”
III.
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST IS AFTER THE
ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC
- Christ is
superior to all the other high priests.
He alone is our “great high priest” (4:14).
- “So also
Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto
him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee” (5:5; cf. 1:5).
- These
quotations from Psalm 2:7 refer to our Lord’s eternal sonship, incarnation, and
resurrection.
- All of the
other high priests died and were buried, but our great high priest rose from the
dead. He “is passed into the
heavens” (4:14).
- He is seated
at the right hand of God interceding for us (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12;
12:2).
- The Lord Jesus Christ is after the order
of Melchisedec (5:6).
- The
Scofield Study Bible says Melchisedec was a suitable type of Christ as
High Priest, because:
- he was a king-priest
(Genesis 14:18; Zech. 6:12, 13).
- his name means, “my king is
righteous” (cf. Isaiah 11:5 and he was king of Salem (i.e. “peace,” cf. Isaiah
11:6-9).
- he had no (recorded)
“beginning of days” (cf. John 1:1 nor
“end of life” (cf. Romans 6:9; Hebrews
7:23-25).
- Roman Catholics and Mormons
quote this Scripture – “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4; Heb. 5:6) during their rituals.
- Hebrews 5:7-9 describe “the
mystery of godliness.” Christ
suffered. He prayed. He cried. He obeyed God the Father.
- By His perfect obedience,
“he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”
(5:7-9).
- This is a mystery beyond our
human comprehension. The Lord Jesus
“learned he obedience” (5:8).
- Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus
increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
man.”
- Philippians 2:8 says, “And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross.”
- J. Vernon McGee said, “I
stand here in the presence of a mystery, a mystery that I cannot fathom…Now I am
well acquainted with the explanations that men give, but none of them satisfy
me. I just recognize that it is a
great mystery. Christ took upon
Himself our humanity, and in that He obeyed God.”
- Unlike the Aaronic
priesthood, the order of Melchisedec (5:7, 10) is not an order with a hereditary
succession (7:3). Therefore no one
can be consecrated in it except by God Himself.
- Furthermore, no one else
before Christ belonged to it, and no one else after Christ (despite what the
Mormons teach).
CONCLUSION:
- Hebrews 5:9 refers to our
“eternal salvation.”
- Hebrews 6:2 refers to
“eternal judgment.”
- Hebrews 9:12 refers to our
“eternal redemption.”
- Hebrews 9:14 refers to “the
eternal Spirit.”
- Hebrews 9:15 refers to our
“eternal inheritance.”
- Hebrews 13:20 refers to “the everlasting (eternal)
covenant.”
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