One of the themes of the New Testament Book of Hebrews is that Jesus is better. He is better than the angels. He is better than Moses. The sacrifice of Himself is better than the animal sacrifices offered by the people. And today we look at the fact that Jesus is better than the Jewish priesthood, and the high priest in particular. Let’s look into our Scripture passage and see what we can learn from this portion of the Book of Hebrews.
According to the Laws of Moses in the Old Testament, those who were part of the Jewish priesthood were to be descendants from Aaron, and thus from the tribe of Levi. A high priest was then selected from among the priests This was a hereditary position, not one that just any Jewish young man could decide to choose as a career. Among the several responsibilities that the Aaronic priests had, one important one was to offer sacrifices on behalf of the Jewish people, for forgiveness of their sins. However, one thing that they had to do first, was to offer a sacrifice for themselves. Being human, they too had sinned, and needed God’s forgiveness for themselves. The high priests were sinful men, just like we all are, so they had to offer sacrifices for their own sins, as well. Then they would be in a position to offer the sacrifices on behalf of their fellow man (vs. 1-4). Because these priests had similar failings and faults like the people who came to bring a sin offering, they could have compassion on those who inadvertently sinned out of ignorance.
These sacrifices needed to be offered over and over again, because the blood of animals could not take away sins, and the high priests were also sinful men (Hebrews 10:4). We needed a priest and a sacrifice who could take away our sins, so God chose and appointed Jesus Christ to be our High Priest (vs. 5-6). The priesthood of Jesus was planned by God from the very beginning. Jesus had no sin, and because of this He was able to be both the perfect High Priest and the perfect sacrifice when He sacrificed Himself once for all. God chose Jesus to be our High Priest just as Aaron was chosen. His priesthood is superior to Aaron’s, though, because He is also our King, and has no earthly succession, just like Melchizedek.
As we continue to read in our Scripture, in verse 7 we read that Jesus shared in our humanity, and so He did not, in His human nature, desire the pain and disgrace that awaited Him (Luke 22:39-43). Nobody would want to go through the torture that Jesus faced. But Jesus showed perfect obedience, even to death on the Cross. He always did the will of the Father. Because of His faithfulness, Jesus triumphed over death (I Corinthians 15:54-55).
In verse 8 we read the phrase “learned obedience”. This doesn’t mean that Jesus had to learn to obey, like our children do when they are little, because that would mean that Jesus had sinned. It means that Jesus actively sought out the path of obedience, and then unfailingly walked it. Jesus was obedient through His suffering. We who are sinful and far from perfect must pass through suffering, too. Jesus’ suffering enabled Him to have complete sympathy with us. He is not a high priest unable to sympathize with our weakness (Hebrews 4:15). Being obedient isn’t difficult if it isn’t costly, but it is a different story when it costs us everything, including our life. Jesus sacrificed and suffered everything for us when He gave up everything and came down to earth from heaven (Philippians 2:5-11).
Jesus was not to be a High Priest just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles (vs. 10). In order for this to be, His priesthood would have to be something other than from the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron. Jesus’ priesthood was after the order of Melchizedek. We read of Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, and in Psalm 110:4. He was not a Hebrew, a descendant of Abraham. He was a Gentile, and in fact, gave a blessing to Abraham. Jesus’ sacrifice was for everyone, Jew and Gentile.
So following the theme that Jesus is better, we see that He met all of the requirements of being a High Priest, but that He is better than the Old Testament Aaronic priesthood. Jesus was divinely appointed (vs. 5-6). He had compassion on mankind (vs. 7-8). And Jesus gave the perfect offering for sin - Himself (9-10). Come, and call upon our Great High Priest, Jesus, today.
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