Jesus our High Priest
Hebrews 7:23-28
At the VA hospital where I work during the week, we always have a chaplain on call, ready to respond in case of emergency. Our student chaplains carry the phone most of the time, but sometimes I get the important task. It’s nice to have a chaplain ready to respond in a moment’s notice. There are others who do the same: doctors, fire fighters, police, CPS workers who come out in a storm and restore our power. We have phone counselors available 24/7 for anyone who feels at risk for hurting themselves: the Veterans Crisis Line. We have Emergency Room providers standing by, always on duty, ready to meet our need.
In our passage today, Hebrews 7, we discover another who is always on the job: Jesus our high priest. He is always working for our good in every situation. Let’s consider two major ways his 24/7 priesthood is crucial for us. First,
1. Jesus is my permanent high priest – my salvation is secure in him.
Listen again to Hebrews 7:23-25. "Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."
The Greek word for “permanent” in verse 24 is only found once in the New Testament, right here in today’s scripture. It means inviolable, unbreakable, unchangeable. In a few chapters, the writer of Hebrews would say, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus brings stability to our lives. Everything else can change, but he won’t.
This would have been a good word back in the First Century, when a high priest died, or was simply removed from office by the Romans. The historian Josephus estimated that 83 different high priests served between Aaron and the fall of the Temple in AD 70. Turnover was the norm, with little consistency or security.
Because Jesus is our permanent high priest, verse 25 tells us he can “save completely” or “save forever” all who come to God through him. Some translations say, “to the uttermost.” Jesus’ salvation is complete, because his priesthood is permanent. Jesus saved you initially the moment you came to him (that’s justification), and he also saves you continually (that’s sanctification), making intercession for you before God the Father. That’s the picture here. And one day, he will save you perfectly in heaven (that’s glorification).
Right now, Jesus sits at God’s right hand, and he says, “Father, that child is yours. Father, that child needs you right now. Your child is facing overwhelming temptation. Your child is at her wits’ end. Your child is about to give up. Please come through for him, Father; he is yours.” Jesus is constantly at work preserving our salvation. Look at Romans 8:34:
Romans 8:34b Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
So what’s the take-away for us? Our salvation is secure in Christ’s hands. You don’t have to worry about falling out of God’s favor. Now, you should never put God to the test. You should never presume on his salvation to do your own thing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this “cheap grace.” Paul said in Romans 6 never to use God’s love and forgiveness as an excuse to sin even more. But also, you don’t have to worry about God dropping you because you’ve made one too many mistakes. God never disowns his children. Once you’re a child of God, you’re always his child, and Christ Jesus is always at work saving you, making intercession for you before God the Father. Jesus is my permanent high priest. My salvation is secure in him. And,
2. Jesus is my perfect high priest – My salvation is complete in him.
Listen again to Hebrews 7:26-28: "Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike 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. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever."
Jesus is unlike any other high priest in history. He is “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” Jesus is the son of God, God in the flesh, the only human who was tempted in every way common to man yet never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). He is the pure white lamb without blemish (1 Peter 1:19), the perfect sacrifice, the only one who could take our place in judgment.
In ancient Israel, the high priest had to offer sacrifices for his own sin before he could ever do so for the people’s sin. In Jesus’ day, rabbis insisted he get alone by himself for an entire week before the Day of Atonement, so he could get right with God and get away from sinful human influence. And then, on the day he would enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple, he would wear small bells on the hem of his garments to let the people know he was still alive. If the bells stopped ringing, the people knew the priest had died, that his sin was too great to be in holy God’s presence, and he had failed to sacrifice on behalf of the nation. I’m not sure how they got him out of there. I’ve heard a rumor that they would tie a rope around his leg for such a case, but I think that was just a rumor.
Then comes Jesus, the sinless one. He doesn’t have to sacrifice for himself, for he has no sin to be forgiven. And he doesn’t have to sacrifice for us over and over, because his one perfect sacrifice on the cross was enough. It was enough to cover all past sin, all present sin, and all future sin, for all who believe. It is enough. With Jesus, there is no version 2.0, no upgrade, no improvement needed. He is our perfect sacrifice.
Think about that: Jesus’ blood covers all your sin. There is no sin too great to be forgiven. And no sin too small to escape the need for forgiveness. Jesus’ blood cleanses it all. That means, there is nothing you can do to earn more of God’s love, and likewise, there is nothing you can do to lose any of God’s love. God’s love is complete for you in Christ Jesus.
So what’s the take-away? We can rest in our forgiveness from Christ. We don’t have to add to it. You don’t have to get yourself all cleaned up to come to God. You don’t have to say prayers a certain way to meet God’s approval. You don’t have to keep the six-point system I grew up in to earn God’s love, stuff like: present for worship (check), present for Sunday School (check), Bible brought (check), Bible read daily (check), offering given (check), invited a friend to church (check). These are all great things, but they will not buy you God’s love. Why? Because you already have it: fully, completely, perfectly. Accept it. Rest in it. Relish it. God loves you, and there’s not a thing you can do about it! When you come to Jesus, he perfectly and completely saves you.
Jesus our permanent and perfect high priest. Let’s pray about it:
Thank you, Lord Jesus for your amazing salvation! Help someone here today receive it for the very first time, as they invite you in, as they turn over their sinful self to you and receive forgiveness and abundant life in return. Help those of us who are yours to never try to add to our salvation, to know that you are enough, that in you we are complete. Thanks for being our high priest, always interceding for us before the Father. Through you we pray, amen.
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Welcome time...
Little Philip was walking home in the rain with his mother following Sunday worship. It finally stopped raining as they rounded the corner, where to their surprise and delight appeared a vivid double rainbow in the sky.
“Doesn’t it look like an artist painted this rainbow?” his mother exclaimed. “I bet God painted this just for you!”
“Yes,” replied Philip, “God did it, and he did it left handed.”
Confused, his mother asked him, “What makes you say God did this with his left hand?”
“Well,” said Philip, “we learned in Sunday School that Jesus sits on God’s right hand.”
