Our High Priest Forever

Christ’s priesthood is superior since it rests on his endless resurrection life and God’s oath, the priest after the order of Melchizedek – Psalm 110:4.

The Letter to the Hebrews compares the superior word God has “spoken in His Son” to all past revelations, including those “spoken in the prophets.” The former prophetic “words” were true but partial and preparatory. God has unveiled His definitive “word” in Jesus, who alone “achieved the purification of sins” and thereby became the High Priest of his people.

Having cleansed the stain of sin for his “brethren” through his “once and for all” sacrifice, he qualified as the unique High Priest “after the order of Melchizedek” who remains in God’s presence where he intercedes continually for his Church.

[Photo by David Brooke Martin on Unsplash]

The Letter contrasts Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice with the priesthood and repeated animal sacrifices of the “vanishing” Levitical system. Jesus applied his own blood to the altar in the “real Tabernacle not made with hands” rather than the blood of animal sacrifices.

The fact that God promised another priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” meant the Levitical priesthood was incapable of “purifying sins” and was never intended to endure forever. Under that system, “the people received the law.” However, the change in priesthood promised in the Hebrew Bible also meant “a change of law” was necessary - (Psalms 110:4).

Due to human mortality and weakness, the old priesthood was dependent on lineal descent and multiple generations of priests. In contrast, the priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” was and remains perpetual since it is based on an endless resurrection life.

The “weakness” of human mortality inherent in the Levitical system means there has been a “disannulling” of the former commandment by the New Covenant established by Christ’s sacrifice - (Hebrews 7:11-17).

Unlike the Aaronic priests, the High Priest after the “order of Melchizedek” was installed by the declared word and oath of God. This new priesthood is held by a man who was resurrected. Therefore, Jesus holds the high priesthood “non-transferable” and unchangeable.

NEW COVENANT

By his Death and Resurrection, Christ became the “guarantor of a better covenant.” Unlike his priestly predecessors or animal sacrifices, he is able “to save to the uttermost” all those who approach God through him. Indeed, he “lives evermore to intercede for them” - (Hebrews 7:19-25).

In contrast to the high priests of the Levitical system, the Son “sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” and became the minister of “the Real Tabernacle,” and not of a temporary and transportable tent pitched by man.

On the Earth, the old system constituted “glimpses and shadows of the heavenly realities,” just as Moses was told to make the earthly Tabernacle “according to the pattern he had seen in the mount” - (Hebrews 8:1-5).

Likewise, having “attained a more distinguished ministry, he also is the mediator of a better covenant legislated upon better promises.” If the “first covenant” had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second. But having found fault with it, the Lord announced the coming days when “I will conclude a new covenant”:

• “…Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by their hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. Because this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, giving my laws into their understanding, upon their hearts, also, will I inscribe them: and I will become their God, and they shall become my people; and in nowise shall they teach everyone his fellow-citizen and his brother, saying: Get to know the Lord! Because all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them; because merciful will I be as to their iniquities, and of their sins, in nowise will I be mindful anymore. In saying, of a new sort, he has made obsolete the first. But the thing that is becoming obsolete and aged is near disappearing!” - (Hebrews 8:6-13 – Citing Jeremiah 31:31-34).

The New Covenant is not “according to the covenant” made at Mount Sinai. It is not a “renewed” or enhanced piece of legislation based on the regulations of the Torah or the sacrificial rituals of the Tabernacle, but a new covenant made necessary since the old one was incapable of achieving the “purification of sins.” It is a covenant based on the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God. His death purified sins and Christ’s resurrection means he holds his priesthood forever.

This New Covenant empowers all citizens of the Kingdom to know God and establishes them as His people. Unlike all previous efforts, the covenant established by the “Son” more than succeeded at cleansing the conscience from the stain and guilt of sin (“I will become merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins will I remember no more”).

By establishing the New Covenant, Jesus “made the first obsolete.” This means the jurisdiction of the previous covenant is no longer in effect for the people of God – it has been superseded by the New Covenant, Christ’s high priesthood, and his “once and for all” sacrifice.

Any man who removes himself from the authority of this “Great High Priest” places himself back under that incomplete and obsolete system that could “never cleanse the conscience from sin” or “purify our sins.” That way leads only to disaster and death.

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SEE ALSO:

• Then He Sat Down - (Jesus is the Son whom God appointed as our merciful and faithful High Priest after his suffering, death, and resurrection)

• Once and for All - (The promise of the New Covenant finds its fulfillment in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus and the permanent priesthood he now holds)

• New Covenant and the Spirit - (The promise of the Spirit is vital to the redemption of humanity and the New Covenant of God with His people)

• Une fois pour Toutes - (La promesse d'une Nouvelle Alliance s'accomplit dans le sacrifice une fois pour toutes de Jésus et de son sacerdoce)