The High Priesthood in Hebrews

Alone among the writers of the New Testament, the title ‘High Priest’ is applied to the Lord Jesus by the writer to the Hebrews. He uses the term eighteen times. On eleven of these occasions, he applies it to Christ. The other seven times relate either to Aaron, Israel’s first high priest, or to his successors under the law of Moses. Usually this is by way of contrast to Christ’s high priesthood. Thus, it is not surprising that the author declares that the main point of his letter is that Christians have a High Priest, exalted in heaven, 8. 1. Probably the first readers were being taunted that they did not have a high priest as part of the attempt to cause them to go back to Judaism and abandon their faith in Jesus.

The role of the high priest in Israel was to represent the nation to God, primarily by the offering of sacrifices, 5. 1. The ministry of the Lord Jesus as the Great High Priest was in the past His self-offering as the final sacrifice for sin, and in the present the sustaining of His people by His intercession in heaven, 9. 24. Thus, He secures our final salvation, 7. 25.

The letter begins with a majestic opening statement establishing that God has spoken His last word to humankind in His Son. In so doing, as D. W. Gooding points out, the writer ‘comes straight to the fundamental issue between Judaism and Christianity: is Jesus or is He not the Son of God?’¹ The introduction makes seven crucial assertions about the Lord Jesus. The last two directly relate to our subject. The Son of God has made ‘purification for sins’, v. 3 Newberry, and then He ‘sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high’. Cleansing from sin’s pollution for all who trust Him could only have been accomplished by the Lord Jesus. F. F. Bruce comments that ‘the grace which has provided a remedy for the defilement of sin by a life freely offered up to God on our behalf calls forth a sense of personal indebtedness’ which consideration of Christ’s creative work ‘could never evoke’.² Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is followed by His enthronement. He is now exalted to the very highest place of transcendent majesty. His heavenly session is ‘the seal of the Divine acceptance of His work of purification’.³ The posture of priests in the old covenant was standing, 10. 11. Their work of sacrifice was never done. Christ is seated. His sacrificial work is finished once and for all.

The first chapter of Hebrews is one of the strongest statements of Christ’s full deity. The second is an equally strong affirmation of His real humanity. One reason for our Lord’s incarnation was to fit Him to be ‘a merciful and faithful high priest’, 2. 17. For the Saviour to fulfil that ministry, ‘he had to be made like his brothers in every respect’, 2. 17 ESV. Only thus could He ‘make propitiation for the sins of the people’ NKJV. Propitiation means that all the demands of God’s righteous throne are fully met and God’s just and holy wrath, His revulsion against all wickedness, is removed from those who turn to Christ. Propitiation enables God to be just and the justifier of all who believe in Jesus, Rom. 3. 25, 26.

The present aspect of Christ’s high priesthood is unfinished. Christians are on a journey to glory. On it we are attacked by temptation. We are helped by the intercession of Christ. He does so with fellow feeling with us. For because He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted, 2. 18. He experienced all the trials and temptations of His life on earth as perfect man with human emotions. He feels for us in heaven because He felt like us on earth. He most certainly sympathizes with us in our temptations as the author uses a double negative to emphasize, 4. 15. This is because the Saviour in every respect was tempted as we are. However, he is careful to stress that the Lord Jesus never succumbed to any temptation. He was always ‘without sin’. Sometimes it is suggested that this means He felt the force of temptation less than we do. That is a fallacy. The opposite is the case. ‘He knows the full force of temptation in a manner that we who have not withstood it to the end cannot know it’.⁴ The population of a city which withstands a siege knows the limits of the power of the enemy more than that of one which falls.

We have examples of the Lord’s intercession on earth for Peter as an individual and for all the apostles and all the believers of this age, Luke 22. 31, 32; John 17. 6-26.

These give us indications of the issues which He raises before His Father now in heaven. In the circumstances of the first readers, the concerns of the Lord would relate to the pressures on them, both of persecution and persuasion, to abandon their Christian confession. F. F. Bruce suggests that the temptations endured by the Lord were ‘those subtle temptations which attended His messianic calling’.⁵ In different ways, He faced and overcame the temptation to bypass the cross. He steadfastly set His face to accomplish His saving mission. What an encouragement to the first readers who were being tempted to give up their loyalty to God that they had an intercessor who was the victor over much more severe trials than even those they were facing. Identifying with his readers, his call is to ‘hold fast our confession’, 4. 14 NKJV. That call is based on the greatness of their High Priest. He has ascended to the highest possible place. He bears the earthly name of Jesus yet is the Son of God. It is followed by another appeal, to draw near to the throne of grace to receive the grace and mercy needed in every time of need. We too should heed that call.

A question arises. The lineage of the Lord Jesus was from the kingly tribe of Judah, not the priestly tribe of Levi, 7. 13, 14; 8. 4. Thus, He could not function officially as a priest in the temple during His earthly ministry. In what sense is He a priest? The writer explains and emphasizes that the Lord’s high priesthood is ‘after the order of Melchizedek’.⁶ This was a divine appointment by an oracle, accompanied by an oath, spoken to Messiah. Aaron had also been appointed by God to be high priest. There the resemblance ceased. Aaron was the first of a high priestly line. In contrast, ‘to say that Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek is to say that He is in a class by Himself. His Priesthood is unique’.⁷Chapter 7 demonstrates, by an intricate argument, the superiority of the order of Melchizedek to the order of Aaron. Melchizedek is a mysterious figure only referred to twice in the Old Testament, Gen. 14. 17-20; Ps. 110. 4. In my view he was an ordinary human being and historic figure, just like Abraham whom he met and sustained. However, he is a picture of Christ. The writer draws on Genesis to show that Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham, and that he also blessed Abraham, not the other way around. These facts establish the superiority of Melchizedek, the king-priest, to Aaron and his successors. More significantly, the silence of scripture is used to establish that Melchizedek had no genealogy and that his death is not recorded. Thus, it seems that his priesthood continues. The high priesthood after the line of Aaron was all about death and birth. It was hereditary. As each high priest died, he was succeeded by the next in

line who was descended from Aaron and his wife, Elisheba, Exod. 6. 23. That was the only qualification. As a result, there were eighty-three high priests between Aaron and the destruction of the temple.⁸ In contrast, Christ became a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life, 7. 16. In other words, He owes His priestly office to the appointment of God alone. His priesthood is permanent. It is based on His indestructible life. His risen life will never end and can never end. ‘Because Jesus lives for ever, his priesthood lasts forever’, 7. 24 NLT. His intercession will always prevail. The writer shows that the change in the priesthood means a complete change in the law, and its replacement by the better hope by which Christians draw near to God, 7. 12, 18, 19. The superiority of the Lord’s priesthood is also shown by the totality of His unique moral perfections. He did not ever need to offer up a sacrifice for His own sins for He had none, unlike the high priest of Aaron’s order who needed to make daily sacrifices for themselves. Christ is the very priest that we need, 7. 26, 27. Also, Christ’s high priesthood was established by a divine oath to Him, which was lacking in the case of Aaron, 7. 20, 21, 28. The Lord Jesus, as the Son of God, is the perfect high priest who carries out a perfect ministry for His people.

Let the hymn writer, C. L. Bancroft, have the last word,

‘Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
a great high priest whose name is love,
who ever lives and pleads for me’.