Commentary
by Walter Albritton
We May
Confidently Ask God for Mercy
Because
Jesus is Our Compassionate High Priest
Hebrews 4:14 – 5:10; 7.
Key Verse: Therefore,
since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. – Hebrews 4:14
The early
Christians were converts from Judaism. They were familiar with the role of the
priest. He was a bridge, or the mediator, between the people and God. He was
the one chosen to offer sacrifices to God for his own sins, and the sins of the
people. Priests had to be descendants of Aaron, who was from the tribe of Levi.
Over time, there emerged the “high” priest who supervised the offering of
sacrifices in the tabernacle and later in the temple.
Since all men
are sinners, the priesthood was stained with sin even as the altar was stained
with the blood of animals. Some priests became corrupt even as some have in our
own day. Even the high priests became ungodly men, as was the high priest in
the time of Jesus. The old covenant was broken. A new and better way was
needed. So the Father sent his Son to be our great high priest.
Aaron and all
who followed him were fallible men. The best that they could do was not enough.
They served for a little while and died. In contrast, Jesus is alive forever.
He conquered death, offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and
then ascended into heaven. Now he sits at the right hand of the Father, ready
to serve us as our heavenly high priest.
Jesus is our
ultimate “bridge” to the Father. Or, in other words, the Cross upon which he
died, now bridges the gap between God and us. Though our sins created a great
chasm, separating us from God, our great high priest Jesus has secured God’s
mercy for us through his death. We may “walk” by faith across that Cross into
the merciful arms of the Father. This is the good news of the gospel.
Indeed, this is
such good news that the writer of the Book of Hebrews urges his readers to
“hold firmly to the faith” they professed when they accepted Christ as Savior.
Do not slip back into Judaism, with its corrupt priesthood, for now we have in
Jesus a high priest who can meet our needs forever. He was fully human so he
can understand our temptations, yet he lived a sinless life.
Because Jesus
is our compassionate high priest, we may “come boldly to the throne of grace.”
We may come with confidence that God will grant us mercy, and that his grace
will be sufficient for our every time of need. Once it was very difficult to
obtain mercy. God could be approached only once a year and only the high priest
could go into the holy of holies. The great curtain in the temple represented
the wall that separated us from God. When Jesus died, however, that curtain was
ripped down the middle, as though by the mighty hand of God, from top to
bottom. The death or sacrifice of Jesus removed that wall, opening the way for
all believers to approach the throne of grace. What a mighty work was done that
day!
Christ did not
“run” for the office of high priest. He did not get the position through
political influence. He “humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even
the death of the cross.” Christ was divinely appointed our great high priest to
complete God’s glorious plan of salvation. He was not “qualified” on the
earthly level for the priesthood since he was not a descendant of Aaron, but
his “credentials” were even greater because he was God’s Son and “a priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
This raises the
question, who was Melchizedek? Our knowledge of this mysterious figure is
limited. Some have conjectured that Melchizedek is Christ appearing in the Old
Testament. This assertion has no scriptural support; it is simply a fanciful
idea. What actually do we know about Melchizedek?
He appears in
Genesis 14. (Later he is mentioned in Psalm 110:4.) He is the “king of
It appears
significant that Abram refuses any favor from the king of
The best we can
conclude about Melchizedek, however, is that he is a “type” or prototype of the
Christ. Christ our Redeemer is the King of Righteousness and the Prince of
Peace. He is the Priest of God who offers us refreshment or new life through
bread and wine. He also has no beginning and no ending. However, Christ is much
more, much greater than Melchizedek, for he is our Prophet, Priest, and King,
and the author of our eternal salvation through whom alone we have the
forgiveness of our sins.
Let us seek
grace to trust and obey our heavenly high priest, and unashamedly tell the
world that we know One who invites us to come to him with confidence that at
his feet we will find mercy! What great good news this is – that broken, sinful
men and women may find mercy by trusting the compassionate high priest who
offers us peace with God!
Let us hold
firmly this truth, and come boldly to the throne of grace for the mercy that
transforms life!
+ + + + (Contact Walter at walbritton@elmore.rr.com)