Articles
Jesus, Our High Priest
In our series on the book of James we have focused primarily on practical Christianity (i.e. the role of Christians). James does an excellent job portraying the dignity and honor of those seeking to please God by their actions. In last week’s bulletin, we began to focus more on what Christ did for us. This week we continue that emphasis.
One of the more prominent roles of Jesus is His identification as the High Priest par excellence over God’s people. There are many ways in which this is true, but first we must understand what the role of a high priest is before we can comprehend what Christ’s superiority entails.
The primary focus of the high priest was intercession. The high priest was to stand in the abysmal gap between God and man. This involved constant awareness and devotion but found greatest meaning on one day per year, Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. This day occurred in the 7th month, on the 10th day, and was an intricate and solemn day for the high priest to present the sins of Israel before God (Leviticus 16). He was to put on linen garments as a sign of holiness (16:4) and make sacrifices to cleanse first his own sin, and then the sin of his family (16:6, 11). Before he could justly come before God as the bridge, he himself had to be cleansed. This preparation would ensure that Aaron and all subsequent high priests would not meet the fatal end of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1f; 16:1f). God required reverential treatment, even of the high priest (cf. Lev. 10:3). Following this, he would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people.
Jesus serves as the high priest par excellence for numerous reasons. He is the “High Priest of our confession” (Heb. 3:14). He is the Christ and as such is divinely qualified to make intercession for all men. He has “passed through the heavens” and is not beset by the sinfulness and corruption of sin as were his predecessors (Heb. 4). He need not STAND before the LORD begging for intercession; rather, He SITS DOWN at His right hand (Heb. 1:3; 10:12). This means that He sits upon the mercy seat in Heaven’s Holy of Holies! This office Jesus holds eternally and is not limited to the physical limitations of the Israelite high priests. He is both King and High Priest following after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20). Jesus is infinitely superior than any mortal priestly system because He is not plagued by sin and frailty. May we ever look to His constant service in intercession and be grateful for His ordination.
