Jesus, our High Priest
“Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Hebrews 4:14
The role of the high priest for the Jews was to represent them in matters pertaining to God (Hebrews 5:1). Among other things, the High Priest was also responsible for bringing the sacrifices and offerings which the people have made and present it to God. The High Priest was the representative of the people. When the sacrifice presented by the High Priest was accepted, it meant that God had accepted the people!
When I think about this, I remember that sacrifices were not just meant to please God. More than that, it was also a covering of Man’s short-comings. For by the death of the animal, we were atoning for the sin (short-coming) which was in our nature, be it a particular trespass or a sacrifice for imperfections innate. God looks at the offering, not the offer-er, because it is because of the offer-er’s imperfections that the offering has to be made.
At the same time, I remember a troubling verse (to me) in Matthew 6:
“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember something that your brother has against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 6:23–24
Jesus Himself seemed to be proclaiming a need for some sort of perfection before anyone can come before the altar to even offer a gift of worship! And around that famous sermon on the mount, Jesus continues to lay out absolute perfection: sinning in the heart is as bad as the action itself; love not just people you like but people who you hate (what a paradox)!
What is happening? Yet in Hebrews:
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find help in time of need.” Hebrew 4:16
This amazing verse gives hope and light to me! But what of the perfection that Jesus mentioned?
I remember that I come before God because I have a need, yet I cannot come before God until I am perfect. Like mud before the sun, I would shrivel up in the presence of perfection.
As C.S Lewis describes our predicament,
“Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly.” (Mere Christianity)
The “good” which he was describing was that of perfection, a level of which no man has attained. This was the hopeless situation that we (all of us, not just the Jews) were in! And in the old days, God gave this temporary band-aid to His chosen people: a yearly covering up of sins, effective only to that period, effective only to the extent that it is maintained and renewed every year. Until we understand what John the Baptist said, I think there is no cause for the Gospel to be called the “Good News”. This is what he said:
“The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:11–14
The writer of Hebrews was echoing what Jesus said in Matthew 5, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”. Jesus was not calling out for you to be perfect, He was calling out the need for you to be perfect. Note the difference. If the former were true, then how can we ever “come back to the altar”, when sin approaches me all the time, within and without? But knowing that the final High Priest has already presented His perfect sacrifice, and that the Judge has already accepted that perfect lamb, now, as I take Him up as my representative, I have no need to come before a Judge, but I come to a Father who is more than willing to provide help for my need, perfection for my imperfection, a filling for my emptiness. All glory to God!
Originally published at https://hjianfeih.wixsite.com on July 11, 2020.
