New Covenant Life

The author of Hebrews was on a mission. It was to convince redeemed Jewish believers that Jesus was not only their Savior, but their ONLY Savior and connection to God.

Undoubtedly that was a tough sell in light of the fact that for thousands of years every Jew was taught to rely on their High Priest to keep their connection to God in good order. And the very institution of a High Priest was crucial to connect man and God in the Covenant of Moses. Covenants were common in ancient days between men. But a covenant between a nation and God required a mediator, because, well — God and man aren’t on equal footing with one another.

The High Priest represented man before God, and represented God before man in that covenant. No High Priest would mean no way to keep covenant connection. Neither the nation nor the individual man could be blessed by God without a High Priest overseeing the required sacrifices for sin and for worship.

Of course, Jesus upended all of that.

In all his interactions with men, we have no record that Jesus ever made any claim to the high priesthood. No, He shot right past that by claiming to be the Son of God!

And in that role, claimed to be the only way to be rightly connected to God going forward.

It is easy to understand how this shocked and infuriated the religious establishment of Jesus’ day, and why they cried out, “Blasphemy!”

The moment after Jesus breathed his last on that cross, the Spirit sent a message to that High Priesthood, the equivalent of a pink slip. How? The curtain in the great temple that shielded the Ark of the Covenant from ordinary men — that separated ordinary men from the Presence of God — was torn in two from top to bottom.

I can picture the High Priest scrambling to stitch that back together. By God’s own law (under the Old Covenant of Moses) only the High Priest had the right to step behind that curtain into God’s Presence, and only once a year, with the sacrificial blood of a perfect, innocent lamb. That annual sacrifice was to atone for the original covenant broken between man (Adam) and God in Eden.

We know now that somehow the Spirit of God ripped that curtain apart, because no ordinary man could have. The Lord did this because His Son was presenting his own sinless blood at the altar in heaven. No more sacrifice on earth would be needed.

The High Priest did not realize that Jesus had turned his cross, his instrument of torture — to which the High Priest had condemned him — into an altar of worship to His God and Father. Jesus was staked to that cross, not by nails, but by His love for Father God and His people.

The High Priest and his line were out of a job.

But it took awhile for Hebrews to figure that out. In the days before his crucifixion, Jesus had increasingly preached to his disciples that after he was “lifted up” he would be the only way for man to be connected to the Father. “This cup,” he said at the Passover meal, “is the new covenant in my blood.”

Decades after Jesus returned to heaven, that retired priesthood was still trying to present needless blood on a needless altar, and the people were needlessly clinging to him. Which prompted the author of Hebrews to write, and explain to the redeemed Jewish community:

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 5:1-6

God established the first priesthood, always intended to be temporary. They were always only to serve until it was time for Jesus, the Son of God, to appear on earth and redeem God’s people. God alone has the right to appoint the high priest who will connect Him to His redeemed ones.

How did God choose the original High Priest?

Did God chose the original high priest because he was special and had lived better than all the others in his tribe? No evidence of that. God simply informed Moses that Aaron, his brother, would be the High Priest, and only his direct descendants could serve after him. According to Hebrews, the only qualification was that the priest be a man like the men he would serve, able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. That, and God’s sovereign choice.

Going forward, the only qualification for High Priest was to be the son of, the son of, the son of, the son of, the son of….. Aaron. Aaron, himself a son of Adam, and the original covenant breaker. Aaron, himself under the curse of sin. As Hebrews points out, Aaron and every High Priest after him were required to offer sacrifices for their own sin before doing so on behalf of anyone in the camp.

A perfect example of God’s grace, even before the age of grace.

This was the system being used in Jesus time; no Jew could imagine having a right connection to God without it.

In all Jesus said, he never referred to himself as a priest or implied that he would become THE High Priest. He acknowledged being the Son of God and a King, but we have nothing we on record about Him taking the place of Aaron’s line in that role.

Which is why the book of Hebrews is unique and necessary.

The great King David predicted centuries earlier, in Psalm 110:4, that God would appoint a new High Priest, one not related to Aaron, but one like Melchizedek.

Who is this Melchizedek? In the story of Abraham’s life, he is described merely as the King of Salem, yet Abraham recognized and honored him as God’s priestly representative. The passage from Hebrews above is quoting David about this very thing.

Melchizedek is spoken of mysteriously, even in Hebrews, and frankly, I’m not qualified to tell you about him in any scholarly fashion.

But I can tell you about Jesus, the latest and greatest High Priest God ever appointed.

Why Jesus, our perfect High Priest, is like no other.

In no certain order, here’s what I know for sure:

This High Priest is my brother. Not only do we share the same Father; he has walked in my shoes.

This High Priest first lived in heaven as God, then on earth as a man. His mission was to return to heaven carrying his pure, sinless human blood, and pour it out on heaven’s altar, forever atoning for the sin of man. He did exactly that.

This High Priest didn’t sacrifice an animal in my place to make me acceptable to God; this High Priest sacrificed himself. Standing in for me, He atoned for my sin and made it possible for me to dwell in God’s presence. Moreover, he thoroughly cleansed my conscience of all guilt. He not only purchased for me an eternal union with God, he enabled me to enjoy that union, free of self-condemnation.

This High Priest is the Son of God. This High Priest IS God.

This High Priest is now, amazingly, also the Son of Man, residing now in heaven, possessed of a glorious, indestructible body that resembles yours and mine. Except for one major difference:

This High Priest has five holes in His indestructible body: one in each wrist and each foot, gaping wounds made by huge nails that pinned him to a cross; plus a hole in his side where a soldier speared him after he died on that cross.

This High Priest is like no other, because having died once, and risen back to life, He will never die again. There need never be another High Priest. Jesus connects you and me to God, and God to us, for as long as He lives — which is forever.

Thanks to Marek Studzinski for the generous use of his great image, available on Pixabay