High Priest and Son of God

 

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:1–6 ESV).

 

In our reading today we have two declarations. First, Jesus is the appointed High Priest who is the Son of God; and second, He is a priest forever “after the order of Melchizedek” (v. 6). Both are vital in our understanding. However, we will look at them separately, one today and the other tomorrow.

 

Built into the priestly system were some inadequacies. The one we see here in Hebrews 5:3 is that the high priest was himself a sinner and had to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the sins of the people. This meant not only that his sympathy would be imperfect and his presence in the holy place with God limited; it also meant that he would die and need to be replaced. He could never guarantee an ongoing presence with God to intervene for the people. All the inadequacies of the old priesthood will be clearer as we go forward in the book of Hebrews; however, this one is addressed with the statement that Jesus is the “Son of God.” There is no imperfection in “the only begotten Son of God” because He is fully God and fully human. There is no other like Him.

 

The whole history of Israel points to this truth. It is imperfect, inadequate, and incomplete. It all points forward to something greater, to Someone perfect and complete. It points to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our ultimate and perfect High Priest. In fact, even the sacrifices that the high priest offers (v. 3) point to Jesus, because Jesus is such a perfect and complete fulfillment of the priesthood that he is not only the High Priest, but he is also the sacrifice that the High Priest gives (Hebrews 9:12, 25–26; 13:12).

 

Fifty years ago, C.S. Lewis imagined someone objecting here. Lewis imagined the objection that if Jesus never sinned, then he doesn’t know what temptation is like. He lived a sheltered life and is out of touch with how strong temptation can be. Here is what Lewis wrote in response to that objection:

 

A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is . . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.

 

We’ll see more tomorrow. Today we should recognize that Jesus is the perfect High Priest and the perfect sacrifice, willingly given, on our behalf. That brings me to the highest level of gratitude and amazes me as nothing else could!