Jesus - He Who is Without Sin

 

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).

 

We cannot leave this passage without examination of “why” Jesus is the greater High Priest. The easy answer is because He is God Himself; however, to simply rely on that answer would be incomplete. It denies the humanity of Jesus, which was essential for His completion of the atonement and how He is perfectly fitted to guide us in our journey.

 

Remember, as I wrote a few days ago, this priestly system had some important and unavoidable inadequacies. The High Priest was fully human and as such a sinner just like any other human being since Adam and Eve. Before he could make any sacrifice for the sins of others, he had to make a sacrifice for himself. That is not true with Jesus. Though He was fully human, He was with sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; and 1 John 3:5).

 

As I also wrote earlier, this is the story of Israel from its beginning. In fact, it is also the story of humanity since Adm and Eve were cast out of the Garden. Thus, we needed someone perfect and complete. We needed the only begotten Son of God. It points to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our ultimate and perfect High Priest. This is the foreshadowing that the sacrifices the high priest offered provided. 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).

 

This is the truth that urges us to hold fast to our hope and draw near to our God! Tomorrow we will go deeper into this glorious truth!