To Encourage You

Hebrews 7:28 “For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”

A central theme of the book of Hebrews is how Jesus is superior in every way to that which came before.  He is exalted above angels. Although angels are glorious spiritual beings far superior to men in many ways, we are told that “all God’s angels worship him” (Hebrews 1:6), i.e., these glorious creatures, each and every one of them, bow at the feet of the infinitely more glorious Son of God. 

Jesus is superior to Moses, Israel’s greatest deliverer and leader, for while Moses was “faithful in . . . God’s house,” i.e., a faithful servant who served the people of God, Jesus is the very “builder of God’s house,” and as such, afforded much more glory (Hebrews 3:1-6). 

And then Jesus is a superior to the Old Testament high priests, greatly superior.  The Old Testament high priests were men, and as such they were marked by weakness, especially the weakness of sin.  Because of this they had to continually offer sacrifices for their own sins.  Furthermore, while these sacrifices were offered to atone for the sins of both the priests and the people they served, it could never take that sin away.  Because these offerings were to be made continually, they were a continual reminder of sin. We are told as much in the following words: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4).

But then there was Jesus.  Listen to how Hebrews describes Him: “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26).  It is because of this fact that, Jesus, as the greatest high priest, did not have to offer sacrifices for His own sins year after year like the Old Testament high priests did. No, the offering Jesus made was vastly superior, in that it was the sacrifice of His own perfect life.  It was a “one and done” thing, for in this perfect sacrifice atonement was made for the sins of the whole world, forever.  It was a sacrifice that was made, not as a reminder of sin, but to actually take away sin and banish its effects on the lives of believers for all eternity.  As a result, believers have been instructed by our Lord to regularly partake of the sacrament of communion, not as continual reminder of sin, but as a continual reminder of the One Who gave His life to take away our sin, and as such brought forgiveness of sin and salvation to our soul forever (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). 

What an awesome high priest we have in Jesus: holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  He’s the perfect high priest, but He’s also the perfect sacrifice.  Praise be to this One Who alone is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)!