Jesus’ Priesthood is Perfect: it’s a holy and blameless sacrifice for sin
Session 21 – August 30, 2020 – Men’s Morning Hebrews Haverim
Our Men’s Haverim group is reading through and discussing the book of Hebrews during the months of August and September. For more information, see this blog post.
26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:26-28 New International Version
Summary:
- The author is closing out his discussion of Jesus’s superiority to all the ways that God has communicated in the past, and in particular how his priesthood is superior to Aaron’s, with these final three verses of Chapter 7.
- A summary of Chapter 7:
- 7:1-10 – Jesus’ priesthood is of the “order of Melchizedek”, introduced in Chapters 5 and 6 but now explained after exhorting them to grow in their maturity to be able to understand beyond the elementary teachings. Similarities between Melchizedek and Jesus are pointed out: his name means “king of righteousness” and his title was “king of Salem” or peace (shalom) and he is a “priest forever”. The author establishes him as the greater who blessed the lesser in Abraham, and how Abraham and essentially all his descendants gave Melchizedek a tenth.
- 7:11-17 – Jesus’ priesthood is like Melchizedek’s, because since the Levitical priesthood was not complete (“telios”), a new priest was needed to change the law, a priest not determined by human genealogy, but a priest because he has an “indestructible life”.
- 7:18-22 – Jesus’ priesthood is powerful: the old covenant was set aside because of it’s “weakness and uselessness”, and Jesus brought a new covenant and a new hope, guaranteed by the oath spoken in Psalm 110:4.
- 7:23-25 – Jesus’ priesthood is permanent: high priests would serve until their death, but Jesus is a priest forever, always in intercession for us, and
- 7:26-28 – Jesus’ priesthood is perfect: he is a holy and blameless sacrifice for our sins, a once and for all sacrifice. He was appointed by an oath that came after the Law (Psalm 110) and is made perfect.
Other Thoughts:
- Jesus is a perfect priest, sacrificing once and for all and constantly interceding for us. We don’t need anything else and there is no other higher or more perfect priest.
- When I was a young man, I often lived to serve another high priest: myself. When my sin would lead me into trouble and I could see no way out, I’d offer up a sacrifice of promising to change if only God would get me through. Like the sacrifices of the Levitical priests, this was temporary and it was only a matter of time before I would go to the altar again, pledging to change if only God would rescue me again. It wasn’t until I turned to the true High Priest that I was freed from my foolish, weak and useless faith in myself and now live in the assurance from his once for all sacrifice and intercession.
- He is the kind of High Priest we need, and He is all that we need. As the Bible Believer’s Commentary puts it: “How foolish, then, for men to set up priestly systems patterned after the OT and to intrude upon the functions of our great High Priest!”
- Are you living your life depending on anything other than Jesus?