Jesus Is Our High Priest
The Book of Hebrews is devoted to the high-priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the high priest represented the people before God and offered sacrifices so that God might forgive and cleanse the people. This picture illustrated the coming of Jesus Christ.
The Book of Hebrews focuses on Jesus Christ, God’s Son, coming to earth to be God’s High Priest. He represented the people before God and offered a sacrifice on their behalf that took care of sin for all time by completely paying its penalty—that sacrifice being Himself.
The death of Jesus Christ secured salvation for eternity. The emphasis of an eternal redemption is crucial. The writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote:
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:11, 12).
Christ did not carry out His sacrifice in an earthly tabernacle or in an earthly temple made with hands. He did not offer animals as the sacrifice for sin. Rather, He offered His own blood and body to God in heaven. By that sacrifice of Himself, He obtained for us an eternal redemption.