Requirements of Every High Priest

Transcript

GR 1683
03/24/2013
Requirements of Every High Priest
Hebrews 5:1-6
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Hebrews together and we're just ready to start chapter 5. We've entered into the major section of the book of Hebrews when we come to chapter 5. We've been talking about the superiority of Christ, superior to the prophets and the revelation given to them, superior to the angels. But we come into the section that is going to encompass the major part of the book. He is superior as High Priest to the high priestly ministry that was part of Judaism under the Law. This will cover Hebrews 5:1 through Hebrews 10:18. He will be unfolding the details of Christ's high priestly ministry. Absolutely essential that we understand this biblical truth. This is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you do not understand this, you do not understand the Scripture, you do not understand God's plan of salvation. Very crucial area.

The end of Hebrews 4 formed the transition to this subject even though it has been mentioned before. When he said therefore, verse 14, “we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.” We have a High Priest, He is Jesus the Son of God. That connection will permeate what goes on to follow. Because He is the Son of God, He is also the High Priest, He is superior to any High Priest that has gone before. He is superior to the Levitical priesthood and the Aaronic high priest that characterized the Old Testament. He is God's Son. This was touched on earlier when the book began, now it will be unfolded in detail.

Come back to Hebrews 1:2. It says that “God in these last days has spoken to us in One who is a Son.” And then at the end of verse 3, “when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.” He is the Son, He made purification of sins. That work of purification, offering the sacrifice acceptable to God is the work of the high priest and He as God's Son functioned as High Priest in making the sacrifice.

So when you come back to Hebrews 4:14, he talks about “Jesus passed through the heavens.” The Old Testament high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement could enter through the Holy Place, that outer area, then into the innermost place, what we refer to the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was with the cover over that ark, the mercy seat. And there he would apply the blood for the atonement of the people. But Jesus has passed through a greater area than that Old Testament tabernacle scene, He passed through heaven to the very presence of the throne room of God in heaven. He is our High Priest.

“Therefore,” verse 16, “let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.” The Old Testament system with its high priest, its priests who served under the authority of the high priest, all the sacrifices offered and so on, all were schooling the Jews, teaching and preparing the Jews for the coming of their Messiah. Paul wrote to the Galatians and said the Law was a schoolmaster for the Jews to the coming of Christ. With the coming of Christ that all comes to fulfillment, that's what the book of Hebrews is talking about.

The problem with some of these Jewish Christians because of pressures, trials, persecution, some of them were talking about returning to Judaism. The writer to the Hebrews is showing that is not a possibility. Judaism was a time when God was preparing for the coming of His Messiah, His High Priest. But with the coming of His Son to do the work of the high priest you can't go back. That would not be acceptable to God. This is a serious matter.

We talk about Him as High Priest. You'll note Hebrews 4:16 says, “let us draw near to the throne of grace.” Because Jesus Christ is our High Priest, we are encouraged and exhorted to come to the very throne of God ourselves to receive grace and find mercy to help in times of need. In the Old Testament the Jews were never allowed to come in behind the veil, they weren't even allowed into the outer place. Only the priest could come into what we would call the Holy Place. But only the High Priest and only once a year could go into the Holy of Holies. We'll talk more about this as we move into the book of Hebrews. But now all of us as believers should come with confidence to the very throne of God and receive what we need from Him.

I've shared with you my concern in our previous study about some of the thinking on these matters that is current among those who claim to be evangelicals today. Evangelical is a broad term but I'm using it for those who claim to be Bible-believing Christians, Protestant Bible-believing Christians. We've been noting the difference between those who are biblical Christians and the Roman Catholic system which has a system of priests with a high priest, the pope functioning as the supreme priest, if you will, in Catholicism. And the authority for all the other priests has been delegated through him to them. A system modeled somewhat on the Old Testament system of the Jews, with a high priest and a system of priesthood. Some who profess to be believers think there is not much difference anymore between Catholics and Protestants.

I want to share a little bit more with you, an article and an interview with Luis Palau who is from Argentina where the present pope served as cardinal. Palau has been an evangelical evangelist, some of you are familiar with his ministry. Sometimes in the past he has been referred to as the South American Billy Graham, proclaiming the Gospel in South America. He was interviewed and the title of the article is Why it Matters that Pope Francis Drinks Mote with Evangelicals. Mote is an Argentinian tea and evidently Pope Francis has tea with evangelicals. We won't go anywhere with that. Let me just read to you some of Palau's comments as an evangelical.

He was asked, what can you tell me about this pope's character? You say he has been a personal friend, as a man, a Christian, not just as a cardinal. And Palau's response. You know he knew God the Father personally. The way he prayed, the way he talked to the Lord was a man who knows Jesus Christ and was very spiritually intimate with the Lord. He is very warm and gentle and spiritual, he is gentle in his conversation.

I'm just going to read you some of Palau's comments about the pope without filling in in between.

He's a very Bible-centered man, a very Jesus Christ-centered man, but personally he is more known for his personal love for Christ. He is really centered on Jesus and the Gospel, the pure Gospel. With the evangelical community it was a very big day when we realized he was really open, that he has great respect for Bible-believing Christians, that he basically sides with them. They work together, that takes courage. There has been talk about a new wave of evangelization in the Roman Catholic Church and there is a desire for the pure Gospel of Jesus to go out around the world. I think this will have an impact because he definitely knows and is committed to the pure Gospel.

Palau keeps emphasizing that the Pope knows and believes and preaches the pure Gospel.
It doesn't mean evangelicals and Catholics will agree on every angle, that should be said. He is the Roman Catholic Pope and there are issues that need to be talked about, prayed about, looked at in the Bible about. These doctrinal differences are there.

I would say for sure they are there. I mean, this man claims to be God's representative on earth, functioning, if you will, as a high priest. And under his authority there is a whole caste of priests. And to come to God and receive forgiveness, you do not come directly to a throne of grace, the throne of God through the work of God. You come through a priest whose authority comes through the pope who receives from Christ and bestows through this system God's salvation.

Another article reviewing a new book by a Roman Catholic who has written several books on Roman Catholicism, including a best-selling biography of Pope John Paul II. The title of his new book, Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st Century. Then the author of this review who himself I believe is a biblical Christian, not a Roman Catholic, says, this title is sure to tickle evangelical ears. I mean, you think about evangelical Catholicism.

Let me just read you some of his comments. The man who wrote the book is named Weigle. He says, “evangelical Catholicism invites Catholics to move beyond the left/right surface arguments of the past decades which were largely about ecclesiastical power, and into a deeper reflection on the missionary heart of the church.” When he talks about evangelical Catholics, he is talking about moving more into a missionary movement of the Roman Catholic Church.

“The desired result is not a church that resembles evangelicalism but rather a Roman Catholic Church that is more religiously vibrant, active and evangelistic. The aim is a renewed Catholicism that counters the challenges of modernity with a more robust version of Catholic identity. But the term evangelical Catholicism is also confusing and in some cases perplexing to evangelical Protestants,” this reviewer is saying. “On the one hand Weigle uses language that will strongly appeal to Luther's descendants. He extols examples of ministries flourishing because pastors are preaching the Gospel without compromise. He proposes changes the terms of reference from the church teaches to the Gospel reveals.”

You understand in Roman Catholicism there is only one ultimate authority. The claim of Roman Catholicism is the church gave us the Scriptures and the church, the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, are the only final authoritative interpreter of the Scriptures. So you see everything goes back to the Roman Catholic Church, not even to the Scripture because it was the church that gave us the Scriptures. And the church alone can interpret the Scripture.

He supports the Second Vatican Council's intention to put the Gospel at the center of Catholic life and build out from that center a reformed Catholicism, an evangelical Catholicism that has the capacity to propose the good news of Jesus Christ to a disenchanted world. You say, well, an evangelical Catholicism that wants to proclaim the good news of Jesus to . . .? That sounds good, doesn't it?

Well this reviewer says, before we have our deacons plan trips from Colorado Springs, which has become a center of evangelicalism, to Rome, we ought to look a little closer at Weigle's blueprint for reform. It might temper our enthusiasm. He says concerning this writer, his understanding of the Gospel will seem deficient to many Protestants. He mentions salvation or that Jesus is Savior in the book a few times, but usually these are passing glances. And nowhere is soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, an object of Weigle's deep reform. The central issues of the Reformation, justification of faith alone, which is the article by which the church stands or falls according to Luther, is simply not addressed. Nor are the doctrines Catholicism has developed to coach its medieval and counter-Reformation understandings of salvation like indulgences, purgatory, the treasury of the saints, masses for the dead.

In other words nothing has changed in Rome's doctrine. Their view of the doctrine of salvation is still just as different from the biblical doctrine as it was in the days when Martin Luther and others led the Reformation and the stand against Roman Catholicism. How can Luis Palau talk about a pure Gospel coming from Rome when you have a doctrine of works, when the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church from the Council of Trent down to today is anyone who says that salvation is by faith alone is cursed to hell. There is no pure Gospel in the Roman church.

It's a telling omission on the part of a church statesman of the stature of Weigle. He may have understood his project of one deep reform of Catholic institutional life, not of its theological vision. In any case this superficial engagement with the doctrine of salvation is not just a peripheral gap for a proposal which seeks to retrieve the Gospel. It's a sign to evangelicals the true biblical Gospel is not being retrieved.

Another, I know you came to study the Bible, not have me read articles to you. Right? Listen, this is from today's paper, Omaha World Herald, March 24. Catholics emphasize reconciliation during Lent. This will tell you about the doctrine of salvation. Roman Catholics are concerned to get Catholics coming back to confession. So let me just read you some excerpts from the article.

Now you note this, “but the church will always seek to remove every physical and spiritual obstacle that keeps Catholics from receiving the forgiveness of sins offered by Jesus through the priest,” a spokesman for the archdiocese said. You can have forgiveness of sins in the Roman Catholic Church, you can't have it directly from Christ. You have to get it from Christ through the Pope through his delegated emissaries, the priests. So Catholics must be encouraged to come to the priest so they can receive forgiveness of sins. That's a diabolical doctrine. It's the very thing the book of Hebrews says can't happen. And as we've noted, it's a step beyond. Not even talking about going back to the Old Testament system of Levitical priesthood, you're talking about a whole system of priesthood modeled on that Old Testament system, but created by Gentiles with no authority from God.

Catholics consider confession also known as penance or reconciliation to be one of the seven sacraments established by Jesus to bestow God's grace on believers.

So we just read Hebrews 4:16, “let us draw near to the throne of grace that we might find grace to help.” They say you have to come to a priest because he is the only one who can administer grace. The sacraments are means of grace in Catholicism, there are seven of them. As they note, penance is one of them. How do you get these sacraments? You have to get them through the hands of a priest. They are mediated through the priestly system with the Pope as the high priest. You don't come directly to the throne of grace. That is not the same Gospel that the book of Hebrews is talking about.

Faithful Catholics are encouraged to confess all their sins frequently, but are expected to do so at least once a year. And confession of any serious or mortal sin is deemed necessary if you are going to partake of communion. At a Catholic Church in Papillion two of the priests had an open day for confession on February 28. These two priests absolved penitents steadily for two hours at the special Thursday confession. One of the priests says, “I think it was that the invitation was out there fresh and we let people know, come back to the sacraments and feel forgiven and be set free.”

That's a blasphemous denial of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth that is being unfolded in the book of Hebrews. How do we have those who claim to be evangelicals say we have something in common with Roman Catholics on the Gospel? And if you are interested, people are free to set appointments so they can confess on their own schedule. I mean, have evangelicals just torn the book of Hebrews out of their Bible?

One of you, I won't tell you who, attended a Roman Catholic funeral recently. And Mario gave me the brochure. In this they say, “the church, through its funeral rites, commends the dead to God's merciful love and pleads for the forgiveness of their sins.” They are dead, but we're doing masses and having services to plead for the forgiveness of their sins. It is a pagan system. It tried to create a system of power and authority to maintain control over people. And it does because you can't have salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church. I realize they are adjusting their language but they are clear in the brochure I just referred to, any of you who are not practicing Catholics cannot partake of the communion we are about to share. It's only for Roman Catholics. We say we can understand, but you understand you are cut off from the means of grace because you can't come to a throne of grace. You have to come to a priest who has his authority from his high priest, the Pope, who supposedly has it from God. What about the verse, there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus? And when He is your mediator, you come with confidence to a throne of grace to receive grace. I scratch my head and say, what is happening to those who claim to be evangelical? It becomes a meaningless term anymore.

So we're coming to the book of Hebrews and we're in chapter 5. Lest Protestants feel that they are home clean you can't come before the throne of God on the basis of your works, either. You have to have a high priest and that High Priest has to be Jesus Christ. You have to have come to trust in Him and Him alone, His finished work on the cross as full payment for your sin. Then you are welcome before the throne of God.

What he's going to unfold in the first 10 verses, we're not going to cover all 10 of chapter 5, is the beginning of the discussion of the priesthood of Christ. Then he'll break off with a strong word of warning. Then he'll resume the discussion of the high priestly ministry of Christ. So this is just an introductory section in Hebrews 5:1-10, the first four verses talk about the general characteristics of every high priest. And then in verses 5-10 he shows how Christ fulfills all of these requirements in a superior way and thus has a superior priesthood.

So we pick up in Hebrews 5:1, “for every high priest is taken from among men.” And that preposition for that begins the verse connects it to what he has been saying. Hebrews 4:14, “we have a great High Priest, He's a High Priest who can understand our weaknesses.” Verse 16, “He's a High Priest who has opened the way into the very presence of the throne of God.” For he'll explain His high priestly ministry, every high priest. So he's talking about all the high priests of the Old Testament in the Levitical system because these professing Jewish Christians, some of them were contemplating a return to Judaism. So let's talk about what had to characterize the high priest under the Mosaic Law, Levitical system. “Every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.” So he's going to talk about the fact that the high priest has to offer sacrifice for sins. He has to able to identify with the people in their weakness, he has to be himself a man so he can represent man, men. Couldn't be an angel. So those points are going to be unfolded and then he'll apply them to Christ.

“Every high priest taken from among men.” So the high priest was taken from among men, he was a man to function on behalf of man. “Taken from among men, appointed on behalf of men to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” So he is to be a representative of his fellow men. We think, God could have appointed an angel—Michael, Gabriel. Wouldn't that have been a better intermediary between God and men? That's what a high priest is, he is one who mediates, stands between God and man. He represents man before God. An angel who serves before the throne of God and can come and speak to man, wouldn't that have made a better representation? No, the high priest had to be part of the group that he represented. So an angel couldn't represent man. Characteristic of every high priest in the Old Testament system. He was taken from among men, he functioned on behalf of men. He is man's representative.

In things pertaining to God, He is a spiritual representative. He will offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. So that's his point. He stands between God and man and offers the sacrifices necessary for God to receive and accept this individual. But in the Old Testament system that Jew never did get to come in before the very presence of God, only the high priest could do that once a year. Then outside that Holy of Holies the other priests could carry out their function. Then out beyond that you would have the general population. So their representative was the high priest. There were other priests, but they served under his authority and oversight. The concern here is to focus on the high priest who was representative of the whole system. And it was his action on the Day of Atonement which is the basic sacrifices that are in view here and activity, because on one day according to Leviticus 16 the high priest went in to the very Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat which was the cover for the Ark of the Covenant, as the representative of the people to make atonement for the sins of the people. So that was the purpose of the high priest. He was selected from among men as a man who functioned as man's representative in things pertaining to God. He is man's representative to God, he's offering the sacrifices that God would accept for sins. That's the issue, sin. The Day of Atonement, the whole sacrificial system unfolding really out of that central day.

Something about the high priest, he not only offered sacrifices for sins as man's representative. Verse 2 tells us he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided since he himself is also beset by weaknesses. The high priest was a man. As part of the human race he had the frailties, the weaknesses that come with being human. This connects us back to Hebrews 4:15, referring to Christ. “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, without sin.” So Christ as we talked about was a man, He had the same weaknesses. Got tired, got hungry, experienced pain and so on. So the high priest down in verse 2, he can deal gently. That word carries the idea of ‘in a balanced way.’ It is not like he is from the angels who have never had to deal with sin after their initial conflict, Satan and the angels that followed him. But the angels, they are outside the realm of sickness, of weariness, of hunger and those things. But the high priest understands.

He can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, even what they go through and the sins they commit. Now this opens an important door here. He can deal gently with the ignorant and the misguided. In the Old Testament there were two groupings of sins, what were called the ignorant and misguided who sin, they are called the unintentional sins. And then there are the sins referred to as the sins of the high hand, they are the open, defiant, blasphemous kind of sins—the stand against God, the rejection of His Word. The sacrifices didn't cover those. You see the sacrificial system to be effective required that the one bringing the animal to be offered was bringing it in faith, trusting in the God of Israel and the provision He had provided for him to be forgiven of the sins that he is aware, that he knows he is guilty of. He is not a defiant rebel against God, even though often his weaknesses have resulted in his sin. When we studied Jams some time ago James said, “we all stumble in many ways. And if you could control your tongue, you could be a perfect person because we easily and quickly sin with our tongues.” So in Israel people sinned. And it's not that, well that's excusable, that's understandable, doesn't matter. It did matter. Sacrifices had to be offered so that God would not pour out His wrath because of those sins. But for the sins of defiant unbelief, there is no sacrifice.

We won't go back there but Numbers 15 talks about this, the sins of the high hand. Leviticus 4 fits in talking about unintentional sin. What is significant here, we're going to move into another warning passage as we talk about it, the danger these Jewish professing believers are facing is becoming guilty of an open, defiant rebellion and rejection of God and His Word for which there is no sacrifice. So when he says here the high priest can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, but for those of you who would plant your feet in defiant rebellion and rejection of God's provision of His High priest, there is no sacrifice or forgiveness.

Back up to Hebrews 3:12, previous warning passage. “Take care, brethren, that there be not in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” We were talking about turning back to Judaism. Come to Hebrews 10. When we come to the end of this extensive explanation of the high priestly ministry of Christ, he has another strong word of warning. And note verse 26, “if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” All that remains is a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. You see the seriousness of the situation. These with a Jewish background could understand we're talking about high handed sin here. It is not one of a couple of options—I don't want to become the enemy of Christ, I'm just going to go back and become part of the Levitical system that God established in the past. He did establish it in the past but with the coming of Christ it has come to an end. There is only one High Priest whose ministry is acceptable before the throne of God, only one sacrifice that is acceptable before God. And for you to turn away from that is a sin of the high hand. And there is no forgiveness for that. That's the warning.

So the high priest, even under the Levitical system, dealt with the sins of ignorance, the misguided. And they could do it gently in an understanding way because he is beset with weaknesses. He is not arrogant there saying, “what are you doing here? You shouldn't do that.” He understands. That doesn't mean the sin is acceptable or tolerable because sacrifice has to be offered. But nonetheless he can understand. God knows our frame, that we are but dust, as the psalmist says.

Verse 3, and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins. He can offer them, he is appointed to do it and he does it with understanding. He offers them for the people and for himself also. The high priests were beset by weaknesses, too, and they also sinned. So what happens on the Day of Atonement? The high priest is going to offer sacrifice for the sins of the people. But do you know what he has to do first? Offer sacrifice for his own sin. Now that's a major distinction between the high priest of the Old Testament system and the High Priest we have, because our High Priest had the weaknesses that go with being human but it never resulted in sin. Because Hebrews 4:15 concluded with, “yet without sin.” The Old Testament High Priest offered sacrifice for sin for the people but also for himself, and that order is unfolded in Leviticus 16.

You come to verse 4, the high priest “doesn't take this honor to himself. He receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.” The high priest in the Old Testament served by divine appointment. It was God who selected Aaron, his family and his line to serve as high priest. You don't take this honor to yourself. It ought to be an offense of the highest order that men have established a whole high priestly system on their own authority. The Scripture doesn't establish it, the Scripture denies it. We have a billion people around the world, they think they are Christian because . . . What about the Word of God? Well the church gave us the Word of God and only the church can interpret it. That's one lie built on another. The church didn't give us the Word of God, and that church is not the only authoritative interpreter of it.

They “did not take this honor to themselves. They received it when they were called by God, even as Aaron.” Come back to Exodus 28. God's instruction to Moses who was functioning as His representative for the nation Israel. And Moses had a brother, Aaron, you remember. So in Exodus 28:1 God says to Moses, “then bring near to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the sons of Israel.” A reminder that it's going to come “from among the people, particularly the Jewish people. From among the sons of Israel to minister as priests to me Aaron, the father, and then his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazer and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.” Aaron and his four sons. You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother for glory and beauty. You see Aaron didn't say, I want to volunteer, I'll be high priest. Moses, you be commander, I'll be high priest and my sons will be priests with me. No, men didn't do that. God called Aaron and appointed him. Strong point, men didn't take this position to themselves. Very detailed instructions given.

Come over to Leviticus 10. Now this is an exciting time. Aaron has been selected to be the high priest to represent the people before God and his sons with him. What a privilege has been poured out on Aaron and his family. So here we go, going to have offerings made. Leviticus 10:1, now “Nadab and Abihu,” two of Aaron's sons, “sons of Aaron took their respective firepans. After putting fire in them, placed incense on it, offered strange fire before the Lord which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them and they died.” They are burned alive. God is serious about this matter that the priesthood will be done His way, exactly His way in the details. Doesn't go into much detail here. They didn't take the fire from the appointed place and offer it in the appointed way. It wasn't acceptable to God. And for one appointed as the priest to not do it God's way, they immediately come under God's judgment.

What does Moses say to Aaron? Aaron is his brother. These two boys who died were Aaron's sons, Moses' nephews. “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy. Before all the people I will be honored.” This matter of worshiping God and coming to God is serious, serious business. The honor of God supersedes everything, even Aaron's own family. Think of the impact on Aaron. Do you know what Moses has to tell Aaron? God tells Moses, you tell Aaron he is not allowed to weep over the death of his sons, he is not allowed to put on any clothes that would indicated mourning, and he can't leave the temple because he has responsibility to Me to perform. He has to stand at the Tent of Meeting. He can't give any indication that his commitment to his sons supersedes his commitment to the God of Israel. He has to acknowledge before the people that honoring the God of Israel supersedes everything else.

Sometimes we trivialize the worship of God. We think God is so pleased. I mean, we come together, doesn't matter if we study His Word, doesn't matter if we really obey it. He should just be pleased that we take the time to give Him time. We act like this is something we can do in any way. God is serious about this. We are not under the Mosaic law anymore. We see how serious God is about this matter of worship.

Come back to Hebrews. Now God has His Son as our High Priest. Do you think He is any less serious about how worship is carried out and conducted? Any less serious about the matter of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ and how we come to Him? I mean, this is a High Priest that surpasses in every way the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants. Doesn't mean now we can do whatever we want however we want. Not under the same restrictions as the Mosaic Law, but we have the commandments of Christ to follow. We come to Him His way. Well, does it matter if we set up another system of priestly order here and a high priest and we'll come through them? It matters greatly. Did it matter if Aaron's sons got the coals for the fire from one place or another place? It mattered enough that it cost them their lives. It's like deal with God, we did it this way, we thought you would be pleased. We had good intentions.

The next section in Leviticus 10 there that we didn't go on to warns that priests are not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages. Some commentators believe that moving into that section may be connected that perhaps the activity of the sons of Aaron had to do with some of the indulgence in alcoholic beverages. We're not told, but the priest has to have a clear head when he is about the work of the Lord so that it is done His way.

So Hebrews 5:4, “no one takes the honor to himself but receives it when he is called by God.” There is only one person now appointed as High Priest, Jesus Christ the Son of God. And by His high priestly ministry He has opened the way, and that's what is going to be unfolded in the coming chapters, for those who believe in Him to come into the presence of God. And that's why we refer to believers as believer-priests, because we have access to the presence of God, to the throne of God.

So verse 5 will pick up, and I just want to touch on these verses and then we'll be looking at them in our future study. “So also Christ.” So you see what he is going to do now, he has talked about what was true of every high priest under the Old Testament system. Now he is going to apply that to Christ and show that Christ meets all the criteria required of the high priest and is superior in every way. And he moves through what had to be true of every high priest, ending with he doesn't appoint himself, he has to be appointed by God. So he is going to pick up on that point and then work backwards to cover what he covered in the previous verses.

“So also Christ did not glorify Himself.” So verse 4, no one takes the honor, no one takes the honor to call himself and appoint himself high priest, but he has to be called by God. “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become High Priest.” Christ did not appoint Himself High Priest, it was the work of the Father. Then you have two verses quoted here. The first quote is from Psalm 2:7, “You are my son, today I have begotten You”. Go back to Hebrews 1:5, “you are My Son, today I have begotten you,” showing the superiority of Christ. He is God's Son. That began that list in Hebrews 1 of quotations that go down through verse 13.

Come back to Hebrews 5, just as He also says in another passage. The One who declared and appointed Him Son also said, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”. So the One who is Son is also the One who is priest. And He is also as we have seen earlier in Hebrews, Son of God and Son of Man. Now He is the God/Man who is the High Priest to represent the people. That verse quoted in Hebrews 5:6 comes from Psalm 110:4.

Come back to Hebrews 1:13. This list of quotations, and you can see them marked out as Old Testament quotations in your Bible, began in verse 5 with the quote from Psalm 2. They end in verse 13 with a quote from Psalm 110. Same chapter different verse. “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” That's Psalm 110:1. The verse quoted from Psalm 110 in Hebrews 5:6, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,” comes from Psalm 110:4. So we have Psalm 110:1 and Psalm 110:4. He brings these two, that list of quotations was bracketed by a quote from Psalm 2 and Psalm 110.

Now we bring together because of what he has talked about, He is the Son and God has declared Him a High Priest forever. It would be a sin of a high hand, blasphemous rebellion to turn from this High Priest to a human priest, to the Levitical system. He is superior in every way, He is the Son and God has declared Him the forever High Priest. That will be unfolded in subsequent chapters in Hebrews.

And He is a priest of a new and superior order. He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Come back to Genesis 14 as we wrap up. Here we find this unique person Melchizedek. The details of this will be unfolded in later parts of Hebrews, but I want you to be familiar with it. This is when Abraham, his nephew Lot and his family were residing in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And then those cities were conquered by some kings and Lot and his family were carried away captive. Abraham marshals his servants and the men of his household to go rescue Lot and he defeats those kings and he rescues Lot and his family. And he is returning home and he is met, verse 18, “and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. Now he was priest of God Most High.” Here you see this unique person, he is a king/priest. “He is Melchizedek, king of Salem, which is Jerusalem, king of peace.” And he is a priest.

In the Levitical system there is a clear distinction between the role of the king and the role of the priest. You remember what happened to Saul when he intruded into the office of priest, tried to function as a high priest. He suffers devastating consequences.

This Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of the Most High. “He blessed Abraham and said, blessed be Abraham of God Most High.” Later in Hebrews we'll find out that giving a blessing showed that Melchizedek was superior to Abraham, the father of the Jews. Father Abraham, the father of Moses, Aaron, as they were descendants of Abraham. And yet Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Abraham gave him a tenth, showing he recognizes superiority of Melchizedek.

All this to prepare us for what he is going to say about Melchizedek in the unfolding portions of Scripture. The next reference we have in Scripture is Psalm 110 and then we come to the book of Hebrews where it becomes a key focus.

There is only one High Priest, there is only one way of access to God. “Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” As High Priest He has offered one sacrifice for sin for all time. Later in Hebrews we'll find out, “then He sat down,” the work is done. There is no other sacrifice, the sacrifice of the mass is blasphemous. There is no other high priestly ministry going on, it is blasphemous. There is only one way of salvation. “No man comes to the Father but by Me, and through Him we can come directly to the Father.” Manmade system that sets up anything else, some Protestants, I'm glad I'm Protestant and not Catholic. They are all wrong. You don't go to heaven because you're a Protestant, either. There is only one way to heaven and that's through Jesus Christ. I'm not a high priest, I'm not even a regular priest in that sense, any more than any other believer. We have priestly privileges as believers, all of us, because Jesus is our High Priest, we can come with confidence before God's throne. We can pray for one another, but you don't need me to intercede for you in God's presence. You can go talk to God. So we intercede for one another when we pray for one another. I can't bestow any grace upon you, you go to God and at His throne of grace you find grace and mercy.

Isn't it wonderful that God has made such provision? Isn't it sad that people continue to rebel against it, reject it, fail to consider the consequences. “If we go on sinning willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ as God's High Priest, God's Savior, there is no other sacrifice for sins.” All that is in your future is the fearful, terrifying judgment of God's eternal hell.

Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Lord, how gracious and merciful You have been to give us Your Word. How blessed we are in the day in which we live to have copies of this Word in our own possession, that which is most precious and valuable of all that we have, all that we own, your Word that tells us of Your Son, His work on the cross, His position as High Priest. Lord, wonder of wonders, His sacrifice, our faith in Him, having Him as the One who represents us. We come before Your throne which for us is a throne of grace, we find abundant sufficient mercy and grace for all the needs of our lives. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.