Jesus Christ: Our Eternal High Priest

This week at the Kanakuk Institute, we have been studying the epistle of Hebrews: a thorough examination of Jesus Christ - His superiority over all things and the necessity of living by faith in Him. One section of this epistle that I had little knowledge of prior to our study is that of the priesthood of Jesus.

In the Old Testament (and prior to the coming of Christ), the high priest was the religious leader of the Israelites, a position that was designated based on ancestry according to the law. The priest was required to be of the lineage of Aaron (Exodus 28:1) and of the Levite tribe (Numbers 18:7), amongst other qualifications. The most important responsibility of the high priest was to enter the Holiest of Holies to stand before God and make an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people, including himself (Exodus 30:10 / Leviticus 16:14-15). The high priest had to conduct this sacrifice on a specific day each year in accordance with the Mosaic covenant.

Nonetheless, this original, imperfect covenant was simply the predecessor to the new, eternal covenant - that which was infinitely better. As the author of Hebrews says: "For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second" (Hebrews 8:7). The key / heart / all in all of this new covenant is Jesus Christ, who has been appointed as the eternal high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek appeared briefly in the Old Testament (Genesis 14) - a king and a priest whose priesthood is without beginning or end, "resembling the Son of God" (Hebrews 7:3).

What does this all mean for believers? It signifies that, per the priestly order of Melchizedek, God appointed Jesus to be our high priest - the One who offered Himself as our atoning sacrifice to cover our sins on the cross (Hebrews 7:26-27) and, in doing so, tore the veil in the temple (Matthew 27:51) to give all believers access to the "Holiest of Holies" of God in the Spirit. Through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, He ascended to heaven and the right hand of God the Father and is acting as our eternal high priest - interceding on our behalf. Jesus entered once for all into the holy places and secured an eternal redemption for believers through His blood (Hebrews 9:12).

Knowing that Jesus is our high priest ought to change the way we perceive our walk with Christ drastically. I know that, in my life, I have had the tendency to withdraw at times from God due to a perceived lack of holiness in myself. Nonetheless, we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, as He Himself was tempted - yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). This knowledge gives me the confidence to approach the throne of God, as the Father does not see my sin but rather the righteousness of His Son - the same Son who is interceding on my behalf to save me from the punishment for sin.

Furthermore, Jesus being our eternal high priest means that His sacrifice on the cross is the final sacrifice for believers. Hebrews 7:26-27 states, "For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since He did this once for all when He offered up Himself." These verses not only signify the eternality of the atonement of Christ, but they also indicate the truth that we (as believers) cannot lose our salvation. Although we continue to fall into sin as long as we are on this earth, Christ's blood has completely covered all of our sin - past, present and future - and our one-time salvific experience will result in faith that will be carried to completion by God until the day of Christ Jesus.