Hebrews 4:15-5:10

Your Compassionate High Priest

In 2:17, you heard that Jesus Christ had to be made like you in all things so that he might become your merciful and faithful high priest, to make propitiation for your sins.

In 3:1-6, the preacher spoke of Jesus' superiority to even Moses in His faithfulness to God as the Son over all that God had built.  Jesus has full authority over everything because He was faithfully obedient as God's Son.  And it is because of His faithfulness that the preacher pressed upon you to believe in Jesus Christ as the ultimate high priest of God who has fully atoned for all your sins (3:7-19).

Now, in 4:15-5:10, the preacher takes up the second half of 2:17:  Jesus is your merciful, compassionate high priest before God.  To connect these two aspects of Christ's service to God, you might say that it is because Jesus is compassionate towards you that He has proved faithful as your high priest before God.  Or, in His high priestly work, Jesus proved faithful to God and that is why He can now be compassionate towards you.

So far, the preacher has stressed two important themes about the nature of Jesus Christ that are absolutely crucial for your salvation to be accomplished.  First, Jesus Christ can be a compassionate high priest for you because of His exalted position we read about in 1:1-3 and in 4:14.  He is presently the exalted Son at the right hand of God with the full authority and power of Heaven and therefore He is both compassionate towards you and is able to bring about your full salvation and inheritance of Heavenly rest in God.

And second, Jesus Christ can be your compassionate high priest because of his complete identity with you through His own personal suffering.  As the preacher has stressed, the eternal Son of God became like you in all things, a little lower than the angels, to become your perfect savior through suffering the death you deserved for your sin.  He shared in your flesh and blood so that through His own death He might forever render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.  And He was tested in every way that you are now being tested so that He might come to your aid in the hour of your testing (cf. 2:5-18).  And He has only now entered glory through the path of suffering on your behalf so that He might now show compassion towards you in your ordeal of testing.

As the preacher now says in v. 15, do not think you have a high priest who cannot sympathize or feel your weaknesses.  Jesus understands completely what these Hebrew Christians are going through.  He feels their hour of testing.  He knows their pain of persecution and rejection as He fully knows your pains of trial and testing in your own life. 

Don't think of Jesus as simply a detached despot sitting upon His high and mighty throne in Heaven without a care in the world, unable to know what living hell you are having to go through day-to-day!  Don't think he is only faking it when he says he cares for you as you so often here from the mouths of politicians who haven't ever known a day of real want or need in their lives.  Jesus became one of you.  And he tasted the sourness of this life like no other.  He experienced the worst this world has to offer like no other.  Why?

Because Jesus experienced the full testing and temptation of the power of sin in a way that no man has ever known.  You and I have all been in those moments of testing and temptation.  But sooner or latter we have all given in to the power of temptation and tasted the forbidden fruit.  But what must it be like to feel the full force of temptation all the way to the end?  What must it feel like to be given all the world's got, all sin possess, all the power of the devil and never give up?  To go the full mile and then two more and never give in?  That's what Jesus did.  He was tested in every possible way, but unlike you and me, He never gave in.  He never sinned even one time.  He proved completely faithful to the very end and obeyed God fully.

Jesus' obedience was not like our obedience.  He didn't just do the best he could.  He didn't try as hard as he could with a few blunders here or there.  We are talking about something we cannot even imagine -- perfect obedience -- absolutely no sin -- not even one.

Do you ever fear man?  Do you worry about what others will think about you so that you never truly let anyone know who you are?  You always play the game of the hypocrite, trying to be someone else, when deep down you know that's not who you truly are?  Well, Jesus knew that temptation.  He knew He was not going to be popular and the things He had to say were not going to be the things people wanted to hear.  He knew the temptation to act a certain way or to say the things people would like to hear -- but he proved faithful in the Father's mission to say and do only what He was sent to do.

Do you feel the temptation to get back at the one who has hurt you?  Do you sit up at night and dream up ways of giving that person a piece of your mind or setting them right?  Do you wish you had thought of this or that to say to them when they said something that hurt you?  Well, Jesus' whole life was a life of insults against him, which only reached a climax in the passion of his life.  Yet, hanging there from the cross because of your sin, he did not return insult for insult.  He did not curse when He was being cursed.  He trusted God to make all things right in the end.

Whatever you are going through this morning, Jesus has been there already.  That's why you can trust him with your hurts, pains, and most of all -- with your sin.  He knows what it's like to be tempted to find your pleasure and happiness in the things of this world.  He knows what it's like to see the world around you broken and things turning out wrong when you want them to be right.  He knows the feeling of wanting to just give in and compromise to make peace and to satisfy your desires.  There isn't anything you can come up with that he will say, "I have no idea what you are going through."

Therefore, you can draw near to him.  Take whatever is bothering you today to Him.  Take whatever you are worrying about to His throne of grace.  Speak whatever you are afraid of to His ear.  Is it the future?  Is it your sickness?  Is it your sin that so easily causes you to stumble?  Is it your guilt of past mistakes?  Is it the fear of death?  Jesus can handle whatever you bring him.  And he has promised you this morning:

Matthew 11:28-30   28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Whatever your trouble, your trial, your temptation, bring it to Him and you will only find mercy and grace to help you in your time of need.  Do not fear this Savior!  He is not here to condemn you anymore.  He has already been fully condemned for you.  He has tasted the vial of judgment and tribulation for all your sins and worries and doubts.  He has drunk the cup of God's wrath dry for you and all you will find from Him today and tomorrow and forevermore is His loving embrace of grace and mercy. 

Beloved, don't look to heaven and expect to find a judge but the embrace of a compassionate elder Brother and an everlastingly loving Father.  Be honest with yourself.  You need help.  You can't do it by yourself.  In fact, you can do nothing.  You have made a mess of your life trying to do it yourself.  Turn to Him and find a merciful, loving Savior who is the ultimate friend of sinners, who is so mild, meek, and gentle that:

Matthew 12:20   20 "A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT

And Jesus is able to help you at any moment, in any time, anywhere you need Him, because He is no longer limited to one place or one time here on earth as He was in His earthly ministry, but He has now ascended, pass through the heavens, to sit at the right hand of the Majesty on High that He can meet all your needs compassionately and fully with all the glorious resources of Heaven's throne of grace. 

Therefore, you have all the assurance of Heaven to know that you will make it through this current trial or testing of your faith because the One who knows exactly what you are going through is merciful and kind toward you and sits enthroned in Heaven to help you.

Therefore, pray to Him at all times, go before the throne of grace at any moment knowing that you have incredible access to God that no one ever even dreamed of having under Moses.  Think for a moment of the kind of access that the children of Israel had to God under the Mosaic Covenant.  They could approach God's mercy seat only through the representative high priest and then only one time a year, on the Day of Atonement.  But you have a very different access to God's mercy seat -- immediate access at any moment and continually forever and ever.

And further, under the Old Covenant, Israel never knew if God would accept the offering of access to God and therefore their approach was always in fear of rejection.  But because your high priest is utterly faithful to the end, then you may approach the mercy seat of God in Heaven with complete boldness and frankness before God (v. 16).  You never have to check with His secretary to see if God is first in a good mood before you approach Him.  You know without any doubt that because of the perfect offering of Jesus Christ that God is always glad to see you and His door is always open and available to you at any time you need Him.

Now compare this gentle, merciful Savior to the priesthood of the Mosaic Covenant.  On the one hand, the high priesthood of Aaron and his kin were also compassionate toward the sinners of the children of Israel (5:1-4).  But note the reason why the high priest of Moses showed mercy to sinners:  first, because they were appointed from men too.  In other words, they were just one with the whole of the people.  He is made of the same stock as they are.

And because of this unity with the people they served that meant that they too were beset by the same sins that they were atoning for (v. 2).  The high priests were able to be merciful because they knew their own weaknesses.  Rather than being angry or judgmental towards those who came to offer a sacrifice for sin, they knew full well the sinfulness of sin. 

And not only one time, but over and over again, year after year, probably the same sacrifices for the same sins that constantly entangled them (v. 3).  The high priests could never tire of seeing sin in the camp of God's people, because they could be sure sin would show its ugly head over and over again.  And they knew this to be true, because they could simply look at their own heart.  How could they ever look down upon the perpetual disobedience of the people of God when they knew their own perpetual disobedience to God?  They themselves were sinners ministering to sinners.

Therefore, there was nothing special at all about them.  In fact, the preacher emphasizes this fact in v. 4 that it wasn't because they were saints that they took up the office of the high priest, but they served only because God set them aside to serve.  It wasn't that they were somehow different from the people they served, so that they could stand aloof, perched on a high and mighty throne above the other tribes of Israel.  They served among the people as one with them, united by sin and rebellion to God.

We all need to constantly remember this when we look at others.  Don't ever tire of forgiving sin and embracing sinners.  Don't ever let the words, "Oh, no, not again.  I thought we were done with this.  I can't forgive this again," come from your heart, much less your lips.  Know that it will probably happen again.  In fact, it will probably happen year after year after year, day after day, moment after moment.  None of us are made of Teflon against Sin.  No one among the church is outside the possibility of the worse sin and the perpetual entanglement of the same sin over and over again. 

And this is equally true of all who minister in the church of God.  Please don't ever put any man in a position that sets him apart from the rest of the people of God.  All the leaders in the church are mere men and are therefore beset with the same weaknesses as anyone in the church.  No man, no matter how much wisdom God has given to him, or how well he can deliver a lesson or a sermon, is beyond temptation and beyond the most horrible of sins.

Your faith is not in any man in this world anymore than was Israel's faith in the high priests of their day.  They serve only because God has called them, not because of ANY HONOR WHATSOEVER you or they think they deserve.  Their calling is based upon only one thing, God's grace in calling a man to serve among His people, with all their frailties and weaknesses they have in common with the people.  Therefore, don't put your faith in men, but in the only high priest who has forever proved faithful and merciful that He now sits at the right hand of Majesty on High.

Note the radical difference between your high priest, now, and the many high priests of Moses' day (vv. 5-10).  Like the Aaronic High Priests, Jesus too did not take it upon Himself to grasp a hold of the office of high priest.  His too was a calling of God when God said to Him, "Today I have begotten you" (from Ps. 2:7) and "you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Ps. 110:4).  Jesus did not elevate Himself to the office, but like Aaron, He was appointed by God. 

And further, as we noted earlier, like the Aaronic priesthood, Jesus fully identified with His own people.  He too sat among them and felt what they felt.  As we said in 4:15, He was tested and tempted in every way that you are so that He can fully sympathize with what you are going through.  Jesus knows what it is like to lift his prayers to Heaven with the heaviest of hearts.  He understands fully the shedding of tears and loud crying out desperately to the only One who is able to save.  You cannot shed on tear that Jesus doesn't look upon with complete understanding.  You can't lift your voice in prayer with one loud cry that Jesus can't identify with fully. 

But where Jesus is vastly different from any of the high priest under Moses was that His suffering and sorrow was never because of His own sin (vv. 7-9; cf. 4:15).  Jesus' suffering was unique in all of history in that He was suffering as the sacrifice itself.  He was not only the high priest who was offering the sacrifice, but because of his deep love and compassion for you, He became your all-sufficient sacrifice for your sin. 

And it was through that suffering that He proved obedient to all God required of Him.  God sent Him on a mission to die your death, to pay your penalty, and He learned just what obedience to that mission required through His suffering your penalty on the cross of Calvary.  Unlike the high priest of Israel who offered the sacrifice of bulls and goats and then walked away alive, Jesus, Your faithful High Priest, became the sacrifice Himself and was nailed to the cross. 

But because He was obedient, even to the point of death, God received and approved His sacrifice by raising Him from the dead and brining Him to Heaven to sit at His right hand.  Now, the Mosaic high priest never knew for sure whether or not God would accept their offerings, but you can be absolutely sure that God fully accepts the offering of His own Son on your behalf.

It is because Jesus is perfect in every way that He is able to save all who obey His call of salvation by putting their faith in His work alone.  It is because of His faithfulness that you can trust that the work is finished, the atonement has been made, the righteousness has been accomplished, and everything down to the finest detail is complete. 

And because God has appointed Him according to the heavenly order of Melchizedek, you know that the work is finished forever!  This is not a sacrifice that has to be made ever again.  Blood has been shed for you and will never have to be shed again, because your High Priest is forever faithful and compassionate to save you from your sins.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for all who are in Christ Jesus . . . so draw near to Him, come near with boldness and confidence to the Gentle Savior, and know that you will always find mercy and grace to help in your time of need.

Amen!

-SDG-