The Priest
Hebrews 9:11-28
"And he says in another place, 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.'"
(Hebrews 5:6)
When Adam and Eve sinned, they destroyed the perfect relationship that they had with the Creator. As a result, we cannot come to the Holy God without a mediator, a person to bridge the abyss made between us and God.
Aaron was the first priest of Israel, and a priest's main jobs were making the sacrifices for the people to atone for sin, and going before the Lord on behalf of the people. Aaron was concentrated to his task by Moses. He bridged the gap between God and people of Israel, making an Old Testament picture for us of our priest and mediator, Jesus. But Aaron and all the priests who came after him also needed atonement, being sinners themselves.
Unlike all the other priests, Jesus was born and lived without sin, and therefore He did not need any atonement. Our perfect high priest has paved the way for us to enter the presence of the Holy God. Living for a time as one of us, He truly understands us more than anyone else and lovingly brings us into the presence of God.
INSIGHT
Our great High Priest, Jesus, knows our weaknesses yet welcomes us as His own anyway. How blessed we are!
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Isaiah 33-34
Psalm 87
Acts 9
Hebrews 9:11-28
The Blood of Christ
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep."[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
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