Jesus Is Our Self-Sacrificing High Priest

Jesus Christ Is Our Self-Sacrificing High Priest

Hebrews 10:5-14 From the moment God clothed Adam and Even with animal skins in the garden, the sacrifice of animals was the chief act of worship for God’s people for thousands of years.  It was built into the worship laws that God gave them on Sinai.  It was the very heart of their religious life.   

These sacrifices went on daily from Adam to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. and there is no way to know how many tens of millions of animals were sacrificed in those millennia.  But not one of those sacrifices—in and of itself—actually took away sins or reconciled God to man.  The Bible says that:

when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

            When the Bible writer says that God did not desire all of these sacrifices and offerings, he is not saying they were not commanded by God—they were!  There were dozens of rules and laws and regulations given by God at Sinai that guided every aspect of this central act of worship-- and there were sacrifices and offerings for every kind of sin. 

But they were never intended to be an end unto themselves.  They were never supposed to be a merely external act that would somehow remove God’s wrath over man’s sin.  They were never intended by God to be permanent. 

Their only purpose was to literally put flesh and blood on the promise that God had made in the beginning—that he himself would raise up a Savior who undo the works of Satan.  That he was the one who would make right what man’s sin destroyed.

That promise, and its fulfillment, required—not an animal and tens of millions of sacrifices—but instead required the Seed of the Woman—one of us, a real human being with real human flesh who would suffer and die for the sins of the world.  That is what God promised and that is what God delivered.

In the womb of the Virgin this seed of a woman was conceived and was born and entered into the world—one of us in every way except sin—born under the demands of the Law that convicts every one of us because we have failed to do God’s will. 

But this one who bore our flesh would not fail under the law’s demands but would instead fulfill them every way, all his days.  Jesus said about himself:

‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”  When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.”

            Adam and Eve were commanded by God to do just one thing—one act of obedience that would demonstrate their submission to God’s will:  to refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which they promptly did anyway. 

From that moment on, in their own immediate family, and in the family of man throughout time—all of their children, including us here today, have done exactly the same thing as they did, ignoring and disobeying God’s will in thought, word and deed—in the things that we do and in the things that we have left undone.

But throughout the Bible, the prophets spoke of one to come who would delight to do God’s will—who would render to the Lord the perfect obedience that God expects of us all. 

Moses spoke of the greater prophet to come and David spoke of the perfect King and Isaiah spoke of the priest who would offer the sacrifice that would truly bring peace and healing.

They looked forward to, and spoke of, Jesus Christ, who in every way, throughout his life desired nothing other than to do his Father’s will.  Jesus said about himself, I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

God demands of all of us that we be holy in exactly the same way that he is holy-- and yet all of us—from the very beginning have failed to do that. 

Jesus didn’t fail.  He did his Father’s will.  He spoke his Father’s words.  He accomplished his Father’s mission.  Jesus says,

this is my Father’s will, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.

The Good News for us is that God counts Jesus’ holy obedience as our own obedience through faith in him and credits that holiness as our own righteousness in his sight.  This is what thousands of priests and millions of sacrifices could never do.  The Bible says that Jesus:

does away with the first in order to establish the second.  And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

            There was one purpose for the Old Testament priests and sacrifices and that was to point to Jesus Christ—to paint a portrait of what the Savior would do-- and who the Savior would be.

And when he entered into our flesh- and bore our sins- and sacrificed himself on the cross- that purpose was fulfilled for all people in every time and place.

When Jesus commended himself into the hands of his Father, and gave up his Spirit, and died on the cross-- the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom signifying that the old distance between God and man no longer existed because the bloody sacrifice of Jesus on the cross had paid for the sins of the world and bridged the distance between God and man.

The Old Covenant came to an end, not because Jesus sinfully set aside the very commands of God regarding the worship life of his people, but because he fulfilled it perfectly—as both priest and sacrifice. 

That was a sacrifice that had never happened before-- and would never happen again –and need never happen again--and through faith in Jesus we are holy in God’s sight.

That is what the Bible writer is talking about when he says that we are “sanctified” through the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Our sins were laid upon Jesus as the Lamb of God and like the scapegoat in the Old Testament he has carried them away.  He is the sin offering whose blood has atoned for our failure to do the Father’s will. 

And through faith in him we are holy in God’s sight and set apart as his children who will one day join him at the Father’s right hand.  The Bible says that:

when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

            In the Old Testament, when the priest had finished their work day in the temple, they rested that night, but they got up in the morning to do the whole thing all over again. 

Day after day after day, the smell of the sacrifices never left their nostrils, and the blood on their hands was never really washed away, because the sinning of the people was never done-- with and the sacrifices necessary to remove those sins were never complete.

But when Jesus our great high priest offered up the sacrifice of his sinless body upon the cross, he said “It is finished!” and it was.  The proof of that finished work was given when Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.

The restoration and renewal that God has promised in the beginning through the Seed of the Woman was accomplished by Jesus Christ so that now we can once again count ourselves God’s son and daughters and live in perfect fellowship with him as did Adam and Eve in the beginning and we count on the end of the devil and his works and ways.  The Bible says that Jesus is: 

waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

            The fall of man in the Garden of Eden was not just the story of man’s sin, it was also the story of the devil’s deception.  Satan rebelled against almost from the beginning and his assault upon the ways of God manifested itself on Adam and Eve and their spiritual destruction.

And so when God confronted them all in the garden he promised that he would save mankind but he would destroy the devil by the promised Savior.  And so he has. 

The Bible says that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  And so from Jesus’ victory over Satan in the wilderness-- to every time he cast out devils-- to his death and resurrection, Jesus defeated Satan every step of the way.

And yet, he still prowls around like a roaring lion looking for those he can destroy.  But only for a time. 

When our Lord returns he will judge all of those who have walked with the devil and he will punish them in the fires of hell and along with them the devil himself will be cast into the lake of fire where he will never again afflict the children of men. 

Until that day we can be confident that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, into which we are baptized, and by which we are fed, and through which we are brought to faith and declared to be God’s children, is fully sufficient to make us holy and set us apart as God’s people forever.  Amen.

Jesus Abundantly Meets Our Needs

Jesus Abundantly Meets Our Needs

John 6:1-15 Over the course of our lives all of us will be confronted by situations that seem hopeless.  Out of nowhere a deadly disease will strike down a loved one.  A couple that we know and love will make some very bad decisions and get a divorce.  A friend will bring misery upon themselves and their family through some addiction. 

            That’s when the misery of the world becomes our own.  Most of us will make an effort to help.  But when we see the poverty of our own resources we are tempted to throw up our hands in despair and give up–and lose hope.

            That is why it is so important for us to know that, when we are confronted by situations that seem hopeless, God is not asleep at the wheel, he is not nodding in his rocking chair, and he has not abandoned us. 

            In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus steps right into the middle of this broken, needy world and assures us that there is help for us in these situations no matter how hopeless it seems and no matter how meager our own resources are.  The Bible says that:

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the sings he was doing on the sick.  Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.  Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews was at hand.  Lifting up his eyes, then, and saw that a large crowd was coming toward him

      The Good News for us today is that no matter what we are facing, no matter how difficult and overwhelming, Jesus knows about it and cares.  With the same eyes that saw the needs of the people that day Jesus sees our needs today.  Not only are our spiritual needs his concern--but our physical needs as well are a part of his loving concern for us. 

            What drew the crowd to Jesus were those miracles that met physical needs and relieved physical burdens in hopeless situations.  He healed the sick and raised the dead and drove out demons.

            In every situation Jesus showed that where our resources and efforts are insufficient–when the situation seems hopeless--he is more than able to lovingly provide for the needs of his people—just like he did that day.

            He was not just a disinterested observer of the world’s misery (as we sometimes are) and he didn’t turn his back on those in need (as we sometimes do).  He saw their need, had compassion on them, and brought the mercy and power of Almighty God into their lives to provide for their needs. 

            So it is with us who gather around Jesus today in this place.  He sees your needs and the needs of those you love and promises to provide.

            Because Jesus is with us, we are not alone- and the situations that trouble us are not hopeless.  Whether it is an illness or a marriage in trouble or an addiction or a financial disaster that threatens us, we can be confident that Jesus sees our needs, has compassion on us, and will act in perfect love and wisdom to provide for those needs just like he did that day.  The Bible says that:

Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people might eat?”  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 

            The second point I want to make is that we are not merely at the mercy of forces beyond our control but that God uses difficult situations–even the seemingly hopeless situations that are troubling us right now-- for our good.  They have a meaning and a purpose that is rooted in the eternal, loving will of God for our lives. 

            Often times, just like with Phillip, they are a test of our faith—God lovingly using difficult times to make our faith stronger.  The Bible says that we are to:

Consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. 

            We know about this kind of testing don’t we?  We can look back at moments of testing when we went through hard times and how with God’s help we became stronger Christians because of it. 

With Christ by our side, we can be joyful even in the midst of trials because we know that he is strengthening and sustaining and purifying our faith.  That’s what Jesus was doing that day with Phillip.

            Jesus wanted Phillip to recognize two things.  He wanted him to recognize his own insufficiency to meet the needs of the people of that day–Phillip passed that part of the test.  He said:  Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.  Phillip knew that he and the other disciples didn’t have the resources to meet those needs. 

            But more importantly, Jesus wanted Phillip to recognize that there was One there with him who was more than able to provide for the needs of the people in such a hopeless situation and it was Jesus. 

Jesus who had calmed the sea, Jesus who had healed the sick, Jesus who had raised the dead was more than able to feed the multitude---but Phillip was so focused on what he didn’t have that he forgot about the one standing next to him. 

            We do the same thing.  When we are confronted by the impossible and the hopeless we forget that it is that Jesus is with us every step of the way!  He wants us to lift up our eyes from what we don’t have to who we do have-- and see in him the provision for our needs of body and soul.  The Bible says that: 

One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?

            Phillip gets some bad press in this account but Andrew didn’t do much better.  He suggested five barley loaves and two small fish but recognized that it wasn’t much.  He too forgot about who it was that was with them–the only one who could provide for that multitude of people.

            But there was another disciple there who was following Jesus.  He doesn’t have a name in the story but he was a follower of Jesus–a believer--a little boy who brought his little lunch along–barley loaves and fish, the food of the poor and he placed his lunch in Jesus’ hands with confidence and faith in Jesus’ power. 

            We can do the same.  We all have resources that Jesus has provided to us to give to someone in need.  A shoulder to cry on–a compassionate ear to listen to their worries–physical resources to meet their needs. 

Like Andrew, too often we see how little we have to give--and so we give nothing—but the little disciple in our text reminds us that though we may have little to give, if it is given in child-like faith, simply entrusting it into the hands of Jesus, it can meet the needs of others beyond our wildest imaginations.  Jesus told his disciples:

“Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

            We have heard the miracle of the loaves and fishes so many times over the years of Sunday school and church and I’m afraid because of that we don’t hear it anew.  But just imagine with me for a moment how the people must have experienced it that day. 

            You are seated in the midst of a crowd, people as far as you can see, and one guy way down in front lifts up the food to heaven, gives thanks to God for it, and begins to hand it out. 

            And then a miracle takes place.  Rather than being depleted by the distribution to the crowd, the food grows and grows and grows.  And by the time the meal is finished, with everyone holding their stomachs and groaning with satisfaction, there is more left over than what they started with. 

You can imagine how the murmurs of amazement in the crowd must have grown into shouts of joy and delight as they saw what was happening. A miracle!  A sign from heaven pointing directly to Jesus as the one whose open, outstretched hand provides for every living thing. 

When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”  Perceiving then that they were to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountains by himself.

            Scripture had foretold of the prophet to come who would do greater miracles than Moses.  That is who the people knew Jesus to be and so they set out to make him king.  But Jesus would have none of it.  He knew what was in people’s hearts.  They wanted a “bread king”--someone who would always satisfy their physical needs. 

            We fall into the same temptation of wanting Jesus’ help for our needs but rejecting the salvation he offers and his lordship over our lives.  We too want to make him into a “bread king”.  But Jesus will not let that happen because he knows that “bread kings” ultimately destroy people’s souls—giving the people what they want instead of what they need.

            Jesus knows that we have a need that is greater than food and clothing and shelter—and that is the need for salvation.  Our own resources of good works and right intentions and serious resolutions to try harder are insufficient to meet that need.

Nothing that WE can do or we can say to God is going to change his verdict of guilty for our sins of hopelessness and materialism and doubt.  But God does provide a way of rescue in his Son Jesus Christ.  Jesus came into the world NOT JUST to provide healing and food for a time for a few-- but to provide forgiveness and salvation for eternity for all. 

            He lived a holy life in our place, always loving and caring for people and providing for people and he suffered the punishment for our selfishness and doubts and hopelessness on the cross.  His life’s blood was and is God’s perfection provision for our salvation. 

God invites us today to look up from our insufficiencies and failures, to turn our backs on hopelessness and despair, and to trust in Christ alone for our salvation. 

No sin of yours or mine or the entire world is enough to deplete the love and mercy of God that is bestowed upon us through in the crucified and risen body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Jesus Christ Is Our Perfect High Priest

Jesus Christ Is Our Perfect High Priest

Hebrews 5:1-9 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.

            The role of the high priest in the Old Testament was to stand between the people of God and the Lord—to be a mediator who would offer sacrifices for the sins of the people and pray to God to forgive them.

His very presence was a living reminder that something had gone very, very wrong between mankind and God—that the perfect fellowship that God created in the beginning and intended to last forever had been lost along the way and now there was a distance between God and man on account of sin.

No longer could man come to God on his own—no longer could he expect to be heard by God—no longer could he live in the presence of a holy God.

And so God established the priesthood from Aaron’s family and ordered the worship life of the people of God in such a way that fellowship could be re-established between God and man by the service of priests. 

The priests and especially the high priests would come into the presence of God and confess the sins of the people of God and sacrifice an animal whose blood would atone for those sins.

Of course, we know (just like they did) that the blood of animals could never really pay for man’s sins but only had its power by pointing to the once for all sacrifice to come-- and so those sacrifices had to be repeated again and again, countless times over hundreds of years.

That was the job of the priests-- and even though they were specially chosen for this work, they were still no different than any of the other people in that they were sinners too. 

That gave them some compassion and understanding of the people’s weakness but it still ultimately left them in the same place—as needing someone to make things right for them too—someone who would truly reconcile them to God.  The Bible says:

Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.

            Once a year on the Day of Atonement, this cycle of sacrifice reached its culmination in the worship life of the people of Israel. 

A bull was slaughtered for Aaron’s sin and its blood was drained into a bowl.  He dipped his hands into this blood and sprinkled it on the cover of the ark and the front of the ark as a visible sign that it took the shedding of blood for sinners to come into the presence of the Lord.

   And then two goats were brought to Aaron and the first was killed for the sins of the people and then he took his bloody hands and laid them on the head of the second goat and confessed all the sins of Israel and it was led away out into the wilderness as a visible sign that their sins were taken away. 

The Lord demanded that the people were to worship in this way so that they would learn the wrath of God that demands a life for sin—but also the mercy of God that provides a substitutionary sacrifice of one life in place of another. 

All of it commanded by God down to the last detail so that God’s people would believe in the Savior to come who would be both the sacrifice and the priest who would make it once for all.  The Bible says that:

No one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 

            Aaron did not take the office of priest for himself—he was chosen and called by God.  In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true high priest did not usurp an office that did not belong to him but was chosen by his Father to be the one who would offer up the once for all sacrifice that atoned for the sins of the world.

As great a man as was Aaron, as important as was his ministry of setting before the eyes of the people the promise of a Savior to come, he was only a servant compared to the very Son of God—Aaron was sinner like all the rest of God’s servants compared to God’s only-begotten Son.

The Bible says:  Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;

That was who was needed if people were truly going to be reconciled to God—not the sacrifice of animals—not even the sacrifice of one sinner for another—but God’s holy, sinless Son going to the cross as our perfect substitute—able to bear the sins of the whole world and die for the sins of the whole world and atone for the sin of the whole world and reconcile the whole world to God because he was God himself.

Such is the incredible love that God has for us poor sinners that the heavenly Father chose his own Son to be the great high priest who would offer the sacrifice necessary to pay for our sins and bring us back to God who said about him:  “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” 

Like every other priest before him and every other priest after him, Aaron served the Lord for a time and then died.  His high priestly work came to an end.  Jesus’ great high priestly work for us has not ended and in this he is like Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is a mysterious figure in the Old Testament.  The beginning of his story is not told nor do we hear of his death.  He reigned as king of Salem during the days of Abraham, the city of peace that would become Jerusalem. 

His name “Melchizedek” means the King of Righteousness but he was also a priest.  Abraham came to him and bowed before him and offered him a tithe.

In all this, Melchizedek is a picture of the Savior to come who is the righteousness of God personified-- and who rules a kingdom of peace-- and who is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. 

Jesus rules the world at this moment for the sake of his people-- and it is his righteousness that is our right standing before God-- and his high priestly work of intercession goes on for us every moment of our life as he lifts up his sacrifice for our sin and beseeches our heavenly Father for our salvation just as he did during his earthly ministry.  The Bible says:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

            Throughout our Lord’s earthly ministry, we see Jesus going about his high priestly work of interceding for and praying for his people.

Standing beside the grave of Lazarus and praying that people would believe in him as he gave life to a dead man; interceding for the church throughout the ages in the Upper Room; crying out to his heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane as he is about to consume the cup of God’s wrath over our sins; and especially on the cross as he calls upon his Father to forgive us of our sins.

The Good News for us is that his heavenly Father heard and answered these prayers of his Son, our great high priest.  And so it continues to this moment and every moment until he come again as Jesus intercedes for our salvation. 

We are part of the on holy Christian church, united in the body of Christ just like he prayed for in the upper room.  We will be raised from our graves just like Lazarus was for Jesus in the resurrection and the life.  And our sins are forgiven just like Jesus prayed for on the cross, shedding his blood to wash them away. 

The Good News for us is that Jesus prays for us and his Father hears him and we are saved by his holy obedience and innocent death.  The Bible says:

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

            When Jesus came to be baptized by John, John was aghast and refused—he knew that Jesus had no sins that needed by be washed away and Jesus prevailed upon him and said that it was necessary that all righteousness be fulfilled and he was anointed in those waters by the Holy Spirit to be our prophet, priest and king.

That was God’s own declaration concerning his Son and yet Jesus continued to do everything spoken of him in the prophets—giving sight to the blind, healing the sick, and setting the prisoner free. 

He lived a perfectly holy life in our place, doing outwardly and inwardly everything that God requires of each of us.  He was tempted and remained faithful to his Father’s will.  And he suffered under every bit of his Father’s wrath over our sins and paid for every sin of every sinner who has ever lived.

As God’s Son he didn’t have to do any of this for himself but he did it for us, as our substitute, born under the demands of the law as we all are, making himself subject to it for our sake as one who took himself our flesh. 

He perfectly fulfilled, in his human flesh, everything that God expects of mankind and he did it so that through faith in him, his perfect, holy, obedience and righteousness could become our own.  That is what is necessary for us to be saved—to be holy as God himself is holy—and the only way for that to happen is to receive the holiness of God’s Son as our own through the obedience of faith that looks to our perfect high priest and trusts in his work on our behalf.  God grant it for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

Be Imitators of God