The most important work of the High Priest was done on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) this was the day that the main sacrifice was offered to atone for the sins of the High Priest and of the people. However, there were also sacrifices throughout the year that were offered because, just like you and me, the High Priest sinned and fell short of God’s glory. This work is so significant that God does not allow that a person just choose to do it. No, that person is called by God to perform this task. He is set apart for this holy work. Every moment of his life is wrapped around this prayer, “O God, forgive your people for their sins, and forgive me, too.”
God wants to make it clear, Jesus as our high priest sympathizes with us in every way. He understands the difficulty of our lives and the temptations we face. He is the one who stands before him and offers up prayers and requests before His Father in Heaven, “O God, forgive you people.” And having no sin of His own he does not need to pray, “and forgive me, too,” but He stands as one of us, and chooses to take responsibility for our sins and their consequences. He cried out to his Father, who was able to save him from death, and said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” In other words, Jesus did not want to die any more than you or I want to die. But He willingly died to accomplish the purpose for which He was born and to achieve the desire of His heart: our eternal salvation.
There is allusion to two kinds of high priestly-ness here, that we will dig into more at a later time. However these are the high priestly order of Aaron, who was appointed when God delivered His covenant through Moses, and the high priestly order of Melchizedek, who we know little about except that he was around in Abraham’s time (long before Aaron and Moses).
The author confronts his original readers (and us) in verses 11-14. The recipients of this letter had been Christians for some time. They had grown up Jewish and knew God’s Word. He says, “by this time you should be teachers,” but he charges, “you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.”
When I was a boy playing basketball, we did drills to master the basics of the game; dribbling, passing, layups, etc. I was shocked the first time I saw video of a professional practice and they were doing the same things we did . . . although a lot better. There are basics in the Christian faith as well: God created us, the fall into sin, the need for atonement, the Incarnation, the cross and empty tomb, etc. To say that these are milk and we should mature to eating meat is not to say that we leave these teaching behind, but that these are foundational. These are what are absolutely necessary before we can move on to maturity.
It strikes me that we are in a time of returning to the basics. Many in the church have lost sight of the central reason the church exists – to proclaim the Gospel. And, is we don’t build on the foundation of the basics, everything will crumble.
Do we want to know about Christ’s second coming, the impact of his reign on our community, the influence of holiness in a sinful world, etc.? Yes. Yes, we do. But always, always, always founded on the basics of Jesus life, death and resurrection.
Father help me to keep Jesus central in everything. Amen.
God wants to make it clear, Jesus as our high priest sympathizes with us in every way. He understands the difficulty of our lives and the temptations we face. He is the one who stands before him and offers up prayers and requests before His Father in Heaven, “O God, forgive you people.” And having no sin of His own he does not need to pray, “and forgive me, too,” but He stands as one of us, and chooses to take responsibility for our sins and their consequences. He cried out to his Father, who was able to save him from death, and said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” In other words, Jesus did not want to die any more than you or I want to die. But He willingly died to accomplish the purpose for which He was born and to achieve the desire of His heart: our eternal salvation.
There is allusion to two kinds of high priestly-ness here, that we will dig into more at a later time. However these are the high priestly order of Aaron, who was appointed when God delivered His covenant through Moses, and the high priestly order of Melchizedek, who we know little about except that he was around in Abraham’s time (long before Aaron and Moses).
The author confronts his original readers (and us) in verses 11-14. The recipients of this letter had been Christians for some time. They had grown up Jewish and knew God’s Word. He says, “by this time you should be teachers,” but he charges, “you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.”
When I was a boy playing basketball, we did drills to master the basics of the game; dribbling, passing, layups, etc. I was shocked the first time I saw video of a professional practice and they were doing the same things we did . . . although a lot better. There are basics in the Christian faith as well: God created us, the fall into sin, the need for atonement, the Incarnation, the cross and empty tomb, etc. To say that these are milk and we should mature to eating meat is not to say that we leave these teaching behind, but that these are foundational. These are what are absolutely necessary before we can move on to maturity.
It strikes me that we are in a time of returning to the basics. Many in the church have lost sight of the central reason the church exists – to proclaim the Gospel. And, is we don’t build on the foundation of the basics, everything will crumble.
Do we want to know about Christ’s second coming, the impact of his reign on our community, the influence of holiness in a sinful world, etc.? Yes. Yes, we do. But always, always, always founded on the basics of Jesus life, death and resurrection.
Father help me to keep Jesus central in everything. Amen.
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