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Jesus, Our High Priest
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:14, 15, NIV). What hope and promise do you find in these two verses that you can apply to your own life and in your own struggle with temptation?
Because Christ resides today as our Priest in the sanctuary in heaven, He in a sense wears the breastplate on His heart, as well. And because He “ever liveth to make intercession” (Heb. 7:25) for us, we should find comfort in the knowledge that our High Priest is touched with the feelings of our problems, pains, and temptations. Like Aaron, Jesus had been a human being who knew the trials, tribulations, and temptations of all humanity; unlike Aaron, however, Jesus was “without sin,” a crucial distinction, for out of His sinlessness we can claim two wonderful promises: (1) the robe of His righteousness can be ours by faith, and thus we know that we stand perfect before God; (2) we can have the power to overcome temptation just as Jesus did.
Read Hebrews 8:10–13. What promises are there for us, and how should these promises be made manifest in our lives?
Here we can see both aspects of what it means to have salvation in Christ, to be covered in His righteousness. How wonderful is the promise that the Lord will be “merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (vs. 12). He is talking about those who through faith have surrendered to Jesus and have claimed His new-covenant promises, those who have His law written in their hearts and thus obey it, not to achieve salvation but because they already have it. Clothed in the covering of His righteousness, they now live out that righteousness in their own lives. That’s the heart and soul of the New Covenant.
| THURSDAY | April 28 |
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:14, 15, NIV). What hope and promise do you find in these two verses that you can apply to your own life and in your own struggle with temptation?
Because Christ resides today as our Priest in the sanctuary in heaven, He in a sense wears the breastplate on His heart, as well. And because He “ever liveth to make intercession” (Heb. 7:25) for us, we should find comfort in the knowledge that our High Priest is touched with the feelings of our problems, pains, and temptations. Like Aaron, Jesus had been a human being who knew the trials, tribulations, and temptations of all humanity; unlike Aaron, however, Jesus was “without sin,” a crucial distinction, for out of His sinlessness we can claim two wonderful promises: (1) the robe of His righteousness can be ours by faith, and thus we know that we stand perfect before God; (2) we can have the power to overcome temptation just as Jesus did.
Read Hebrews 8:10–13. What promises are there for us, and how should these promises be made manifest in our lives?
Here we can see both aspects of what it means to have salvation in Christ, to be covered in His righteousness. How wonderful is the promise that the Lord will be “merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (vs. 12). He is talking about those who through faith have surrendered to Jesus and have claimed His new-covenant promises, those who have His law written in their hearts and thus obey it, not to achieve salvation but because they already have it. Clothed in the covering of His righteousness, they now live out that righteousness in their own lives. That’s the heart and soul of the New Covenant.
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