Chapter 4 records three wonderful gifts that God made available to the Hebrew Christians who were enduring unfair treatment and cruel hatred. God offered His rest which brought peace in difficult times. God gave His Word that is sharper than any sword that constantly operated in their lives to bring healing. And Jesus became The Great High Priest who sympathized with them in trials and difficult situations.
A parallel concept to Hebrews chapter 4 and 5 isPROVERBS 3:5-8 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”
Hebrews chapter 4 and 5 bring the suffering Hebrew Christians to remember how Great of a help Jesus really is, especially their time of need. Verse 14 invites them to remember.
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Back in Acts chapter 1 we have recorded Jesus’ ascension to Heaven. This was certainly a sight as Jesus was elevated to Heaven. The bible records that “the Apostles intently looked up into the sky as He was going.” They might have still hoped for the Messiah to sit on the throne in Jerusalem. But the best place for Jesus to be seated was on the throne in Heaven acting as our Great High Priest. Jesus the Son of God intercedes on our behalf. Believers are exhorted to cling to Him and never stop trusting Him.
When life is hard a believer has the ability to…
PERSEVERE in faith.
We are to hold fast our confession. We don’t have to give up because Jesus is the Great High Priest.
As the High Priest Jesus is one who cares for you and goes to God on your behalf. As Hebrew people, they understood the role of a High Priest. For the rest of us a little lesson, on the High priest is warranted.
Only the High Priest would enter the holiest place in Israel’s Temple. It was called the holy of holies, and it was separated from the rest of the temple by a thick curtain. It contained the Ark of God, the place where God chose to reveal His presence, so no one dared to even look at it, much less be in the same room with it, because unacceptable approaches meant death.
The High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies only once a year with a prescribed way and order and only with the blood of an unblemished sacrificed animal to cover for his own sins and the sins of the Israelite people. Even then, the rest of the priests would tie a rope around his waist that was long enough for the other end of it to stick out from under the curtain. This was in case the High Priest died while in God’s presence, the other priests could pull him out without having to risk their own lives. Being a High Priest in Israel was an awesome responsibility, an awesome privilege and hazardous duty.
However, Jesus is the GREAT HIGH Priest. He far surpassed any High Priest in Israel’s history. Jesus is much better than any of them. He doesn’t go into a man-made temple on earth; He went into Heaven itself. And He doesn’t bring with Him the blood of an animal sacrifice; He brought His own sinless shed blood. And He doesn’t go to an Ark which only represented God’s presence; He is in the very presence of God Himself.
Hold fast to your confession; persevere, because Jesus is the Great High Priest. And …
Second, believers are to find His COMFORT in life
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus is the Great High Priest; and He is the God who knows all our human weakness and suffering. The word for “sympathize” literally means “to suffer together with.” He has experienced weakness, pain, and temptation except that He never sinned.
Jesus can sympathize with us because He was tempted like us yet went far beyond any temptation you or I have ever faced. Our temptations seldom get all that strong, because we tend to give into them too soon. It’s like putting your hand over a flame. As soon as you do, you’re tempted to remove it, which you do very quickly before it burns you. Jesus never gave into any temptation, so He experienced the full burn of every temptation until His life was consumed on the cross.
That means Jesus is the God who is able to walk with us through any situation.
In an article for the Christian Standard magazine in 2007, Matt Proctor wrote about how his 5-year-old, Carl, and his 3-year-old, Conrad, loved it when he dressed like them. They would put on jeans and a blue T-shirt and then ask him to put on jeans and a blue T-shirt. When he did, they said, “Look, Dad – same, same!”
When Matt played living room football with his boys, Conrad (his 3-year-old) would not let him play standing – so big and scary. Instead he insisted that Matt get on his knees. Then, when Matt was down at eye-level, Conrad put his hand on his dad’s shoulder and said, “There. See, Dad – same, same.”
That summer, Matt scraped his leg working on his house. When Conrad fell and scraped his leg, he pointed at his dad’s scab along with his own and said, “Hey, Dad – same, same.”
Here’s the point… God himself has felt what we feel. When He became a man, He got down at eye-level and experienced what it’s like to be tired and discouraged… He knows what it’s like to hurt and bleed. On the cross, Jesus experienced the pain of loss, separated from His Father for the first time in all eternity.
In your pain, you may be tempted to say, “God, you have no idea what I’m going through. You have no idea how bad I’m hurting.” But God can respond, “Yes, I do.” He can point to your wounds and then to his own and say, “Look: same, same… I know how you feel. I have been there, and I am with you now. I care, and I can help.” (Matt Proctor, “Carols for Any Season of Suffering,” Christian Standard magazine, 12-23-07; www. PreachingToday.com)
Third, Believers are to PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE.
All believers are to come boldly to Christ with your need and approach the throne of mercy and grace, because Jesus knows our suffering.
Jesus is the God who suffers with you in your pain, trust Him. In fact, come boldly to Christ with your need. Pray with the confidence because He really cares.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Remember this book is written to Hebrew people who would know more religious culture and background information than we do. Since the day God called Aaron, Israel’s first High Priest to offer mercy, now God called Jesus to offer sacrifices for sins and to deal with the sin of the people with mercy and grace through the blood sacrificial system.
A priest’s role was to offer mercy and grace for the people. But they misused their role many times. For example in Jesus day when they caught a woman committing adultery, they wanted to stone her. They should have encouraged her to sacrifice and repent to have God’s mercy and grace. However, they brought her to Jesus and told Him, “The law says, ‘Stone her!’” But Jesus said, “Let Him who is without sin cast the first stone.” They knew they were all sinners, so they all walked away one-by-one. Then the One, the only One, who had a right to condemn her said, “Where are they? Did no on condemn you? And she replied, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I… Go and… sin no more” (John 8:1-11).
Jesus was doing what the priests should have done. He mercifully dealt with her sin, and He’ll do the same for you. We need to boldly look to Him even when we have badly sinned. We need to admit our sin and find forgiveness. He’ll deal mercifully with you and urge you not to sin any more.
That’s what God called the High Priest to do, and that’s what God called Jesus, the Messiah to do, He came to earth to be our sacrifice and then went to heaven to be our Great High Priest.
Erwin Lutzer wrote in his book about a lady named Nancy who realized this fact and she said. “Lord, I crawled across the barrenness to You with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known You better, I’d have come running with a bucket” (quote by Nancy Spiegelberg in Erwin Lutzer, Failure: The Back Door to Success, p.117).
In our time of need, don’t crawl to the Lord with a tiny little cup; come running with a bucket, because He wants to fill it with all the mercy and grace that we need.
Jesus is the Great High Priest and we can persevere through faith. We can receive comfort because Jesus suffers with you. And we can pray with confidence, finally, when life gets hard…
Believers are to OBEY WITH CONVICTION.
Follow Jesus in the full assurance of faith. Do what He says, because you believe in who He is.
Jesus has the authority to serve as your Great High Priest forever, because God appointed Him to that exalted position.
Hebrews 5:1-4 “For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since He Himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this He is required as for the people, so also for Himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to Himself, but He who is called by God, just as Aaron was.”
A High Priest could never appoint himself to that position. God appointed each one; In Israel’s history how was that done? There were a few times they casts lots, there were times they cast popular vote, most often it was because you were born in family of the high priestly line.
Recall in this chapter of how many times Jesus was called the Son of God! Also we know His earthly lineage that He was in the line of kings, prophets and priests.
Hebrews 5:5-6 “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. “As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”;
These are quotes from two Messianic Psalms. The first one is from Psalm 2, where God appoints the Messiah as King. The second is from Psalm 110, where God appoints the Messiah as Priest forever! God appointed Jesus to His position as High Priest, so He has the authority to serve in that capacity.
More than that, unlike the former High priest, who would only offer to the people temporary mercy and grace, Jesus is the greatest High Priest because He has the ability to forever grant mercy and grace, because He suffered for our sin on our behalf.
Hebrews 5:7 “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”
While in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are told in the Bible that Jesus sweat great drops of blood as He agonized in prayer. He was facing the cross, crying out to His Heavenly Father, who was able to save Him from the penalty of sin; death.
The Bible says “And was heard” in verse 7. In other words, God answered Jesus’ prayer and granted His request, but how can that be if Jesus ended up dying on the cross? Well, Jesus did die, but God raised Jesus from the dead! But first Jesus had to suffer that horrible death. Why?
Hebrews 5:8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
In other words, Jesus had ULTIMATE obedience. He obeyed God to the point of death, even death on a cross. It was absolutely necessary if He was going to become our complete or perfect blood sacrifice to pay for sin.
Hebrews 5:9-10 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”
Jesus became the eternal great High Priest who has the power of salvation! Through His ultimate obedience on the cross, By His unblemished perfect blood sacrifice, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. Jesus has the power to grant eternal life to anyone who puts their trust in Him. Jesus has the ability to save you now and forever, because He suffered and died for you on the cross.
In a book titled The God Who Hung on the Cross, is a story about of how the Gospel came to a small village in Cambodia.
In September 1999 Pastor Tuy Seng (not his real name) traveled to Kampong Thom Province in northern Cambodia. Throughout that isolated area, very few had even heard of Christianity.
But much to Seng’s surprise, when he arrived in one small, rural village, the people warmly embraced him and his message about Jesus. When he asked the villagers about their openness to the gospel, an old woman shuffled forward, bowed, and grasped Seng’s hands as she said, “We have been waiting for you for twenty years.” And then she told him the story of the mysterious God who had hung on the cross.
In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge, the brutal, Communist-led regime, took over Cambodia, destroying everything in its path. When the soldiers finally descended on this rural, northern village in 1979, they immediately rounded up the villagers and forced them to start digging their own graves. After the villagers had finished digging, they prepared themselves to die.
One of the women started to cry for help based on her childhood — a story her mother told her about a God who had hung on a cross. The woman prayed to that God on a cross. Surely, if this God had known suffering, He would have compassion on their plight.
Suddenly, her solitary cry became one great wail as the entire village started praying to the God who had suffered and hung on a cross. As they continued facing their own graves, the wailing slowly turned to a quiet crying. There was an eerie silence in the muggy jungle air. Slowly, as they dared to turn around and face their captors, they discovered that the soldiers were gone.
As the old woman finished telling this story, she told Pastor Seng that ever since that humid day from 20 years ago the villagers had been waiting, waiting for someone to come and share the rest of the story about the God who had hung on a cross. (Doris I. Rosser & Ellen Vaughn, The God Who Hung on the Cross, Zondervan, 2003, pp. 35-37; www.PreachingToday.com)
Jesus had saved them from the Khmer Rouge for a time. Now, He could save them for all eternity after they heard the rest of the story and put their trust in Him.
Jesus has the authority to serve forever as your High Priest, and Jesus has the ability to save forever.
There can only be one response, and that’s to willfully obey Him and follow His Word.
Verse 9 says, “He became the source of eternal salvation to all who OBEY Him.”
That’s the confession of obedience in faith, because your behavior always reflects what you believe. We must truly trust Jesus and His control over all of your life.
John Ortberg said it’s like driving a car. He says it was a “scary day” when he and his wife took their first child home from the hospital. He put her in the car seat in the back of the car, then got in the front seat to drive. She was so small even the baby seat was way too big. Ortberg says, “She looked so fragile to me that I drove home on the freeway going 35 miles per hour with the hazard lights flashing the whole time.” That first day, with his new baby girl in the car, was a scary day for him.
The next “scary day” for him was when she turned 16. That’s when he when handed her the keys. That’s when she moved from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat. Up until then, HE was in control. He chose the destination. He chose the route. He chose the speed; but when he gave her the keys, SHE was in control. If he trusted her to drive the car, he had to let her take control.
A lot of people find Jesus handy to have IN the car. After all, they might require His services. If they have a problem, it’s nice to have Jesus around to take care of the problem, but they’re not so sure they want Jesus to control their life. That’s because they don’t really believe in Him. They don’t trust Him enough. (John Ortberg, True Freedom, sermon on www.PreachingToday.com)
Have you trusted in Jesus, but didn’t willingly let Him choose the destination; or let Him choose the route; and let Him choose the speed. Then don’t kid yourself. You haven’t really trusted Jesus Christ if you don’t. Believe Him to know what is coming ahead, hold onto His Word in faith, and trust in Him in prayer for intercession and then obey Him.
After all, you’re not turning your life over to some 16-year-old. You’re turning your life over to the eternal GREAT High Priest who has the authority to serve forever and the ability to save you now and forever.
Believers will persevere by faith, because Jesus is the great High Priest the Son of God. We are told to pray with confidence, know that Jesus sympathizes and comforts us. We then must live and obey Jesus with conviction.
I invite you to trust Jesus Christ the great High Priest right now. Turn the keys over to Him and let Him drive from now on. Find all your hope in Christ alone.