FBCHS Bible Study Power Hour -The Hight Priest

The Hight Priest

Hebrews 4:14-16,5:1-14

In the fourth chapter, the writer of Hebrews provides us with another title to consider when we think of Jesus. Jesus is presented as a great high priest. In antiquity, high priests functioned as intermediaries. They offered sacrifices for the appeasement of the gods and the sins of the people. They offered intercessions and prayers, pleading the case of the people before God. They stood in the gap between God and the people. Jesus is described as “a great high priest who has passed through the heavens” (4:14). He is a high priest “who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet is without sin.” In Jesus, we have a high priest who is empathetic with our struggles. Jesus’s movement between heaven and earth transformed the role of the priesthood. The lyrics to the song “Lord, we lift your name on high” summarize these Jesus’s journeys. “He came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross our debt repaid, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky.” Because of Jesus, the boundaries that have separated humanity from God are permeable. We can approach God because of our great high priest.