Hebrews 4:14-16 Our Great High Priest

 

Moses did not lead the people of Israel into the promised rest; in fact he himself was forbidden to enter the land. Joshua led them into their physical rest, but not into the promised spiritual rest. But what about Aaron, the first high priest? Is it possible that the Aaronic priesthood, with all of its sacrifices and ceremonies, could bring a troubled soul into rest? The Hebrew Christians who received this letter were sorely tempted to return to the religion of their fathers. After all any Jew could travel to Jerusalem and see the temple and the priests ministering at the altar. Here was something real, visible, and concrete. When a person is going through persecution, as these Hebrew Christians were, it is much easier to walk by sight than by faith. Some of us have doubted the Lord under much less provocation than these people were enduring. The central theme of Hebrews is the priesthood of Jesus Christ, what He is now doing in heaven on behalf of His people. Is the high priestly ministry of Christ superior to that of Aaron and his successors? Yes it is, and the writer proves it.

Jesus Christ is the GREAT High Priest (v. 14). No Old Testament priest could assume that title. But in what does our Lord’s greatness consist? To begin with, Jesus Christ is both God and Man. He is “Jesus, the Son of God.” The name “Jesus” means “Savior” and identifies His humanity and His ministry on earth. “Son of God” affirms His deity and the fact that He is God. In His unique person, Jesus Christ unites Deity and humanity, so that He can bring people to God and bring to people all that God has for them.

Not only in His person, but also in His position Jesus Christ is great. Aaron and his successors ministered in the tabernacle and temple precincts, once a year entering the holy of holies. But Jesus Christ has “passed through the heavens.” When He ascended to the Father, Jesus Christ passed through the atmospheric heavens and the planetary heavens into the third heaven where God dwells (2 Cor. 12:2). How much better is it to have a High Priest who ministers in a heavenly tabernacle than in an earthly one!

But there is another aspect to Christ’s position: not only is He in heaven, but He is enthroned. His throne is “the throne of grace” (v. 16). The mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant was God’s throne in Israel (Ex. 25:17-22), but it could never be called “a throne of grace.” Grace does not veil itself from people. Grace does not hide itself in a tent. Furthermore the common people were not permitted to enter the holy precincts of the tabernacle and the temple, and the priests got only as far as the veil, and only on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). But every believer in Christ is invited, and is even encouraged to “come boldly unto the throne of grace”! What a great throne it is because our Great High Priest is ministering there. Something else makes Him great: He is ministering mercy and grace to those who come for help. Mercy means that God does not give us what we do deserve; grace means that He gives us what we do not deserve. No Old Testament high priest could minister mercy and grace in quite the same way.

Now because of the superiority of Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest, over Aaron, two important conclusions can be drawn. First, there is no need in giving up our profession just because we are going through testing and trial (v. 14). The word translated “profession” means “confession.” These Hebrew Christians were tempted to give up their confession of faith in Christ and their confidence in Him. It was not a matter of giving up their salvation, since salvation through Christ is eternal (Heb. 5:9). It was a matter of their public confession of faith. By returning to the Old Testament system they would be telling everyone that they had no faith in Christ (Gal. 2:11-21).

The second conclusion is this: there is no need to go back because we can come boldly into the presence of God and get the help we need (v. 16). No trial is too great, no temptation is too strong, but that Jesus Christ can give us the mercy and grace that we need, when we need it. “But He is so far away!” we may argue. “And He is the perfect Son of God! What can He know about the problems of weak sinners like us?”

But that is a part of His greatness! When He was ministering on earth in a human body, He experienced all that we experience, and even more. After all, a sinless person would feel temptations and trials in a much greater way than you and I could ever feel them. Christ was tempted, yet He did not sin; and He is able to help us when we are tempted. If we fail to hold fast our confession, we are not proving that Jesus Christ has failed. We are only telling the world that we failed to draw on His grace and mercy when it was freely available to us.

Hebrews 4:14-16 Reflection Questions:

When you have been tempted and gone through trials have you held onto your confession of faith?

How often do you need the mercy and grace from Jesus Christ? Journal them so you can always remember!

Have you ever gone boldly into the presence of God to get the help you need? How has that helped your confession of faith?

Isaiah 37:14-38 Hezekiah Seeks the Lord’s Help

 

Contrast this with 37:1-2, where Hezekiah tore his own clothes and asked Isaiah to pray. Now there is no tearing of clothes and he does his own praying. Here is a man who knows his way about in the realm of faith. He begins by committing all to God (v. 14) and then turns to asking (vv. 15-20).

What a magnificent prayer! And how feeble it makes our own prayers seem by comparison. It begins and ends with God, and its overriding concern is that God might be glorified in the situation. Hezekiah has gone up to the temple and spread out Sennacherib’s letter before the Lord. And now, as he begins to pray, he recalls who it is he prays to: O Lord Almighty of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim (v. 16a). This is no distant, unknown God, but the God who has revealed Himself to His people and is present among them. He is not just a local, national God, He is Creator of heaven and earth and sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth (v. 16b).

Hezekiah’s prayer is magnificent because it arises from a deep and true understanding of who God is, and is fundamentally an act of worship. Such praying lifts people out of themselves and into the presence of God. And in that context, present problems are not lost sight of; they are just seen from a new perspective, and the cry for deliverance becomes a cry that God’s kingdom may come and His will be done (v. 20). The context of worship purges the cry of all pathetic self-interest and binds together the one who cries and the One who hears in a common desire and a common purpose. If only we could learn to pray like this, what times we would have on our knees, and what a difference we would see in the progress of the gospel in the world!

Such prayers do not go unheeded. Even as Hezekiah has been praying, God has been revealing His Word to Isaiah, so that Hezekiah scarcely has time to rise from his knees before he receives an answer (v. 21-22). We must not miss this, because it is part of the Bible’s strong teaching about prayer. Because someone has prayed, God steps in and changes the course of history. It is a breathtaking truth, and at first sight a worrying one, because it appears to put humans rather than God in control. But this is just an illusion. There is no conflict between God’s absolute sovereignty and the power of prayer, because, quite simply, this is the way God has chosen to work. Through prayer He draws us up into His purposes and involves us in what He is doing. What a privilege! Even the desire to pray is His gift.

The first word that Hezekiah receives is a judgment oracle against Sennacherib (vv. 22-29). The second word is a sign for Hezekiah himself (v. 30). The removal of Sennacherib will be only a means to an end, and Hezekiah will know that it is indeed the Lord who has done it by the positive things that flow from it (vv. 30b-32). The third and final word of Hezekiah again concerns Sennacherib: he will not be allowed to take Jerusalem. The Lord will defend it for His own sake and for the sake of David His servant (vv. 33-35). For all Hezekiah’s piety, the plans of God do not revolve around him, but around God Himself, and His servant. Hezekiah is saved, not for his own sake, but for the sake of another.

All that is needed to draw this chapter to its close, however, is the brief, almost matter-of-fact report that God did what He said He would do. He broke the morale of the Assyrian force with a single blow (v. 36), where upon Sennacherib obediently broke camp and headed for home (v. 37), and eventually met precisely the fate that the Lord had said He would (v. 38). The towering tyrant is dispatched in just three verses. All Hezekiah had to do, like his fathers of old was to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” It brought king and people back to the exodus roots of their faith.

Isaiah 37:14-38 Reflection Questions:

Do your prayers include a concern that God is glorified or are they just for your wants and needs?

Do you see yourself as a partner with God in the course of history?

What is the main lesson you learned from this study?