Daily Archives: March 2, 2015

A Perfect Son

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A PERFECT SON

During the days of Jesus’s life of earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 5: 7-10)

What a holy moment! The writer allows us a glimpse into the anguish of the son of God. Isaiah called Him ‘a man of sorrows and familiar with grief’ and yet He was also described as a man of joy, anointed with the oil of joy above His companions. Jesus experienced the intensity of sorrow more than any other person because, firstly, He felt the pain of His people who were cut off from the Father and, secondly, He felt the power of temptation that threatened to cut His off from the Father.

What is this writer implying? That Jesus was threatened with death but He escaped it because God heard His prayers? But that did not happen. We know that He was crucified, so that cannot be what the writer meant. In what way was Jesus saved from death? The threat of death hung over Him from the moment of His birth. He was ‘the last Adam’, born of a human mother, but born with the nature of Adam before the fall. Unlike us who are born with nature of fallen man, He was able to sin but also able not to sin.

His entire human life was a test of His submission and obedience to the Father. Where Adam failed, He dared not fail. To qualify as a perfect high priest and sacrifice, He had to be the perfect Son. If He were to be an acceptable sacrifice, He has to be without sin so that, like the Levitical high priest on the Day of Atonement, He had to emerge from the Holy of Holies alive as a sign that His sacrifice was accepted.

Jesus knew the intensity of sin’s power to lure Him away from perfect trust in the Father and perfect obedience to the Father’s will. His entire life was a test of obedience, the battle in Gethsemane being the zenith of that struggle against sin. In spite of the spectre of the horrible experience that lay before Him, and the bloody sweat that poured from His pores like the precious oil pressed from the olives, He submitted to the Father’s will.

Jesus was God’s Son. He was God. He was the exact replica of God in human form. He has all the power, all the knowledge, and all the attributes of God but He chose to live as a man, never once employing His divine power as God during His earthly life. His power came from the Holy Spirit, God’s equipment who came upon Him at His baptism. He lived in perfect union with the Father, entrusting Himself to Him for every need and every situation.

This was the only way in which He could qualify to be the Saviour of humankind. He knew what it was to be weak and to have to trust His Father instead of acting as God. He had many great battles with the enemy. We know nothing of His childhood when, as a young, vulnerable and impressionable boy He had to call the devil’s bluff and trust His Abba. We have just one example of this warfare when He was tempted to act as God and to act independently of His Father in the wilderness. He passed with flying colours.

How did He overcome? Through His constant fellowship with the Father in prayer. He stayed in touch with the Father so that He would know and do His will. He listened to the voice of the Spirit. He drew strength from the Holy Spirit. He learned obedience from what He suffered. He learned the meaning of obedience by being obedient through every test. He felt the strength of Satan’s pressure on Him but He resisted and overcame every time. He could challenge His accusers with the words, ‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?’  What a challenge! What a testimony!

Yes, Jesus was amply qualified to be both our king and our high priest. His perfect submission and obedience to the Father set Him apart as the perfect Son and gave Him the right to be the source of eternal salvation for everyone who believes. He is now and forever the eternal high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

From And For The People

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FROM AND FOR THE PEOPLE

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sin, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God just as Aaron was. (Heb. 5:1-4)

What makes the difference between a high priest and the rest of the people and what gives him the right to carry the office of high priest?

He is ‘called by God’. He is set apart by divine appointment to stand between God and the people and to offer sacrifices on their behalf – sacrifices acceptable to God because He prescribed what was to be done and how it was to be done in order to forgive their sin and to bring His people near to Him.

What qualified him to be a high priest? He was chosen from among the people. That meant that he had to be one of them. He had to be human, subject to the same sins and weaknesses as they were so that he would not consider himself better or a cut above the rest. Why was this? He needed to be gentle with his fellow sinners because he walked in their shoes. He needed to approach God with his people on his heart, not as a judge but as one of them.

He was also chosen to represent the people to God. He was the go-between, standing between his sinful compatriots and a holy God to bring blood to atone for their sin. Before he could atone for the sin of anyone else, however, he had to remember that he was also guilty before God. He also need blood to cleanse him from the guilt and pollution of his own imperfections before he could represent the nation to God.

The high priestly office was ongoing because death brought an end to the ministry of one man, and the office had to be handed on to the next and to the next as each succeeding generation passed on. It was, therefore, an interrupted function. No one was able to carry on standing before God for his people indefinitely.

How frustrating for God’s people when a kindly and sympathetic high priest died and was replaced by a man who did not carry the weaknesses of his people on his heart! The people were at the mercy of those who represented then, good or bad. This office was both a blessing and a curse for them, depending on the qualities of each man who stood before God for them.

In the same way, Christ did not take on Himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to Him, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ And He says in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ (Heb. 5: 5-6)

What was the writer trying to prove? Jesus was fully qualified to take on the office and function of high priest for His people. He was one of them – born and raised as a Jew. He was appointed by God to be high priest, not of the tribe of Levi who had to pass the office on because of death. He was of the order of Melchizedek – a mysterious figure who appeared on the scene briefly during the time of Abraham. We shall learn more of him as the letter proceeds.

Why Melchizedek? He was both king of Jerusalem and priest of the Most High God, and Jesus was to be both king and high priest, both offices to be fulfilled in one man which was forbidden of the Levitical priests. Jesus was both the Son of God, making Him eligible to be a priest and a descendant of David, putting Him in line for the throne of David.

Why was this so important to these Jewish readers? As true Jews, they had to be sure that Jesus was no usurper. He had to have the qualifications laid down in God’s word to fulfil the offices of king and priest, of which Melchizedek was the forerunner. Did He qualify? Yes. Was He eligible? Yes. In every way Jesus was superior to the Leviticus priesthood, and fully qualified and competent to represent His people to God.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.