Download The Authenticity of Jesus` Priesthood

THE AUTHENTICITY OF JESUS’ PRIESTHOOD
Heb. 5:1-10
From the beginning of His walk here on this earth there have been those who have
accused Jesus of being a fake…a fraud.
 You can read through the gospels and you will read instances where the scribes,
and Pharisees, and the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy and
heresy…and in essence what they were trying to do was convince the people that
Jesus was a fake or an imposter! (Matthew 26:65; Luke 5:21)
And here in chapter 5, apparently the Jews were continuing to make that accusation
about Jesus…more specifically in reference to His “high priesthood.”
 You see, in chapter 2:17 and in chapter 3:2 and in chapter 4:14 and 16 the
Hebrew writer has already spoken of Jesus as being a “great high priest” but
apparently some of the Jews who were trying to get these Jewish Christians who
had left Judaism to follow Christ to reject Jesus, were telling them that “Jesus
wasn’t a high priest…the only ones who could be a high priest were those who
were descendants of Aaron…He doesn’t qualify to be a High Priest…so this Jesus is
nothing but a fake!”
And this was important to these Jewish Christians…and it is important to us…because
if Jesus is a fake…if He is an imposter…then we do not have a High Priest who can
make propitiation for our sins…who can save us…who can mediate for us…who can
intercede for us.
 If He is a fake and an imposter then we are without hope and lost.
So, here in these verses the Hebrew writer is going to show that Jesus truly is a high
priest...that He meets all the qualifications to be a high priest
…and in the process of doing this we are going to learn some things about what it
means to be a follower of Christ.
 So, let’s look at this beginning in chapter 5:1.
Vs. 1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in
things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;
 The writer says that “every high priest is taken from among men.”
 The first qualification for being a “high priest” was that he be a man…and that was
something that no one could dispute about Jesus…not even the Jews.
 They knew that he lived as a man, He suffered like a man, He died like a man, He
was flesh and blood like a man…they could not dispute that Jesus was a man.
And notice, the Hebrew writer says that “every high priest is appointed on behalf of
men in things pertaining to God.”
 The position of high priest was not something that any man could claim on his
own.
 In Exodus 28:1 and Numbers 18:6, God gave commandment to Moses concerning
the election of Aaron and his sons to be high priest…so they were appointed by
God.
And so was Jesus…look at vs. 5: So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a
high priest, but He who said to Him,
"Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee";
6 just as He says also in another passage,
"Thou art a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek."
What the Hebrew writer does here is he uses two O.T. passages to show that Jesus
was “appointed by God” to be a high priest.
 He uses Psalm 2:7 which speaks of Jesus being declared or appointed by God as
“King” and then He links that Psalm to Psalm 110:4 which declares Jesus as a “high
priest according to the order of Melchizedek”…and by doing this the Hebrew
writer shows that Christ is not only King by divine appointment but also a high
priest by divine appointment.
And, look at this…a high priest was “appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to
God to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin.”
 A high priest represented the people that he was serving…he manifested their
devotion to God…he expressed what the people wanted to express to God.
 And he did that by offering both “gifts (their worship) and sacrifices (for
atonement) for sin.”
And look at vs. 2. Because he is a man, “he can deal gently with the ignorant and
misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness…
 It would be easy for a high priest under the Law, to be harsh, and severe and
critical and intolerant toward sinners who will not learn and who keep doing the
same thing over and over again…or with those who deliberately do things that
they know are wrong.
 But because of his own humanity and weakness he is able to sympathize and be
patient knowing that he too could commit those same sins.
And look at vs. 3: …and because of it (because of his weaknesses…his humanity) he is
obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.”
 Just because a man was appointed to be a high priest, he wasn’t exempt from sin.
 Therefore, he had to offer sacrifices for his own sins.
And this is one area where Jesus differs from the high priests of the Israelites.
 In fact, this is one of those things that makes Jesus a superior high priest…because
over in chapter 7:26 Jesus was without sin and therefore had no need to offer a
sin sacrifice for Himself.
So you see, here in the first 6 verses of this chapter the Hebrew writer counters any
claims by the Jews that Jesus was a fake and couldn’t qualify to be a high priest by
showing that not only did Jesus meet all the requirements of a high priest…but He
even exceeded them!
And not only was Jesus more than qualified to be a high priest, He is the kind of high
priest you would want to approach God for you…look at vs. 7.
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying
and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His
piety.
 We don’t want a high priest who isn’t heard!
 Jesus was heard because of His deep, religious devotion to God and because of His
complete submission to the will of God…and that is the kind of high priest that we
want mediating for us…and interceding for us.
 What good is a high priest who God doesn’t hear?
 “Father, forgive Virgil of his sins”…but God doesn’t hear that!
 Because of his deep, sincere, devotion to God…a devotion that was willing to
suffer the worst that man could give…when He “cries out” to God on our behalf as
a high priest…God hears.
 This is the kind of high priest we all need.
Look at vs. 8: Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He
suffered.
 With every insult He endured…with every stipe that He suffered…He learned what
obedience to God really was.
 And His obedience through all that He went through…teaches us what it means to
be obedient to God too.
 If He can do it…we can too!
9 And having been made perfect (this is not talking about His moral perfection…this is
talking about His function as our atoning sacrifice. When He remained obedient to
God in spite of what He suffered…He became the “perfect” sacrifice for sin).
And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him (He has shown
us what true obedience is…it is obedience no matter what) the source of eternal
salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of
Melchizedek.
 The Jews would have said, “He can’t be a high priest…He isn’t a descendent of
Aaron…or even the Levites.”
 No, “He was designated by God as a high priest according to the order of
Melchizedek.”
 His priesthood is superior to that of Aaron and the Levites…praise be to God that
we have Him interceding for us before the throne of God.
The Jews accused Him of being a fake, a blasphemer, an imposter…and they did their
best to get the new converts to Christ to abandon their faith in Him.
 But the Hebrew writer tells them, Jesus met every qualification to be a high priest:
He was human, selected from among men…appointed by God…to offer gifts and
sacrifices for the people.
 But one of the things that was different about Jesus is He didn’t have to offer
sacrifices for His own sin…because He was without sin…and because He was
without sin He offered up Himself as a sacrifice for their sin!
 And because of His devotion to God, His prayers and supplications are heard…and
because of His obedience in the face of suffering and death He became the
perfect sacrifice for our sins and our source of eternal salvation.
He is not just a High Priest…He is a superior High Priest after the order of
Melchizedek…and let me show you why that is so significant that we have this kind of
High Priest…look at chapter 7:25:
And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they
were prevented by death from continuing, 24 but He, on the other hand, because He
abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. 25 Hence, also, He is able to save
forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make
intercession for them.
 I will tell you, in my lifetime I have sinned! Still do.
 And it only took one of those sins to condemn me to suffer an eternal
punishment.
 And to be delivered from punishment I didn’t want to turn to a second rate High
Priest who wasn’t going to be heard.
 I didn’t want a High Priest who wasn’t devoted to God trying to make atonement
for me.
 I didn’t want a High Priest who was not “perfected” by what He suffered and who
could not provide for me eternal salvation.
 When it came to my soul…I wanted the very best…and that is why I chose Jesus
Christ, because He is a High Priest who is superior to all others.
Won’t you choose Him too?
Don’t turn away from Him.