‘We Have Such A High Priest, Who Is Set On The Right Hand Of The Throne’
Think of where He ministers for us: in the place of majesty itself. “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: we have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on the heavens,” Hebrews 8:1.
We can picture, perhaps, visiting the camp of Israel on the annual Day of Atonement. He sees a man in gorgeous vestments wearing a mitre on his head and a priceless, gem-studded breastplate on his heart. His rich robes sweep down to the ground and are hemmed with bells and pomegranates. “Who’s that?”
“That is Aaron; he is our high priest, brother to Moses. When we were redeemed from bondage in Egypt, Aaron was Moses’ prophet before the throne of Pharaoh; now he is our priest before the throne of God.”
“This is the annual Day of Atonement. On this day of the year, by divine decree, we are ceremonially separated from our sins as people.” “I see some animals tethered over there,” he says. “There is a bullock, a couple of goats, and some rams. I suppose these are going to be sacrificed.”
“On this day and only on this day in the whole year, our high priest will be permitted to go into the Tabernacle yonder. He will go in through that curtained doorway, pass through the Holy Place, and pass an inner curtain we call the veil, usually kept closely drawn, and stand in the Holy of Holies, in the immediate presence of God. Do you see that fiery, cloudy pillar yonder? It is called the Shekinah. It is the visible token that the living God is in residence. It rests upon the mercy seat, between the cherubim, upon the sacred ark, inside the veil.
“The high priest will go in there. Then he will come out and he will take those two goats. He will slay one of them and go back into the Holy of Holies with its blood, which he will sprinkle on and before the mercy seat. Then he will come back out again and take the remaining goat. He will confess all our sins over the head of the goat. Then it will be given into the hand of a ritually clean man who will lead it out into the desert, bearing our sins, there to be left to die abandoned and alone, thus our sins are covered and carried away for another year. “But what’s the bullock for?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you about that. The bullock is for the priest. Before he can do anything about our sin, he has to do something about his own. That’s what the bullock is for.”
In Hebrews 8:5 it states: “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according, to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”
Jesus Christ is who shows us that earthly worship is but a shadow of Heavenly worship. Heavenly worship is for who Jesus is and not who we want him to be. Jesus sat down “on the right hand of majesty.” He shows us that earthly power is but a shadow of Heavenly power.
The priest’s job was never done. The sins of the people were only “covered” and not “cleansed!” What he did on the Day of Atonement only lasts a year. Today this is called Yom Kippur. This took place on Sept. 30, 2017. If the earthly High Priest ever stopped, he was crudely drug out of the Tabernacle by the rope that was tied around his ankle. Our High Priest shows us that earthly forgiveness is but a shadow of Heavenly forgiveness. How long has it been since you sought Heaven’s forgiveness? How long has it been since you forgave someone else?
The “such a High Priest” of the Old Covenant had to die, because he was human. Earthly promises between people, couples, children, business partners, and so forth are broken every day. People die, and that releases and makes the promises vacant. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 6:10 tells us: “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” In this same book it reminds us to “fear not; I am the first and last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen.”
In the Old Testament under the old covenant, the High Priest was a sinner himself. Israel had “such a High Priest.” Jesus wasn’t a sinner. The High Priest also was never qualified to be a “priest of the people.”
There is something very cold about goodness in the abstract. To be perfectly honest, the thought of someone who is absolutely holy is rather a frightening one to me. Someone who is always right, never wrong; well I find that intimidating.”
“Well, of course, I would like my priest to be holy, but I do wish he could also be human, one who is touched, so to speak, with the feeling of our infirmities. I don’t want a sinful priest! God forbid! But I would like to have a sympathetic priest, one who is human enough to know our frame. I want a priest who knows what it is like to live in this sinful world, who knows what it’s like to be tempted and tried.”
He warms to his theme. “I want a priest who lives in a home like mine, with a crowd of relatives, some whom aren’t very nice. Someone who knows life is a struggle. Anyone who is going to be a priest ought to have to know what it’s like to get up at five o’clock in the morning, to sweat at hard manual labor on starvation wages. He ought to have to rub shoulders with the world, get into the mainstream of life where men curse and tell lies, and things are brutal and ugly. He needs to know what it’s like to be crowded, misunderstood, contradicted, slandered, cheated, and betrayed. He should have to face cruelty, be hurt, and to know what it is to suffer, to have a body wracked with pain. He should know what it’s like to be isolated, vulnerable, hated by those able to do injury. This is a mean world we live in. He ought to experience what it’s like. I want such a high priest. One who is human as well as holy. But I want something even more, and I would like to have a priest who is helpful. Not just good, kind and human. You know, in the world we have gods who are made of wood and stone and people often pray to them, but it doesn’t help very much. They can’t see, they can’t hear and they can’t speak, let alone know and feel. Think about this, can you imagine all those people, 3.5 million. Suppose they all began to ask questions and make requests of that high priest of the Old Covenant. How many could he hear at once? How many could he help? Think of even 1 percent of 3.5 million asking him for something at once! All he would hear is babel of noise!
No, I want a priest who is God as well as a man, one who hears you and me and all His people. Give me a priest who is helpful, who is able to help because he controls all the factors of space and time. And that is what we want “such a high priest.” We want one who can represent us truly at the throne of God, where the action is, where all accounts will have to be settled. We want a priest who is holy, human and helpful. We want a priest who can satisfy every demand of the law, every righteous claim of God, one who can silence Satan and solve problems. We want such a high priest. And, blessed be God! We have one! Do you know him?