Hebrews for Today: The Majestic Jesus - vii. Our Great High Priest

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Hebrews 4:14-5:10

The word ‘better’ occurs some seventeen times in the New Testament, thirteen of which occur in Hebrews alone.  Whilst in one sense the majestic Jesus is incomparable being the unique Son of God, God through him “planned something better for us” (11:40).  The passage before us describes Jesus as a better high priest.  The writer draws on the history of Israel in the wilderness and the role of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement offering sacrifices on behalf of the people and himself in the Tabernacle.

 The focus is not simply on the person and work of Jesus on earth, the empty cross and the resurrection, but the ongoing work of Jesus as high priest, having passed through the heavens as the human high priest passed through the curtain in the Tabernacle into the holy of holies to make atonement for sin.  This is the main point of the passage, indeed the whole of the book: Jesus’ ongoing work presenting the fruit of his sacrifice before the Father and interceding for his people on earth.