This message explores Christ as the true and greater high priest, examining how the Old Testament sacrificial system pointed forward to Jesus and His perfect, once-for-all sacrifice. The teaching draws primarily from Hebrews 4:14-5:10, revealing the profound differences between the earthly priesthood and Christ's eternal priesthood.
The teaching begins with a reading from Hebrews 4:14-5:10, which establishes the framework for understanding Christ's role as high priest. The passage emphasizes that believers have "a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God," and encourages holding fast to this confession.
The Old Testament established a specific system through the Aaronic priesthood, appointed by God with strict requirements and duties. This system had several key characteristics:
The high priest had to act on behalf of the people toward God, offering gifts and sacrifices for sins—including his own. Leviticus 4 and Hebrews 5:3 describe how priests dealt gently with the ignorant and wayward because they shared in human weakness. This shared weakness meant they could sympathize with the struggles of the people, but it also meant they themselves needed atonement.
The pinnacle of the priestly duties came on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), when the high priest entered alone into the Holy of Holies, sprinkling blood on the mercy seat for national atonement. This was the only time anyone could enter God's most sacred space, and the priest did so under threat of death if the rituals were not performed perfectly.
The scope of the Old Testament sacrificial system reveals the gravity of sin. Conservative estimates suggest that between 1.2 and 2 million individual animals were sacrificed throughout Old Testament history. Massive events like the dedication of Solomon's temple saw 142,000 animals offered at one time. This was an intensely bloody system, pointing to the serious nature of sin and the cost of atonement.
The system underscored human limitation in profound ways. Priests were sinful and temporary, and their sacrifices had to be repeated yearly because they could not perfect anyone. Yet blood was required for the forgiveness of sins—a requirement that remains true today, fulfilled once and for all in Christ.
The phrase "passed through the heavens" in Hebrews 4:14 carries deep significance that can be easily overlooked. Scripture and Jewish tradition indicate multiple levels or dimensions to heaven, with earth separated from God's presence by veils. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would pass through physical veils or barriers to enter the Holy of Holies to make yearly atonement.
This practice was a shadow of what was to come. Christ passed through the heavens themselves—through the spiritual veils that separate creation from the innermost presence of God the Father—to accomplish the great work of atonement. There He remains today, seated at the right hand of the Father, with no yearly repetition necessary. This is not flowery language but a profound theological reality: Christ accomplished what the earthly priests could only symbolize.
The passage encourages believers to "hold fast" to their confession—the gospel itself. Christ did the work so that believers can cling to Him, never letting go of this saving truth.
Hebrews 4:15 reveals a crucial aspect of Christ's priesthood: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
The Old Testament system required a man as priest—not an angel, not a divine council member, not any spiritual being. It had to be a person. This foreshadowed something essential: to truly sympathize with humanity, to have genuine compassion, the priest must be human. Christ's full humanity and full divinity were both necessary for His role as the perfect mediator.
The phrase "in every respect has been tempted as we are" deserves careful examination. The Greek word "katapanta" literally means "according to all things," suggesting a comprehensive experience of temptation across all categories of human struggle.
However, this teaching includes an important caution: believers should not go too far in imparting guilt to Christ or imagining internal sinful desires in Him. Christ faced real, intense external pressure—genuine temptation—but without internal corruption or desire toward sin.
Equally important is not taking this truth far enough. Christ experienced temptation in all categories with a greater intensity than believers typically understand. As articulated by John MacArthur, Christ faced temptation to its fullest extent. When people give in to temptation and fall into sin, they compromise and stop resisting. They could have gone further, held on longer. Christ never gave in to temptation, and in persevering without sin, He experienced temptation to its ultimate degree—enduring what no human has fully endured because He never surrendered to it.
This makes Jesus the ultimate sympathetic yet sinless mediator. In every battle and temptation believers face, they are not alone. Christ has been there, endured it more fully, and overcame it completely.
Hebrews 4:16 provides an astonishing invitation: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
To understand the radical nature of this invitation, it helps to examine what it replaced. Leviticus 16 describes the Day of Atonement in detail, representing the absolute pinnacle of the Old Testament sacrificial system—one solemn day each year when the high priest alone could enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the entire nation.
The ritual was elaborate and dangerous:
God warned that improper approach would mean death (Leviticus 16:2). The mercy seat, where God's glory appeared between the cherubim, was a place where blood was sprinkled to cover sins and avert divine wrath. The system was mediated, annual, temporary, and national. It had to be repeated yearly because animal blood could never fully remove sin or perfect the worshipers.
This system vividly illustrated separation from God due to sin, the gravity of approaching a holy God, and the absolute need for a mediator and blood sacrifice. The people did not draw near themselves—they relied entirely on the priest's work. Everything depended on the man at the front.
The teaching highlights four key contrasts between the Aaronic priesthood and Christ's priesthood:
Old Covenant: Exclusive and terrifying. One man, once a year, with fear of death if anything went wrong. According to tradition, a rope was tied around the high priest so his body could be dragged out if he died in God's presence.
New Covenant: Open and gracious. All believers can approach boldly, anytime, through Christ.
Old Covenant: The earthly high priest approached the mercy seat, the physical lid on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.
New Covenant: Believers approach the throne of grace—a heavenly reality where God's throne, once associated with judgment, is now a source of grace because of Christ's finished work. Jesus Himself is the mercy seat, the propitiation, having presented His own blood in the true heavenly sanctuary.
Old Covenant: The Aaronic priest mediated annually with animal blood, offering first for his own sins, then for the people's, requiring constant repetition.
New Covenant: Jesus, sinless and sympathetic, offered Himself once and for all, entering heaven's true Holy of Holies by the power of His own blood, securing eternal redemption. There is no more annual ritual—His sacrifice is complete and sufficient.
Old Covenant: Brought temporary covering and national forgiveness, but sins were remembered yearly (Hebrews 10:3).
New Covenant: Believers receive ongoing mercy (not getting what is deserved) and grace (getting help that is undeserved) in time of need—personal, immediate, and unending help in weakness, temptation, and daily life.
In essence, Leviticus 16 presented a shadow—restricted, repeated, mediated, fear-tinged atonement pointing forward. Hebrews 4:16 reveals the reality: open, once-for-all, direct, grace-filled access through Jesus, the compassionate high priest who sympathizes because He was tempted yet remained sinless.
The old system declared, "Stand back; one person can approach, and only under certain conditions." The true and greater high priest declares, "Come boldly, all of you, anytime, for mercy and grace."
Hebrews 5:1-4 emphasizes that the high priest was chosen from among men and appointed to act on behalf of humanity in relation to God. The priest could deal gently with the ignorant and wayward because he himself struggled with weakness, which also obligated him to offer sacrifices for his own sins.
Critically, no one took this honor upon himself—it came only by God's calling, just as Aaron was called. This same principle applied to Christ. Hebrews 5:5-6 states: "So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, 'You are my son, today I have begotten you,' as he says also in another place, 'You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.'"
These two quotations from Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110:4 establish that Christ's priesthood was divinely appointed and eternal. Unlike the Aaronic priests who served temporarily and then died, Christ is "a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek"—a topic that will be explored further in the continuing sermon series.
The problem that plagued the Old Testament system—sinful, mortal priests offering repeated, insufficient sacrifices—is solved in Christ. He is the Son of God, appointed as a priest forever, now seated at the right hand of the Father. His presence there means the work is finished, complete, never needing repetition. His continual presence at the Father's right hand ensures that believers' sins are mediated forever.
Hebrews 5:7-10 provides a profound glimpse into Christ's earthly ministry: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."
This passage reveals Christ's full humanity—He prayed with loud cries and tears, learning obedience through suffering. The phrase "being made perfect" does not suggest Christ was imperfect, but rather that He was perfected or completed for His role as high priest through His earthly experience and suffering. Having lived a complete human experience—including hunger, thirst, temptation, and all that human life entails—Christ became the source of eternal salvation.
The teaching emphasizes an important reminder: the Bible was written for believers, but not originally to contemporary readers. Understanding the original audience—first-century Jews with their cultural and scriptural context—enriches the meaning. They would have immediately grasped the revolutionary nature of these claims about Jesus as the fulfillment of their entire sacrificial system.
As Dr. Brian Murphy of The Master's Seminary notes, Jesus is superior to the entire Aaronic priesthood and, ultimately, to the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. The superiority of Christ is so certain and significant that when He accomplished His work on the cross, He made the Old Testament sacrificial system obsolete. To return to that system is not only pointless—it is offensive to what Christ has accomplished.
This has practical implications for how believers understand worship and ministry today. There is no longer a single mediator standing between people and God in the way the Old Testament high priest did. While church leaders have distinct responsibilities and will give account for those they shepherd, the system has fundamentally changed. All believers have direct access to God through Christ, the one true mediator.
The message concludes with several sobering yet liberating truths:
The sheer scale of the Old Testament sacrificial system—potentially millions of animal sacrifices over centuries—points to the gravity of sin, humanity's propensity toward it, its offensive nature against an infinitely holy God, and its eternal consequences. No amount of personal effort or good character qualifies anyone for salvation. A perfect mediator is needed, and that mediator is Christ alone.
For those who have ever questioned why the Old Testament system seems so complicated or elaborate, the teaching offers two responses: First, God did make it simple—in Christ. Second, the complexity served a purpose in revealing the gravity of sin and pointing forward to the perfect sacrifice.
Humanity tends to underestimate the propensity to sin, the gravity of sin, and the eternal consequences of sin. The elaborate Old Testament system prevented casual, flippant approaches to these realities. Every detail pointed to the need for a great high priest who was ready, willing, and capable to atone fully and finally. That priest is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The transformation from the old system to the new is genuinely good news. Every day is now an opportunity to approach God's throne. Every moment of every day offers access to mercy and grace. Believers are never alone in their struggles because Christ has experienced temptation more fully than they have and has overcome it completely.
The message encourages those who find something confusing or troubling about these truths to seek understanding—to find mature believers, church leaders, or trusted fellow Christians to discuss these matters. The call is to do the work of growing in Christ and understanding these foundational truths personally.
The teaching closes with an invitation to communion, described as "an open table" where every person who knows, identifies with, and claims the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is encouraged to approach boldly. However, those who are uncertain about their relationship with Christ—who don't fully grasp who they are, who God is, and what Christ has done—are respectfully asked to remain seated and contemplate their place in God's kingdom.
This is not to withhold something mystical but to encourage thoughtful participation in a sacred act of remembrance. Communion celebrates the sacrifice of Christ—His body broken, His blood shed—the once-for-all offering that fulfilled and superseded every Old Testament sacrifice.
The invitation reflects the very theme of the message: Christ has opened access to God that was previously restricted to one person, one day per year, under threat of death. Now all who trust in Him can approach confidently, drawing near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find help in time of need.
Christ as the true and greater high priest represents the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament sacrificial system anticipated. He is the perfect mediator—fully God and fully man, tempted in all ways yet without sin, offering Himself as the final sacrifice, passing through the heavens to the Father's right hand where He remains forever.
The old system declared humanity's separation from God and inability to save itself. The new reality in Christ declares that the way is open, the work is finished, and access is granted. What was once restricted to one person at one time is now available to all believers at all times. This is the transformative power of the true and greater high priest, Jesus Christ, who invites His people to hold fast to their confession and draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.
