Hebrews 4

Chapter 4. Our Great High Priest Superior to AaronBut the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)Having shown that our Great High Priest is divine and human, and thus able at once to sympathize with and help us, the author of this epistle next proceeds to show His superiority to Aaron and all the priests of his line. It was very difficult for a pious Hebrew to believe that anyone could succeed or supersede the imposing figure of the great high priest. And so the writer devotes several chapters to a masterly argument to prove the superiority of the Son of God as the One to whom Aaron was but the type and forerunner. In the course of this argument he brings out many points of profound interest and instruction, illustrating the connection between the Old and New Testaments, and showing with great beauty and power the blessed character of our Advocate in the heavens.

A Superior Order of Priesthood

A Superior Order of PriesthoodOur Great High Priest belongs to a superior order of priesthood. He is not a priest of the Levitical line, but “in the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7:11). This is expounded and expanded with great fullness in Hebrews 7:1-17. This ancient figure looms out of the gray mists of the patriarchal age with a strange dignity and importance. He comes upon the stage of time, as the writer expresses it, “Without father or mother, without genealogy” or pedigree, “without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever” (Hebrews 7:3). Perhaps it is only meant that Melchizedek’s descent is unrecorded, and yet there are many who believe that he was none other than the Son of God Himself anticipating His incarnation, and as Dr. Andrew Bonar once expressed it, “trying on the garments of His humanity a little in advance of the time.” His very name is typical and significant, King of Righteousness. His very office as priest of the Most High God set him forth as the forerunner of Him who came to bring in everlasting righteousness. His very capital was emblematic of his great Antitype. King of Salem, which means peace, foreshadowed the coming Prince of Peace. Meeting Abraham on his return from a glorious campaign, he blessed him in the name of the Most High God whom he represented, and received from him tithes in acknowledgment of his high official character as God’s representative on earth. The most striking feature of his priesthood was that he was both priest and king, which was true of no one else in the whole history of the priesthood, except of Jesus only, of whom it was said that He will “sit and rule a priest… on his throne” (Zechariah 6:13). Christ as our Great High Priest is also a King with power to answer His own petitions and guarantee to us the blessings for which He intercedes. Now, this is a dignity far higher than any of the priests of Aaron’s line enjoyed, and the apostle uses it to demonstrate the inferiority of Aaron to Melchizedek; for when Abraham acknowledged Melchizedek, Aaron and his sons who were then “still in the body of [their] ancestor” (Hebrews 7:10) virtually acknowledged him too as their superior, for as the writer well expresses it, “the lesser person is blessed by the greater” (Hebrews 7:7). If Aaron was inferior to Melchizedek he must, of course, be inferior to Christ, and so the apostle’s argument is demonstrated by an inevitable conclusion, while at the same time the picture of our Great High Priest is exalted on the highest possible sublimity.

A Superior Tribe

A Superior TribeOur Great High Priest belongs to a superior tribe. Aaron and his sons were of the tribe of Levi, but Christ was born of the tribe of Judah, “For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests” (Hebrews 7:14). Judah was the royal tribe bearing the scepter of domination, of which it was said, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs” (Genesis 49:10). Judah always marched first among the tribes of Israel, and Christ’s peculiar preeminence is that He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In this alone consists a distinct preeminence as well as a line of demarcation separating Him wholly from the whole line of Aaronic priesthood. Indeed, He could not lawfully belong to the Hebrew priesthood, and “if he were on earth, he would not be a priest” (Hebrews 8:4), because they all necessarily belonged to the tribe of Levi. Therefore His priesthood is of a heavenly order and belongs to the great sanctuary in the heavens and the relations of God with sinful men of every race and time.

A Higher Calling and Appointment

A Higher Calling and AppointmentOur Great High Priest has a higher calling and appointment. The Aaronic priests were set apart by ceremonies of peculiar sacredness, which are described in the 29th chapter of the book of Exodus. But Christ was appointed by far more sacred authority, even by the oath of Jehovah Himself (see Hebrews 7:21). Back of the work of redemption and the gospel of salvation there is a great divine transaction known as the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son. And this is the source and foundation of all the blessings of grace far back in the ages before the angels sang or sinner fell. The Father and the Son, foreseeing the ruin of the human race, entered into an eternal covenant by which the Son agreed to fulfill all the conditions of the broken law by His obedience and death, and the Father swore that in consideration of this He would give the Son to the people whom He redeemed, and all the blessings which He purchased by His sacrifice. Therefore when He was finishing His earthly work our Lord appealed to His Father in His final prayer, claiming the fulfillment of this covenant, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do…. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me” (John 17:4, John 17:11). It was in connection with this covenant that the Father pronounced the solemn oath constituting Christ our Great High Priest. In the 110th Psalm we find David referring to this covenant and oath, saying, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek’” (Psalms 110:4). Our Savior’s priesthood and our salvation rest upon a foundation as strong and sure as the Rock of Ages and the everlasting throne.

A Better Tenure

A Better TenureOur Great High Priest holds His office by a better tenure. “There have been many… priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood” (Hebrews 7:23-24). With every human generation there was a new family of official priests. Some, like Aaron, were true to God. Some, like the sons of Eli, were sinful men. But our High Priest remains unchanged through the eternal years. He, on whose bosom John leaned, is just as near to us. He, whom your father and mother trusted, is still as real to you. He, who is your Friend today, will be your Friend forever. When the sun has ceased to glow and the heavens have passed away He will remain your everlasting Friend.

A Higher and Holier Character

A Higher and Holier CharacterOur Great High Priest bears a higher and holier character than the priests of Aaron’s line. “Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). He is absolutely spotless, while they were sinful men. He has no guilt to atone for, while they had to offer first for their own sins. While so perfectly human that He can fully represent us, He is so perfectly sinless that all His merits become available for our unrighteousness and sin. Not only does His death expiate our guilt, but the obedience of His perfect life is credited to our account and we become invested with His merits and righteousness and stand in the same place as if we, like Him, had kept God’s holy law. At the same time His greatness adds immeasurable worth to His goodness, for He is made higher than the heavens.

Ministers in a Better Sanctuary

Ministers in a Better SanctuaryOur Great High Priest ministers in a better sanctuary. Aaron’s place of service was the tabernacle in the wilderness, but “Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence” (Hebrews 9:24). That ancient tabernacle was shifted day by day, and after awhile it perished and passed away. But the heavenly tabernacle is a greater and more perfect tabernacle, “not man-made” (Hebrews 9:11), “eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). Not only so, but when He brings us near, He Himself becomes to each of us “a little sanctuary,” and the heart of the believer becomes a holy place where God meets him as of old He met the people, and we understand the meaning of such mighty words as these: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalms 91:1). “Remain in me, and I will remain in you” (John 15:4). “I will put my dwelling place among you,… I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people” (Leviticus 26:11-12). In our very heart of hearts we may still come to the altar of sacrifice, the laver of cleansing, the golden lamps with their perfect light, the Living Bread, the sweet incense, nay, even the innermost chamber of the personal presence of God within the veil.

The Mediator of a Better Covenant

The Mediator of a Better CovenantOur Great High Priest is the mediator of a better covenant. This part of his argument commences at chapter Hebrews 8:6-13 and is repeated in chapter Hebrews 10:15-16, so important does he deem it. It draws a striking contrast between the message of the old covenant and the new. Four particulars are specially emphasized. The first is the promise of sanctification. “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10). God does not demand of us external obedience merely, but He puts in us the nature, the principle, and disposition to obey. He makes His law the law of our being, and we as naturally follow it as a material body falls to the ground by the law of gravitation, or, as an acorn develops into an oak because the law of the oak is in the heart of the acorn. So He puts His will into our heart as the new constitution and impulse of our nature, and it becomes second nature for us to love it, to will it and to do it. The second promise of the covenant is His guarantee to give us Himself first, and then to make us His people. “I will be their God,” he says, “and they will be my people” (Hebrews 8:10). He does not condition His relationship upon ours, but ours upon His. He takes the initiative and gives Himself to us, and in consequence we give ourselves to Him. The third promise is His fellowship, intimacy and the personal revelation of His will to us. “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (Hebrews 8:11). He reveals Himself by the Holy Spirit to the simplest child, the most illiterate mind, and to the most humble saint, so that we are not dependent on earthly priesthoods and secondary channels for our knowledge of His will, but we know Him for ourselves as our Father, our Teacher and our Friend. And finally, the promise of full forgiveness, constant friendship and deliverance from even the consciousness of sin is added: “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

A Better Offering and Sacrifice

A Better Offering and SacrificeOur Great High Priest brings a better offering and sacrifice. This great truth occupies a large part of the ninth and 10th chapters (Hebrews 9:12-14; Hebrews 10:1-14). The sacrifices of Aaron’s office were dumb and soulless brutes. The sacrifice of our Great High Priest is His own precious life. The sacrifices were involuntary. They were dragged as victims to the altar. His was voluntary. “Here I am,” was His glad cry, as He plunged from the heights of heaven to give Himself to save ruined man. His heart was in it. His love was in it. His will was in it. “By that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Their sacrifices had no personal merits. His was the life of the holiest Being in the universe, who had no sins of His own to atone for and whose merits are all availing for others. It was the life also of the greatest and noblest Being in the universe and it represents the infinite value which suffices to make atonement even for the sins of the whole world. “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:13-14). And finally His sacrifice was once for all completed. Theirs were constantly renewed because they never were effectual except as figures of His greater sacrifice which was to come. “But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). It is final and complete and now we are going to enter into all the fullness of its glorious fruition.

The Efficacy of Christ’s Sacrifice

The Efficacy of Christ’s SacrificeFinally, the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice is greater than that of the ancient priesthood. “(For the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:19). “Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:14). Their sacrifices could not take away from the conscience the sense of sin, but His sacrifice is able to “cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14; also see Hebrews 10:2). Their ministrations brought only temporary blessing and needed to be constantly repeated; His priesthood brings us the promise of eternal inheritance and settles every question forever (Hebrews 9:15). There is no limit to the blessings of His priesthood, but “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). What this uttermost salvation means none of us has fully fathomed. It reaches down to the lowest depths of unworthiness, helplessness and misery. It reaches out to the widest range of sinful men and the farthest circle of human experience and spiritual need. It reaches on to the remotest age of eternity, and it will not have been fully interpreted until the Millennium shall have ended and the ages of glory begun to roll. It reaches to our temporal affairs, to our physical needs, to the outermost extremity of our being, and the innermost need of our heart and life. It is an infinite, everlasting, complete salvation of spirit, soul and body for all time and all eternity. Blessed be His holy name! Such then is an imperfect picture of the work of our Great High Priest. Saved by His death, how much more are we saved by His life! Not only did He plunge for us to the depths of death and Hades, but He has thrown His glorified life across the gulf that separated us from God and heaven. An incident in the early life of the late Louis Agassiz, the distinguished naturalist, has been published. When he was a little boy in Switzerland, his mother once sent him with a younger brother across a frozen lake to carry some message to his father on the other side of the lake. After they had started she observed that in the middle of the lake was a great crack in the ice, over which Louis might be able to leap, but which she was quite sure the little brother could never pass, and she tried in vain to call them back, but the wind was unfavorable and she could not make them hear. All she could do was to pray and watch. At length the little fellows came to the crack, and Louis took a long look at it and seemed to be measuring the distance and the ability of his little brother to get over. Then after giving some careful in-sanctions he threw himself across the gulf on his face, forming a living bridge over which his little brother safely passed, and then he gathered himself up and leaped across. There is One who has for us become the living Ladder that leads from earth to heaven, the living Bridge that spans the great abyss, the Way that carries us through every dark and strange and impossible place. He has saved us by His life. Let us take His uttermost salvation and let us go forth to carry it and to represent Him to the world, which so sorely needs Him, each of us in turn a living bridge over which our helpless brothers may pass to Him.