We have such a high priest. A priest that is eternally and omnipotently using His exaltation in order to serve us. Priests primarily served in two functions. They offered sacrifices to atone for sin, and they made intercession, praying to God on others’ behalf. Presently, Jesus is serving as our high priest by praying for us to the Father, which is the kind of praying that kept Peter from falling away like Judas.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”

Hebrews 7:26-8:5 ESV

In our previous text, the author of Hebrews took us through a marvelous journey as he explained the mysterious prophesy that the Christ (David’s Lord) would be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. As we noted, the purpose of Melchizedek’s brief appearance in Genesis 14 and in Psalm 110 must have been one of the greatest lingering questions for God’s people throughout the ages. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit revealed Melchizedek’s purpose as a type and prefiguring of Jesus.

In essence, we were shown that Jesus is a priest-king, just like Melchizedek. Although Melchizedek’s name means king of righteousness and he was the king of Salem, which means peace, Jesus is the true King of righteousness and King of peace. In the text of Genesis 14, Melchizedek appears suddenly and is given no exit or genealogy, making his priesthood seem unending; however, as the eternal Son of God, Jesus truly is unending.

Next, the author walked us through how Christ’s priesthood, which was resembled by Melchizedek’s priesthood, is superior to the Levitical priesthood. After laying his arguments before us, the author concluded by pointing toward why all of this was necessary: it is the proof that Christ can legally be our great high priest, mediating between us and God, and guaranteeing our salvation through His better covenant.

It was Indeed Fitting // Verses 26-28

With that nutshell of verses 1-25 set before us, we continue in this sermon-letter with verse 26: For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Of the first part of this verse, Richard Phillips notes:

A better translation would be, “Such a high priest was fitted to us.” The point is that Jesus as high priest is perfectly fitted for the predicament in which we find ourselves; he is appropriate in every way to be the Savior of sinful humankind.[1]

Like most things in Hebrews, the author already introduced us to this notion earlier, for he said in 2:10: “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Like puzzle pieces must be fittingly arranged in order to complete the puzzle, our salvation through Christ’s suffering is perfectly fitting to the eternal purpose of God. In the same way, Jesus Himself is also the exact Savior that we needed (and still need!). There is no other means of salvation from our sin because there is no other savior who is fit to save us. Christ alone is qualified to be the guarantor of the better covenant and to be the captain of our salvation, leading us as adopted sons and daughters of God onward to the eternal glory of God.

Again, 7:1-25 was ultimately concerned with Christ’s legal qualifications to serve as our great high priest. Here the author lists five rapid-fire qualities that qualify Jesus in His very person to be our high priest: holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Several commentators have made the case that the first three of these descriptions can be taken together to display Christ’s perfect moral character. Holy describes His sinless perfection before God, innocent describes His sinless perfection before other people, and unstained describes His sinless perfection within His own heart. Of course, like so many things, the distinctions are made for our own benefit of understanding. One cannot be holy before God without also being innocent before others, and one cannot be innocent before others without also being unstained in one’s own conscience. These descriptions truly apply to Christ alone, and we ought to be thankful that they do. As Owen reminds us:

Unholy sinners do stand in need of a holy priest and a holy sacrifice. What we have not in ourselves we must have in him, or we shall not be accepted with the holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.[2]

Although it is heresy today to speak of any insufficiency in us at all, we doth protest too much. Our society’s very fixation with affirming one another reveals that the internal paradise is a sham. We have not ascended beyond the basic moral compass that God has ingrained upon our hearts, and we have not transcended above truth itself. As I have said before, depression and anxiety statistics reveal that we are not as free and happy as we keep telling ourselves; instead, we are a society that is collectively caught in Giant Despair’s dungeon.

He was not set apart from them in his nature, for God sent his Son “in the likeness of sinful men” (Rom. 8:3). He was not set apart from men during his ministry on earth. He did not live apart from everyone in a desert. He spoke with tax collectors and prostitutes, and the hypocritical Pharisees rebuked him for this. His holy and undefiled… He was separate from sin, in its nature, causes, and effects. He had to be like this for our benefit. He became the middle person between God and sinners and had to be separate from those sinners in the thing he stood in their place for.

We cannot be saved by one who is altogether like us. In the Pilgrim’s Progress, Help was able to pull Christian out of the Slough of Despond because he was not in the bog himself. Likewise, our salvation is dependent upon Jesus being what we are not, that is, without sin.

The fifth and final description of Jesus’ qualification to be our high priest, exalted above the heaven, will be expounded upon by the author himself in verses 1-5 of chapter 8.

Because these qualities are true of Christ, verse 27 is also a reality: He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. This verse contains such wondrously good news that the author will essentially spend 9:1-10:18 unpacking this thought in detail. For the moment, let us simply consider what is being introduced to us for the first time in this sermon-letter. Jesus is qualified to be our high priest because He belongs to a superior priesthood than the Levites and because He is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Amen!

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