Jesus the Priest, Better Than Whom?
Yanadi attests to Jesus' superior priesthood as he looks back at the former priests whom Israel had; and exhorts us to draw near to this great high priest who always lives to intercede for us.
I learned to drive about two decades ago. It was a manual car. With that background, I can certainly appreciate automatic cars and attest to their superior convenience. We can appreciate the good cars that we have today, but it's helpful to understand the goodness of today's cars in light of how the cars of previous generation were like.
We are currently going through a sermon series from the book of Hebrews. Recently, we have been hearing regularly from the pulpit on how Jesus is the better priest:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 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. 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. (Heb 4:14–16)
And we get it. But let's have a quick look at a few of the former priests with the hope that we can appreciate why Jesus is better and attest to His superior priesthood.
Let's start with possibly the worst priests that Israel has ever had: Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, the high priest. God has strong words against them: "Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD" (1 Sam 2:12), despite being priests. It records for us specifically that "the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt" (1 Sam 2:17). Here we have two young men whose main vocation was to administer the worship of the LORD, while at the same time despising the very worship they were entrusted with. However, the young men's ignorance goes beyond what we usually directly relate to worship. They were promiscuous in the private sphere of their lives that has become a public knowledge because of their stubbornness (1 Sam 2:22).
It seems that Jesus has a low bar to cross in order to be a better priest since Eli's two sons were involved with severe sins?
Let's now consider Aaron who is the very first priest and should set the standard upon which all the following priests should follow and aspire to. As we are familiar from our recent sermon series from the book of Exodus, Aaron was a perpetrator during the golden calf incident. Not only, as the high priest, did he not correct the Israelites when they suggested the idea, he supported it (Ex 32:1-6), and when caught red-handed, instead of speaking on behalf and in favour of them, he threw them under the bus: "And Aaron said, 'Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.'"(Ex 32:21-24).
What about Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu? They weren't obedient in following what God has commanded when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD. That costed them their lives (Lev 10:1-2). So, not only does a priest have to take the worship of the LORD seriously, he also has to carefully obey every regulation that the LORD has given.
So are there no good priests? There are some.
One is Aaron's grandson, Phinehas. Because of his jealousy for the LORD, Phinehas punished those who were involved in the worship of Baal. As a result of his action, God's wrath for the entire Israelites was averted (Num 25:6-9). Phinehas's action spoke on behalf and in favour of the Israelites as a whole, particularly the innocent ones. As a result, the whole didn't have to bear the consequence of the sin of the part.
Another priest who's remembered favourably is Hilkiah who found the Book of the Law during the reign of King Josiah. Because of his discovery, or rather recovery, of the Book of the Law, a proper worship of the LORD could be recovered, at least for a while (2 Kgs 22-23).
So what's the problem with good priests like Aaron's Phinehas and Hilkiah? One problem is that they die. If a Jew outlived a high priest, he had to think of a high priest replacement if he were to worship the LORD properly since he needs a mediator in order to worship. Moreover, the successor may not be as good, if the successor is good at all. Another problem is that the tent they go to degenerates. The tabernacle of Phinehas got plundered, while the temple of Hilkiah got desecrated and ultimately destroyed. The most fundamental problem is that, although they are relatively good priests, they still are sinners who ought to sacrifice for their own sins, and do so regularly.
So how is Jesus a better priest than all the priests who preceded Him?
He knows God, for He himself is God (Heb 1:3);
He honours the sacrifice for God, for the sacrifice is himself (Heb 9:11-14);
He is perfect in all spheres, for He is without sin (Heb 4:14-16);
He intercedes for God's people, by being a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf and in favor of them (Heb 10:11-14);
He follows and meets all the requirements of a priest, for He was appointed by God by an oath (Heb 5:1-10);
He continues as the high priest permanently, for He lives forever (Heb 7:23-25);
He enters into the heavenly sactuary, the true sanctuary (Heb 9:23-24);
He offers sacrifice once and for all, for His sacrifice is perfect (Heb 7:26-28).
It's easy to feel worthless when we're reminded that Jesus is better than all other priests. But we mustn't forget these words from Hebrews at the beginning of this article:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 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. 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. (Heb 4:14–16)
In the midst of the greatness of Jesus as a priest, we have to remember that He can become a priest because He, God the Son, has incarnated to become a human, like us. Like Hophni and Eli's Phinehas, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's Pinehas, and Hilkiah, Jesus can sympathise with our weaknesses because He is fully and truly human who "offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death" and "was heard because of his reverence" (Heb 5:7). But better than those former priests, because He has been tempted to the utmost degree, exactly because He didn't sin, He can sympathise with our weaknesses to the utmost.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is the priest whom we have: Christ Jesus.
He is better than Hophni and Eli's Phinehas, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's Phinehas, and Hilkiah.
He is better than all priests before him. There are no priests after him because there is no need for one! Hallelujah!
And yet, this great Jesus can, and does, sympathise with our weaknesses to the utmost.
Jesus the high priest who intercedes for us—He is the best!
So, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.