The Person of Christ Jesus our High Priest

The Person of Christ Jesus: High Priest

​Hey everyone, greetings in the Glorious Name of Jesus our Lord.  How exciting it is to be able to freely read and study God’s wonderful Word. All Praise and Glory to God in the highest!  May the Holy Spirit bring the truth alive and comfort you in all that God is doing in your life.  We are gearing up to have our worship services again, praying for June 7 re-open.  I am so excited to have the opportunity to safely gather together to worship and praise our Heaven Father together. 

Psalms 86:11-12
11 Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant, me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. 12 With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, … 

I am so excited to share with you God’s wonderful truths.  Our King and Prophet and Priest Jesus, helps us to know and live out the Kingdom of Heaven life that He offers to all who will accept Him as Lord.  Christ Jesus, the Messiah, clearly indicates that He was anointed or consecrated to His great redemptive work as Prophet, King and Priest for our lives. 
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Jesus our Prophet brings clarity to living out the truths of Scripture.  Jesus makes the why and how of living out the scriptures real and practical. 

Jesus our King rules wisely, justly, and righteously. He is the perfect representation of God.  He leads with Mercy, Grace, and Love, showing us that leading others is about deeply caring, building up, and protecting.  Today we open our hearts to know Jesus as our Priest.   

Our focus Scriptures: Colossians 1:11-23, Hebrews 1:1-14

Here is some information concerning the biblical understanding of the priestly order God established to aid in our understanding of Jesus as our High Priest.
The word for priest in Hebrew is ‎kohen‎ (‎ko-hane') and in Greek is ‎hierus‎ (hee-er-yooce).  The word priest always denotes one who offers sacrifices. (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

At first every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God. Afterwards that office was entrusted to the head of the family, as in the cases of Noah (Genesis 8:20), Abraham (Genesis 12:7; 13:4), Isaac (Genesis 26:25), Jacob (Genesis 31:54), and Job (Job 1:5).

What we find is that the title “priest” first occurs and was applied to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18). Certain laws respecting the qualifications of priests are given in Leviticus 21:16-23. There are also ordinances regarding the priests' dress (Exodus 28:40-43) and the manner of their consecration to the office (Exodus 29:1-37). The priestly duties were very important and there were many of them. (Exodus 27:20,21; 29:38-44; Leviticus 6:12; 10:11; 24:8; Numbers 10:1-10; Deuteronomy 17:8-13; 33:10; Malachi 2:7). (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

It was the priest’s major responsibility to officiated at worship by offering various offerings on behalf of the nation and to help lead the people into confessing their sins.  In their function of offering sacrifices at the altar, the priests acted as mediators between man and God, offering sacrifices so that sin might be forgiven (Leviticus 4:20,26,31). Each sacrifice was a demonstration that the penalty of sin is death (Ezekiel 18:4,20), and that there can be no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22)                                                                                (Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

NOTE concerning blood: The most important biblical concept in regard to blood is the spiritual significance of the blood of sacrificial animals. Most scholars agree that blood refers to the animal's death. Most of the Old Testament passages that discuss sacrifices mention the death of the animal, not its life (Leviticus 4:4-5). The Bible makes it clear that the satisfaction or payment for human sins was made by the death of a specified animal substitute: “…I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.” (Leviticus 17:11)                                                                                                          (Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

Jesus our Compassionate High Priest
Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:23-8:13; 9:11-12; 10:8-22
The reason for the priestly order was that man needed a mediator between them and God and God choose the blood line of Aaron, Moses’ brother to be priests, the mediators.  The purpose for the priest was to offers sacrifices for God’s chosen people, Israel.  The priestly order, was God, preparing His people for the work of Jesus on the cross. 

Hebrews 1:1-3 1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus cleansed us from our sin (Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 1:7) According to the Old Testament, the cleaning of sin came through the blood sacrifice of a very special clean animal was presented to God by a priest; as we just learned.  In the New Testament, this Old Testament idea of sacrifice is applied to Christ's blood that was poured out on the cross at Calvary; the "blood of Christ" always means the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.

Some references to the blood of Christ are
Romans 3:25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, …

1 Peter 1:19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Other Scripture references Revelation 1:4-5, Hebrews 9:14, and many others

God desires that we, all of humanity, be reconciled back to Him, just like the days in the Garden of Eden where He walked with His wonderful creation.  God accomplished this through His Son. 

Ephesians 1:7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  

Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah (anointed), Emmanuel (God with us), gave himself to pay the ransom that was needed for the forgiveness of sin.  He is the prefect spotless “Lamb of God” who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29-34).  Jesus reconciled man unto God and man unto man, He fulfilled all the laws of sacrifice once and for all, for all of creation.   Jesus gave himself for all! (Galatians 2:20)

Back the responsibility of the priest (high priest) of the temple.  His duty was to present the sacrifice to God in behalf of Israel, God’s people.  Jesus presented Himself (God the Son, fully God and fully man) as the sacrifice to God the Father in behalf of all people.  He, with His own blood, offered to God, the sacrifice that all of creation would be reconciled to God.

Colossians 1:19-20 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself.  He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.

The penalty for all sin is death! The gift of God is internal life through Christ Jesus our Lord, the Messiah (Romans 6:23).  The Anointed One, who came from God and went back to God, but not before He paid the price to redeem all of creation.  Jesus sits in the place of power at the Father’s righthand, (Luke 22:67-69) and when the Father looks at us, He sees His creation just like He made it, because Jesus has offered to God the final sacrifice to restore us to Him.

Praise and Glory to God, for He has redeemed His creation and has provided for us the perfect High Priest, King, and Prophet Christ Jesus, His own Son.  Praise and Glory to God for He has sent His Holy Spirit to teach and comfort us in the ways of Kingdom living!  Praise and Thanksgiving to God as we live out the Kingdom Life together!

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.                    Colossians 1:11-14
 
NOTE: The priestly order is carried out in the New Testament.  Not in the same way as the Old Testament, but carried out non the less. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, we, as a holy priesthood, offer spiritual sacrifices to God (1 Peter 2:4-12).
 
Work Cited
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Electronic Database Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
Easton's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers
Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.
Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and Teachings of Jesus, Brad H. Young ©2007, Baker Publishing Company.
A Primer on the Empowering Works of the Holy Spirit, Philip J. Noordmans © 2018, Kindle Direct Publishing.