If you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 5. This evening, as we continue working our way through the book of Hebrews, which was of course written to initially Jews in the early days of the church who had converted to Christ, or were thinking about doing so, and to lift up Christ and give them a high view of Jesus, so that they would know it was right and good to follow Jesus and not to turn back. That Jesus really is the Messiah that God has long promised. This evening, we turn to the qualifications of a high priest, and of course then the better qualification of Jesus to be our great high priest.
We began thinking about the priesthood back at chapter 4 verse 14. It will run on through chapter 10. So we're in a section that invites us to consider priests our need of them, what they do for us, what gives them the right to do it, and so forth. Here we want to ask why is Jesus qualified to be our high priest?
Now tonight we'll pick up the reading again at verse 1. We looked at the first three verses last week, we'll review a bit of that, and then press on through verses 4 through 6. Here now the word of God. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also, Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him, who said to him, quote, you are my son.
Today I have begotten you." End quote. As he says also in another place, quote, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. End quote. Amen, this is God's word.
Making right on our hearts, let's look together in prayer. Our Father lift Jesus before our eyes, settle our souls in Him that we would shelter in Him, rest in Him, know the blessing of belonging to Him being represented by Him and having Him come alongside us in all our weakness as our great priest. So glorify Him and help us in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
As I said, just a bit of review in verses 1 through 3, before we look at verses 4 to 6, last week we noticed the weakness of priests. Verse 2, he can deal gently with the ignorant and the way word since he himself is beset or clad with weakness, a sinful high priest, not Jesus but all the others, would know what it was like to be ignorant and way word personally. And so beset with that weakness, if he understood himself and his own need for the grace of God, he could then reign in his emotions, not be shocked or arrogantly self-righteous in his dealings with you when he discovers that you are ignorant and way word. He knew his own weakness and could be gentle and patient because he knew God had been gentle and patient with Him.
Well that's the positive side of having a sinful priest who actually understands the gospel. As we noted of course last week, Jesus is not beset with the weakness of sinfulness, but He is beset with the weakness of humanness. He was fully human as we are. And because of this, we saw back in chapter 4 verse 15, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are without sin.
So Jesus, the scripture says, is not able not to sympathize with our weaknesses. He can't do anything other than sympathize. He's not beset of course with the arrogance of those who are sinful yet self-righteous, but he also doesn't need to be humbled by his own sinful ignorance and waywardness of which he had none in order to be cong gentle with the ignorant way word because he himself isn't never has been arrogant or snoodly self-righteous. Those are attributes of sinful man, hopefully humbled by their sin.
But Jesus has always been truly humble and patient and loving and gentle and so he's fully capable of these things. And so the writer says, God has given to us great high priest. He gave to his people this office, this officer, to represent us before God. And it's such a lovely thing about God's plan.
We're not alone in our human frailty and weakness. Our high priest shares our humanity and what a blessing that Jesus shares our humanity. And to be truly human as he was in a world that is fallen and in a world of misery. He can commiserate.
He can step inside. He knows our experience. I was reading this week of, well, Piglet and Eor and the rest. You know, when you look at it, it occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn't heard from Eor for several days.
So they put on their hats and their coats and they trotted across the 100 acre woods to Eor's stick house and inside the house was Eor. Hello, Eor, said Pooh. Hello, Pooh. Hello, Piglet.
Said Eor and a glum sounding voice. We just thought we'd check it out and you said Piglet because we hadn't heard from you. So we wanted to know if you were okay. Eor was silent for a moment.
Am I okay? Well, I don't know. To be honest, are any of us really okay? That's what I ask myself.
And all I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet is that right now I feel really rather sad and alone and not much fun to be around. Well, which is why I haven't bothered you because you wouldn't want to waste your time hanging around with someone who was sad and alone and not much fun to be around, would you now? Pooh looked at Piglet, Piglet looked at Pooh and they both sat down, one on each side of Eor in his stick house. And Eor looked at them in surprise.
What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? We're sitting here with you, said Pooh, because we are your friends.
And true friends don't care if someone's feeling sad or alone or not much fun to be around at all. True friends are there for you anyway. And so here we are. Oh, said Eor.
Oh, and the three of them sat there in silence and while Pooh and Piglet said nothing at all, somehow almost imperceptively. Eor started to feel a very tiny little bit better. I think a good priest, if you like that friend, sitting with you in your share of the miseries of this life, not aloof, not far off. No, but somebody who's sympathetic and cares.
We know that Jesus sat with us. He became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He shares a fellow feeling with our infirmities because he himself was beset with weakness since he's truly human. So just to ask, are you experiencing misery?
Jesus can sit with you in that. Are you suffering in temptation? Jesus can sit with you in that because he suffered temptation too. Are you suffering for your sins?
Well, Jesus can sit with you in that because he suffered for your sins too. He's a good priest. Of course, as we've noticed, Jesus is a better high priest than Aaron or his descendants could ever be because Jesus was without sin. And so verse one, while every high priest offered gifts and sacrifices for sin on behalf of his people, yet verse three, first he had to offer sacrifices for his own sins before he could offer sacrifices for others.
And so this makes Jesus better because he doesn't have to offer any sacrifice for himself so that he can offer the one true sacrifice that fully and finally, once and for all, takes away sin and guilt and judgment and wrath on our behalf. So if this is what a priest does, we've got to ask, do we have a priest qualified to do this for us? Or is he an imposter? I mean, can he really represent us before God?
Or would it be foolish to put your trust in him? And so the writer turns to the qualifications necessary in order to actually be a high priest, in order to show that Jesus is qualified and you're not wrong to trust in him. And so he in verses four to six makes his argument about one of the qualifications and then next week we'll see in verses seven through ten, he makes his argument about another kind of qualification. So here in verses four to six, we should ask what is it necessary to, in order to be qualified to be our high priest?
Well, notice verse four, no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God just as Aaron was. So he must be called by God just as Aaron was and that fits with verse one for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed, God's appointing to act on behalf of men in relation to God. He's got to be chosen, selected from men appointed by God, called by God. Where do you find that with Aaron?
I mean, this would have been an old hat to the original hearers, but for us, perhaps it's helpful to hear in Exodus chapter 28 verse one, Moses said that bring near to you, well, God said to Moses, then bring near to you, Aaron, your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve being his priests, Aaron and Aaron sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eliezer and Ithamar. So God personally selected Aaron and his sons and his descendants after him to be the priestly line of Israel called and appointed God selected them and nobody could just take that on for themselves. You can just wake up one morning and act like you went into the democracy where you could just do whatever you want and call yourself into the priesthood. No, some tribe, the subject that Eric is very seriously, you and I may not appreciate how serious a thing it is before God to presume to be called when you have not been called to assert that you have been appointed when you have not been appointed.
But there is a story in Numbers chapter 16 where we learn that God takes that very seriously. For some, rose up, we learned there against Aaron and said, why do we need him to be our priest? Why can't we do ourselves? I think for most of us, we maybe don't think that's such a big deal.
We don't realize that the priesthood is not a human institution, but a divine vocation. But God does think it's a big deal. I want to read to you part of the story founded Numbers chapter 16 and it's about the rebellion of the sons of Chora. That's a long chapter I've really debated how much to share, but let's start here at verse 1, Numbers chapter 16.
Now Chora, the son of his son of Kohath, son of Levi, so he's a descendant of Levi and Dothan and Avayarim, the sons of Eliaab and on the son of Peloth, sons of Ruben took men and they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel. In fact, 250 chiefs of the congregation chosen from the assembly, well-known men, they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, you have gone too far for all in the congregation are holy, every one of them and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? Moses, why are you our leader and why is Aaron the priest?
We're all holy and one of us could do this. That's the gist and when Moses heard it in verse 4, he fell on his face. He said to Coron, all his company in the morning, the Lord will show who is his and who is holy and will bring him near to him. The one who he chooses, he will bring near to him, do this, take censors, and all his company put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow.
The man who the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. That is the holy priest. You've gone too far, sons of Levi. And Moses said to Coron, now you sons of Levi, is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, give you service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
He's the son of Levi. The Levites served in the temple. But not all Levites were priests. All priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests.
And he's saying that is it too small a thing that you're Levites. That you could just stand in the temple, you could just serve. And so, God brought you near to him in verse 10. And all your brothers, the sons of Levi with you.
And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore, it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together, what is Aaron that you grumble against him? So there's this complaining. We don't like the selection and appointment of one particular group.
Aaron, we all want to do it if we want to. We ought to be allowed. And so there's this high handed arrogant complaint. They pressed in.
The passage goes on to talk about how they just won't relent in it and well to skip to the end. Moses warns them that the Lord is going to put them to death for their high handed arrogance and presumption. And in verse 24, 29 he says, if these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. In other words, if they just happen to die in their sleep overnight or die like everybody else does, well, then the Lord has not sided with me.
But verse 30, if the Lord creates something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them and they go down alive in the shield, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord. They were despising Moses and Aaron so much as the Lord who had appointed Moses and Aaron. And verse 31, as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the people who belong to Corinne and all their goods. So they and all that belonged them went down alive into shield and all Israel who are around them fled at their cry for they said, let's the earth swallow us up.
So in a kind of earthquake, supernatural God imposed one here, fire verse 35 came out from the Lord to consume the 250 men offering the incense. So God defended his own right to appoint the priesthood. And some of the Levites who were called by God, though they tried to take it. The Lord had the earth swallow them up, which is a reminder to us that God takes very seriously his own word, his own command.
And that is why, I tell you that long story, to highlight why it's so important for the writer of Hebrews to prove to his audience that Jesus has the right to be our high priest, that he is in fact qualified and called and appointed by God, that he's not an imposter. So they're not wrong to follow him. And so they're not that in danger before the Lord. No, actually following Jesus, they're safe because of Jesus, they're high priest.
So how was Christ appointed? That is the question. I mean, how do we know he didn't just show up on the scene and appoint himself or how do we know that after his death, his disappointed disciples in order to perpetuate his memory and a sense of his importance simply didn't simply just claim that, you know, Jesus, he thought, well, he was, no, he was a true priest. Right.
How do we know these things? Is there any evidence that God appointed him? Well, we have that evidence first five. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who sent to him.
Now, pause there. He didn't exalt himself. Jesus himself said in John eight, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me.
He didn't exalt himself even to be a high priest. He didn't appoint himself, God appointed him. And the writer here then quotes God speaking in two Old Testament passages, Psalms in fact, both Psalm two and Psalm 110. Now both of these Psalms, before we look at them particularly, were already understood by the Jews of that day to be Messianic Psalms, Psalms that spoke of the Messiah for telling him.
And notice interestingly that both passages are said to be spoken to him, quote, you are my son, for instance. And so what's happening? God's Old Testament scripture spoke directly to the Messiah even before he had arrived on the scene in the flesh to, well, let's say it, inform him of his calling and appointment by God to be our high priest. I mean, of course in accordance with his deity, God takes human flesh and he knows the agenda.
The father, the son and the spirit had agreed from all, all before the foundations of the world that Jesus would come and offer himself as our priest and the true sacrifice for his people. But in accord with his humanity, which doesn't know all things, Jesus learned the Bible and was instructed by it in his identity and in his mission. He was told that he would be the true high priest of the true king of God's people and he read it in scripture. Now where is he told this?
Well, the first quotation as we mentioned is in Psalm 2 verse 7. And you see that in verse, end of verse 5, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Now as we said, this part of a messiatic psalm about the kings of the earth and rebellion against God.
Let me just pause and say if this is already felt like a Bible study, well, Hebrews is like that. The author is actually walking us through a Bible study to make his point. And so when he quotes the Bible, the Old Testament, he often has not just that one phrase in mind, but it's context and it would be helpful for us to recognize the context of verse 7. You are my son today, I have begotten you.
It's part of a messianic psalm about the kings of the earth in rebellion against God. You could turn there and just listen in. Why do the nations rage? It began.
The people's plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his anointed against the Lord and against his anointed. That's the word for Messiah Christ saying, let's burst their bonds apart, cast away the courts from us. But there's this rebellion of mankind and what's God's response to the rebellion against himself and his Messiah.
Well verse 4, he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. I mean, the tiny little frail human creature is not ultimately going to dethrone the king of the universe. It's laughable.
Verse 5, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. So he laughs at the futility of the rebellion and he appoints his own king and here it is in verse 7. I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son today, I've begotten you. That's what he was five quotes.
The Psalmist then continues, ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. So that what he's being promised here, Jesus the Son of God is king of the whole world, is either he will crush the rebels or say the repentant. The rest of the whole earth.
And so in light of that, let's just finish that song. We are counseled, every one of us in verses 10 to 12. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned of rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
There's no hope from him, flee to him for refuge and all will be well. So who do we flee to? Psalm 2, the son, the eternal son of whom it says in verse 7, today I have begotten you. Now that's not a reference to Jesus having some kind of beginning.
The eternal son of God did not have a beginning. God and human flesh, well God became flesh in a point in time. But the eternal son has no beginning. I mean if he had a beginning, then he isn't God, right?
If there was a time when he was not, then there was a time when he isn't the eternal deity. But there was never a time when he was not. He's always existed. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternally existing.
He's the eternal son. The language here of today I have begotten you refers not to some kind of creation of the Son, but actually refers to the resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul preached this in Antioch in Acts chapter 13. Again, I know it feels like a Bible study.
But concerning Jesus, he said this, Acts 1330, but God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus. As also it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son.
Today I have begotten you. The begotten language is a reference to the resurrection and his installation, his public installation as the King of God's Kingdom. To the point of course of the author of Hebrews is he and he calms out for a point himself. God did that and he had done that prior to his coming in Psalm 2.
And so he's greater than Aaron because Aaron wasn't the Messiah, he wasn't the eternal son, he wasn't raised from the dead, he wasn't set on the throne. But Jesus was, he's better than Aaron. Well, you may say fine Ted, but isn't that just a diversion? You've been talking about kingship.
The anointed King being set on a throne, but we're talking about his qualification to be a priest. What's with that? Well, the author isn't confused here. He knows what he's saying.
And that's why he turns to priesthood and to a quote from Psalm 110. Here once again, the writer turns to a Messianic Psalm, in fact the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament, which famously begins, the Lord Yahweh says to my Lord, my Adonai, my master, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. This is David speaking saying Yahweh says to my Adonai, my Lord, King David has his own Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So there's a King above King David in God's kingdom.
And so then the way that the New Testament looks at this is this is Jesus who will rule as King of Kings. And then while skipping ahead to verse 4, quoted here in Hebrews 5 verse 6, as he says also in another place, you are, and that's the other place of Psalm 110, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The King who sits at Yahweh's right hand is also a priest and a priest forever, and every lasting priest. Now in ancient Israel, of course, no king could be a priest and no priest could be a king.
The two offices were kept apart, kings were from the line of Judah through David, priests were from the line of Levi through Aaron. You couldn't be from both tribes, so a king could never be a priest and a priest could never be a king. But in Jesus the writer is saying, king and priest come together. How?
Well, not because he's of a line of Aaron, he isn't. But he was of a different and legitimate order of Old Testament priesthood, not the order of Aaron, but the order of this mysterious figure he mentions Melchizedek, of which the writer will say much in chapter 7. If you want to read ahead there, go for it. There's a lot to be said about Melchizedek, we can't say it now, but suffice it to say today.
He was an ancient king and priest. He was king of Jerusalem, the king of peace, and priest of God most high whom Abraham met, coming back from a victory in which he rescued his nephew, and Abraham paid the tithe to Melchizedek, the king of Jerusalem, and we know that in scripture in the author will make this argument, the lesser tithes to the greater. We think of Abraham as the father Abraham and he is. There was one greater than him in his own generation, Melchizedek, who was both a king and a priest.
And so the writer says all this to assure us that Jesus is legitimate. There's continuity with Aaron, qualified like Aaron, called, appointed, and so on, but there's discontinuity and he's better because he's the eternal son in human flesh, not merely a fallen man, and he's the resurrected son, exalted king and priest on the order of Melchizedek. And if you're tracking with me, we're almost done. Why does that matter?
It matters because you are invited. You are invited to come boldly, frankly, honestly, to the throne of grace to receive mercy and help in your time of need because Jesus, our great high priest, has passed through the heavens now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. And God says it's not a throne of judgment, it's a throne of grace. Are you poor?
Are you needy? Are you weak? Are you helpless? Do you not know what to do?
Are you desperate? Don't sugarcoat it. Don't act like, oh Lord, it's a little better than us. I think it is.
Just be frank about it. Just throw yourself on his mercy and you will the promises. Find mercy and find grace to help in time of need because this Jesus is your great high priest. May the Lord help us all the rest in him.
Let's pray. Father, we are poor and needy and we don't know how badly we're desperate and we don't think of ourselves that way. But you know us truly. You know all our needs.
Thank you that Jesus is not a leaf, that you, God, are not far off but have come near shared so that you can sympathize. You can be a merciful, faithful high priest in service of man because you know from the inside out all our weakness, all our friends. All of our temptations, all of our sins. You know Jesus because you died for them.
In Jesus name we give you thanks. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together and sing.