Jesus the Great High Priest John Oakes Puebla

Jesus the Great High Priest John Oakes, Puebla 27/10/19

Introduction cont. • Purpose: To give heart to Christians who have endured but are being tempted to waver in their faith. – Warnings against “falling away. ” • Theme: The preeminence of Jesus Christ!!! – – His deity The greatness of his ministry The greatness of his sacrifice The greatness of his covenant

The Greatness of Jesus 1. Greater than the prophets. Hebrews 1: 1 -3 2. Greater than the angels. Hebrews 1: 4 -14 3. Greater than Moses. Hebrews 3: 1 -5 4. Jesus the Great High Priest. Hebrews 4: 145: 10 5. Jesus is greater than Abraham. 6: 13 -18, 7: 4 -5 6. Greater than the Levitical Priesthood. 7: 1 -28 7. A Better Covenant. Hebrews 8: 1 -13 8. A better Tabernacle Hebrews 9: 1 -11. 9. A perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 9: 12 -10: 18.

Exhortations Exhortation #1 Pay careful attention 2: 1 -4 Exhortation #2 Make every effort. 3: 7 -4: 13 Exhortation #3 Move on to maturity 5: 11 -6: 12 Exortation #4 Draw near to God, do not shrink back. 10: 19 -39 Exhortation #5 Live by faith. 11: 1 -40

Jesus the Perfect High Priest • What is a priest? • A Pontifex Literally, a bridge-builder. A mediator. An advocate. A representative. One who give access. One who can speak the language of both the worshipper and the one worshipped. • The bridge before Jesus: – – – The Law The Priest and the Sacrificial System But they did not work, and that is the point of Hebrews 7 -10: 18

The Law: An Incomplete Bridge

Jesus the Great High Priest • Like a High priest: – Can relate to us (Heb 4: 15) – Makes intercession before God for us (Heb 4: 16) – Offer gifts (fragrant offerings) and sacrifices (sin, guilt offering) (Heb 5: 1) – Selected by God from men (Heb 5: 1, 4 -5) – Represents man to God (Heb 5: 1) • Greater than any High Priest – – – Serves in the Heavenly Tabernacle, not the earthly one. (Heb 4: 14) Tempted, yet was without sin. (Heb 4: 15) Did not need to offer sacrifices for his own sin. (Heb 5: 3) A priest forever (Heb 5: 6) A priest from the order of Melchizedek (Heb 5: 6)

A wonderful word… • metriopatheia • • • Heb 5: 2 Empathy, Sympathetic feeling, Bear with people without becoming angry Completely unlike the Greek concept of God • God cannot possibly feel anything or he is weak.

Hebrews 5: 2 cont. “He deals gently with those who are ignorant and going astray. ” This is accidental sin, not willful sin. There was no sacrifice for willful sin in the Law of Moses. Hebrews 10: 26, Leviticus 4: 13, Numbers 15: 30 -31 Willful sin is defiance, rebellion, willful (obviously) Unwillful sin is an act of impulse or thoughtlessness or ignorance.

Willful Sin

Hebrews 5: 8 -9 5: 8 Jesus learned obedience through suffering. “learned” in the sense of experiencing. 5: 9 once made perfect (teleio) = complete

Heb 9: 11 -10: 18 Greater Sacrifices Heb 9: 11 -14 The blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a red heifer only made the Jews outwardly clean. They were shadows, prefigures Bulls and Goats: yom kippur Ashes of a heifer: Red Heifer sacrifice (Numbers 19)

Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement 1. Wash hands and feet in the laver 2. Change into perfectly white linen clothes 3. Lay hands on a bull paid for by the High Priest and sacrifice it 4. Sprinkle the blood in the Holy Place for sin of the High Priest 5. Fill a censer with incense and fill the MHP with the smoke. 6. Select two goats, kill one, as well as a bull for the sin of the people (the other goat is the scape goat) 7. Enter the Most Holy Place, first with the blood of the goat, then the blood of the bull, to sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat.

The Day of Atonement Yom Kippur Sacrificial goat and scape goat (Azazel). Sins laid on sacrificial goat, killed outside the camp. Incense fills the Holy of Holies Priest enters the Holy of Holies and puts blood on the Mercy Seat

Jesus: A Better Sacrifice Heb 9: 12 -14 • 1. Eternal redemption. v. 12. • 2. A clean conscience v. 14. • 3. We can now serve (worship) God. v. 14.

A Better Sacrifice Hebrews 9: 23 -24 The lesser sacrifice (goats, bulls, red heifer) Outward (appearance) Temporary (repeated again and again) Ceremonial Not voluntary Mechanical Unaware Did not remove guilt The greater sacrifice (Jesus) Inward (spiritual) Eternal (only done once) Real Voluntary Spontaneous (by choice) Rational, aware Removes guilt eternally

Hebrews 10: 1 -4 From Shadow to Reality 10: 1 Shadow vs. Reality eikon a perfect representation. The reality has great power—It makes us perfect They still felt guilty (because they were) How about you? v. 3 But the Law of Moses did do something. They reminded us how sinful we are. Rom 7: 13 It “made sin utterly sinful. ”