The Apostle and High Priest we confess is Messiah Jesus. He is faithful as the Son over God’s House.

And, we are God’s House.

Therefore, holy brothers/ and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess.

He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s House.

For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later. But Christ/ Messiah is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast. (Hebrews 3:1-6)

Make every effort to enter into God’s Rest. Let us hold firmly to what we profess.

“8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:8-15.

Messiah did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a High Priest.

The Perfect High Priest

“¹Every high priest is appointed from among men to represent them in matters relating to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is beset by weakness. That is why he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but He was called by the One who said to Him:

• “You are My Son;
  • today I have become Your Father.”
• And in another passage God says:
• “You are a priest forever
  • in the order of Melchizedek.”

“⁷During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him and was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”

Milk and Solid Food

“¹¹We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:1-14.

“And this point is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is testified:

Messiah Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek

• “You are a priest forever
  • in the order of Melchizedek.”

“So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
And none of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him:

Jesus became the guarantee of a better covenant.

• “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind:
  • ‘You are a priest forever.’ ”

“Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
He lives to intercede for us. Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
Unlike other priests. Such a high priest truly befits us — One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.” Hebrews 7:15-28.

“¹The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who ministers in the sanctuary and true tabernacle set up by The LORD, not by man. And since every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer.
>Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer gifts according to the law. The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

The New Covenant

“⁶Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises. For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second. But God found fault with the people and said:

• “Behold, the days are coming, declares The LORD,
  • when I will make a new covenant
• with the house of Israel
  • and with the house of Judah.
• It will not be like the covenant
  • I made with their fathers
• when I took them by the hand
  • to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
• because they did not abide by My covenant,
  • and I disregarded them,
• declares The LORD.

• For this is the covenant I will make
  • with the house of Israel
• after those days,
  • declares The LORD.
• I will put My laws in their minds
  • and inscribe them on their hearts.
• And I will be their God,
  • and they will be My people.
• No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother,
  • saying, ‘Know The LORD,’
• because they will all know Me,
  • from the least of them to the greatest.
• For I will forgive their iniquities
  • and will remember their sins no more.”

He made the first obsolete.

“¹³By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.” Hebrews 8:1-13.

The Earthly Tabernacle

“¹Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat.d But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties. But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.”

The gifts and sacrifices were unable to cleanse the conscience.

“⁹It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper. They consist only in food and drink and special washings — external regulations imposed until the time of reform. Redemption through His Blood.”

The tabernacle not made with hands. The sacrifice, his own blood.

“¹¹But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.”

The blood of Messiah purifies our consciences.

“¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!”

Messiah is the mediator of a new covenant.

“¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it, because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.”

The first covenant.

“¹⁸That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”

The new covenant.

“²¹In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.
Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.” Hebrews 9:1-28.

Messiah Jesus the Apostle and High Priest knew he must endure death on the cross and told his disciples must. (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31–33; Luke 9:21–22)

For the joy set before Him endured the cross.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2-3.

All Scripture quoted above is from the Berean Study Bible.

 

~ Bill Bremer

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Bill Bremer is Founder and Managing Director at Kingdom Relationships Colorado.

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