Our High Priest

Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,  Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶ 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.

The first segment of Hebrews 4 involves those who have heard the words of truth, the good news, and likens them to those who heard the words of the law, and the teaching of the prophets. Scripture informs us the truth they heard profited them nothing because of their unbelief. 

The Hebrew writer drives home the point when he says the good news came to us just as it came to them, but when it is not mixed with faith, it becomes of no value to us. 

Then comes the latter segment of the chapter, which gives us the brighter picture, all because Jesus, our great high priest, has gone before us and we are destined to be with him when we "hold firmly to the faith we possess." Think through those words and determine what they mean for you. We might consider for a moment, we are a people of faith.  Some of us have been hearing about faith all our lives. We may have even experienced periods of time when we were actually growing in faith. 

To encourage us in this matter, the Hebrew writer tells us Jesus, our high priest, can understand and even sympathizes with us in our weakness. He is one who bases his understanding and sympathy on personal experience. He was tempted in every way, like we are tempted. And through all these temptations, Jesus remained sinless.

Now consider this. If we are going to seek help from someone to swim the length of an Olympic pool, would we get that help from the successful Olympic swimmer, or would we ask the guy who was holding on to a floatation device just to keep his head above the water?  We want the specialist, and Hebrews 4 says, that's Jesus, tempted in every way like us, yet remaining without sin. 

Because of the perfection of our high priest, Jesus, we can come to the throne of grace boldly and with all confidence, and there receive the mercy and grace to help us. So in reality, we aren't  able to do everything ourselves. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we need to hear again, assurance of our salvation doesn't come because of something we do, it comes because of what God does through his son, Jesus, our high priest. 

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