Sep. 29, 2024

“LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT”

“CHRIST IS SUPERIOR TO 

THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD”

HEBREWS 5:1-10

Christ Is Superior To Aaron and the Other High Priests:

1.  Jesus Christ Is Superior In His Ordination: Hebrews 5:1,4-6

Aaron was chosen by God to be the high priest and he was duly ordained and installed in office (Exodus 28:1-43).

Exodus 28:1 “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.”

Hebrews 5:1 “For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.”

vs.1 “…appointed for men in things pertaining to God…” His main task was to offer sacrifices God had appointed.

Today, that system is fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus Christ. He is both the sacrifice and the High Priest who ministers to God’s people on the basis of His once-for-all offering on the cross.

The priesthood’s function is for saved sinners:

1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

The subject of “appointment” or ordination stated in vs.1 is further developed in vs.5-6, Jesus Christ did not appoint Himself as High Priest:

Hebrews 5:5-6 “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” 6 As He also says in another place:“You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

He was appointed by God the Father; vs.5 “… but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” This is a quotation from the Old Testament:

Psalm 2:7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”

Acts 13:33-34 “God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’ 34 And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.”

This phrase “… Today I have begotten You.” vs.5

But God not only said, “…You are My Son..” vs.5, He also said, “…You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” vs.6 

Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Two factors make Christ’s priesthood unique and therefore His ordination greater. First, He was the High Priest forever. The word “forever” is an important one in Hebrews: At Least six times Christ is confirmed High Priest forever:

“Forever”

Hebrews 6:20 “where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7:17 “For He testifies: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7:21 “(for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”

Hebrews 7:24 “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.”

Hebrews 7:28 “For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.”

And since He is the High Priest forever, He gives His people salvation forever:

Hebrews 7:25-27 “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”

The second factor that makes Christ’s ordination unique is that He belongs to a different order from the Old Testament priest. They belonged to the order of Aaron, He belongs to the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is mentioned in only two places in the entire Old Testament:

Genesis 14:17-24

Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

His name means “King of Righteousness and He was also King of Salem (peace).”

2.   Jesus Christ Reveals A  Superior Sympathy- Hebrews 5:2,7-8

Jesus understands us, he can sympathize with us:

Hebrews 5:2 “He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Our Lord was prepared for His High Priestly ministry during His days of ministry on the earth.

Hebrews 5:7-8 “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

John 4:6-8

John 4:31 “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

He also faced temptation to sin:

Matthew 4:1-11

It is also worth noting that sometimes God puts us through difficulties that we might better understand the needs of others and be able to encourage them.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  

3.   Jesus Christ Offered A Superior Sacrifice: Hebrews 5:3,9-10

Two important matters are involved:

The first is that Jesus Christ did not need to offer any sacrifice for  Himself:

Hebrews 5:3 “Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.”

The second matter is that the Lord’s sacrifice was once and for all, whereas the Old Testament sacrifices had to be repeated.

Hebrews 5:9-10 “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”

Hebrews 9:28 “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Furthermore, those sacrifices could only cover sins, they could never cleanse sins. It required the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God for the sin to be cleansed and removed.

Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest and is superior to Aaron. So we should live our lives to please Him.

Have you fallen into sin because of ignorance to God’s ways or because you have been led away into sin?

1 John 1:9