Hebrews Chapter 5
1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; 2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.
As I said earlier, a priest is one who can help with your spiritual problems. A high priest is like an expert of expert spiritual problem solvers. In the Old Covenant, there was one person who was given this honor, but he too had spiritual problems of his own, that he couldn’t solve.
4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"; 6 just as He says also in another passage, "YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK."
Old Covenant high priests were appointed by God.
Jesus too was a high priest who was appointed by God, and He was sent to earth as man so that He could be a good high priest. But unlike the Old Covenant high priests who died and had to be replaced every time, Jesus is a high priest forever because He solved the sin problem once and for all.
Think of it like this… in the olden days, people who wanted fresh water had to go to the river or a well to get it. In due time it would get over, and they had to go to the river or well again, and again. But in modern cities, the problem is solved once and for all because there is a pipe that sends the water right to your home – as much as you want.
In the same way, Jesus paid for sins – all the sins of every human being – with one sacrifice. That is why He is a priest forever, just like Melchizedek.
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus can help you solve your sin problem in another dimension. Instead of just paying for your sins after you fall, He can also help you to overcome temptation and not fall at all!
How is He able to do that?
He is able to do that because in the days of His flesh (that is, when He was a man, just like us) He faced every temptation that we face now, and He figured out how to overcome each and every one of them.
Jesus learnt how by asking God for the secret of how to suffer through the temptation, and because He desired it so greatly, God gave Him the secret. And now, if we go to Him for the secret, He will tell us how, and if we listen to Him, we too can overcome any temptation.
Jesus is available not just for the generation that existed when He was man, or the generation after that, but for every generation. Therefore, in this matter of overcoming temptation too, Jesus is a priest forever, just like Melchizedek.
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
The writer, and his friends, would love to tell the Hebrews the secrets they have learnt from Jesus – secrets of how to overcome all kinds of temptation, but these Hebrews are so primitive in their ability to deal with temptation that even if they were told how, they wouldn’t be able to understand and apply these secrets.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
These Hebrew Christians were like infants because they were only accustomed to milk – that is, teaching on how much God loves them. They were not accustomed to sold food (which is given to those who are mature) – that is, teachings on how to live righteously by overcoming temptation.
Even today, a lot of Christians are like infants. They only receive messages of how much God loves them. When you tell them about the word of righteousness they stare blankly and ask, "Say what?"
A mature believer trains his senses to discern between good and evil. He ponders on how he spends his time and money, and controls what he allows his eyes to see and his ears to hear and his fingers to touch. He learns to identify sources of temptation. He is on the alert for ways to avoid temptation, and ways to handle temptation effectively. He puts what he has learnt to practice and gauges the effectiveness of his temptation overcoming techniques.
What about you?
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