#DailyDevotions Jesus Is Our Greater High Priest

Heb. 4 ¹⁴Now that we have a great High Priest Who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, God’s Son, let us cling to what we confess. ¹⁵ We have a High Priest Who can sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way just as we are, only without sin. ¹⁶So let us come boldly to God’s throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us when we need it.

So we’ve started off with Jesus is better than the prophets. He is better than the angels. He is better than Moses. Now we are entering Jesus is better than the Levitical priesthood, the high priest, the sacrifices and the temple in which they serve.

We have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens. He is such a High Priest now. He now only went through the various curtains in the temple of God on earth, He went through all the heavens, that is to say, all creation to the place of the Unoriginanate, to God’s right hand. You simply don’t get closer to the Father than that. Since we have such a great High Priest, we are told to cling to what we confess. We confess our faith in Jesus Christ. We have the confession Jesus is God, God’s only Son, our LORD, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried for our sins. On the third day He rose again, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father and is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

This High Priest can sympathize with our weaknesses. When Jesus sympathizes with us, He commiserates with our suffering. So Hebrews says, “He was tempted in every way just as we are, only without sin.” Now tempted in the Greek here can be tempted to sin but also tested. We go through many temptations in life. We are also tried by many circumstances. Jesus is not unsympathetic to our circumstances. Like us, He went through many temptations to sin. Like us, He was tried by many circumstances in life. In all these, He did not sin. He felt all these things in Himself, just as you and I feel them. More than that, because we are joined to Him through baptism, He goes through everything we ourselves go through. We are never alone in our trials, tribulations, temptations and testings. He is going through them with us, giving us His strength to endure and overcome them.

Since we have such a High Priest, we are therefore encouraged to boldly go to God’s throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us when we need it. This is fantastic! Just as Jesus our High Priest has gone through the heavens, because He shares with us our flesh and blood and we are given His Spirit, we can come to the place where He is at the right hand of God the Father in glory and present our request to God the Father. Note, it is a throne of grace we are approaching here. This is the place we get what we do not deserve. It is a place we receive mercy and grace from the Father. Mercy is not just pitiful feelings toward us but God the Father’s action and power toward us to provide for us what we need. It is there to help us in all our times of need, whether overcoming temptation or bearing up through a personal trial. Jesus, our great High Priest, through the sacrifice He provided, opened up the throne-room of God’s grace for us, so we may boldly ask for help when we need it.

Mercyfulf and gracious Father, grant us help in our time of testings and temptations, through the blood of Christ, so with Christ, we may overcome them and share in Your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.