Jesus Christ the Living Word

Book of Hebrews

Scripture Lesson Hebrews 5:1-10             Leviticus 8:1-36

Christ is the Great High Priest (Part II): The Qualifications of a True Priest

Introduction: Jesus Christ is the great High Priest. He meets every qualification required by both man and God to be the Supreme High Priest.  God is perfect and man is imperfect and sinful. Therefore, for man to come back into right standing, Man must do it the way God has designed it.  For God did not fall but Man fell away from the perfect order of God. Let’s look at Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.  They were given instructions by Lord God that would allow them to live as God had intended.  So now sin has entered the world and therefore it must be dealt with in a manner that is pleasing to God, not what is pleasing to man, because man fell not God.  So as we see for sinful man to become back into the presence of God and his deeds and life to be acceptable to God, an intermediary was established to stand between God and man.  This was the Priest as we have learned from last week’s lesson with Moses and Aaron. (Exodus 4:1-31)  Why? Because the ideal perfection of that Person must cover man, and man must believe and trust in the Person's ideal perfection for it to cover him. This is the glorious message of this great passage. Jesus Christ meets all the qualifications of the perfect Person. Jesus Christ is the great High Priest who stands between God and man. He meets all the qualifications of a true high priest, and He differs from all other priests in one critical area: He is perfect. He perfectly meets all the qualifications. He is not just a high priest; He is the great High Priest of God and man.

1. High Priest: there were five qualifications for a man to be a high priest. Note how clearly they are spelled out, and note that these qualifications are applied to all priests who are "taken from among men." They are applicable to every generation of men. Every person who serves God in the ministry needs to heed these qualifications.

1. The high priest must be appointed by God to represent men before God. That is his function, the very reason he serves as high priest.

He is taken from among men. He is a man himself who knows and understands what it is to be a man. Because of this he knows how to present man's case before God.

He represents man in the things of God. He leads men in prayer, worship, righteousness, morality, witnessing, and in the study of spiritual things.

He is ordained or appointed by God. He does not choose the priesthood as a means of livelihood or of social and benevolent service. He is a priest because God called him to serve people in the things of God.

2. The high priest must offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He leads the people to make gifts or offerings to the Lord, the offering of their lives and possessions. But he has one significant function: to offer sacrifice for sins. Unless man's sins are forgiven, he can never be acceptable to God, for no man can erase his sins. Therefore, there has to be a substitution, some sacrifice made that can take the sinner's place and bear the judgment of sin for him. This, of course, refers to the animals which were sacrificed for sin in the Old Testament. The animal sacrifice is also a type or symbol that pictured what Jesus Christ was to do for us: become the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for our sins. The point is this: the high priest was the person who offered the sacrifice for man's sins.

3. The high priest must be able to deal with men in compassion. Note that men are placed into one of two classifications of sin: Sin by commission and Sin by Omission

Commission is the knowingly, or willfully committing sin, A deliberate act by the person.

Omission is unknowingly or non-deliberate  committing of sin.

The high priest must remember that he himself is also guilty of infirmities, weaknesses, and failures. Therefore, he is to be compassionate with all men, no matter their sin and shortcoming. For he is as they are: a mere man, ever so frail and short of God's perfect goodness.

4. The high priest must offer sacrifices for his own sins. He is just as guilty of sin and short of God's glory as the people are. Therefore, he must first make sacrifice for his own sin before he can make sacrifice for the people's sins.

5. The high priest must be God-appointed and not self-appointed. No man is to take the honor of being a priest upon himself; he is to be a priest only if God has called and appointed him to be a priest. No person is to enter the priestly ministry because he chooses it as a profession, as a means to earn a livelihood, or as a means to serve mankind. God and God alone calls those who are to serve Him. Only those who are called by God can serve Him in truth and fulfill the true functions of the priesthood. John 10:11-13, (John 15:16).

(Acts 9:15). (Acts 26:16).(2 Cor. 5:20). (1 Tim. 1:12). (Isaiah 6:8).

2. Jesus Christ, High Priest: the qualifications to be the great High Priest were met by Christ. Note that the same five qualifications listed for the high priest are now listed for Christ, but in reverse order. Jesus Christ fulfills all the qualifications of the high priest, but there is one significant difference: Jesus Christ fulfills the qualifications perfectly. He is the great High Priest who stands in perfection before God and men.

1. Christ was "begotten" or born as a Man: He was appointed and sent into the world by God (Hebrews 5:5-6).  There are two proofs that Jesus Christ was appointed by God.

a.  Proof one is God's Word or prophecy. Hundreds of years before Christ ever came into the world, God foretold that He was going to send His Son into the world. God was going to beget, that is, cause His Son to be born into the world. He was to enter the world as man so that He could perfectly identify with man and go through all the experiences of man; therefore, God had to send Him into the world as a man."Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee" (Hebrews 5:5; Psalm 2:7).

b. Proof two is God's irrevocable oath that His Son was to be a priest. And note: He was not to be priest like man, that is, like Aaron's priesthood; He was to be a priest after the order of Melshisedec. What does this mean? Melchisedec's priesthood is said to have been without human descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. That is, he is said to be eternal   Hebrews 7:1-10  Therefore, God gave an irrevocable promise to man: He would send His Son into the world to be the great High Priest, the eternal representative of man before God.

The point is this: God appointed Jesus Christ to be the great High Priest; Christ did not seek to glorify Himself—did not seek the glory of the priesthood. He was appointed to be a priest by God. Therefore, He has fulfilled the first qualification of the priesthood, the qualification of being appointed by God. John 3:16-17, (Hebrews 2:17). (Hebrews 5:5).

2. Christ sacrificed Himself; He suffered bitterly as Man (Hebrews 5:7). No high priest has ever suffered or been aware of the trials and sufferings that Jesus Christ bore and knew. He suffered beyond what any person ever has to suffer. He suffered every human trial and experience that men can suffer—bitterly suffered them—and He suffered them so that He can succor (safe and sound benefactor) us through all the trials of this world. Hebrews 2:17-18. Luke 2:40 Isaiah 53:5

3. Christ willingly sacrificed Himself and suffered for man (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus Christ was the Son of God; therefore, He did not have to come to earth to save man. But it was God's will, and the only way Christ could obey God was to humble Himself and come and suffer as Man. He obeyed God—experienced obedience—by suffering as Man. He learned what it is to obey God as a Man; He learned it by becoming Man and by suffering as Man. The point is this: Christ willingly came to earth to suffer for man. He did it because it was God's will, and He loves His Father. Jesus Christ is the great High Priest. He has fulfilled every qualification for the Priesthood—fulfilled them perfectly.

4. Christ was made perfect: He became the Source of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus Christ had to come to earth and suffer as Man. So that ,if a person obeys Christ—believes and follows Him—then the perfect righteousness of Christ covers that person. If a person approaches God through Christ—trusts and lives for Christ—then the righteousness of Christ saves and keeps him safe, both now and forever.

 5. Christ was appointed High Priest by God. Salvation is of God. The High Priesthood of Christ with all that it means is of God. God is the One who appointed and sent Christ into the world. And He did it after the eternal order of Melchisedec, not after the human and dying order of Aaron. Jesus Christ is the great High Priest, the High Priest who can represent and present us perfectly before God - The Father.