# 381 – Jesus Christ Our High Priest

Ex. 28:1-3,  29-30,  40-43,    29:1-14,  38-46,    Eph. 2:11-22,   3:1-6,    

Hebrews 2:17,   3:1-3,   4:14-16,   5:1-10, 19-20,   6:1-8, 11-28,  

Hebrews 7:1-13,   9:1-15, 23-26,   10:1-4, 11-25

WT#381

WT#381

JESUS CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST

HEBREWS 2*

¹⁷ For this reason, it was necessary for him to be made like his brothers in all respects, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest with reference to [the plan of] God in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.

HEBREWS 3

¹ Wherefore, holy [sanctified] brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, carefully consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, namely, Jesus,

² who is faithful to Him Who appointed him, as Moses also was faithful in His [God’s] whole house.

³ Moreover, this man has been considered worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as someone who builds [prepares] a house has more honor than the house.

HEBREWS 4

¹⁴ Therefore, having a great high priest who has passed into the heavens, namely, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession [what is to be confessed].

¹⁵ Moreover, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things in the same manner as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶ Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

HEBREWS 5

¹ Now, every high priest who is selected from among men is appointed [to serve] on behalf of men in matters pertaining to God so that he may offer both gift-offerings and sacrifices for sins.

² He is able to deal compassionately with the ignorant and misled because he himself is also encompassed with weakness,

³ and because of it [the weakness], he is obligated to offer for his own sins as well as for the sins of the people.

⁴ No one selects this honor for himself, but he who is called by God is selected, just as Aaron was.

⁵ So also the Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest but was glorified by Him Who said with reference to him, ^Psalm 2:7: “You are My Son; today I have begotten you.”

⁶ Likewise, He says in another psalm, ^{Psalm 110:4:}“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

^7-8 Even though he is a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered in the days of his flesh when he offered prayer requests and olive branches [requests for help] with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save [deliver] him out of death, and he was heard because of his reverence [for God].

⁹ Then, after he was perfected, he became the basis for eternal salvation [deliverance] to all who obey him,

¹⁰ being designated by God, ^{Psalm 110:4:} “high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

HEBREWS 6

¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor of the soul, both firm and secure, even for entering behind the veil,

²⁰ where one running ahead entered on our behalf, namely, Jesus, who became ^{Psalm 110:4:} “a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

HEBREWS 7

¹ Now this Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, is the one who met Abraham after his return from the slaughter of the kings and who blessed him.

To him, Abraham also divided a tenth of everything. First of all, his name translated is “King of Justice,” and then also his title King of Salem translated is “King of Peace.”

³ He is without [a record of] a father, without [a record of] a mother, without [a record of] a genealogy, having neither a beginning of days [birth record], nor an end of life [death record], and similar to the Son of God he remains a priest continually.

⁴ Now observe how distinguished this Melchizedek was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the best first fruits.

⁵ Indeed, those of Levi’s sons who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to receive tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, even though they have come from the loins of Abraham.

⁶ However, he [Melchizedek] who did not share their genealogy received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises,

⁷ and without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the better.

⁸ In one case, men who die receive tithes, but in the other case, the witness is that he lives.

¹¹ So if, in fact, the act of perfecting were by the Levitical priestly office (for under it the people had been furnished with the law), then what further need would there be for another priest to arise “according to the order of Melchizedek” and not designated according to the order of Aaron?

¹² Moreover, since the priestly office has changed, then, out of necessity, a change of law has also occurred.

¹³ Certainly, he about whom these things are spoken belongs to a different tribe from which no one has attended to the altar,

¹⁴ for it is evident that our lord arose from Judah, a tribe of which Moses said nothing concerning priests.

¹⁵ It is even more abundantly evident that, according to the likeness of Melchizedek, a different priest arises,

¹⁶ who has not become a priest according to a law of a fleshly commandment but according to the power of an indestructible life.

⁷ Clearly, it has been witnessed, ^{Psalm 110:4:}“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸ In fact, the nullification of the former commandment came about because it was weak and unprofitable,

¹⁹ for the law perfected nothing. However, there was an introduction of a better hope, by which we draw near to God.

²⁰ Inasmuch as he was not made a priest without the swearing of an oath

²¹ (for they [the sons of Levi] have become priests without the swearing of an oath, but he [Jesus Christ] with the swearing of an oath by Him Who said with reference to him, ^{Psalm 110:4:} “The Lord has sworn an oath and will not repent. You are a priest forever ^{{+ according to the order of Melchizedek}}”),

²² accordingly, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

²³ Now many indeed have become priests because they are prevented by death from continuing to serve,

²⁴ but because he continues forever, he has an unchangeable priestly office.

²⁵ For this reason, he is also able to completely save [deliver] those who approach God through him, always living to make intercession for them.

²⁶ Certainly, it was also fitting for us to have a devout, innocent, undefiled high priest such as this one, who has been separated from the sinful and who has become higher than the heavens.

²⁷ He does not need to offer up daily sacrifices like the high priests did, first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, for he accomplished this all at once by offering up himself.

²⁸ Now, the law appoints men who have weakness to be high priests, but the Word sworn in the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son, who has been perfected, to be high priest forever.

HEBREWS 8

¹ Now the main point of what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down on the right side of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

² a minister of the holy [sanctified] places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord set up, not man.

³ As a matter of fact, every high priest is appointed to offer both gift-offerings and sacrifices. Hence, it was necessary for this high priest also to have something to offer.

⁴ Now if he were on earth, then he would not even be a priest, since there are those who offer gift-offerings according to the law.

⁵ (They serve in an example and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses had been instructed when he was about to set up the tabernacle, for ^{Exodus 25:40:}“See,” He says, “that you make everything in accordance with the model [type] shown to you in the mountain.”)

⁶ As it is, however, he has obtained a more excellent service inasmuch as he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted as law on the basis of better promises.

⁷ Certainly, if that first covenant had been faultless, then an occasion for a second would not have been sought.

⁸ In fact, finding fault with them, He says, ^{Jeremiah 31:31-34:}“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah

⁹ “‘not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. (Since they have not continued in My covenant, I have likewise disregarded them,’ says the Lord.)

¹⁰ “‘This is the covenant that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the Lord. ‘Giving My laws into their mind, I will even write them upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.

¹¹ “‘Each person will not teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for everyone will know Me from the least to the greatest of them

¹² “‘because I will be merciful with regard to their injustice, and I will absolutely not remember their sins any longer.’”

¹³ By saying “new,” He has made the first old. Moreover, that which becomes old and obsolete is ready to disappear.

HEBREWS 9

¹ Now the first covenant had standards for justice of divine service and the earthly holy [sanctified] place.

² As a matter of fact, a tabernacle was built [prepared]. In the first partwas the lampstand and the table and the presentation bread. This place is called “Holy [Sanctified].”

³ Beyond the second veil was a part of the tabernacle called “Holy of Holies,”

⁴ which had the golden altar of incense and the ark [chest] of the covenant, covered entirely with gold, in which were the following: a golden jar containing manna and Aaron’s rod that budded and the tablets of the covenant.

⁵ Above it [the ark] were cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of atonement. Concerning these things, it is not now the time to speak in detail.

⁶ So these things having been built [prepared], the priests constantly enter the first part of the tabernacle to perform the divine services,

⁷ and the high priest enters alone once every year into the second part, not without blood which he offers for himself and for the ignorant errors of the people.

⁸ The Holy Spirit thus indicated that the way into the holy [sanctified] places had not yet been made manifest while the first tabernacle still held its standing.

⁹ This was a parable [symbolic comparison] with a view to the present time, by which [parable] both gift-offerings and sacrifices are offered but are not able, through a consciousness [of sins], to perfect the one who only serves

¹⁰ in foods and drinks and various baptisms. These were standards of justice pertaining to the flesh, which were imposed on them until the time of reformation [restoration].

¹¹ However, Christ has come and is a high priest of the good things that were to come. Through [the veil of] the greater and more excellent tabernacle (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),

¹² he entered (not with the blood of he-goats and calves but with his own blood) once and for all into the holy [sanctified] places, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

¹³ So, if the blood of he-goats and oxen and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who are common sanctify them to the purification of the flesh,

¹⁴ then how much more will the blood of the Christ, who (because of the eternal Spirit) offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse ^/our ^{{Or / your}} consciousness from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵ For this reason, he is also the mediator of the new covenant.

²³ Hence, it was necessary for the examples of the things in the heavens to be cleansed by these [animal sacrifices], but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴ In fact, Christ did not enter into handmade holy [sanctified] places, impressions [antitypes] of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

²⁵ Neither did he offer himself frequently, as the high priest enters the [handmade] holy [sanctified] places every year with blood other than his own.

²⁶ In that case, he would have had to suffer frequently since the foundation of the world. As it is, however, he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the nullification of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

HEBREWS 10

¹ So the law, having a shadow of the good things to come and not the image itself of the matters, can never perfect those who approach with the same sacrifices that they continually offer every year.

² Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered since those who serve would no longer have any consciousness of sins after they had been cleansed once?

³ Instead, by those sacrifices, there is a remembrance of sins every year.

⁴ As a matter of fact, it is impossible for the blood of oxen and he-goats to take away sins.

¹¹ Indeed, every priest stands daily ministering and frequently offering the same sacrifices, which can never remove sins.

¹² However, this priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down on the right side of God.

¹³ Henceforth, he waits until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.

¹⁴  Therefore, by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also bears witness to us because after He said:

¹⁶ “‘This is the covenant that I will covenant with them after those days’ says the Lord. ‘Giving My laws upon their hearts, I will even write them upon their mind,’”

¹⁷ then He also said, “their sins and their lawlessness I will absolutely not remember any longer.”

¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, having confidence by the blood of Jesus for the entrance into the holy [sanctified] places

²⁰ (this entrance is a new and living way, which he ratified for us through the veil, that is, through his flesh),

²¹ and having a great priest over the house of God,

²² let us approach with a true heart in absolute certainty of believing, having hearts sprinkled from a consciousness of evil and having the body bathed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold fast the confession [what is to be confessed] of the hope without wavering, for He Who has promised is faithful.

²⁴ Let us also carefully consider one another with a view to stirring up love and good works,

²⁵ not forsaking the gathering together of ourselves, as is the custom of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day drawing near.

• From the Working Translation, A Journey through the Acts and Epistles,

Copyright © 2006 by Walter J. Cummins. All rights reserved.