The main purpose of this study is to examine: The Significance of the High Priesthood of Christ Jesus. Priesthood is: A Vocation. A Calling. An Office. A Position. A Role. All these phrases describe what priesthood entails in the true sense of it.  A Priest is a person who mediates between God and the people. In Hebrews 5:1, the Bible says: “For every high priest taken from among men (in other words, they didn’t fall from heaven) is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

 

Before we begin to examine the High Priesthood of Christ Jesus, I want us to go down memory lane and examine some notable priesthood that existed before the time of Christ Jesus. There were four types of priesthood (associated with God) that the Scripture documented for our observation before the time of Christ Jesus. They are:

 

1 The Priesthood of Melchizedek [Genesis 14:17-20]

 

“And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. ¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; ²⁰ And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.”

 

Melchizedek was a man who lived in the time of Abraham. He was popularly referred to as “king of Salem.” There was no much record about him in the Old Testament other than the fact that “he was the priest of God Most High” and that Abraham gave him a tithe of all the spoils of the war. David also wrote about Him in the book of Psalms 110:1-4. It says:

 

The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
² The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

³ Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
⁴ The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”

 

The apostle Paul also corroborated what the Old Testament documented about Melchizedek in Hebrews 7:1-3. The Bible says:

 

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” ³ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.”

 

2 The Priesthood of Jethro, the Midianite [Exodus 2:16-18, 18:10-12]

 

The priesthood of Jethro, the Midianite, is the second priesthood that I want to show us in the Bible after that of Melchizedek. Jethro happened to be the father-in-law of Moses and their paths happened to cross each other after Moses had fled Egypt and was on exile.  If you read Exodus 2:16-18, the Bible says:

 

“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

 

And in Exodus 18:10-12, the Bible showed us where he performed a priestly function. The Bible says:

 

“And Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.”

 

3 The Aaronic/Levitical Priesthood

 

Aaron happens to be the high priest for the whole nation of Israel. His sons were to serve in the same capacity with him as priests in Israel. In Exodus 28:1, the Bible says: “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.”

 

The Levitical priesthood on the other hand is subsumed under the priesthood of Aaron. It got to a time when the entire tribe of Levi chose to identify with God and God brought them into the priesthood to serve alongside with Aaron in the sanctuary. If you read Numbers 18:1-7, the Bible says:

 

“Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear the iniquity related to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. ² Also bring with you your brethren of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of witness. ³ They shall attend to your needs and all the needs of the tabernacle; but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary and the altar, lest they die—they and you also. ⁴ They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, for all the work of the tabernacle; but an outsider shall not come near you. ⁵ And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel. ⁶ Behold, I Myself have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel; they are a gift to you, given by the Lord, to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷ Therefore you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and behind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

 

When it comes to the matter of the altar and entering into the Holy of holies, the Levites priesthood does not cover that function. Only Aaron and his sons are saddled with that responsibility. THE DUTIES OF THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD INCLUDE:

 

• the teaching of the Law [Leviticus 10:11]
• offering the sacrifices [Leviticus 9]
• maintaining the Tabernacle and the Temple [Numbers 18:3]
• officiating in the Holy Place [Exodus 30:7-10]
• inspecting ceremonially unclean persons [Leviticus chapters 13 and 14]
• they adjudicated disputes [Deuteronomy 17:8-13]
• they functioned as tax collectors [Numbers 18:21,26; Hebrews 7:5]

 

4 The High Priesthood of Joshua

 

The Bible also documented high priesthood of Joshua. Now, this Joshua was not the same Joshua that Moses handed over the leadership of the children of Israel to. The two Joshua didn’t live in the same time and era. The Joshua of Moses was from the tribe of Ephraim while Joshua the high priest was from the tribe of Levi. Joshua the high priest was the one that served the nation as the priest on their return from Babylon and during the rebuilding of the temple and God also used him as a pointer to the coming Messiah in the book of Zechariah. [Haggai 2:1-9, Zechariah 3:1-10]

 

 5 The High Priesthood of Christ Jesus [Hebrews 7:11-28]

 

“Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?

 

The high priesthood of Christ Jesus is not fashioned or patterned after the order of Aaron or the Levitical priesthood but according to the order of Melchizedek priesthood. The reason is because the Bible showed us here that the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood does not bring about perfection, even though it was instituted under the law. Perfection was far away from it.

 

¹² For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. ¹³ For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. ¹⁵ And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest ¹⁶ who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.”

 

Every other priest that had come before Christ Jesus came from the tribe of Levi. But Christ did not come from the tribe of Levi but of Judah. So, Jesus became a priest not by meeting that requirement of the law. Meaning that, Jesus’ priesthood is superior and therefore carries the power of an endless life.

 

¹⁷ For He testifies: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” ¹⁸ For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, ¹⁹ for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. ²⁰ And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 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’”), ²² by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

 

The high priesthood of Christ Jesus was the open door to a better covenant that we have with God our Father right now.

 

²³ Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. ²⁴ But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. ²⁵ 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.”

 

Every other priest before Christ Jesus had died. Christ Jesus is the only priest who has the power to an endless life, and therefore, His priesthood continues forever. Also, because of His priesthood that is perfect, He is able to save those who come to God through Him because He 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. 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.”

 

There are a number of things that we can learn here when we are talking about the High Priesthood of Christ Jesus as people who are leaning Christ.

 

The Significance of the High Priesthood of Christ Jesus

 

Number One: The high priesthood of Jesus Christ ushered us into priestly positions as children of God. 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10 says: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

 

Number Two: The high priesthood of Jesus Christ made possible the atonement for our sin. You don’t have to sacrifice a goat or a ram before God can forgive your sins, Christ’s blood had already done that once and for all. Hebrews 9:11-15 says:

 

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ¹⁵ And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

 

Number Three: The High Priesthood of Christ Jesus makes our sanctification a reality. Hebrews 10:11-14 says: “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

 

Number Four: The High Priesthood of Christ Jesus makes it possible for us to confess Christ, hold fast to our profession, and access the presence of God unhindered. Hebrews 4:14-16 says: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

Amen!

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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