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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (28-1-1979 Strandtown Baptist Church)
The theme of Jesus Christ, our High Priest, has already
been touched on, but now it is dealt with in more depth. This description of
Jesus is found nowhere else in the New Testament. It was a very familiar title
to Jewish readers. As Saviour, Jesus presents Himself to the unsaved, but as
High Priest He addresses His responsibilities for the saved.
This is His present work,
We have a great high priest (Hebrews 4:14), our present
possession. Not someone who acted for us 2000 years ago, or who will act for us
when He returns in the future, but who is busy for us here and now.
The Latin word for priest is “pontifax”, meaning bridge builder, one who
joins two things which are separated. Jesus Christ links together God and man.
Man was cut off and separated from God because of his sin, though he was
originally intended to enjoy fellowship with his maker. The High Priest is the
bridge provided by God to produce reconciliation.
How is Jesus the great High
Priest? Two ways – (a) by what He is, and (b), in what He does.
What He does is dealt with in greater detail in chapters 7-10, His
atoning work, His intercession at the Father’s right hand. Now we consider
what He is.
He is High Priest because He is
perfectly God and truly man. He has a foot in both camps, or on both sides of
the river. He is in touch with God, and in touch with man. He knows God and He
knows man. He belongs to God and He belongs to man. Therefore He brings together
God and man. We see His deity – He passed into the heavens, the Son of God (Hebrews
4:14). He is in the very presence of God, at the right hand of the majesty on
high. Yet also we see His true humanity – he went through everything we go
through, yet He emerged absolutely sinless. He was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He knows all depths of trials and
temptations, with their tensions, and also the assaults of the Devil.
Far from being easier for Him,
it was harder for Him to bear, because of His purity. We fall into temptation
long before the tempter has used the whole of his power, we are easily
vanquished, we never experience temptation at its fiercest and most terrible.
But Christ was tempted far beyond how we are tempted. The tempter had to put all
he had into the assault on Jesus, and yet Jesus still held out. Thus Jesus’
experience has given Him deep sympathy with us. He understands and is tender
with us.
In Christ, the transcendent God has come right down into human life and experience. Recently heard a Jewish speaker on a radio programme say how no Jew could allow the idea of a human manifestation of God. The Christian reaction – “how glad I am to be a Christian”. His incarnation has made Christ perfectly fit to be the bridge builder. This may all be very theological, beyond our reasoning, and yet it was vital for Christ’s honour, and for our salvation – two truths in tension.
No-one chooses to be High
Priest, he is appointed by God, chosen by God. So Jesus was chosen. At His
baptism, the Father spoke, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew
3:17). Jesus was declared and revealed, Thou art my son, this day have I
begotten thee (Hebrews 5:5). Not self-selected or self-made, but appointed
by God, operated with all God’s authority behind Him.
He was also qualified to be High priest because He was
able to understand and sympathise – already touched on when speaking of His
undergoing all our experience of temptation. God knows all our struggles. There
is no part of human experience of which God cannot say, “I have not been
there”.
Chapter 5 reminds us again of
His sufferings, of the Garden of Gethsemane where His sweat was as it were great
drops of blood falling down to the ground, where He prayed most earnestly, Let
this cup pass from me… not my will, but thine be done (Matthew 26:39). Who
in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared; Though He were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:7-8). He was perfectly obedient to God
in all His suffering, and therefore fitted to be the author of salvation unto
all that obey him (Hebrews 5:9).
He is able to feel with us and
for us. He is bound up with us in the bundle of life. He is able to bear gently
and feel gently. The Greek word used in Hebrews 5:2 is metrio paqeia ( petropaqein
) - to feel in due measure. He is able to bear with people without
getting irritated, not loose temper with foolish people and people who keep
making same mistakes over and over again. Patiently puts man on the right track.
He is a patient High Priest who understands and sympathises.
Andrew Murray, a Scot, with a fruitful ministry in South Africa, said, “We are in the habit of looking more at his work than at his heart.” A puritan once said, “When Christ has done dying, He has not done loving.” He is our companion in sorrow. There is an old Roman story of a husband and wife who chose to escape the miseries of their tyrant-ridden world by committing suicide. The wife put dagger into her own heart, drew it out and gave it to her husband with the words, “Paetus, it is not painful”. The sharp edge which strikes into our heart has first cut into Christ’s heart. He is our High Priest, and has gone before us on every road of sorrow and loss, and is ready to sustain us.
Let us hold fast our
profession (Hebrews 4:14). Do not be tempted to desert Christ. Nowhere else
is such a priest, appointed by God, and utterly reliable. Do not give up on
Christ. Do not hold loose. Do not drift, nor be discouraged and disheartened. It
is too easy to become careless about private devotion, easy to be superficial in
our walk, such are the pressures from the world. We dislike giving offence, or
causing friction with neighbours and friends. The Devil is our constant enemy.
To hold fast results in happiness and usefulness to others.
Come boldly unto the throne
of grace (Hebrews 4:16). prosercwmeqa meaning
“Let us approach”. On the throne is the king, let us not trifle with Him or
be over-familiar. Yes, He is the most compassionate, tender and sympathetic king
we could imagine. He has trodden our path and knows all about it. His ear is
ready to hear every cry for help. He went about doing good, and in His last
moments he cared for His mother. He wept at Lazarus’ grave, “peace” was
always on His lips. He has not changed. But let us always remember He is the
King.
We may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Come to Him first for
mercy, and then for pardon and grace to help in time of need, and at every
time we need it. Mercy comes from the heart of God. Help comes from the hand of
God. eukairon bohqeian - literally “timely help”, assistance
which comes at the right time. The right help, and at the precise time,
determined by heaven’s timepiece and not ours. It does not come in time for
our impatience, or in answer to our grumbling, or to prevent an agony of prayer
– but it comes at exactly the right time to do all that is needed.
Battle of Waterloo – weary
days, men died by the 1000’s. On the last afternoon, the thin red line was
getting thinner by the hour, the squares into which British troops were formed
were becoming smaller with each charge of the French cavalry. But just before
daylight faded, just before endurance could do no more, Prussian troops under
Blucher appeared on the scene. They bore down on the enemy and scattered them
far and wide. Just at the right moment, just before all hope had gone, help came
and the result was a great and perfect victory.
Therefore come boldly, come
without embarrassment and restraint, and pour out your heart. Come with
boldness, in frank confidence. Be open, honest, hide nothing. Let it flow out,
just as we would speak to a husband or wife or close friend – and more so,
because there are some things we could not say even to them, and which they
could not understand. But come to Him, for He is utterly trustworthy and
understands fully.
What is our situation at present? Is sin spoiling life and defiling our conscience? Come for mercy. Are we in a terrible situation? Come for grace to help at the right time. Instead of pouring over our own weakness, let us look up to the risen High Priest.
Seeing then that we have…. (Hebrews 4:14) , is how this passage opened. Have we? Here is the offer of help, grace, strength, guidance for every day. Do we know this living friend? He is there to be used every day. Lay hold on Christ. Enlist under His banner.
