It is fitting to give a brief background to Jesus Christ as our Perfect High Priest.
High Priests in the Bible were appointed in two ways, either by: An oath (according to the power of an endless life) A fleshly commandment.
Melchizedek
The first High priest in the Bible is mentioned in the story of the Patriarch Abraham, as Melchizedek – Gen. 14:18-20.
He was a High priest on the bases of His endless life. Very little is known about Him except that He has no father, mother or genealogy.
He also has no beginning and end of life. And apart from being a High Priest, He was also the King of righteousness and Salem or peace – Heb.7:1-3.
Very little of the work of a High Priest is revealed through Melchizedek because He is only mentioned with Abraham whom he blessed after receiving tithe from the Patriarch.
Aaron
The High priesthood of Aaron was by a fleshly commandment when God told Moses to anoint Aaron into that office after the Law was given – Ex.28:1-4. Aaron was supposed to be the first of High priests, who were to come from his posterity, in the tribe of Levi.
So all the High priest that Israel had were Levites and descendants of Aaron. They kept changing any time a sitting High Priest died.
This went on until the High priesthood of Jesus was instituted.
The greatest benefit we have from the Aaronic High priesthood is that, we can learn about the work of Jesus as our current High Priest from the details we have on Aaron.
Jesus Christ the perfect High Priest
The High priesthood of Jesus was not by a fleshly commandment like that of Aaron. This is because He was from the tribe of Judah, a tribe that Moses said nothing concerning priesthood.
Rather, Jesus was made a High Priest in place of the Levitical one because the Aaronic High priests had weaknesses. Example, they could not bring about perfection; and the Law that made them High priests had been changed – Heb. 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?….
For the law appoints as high priests men who had weaknesses, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever”.
So, our Lord Jesus the perfect High Priest was appointed on the basis of an oath by the power of an endless life. This was when God swore “ You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” – Heb. 7:21.
The order of Melchizedek
Clearly, Jesus was made High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and not that of Aaron. The order of Melchizedek is the order of kings. In other words, it’s a High Priesthood that has a special feature of ruler-ship.
So, Jesus’ High Priesthood has the objective of making you a king or a ruler in this life over self, sin, sickness, situations, society and Satan. This is the supreme objective of Jesus’ High priest-hood.
In other words, Jesus’ aim in being a High Priest is to make you a ruler over yourself and the issues of life. And it is very much unlike the High priesthood of Aaron which had no ruler-ship dimension like that of Melchizedek.
This is why our Lord Jesus is not content with a person being born-again and fitted for Heaven. He continues by the power of an endless life to intercede till practically you have total dominion (not just in your spirit), but also in your soul (will, mind and emotions) and body as well – Heb. 7:24-25,
“But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make inter-cession for them.”
Appointment of a High Priest
The institution of a High priesthood Office is an initiative of God because of His love for mankind. So it is not a position or function that anyone can take on himself – Heb. 5:4-6,
“And no man takes this honour to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”
So, it was purely based on the love of God that He appointed a High Priest. Yes, it is because God practically wants to accept and bless mankind in whatever state they are in that He instituted this Office – Heb. 4:14-16,
“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. 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.”
Grace-imparting Priest-hood
It is only with the Office of Jesus as our High priest that we can receive grace or undeserved, unearned favour. My friend, this is God blessing us no matter what. And it is just because we have Jesus as our High Priest and not because of our persons or performances.
Yes, we can only be bold before God on the basis of Jesus who overlooks our weaknesses. So the Office of Jesus as High Priest is an expression of the love of God for us and His desire to legitimately bless us.
And you must respond to this offer of God, by focusing on the Person and Performance of our precious High Priest Jesus Christ.
In the next chapter, we will further discuss the benefits of having Jesus as our High Priest and how to take full advantage of His Presence before our Holy God.
