Lesson 8: Hebrews 4:14-5:10
Priests Are Human
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The first part of the sermon (Hebrews 1:1-4:13) reminded us that God has spoken in many ways through prophets, angels, and Moses, and the Spirit continues to speak through Scripture. At the same time, God has now also spoken by the Son who, though the instrument of creation and the radiance of God’s glory, became human so that he might become a high priest for humanity.
In this second section of the sermon (Hebrews 4:14-10:18) the preacher explores what it means for Jesus, the Son of God, to become a high priest who represents humanity before God. The preacher answers the question how Jesus, descended from the tribe of Judah, can be a priest when only Levites were authorized (Hebrews 5:1-10; 7:1-28). Then he addresses the work of Jesus as a priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 8:1-10:18). The middle section (Hebrews 5:11-6:20) is a digression to motivate his audience to listen carefully and think deeply so that they might flourish as God’s people who have an anchor of hope for their souls.
Hebrews 4:14-16 is sort of thesis statement for the whole second section of the sermon (Hebrews 4:14-10:18). First, Jesus is our high priest who represents us in the heavenly temple (“passed through the heavens”). This points to the work of Jesus as priest in the heavenlies, and it is discussed more fully in Hebrews 8:1-10:18. Second, Jesus is a sympathetic high priest who has been tested in the wilderness of life just as we have though without sin. This points to the humanity of Jesus, which is a qualification for priesthood, which is discussed in Hebrews 5:1-10.
The humanity of our high priest is stressed in two ways. First, our high priest shares our weaknesses; he can empathize with us. He understands our frailties. He knows the pull of temptation and the struggle of testing. Unlike the wilderness generation, however, he was faithful and did not sin in his journey through the wilderness. Second, our high priest has been tested (a theme noted in Hebrews 2:18). This is the word that describes Abraham’s trial (Hebrews 11:17; also Genesis 22:1). It is important to remember that the wilderness generation was tested in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:5-6) which Jesus quotes when he is in the wilderness himself for forty days (Matthew 4:1-11).
Because of this priesthood, we have bold access to the throne of grace. Believers are invited into the presence of God (before God’s own throne) to seek mercy and grace in their wilderness struggles. The verb “approach” is a key word in the sermon, and it appears here for the first time (see Hebrews 7:25; 10:1, 22; 11:6; 12:18, 22). It is a liturgical word that describes the way the Levites drew near to God before the tabernacle (Hebrews 10:1; Leviticus 9:5,7-8; 10:4-5; 21:17-18, 21, 23), and it is used in the context of assembling together in Hebrews 10:22 with Hebrews 10:25. This is a communal act rather than an individual one (though the latter is not necessarily excluded). We draw near to the throne of grace as a community, and we enter the presence of God together.
The preacher turns his attention to the legitimacy of the priesthood of Jesus in Hebrews 5:1-10. He notes two important qualifications in Hebrews 5:1-4: (1) God choses human priests, and (2) God calls them into service. The first is important because priests share the experience of those they represent. They are compassionate and sympathetic with people because they themselves participate in the same weaknesses. The second is equally important. Only God calls people into this honor; they do not appoint themselves. Aaron, for example, was called by God; he was not self-appointed. The high priest is both human and called. And this is also true for Jesus (Hebrews 5:5-10).
Jesus did not appoint himself. Quoting both Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110:4, the preacher locates the calling of Jesus as priest in these two royal Psalms. Psalm 2:7, quoted earlier in Hebrews 1:5, identifies the appointment of Jesus as a royal heir (probably, as we will see later in the sermon) due to his resurrection. It is as the resurrected one, who passes through the heavens, that Jesus becomes a high priest. He was appointed; he did not glorify himself. God called him.
Psalm 110 is also a royal Psalm. It is the most quoted text in the whole New Testament, and it is the most quoted in Hebrews. The Psalm begins with the appointment of the Lord to the right hand of God, which is understood in Hebrews (and throughout the New Testament; cf. Acts 13:33) as the exaltation and enthronement of the resurrected Son. The last line of the Psalm is the important one for Hebrews, and the sermon alone in the New Testament quotes it and builds a theological argument based on it. “You are a priest forever,” the preacher recites, “according to the order of Melchizedek.” As Hebrews 5:10 says, God “designated” or called him a priest; God appointed him to the order of Melchizedek.
Yet, the preacher is not yet ready to take a deep dive into this topic, though he will in Hebrews 7:1-28. He will quote it again in Hebrews 5:10 before he entertains a digression that contains both warning and hope in Hebrews 5:11-6:20. Instead, in Hebrews 5:7-9 the preacher explores the fuller meaning of the humanity of Jesus as a priest.
While he was on earth, Jesus offered fervent prayers “with loud cries and tears” to the Father. While this most likely remembers Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, it may also allude to the totality of his life as he struggled in the wilderness along with the rest of humanity. Nevertheless, the language evokes the garden scene: a cry for life to the one who could save him from death. The preacher says “he was heard” in the light of his reverence and godly acceptance or his obedience. In the light of the rest of Hebrews, it is best to understand this as a reference to the resurrection of Jesus. The Son was heard; that is, he was not saved from dying but saved from death through resurrection.
As a son, he obeyed the Father, and having obeyed, he was perfected with the result that “he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” What does perfect mean here? Some suggest it refers to Jesus’s maturity and growth, that is, through the process of life he constantly yielded his will to the Father and thus became obedient. That obedience was his perfection. However, it is important to note that he obeyed, suffered death, and then was perfected. In other words, this perfection follows his death. It is more probably a reference to his resurrected state. And it is as the resurrected Son who becomes the source of eternal (resurrected life) salvation for those who follow him.
The Son was obedient unto death. He shared the weakness of humanity, including death. He submitted to death. But the Father heard his cries and raised him from the dead. He perfected the Son as the new human, as a high priest who could administer eternal redemption and eternal life by sharing his own everlasting life. Unlike the Levitical priests who died but were not raised, the Son died and was perfected (raised).
Consequently, he is a “priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” He lives forever as the resurrected Son, a royal priest over God’s house.
But who is Melchizedek, and what is his priestly order? How does this apply to Jesus? Those are the questions the preacher will address in Hebrews 7:1-28 but first a warning followed by a promise in Hebrews 5:11-6:20.