| Our Great High Priest
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| Hebrews 4: 14-16 AMPLIFIED VERSION 14. Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has [already] ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith in Him]. 15. For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. 16. Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].
Paul had mentioned Christ as being our High Priest before, but now in this passage he goes to great lengths to actually prove it. He tells us that Jesus did everything that He needed to do so that legally He could be our High Priest; therefore, since He did all this, we should hold fast to our walk in following Him. He passed through the upper heavens to the throne of God, and now performs his function as High Priest for us. In the Old Testament, the High Priest was an earthly man that was chosen by God to do the job. God set forth rules and regulations as to how things were to be done for sacrifices to Him. Once a year the High Priest was to go before God and make a sacrifice for the sins of the people for the whole year. Other than this one time, the High Priest could not ever enter into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. Jesus didn't have to atone for his own sins like Aaron, the High Priest, did before he went into the Holy of Holies. When Jesus came to earth to live, He came as a man just like us. He experienced everything that we do and was tempted just like us. The only difference is that He never sinned. He was God living in a man-body so that He could show us that we can have victory here on earth. That way a person could never say that God didn't know what he was going through, and that He was a cold, impersonal God. Jesus was God-in-the-flesh, and He came to set an example for us to go by to live our lives here on earth. We can have total confidence because of what He did for us on the cross. In verse 16, the Bible says that we can "boldly go before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy..." (KJV) As we have already talked about the function of the High Priest in an earlier paragraph, we will go more in-depth here. When God gave instructions to Moses for setting up the Tabernacle, He told him that one of the articles to be made was a Mercy-Seat. This was to be placed in the Holy of Holies. It had two cherubim made of gold, and with outspread wings, that were placed upon it. This was to be the place where God lived, so that they could actually see Him out in the wilderness. The High Priest could only go in the room where the Mercy Seat was on the Day of Atonement which came once a year. He prepared for many days so that he could be holy when he went into the room. He wore bells on the bottom of his outfit and they tied a rope around his leg. It was a must that he be holy when he entered the room to atone for all of the sins of Israel. He knew that if he had sin anywhere, that he would be struck dead upon entering the room. If the people did not hear the bells tinkling, after a certain period of time they would drag his body out with a rope. We can see that this was a time of fear and trembling for the people until they learned that their sins had been forgiven and everything was good between them and God. Paul is saying here that the New Covenant believers don't have to worry about any of that. Because of what Jesus did for us, we have the right to come boldly before God's Throne and ask for what we need from Him. We don't have to approach Him with fear and trembling, and we can come to Him at any time of the day or night. We also have the liberty of coming to Him as many times as we want in one day. If we have come to God by the way of believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, God has promised us that He will always be there for us in our every moment of need. Jesus will intercede for us before our Heavenly Father and we have the pleasure of pouring out our needs and problems before Him. In verse 16, the Bible tells us to "draw near to the throne of grace." This means to keep on coming on to it with a reverent approach. The Bible promises that God will give us the help that we need just in the right time. We are His children, and He cares greatly for us! This text has been written and authored by Cathy Deaton and is her own personal work. Please ask for permission to use for anything other than personal use.
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