Jesus Our High Priest

Our writer then talks about Jesus as the Great High Priest. This is pretty amazing since Jesus is also the sacrifice! But a high priest has a very important job, check out verse 1:

"The job of every high priest is reconciliation: approaching God on behalf of others and offering Him gifts and sacrifices to repair the damage caused by our sins against God and each other."

So many times I don't think I take my own sin seriously enough. Sometimes I take for granted what Jesus has done and continues to do on my behalf. Sin causes damage to my relationship with God, and it is damage that I can't fix on my own. Without Jesus the Great High Priest, I would have no shot. I was reading 'Follow Me' by David Platt recently and he described the seriousness of our sin this way:

A taxi driver in the Middle East was talking to someone about the seriousness of sin. The guy he was talking to didn't think it was that big of a deal, he figured he'd probably go to hell for a little while, but then be let it because he wasn't that bad. The driver ask him, 'What do you think would happen if you slapped me in the face right now?' The man said, 'You'd kick me out of the taxi.' 'And if you slapped a random person on the street in the face?' 'I'd probably get beaten up.' 'And if you slapped a police officer?' 'I'd definitely get beaten up and probably put in jail.' 'And if you slapped the king of this country?' 'I would be killed.' You see, said the driver, the punishment for sin is directly proportional to the one you sin against. If you sin against an eternally holy God, your punishment will be and should be eternal.

I'm really glad that Jesus is my High Priest. I'm really glad He has my back. I'm a screw up, and I desperately need His help. 

There is another point that our writer makes at the end that I thought was very interesting. He says that he has much more to say but they can't handle it because they are like little kids, they won't get it. These are people who have been Christians for a while but are still spiritual infants. How do you grow up? Well, he tells them in verse 14:

"But solid food is for those who have come of age, for those who have learned through practice to distinguish good from evil."

I find it very interesting that it is through practice, not through sitting in a classroom or listening to a bunch of sermons or being in a Life Group or even reading your Bible every day. All of those things are good and fine but if they don't influence the way you live your life it doesn't matter! A ounce of application is worth 1,000lbs of theory. May I not just be a hearer of the word, but a doer.

Enjoy the Journey