Jesus: The 'One and Only' High Priest!

Sometimes I think that people get confused when they hear the word ‘Priest’. There are priests in many if not most of the major religions of the world: Buddhist, Judaism, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and the list goes on. The question that I would like to address today is, “What does the Bible say about the priest or the priesthood?”

The full definition of a priest according to Merriam Webster is: “:  one authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God; specifically:  an Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic clergyman ranking below a bishop and above a deacon.” And that is exactly what we find in the Bible when it is referring to the priest, whether it was the pagan priest or the Jewish priest. Here I want to concentrate on the Jewish Levitical Priest and then move on to see how this priesthood is represented as it concerns the New Covenant. I won’t be going into extensive detail on the rituals or rites they performed, but will be concentrating more on the place or significance of the priesthood in the old and new covenants.

The priesthood is first introduced to us in the book of Genesis by a priest that meets Abraham on his way back from a victorious battle in ‘The Kings Valley’ in which he rescued his nephew Lot. This priests name is Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek is not a Jewish priest (the Jews were not so named yet) but was only described as “a priest of the Most High God” who brought out bread and wine for Abraham to enjoy and before leaving Abraham gives the priest a tenth of all the ‘spoil’ that was captured during the battle just won. We will see Melchizedek again but not until the time of the New Covenant. It is many years after this encounter with Melchizedek, after the death of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph; after 400 years in slavery to the Egyptians, that we again see a priest in the Bible.

After Moses was raised in Egypt, was cast out of Egypt and was again brought back to Egypt to bring out the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt that we are introduced to a new priesthood given by God to the Hebrew people: the Levitical priest.  Moses and his brother Aaron were descendants of the patriarch Levi, one of the 12 children of Jacob. Moses was the deliverer of Israel from slavery and Aaron was his mouthpiece. Once the Israelites were out of Egypt and free from their slavery we find this written in Exodus 28:1 as God speaks to Moses and says, "Call for your brother, Aaron, and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Set them apart from the rest of the people of Israel so they may minister to me and be my priests.” God was establishing a priesthood for the nation of Israel: The Levitical priesthood. It would be a priesthood based on one’s birth not by education, choice or appointment. If you were born a ‘Levite’ you would be in the priestly line. Here is how it is explained in the New Testament book of Hebrews: “…Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi,..” Hebrews 7:5.  So, the Levitical priesthood was born and continued until the time of Jesus.

The duty of the Levitical priest was to serve at the temple. Different priests would have different duties and they would take their turns coming to the temple to do their service at their appointed time. The people would bring their sacrifices, their offerings and their tithes to the priests and the priests would offer them to God and receive their portion of these as the law allowed. The high priest was one who was appointed as was Aaron in the beginning of the office. He would be the one who served during his life as High Priest by entering the Holy of Holies once a year and taking in the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the nation. He, as well as the other priests, would offer sacrifices for his own sins and then offer the atoning sacrifice and the sprinkling of the blood. Here again let’s look to the book of Hebrews to give a more clear understanding: Hebrews 9: “1  That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. 2There were two rooms in that Tabernacle.^a In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. 3Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room^b called the Most Holy Place. 4In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.6When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room^c as they performed their religious duties. 7But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle^d and the system it represented were still in use.” This was the role of the priest in the ‘old covenant’.

There was a problem with this system, however, and it had to do with the cleansing of one’s sin. You see, this form of priesthood because it was made up of mortal sinful humans as priests and because the animal, blood sacrifices it offered were only able to ‘satisfy’ the lawful requirement but not make a permanent ‘fix’ for the problem of sin, could not save anyone. Hebrews 3: 1-3, “1The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. 3But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” And then when it was the right time Jesus came to satisfy the requirements of the law by his death on the cross and initiate the New Covenant. This was the solution that the righteous God had planned and required to bring eternal salvation to mankind.

When the new covenant was established after the death of Jesus on the cross, the old covenant and its continuous line of human priests was done away with. Jesus became the new High Priest, it was not a continuation of the old way but He established a brand new priesthood that was not based on any of the requirements of the old type priest. Jesus was said to be the new Melchizedek!

Look at this passage from Hebrews 7:  “1This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. 2Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.” 3There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.”…” 11So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?^b  12And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 13For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. 14What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe. Jesus Is like Melchizedek 15This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. 16 Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”^c  18 Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. 19For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God. 20This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, 21but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’”^d  22Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. 23There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. 24But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 25Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save^e those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. 26He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.^f  27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. 28The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.”

This passage is pretty much self-explanatory, yet I do want to point out a few things so we don’t look past them. First, notice that the reference to Melchizedek is to show that Jesus is a brand new line of priest. That he has no beginning and no end; that his priesthood will never end and there will be no other priesthood like those of the old covenant. Second, that Jesus will be able to do something that the old priest could not do: he will live forever and be able to bring eternal salvation to those who come to God through him because he will forever live to intercede with God on their behalf. Lastly, there will not be a need for any other priests since He will live forever and will hold the priesthood permanently. Notice in verse 24 where it says that “because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.” The word here translated as forever is a Greek word aparabatos which carries the meaning of ‘not passing from one to another’. Here is the same verse from the Jubilee translation, “but this man, because he continues forever, has the intransmissible priesthood.” In other words, because Jesus will hold the priesthood permanently there will be no need for multiple priest, Jesus will be the mediator and interceder forever and for all. Anyone who says they are serving under or going to a priest, other than Jesus, who is in the line of Melchizedek are serving a counterfeit priesthood and are actually calling Jesus’ death and his permanent priesthood insufficient. They are trying to re-establish a priesthood that has been done away with and this is what is being warned against in these words from Hebrews.

Now, with a New Covenant which has resulted in a new priesthood, we have a new way to approach God for the forgiveness of sins and to bring our petitions. We can go directly to the one who died on the cross to make this new way to God possible. This one, who when he died on the cross, was the cause for the veil that had separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple to be torn in half, signifying the end of the old way of people needing a priest to approach God. Jesus is now the way, there is no other, it has been done away with. This is why anyone who has accepted Jesus, his death and resurrection, and trusted him as their savior can now approach God through Jesus at any time. Notice how this is explained in Hebrews 10, “19And so, dear brothers and sisters,^f we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20By his death,^g Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

To sum up what has been taught here, we have no need for any other than Jesus to approach for the forgiveness of our sin. I know that many say that they believe the apostles of the lord were given the power to forgive sins; however, the verse that they use to ‘proof-text’ the doctrine for apostolic succession of the priesthood say’s nothing about apostolic succession or confession of sin, as a matter of fact it sounds an awful lot like the verses at the end of the Lord’s prayer. Let’s look at these verses in question. First we will look at John 20, “19That Sunday evening^b the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Notice that nothing is said here of confession or of succession. The only thing we can say about this is that we know that it will not disagree with the plain commands in other scriptures that explain no one except God can forgive sins. I would also like to point out that at no time in the writings of the New Testament do we find any of the apostles forgiving anyone’s sin, they always direct people to Jesus or God for forgiveness. Even in the Lord’s Prayer, which we will look at next, Jesus does not direct anyone to a priest but to the Father for the forgiveness of sin. If this were a declaration of the apostle’s ability to give forgiveness or absolution of sin it surely would have been exercised and recorded in his word, especially if it were a necessity for one’s forgiveness.

So, if it isn’t for forgiveness what did the command mean? It is possible that it was being said that now, with the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Christ would have the strength to forgive sin. Remember that the disciples themselves asked for this when Jesus said that they would need to forgive someone 7 times a day: Luke 17: 3b “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. 4Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” 5the apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” Let’s also look at the prologue to the Lord’s Prayer: Matthew 6, “9Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11Give us today the food we need,^a   12and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13And don’t let us yield to temptation,^b  but rescue us from the evil one.^c  

14“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Did you notice the similarity to the passage from John? And once again it is speaking of the forgiveness of others. And what we need to remember from the passage in John is that they were locked up and afraid of the Jew’s who had just put Jesus to death, they more than likely had much to forgive. Then Jesus comes, gives them the Holy Spirit and then tells them they are being ‘sent out’ with this power to forgive and lead men to Him. This seems to be the more natural reading of this passage. We should never force a passage to fit our doctrine, rather let the scripture form our doctrine.

Since Jesus has fulfilled the law and became the High Priest of the New Covenant, he has torn down the barrier between God and men and has made a way for all who believe to come to the very presence of God through him. Jesus is the only priest we need, he is the only priest that can take your sins and give you eternal forgiveness. Don’t fall into any other system that tries to establish again a priesthood that cannot save: the Word doesn’t leave that option, Jesus is the only way.

Randy