The Eternal High Priest | Sermon 11/14/2021

Wonderful. This is the Lord's Day service. It is not something trivial, it's not something that we do that's mundane. I was talking about this with the worship team. This is something that we get the privilege to do every Sunday and it's just glorious, right?

Praise God. So, this is our second sermon in Solus Christus of a series of the five Solus, right? We're in Solus Christus at this point, the second one. We went over Christ as the expected prophet. And today we will be looking at Christ as the eternal high priest.

In fact, that is the name of this sermon. The sermon is called, The Eternal High Priest. And if you would turn with me in your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 16. We'll be starting there. Leviticus chapter 16, starting in verse 15.

Hear now the words of the living and true God. Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.

He shall make atonement for the holy place because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins. And thus he shall do for the tent of meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their impurities.

When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel.

Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides.

With his finger he shall sprinkle some of its blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it. When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting in the altar, he shall offer the live goat.

Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins. And he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness.

The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat into the wilderness. Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, my friends, let's pray.

Father, use me as a vessel, Lord, to proclaim your word. Lord, let the Holy Spirit come among us now with power and with truth. Lord, please help us to know in greater detail how you are the eternal high priest, Lord Jesus, how you have made atonement for sin and how you've sat down and the work is finished now because of what you've done.

Help us to grow in adoration of you, Lord Jesus, and to deepen our relationship with you. Lord, help me to speak in a way that is clear and helpful, and let it be true, Lord, as always. Please bless it in Christ's name.

Amen. So in the beginning, after God had created the heavens and the earth, he created man and woman, of course. In the Garden of Eden, God dwelt with his creatures. He dwelt with his people. It says he would walk in the garden in the cool of the day.

After this transcendent and all-powerful God orders the cosmos and matter to form into the creation that he's designed, after he breathes life into everything, including man, this God, so highly exalted, was in the midst of his people.

We have a personal and intimate God. Even after the fall of Genesis 3, he doesn't forsake them. He doesn't leave them. He is with his servant Noah. Then he is close to Abraham, who is called a friend of God.

He doesn't leave Joseph to the pit or to the dungeon, but puts Joseph in a place of authority to save Abraham's descendants in the 12 tribes of Israel. God hears the cries of his people and raises up a deliverer named Moses, who would be face-to-face with God, as we learned last week.

A man very close to our Lord. And just so a man isn't left alone or given to feelings of despair and abandonment by the Most High God, he orders a tabernacle to be built in such beauty of materials and colors and splendor.

In fact, I gave you guys a little printout in your bulletin, just for your reference as I describe it, and there's the tabernacle on a little printout there with all the colors you can see and some of the information there.

There was a large fence bordering this tabernacle. This fence was made of beautiful white linens. An entrance was facing eastward, so that when man entered into it, they would not look to the rising sun as if the sun were its gods, like false religions.

They would enter from the east, facing west, so that they would not see the sun, that they knew that there was only one God. An altar of wood was covered in bronze in the courtyard where animal sacrifices were made, and a bronze basin was there for washing.

That was all outside, that was all in the courtyard, as you can see in your picture there. Now there is a tent, a tabernacle, 15 feet wide by 45 feet long and 15 feet tall. There were two rooms in this tabernacle which were made with wood overlaid with gold.

The first room was called the Holy Place. You would see shining gold and purple cloths and a golden table for the showbread, which had 12 pieces of the showbread representing the 12 tribes of Israel. So you would have the showbread there.

You would have a golden lampstand on the other side, which was, by the way, the only light in the whole tent in that first room, the golden lampstand. Jesus says He is the light of the world, by the way.

I just love that. And so that was the first room. In front of the second room, still in the first room, you would have the altar of incense, and they would be lit and the aroma would just fill the whole tabernacle.

Just a sweet aroma would fill it. The final room was the Most Holy Place, or what's called the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was and the Mercy Seat was upon the Ark as the lid. But most importantly in this Most Holy Place, in this tabernacle, dwelt the presence of the living God.

He did not leave His people. He would appear on the Mercy Seat in a cloud of glory, it says. So glorious, no eyes could look upon it, but a veil, a curtain divided the people from the Lord Almighty. The high priest could only go into it, into the Most Holy Place once a year.

But the promise is, an eternal high priest would come and He would tear down that veil. He would tear down that separating wall between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The eternal high priest would change everything as we know it.

We could probably spend weeks on this topic, we really could, but in one single sermon overview we will look at this. And here's the three things we're going to look at, okay? Three main things we're going to look at today.

We're going to look at the Old Testament priesthood. We're going to look at Jesus' earthly ministry compared to the Old Testament priesthood. His earthly ministry compared to it. And finally, we're going to be looking at the current heavenly ministry of Jesus Christ as high priest.

Before the Levitical priesthood though, do we see any priests? Let's consider Adam in Genesis. The Garden of Eden was not just farmland in the ancient Near East. It was, as we understand it now, to be an archetype, sanctuary, or a temple garden.

The text actually makes Eden distinct from the garden, it says. If you read chapter 2, it makes the garden distinct from Eden itself. That the Lord planted a garden in Eden, next to Eden, and out of it flowed a river to water the garden.

Okay? Eden, it appears, may be the temple in a large garden. Just like the priest's unique experience being in God's presence in the tabernacle, so did God walk with Adam. Adam is shown to be a priest as he is tasked to work and to keep the garden, which, believe it or not, are the same Hebrew words used detailing the jobs for the priests and Levites.

Work and keep. The cherubim angel with a flaming sword at the entrance of Eden took over Adam's position to guard the tree of life, which we know later the cherubim angels were put on top of the mercy seat and their wings touched each other like this in the tabernacle.

Israel's tabernacle and later temple had wood carvings and colors that gave it a garden-like appearance. Just like the tabernacle and temple, like I said, the entrance faced east for Eden. Just like the temple and just like the tabernacle.

The Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets of the Ten Commandments that teach what is good and evil, are guarded in the most holy place in the Holy of Holies. Just like the tree of knowledge and good and evil in the garden.

Gold and onyx fill the garden area in abundance, and those precious materials are actually used in the tabernacle and temple construction. But what is very interesting is that you have a partition of three parts in both.

This is amazing. What you have is the Holy of Holies, the holy place, and then the courtyard, right? That's the Israelite tabernacle. Holy of Holies, holy place, and the courtyard. With Adam though, you have Eden, the Eden temple that I'm talking about, and then you have the garden itself, the larger garden.

Then you have the outer world, the outside world. That's how the world was created. That's how we understand it, okay? And so, Adam was to carry out his priestly duties, but failed God and made himself unclean in the presence of the Lord.

He was to guard or keep and work the garden like the Levitical priests in the tabernacle, but he let an intruder in, as we know. Sin was introduced into the world. The need now is for another high priest who lives forever and is purely righteous and unimpacted by the curse of the fall.

So the priests represented God to the people and they were to convey the needs and cares of the people to the Lord. When Samuel was a boy, he was dedicated to the temple and it says he was ministering before the Lord.

And that is what the priests do. They minister before the Lord. They were set apart from the ordinary Israelite. They were set apart by the garments that they wore, the anointing oil that they received and by being of the tribe of Levi.

And from the tribe of Levi came Aaron, the brother of Moses, who was the first high priest and his sons were regular priests. Just so you know, when I say Aaronic, the Aaronic priesthood, or the Levitical priesthood, these are synonymous priestly lines.

I'm speaking about the same thing if I mention one or the other. But in this Levitical priesthood, there was a hierarchy. You have the hereditary tribe of Levi. And then you have the high priest who is the highest.

Next you have the regular priests. And then you have the Levites who were appointed to temple duties. Again, all coming from that one tribe of Levi. They were given no land inheritance, and so the Lord is their inheritance.

The tabernacle or the temple work is their inheritance. They also received benefits of offerings and tithes of course to help take care of them. And by the way, the tabernacle as you heard me describe was the traveling temple of God.

It was like a tent. It was a temple of God made of wood, linens, and animal skins. Later, this tabernacle in Exodus is replaced by Solomon's temple which is made of stone and metals and more. Still both having the courtyard, the holy place, the most holy place.

And so, for clarification in this sermon, I may use tabernacle or temple interchangeably when referring to the priests. Despite Aaron's sin in helping to fashion the golden calf at the base of Mount Sinai, God gave him grace and made him and his sons the first priests.

Like a soldier, literally like a soldier walking among civilians, how they stick out in their uniforms, so did the priests stick out in their uniforms amongst the people. Exodus 28 details the making of the priestly garments.

Priests wore undergarments kind of like maybe boxers or underwear or something to cover their nakedness which was a reminder of Adam and Eve in the garden covering their nakedness and shame. If the priests omitted these, they would be guilty and they would possibly die, it says.

Their garments were to reveal glory and beauty much like their Creator. They had coats and sashes and caps. The regular priests had a basic outer garment. And interestingly, the same Hebrew word used for that garment is the Hebrew word used with the animal skins when God covered Adam and Eve.

The high priest was even more dressed up. The high priest wore a breast piece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash. They are made of gold and blue and purple and scarlet yarns.

It was just very colorful. The same colors were used of course in the tabernacle. So they represented, the high priest represented God's presence as well. The ephod was hung like an apron from the shoulders which had two onyx stones on them.

These stones contained the names of the sons of Israel. In this way, the high priest represented all the people. Okay? They had a robe with pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet at the bottom. And dangling in between these pomegranates were golden bells.

And as long as these golden bells were ringing while they were in the tabernacle, you would know the priest was still alive and God had not judged him and he had died there. So it was a good thing to continue to hear those bells ringing on the high priest.

His turban had a gold plate on it. Engraved on it said, Holy to the Lord. In all these special garments, the priests were set apart, but it also demonstrated God wanted them to come to him on his terms and in his instruction.

At the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons came forward. They washed themselves with water and an anointing oil was poured over Aaron's head. And a special initiating sacrifice ceremony was held and there started the Levitical priesthood with Aaron and his sons.

So we have the high priest and the priest, but what did the Levites do? What did the Levites do? The first time we see the Levites do anything significant is even before the tabernacle duties. When a group of Israelites made the golden calf and worshipped it at the base of Mount Sinai, the Levites then took swords and slayed those who partook in that idolatrous act.

They killed those who were partaking in that. God blessed them for this, it says. When the people set out to journey to the promised land, the Levites were to help the priests move the tabernacle and camp in a way to ensure that everything was still pure.

They maintained purity for the tabernacle. And when they stopped their caravan, the Levites would camp around the tabernacle to protect it. If an outsider wandered into the tabernacle, God's wrath would come upon them, it said.

The Levites were in charge of taking down the tabernacle, moving it, and setting it back up. Much like Adam, they were to keep or guard and work the tabernacle. The Ark of the Covenant would go before the people, and when the Ark sets out, Moses says, Arise, O Lord!

Let your enemies be scattered. When the Ark comes to a rest, Moses declares, Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel. The Lord then is present with His people. The regular priests had more important duties than the Levites.

They assisted in the offerings of sacrifices. I know this is a lot of information. This is going to really lay a foundation. The priests had to know the purpose of each sacrifice so that they would know how to treat each animal and its blood in the right way.

For instance, the burnt offering was to be totally consumed upon the altars. It was to be totally burned up. Then there was also the peace offering is divided between God, the priests, and the ones performing the sacrifice.

They were to take the blood and shake it upon the altar and before the veil depending on the sacrifice. There were burnt offerings, peace offerings, guilt offerings, there was sin offerings, grain offerings, things like that.

It was understood that the life of the animal was in a way in its blood. In its blood. The one who brought the offering would put his hands on the animal's head and confess his sins onto the animal's head and so atonement is being made over that animal.

There would be in a way an exchange, a life exchange in that confessing of sin. A substitution. Expiation is made. Sin is removed. That's what expiation is. Sin is removed. And propitiation is made. God's wrath is appeased.

The priests had to live lives of holiness and obedience. They needed to teach people the law of God and what was holy and what was plain. What was clean and what was unclean. Now the prophets, which we talked about last week, the prophets mediate the word, which is Devar, the word of God, and the priests teach the law, the Torah, of God.

There's certainly some overlap there as they are both referring to the revelation of God but the prophets oversee the covenantal life of the nation before God and receive direct revelation whereas the priest's attention is on the law.

The sacrifices and the rituals that bring people into a clean state before God. For the High Priest, we read part of Leviticus 16 earlier as our sermon scripture passage. For the High Priest, his most important task took place once a year on the Day of Atonement.

What you might have heard is called Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Only he was allowed to go into the most holy place and only on that day. No one else could be in the tabernacle when he performed these sacrifices.

He was the one mediator in that instance. Definitely, later on, read all of Leviticus 16 if you get the opportunity, but as we saw, he had to make a sacrifice for himself first. For his own sin. Then, two goats were presented.

One goat was to be sacrificed for propitiation, to appease God's wrath due to the sin of the people for just one more year. It would just last for a year. And one goat was presented that was driven away from the people out into the wilderness to expiate sin, to remove the sins from the people.

And when the High Priest confessed the people's sin into the scapegoat, it was completely comprehensive. It was for all iniquity, all transgression and all sin, it says. The same thing was said over the sin offering of the first goat.

All of this though, the tabernacle, the priests, the sacrificial system, we learn is just a shadow of things to come. An earthly copy of a heavenly reality. All of it perfectly points to Christ and His work.

Again, I know this has been quite a lesson on the tabernacle and the priesthood, but we don't have the mindset of an Israelite. That happened thousands of years ago. I need to get you guys in the mindset of an Israelite who was waiting for that thing to be put up again, taken down, and the day of atonement to occur.

That is the mindset I'm trying to get you in. And we need this background to properly understand how Christ fulfills all of it. So then, how is Christ the final High Priest? Let's first look again at Jesus' earthly ministry compared to the Levitical priesthood.

Christ is the final prophet for a number of reasons, but predominantly because of His proclamation and His miracles and deeds. That's how He's the final prophet. In His earthly ministry, He is referred to as a prophet and to as a king, but the title of priest doesn't actually come until after His ascension in mainly the letter to the Hebrews.

That's when His title of priest comes in. But just because He wasn't called a priest in His earthly ministry doesn't mean He wasn't like the priests of the Old Testament. Priests are set apart by their lineage from Aaron, but Jesus had a special lineage.

He had a heavenly lineage. The virgin birth by conception of the Holy Spirit maintains Jesus' deity that He is God, that He came from Heaven and had been with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity.

An ordinary conception would force Jesus to inherit Adam's guilt from the curse of the fall, thereby qualifying Him from the office of eternal High Priest. But it was critical that His birth demonstrate His humanity.

Being the seed of the woman, but also being holy and set apart. In His humanity He can represent us as High Priest. He can also represent us as sacrifice. Turn to Hebrews 2 in your Bibles if you'd like.

We're going to be in Hebrews pretty much for the rest of the sermon. Which is two more hours. No, I'm just kidding. Some people freaked out. Hebrews 2 verse 14 through 18. It says, therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same.

He was flesh and blood that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, and here it is, He had to be made like His brethren in all things so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for sins of the people.

For since He Himself was tempted in that which He was suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are being tempted. So part of becoming a merciful and faithful high priest was becoming incarnate.

Was coming into the world, humbling Himself, and taking on flesh. Remember, John wrote in John 1, the Word became flesh and He tabernacled among us. Jesus tabernacled among us is the word used there. The Levitical priests were consecrated for their temple work by blood that was put on their right earlobe.

Blood was put on their right earlobe, their right thumb, and their right big toe. That's what the Old Testament describes. Then being anointed with oil. According to Isaiah 61 and Zechariah 4, anointing oil is associated with the Holy Spirit.

In Luke 1, it is told Jesus will be conceived by the Holy Spirit and He Himself will be called holy. He is anointed and set apart in that way. The Spirit also descended upon Jesus at His baptism, and it says filled Him completely in Luke 4.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness in Matthew 4. In Matthew 12, Jesus states He casts out demons by the power of the Spirit. His whole life is empowered by the Spirit and lived in the fullness of the Spirit.

This verifies His anointing. His title in Hebrews is Messiah. Mashiach. And if you weren't aware, Christ is also the word Messiah but in Greek. So Messiah and Christ are the same word. Both of these words literally mean anointed one.

So you could therefore call Jesus anointed one Jesus. Old Testament priests were consecrated again for their work by the blood put on their right earlobe, their right thumb, and their right big toe. But in a way, Christ has the blood covered right earlobe as He receives the words of the Father in His ear and He gives them freely.

He has the blood covered right thumb and does the work He came to do. His right big toe has blood on it just the same as the Levites'. He goes the places the Spirit leads Him to do. He takes the bloody road to Golgotha with a cross on His back.

So His entire life was to do the will of the Father who sent Him, and He did. And for His Father and for the benefit of all those whom the Father had given Him, of course. Remember, the Levites' role is summed up in two things.

To guard, which is shamar, and to serve and work, which is avad. Christ does this in the clearing of the temple in Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 2. Let's read every single one. I'm just kidding again.

I'll just read from Mark so you have an idea, okay? Then they came to Jerusalem and He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

And He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber's den?

The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy Him, for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.". That is Christ when He comes into the temple and clears it out.

The temple was meant to be a house of prayer, a place of reverence. It turned into a loud marketplace where animals were sold and money was exchanged. Worship then became a burden to the people because the sacrificed animals were actually sold at a higher price than usual by greedy merchants.

The priests and the Levites, they failed to guard the Lord's house in that way. When all that money exchanging and selling of goods was taking place, they failed to guard the Lord's house. So He, Jesus, overturned the money changers' tables and chased them out with a corded whip.

He would not let anyone carry anything in the temple, which is what the Levites would enforce. Just think about when unbelievers are like, why can't you just be more gentle like Jesus? And it's like, alright, you want me to get the corded whip then?

You know, we'll go to town. You know, He was not just the meek and mild surfer, laid back, hang tight dude, Jesus. He's the eternal high priest as we're going over now. So, they failed to guard it, but Jesus did not fail in it.

Numbers 1 .53 says, but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle. They shall protect the tabernacle that there not be any wrath against the sons of Israel. Jesus then restored order to the temple in His zeal, and He kept the wrath of God at bay, of course, which is a foreshadow of His work to come.

The work of Christ in the temple was actually foretold in Malachi 3. It says,. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, and the Messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming.

So the Lord is going to come into His temple, He says. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller's soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi.

There we go. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

That's Malachi 3. In this way, Christ is also interposing for the people. He is doing a righteous deed to abate the wrath of God, the anger of God. And we see this interposition especially in John 17 which is the high priestly prayer.

John 17. He speaks with the Father saying He's done everything asked of Him. He has given His Word to the disciples. He intercedes for them. He asks the Father not to keep them out of the world, but to just keep them from the evil one.

He prays for future believers. Jesus does. In that way, He prays for us as well. And that the Father would sanctify them, sanctify us in His truth for His Word is truth. He is making then the transition from His earthly ministry fulfilling priestly duties to taking on His heavenly role of eternal High Priest.

And that's what we're going to look at now. As I mentioned, Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi. He was not a Levite. He was from Judah. Right? We all know that. All the little kids do. They're like, I just learned that in homeschool the other day.

Judah. He was not in the lineage to be priest. He never offered sacrifices, handled the blood, or went to the most holy place in His earthly ministry. But the letter to the Hebrews is hands down the most thorough section of Scripture demonstrating how it was necessary for Him to not be in the tribe of Levi.

To be a High Priest of a different lineage. A far superior one. In Hebrews 1 -4, we read how Christ is far superior to the angels because He is the exact representation of God. He is Lord and upholds all things by the Word of His power.

He is superior to Moses. He was counted worthy for much more glory than Moses, it says in Hebrews 3. The Pharisees always touted Moses as their supreme example and lawgiver, but Christ is better. Christ is better.

He says Moses wrote about Him. Moses wrote about Him. Hebrews says that He is better than Joshua. He's better than Joshua. Christ doesn't fail to eradicate sin and lead His people in victory. He is superior to the earthly priests because of His divine character.

And Hebrews 5 says, these priests taken from among men are beset with weaknesses and sin of their own. They give offerings for not just the sins of the people, but they give offerings for themselves. For themselves.

But Christ is different. Go to Hebrews 5 .9 -10. It says, "...and having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.".

So, He was not only sinless, but perfect in His obedience and sufferings on the cross. And those things perfected Him as a high priest, enabling Him to offer eternal salvation. And His right to the priesthood was in being designated by God in the order of Melchizedek.

It was in our psalm today that Brother Dusty read. Psalm 110 is a messianic psalm. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at My right hand and I will make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet. And the Father says to Christ, He says, and the Lord defines Christ's right to the priesthood as He says in Psalm 110, "...the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind.

You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.". That's what God the Father promises Jesus. So who is Melchizedek? And what does this mean? What does this mean? The author of the letter to the Hebrews names the Old Testament figure Melchizedek, and that comes from Genesis 14.

After Abraham had rescued Lot and defeated the group of kings, it says this, "...and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine...". He brought out bread and wine. That's pretty cool. That is much like what we're doing later.

It says, "...now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand.

And Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all he had.". Scholars say that Melchizedek is a type of Christ. A type of Christ. And I've used that term type here before. There are things that are types or shadows in the Old Testament.

But a type has an anti-type in the New Testament, or basically a shadow. In other words, a shadow has a substance in the New. So, you can see my shadow back here. The shadow back here of myself is what they got in the Old Testament.