Hebrews: The Perfect High Priest (Chapter 5)

Jesus is not a high priest according to the Law (like Aaron), but He became a high priest through the Father’s decree. Moreover, He is a sinless high priest forever.

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Speaker 1 0:06

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast , where we unpack the meaning of books , passages and themes from Scripture . Join us each week as Dr David Klingler walks us through God's Word and teaches the Bible . Each episode has a study guide available in the show notes . This is Teach Me the Bible podcast .

Speaker 2 0:31

Hey everybody , welcome back to Teach Me the Bible podcast we are . If you're with us today , then you ought to be aware that we're in the book of Hebrews . Chances are you're not jumping into chapter five without having listened , and if you are , we'll have you go back to chapter one . And if that's the case if you're just jumping in we'll even send you all the way back . We have a whole story of the Bible in a year series . Go check that out , because there's a lot of information that's building into this letter that would be really helpful to have . But if you've been with us , then no need for an introduction . We're going to jump right on in to chapter five right now . So take us away , Good .

Speaker 3 1:12

So chapter five there's just this myriad of therefore is for therefore , and so this is a really logical argument that the author is walking us down , and so we're chopping this up and we say this all the time . You can't do that , but this is a continuation . He introduces the writer of Hebrews , introduces this high priest idea concept back in chapter two , and in chapter eight he's going to say this the main point of what I've been saying is this right that we have such a high priest , who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesties , on high minister , in the sanctuary , in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched , not men . And so one through seven has to lead to this statement in eight , and so he's making the case in five that's going to lead to this high priest language and the Psalm 110 language in eight . So five . One , he says , for every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men and things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin . He can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided , since he himself also is beset with weakness and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sin , not only for the people , but also for himself , and no one takes the honor upon himself , but he receives it when he is called by God , even as Aaron was , and so you know .

Speaker 3 2:51

The point here is that there's this priest , there's always been this priest and high priest for the people , but he was never a sinless one , and so he offered sacrifices for the people and also offered sacrifices for himself , and he had to be called . He was called by God , so also Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest . As it is said , you are my son today . I've begotten you . So he was identified . He was called , just as Aaron was . Just as he says also in another place you are a high priest forever , according to the order of Melchizedek . Again , he was called . He was appointed to the position . That's Psalm 110 , verse four . In the days of his flesh , he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying , with tears , to the one who was able to save him from death , and he was heard because of his piety . Although he was a son , he learned obedience from the things for which he suffered , and , having been made perfect , he became , to all those who obey him , a source of eternal salvation , being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek .

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Now , concerning him , we have much to say , but it's hard to explain , since you become dull of hearing . You've become dull of hearing . Now what's he talking about here ? Well , there's some illusion that's going to take place here , and even some reference to Isaiah .

Speaker 3 4:19

In Isaiah , the people have become blind , deaf , lame , because they have strayed away from the word of the Lord . And so he's going to talk in Isaiah , chapter 26, . They ought to know these things , but the Lord's actually going to judge them . And then the question is well then , who will hear the revelation ? To whom will the word be taught ? And it's those just weaned from milk , from milk . It's actually the Gentiles that are going to be taught this word . This is back in Isaiah . We've got these passages in Isaiah , chapter 28 . I say 26 is 28 . To whom would he teach knowledge and to whom would it interpret the message ? Those just weaned from milk , those just taken from the breast ? He says , order upon order , line up online , a little here , a little there . Indeed , he , that is the Lord , will speak to this people , israel , through stammering lips and a foreign tongue .

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Paul's actually going to quote that over in 1 Corinthians , chapter 14 as well , for he said to them here is rest , give rest to the weary , and here is repose , but they wouldn't listen , and so they've become hard of hearing . That's the problem . He's saying look , y'all have become hard of hearing , right ? For though , by this , by this time , you ought to be teachers . You have again the need for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God , and you have come to need milk and not solid food , for everyone who takes of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness , for he is of aid , but solid food is for the mature who , because of practice , have their senses trained to discern good and evil . So you ought to be past this , and we ought to be able to explain this stuff to you . You shouldn't have any button . You didn't have anybody explain this to you , but you do .

Speaker 3 6:24

So here we go , right , so , therefore leaving the elementary principles , and so he's walking right into chapter six , and so it will be a little bit shorter today , but the point that the author is trying to build or establish here is that the Old Testament points to Christ . He is the ultimate revelation of God . The angels were speaking of him . Moses was looking towards him , everything was looking towards Christ .

Speaker 3 7:04

And if you reject the partials and the shadows , the things that pointed to him , and you were judged for it , or they were judged for it , old Testament do you think it will go better for you if you go back on the one that is being pointed to , that is , christ ? It won't go better for you , right ? And moreover , this high priest , he's walked down the trail , he's lived the life and he knows what it means to endure and to walk faithfully , and he did , and so he can sympathize with you . So if you were a sinner , see the high priest of the Old Testament . He offered sacrifice for the sins of the people and also for himself . This one is the sacrifice for the people . He's the sinless one , but it's not like he can't relate , and so he offers he's still the source of the salvation for the people to take their sin to him . He makes propitiation for that .

Speaker 2 8:11

Yeah , what's interesting to me is that they've come to Christ , which he's made the point is the fulfillment of this law . The quote unquote elementary principles . But now , because of persecution , they wanna go back to the law , which means they have a misunderstanding of the law . Right , which is his point . Right Is that you should know these things , since you apparently know the law . But now we have to lay again a foundation of that . We gotta go back and start from the beginning and relay this thing until you understand that it's pointing to Christ , yes , and so I think it's just again really helpful to remember who it is he's talking to and what's going on .

Speaker 3 8:52

There's no going back , right . And so , all the way in this story , israel comes out of Egypt . They had a little suffering and trials and they wanna go back , right . Well , there's no going back , there's only going forward . And so that's the point that we're heading towards in chapter 11 . They all endured , all of the patriarchs , all of those believers , throughout the whole Old Testament . They all believed , they all endured , they all continued in their faith , they all had their faith refined , but none of them ever received what was promised . They never received the ultimate rest . And so here you are , undergoing persecution and suffering and you wanna do what they did go back . There's no going back , there's only going forward , right . And so acknowledge your sin , you've got a high priest and let's move forward accordingly , cause if you continue down this trail , if you reject the high priest , then who is there that you can turn to ? There's nothing left here and you can expect to fall at that point , yeah , and I like what you said last week .

Speaker 2 10:12

You know they're worried about falling quote unquote dying at the hands of the persecutor , but you'll surely fall if you fall into the hands of the discipline of the Lord and isn't it always the case , throughout the Old Testament and in our case , that we fear the wrong things ?

Speaker 3 10:27

They fear the Egyptians , they feared the giants , they feared the enemy , they feared the . They're always fearing . There's only one that you need to fear . Your problem is not over there in the enemy's camp . The problem is the Lord , and you better figure that out . Your enemy may kill you . The Lord will wipe you out . You will represent him or you're gonna come under judgment .

Speaker 3 10:55

And it is for the reason why the Lord disciplines his sons is because he loves them , right ? It is for discipline that you endure , right , you're in need of endurance , so endure . And so all of this ought to start to come together . We get into chapter six next time , and we're gonna return to Melchizedek in chapter seven and chapter eight , and he says not only is it Melchizedek , but then we get into nine and 10 .

Speaker 3 11:21

Not only do we have a greater high priest , we have a greater covenant , and so he's gonna talk about this greater covenant that's leading towards these people , examples , these cloud of witnesses that he's going to call them in chapter 12 , that he enumerates , walks through , spells out in chapter 11 . And so all this is building to the therefore endure . And then in chapter 13 , it is what does it look like ? Well , let me give you some real practical application for what this ought to look like , right ? So what does it look like to flesh this out and live in the body of Christ ? And so that's where we're headed , and so we're just plugging along in the book of Hebrews . Next week we'll come back to one of those tough warning passages that hopefully we've kind of diffused by the time we get to it , but we'll talk about that next week .

Speaker 2 12:15

That's right . Chapter six be here next week .

Speaker 1 12:18

We'll see you then . Thanks for listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast . Our desire is to use the power of God's word to change lives . For more information , download our app . Join us next week for another episode of Teach Me the Bible .