Hebrews 4:14-16
~15 min read
💭 Consider this: Have you struggled in approaching God boldly? What prevents you from laying everything before your Great High Priest? How has your relationship to God changed since approaching Him boldly?
TRANSCRIPT
Almost 500 years ago, on the 31st of October 1517, it was a very special day in the history of the Christian Church. It is called the Day of the Reformation. Before the Reformation, the ordinary lay people were forbidden to read the Bible; only the Roman Catholic priests were allowed to read and interpret the Bible, which was written in Latin – a language that the people did not understand. So, they were living in spiritual darkness and deception, and their faith was based on the rituals and superstitions of the Roman Church.
But God was gracious. He raised up reformers – people like Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale, John Huss, John Wycliffe, and so forth. They protested against the wrong teachings of the Roman Church and became known as Protestants. Amongst the many truths, they stood for three very important doctrines.
Firstly, justification by faith alone, which means what Christ has done for us through His suffering and death on the cross is necessary and sufficient for our salvation. Man has no part in the work of redemption, for Christ had paid it all. Secondly, the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures: men could now read and study the Bible on their own and be saved by the grace of God. Thirdly, the universal priesthood of believers, which we want to consider for today’s message.
This is the doctrine that asserts that Christ, being our Mediator and our Great High Priest, has reconciled us to God. We do not need a priest, Pope, or any other human mediator to intercede for us or to present us before God on our behalf. Christ alone is sufficient, and all believers are priests themselves and we go directly to God.
The title of our message is: "Through the Priests or to God Directly?" Do we go to God through the priests, or do we go to God Himself directly? Our text is taken from Hebrews 4:14-16. There are three points in our message: Jesus Christ is our perfect Great High Priest, He is our sympathetic Great High Priest, and He is our gracious Great High Priest.
I. Our Perfect Great High Priest
Firstly, He is our perfect Great High Priest. Let us begin with Hebrews 4:14, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession”.
In the Bible, there were many high priests, but there was only one Great High Priest. In those days, the high priests were appointed as mediators between God and His people. The high priest would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, and he did that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. On that day, all the sins of the people were brought symbolically into the Holy of Holies, where the blood of the unblemished animal was sprinkled on the mercy seat as a sacrifice to atone for them. The high priest represented God before the people, and the people before God.
According to Leviticus 16, before the high priest could even enter into the Holy of Holies, he had to first offer a sacrifice for himself, because he was also a sinner. It was believed that there were bells attached to his garments, just in case he had entered into the Holy of Holies in any sense unclean, he would be struck dead. The people would know he was dead when they could not hear the bells. They could not enter into the Holy of Holies to pull him out, so they could only pull him out using the rope attached to him. As long as they heard the bells, they knew he was still alive and moving around.
To enter the Holy of Holies, he had to pass through three areas in the temple: the outer court, the Holy Place, and finally, through the veil, into the Holy of Holies. His time in the Holy of Holies was limited; he did not sit down or delay. As soon as the sacrifice was made, he left, and the process would have to wait another year to be repeated. Every year, year after year, the Day of Atonement was necessary. Between those yearly sacrifices, every day, thousands of other sacrifices were made. The process did not end; it was never completed, because the priesthood was not perfect, and the sacrifices were not perfect.
The office of the high priest was a type and symbol of the Great High Priest who would ultimately come and offer that one perfect sacrifice. Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, has come. After He accomplished the one-time perfect sacrifice through His death and the shedding of His precious blood on the cross, He did not pass through the outer court, the Holy Place, or through the veil. He passed into the heavens, into the place where God Himself dwells – the holiest of all holy. And Christ did not have to leave; His priesthood was perfect, His sacrifice was perfect, and He sat down forever at the right hand of the Father.
Hebrews 1:3 says, “when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. Less than 40 years after the crucifixion of Christ, Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. With the destruction of the temple, the only place where sacrifices could be made was wiped out. From that time onward, no sacrifices were made, even until the present time, and it is also not necessary. The Day of Atonement is still celebrated as a holy day amongst the Jewish people, but no priests are involved, and no sacrifices are offered, because there is no temple.
In the New Testament, the apostles also did not establish any priesthood. In fact, the Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 2:5 that all believers are priests. Let me read for you, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. In a general sense, Christians must perform the office of a priest. You and I have the responsibility to offer our worship, our offerings, our services, and our prayers as priests. We also have been given the responsibility to bring God to the people and the people to God, and we do that by preaching and sharing the Word of God.
Today, anyone who claims to have a special priestly mediation between God and man is repeating the work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Remember, Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and here they are saying, ‘No, it still must be repeated.’ That is totally unbiblical and sinful. Sadly, today, the Roman Catholics still have the image of a person hanging on the cross. They have violated the commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image” (Exodus 20:4).
On special occasions like Good Fridays, they reenact the story of the crucifixion; they will literally crucify someone on the cross. By doing that, they are implying that the work of salvation is not yet finished and it has to be repeated. They have an elaborate system of priesthood to perform all the rituals and ceremonies, and right there in the church is the confession box, where the people would confess their sins to the priest, who would intercede on their behalf.
The truth of the matter is that we, as believers, are priests, and we can come boldly unto the throne of God's grace (Hebrews 4:16). We do not need anyone to represent us before God; we go to God directly. We have a perfect Great High Priest who has accomplished the one-time perfect salvation that could satisfy the atonement for sins. That was why, when Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn into two, from the top to the bottom, signifying that we no longer need the priests, the sacrifices, and the rituals to enter into the presence of God – all because of Jesus Christ. By faith in Jesus Christ, any person can enter into the presence of God directly.
Our response to this perfect work of Christ is that we must hold fast our profession. We who profess to believe in Jesus, we who say that Jesus is our Great High Priest, must continue to hold on to this great truth. True saving faith is a persevering faith; there is no such thing as ‘Yesterday he was a believer, but today he is not.’ If today he professes unbelief, then most certainly, yesterday he was an unbeliever, even though he said he believed. True saving faith is also one that is not ashamed of Christ. We publicly and openly declare that Jesus is our Great High Priest.
When we are going through hard times, when times are difficult, instead of focusing on our problems, instead of turning to the world, and instead of looking for someone to represent us, we cling to Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of our Father, interceding for us. He is perfect.
II. Our Sympathetic Great High Priest
Secondly, Jesus is our sympathetic Great High Priest. Look at verse 15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”.
When we are troubled or hurt, we want to share our feelings with someone who understands. Some people think that God is far away, He is so remote, He cannot understand our human concerns. How can He be sympathetic and understanding? How can He understand what I am going through? Well, God became a Man to experience all the temptation, the testing, the suffering, the danger, the emotion, the agony, and He was victorious.
Remember, at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus wept in great grief. In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He was arrested, He sweat in drops of blood. Jesus experienced every kind of trial that any person has ever faced. In fact, because Jesus was all-knowing – He is omniscient – He was aware of the high standard of righteousness, and all the evils and dangers of sin. That made it even more difficult as He endured those trials. Dear friend, as finite beings, you and I have a limit to temptation. But what about Christ?
Allow me to briefly explain. There is a degree of temptation that we may never experience simply because we will succumb to it before reaching the limit. That is why 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”. Why did God say that He will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to endure? Because He knows we have a breaking point, so to speak. There is a point whereby you and I will not be able to bear; beyond that, we will succumb.
But for our Lord Jesus, because of His divinity – He is 100% God, 100% man – that means His endurance to temptation is without limit. There is no such limit; He will not succumb to temptation. And therefore, He had to take the full extent of all that Satan could throw at Him. He had to experience temptation to the maximum. He was in all points tempted like as we are, and even more – much more than us. The only difference was that He never sinned. The word “infirmities” can mean weakness; Jesus understands the feelings of our weakness.
Some people may argue, how can Jesus completely identify with us if He did not actually sin as we do? How can He understand us? Being omniscient, all-knowing, Christ need not succumb to sin to understand it. In fact, simply experiencing something does not give us the understanding of it.
One theologian explains it this way: have you ever visited a doctor, and you tell him all the pain that you are going through, and you expect him to understand, right? He is expected to understand you, even though he may not personally experience the same kind of sickness. A person may undergo many successful operations without understanding anything about the surgery. On the other hand, a doctor may perform thousands of complicated and successful operations without once having the surgery performed on himself.
It is his knowledge of the sickness and his surgical skills that qualify him, not having the sickness. The doctor has great experience with the sickness – much greater experience than any of the patients. Our Lord Jesus never sinned, but He understands sin more than any man because He is omniscient. How true.
The word “touched” is to share the experience of another person. Whatever you are going through, Jesus is able to be touched; He is able to share your experience that no man on the face of this Earth is able to share. He is able to comfort you, able to give you peace and strength that you need to go through the difficulties.
Many years ago, Booth-Tucker of the Salvation Army was preaching on the sympathetic Christ, the compassion of Christ. A man came forward and asked Tucker how he could talk about a loving, understanding, and sympathetic God. The man said, ‘If your wife has just died, like mine has, and your babies are crying for their mother, who will never come back, you would not be saying what you have just said.’ A few days later, Mr Tucker's wife was killed in an accident. Her body was brought to the funeral service in a casket. After the service, the bereaved preacher looked down into the casket and then turned to those who were standing beside him.
He said, ‘The other day when I was here, a man told me that if my wife had just died, and my children were crying for their mother who would never return, I would not be able to say that Christ was understanding and sympathetic, or that He was sufficient for every need. If that man is here, I want to tell him that my Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken; it is crushed, but it has a song, and Christ put it there. I want to tell that man that Jesus Christ speaks comfort to me today.’ That man was there. He came forward with tears streaming down his face, and there, Mr Tucker introduced him to Jesus Christ.
Indeed, our Lord Jesus, our Great High Priest, He knows us better than we know ourselves. He is full of compassion; He is able to comfort and give us peace and strength in times of trouble.
III. Our Gracious Great High Priest
Jesus is our perfect Great High Priest, our sympathetic Great High Priest, and finally, He is our gracious Great High Priest. Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”. Christ, who understands us perfectly, will also provide for us perfectly.
Most ancient kings were unapproachable by the common people; in fact, some would not even allow their high-ranking officials to come before them without permission. Remember Queen Esther; she had to risk her life in approaching King Ahasuerus without invitation, even though she was his wife. But any penitent sinner, no matter how wretched and undeserving, may approach God's throne of grace and ask for forgiveness and salvation, and he or she can be confident of His mercy and grace.
The Bible speaks much about God's justice. You can imagine how terrible it is if God is only just and not gracious. Sinful man deserves death, the sentence of justice; and he needs salvation, the gift of grace. By the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary, God's throne of judgment is turned into a throne of grace. It is through the throne of this grace that you and I can now come with confidence and assurance. Mercy is what we need for our past failures; grace is what we need for our present and future needs.
When we come boldly unto the throne of God's grace, His grace will keep coming and coming. As James 4:6 says, “he giveth more grace”. There is always sufficient grace for us. To receive God's mercy and grace, we must pray. If we fail to pray, God may still give us His mercy and grace because He is gracious, but we will lose something. We will lose our boldness; we rob ourselves of our boldness when we fail to pray. The word ‘bold’ does not mean pride or any idea of disrespect. It is to come before God without hesitation, without delay, with the outpouring of the heart, and we tell Him what is troubling us; we pour our hearts unto Him.
How can anyone reject such a Great High Priest, who not only allows us to come before His throne of grace but pleads with us to come boldly, come quickly, come without hesitation, come and pour out your heart before Him? “In time of need” is what you need, and the need is now, today. If you are a believer and you are going through a trial, a struggle, or an affliction, that is your time of need. Do not wait until you are spiritually defeated, until you succumb to sin, until your heart is hardened. Come to Jesus now if you are a believer.
But if you are an unbeliever, your greatest need is salvation, the forgiveness of sin. Do not wait until the day of God's salvation is over, when you draw your last breath. No one else can save you, only the One who died on the cross, shedding His precious blood to wash away all your sins. Come to Jesus now, before it is too late.
Oftentimes, when we share the gospel, we only share about the serious consequences of not believing in Christ, ‘You will end up in hell; there will be fire and brimstone; you will be tormented forever and ever, and the fire never stops burning.’ We are using scare tactics to turn people to Christ. But salvation is more than just keeping us out of hell; salvation not only saves us from spiritual death, it also gives us spiritual life.
Therefore, we not only tell the people what will happen to them if they do not accept it; we also tell them what will happen to them if they do. They will be entering into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ, a living relationship with Him, which is the greatest experience one can ever go through in this life and even in the life to come.
As we live our days on this Earth, there will be trials, there will be challenges and issues of life. Are you afraid? Well, you need not be. You have a Great High Priest who is perfect, who is sympathetic, who is gracious, who knows you better than you know yourself and is able to help you. You do not need to turn to the priest, the Pope, Mary, or any other human mediator. You go to God directly. May every one of us who believe in Him cling on to this great truth; we turn to no one else but Jesus Himself. Even at this moment, He is watching us, interceding for us. He wants us to call out to Him, and He will give us His mercy and grace. Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, indeed as we consider the Reformation, we remember also how sadly many people today turn to human mediators. They turn to the priests, the Pope, the pastor, the elder, and any other human mediator to intercede for them, to represent them before Thee. How tragic. Thou hast taught us through Thy word; Thou would want us to come before Thee. Not only Thou would allow us to come before Thy throne of grace, but to come boldly, without hesitation, without delay, with the outpouring of our hearts and tell Thee what is troubling us and what we are going through.
And our hearts are full of confidence and assurance that the God in whom we believe – our Lord Jesus, who came for us, died on the cross of Calvary for us, who was risen from the dead because of us – He is a perfect Great High Priest, He is a sympathetic Great High Priest, and He is a gracious Great High Priest. And therefore, we do not go to anyone or anywhere else but to Him and Him alone. O Lord, help us that we will hold on to this profession steadfastly until the day Thou wilt call us home – to Christ, Christ alone, and Christ directly. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF HEBREWSChrist, The Living WordChrist, The Living WordHebrews 1:1-2a
The Sevenfold Supremacy of ChristThe Sevenfold Supremacy of ChristHebrews 1:2b-3
The Greatness of Jesus Christ (Part 1)The Greatness of Jesus Christ (Part 1)Hebrews 1:4-6
What Child is This?What Child is This?Hebrews 1:4-6
The Greatness of Jesus Christ (Part 2)The Greatness of Jesus Christ (Part 2)Hebrews 1:7-14
The Danger of Drifting AwayThe Danger of Drifting AwayHebrews 2:1-4
What is Man, that Thou Art Mindful of Him?What is Man, that Thou Art Mindful of Him?Hebrews 2:5-9
The Captain of Our SalvationThe Captain of Our SalvationHebrews 2:10
Jesus, Our Sanctifier and ConquerorJesus, Our Sanctifier and ConquerorHebrews 2:11-15
Jesus, Our High PriestJesus, Our High PriestHebrews 2:16-18
Jesus is Greater than MosesJesus is Greater than MosesHebrews 3:1-6
Start and Finish WellStart and Finish WellHebrews 3:7-11
Harden Not Your HeartHarden Not Your HeartHebrews 3:12-19
Enter into God’s RestEnter into God’s RestHebrews 4:1-11
Encountering the Word of GodEncountering the Word of GodHebrews 4:12-13
Sola Scriptura: Scripture AloneSola Scriptura: Scripture AloneHebrews 4:12-13
Through The Priests Or To God Directly?Through The Priests Or To God Directly?Hebrews 4:14-16
Christ, Our Great High PriestChrist, Our Great High PriestHebrews 4:14-16
Jesus, the Superior Great High PriestJesus, the Superior Great High PriestHebrews 5:1-10
Dull of HearingDull of HearingHebrews 5:11-14
The Tragedy of Falling AwayThe Tragedy of Falling AwayHebrews 6:1-8
Things That Accompany SalvationThings That Accompany SalvationHebrews 6:9-12
Things That Accompany SalvationThings That Accompany SalvationHebrews 6:9-12
The Anchor of Our SoulThe Anchor of Our SoulHebrews 6:13-20
The Greatness of MelchisedecThe Greatness of MelchisedecHebrews 7:1-10
The Sufficiency of MelchisedecThe Sufficiency of MelchisedecHebrews 7:11-19
The Superiority of MelchisedecThe Superiority of MelchisedecHebrews 7:20-28
A More Excellent MinistryA More Excellent MinistryHebrews 8:1-6
The New CovenantThe New CovenantHebrews 8:7-13
The Tabernacle Fulfilled in ChristThe Tabernacle Fulfilled in ChristHebrews 9:1-7
The Time of ReformationThe Time of ReformationHebrews 9:8-14
The Reasons Why Jesus Had to DieThe Reasons Why Jesus Had to DieHebrews 9:15-26
An Appointment None Can EscapeAn Appointment None Can EscapeHebrews 9:27-28
We Preach Christ CrucifiedWe Preach Christ CrucifiedHebrews 10:1-18
Introductory MessageIntroductory MessageHebrews 10:19-25
What Shall We Do?What Shall We Do?Hebrews 10:19-25
A Living FaithA Living FaithHebrews 10:24-25
It is a Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living GodIt is a Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living GodHebrews 10:26-31
A Call to PerseveranceA Call to PerseveranceHebrews 10:32-39
Message 1: The Nature of FaithMessage 1: The Nature of FaithEphesians 2:8, Hebrews 11:1
Message 1: What is Faith?Message 1: What is Faith?Hebrews 11:1, Jude 3
The Faith of AbelThe Faith of AbelHebrews 11:4
The Faith of EnochThe Faith of EnochHebrews 11:5-6
The Faith of NoahThe Faith of NoahHebrews 11:7
The Faith of AbrahamThe Faith of AbrahamHebrews 11:8-16
The Faith of the PatriarchsThe Faith of the PatriarchsHebrews 11:17-22
The Faith of JochebedThe Faith of JochebedHebrews 11:23
The Faith of MosesThe Faith of MosesHebrews 11:24-29
The Faith of Joshua and the PeopleThe Faith of Joshua and the PeopleHebrews 11:30
How Have You Been Running The Race?How Have You Been Running The Race?Hebrews 12:1-2
How to Run the Race FaithfullyHow to Run the Race FaithfullyHebrews 12:1-2
Let Us Run The RaceLet Us Run The RaceHebrews 12:1-3
The Christian RaceThe Christian RaceHebrews 12:1-3
Despise Not Divine ChastisementDespise Not Divine ChastisementHebrews 12:4-11
Guard Against Stumbling and FallingGuard Against Stumbling and FallingHebrews 12:12-17
Follow Peace and HolinessFollow Peace and HolinessHebrews 12:14
From Untouchable to ApproachableFrom Untouchable to ApproachableHebrews 12:18-29
True Faith Leads to True Living (Part 1)True Faith Leads to True Living (Part 1)Hebrews 13:1-3
True Faith Leads to True Living (Part 2)True Faith Leads to True Living (Part 2)Hebrews 13:4-6
Remember Our LeadersRemember Our LeadersHebrews 13:7, 17
Jesus is The SameJesus is The SameHebrews 13:8
Do Not Be Carried About by Divers Strange DoctrineDo Not Be Carried About by Divers Strange DoctrineHebrews 13:9
Are You Willing to Stand with Christ?Are You Willing to Stand with Christ?Hebrews 13:10-16
Pray for UsPray for UsHebrews 13:18-19
Blessed AssuranceBlessed AssuranceHebrews 13:20-21
