Our Great High Priest

When we lived in south Louisiana, many of the teenagers in the community called me Father Joe. They saw me as a priest. In fact, one poor college student was shocked to find out I was married and had a child. She told me I couldn’t because I was a priest. I pointed out to the student that I was a minister and not a priest.

In the Old Testament the people need a mediator between them and God. In the New Testament the formal priesthood was done away with and each person is given direct access to God. The people still need a mediator to intercede with the Father for them. Jesus is our Great High Priest.   

In Exodus 28 God makes Aaron the High Priest for the nation of Israel. Jesus is made by God, through His death and resurrection, the Great High Priest.

There are several things that Aaron and Jesus have in common.

Aaron exercised his office by carefully following the Lord’s commands.

Leviticus 8:36

So Aaron and His sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.

Through he was imperfect, his example is noteworthy.

Jesus also exercised His office by listen to the Father and doing what the Father directed Him to do.

Jesus did come to do what Aaron fell short of. Jesus is the ultimate example of honoring God – as He always yielded to His Father’s leadership.

John 8:28

So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own but speak what the Father has taught Me.”

Aaron served so that the glory of the Lord would appear to the people.

Leviticus 9:6

The Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”

Jesus came to enable humanity to see and know God.

John 1:18

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closer relationship with the Father, has made Him known.

Jesus says in John 14:9 that if you had seen Jesus, you had seen the Father. According to Colossians 1:15 Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is understanding that The Old Testament and New Testament are connected by Jesus.

However there are many ways that Aaron and Jesus are very different.

Aaron was an appointed mediator between the people and God. Eventually, he and his successors were made obsolete by Jesus. Jesus is the one and only mediator between God and humanity.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

And because Jesus’ work on the cross enabled us to be declared righteous, we are invited to approach God because of our confidence in Jesus.

Hebrews 4:16

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Aaron arranged for atonement for all of Israel.

Leviticus 9:7

Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and your people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.”

Jesus purchased atonement for the whole world, for all who would surrender their lives to His authority by faith.

1 John 2:2

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 

Jesus came to Israel as the promised Messiah, but salvation in His name is available for all people of every nation.

Aaron needed to make atonement for his own sins.

Leviticus 9:8

So Aaron came to the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself.

Jesus never sinned. He was and is perfect in word, thought, and deed. Jesus died on the cross as an unblemished substitute. His sinless perfection made Him a worthy sacrifice and makes Him a worthy high priest in heaven.

Hebrews 7:26-27

Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrifice for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.

Aaron was priest over Israel because he was ordained and anointed by Moses.

Jesus the Son is our great high priest, unique and eternal – because God the Father designated Him for that honor.

Aaron stood before God.

Jesus is God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having Jesus as our only High Priest.

Through Jesus we have direct access to the Father and don’t need a human to be our mediator.

In and With Jesus Only, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                Joe