Dear Christian friends:

The name "Priest" does not mean much to us. We know it means a certain minister in the church. Roman Catholic ministers are called "priests".

The chief duty of the priest of the Old Testament was to pray to God for the people, to make intercessions. When anyone prays for others he intercedes for those others. A priest can be compared to a lawyer or advocate. You know how a lawyer prays and pleads before the judge, not for himself, but for his client. A priest pleads before God the great Judge, not for himself, but for the people. The priests of the Old Testament had the duty to pray and plead to God for the people.

In this text the holy writer compares Jesus with the high priests of the Old Testament and he shows that Jesus is the real High Priest who can really help those who come to God through Him.


Jesus is the Real High Priest because He is an eternal Priest. The high priest of the Old Testament served a few years and then couldn't continue because they became old and died and others took there place. (Hebrews 7:23) But Jesus is eternal. Our text says, "because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." (Hebrews 7:24-25) He is the eternal High Priest, without beginning and without end. (Hebrews 7:3)

Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He has much influence on God the Father. God listens to Jesus when He the true High Priest prays for us and pleads for us. God listened to Aaron and the other high priests when they prayed for the people and they were only weak sinner men. Much more God will listen to Jesus when He prays and pleads for us, because Jesus is His only Son and sits at His right hand eternally.

Jesus is the Real High Priest because He is an eternal Priest, and also because He offered up a perfect offering for sin.

The high priests of the Old Testament offered up calves and goats, and various animals to take away their own sins and the people's sins. But Jesus did not offer up animals and animal blood, but Jesus offered up Himself, His own body, and His own blood, when He died up on the cross. Jesus made the perfect offering for sin.

In our text the holy writer says,

"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 sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself." (Hebrews 7:26-27)

Jesus is the real High Priest because He is eternal and because He offered up the perfect offering for sin: His holy life and His body and blood.

Therefore the holy writer urges us to believe in Jesus in time of need! He writes:

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. (our faith and service to God)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
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." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

And John encourages us:

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)

Jesus is the real High Priest! He can really help us. We can go to God the Father through Him anytime and in any trouble or need.

Amen.