Jesus our praying priest

"Christ As Mediator: Christ showing His wounds to His Father" 
Artist unknown; Illustrator of 'Speculum humanae salvationis', 
Germany (?), c. 1400-1500

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 7-8; Psalm 28

TO CHEW ON: "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." - Hebrews 7:25

Theologian Wayne Grudem writes about how Jesus is pictured in Hebrews in relation to the Old Testament covenant:

"In the Old Testament, the priests were appointed by God to offer sacrifices. They also offered prayers and praise to God on behalf of the people. In so doing they 'sanctified' the people or made them acceptable to come into God's presence, albeit in a limited way during the Old Testament period. In the New Testament Jesus becomes our great high priest .... Jesus functions as priest in two ways:

1. Jesus offered a perfect sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 24-28; 10:1-2 and more).

2. Jesus continually brings us near to God (Hebrews 6:19-20 and more)" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology p. 626, 627 (of course Grudem expands on these points).

And Jesus does one more thing as our high priest. "He always lives to make intercession ..." (Hebrews 7:25).  In other words, He continually prays for us.

Though Bible students have interpreted "intercession" in two ways: 1] as Jesus' presence mutely reminding God of our right-standing before Him and, 2] as Jesus actively interceding, the Greek word used for intercession here, entygchano, "clearly gives the sense of making requests or petitions before someone" - Gruden, p. 627.

How does Jesus know what to pray for? Well of course He knows everything so He knows the intricacies of our lives, our weaknesses, what will endanger, threaten, and tempt us. But implied here too, I believe, is the fact that we pray and He brings to God those prayers, petitions, sometimes even wordless groanings.  Grudem again:

"...Jesus continually lives in the presence of God to make specific requests and to bring specific petitions before God on our behalf .... Although God could care for all our needs in response to direct observation (Matthew 6:8), yet it has pleased God, in his relationship to the human race, to decide to act in response to prayer, apparently so that the faith shown through prayer might glorify him" - Grudem p. 628.

What an awesome privilege—to have our clumsily worded requests, tainted by our human imperfections, relayed to God by Jesus our eternal and perfect High Priest!

PRAYER: Thank You, Jesus, for being my High Priest, taking my prayers and interceding to God the Father on my behalf. Please teach me to pray. May my faith grow so that my life honours You more. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 28

MORE: "He always prays for us according to the Father's will"  (Grudem p. 628)

Grudem ends the section on Christ's role as interceding High Priest with this wonderful quote from Berkhof:

"It is a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life; that He is presenting to the Father those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds and which we often neglect to include in our prayers; and that He prays for our protection against the dangers of which we are not even conscious, and against the enemies which threaten us, though we do not notice it. He is praying that our faith may not cease, and that we may come out victoriously in the end" - Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 403, quoted in Grudem, p. 628.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No more daily sacrifices needed

Jesus Lamb of God - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 7:15-8:16

TO CHEW ON: "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's , for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." Hebrews 7:26,27.

Our reading yesterday left us in the middle of a discussion. The writer of Hebrews was addressing Jews who had lived all their lives observing the law of Moses with its rituals, sacrifices, and feasts in order to be accepted by God. He was showing them that now Jesus had superseded that system as a way to God.

In his argument he used the Old Testament character Melchizedek. He was the priest of Salem to whom Abraham gave tithes and who blessed Abraham. David, speaking of Messiah, spoke of Him being in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). The author of Hebrews equated Jesus with Melchizedek (yesterday's devo).

In today's reading, he continues his argument by comparing the Levitical priesthood with Jesus's:

• The Levitical priests came under the authority of a "fleshly commandment" versus Jesus who came "according to the power of an endless life" - Hebrews 7:16,17.

• The Levitical priests, even with all their obedience to the law, made no difference to man's basic inability to keep God's law, versus Jesus who made it possible for people to draw near to God - Hebrews 7:19.

• The Levitical priests did not have the oath of God (the "better covenant") behind them as Jesus did - Hebrews 7:20-22.

• The Levitical priests kept dying and having to be replaced versus Jesus who "continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood" - Hebrews 7:23-24.

 Finally, in the climax of his argument, the Hebrews author tells the readers of his day and us today what we have in and through Jesus:

"Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost—completely, perfectly, finally and for all time and eternity—those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them" - Hebrews 7:25 AMP.

Jesus was able to complete what the Levitical priesthood only symbolized.

This was so because unlike the Levitical priests Jesus was "holy, blameless, unstained by sin, separated from sinners and exalted higher than the heavens," a priest who didn't have to offer sacrifices for His own sin—because He had never committed any. " … He [met all the requirements] once for all when He brought Himself [as a sacrifice] which He offered up" - Hebrews 7:26,27 AMP.

We who have never been part of the Levitical system can appreciate only with our imaginations what a change this was for devout Jewish believers. But when we're tempted to minimize what Jesus' life, death, and resurrection meant in God's big scheme of things, we have only to look at the system He superseded to be eternally grateful.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for making Your "once and for all" offering for my sins and for now interceding and intervening with God the Father on my behalf. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Jesus revealed as King and Priest

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 6:13-7:14

TO CHEW ON: "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." Hebrews 7:12


Have you ever read the Old Testament laws and sacrifices and imagined living under that system? It was a system that was detailed, complicated, and time-consuming for both the priests who carried out the sacrifices and rituals, and the people who brought the animals, grain, meal, oil and commemorated the feasts etc.

In our reading in Hebrews the writer is building a case to prove that that system has been changed by Christ. He uses the mysterious Old Testament character Melchizedek in his proof.

Melchizedek lived during Abraham's time. When Abraham met him he called him "priest of God most high." Melchizedek blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him a tithe of his possessions (Genesis 14:18-20).

Melchizedek appears again in Psalm 110 where David, addressing Messiah, said,  
"You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek" - Psalm 110:4.

Here in Hebrews 7, the writer draws our attention to many facts about Melchizedek. Those of us familiar with Jesus and what the Bible says about Him recognize Jesus in these details:
* He was a king as well as a priest - Hebrews 7:1.
* His name meant "king of righteousness" - Hebrews 7:2.
* He appeared without ancestors or descendants - Hebrews 7:3.
* He resembled the Son of God - Hebrews 7:3.
* He was superior to Abraham in that he blessed Abraham and Abraham gave tithes to him (Hebrews 7:7,9).
*He lives on—doesn't die like mortal men - Hebrews 7:8.
* Levi, the father of the tribe of priests, acknowledged Melchizedek as his superior through Abraham (in that Levi "was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him") - Hebrews 7:10.
* This new priest was from the tribe of Judah, not a member of the priestly tribe of Levi at all - Hebrews 7:14.

The writer of today's portion promises that this new new priestly order (Melchizedek / Christ) will impact the system of laws and sacrifices that God dictated to Moses (Hebrews 7:12, our focus verse). Tomorrow we'll see how.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for pictures of Jesus woven through the Old and New Testaments.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Our authority through Jesus

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Revelation 1:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace … from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." - Revelation 1:4-6

What a lot of information about Jesus and what His life, death, and resurrection have accomplished for us is crammed into this greeting from John to his readers.

John begins by calling Jesus a witness [martus - our word martyr comes from martus. It means one who testifies to the truth he has experienced.] Though martus doesn't in itself imply death, many first-century  witnesses gave their lives for what they had witnessed. May some of us be called to do the same?

John calls Jesus "the firstborn from the dead" reminding his readers of how Christ defeated death at the resurrection. "Firstborn" tells us that He was only the first and that others will also be triumphant over death.

Now Jesus is exalted the "rulers offer the kings of the earth." We recall the martyr Stephen's view of him: "'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'" - Acts 7:56.

The next line of John's greeting brings Jesus close and personal to each one of us who accepts Him: "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." We are clean and accepted!

But our life with Him doesn't stop there. John addresses our future (or is it also our present?): "Jesus Christ … has made us kings and priests to His God and Father." Jack Hayford sums it up well in my Bible's sidebar article:

"In prefacing the broad arenas of prophecy about to be unfolded, John addresses two very important present truths: 1] We, Christ's redeemed, are loved and are washed from our sins—a present state. 2] We, through His glorious dominion have been designated 'kings and priests' to God—also a present calling. Thus these dual offers give perspective on our authority and duty and how we most effectively may advance the kingdom of God" - Jack Hayford, "Worship and the Kingdom" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1816, 1817).

I don't know about you, but on most days I don't feel like a king or priest. By faith I want to believe and live in this fact, praying that Jesus' life in mine will give it such kingly, priestly authority.

From a book I've been reading:

"The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk; it is a matter of power. This is not arrogance, as though you and I did something to deserve this authority. It is about Jesus, for Jesus and with Jesus …. Praying with authority is not about being cocky, it is about exercising His power. The authority to do so is cultivated through deep and consistent intimacy with Him" - Chad Norris, Signs and Wonders and a Baptist Preacher, Kindle Locations 1195, 1247.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for these reminders that I am a witness, that I am clean, and that I now have authority. Help me to exercise that authority in my day-to-day life. Amen.

MORE: "On the Authority" - Gaither Vocal Band

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.