Hebrews 4:14-15
The Great High Priest
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.(Hebrews 4:14)
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. (Hebrews 4:15)
The Trial — The Judge — The Sentence
In the previous verse, verse 13 that we have been studying, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, we have the eyes of the Lord searching and beholding the complete creation. All the creatures (including man) are naked and open to His eyes. Of course, man does not want to accept this, as the descendants of Adam will not accept their Creator. Man will not also accept in this Creator the divine Man, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Man sees his own state of being in an unrealistic consciousness. He dreams of what he wants to be, and who he would like to be, but will never accept what he really is. He is a sinner away from God. He lives in a false reality: man believes no matter what the circumstances, no matter how wicked that he really is, no matter how great the crimes against humanity that he, mankind, is getting better; maybe he’s getting better at sinning, but that’s about all he’s better at. Man’s sin is terminal, for all men die. All men are under the divine sentence of death, and every cemetery on planet Earth testifies to this fact, that man (all mankind) will die in sin not because of disease, nor old age, nor accidents, nor ever murder, we die because of inherent sin within us. Then, what can man do? I’m glad you asked :). It is the eyes of God who sees man, or Adam, and these eyes see man as man is. This is the divine reality concerning Adam’s race, Adam can hide nothing from God. A truthful man would see his sin for himself. Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? (Proverbs 20:6) Whenever a person appears before a court of law he has the opportunity to tell the judge whether he is guilty or innocent; however, in divine light and in the world of reality (which is the reality of man’s being) the Judge is God, and God has already declared and pronounced that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) The defendant (man) must reply to the Divine Judge, and his answer must be truthful, for the Judge knows the intent of his heart. So man before a Holy and Righteous Judge must state that he is guilty! And because this Judge is not a mere man, but the Divine Being and Creator of man, the Judge of both heaven and earth, man is guilty before God. Man can lie because he has been proven to be a liar. If you are above the age of reason, you have already found this out. If not with others, you have discovered what resides within your own heart, and that you also, like all of Adam’s race have lied before God which compounds man’s guilt. When the Holy Spirit declared that the Almighty sees everything, how can man hide his guilt from God. It did not work in the garden, and it won’t work now. Man cannot hide himself from God, Adam proved that in the garden. The eyes of God exposed man’s sin, and the voice of God condemned man for his sin. Adam’s first expression was not of guilt, but of excuse. He could not face his guilt, for the sin that had taken possession of him had perverted his whole being, and his excuse to God was just a perverted lie. As Adam hunted and pecked for an excuse, a covering, God still saw him (body, heart, and soul). Understand this: that God saw his naked state, not only his body. He was in a naked state of sin. He was in this naked state both outwardly and inwardly. God could not tolerate this, He had previously warned man of the penalty for disobedience. As Samuel told Saul, in 1st 1Samuel 15:22, And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams. Adam’s disobedience was, in fact, a transgression against a holy and righteous God; and the penalty for this transgression was death. In this transgression, Adam passed into the realm of sin, and sin took up residence in his being. He could no longer stand before a holy and righteous God; therefore, on God’s part, God could only administer judgment for what Adam had done. Adam, however, because of sin did not realize the depth of his fallen position before God. His inner being, this being of sin, was telling him to make an excuse. We have no record of Adam begging for forgiveness, there were no words of repentance, we see no heartbreak, nor crying for divine mercy, but only excuses, and mankind has continued to manufacture excuses throughout his witness on earth. Even those who confess their sin in the confessional excuse themselves, for thy fear to approach God directly because of their guilty, and thus, they erroneously and disobediently seek out another to approach for them. Every time man confesses to a priest (who, by the way, has no authority of God to forgive man) the confessor is only given an excuse for sin, and to continue in his sin.
Seeing — The Attitude of Heart
This is why the Holy Spirit has given us 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 this verse, the Holy Spirit begins with our eyes. He wants us to see what He is about to open before our eyes. In the word ‘Seeing,’ we have the attitude of heart. It also denotes what has passed before our eyes, not only in the history of man, but the wonderful revelation of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. We are to see what is in verse 14; even though we do not possess in our being the all seeing eye of God, the Spirit of God has given us eyes to unveil the truth that has been hidden from man since the creation of Adam.
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: (Colossians 1:26)
Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, (Romans 16:25)
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9)
The Possession and the Inheritance: The True Priest
The all seeing God, by His Spirit, in verse 14, is talking to a redeemed race. This is every soul that has been redeemed by the blood of Christ. He wants to unfold to them one of their great possessions; this is part of their inheritance, and this is the One who went into death to redeem them. When we examine our hearts, we know that we have been found guilty. We admit to God, and to the world, that we were guilty in Adam. And the sentence upon us was death, but we have examined the Scriptures, and in the Scriptures we have found both God’s mercy, and God’s grace in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants us to see that in our new condition (being born again, and becoming a new creation in Jesus Christ) we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, and this great High Priest is Jesus, the Son of God. Although this verse might be obscure to those who deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can jump up and down, gnash your teeth, and pull your hair out, for the Holy Spirit connects the earthly name ‘Jesus’ to the glorious eternal Being of God the Son — sorry, you’ll just have to live with it. And we will go a little further . . . in Hebrews, Chapter 7, verse 26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;. In Hebrews 7:26, it is the same great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, and is made higher than the heavens, this same Jesus who is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit wants us to understand (as redeemed citizens of heaven) that we have no need of an earthly Aaron, or any priest on earth, and of the earth; for only one Priest is approved of God, and that is the Man, Christ Jesus. Those who set themselves up in an earthly priesthood are in direct conflict with the great High Priest who is in heaven, Jesus Christ the Son of God. In light of this true priesthood, and our relationship to this Priest, the Holy Spirit wants us to hold fast our profession, meaning, we should not let the world of religion and man turn us from our great High Priest who is in heaven.
Hold Fast
The Holy Spirit uses the words hold fast our profession. First, we are to hold it, and in holding it, we are to defend our position and our profession in spiritual warfare against the evils of this world. What better way to try to upset God’s plan than to create a totally diabolical earthly priesthood, to take the heart of the saint away from the Man in heaven, and set the focus on a mere man of the earth. We have this great High Priest in heaven, and not only are we to hold Him, but we are to fasten Him deep within our hearts. He has loved us, and we love Him; this is our profession that despite everything around us, everything that comes against us, we have a great High Priest in heaven, Jesus, the Son of God; and no other should ever be allowed to come between Christ and the redeemed soul.
The Witness Within
The conscience of man is never in a stagnant or static state, man’s conscience has been given by God to be a continuous witness in him, to him, and for man. It was Adam’s conscience that caused him to hide from God, and the conscience is given of God to show man his own condemnation. Although man may try to harden his conscience against God he will never extinguish the work of his own conscience. It is only God who can save man, and it is only God who can give up on man. When God gives up a man it is to that man’s destruction; however, before that day arrives God uses His power and His voice to try to pull that man out of his hiding, and bring him to his senses so that he will admit his position before a holy and righteous God that he is a sinner, and that he is without God in this world. In Adam’s dilemma he thought he could put himself out of the way by hiding from the presence of God. (The phrase ‘gave them up’ is recorded five times in Scripture; interesting that this number is connected to God’s grace. This phrase reveals man’s rejection of God’s grace and the end result of this rejection is God ‘gave them up.’)
The Great High Priest
So Christ was once offered for sin to destroy sin in the flesh. Christ came in the form of a man to destroy what man was, and create a whole new race. What the flood did not do in Noah’s day, Christ accomplished on the cross: the destruction of all flesh marked by sin; therefore, the first man (Adam) was removed in God’s sight. In the hours of darkness, and according to God’s mighty power (in the dawn of the first day, the new day of man) God threw the door open and Christ was raised from the dead. As the new man (Paul describes Him as ‘the second man’ from heaven) this man from heaven took on the very image of man. This is no paradox, this is divine thought and purpose in the counsels of God. For of twain, Christ made one new man. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;. (Ephesians 2:15) This is the man who is in heaven for us, He is the great High Priest for God. This (Hebrews 4:14) is the only place in all of Scripture that we have the phrase, great high priest, and it is divinely attached to Jesus, the Son of God. This is our blessing in heaven, every believer has direct access to this great High Priest, for it is He that forever liveth to make intercession for us. Should we not prefer Him to the priesthood of a fallen world? For the Lord Jesus is not in the world, but in heaven, and so we (as the redeemed) are a heavenly people caught up to God to be with Him. In our hearts we have seen His atonement on the cross, and as He was crucified, there we also see ourselves crucified with Him.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)
In relationship to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ: the child of God has freely surrendered his position in Adam at the cross, I am crucified with Christ. The child of God has freely surrendered the world at the cross, for I am crucified unto the world: this is my part. God’s part: the world is crucified unto me, for the new man, Christ Jesus our Lord, passed into the heavens for us, and has translated us by the power of God into His kingdom. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:. (Colossians 1:13)
The Qualifications of the Great High Priest
In Hebrews, Chapter 4, verse 15, the Holy Spirit elaborates on the qualifications of our great High Priest, 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. Because of these qualifications the title great High Priest comes into relationship with great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here in verse 15, He is the same Jesus, yet, He is made a priest forever, after the order or covenant of Melchisedec. We also see in this order of priesthood according to Hebrews, Chapter 7, that He is a Priest of the most high God, and He not only has an endless life, but He has the power of an endless life. This great High Priest in heaven for us is that same Jesus who took upon Himself our sorrows, and our griefs, and the feeling of our infirmities. Then the most paramount qualification of all: He took our sin upon Himself on the cross of Calvary.
The Sacrifice and The Sacrificer
By considering all of the sacrifices of the Old Testament (in heavenly reflection) and the priesthood that God established in Aaron, we find that Christ was on the cross as the sacrificial Lamb, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Although Jesus Christ, as man, was not confirmed as a priest made after the order of Melchisedec at this point, upon His resurrection (as the glorified man) He stood upon the earth as a Priest after the order of Melchisedec; and ascended to God to take His position as our great High Priest. In His position as the eternal Priest of God; He is both Priest and Sacrifice. God in Genesis 22:8 declared that He Himself will provide the sacrifice. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. It was the purpose of God to provide a lamb, or sacrifice in Himself. Remember the Lord Jesus declared that He had the power to lay down His life, and that He had the power to take it again, and this was at the commandment of God the Father.
The Eternal Priesthood
To understand this completely we must return to the garden once more. It is not only why, but how God deals with the sin of man in the garden. There were two transgressors, and both of these transgressors were under the sentence of death. They had already surrendered, or died in the spirit that God had given them, and their death had placed a distance between God and themselves. To maintain His righteousness and holiness God showed mercy, He must cover the transgression, and the transgressors. We have to also be knowledgeable in the revealed truth in the first five books of the Bible. For in these first five books, God established His mercy through sacrifice which continues through the rest of Scripture, until John the Baptist declared of the man Jesus Christ, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Through the revelation of Scripture, we understand that at the transgression of man against God that God acted in His eternal Priesthood by taking two lambs without spot or blemish, two innocent victims, as the Priest shed their blood, and laid them on the altar that He erected, and then consumed the offering with His eternal fires of judgment. This prefigured the sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Ephesians 5:2) God then took the skins of the sacrifice and covered the two malefactors. As there were two offenders there must be two lambs. We are reminded under the teaching of the law every Israelite had to bring a lamb for his own offering, and for his own transgression. We see two lambs not only to signify individual offering as a covering, but to emphasis the need to cover both the transgression and the transgressor. Later on in Scripture (in the history of Israel) a morning sacrifice and an evening sacrifice were offered. This reminds us of the extent of man’s transgression against God. That is why every soul must come before the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Each soul will either come before God in grace or in judgment. (Note: the phrase ‘two lambs’ is recorded only five times in Scripture, how noteworthy that number five is connected to the grace of God, for it is in grace that God’s covered both the transgressor, and the transgression. Two aspects of the sacrifice in grace: God’s part and man’s part, the Giver and the receiver, the sinner and sin).
The Gardens
The covering of Adam and Eve by a blood sacrifice of animal skins was only a shadow of the blood of Christ that would be shed for the whole world. Only after God covered them did He drive them from the garden into the world. The world was in chaos because of the judgment of sin in both the physical and the spiritual realm, and the spiritual death of both Adam and Eve. Judgment was passed at the tree of good and evil: death, spiritual and physical judgment. Spiritual death took place in the garden of God, and physical death took place in the world of sin.
Our Savior, in His path to the cross, used three gardens: in one garden, He prayed concerning the cup that was before Him, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. He also died in a garden: in the place where they crucified Jesus there was a garden. He was also raised from the dead in a garden. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. (John 19:41) In His death and resurrection He made a way for man to return to a glorious garden, the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7) Why do I relate a garden at this point? because in this paradise of God we find the presence of the tree of life.
The Tree of Life
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7) We should also consider Revelation 22:14, Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. This is the last mention of the tree of life in Scripture. As the first mention was in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 2, verse 9. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (Genesis 3:22)
We behold that the Scriptures cannot be broken, for in the mind of the Spirit of God, we have complete continuity in the canon of Scripture. In the second garden, the garden of the cross, we also see a tree of life, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. With the death of the Son of God, we have the glorious life (eternal life) given unto us. The tree of rejection and death became our tree of life in the garden of suffering. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1st Peter 2:24)
The High Priest in His Priesthood Presented
In the sufferings of Christ we see also the Priesthood of God, we are brought into His presence and His suffering, and the Priest presents the sufferer to us in Psalm 22. Over centuries this great High Priest has presented Himself to countless numbers of Adam’s race. In the Spirit of Christ He has presented Himself as the Atonement of God, as the suffering Lamb, and also as the glorified Sovereign at the right hand of God. As the suffering Lamb, He took on Him the sin of the whole world upon Himself. Although He was tempted in all parts as we are, He refused temptation and the tempter. The Holy Spirit confirms in verse 15, He was without sin. Do you see the perfection here? He is that perfect diamond that man searches for, without flaw, one of perfect brightness, and all this was found in a Man, the Man, Christ Jesus. And it is this Man who passed into the heavens for us, verse 14. As the Holy Spirit unveils these verses to our hearts, we refer back to verse 13, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Verse 13 describes the eyes that are heavenly, the eyes of the Almighty God. And thus, when we approach verse 14, we must admit that God wants our eyes wide open, He wants our eyes to be attached to the heavenlies, He wants our eyes to be heavenly. At the day of our Lord’s ascension, it is recorded that they looked up.
Look Up — See Heaven Opened — See Our Great High Priest
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9)
And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; (Acts 1:10)
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19)
The Holy Spirit wants to make sure that we understand not just the word ‘seeing’ in verse 14, but the attitude of the heart of the viewer should be focused on His proper place and position as ascended man — He is our great High Priest. It is a declaration in Hebrews, Chapter 4, of not just the priesthood, but the greatness of the priesthood that Aaron could not attain. All the high priests who were called of God (in the Aaronic Levitical system) are esteemed lower than this eternal great High Priest. This honor was reserved for only one, and that is God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ; and this High Priest comes with the power of an endless life. Endless means without beginning and without end.
In the Book of Acts, Chapter 7, we have the glorious testimony of Stephen, a servant of God full of the Holy Ghost. We will reflect on verses 59 and 60.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, (Acts 7:55)
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. (Acts 7:56)
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (Acts 7:59)
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:60)
Stephen was looking at the great High Priest, the Lord Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Everyone else could not see through the cloud of sin. The cloud of sin had bound their eyes, they could only see the things of the earth, but God had a man (Stephen) under the complete power of the Holy Spirit. The water pot was full, his heart was bursting with the image of Christ. This all took place before John’s vision at Patmos. What man could not see, the enlightened Stephen saw. And in the canon of Scripture how is this written? for only the eyes of Stephen beheld the Son of God. Once again we have divine proof of the work of the Holy Spirit in divine inspiration, for we have this record only preserved by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Stephen looked up in the power of the Holy Spirit, his total being fastened to the things above; God opened heaven for His servant Stephen. He was not an apostle, but a believer and a devout servant of God. In many ways he portrayed the power of the resurrected man Jesus Christ that was within him. His heart was not attached to the earth, but was attached to heaven. While here on earth, his thoughts and his desires were staid on the heavenlies.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)
In Colossians 3:1-4 we have our compassion and desire for heaven and Christ. In verse 5, we have the rejection of the world, and the things that are in the world. These are the things that defile us, and these are things that we should cast off. Stephen, although on earth, was living in the heavenlies. So at the time of his death, he was received up into glory. As Paul declared to us, he simply fell asleep in Jesus. All around Stephen was the venom of Satan, and the servants of Satan, the viper: man. Stephen had just delivered the mind of Christ to these hateful Jews. He had just condemned them for their wicked works in killing the prince of life. They were like their fathers, for their fathers had killed the prophets, and why did they kill the prophets? because the prophets had declared (through the Scriptures) the coming of the Just one, Jesus Christ. Stephen exposed their evil hearts, that it was by their own wicked hands they had betrayed and murdered the Son of God. Now this man, Stephen, under the power of the Spirit of Christ, and with a surrendered heart looked up and saw the heavens opened. So too the Spirit of God in Hebrews 4:14 wants us to see heaven opened, and our great High Priest at the right hand of God. By the same Spirit look up, seeing, we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Amen
© Copyright 2017, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)