Study Notes – DDDiSarro.org

Jesus Our Great High Priest, Part 2

April 2, 2014February 7, 2015

In the last post, I recommended looking at passages describing Jesus as our high priest and categorizing what you found by marking phrases in different colors. To summarize the findings of our study group, I’ll use another way to categorize what a passage is teaching, which is to list them out under different headings.

Jesus as High Priest

Fully human in every way (Heb. 2:17)
Merciful (Heb. 2:17)
Faithful (Heb. 2:17)
Suffered when He was tempted (Heb. 2:18)
Ascended into heaven (Heb. 4:14)
Empathizes with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15)
Has been tempted in every way we have (Heb. 4:15)
Never sinned (Heb. 4:15)

Similarities: Jesus and Old Testament Priests

Selected and appointed to represent people to God (Heb. 5:1)
Offer gifts and sacrifices for sins (Heb. 5:1)
Able to deal gently with the ignorant and straying (Heb. 5:2)
Priesthood received by call of God (Heb. 5:4-6)

Differences: Jesus and Old Testament Priests

OT priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sin, but Jesus did not because He was sinless (holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, made perfect forever) (Heb. 5:2-3, 7:26-28)
Jesus was made priest through God’s unchangeable oath; OT priests were not (Heb. 7:20-22)
There were many OT priests because they died; Jesus lives forever and therefore is a permanent priest (Heb. 7:23-24)
OT priests offered sacrifices day after day; Jesus offered Himself as sacrifice once for all (Heb. 7:27)

Benefits We Receive from Jesus as High Priest

Makes atonement for our sins (Heb. 2:17)
Able to help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:18)
Gives reason to hold firmly to our faith (Heb. 4:14)
We can approach God’s throne with confidence (Heb. 4:16)
We will receive mercy (Heb. 4:16)
We will find grace to help us when in our need (Heb. 4:16)
Able to save us completely when we come to God through Him (Heb. 7:25)
Always lives to intercede for us (Heb. 7:25)
Truly meets our needs (Heb. 7:26)
Since Jesus offered Himself as our once-for-all sacrifice for sin, it implies that we never have to make another sacrifice for our sins, because His sacrifice forgives ALL our sins, past, present and future (Heb. 7:27)

All that from just three paragraphs! It’s amazing what rich detail there is in scripture if we will only look for it!

Sometimes, though, if we only look at the details we can lose sight of the main message a biblical author is trying to convey. Today our group will use another study method that helps show us the bigger picture. We will study each paragraph and then write a summary of the main teaching in the margin on the right. If you do that for a whole book, you can then read all your summaries in order to see the flow of the logic, which will help point you toward the main lesson of the book. (Notice that different translations divide paragraphs differently; there are no paragraphs in the original Hebrew and Greek! That means it’s okay if you disagree with your bible’s paragraph divisions!)

We’ll do this exercise with the following excerpts from Hebrews 8 and 9 about Jesus’ ministry as High Priest that relate to what we have studied about the Day of Atonement:

Hebrews 8:1-5
Hebrews 9:6-14
Hebrews 9:24-28

I invite you to do this on your own, and compare your findings with ours when I summarize our group’s findings in my next post.

(This post is part of a series. See Entering the Most Holy Place: a Study on the Day of Atonement for an introduction and list of posts.)

Jesus Our Great High Priest, Part 1

The high priest played an incredibly important role in the annual Day of Atonement. He alone entered the innermost room of the tabernacle (or later, the temple) where God manifested His presence, and he could only do it on that one day each year.

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament teaches that Jesus is our high priest. Hebrews 1 shows Jesus’ deity, then Hebrews 2 shows His humanity, and most of the book compares Jesus to the priesthood and sacrificial system in the Law of Moses.

Our study group is doing a bible study exercise with Hebrews 2: 14-18, Hebrews 4:14-5:6 and Hebrews 7:20-28, which are all about Jesus’ high priesthood. I’ll describe the steps so you can do the exercise yourself.

Step 1: Print out the three passages in large print and with wide margins on both sides. You can do this by copying and pasting them from biblia.com, biblegateway.com or blueletterbible.org. I find that this makes it easier to focus on the text itself instead of getting distracted by my bible’s study notes, and I have plenty of room to mark up the text and write any insights or questions. This helps me listen to God as He speaks directly through His word.

Step 2: Pick three contrasting colors of pens, pencils, markers, or highlighters.
Use the first color to mark words and phrases that describe Jesus as high priest, the second to mark the benefits we gain from His ministry, and the third to mark descriptions of the Old Testament priests.

Step 3: Do a bit of analysis of what you’ve discovered and write insights or questions in the margins. For example, list comparison (similarities) and contrasts(differences) between Jesus as high priest and the Old Testament high priests.

Step 4: Make this personal; ask yourself questions about what you’ve learned like “What practical difference can this make in my life?” or “Is God asking me to do something in response?” God may speak to you about a specific circumstance in your life where you need to apply His truth, or He may lead you to practice a spiritual discipline like memorizing a verse from one of the passages, or you may simply be led to praise Him for what you’ve learned. Be open to His leading, and He’ll let you know!

Last Wednesday our group looked at the first two passages this way, and tomorrow we’ll look at the third. Then in my next post I’ll list some of what our group found in the process.

(This post is part of a series. See Entering the Most Holy Place: a Study on the Day of Atonement for an introduction and list of posts.)

Walking With a Holy God

Now that we have looked at the context of Leviticus 16 we are finally ready to delve into the passage itself. (I suggest reading it before reading the rest of this post.) There’s a lesson right off the bat in Leviticus 16:1-3. Moses starts by referring to the deaths of Aaron’s sons and then quotes God’s instructions for how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement. In other words, Moses reminds Aaron of how NOT to enter God’s presence before telling him HOW to enter God’s presence. Thus the lesson for him – and for us! – is that we can only enter God’s presence on His terms, not ours.

The other sacrifices in Leviticus are made by individual worshipers on their own behalf. The person placed his hands on the head of the animal, confessed his sin over it, and then slaughtered it himself. What a graphic representation of the sobering truth that sin brings death! At the same time, what a picture of God’s incredible grace as the death of an innocent substitute brings life!

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest was the one who makes the sacrifices on behalf of himself and his family (Lev.16:6,11) and also the whole nation (Lev. 16:15,21-22; both are mentioned in Lev. 16:17, 24). Even more interesting is that Leviticus 16:16-18 says that atonement was made for the inner room (here called the holy place), the outer room (“tent of meeting”) and the altar where the sacrifices were burned, located in the courtyard. Somehow, the sins of the nation defiled God’s holy dwelling place, and periodically it needed to be cleansed.

Remember that the New Testament calls the church and individual Christians temples, or dwelling places of God. It’s relatively easy for me as an individualistic American to see how my sin defiles me, but harder to see how my sin affects my church family. Honestly, I prefer to believe that I’m the only one affected by my sin – and I think Satan is thrilled when I do! But I’ve come to the conclusion that even when my sins seem “private” they hurt my walk with God, and anything that hurts my walk with God hinders Him from using me in others’ lives. In light of that, the greatest ministry I can have to others is to quickly deal with sin and keep walking with God!

Which brings us back to atonement, the method God gives us to deal with our sin. But what exactly does atonement do? With any ancient language there are differences of opinion about some words, and there at least three opinions about the ancient Hebrew word “kipper,” which we translate as “atonement”:

It comes from a root word meaning “to cover” so it covers our sins from God’s sight.
It comes from a root word meaning “to wipe off” so it wipes away or removes our sin (the theological term is “expiation”).
When Jewish scholars translated their scriptures from Hebrew into Greek before Christ, they used a word meaning “to appease or turn away God’s wrath” (the theological term is “propitiation”).

Words change their meaning over time, so the key to understanding them is the context in which they are used. Leviticus 16 repeatedly speaks of cleansing, and when we clean something (like our hands), we wash off the dirt. Then there’s the object lesson of the scapegoat (literally “goat of removal”): the sins of the nation are symbolically laid on the head of the goat, which is then sent away from the tabernacle and away from the camp out into the wilderness. Both images point to the meaning of wiping away sin. But the chapter also starts with a reference to the deaths of Aaron’s sons, which seems to be an obvious demonstration of God’s wrath. Taken together I believe the context shows that atonement includes both removing sin (“expiation”) and turning away God’s wrath (“propitiation”). ¹

In light of all of this, read 1 John 1:5-2:2.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (NASB)

Do you see the key words that John is using to remind his readers of the sacrificial system in Leviticus? Sin, confession, cleansing by blood, propitiation. Jesus is our atoning sacrifice who removes the sins not of just one nation, but of anyone in the entire world who comes to Him in faith. And any child of God who sins can restore fellowship with Him by openly confessing sin instead of hiding it (walking in light instead of darkness).

Here’s an exercise to make this come alive: write your sins on a piece of paper; when you’re done, write the words of 1 John 1:9 on top of what you have written and put it through a shredder to demonstrate that your sins are removed by Jesus.

(This post is part of a series. See Entering the Most Holy Place: a Study on the Day of Atonement for an introduction and list of posts.)

Notes:

For a more in-depth discussion on on this, read the section on propitiation vs. expiation in R. W. Yarbrough, “Atonement,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2001). ↩

“Be Holy, For I Am Holy”

(This post is part of a series. See Entering the Most Holy Place: a Study on the Day of Atonement for an introduction and list of posts.)

(By the way, I’ve quoted all the verses in NASB, but the popups are set to display NIV so you can compare the two translations.)

I want to warn you from the outset: this is going to sound like bad news. But hang in there with me, because the bad news tells us why we need the good news, and seeing how horrible the bad news is will enable us to see just how incredibly amazing the good news is. Ready? Here we go…

Who is this God who manifested His presence in the midst of the Israelite camp, and who “tabernacled” among us in the person of Jesus, and who lives in our church and our very bodies? How should His character affect ours?

Leviticus has a definitive answer. According to Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; and 20:26, God’s character is holy. In these verses He repeatedly says to His people, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Peter applies this to us as Christians:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” (1 Peter 1:14–16)

We are to be holy because our God is holy.

Holy. Sacred. Set apart. Pure.

And more than a little frightening.

When our holy God manifested His presence to Israel at Mount Sinai, He warned Moses to keep the people away from the mountain, lest He “break out against them” (Exodus 19:20–25). In fact, the instructions for the Day of Atonement were given in the context of just such a terrifying judgment.

“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire…” (Deuteronomy 4:24) ¹

“Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the LORD and died.” (Leviticus 16:1) This refers to a story in Leviticus 10:1-7, but we will focus on the first section:

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’ ” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. (Leviticus 10:1-3)

Like I said before, frightening.

The instructions God gave Moses on the construction and use of the Tabernacle’s incense altar sheds light on the punishment of Nadab and Abihu. Interestingly, it is also first mention of the Day of Atonement in scripture.

“You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.” (Exodus 30:9–10)

When Nadab and Abihu did something “which He had not commanded them” (Leviticus 10:1), it was not a simple mistake made out of ignorance.

The instructions had been clear. The altar of incense was declared by God to be “most holy.” When Nadab and Abihu offered strange or unauthorized fire on it, they were acting in clear defiance of God. Theirs was an act of blatant rebellion, an inexcusable profaning of the Holy Place. They committed a sin of arrogance, an act of treason against God: They profaned a most holy place. (R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 2nd ed (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1998), 102-103.)

Whether they acted out of premeditation or out of carelessness, it was still the sin of arrogance. They did not take God’s holiness seriously enough, and they died because of it.

This rather frightening incident at the beginning of the Mosaic covenant reminds me of a similar one at the beginning of the new covenant. In Acts 5, Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied about money they were giving to the church, presumably to make themselves look better, and God struck them both dead. God did not change from a God of judgment in the Old Testament to a God of grace in the New Testament; He is one and the same throughout the Bible. He is holy, and He will be treated as holy.

This is the God who makes His dwelling within us. No wonder He says “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Now for the good news (finally!)

Remember that what God did for Israel as a nation often pictures what He does spiritually for those who trust Christ for salvation. Let’s look again at those verses where God says, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Leviticus 11:44-45. We can be holy because this holy God brought us out of the Egypt of slavery to sin. And we can be holy because this holy God is our God.
Leviticus 20:26. We can be holy because this holy God sets us apart to be His.
Look at an additional verse – Leviticus 20:7-8. We can be holy because this holy God makes us holy.

God has always been a God of grace. You will see His grace everywhere in the Old Testament if you take the time to look for it. It is no coincidence that in the book where God repeatedly commands Israel to be holy, He also provides the sacrificial system to cleanse them from sin. And it is no coincidence that the instructions for the Day of Atonement follow the judgment of Nadab and Abihu. As Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” (Mark 2:17) We will never truly seek or appreciate grace until we first see our sin in the light of God’s frightening holiness.

What is your honest reaction to all of this? Does it change how you feel about God and about yourself? How can knowing these truths make a practical difference in the way you live?

Notes:

My thinking in the following section is influenced by insights from chapter 6 in R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 2nd ed (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1998). ↩

The Dwelling Place of God

(This post is part of a series. See Entering the Most Holy Place: a Study on the Day of Atonement for an introduction and list of posts.)

In order to understand the rituals for the Day of Atonement, we need to be familiar with the Old Testament Tabernacle, a portable worship center that the Israelites took with them as they traveled. Exodus 26-30 records the instructions God gave to Moses about building the Tabernacle and everything inside it, including the robes the priests would wear.

Tabernacle floorplan — Tabernacle Schematic – by Epictatus at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

When the tabernacle was built and dedicated, God’s glory filled it (Exodus 40:34–38). (Centuries later when King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, it had the same layout, and at its dedication God once again filled it with His glory; see 2 Chronicles 7:1–3). Since His glory was manifested in a special way in the tabernacle, you could say that it was God’s dwelling place on earth. When the Israelites were camped, that dwelling place was in the center of the camp. God so desired an intimate relationship with His people that He lived in the midst of them!

But access to God was still limited. Although any Israelite could come into the tabernacle or temple courtyard, only priests and Levites could enter the Holy Place. And even they couldn’t go into the innermost room, the Most Holy Place where God manifested His presence; only the high priest could go there, and he could only go there once each year – on the Day of Atonement.

Apparently that wasn’t enough for God; He wanted even greater intimacy with us. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) – The phrase “made his dwelling” in the Greek is one word: “tabernacled.” The glory of God now lived in a human body instead of a tent or building. Anyone, not just the high priest, could see God the Son, walk with Him, and talk with Him.

But Jesus was limited when He walked on earth; He could only be in one geographic location at a time, and He traveled within a very small area. Once again, that wasn’t enough for God. He wanted even greater intimacy with even more of us. Look at Ephesians 2:19–22.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Notice the plurals and the repeated word “together.” God is building us corporately into His temple/tabernacle. God’s intent for the church is to be His dwelling place, the place where He manifests His glory on earth. His desire is that any time anyone enters any kind of church gathering in any place, they should encounter the presence of God.

But there’s more – an even greater intimacy between God and His people. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that each individual Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Every person who truly trusts Jesus is a dwelling place for the living God.

Think about it. I mean REALLY think about it.

The church is a place where the God of the universe lives and manifests His glory.

Every Christian you know is a place where the God of the universe lives and manifests His glory.

You are a place where the God of the universe lives and manifests His glory.

Does this effect how you think about the church, or other Christians, or yourself? Is there some practical application God wants you to make that you would feel free to share in the comments below?