The Perfect Priest

Jesus is not just the prefect Prophet but also the perfect Priest. The Priest is sent to minister God’s grace to His people, he is sent to save. Jesus is the perfect Priest who saves us completely, but only if we trust and believe in Him completely. Christmas should be a time to celebrate and appreciate His saving grace and love. God didn’t have to become a human being to save us, He chose to, and did so joyfully.

Scripture

Hebrews 7:22-27 ESV This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

Bible Study Questions

Not just a Prophet

We’ve already seen how Jesus is the Word of God, how He fulfilled the role of Prophet and how every prophet and prophecy was for Him. Looking at Moses and the other prophets and how they spoke, how were they different from Jesus?

John 12:49-50 - ESV For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment — what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

Exodus 5:1 - ESV Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”

The eternal Priest foretold

In the same way that Jesus was the perfect prophet and unlike any that came before Him, so also is He unlike any priest before Him. The prophets not only looked forward to Him as the perfect Prophet but also the perfect Priest. Who is Psalm 110 speaking about and how do we know that?

Psalm 110:1-4 - ESV The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Matthew 22:41-45 ESV  Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,  [42]  saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”  [43]  He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,  [44]  “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?  [45]  If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

Acts 2:34-36 ESV  For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,  [35]  until I make your enemies your footstool.”’  [36]  Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

The birth of the One Who Saves fulfilled

The role of a Priest was to offer sacrifices and mediate for the people. They spoke to God on behalf of His people. If nobody had interceded for them, and no atonement was made for their sin, then they would have died in their sin and faced the wrath of God. What is the ultimate role of the priest then? How do we know that Jesus was always destined to fulfilled this role?

Matthew 1:18-23 - ESV Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

The Perfect and Permanent Priest who saves to the utmost

Priests were instituted and called by God to minister before Him so that His people could be saved from their sin and restored to Him. What were the limitations of these priests and how did Jesus overcome these limitations?

Hebrews 7:22-27 - ESV This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

Hebrews 4:14-16 - ESV Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We all need saving

God’s amazing grace and mercy have made a way for us to be saved by Jesus. Sadly not everyone knows that they need saving and so not everyone humbles themselves and accepts His offer of salvation by faith alone. How do we know that we need saving?

Isaiah 64:6 ESV  We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,  [20]  idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  [21]  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Isaiah 53:6 ESV  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The One Mediator and Sacrifice

Knowing that we need saving is one thing, knowing that Jesus can save us is another, but how do we know that He is the only way to be saved from God’s just punishment for our sin?

1 Timothy 2:5-6 - ESV For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

John 14:6 ESV  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Living Mediator

Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, why can’t there be others? Can the “saints” or “ancestors” not intercede for us? What proof do we have that Jesus is unique in His ability to save us?

Luke 24:5 - ESV And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

Isaiah 8:19 - ESV And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 - ESV “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.