"THE HOLIEST OF ALL" part XXXIV

A GREAT HIGH PRIEST.
Hebrews 4:14. Having, then, (Therefore) a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

FOURTH SECTION
Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10.
Jesus our High Priest more than Aaron

BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY

After his digression, in the warning to the Hebrews not like their fathers with Moses, to harden their hearts through unbelief, our writer returns to his argument. He had already twice used the words High Priest (2:16, 3:1), and is preparing the Way for what is the great object of the Epistle the exposition of the Heavenly Priesthood of the Lord Jesus, and the work He has by it accomplished for us (7 - 10:18). In this section (4:14 - 5:10) he first gives the general characteristics of that Priesthood, as typified by Aaron, and exhibited in our Lord's life here on earth. In chapters 1 and 2 he had laid the foundation of his structure in the Divinity and the humanity of our Savior: he here first speaks of Him in His greatness as a High Priest passed through the heavens, then in His sympathy and compassion, as having been tempted like as we are.

Having, therefore, a great High Priest. The therefore refers to the previous argument, in which Christ's greatness had been set forth, and in view of the dangers against which he had been warning, the readers had been urged to steadfastness in holding fast their confession (Faith life style). The force of the appeal lies in the word Having. We know the meaning of that word so well in earthly things. There is nothing that touches men so nearly as the sense of ownership of property. I have a father, I have money, I have a home what a world of interest is awakened in connection with such thoughts. And God's word comes here and says: You have, O! best and most wonderful of all possessions, You have a great High Priest. You own Him; He is yours, your very own, wholly yours. You may use Him with all He is and has. You can Trust Him for all you need, know and claim Him as indeed your great High Priest, to bring you to God. Let your whole walk be the proof that you live as one, having a great High Priest.

A great High Priest who has passed through the heavens. We have said more than once, and shall not weary of repeating it again, that one of the great lessons of our Epistle has been to teach us this: The Knowledge of the Greatness and Glory of Jesus is the secret of a strong and Holy Life. Its opening chapter was nothing but a revelation of His Divine nature and Glory. At the root of all it has to teach us of Christ's Priesthood and work, it wants us to see the adorable omnipotent Divinity of Christ. In that our faith is to find its strength, and the measure of its expectation. By that our conduct is to be guided. That is to be the mark of our life that we have a Savior who is God. A great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens. Later on we read (7:26): Such an High Priest became us, made Higher than the heavens. It is difficult for us to form any conception of what heaven is, so high, and bright, and full of Glory. But all the heavens we can think of were only the vestibule through which He passed into that which is behind, and above and beyond them all the Light that is inaccessible, the very Life and presence of God Himself. And the word calls us to follow our great High Priest in thought, and when thought fails, in faith and worship and love, into this Glory beyond and above all heavens, and, having Him as ours, to be sure that our Life can be the counter part of His, the proof of what a complete redemption He has wrought, the Living experience of what He has effected there.

A great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. The name Jesus speaks of His humanity, and of His work as Savior from sin. This is the first work of the priest the cleansing, the putting away of sin. The name Son of God speaks of His Divinity, and His power with all authority as High Priest, ready to bring us to God, into the very Life and fellowship or intimacy with the Holy One. It is in His being Son/God speaks to us; it is to the perfect fellowship in intimacy and Blessedness of the ever-blessed One that our great High Priest that is passed through the heavens can, and does indeed, bring us.

Having, therefore, a great High Priest, let us hold fast our confession! He is (3: 1) the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. The Knowledge of what He is and who He is is our strength to hold fast our confession. Twice the Hebrews had been told how much would depend on this (3: 6, 14). "We are His House, "if" we holdfast" "We are become partakers of Christ, "if" we holdfast." Our faith in Christ must be confessed. If we have Him as our great High Priest, He is worthy of it; our souls will delight in rendering Him this homage; without it, failure will speedily come; without it, the Grace of steadfastness, perseverance, cannot be maintained.

O! brethren, having a great High Priest, who is passed through the heavens, let us hold fast our confession. Let every thought of Jesus, in Heaven for us, urge us to live wholly for Him; in everything to confess Him as our Lord.

1. Ought it not to fill our hearts with worship and Trust, and Love without end, this wondrous mystery: the Son of God, become Man; the Son of Man, now God on the throne; that we might be helped,
2. Who has passed through the heavens! beyond all thought of space and place, into the mystery of the divine Glory and power. And why? That He might in divine power breathe that Heavenly Life into our hearts His whole Priesthood has, as its one great characteristic, Heavenliness. He communicates the purity, the power, the Life of Heaven to us. We live in Heaven with Him; He Lives with Heaven in us. With Him in our hearts we have the Kingdom of Heaven within us, in which Gods Will, is done, as in Heaven, so on earth. Let us believe it can most surely be.
3. After all the solemn warning about falling in the wilderness, coming short of the rest, see here your safety and strength--- Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a Heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus. Having Jesus, let us hold fast.