Chapter 5

Time for another one of Johno’s digressions into history!

This is because we live in a world in which the High Priest is no longer a role we understand. So let’s have a brief look at his role.

A priest (or Cohen, in Hebrew) was not simply a minister for Jews, like he would be today. Priests were, rather, an intermediary between humankind and God. To put it simply, a priest represented God to other humans, and he represented humans before God.

The High Priest (Gadol Cohen) was a special case of a priest. He not only represented the entire population of Israel before God, it was he who had the job of entering the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood from the sacrifices, indicating that the people were safe for another year.

It is this image that Mick calls to mind when he describes Jesus as OUR high priest (vs 1- 10). Yesterday’s passage included a brief description of the significance of his role, and how we can rely on Him.

Well, so what? Where do we go from here?

I think the most important lesson for me from this passage would have to be the fact that God wasn’t content to sit up there while Earth went to hell in a handbasket. He wanted to get ACTIVE. Rather than remain, He chose to become our High Priest. As the previous chapter noted, this gives us an amazing High Priest – He has more power and more authority than ANY Earthly High Priest; Yet He has a deep connection with us, so much so that He understands what we’ve been through.

This is both good news and bad news. It’s good news because Jesus can understand whatever situation we would find ourselves in. It’s bad news because forever, “But you don’t understand . . .” is simply not an excuse we can lay at His feet.

Our High Priest is the best you can ever imagine!