Pastor's Message
THE PURE AND PERFECT PRIEST
   
   We are to think of Jesus Christ as the Mediator of the covenant of
grace, for that is the heavenly office which was given to Him according to
the Scriptures. As the Mediator He is the promised and precious Prophet.
That is, He has been the person who has best revealed God and His will for
our salvation and life. As Prophet, He has represented God to us. Also, as
the Mediator, Jesus Christ is the pure and perfect Priest. As Priest, He has
represented us to His Father. The book of Hebrews in the New Testament
portion of the Bible demonstrates this fact very clearly.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob effected the release of the
Egyptian slaves, emancipating the Israelites. When they were at Mt. Sinai
in the wilderness, He revealed to them the manner in which they should
approach Him in worship. According to His directions, they built a tent or
tabernacle, offered sacrifices of animals, and went through the priesthood to
offer their prayers, make confession of their sins, and give praise to God. At
that time God appointed the family of Aaron, brother of Moses, to be the
priests, and the tribe of Levi to give assistance in the worship.

When Jesus Christ came into this world He was not of the tribe of
Levi or of the family of Aaron. He could not be an Aaronic priest
according to the specifications that God gave to the Israelites. Though He
was often in the temple, the Gospels never record that He went into the Holy
Place or the most sacred room to perform the function of priest. How then
can He be called a priest? How did He fulfill the office of a priest?

“The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedek,” (Psalm ll0:4). According to the
appointment of His Father, the Son of God had the high honor of being a
priest, with authority manifested by an endless life. “We have such an high
priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the
Lord pitched, and not man,” (Hebrews 8: 1-2). Greater than the Levitical
priests, Jesus Christ serves in heaven, of which the tabernacle was a type
and sign for the Israelites.

The priests of the family of Aaron made an untold number of animal
sacrifices, bullocks, cows, calves, goats, sheep, lambs and pigeons or doves.
On every festival day, every time the new moon came around, every day
there were sacrifices to be offered. Besides the animal sacrifices were the
cereal offerings and the burning of incense. These had to be repeated time
after time because of the continuing sin of the people, including the priests.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us,” (Hebrews 9:11-12). Jesus Christ gave up His life in
sacrifice on the cruel cross of Calvary. He offered that sacrifice in heaven
so that divine justice was satisfied. He “was delivered for our offenses, and
was raised again for our justification,” (Romans 4225). The pure and perfect
Son of God was indeed “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world,” (John l:29). The great High Priest of God’s anointing offered
Himself as the sufficient sacrifice, efficient for all the elect people of God.

More, Jesus Christ is now in heaven praying for His people. “But this
man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,” (Hebrew 7:24-
25). When we cannot pray for ourselves because of shame for our
sinfulness or because of physical or mental infirmity, Christ Jesus is praying
for us. Thanks be to God our Father who has blessed us with essential and
eternal benefits through His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.