Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1: “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”
Verse 2: “He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.”
Verse 3: “Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people.”
This was the idea with the high priests of the Old Testament: that they would be able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward because they themselves were beset with weakness. That was already built into the high-priest system.
And yet it was a system that was designed to point to the Lord Jesus, because even though it was an advantage to have a weak high priest—because it meant he understood you—on the other hand it meant that you had a sinful high priest.
And so Aaron, for example, the first high priest, had to offer sacrifices for his own sins. He had to deal with himself before he could deal with anyone else.
And so he wasn’t the great high priest, because there was inevitably much yet to do—to deal with himself before dealing with anyone else.
And yet the Lord Jesus was not like that. He doesn’t have to deal with his own sin. He can be completely dedicated to dealing with our sin.
And Christ was appointed to that position by the Father. That’s emphasised: “You are my Son, today I have begotten you,” quoting Psalm 2, which especially covers God the Father’s focus on his Son as the one who would take his people’s sins away.
And then what we have at the end of chapter 5 is this wonderful summary of who the Lord Jesus was, do read it!
