Daily Meditations

Hebrews 5:3 Sacrifices for sins The writer is still seeking to draw our attention to the weaknesses of Jewish High Priests for he has a greater aim, that is, to show how Jesus exceeds their earthly ministry in every way. When Aaron, Zadok, Eliashib, Caiaphas and Co entered the Holiest of all, once per year, they had firstly to offer sacrifices for their own sins. In fact, they must have done this on more than just one annual occasion because these men were aware, more than anyone, of the far-reaching threat of the Law and their inability to keep it. Therefore, they would ensure their own holy state before God before interceding for their fellow Israelites.  The rituals of the Day of Atonement were especially strict and are set out in Leviticus 16. Before entering the Tabernacle / Temple the High Priest must bathe and put on special priestly robes. He must then sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself and his family. (Leviticus 9:7. 16:6.) The blood of that same bull must be t...

Hebrews 5:2 cont Purified from all unrighteousness We need to continue with this verse simply because its meaning can pile condemnation on all of us who are aware that we have indeed sinned intentionally and dared to defy the commands of the Lord. Let’s repeat that the ancient Israelites had no way out of this dilemma, they were scarred for life if their sins were public. But it was also the knowledge that God knew everything about them that must have filled them with dread! In fact, we have seen exactly how the Lord God reacts to defiance in the previous 2 chapters of this Epistle. Chapter 3 goes into great detail in describing the disobedience and open rebellion of a whole generation of Israelites who were excluded from the Land of God’s rest because of their behaviour. Their sin was not one of ignorance but of open defiance. Many of those Israelites must have spent their lives pondering their foolishness, wondering if they would ever find absolution and fearing the judgement tha...

Hebrews 5:2 Sins of ignorance This verse is packed with truth. The first thing we notice is the tolerant attitude of the High Priests; they were aware of their own sinfulness and thus they must deal gently with the people they represented. Some believers beat themselves up all the time because of their weaknesses and failure to live lives worthy of their calling. Others seem to carry on as if nothing had happened, they hold their relationship with Jesus Christ very lightly. Notice that it is the  ignorant who are going astray  that are treated gently by the Priest, because He understands their weakness and unawareness of their sin. It is a beautiful picture of our relationship with our High Priest – Yeshua. This verse brings into focus the Scriptural division between unintentional sins of ignorance and those of rebellious defiance. Many Christians are surprised to discover that there is a difference!  Leviticus 4 explains, in great detail, the nature of the sin offering m...

Hebrews 5:1 Our High Priest This opening verse of chapter 5 describes 3 facets of the high-priestly office. Firstly, these men had to be  “selected from among the people.”   Their life, their devotion, their wisdom and their experience raised them above their contemporaries in the minds of the worshippers. Of course, as is the way of human successions, it became who you knew and how wealthy and influential you were! Politics got in the way – doesn’t it always?  The role of High Priest was  appointed to represent the people  before God, thus the closer to the Lord a priest became, the better he could fulfil His calling. He was the go-between, the only man in the entire nation who had the right to approach the Lord God on behalf of everyone. Later in verse 4 we will see that there was another qualification, this calling must also come from God. What was the principal function of a High Priest? It was to  offer gifts to the Lord and to offer sacrifices fo...

Hebrews 4:16 Approaching the throne of grace Imagine that we have been invited into the throne room of the Lord God. It’s bad enough having to face up to an earthly ruler, let alone one who occupies the heavens and is the Creator of all things, as well as being our judge! We are not only conscious of our appearance and our manners but are painfully aware that this ruler knows our thoughts, our words and our deeds – intimately. Nothing is hidden from His sight; He knows us better than we know ourselves. So, perhaps we might feel a bit like John when he was ushered into the throne room of God, “ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead.”   (Revelation 1:17.) John found that he was not about to be reprimanded and judged but instead he was granted an audience with the First and the Last, the One who lives forever, who holds the keys of death and Hades! Our Lord will not reprimand us either, instead He encourages us to draw near to the throne of God’s grace, we need not be hesi...

Hebrews 4:15 Yet He did not sin It is not unusual for us to carry a mental picture of Jesus Christ that elevates Him way above us all. He is often presented as the sinless, perfect One who lived a spotless life and who occupied a sphere outside of normal human experience, in this image He is dressed in white and has a halo around His head!   Nothing could be further from the truth, Jesus was  “tempted in every way, just as we are .” Whatever lures and fantasies and enticements the devil puts in front of you and me, Jesus knew them all. He faced every attempt that the enemy could dream up to put Him off His mission, in fact, it should not surprise us to learn that Jesus endured more than we ever can or will. For instance, we are told that one of the greatest urges that we humans possess is self-preservation, we will go to incredible lengths to fight for our lives and reputations. If there is any means by which we can avoid death, we will take it. Jesus surrendered all of t...