Hebrews 5 (4:14-5:10) - Made Perfect in Christ
You can stand confidently before God because of your perfect representative.
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14 Since then we have a great high priest
who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus,
the Son of God,
let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one
who in every respect has been tempted as we are,
yet without sin.
16 Let us then
with confidence
draw near
to the throne of grace,
that we
may receive mercy
and find grace
to help in time of need.
Hebrews 5 (ESV)
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.
2 He can
deal gently with the ignorant and wayward,
since he himself is beset with weakness.
3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins
just as he does for those of the people.
4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ
did not exalt himself to be made a high priest,
but was appointed by him
who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
6 as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears,
to him who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
8 Although
he was a son,
he learned obedience through what he suffered.
9 And being made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5 Summary
CHAPTER SHIFT - Of course we know that chapters and verses were not part of the original scriptures, but were added over the centuries. These divisions certainly make it easy to find a specific text within the Bible, but, as is the case today, the divisions do not always seem to be placed in the right spots.
Chapter 5 should start in 4:14 and extend to 5:10, and chapter 6 should start at 5:11. This is how we'll Dig Deeper into these passages.
Dig Deeper
Jesus fulfills all of the key Old Testament roles: He is a prophet, a priest, and a king. The book of Hebrews focuses on His priestly role.
Whereas a prophet represents God to the people, a priest represents the people to God. This means that Jesus, our priest, is the one standing between His holy, righteous Father and you.
Jesus, our high priest, experienced the same sort of temptations you and I do... if fact, even worse (you and I have not been tempted by Satan himself after fasting for forty days)!
He knows exactly what it's like to be you, and even more than a human priest, He will 'deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray' (5:2).
Yet human priests had one big (huge) problem: they were just as sinful as the people the represented, and therefore they had their own sins that kept them separated from God (5:3). The key difference between Jesus and us is that Jesus 'did not sin' (4:15).
He had the perfect righteousness God demands, and as we'll learn, when you believe in Him, that righteousness is given to you!
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father is holy, righteous and perfect, and all who stand before Him must be as well;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that you are represented before Him by His perfect Son, and pray that you trust in Him completely.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that you may receive mercy and grace to help you in your needs (4:16).
