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Jesus Christ as High Priest
(From Forerunner Commentary)

John 5:17  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) What work is the Father doing? He is "working salvation in the midst of the earth" (Psalm 74:12). God is always working toward the completion of His purpose—the salvation of mankind. Jesus works within the same process and pointedly makes an issue of this on the Sabbath days. God's work is creating sons in His image. Thus, healing, forgiving sin, and doing good are part of Christ's work as Savior and High Priest that He might be "firstborn among many brethren." John W. Ritenbaugh The Fourth Commandment (Part Two): Christ's Attitude Toward the Sabbath

John 6:63  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Here, the difference between God's Holy Spirit and our spirit is noted. God's Spirit (His Word, His thoughts, His way) always produces life—eternal life—the way God lives. Jesus was made a life-giving Spirit, and He is the High Priest. As High Priest, He is in charge of the administration of life (see II Corinthians 3). The difference between the two covenants is that the priesthood under the Old Covenant could not administer life, but the Priesthood under the New Covenant administers life by providing the Spirit of God to the mind of man. Demons and men cannot truthfully claim what Jesus claimed here, that His Spirit is life. Man's spirit, like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, produces death, because it produces sin. John W. Ritenbaugh The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part 1)

Romans 5:10  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) We are saved—receive salvation—by a living Jesus Christ! After He died, God the Father raised Him from the dead. Today, Christ is alive and powerful and sits at God's right hand to make intercession for us. He will help us overcome sin and live righteously as He did (Hebrews 4:14-16). Earl L. Henn (1934-1997) Basic Doctrines: Salvation

Hebrews 4:14-15  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Christ's physical life was not spared the calamities we commonly face so that He would be prepared for His responsibilities within God's purpose. He was made to share our experiences to perfect, complete, or mature Him. In other words, if we might have to flee for our lives, then God was not going to excuse Jesus from that kind of a trial. He allowed Jesus to get into situations where indeed He might have to flee for His life. Did Jesus just presume that God would rescue Him because of who He was? No. In writing this, the apostle Paul wants us to understand that Jesus sinlessness was the result of conscious decision and intense struggle, not merely the consequence of His divine nature or the Father's protection or intervention. John W. Ritenbaugh A Place of Safety? (Part 2)

Hebrews 4:14-16  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) It is faith that clears the way to the mercy seat. Faith, first of all, gives the assurance that there even is a mercy seat and a High Priest that waits to hear our petitions and our confession and those of our brothers and sisters. The Revised Standard Version translates verse 16, "Let us then with confidence draw near." It is an interesting approach. "Confidence" has the overtone of speaking freely. What are we doing in prayer? We are fellowshipping with God. We are in His company communicating with Him, and faith is plowing the way before us—because prayer grows out of faith! We would not even be praying if we did not have faith. John W. Ritenbaugh Prayer and Fervency

Hebrews 4:15  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, was trained—perfected, as it were—for the position He now holds. The Bible says that we will be priests and kings under Him (Revelation 5:10). God had never experienced life as a human being until He became flesh, when He was encompassed with the same kind of frame we are. He then also had a mind that was subject to Satan the Devil, if He would allow it. He suffered many things: He went through difficulties and angers. He felt and endured pain as we do. He took care of a mother. He worked with a father. He had younger brothers and sisters. When his father died, it appears that He became responsible for the family and running the family business. He ran a business as a stone maker, a construction worker, and He did it, undoubtedly, very well. He learned to work with His hands. He became hungry. He fasted and prayed. He experienced hated. He learned to trust God and walked with Him, hand in hand, through His own periods in the valley of the shadow of deep gloom. He experienced, in principle, everything in life. We have to remember that we are being trained to work under Him. Some of the fruit that is produced as a result of our going through these valleys will be helpful to others, even here and now. However, it will be extremely helpful when we are in the Kingdom of God. We need to understand, however, that always, no matter how dark, shadowy, or painful our experiences, we have the very best management that any spiritual sheep could ever possibly have. John W. Ritenbaugh Psalm 23 (Part 3)

Hebrews 7:1-17  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) A vital principle to remember concerning the Old and New Covenants is that what did not originate with the Old Covenant did not die with it. The gist of the argument in Hebrews 7 is that, since the Levitical priesthood has no authority under the New Covenant, the ritual laws pertaining to the priesthood are no longer valid. The priesthood has been conferred on Christ, now our High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:20). This "change of the law"—the ceremonial law of sacrifices, ritual washings, and other rites pertaining to the Tabernacle/Temple and priesthood—applies only to the administration of tithing (verse 12). Since the tithing law predates the Levitical priesthood, and is thus still in force, tithes are now to be given to Jesus Christ, our High Priest, for use by the church. The church is commissioned to preach the gospel free of charge. The tithe pays for this important responsibility. The principle of supporting the ministers of God's work is still in force in the New Testament church (Matthew 10:8-10; 24:14; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; I Corinthians 9:13-14). Richard T. Ritenbaugh Tithing

Hebrews 12:2  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Our Savior was joyful that He could do this for us, that He could buy or redeem us to be His purchased possession. Obviously, there was not a whole lot of joy in dying on the cross in the way He was crucified—none at all. It was excruciating and terrible, but there was joy in what it produced—that He had qualified to become King of kings and Lord of lords and our High Priest—the Savior of all mankind, of all those who would believe in Him. There was joy that this step in the process of bringing the Kingdom of God to this earth had been fulfilled. There was joy in heaven that the plan of God was moving forward, and God would then have more sons and daughters. The creative process of refurbishing the entire universe had taken a great leap forward. The King had succeeded. The Savior had saved. What joy there must have been in those in the spirit realm who understood that a great milestone had been passed, making it possible for all men and women who believed to be saved. Richard T. Ritenbaugh Parables of Matthew 13 (Part 3): Hidden Treasure

 

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