Hebrews 4:14
My main sources are Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Gerhard Kittel, ed.; Geoffrey Bromiley, trans.; © Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1965 and An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, W.E. Vine, Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa Falls, Iowa.
Ponder this life-changing thought:
Jesus does not consummate or fulfill a believer’s natural humanity: he brings the death of it. As the first born from the dead, He initiated the eon of resurrection life. In both this life and the life after death, we must die to live.
It’s a restatement from Romans 6:3-5
. . . as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death . . . so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. . . in the likeness of His resurrection . . .
This newness of life is a supernatural life, a glorified life. For those with eyes to see, it reveals the merciful loving kindness, the power, and the light and glory of God in and through weak human beings. This life is available only through faith in Jesus’ sacrificial life and death on the cross.
This “glory of God” [that is available to sinful human beings] “as revealed in Jesus Christ is the gravitational center of the book of Hebrews.” See Matt Capps Crossway blog here.
That’s a strong reason to study Hebrews, and since commentators suggest that Hebrews 4:14-16 is the key to the book, that is a cogent reason to examine the verses in depth. I’ll begin with verse 14.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
I’d like to take closer look at some of the words in this passage
Have is the Greek, word echo; it means to hold or to possess. In this context, the verb to have is filled with faith. We do have a great high priest.
In the Old Testament, the word have repeatedly indicates a mutually possessive relationship between God and His people. In the first commandment, God says, I am the Lord your God. God clearly says, You shall be my people and I will be your God in Jeremiah 30:22
When the Bible records that God is the inheritance of the Levites, they have Him, as a possession. God’s Old Testament people refer to God personally as my God, my rock, my deliverer, my light, my comfort, my joy. God’s people have Him as their father and their Lord.
Quoting from the TDNT entry on have,
One may believe in God, speak of Him and think one knows him yet still not have him, that is not reach Him in prayer, not share His blessings, His forgiveness and eternal grace, not enjoy living personal fellowship with him.Having God is possible only through the blood of Jesus Christ, who was the Passover lamb and is the great High Priest. He gives us, to possess or have, great hope confidence. . .
Let us consider deeply, let us ponder what it means to have, to possess Jesus as our high priest. But first, what exactly is a high priest, and why do we need one? In trying to answer that question, I took a rather long digression to read about the priesthood. I wanted to get a feel for what the writer of Hebrews knew and thought about it.
Therefore, since we have a great High Priest . . .
A brief history of the priesthood
A great high priest meant something different to first century Hebrews than it does to twenty-first century westerners. The early Hebrew Christians would have known about the political and religious significance of the High Priest; they would have been intimately familiar with his functions. They knew the origins and changes in the office of High Priest over the centuries. They sensed historical and religious facets of the conflict between Jesus and the high priesthood that escape us today.
Although the priesthood was established by Moses and given to all the sons of Levi, only the sons of Aaron could offer incense or certain animal sacrifices or be High Priest. The office of High Priest was inherited by the eldest son of Aaron’s eldest son.
In about 1000 BC David reorganized the priesthood into the 24 divisions that existed at the time of Jesus. He divided them by lot. Since King David’s high priest Abiathar had betrayed David by supporting David’s son Absolom’s attempt to usurp the crown from father, Solomon replaced Abiathar with a faithful man, Zadok. Zadok was descended from Aaron’s second son, Kohath (1 Kings 2:26-27). That fulfilled the prophecy that the priestly line through Eli would end.
But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed always. 1 Samuel 2:35
Actually, the priestly line had passed from the eldest son twice before Zadok ‘s generational line was firmly installed in office. First when Eli and his sons died (1 Sam. 4:17-18) and second when Saul killed all the priests at Nob after they had allowed David to eat the holy bread. (Samuel 22:18-19)
Between the time Solomon appointed Zadok as high priest and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, it seems likely that the high priesthood generally went to the sons of Zadok, but there are gaps in the information after the Babylon captivity. (See reference here.)
Until the deportation to Babylon, the Levitical priesthood was rather loosely structured. Towns and households had their own priests. The high priest served as much as a prophet as a priest. He wore the Ummin and the Thummin in his breastplate and consulted them to find out God’s will in major decisions. His role as a teacher and interpreter of the law was at times more important than his role in offering sacrifices before God.
Also until the exile to Babylon, Israel was a monarchy, a political entity. There were both good and bad priests and prophets. The good ones worshipped the God of Abraham and followed the Law of Moses and the bad ones prophesied what the king wanted to hear and brought cultic idol worship into the temple at Jerusalem. In the books of the prophets, we read how the Godly prophets exposed the self-serving idol worshipping priests; they prophesied of God’s judgments, and tried to bring correction. (See reference here.)
After the Babylonian captivity, Israel became a province of Persia. The priests who had returned from Babylon became the ruling class, with vested interests. They established and enforced laws separating the Israelites from the mixed populations who had lived in the land during the years of exile. Religious laws like keeping the Sabbath were enforced and a religion more tightly centered in Jerusalem develops. We read about this in Ezra and Nehemiah.
When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 332 BC, the cultural and political conflicts between Judaism with Hellenism began. By the time the expanding Roman Empire took over the Middle East in the first century B.C., Judea had been highly Hellenized and the contention with the Graeco-Roman influence escalated. The conflicts continued and escalated until after Jesus’ death when the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD marked both the end of the Jerusalem as a center of worship and of the end of the Biblical priesthood.
The Priesthood in the time of Jesus
In the time of Jesus, in first century Judea under Roman rule, there was no clean separation between church and state. Moses had appointed high priests for life, but the Romans changed that tradition and either appointed the high priests or renewed their appointment annually. In agreement with their Roman rulers, the priests at the temple in Jerusalem not only officiated over the religious life of the Jews, they also ruled and judged over the daily life of the people.
Herod was a pawn of Rome and saw to it that his own pawns were installed as priests. By the first century the election of the High Priest was more political than religious. The Romans needed the priesthood to support their occupation of the land and the Herod dynasty colluded with them to do it. However, it would be unfair to categorize all of the priesthood as sympathetic to Rome. Some did support rebellion against Rome, but most of the wealthy elite, those at the highest levels, were undoubtedly in Rome’s back pocket and served the Emperor to maintain their office.
The function of the great high priest
All this history has little to do with the idea of a great high priest in Hebrews. That is concerned with the function of the high priest as established by God in the Torah.
1. The High Priest pictures the paraclete, the one who intercedes for man in the heavenly places. According to Wikipedia,
A paraclete is an advocate or helper. In Christianity, paraclete usually refers to the Holy Spirit. Paraclete comes from the Koine Greek signifying “one who consoles or comforts, one who encourages or uplifts; hence refreshes, and/or one who intercedes on our behalf as an advocate.
Jesus now intercede for us as our advocate;
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:24 NIV
And so does the Holy Spirit.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:25 NIV
2. The High Priest is the boss, the supreme religious leader. He supervises under priests 2 Chron. 19:11Jesus is head of His church.
He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. Colossians 1:18
3. The High Priest wears the Urim and Thummin; he consults them to find out the will of God and His decisions for the nation and the people. Nu 27:21
The Holy Spirit who filled Jesus now fills those who believe in God and reveals God’s will to them.
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8: 26 ESV
4. The High Priest offers the sin offerings for Himself and the people. See Lev. 4
Jesus offered Himself.
Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. Hebrews 10:5 NASB
By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10 NASB
5. When the high priest died, anyone who had fled to a city of refuge for safety and been confined there was set free. Numbers 35:28
Jesus sets the prisoners free.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, Luke 4:18
6. The High Priest alone entered into Holy Place on the Day of Atonement; He alone went behind the veil, and offered blood of sacrifice, sprinkling it on the mercy seat for himself and the people.
Jesus has entered the Holy Place for us with His own blood.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12
7. The High Priest ministered to the Lord. Ezekiel 44:15-16 NASB
Jesus served and ministered to God, His Father. He fulfilled every function of the High Priest. He said,
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 6:38
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended . . . let’s next ask, what does ascended into heaven mean?
Ascended translates dierchomai which more accurately means passed through. Basically, it means to go, to come, to enter; it’s used of God coming to the temple in His glory, of entry into the holy city, of entry into the Kingdom of God and entry into the Promised Land. It means that Jesus made a way — He passed through the created Heavens to the throne of God.
I think it’s significant to recall that the earthly heavens belong to satan. Ephesians refers to him as prince of the power of the air. Remember the temptations of Jesus? How in the third temptation satan made it pretty clear that he owned the kingdoms of this earth and it was in his power to give them to Jesus— and he, if you can believe a liar, promised all earthly riches and power to Jesus as a reward for worship?
Well, in passing through the earthly and second heavens Jesus, passed through satan’s territory. He defeated the principalities and powers that hover over this planet of ours and made a way through them that goes straight up to the third heaven and the throne of God. He did it for us! He opened the way so that we can follow after.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven
Let’s take a look at the word Heaven, our translation of the Greek word ouranos. It can mean the sky above us with the sun, moon, stars and constellations or the eternal dwelling place of God. The Bible refers to three heavens. The atmosphere above us is the first heaven; the realm of satan is the second heaven; the dwelling place of God is the third heaven. In this verse, Jesus has ascended through the material heavens of sun, stars and skies, he has passed through or beyond the second heaven which and into the third heaven, which we capitalize as a proper noun, a place name, Heaven, the abode of God.
According to Hebrews, Jesus ascent through the heavens and into Heaven suggests
• Jesus exaltation at the right hand of majesty. Hebrews 1. 8:1
• Jesus exaultation , at the right hand of God, He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. Hebrews 2. 7:26
• Heaven is the perfect tabernacle in which He is High Priest. Hebrews 3. 9:11
• Heaven is a sanctuary; it is the holy of holies. He did not enter into an impermanent copy, like the tabernacle of Moses or of David or Herod but He entered into the real permanent thing and into the eternal presence of God. Hebrews 4. 9:24
All this is metaphysical; it is an eschatological present, outside of time and space. Heaven is not of this cosmos, but is another dimension.In Heaven there is no shadow, there is nothing unreal, there is total fulfillment. Even so, any discussion of Heaven will raise questions and presents paradoxes.For example,
• God is above the heavens (our heavens) yet he is in the heavens,
• Does one enter God’s presence in Heaven or is Heaven itself either God’s presence or like God’s presence?
• Since many theologians assert that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are synonymous and that the Kingdom of God breaks into our earthly dimension every time God breaks through to establish His rule of love within a human heart or whenever He supernaturally wins out over evil, heals sickness and makes the broken whole within our human earthly spheres of activity, then how much might believers experience Heaven on earth?
What ever your answers might be, remember Hebrews 4:14
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess—
And hold firmly to our faith in Jesus. This word hold is not a namby-pamby word, neither is it a grasping hold or a holding on for dear life kind of hold. This hold does not refer to merely holding an opinion. It means holding a view so firmly that you will take a stand on it. The verb it derives from means to be strong, to possess power over something, to conquer, to win, to rule. It is a strong willed kind of holding—whether what is being held onto is a truth worthy of dying for or a blind and foolish obstinacy about a deceptive idol.
In Revelation 2:14 Jesus talks of those who hold the teaching of Baalam and in Mark 7: 3 ff, Jesus says the Pharisees rigidly hold the tradition of men in the washing of pots and cups and many other things. Paul exhorts believers to hold onto the truth.
He called you to this through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. 2 Thessalonians 2:14-15
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
And that faith, the Greek pistis, is “a firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing and us used always of faith in God or Jesus Christ or things spiritual. Vine, p.401
The author of Hebrews warns readers against growing weary and falling away from faith, against living a life that’s inconsistent with the living hope of the faith we profess. Loss of faith brings judgment and keeping faith brings rewards: the rest of God, (Hebrews 4:3), the salvation of God, (Hebrews 9:28) and kingdom of God, (Hebrews 12:28, 10:36).
According to the entry in the TDNT, faith in Hebrews is not a reward earned by merit nor is it a protest against works righteousness. The writer of Hebrews seems to take for granted the vital necessity of saving faith for a relationship with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that is stressed by Paul in his letters. Instead, the emphasis in Hebrews is on the future rewards for faithfulness.
One commentator TDNT on Hebrews describes faith as the anchor in this world that reaches into the world to come (Hebrews 6:19.) Because Christians live by the spirit of grace (Hebrews 4:16) believers view the last judgment simply as another expression of God’s grace, something to move towards with joyful confidence (Hebrews 10:19). Believers have no need to rely on human achievement . . . because they are already living on this earth by the power of the Kingdom of God. They rest simply on the grace of God (Hebrews 4:16). The reality of this faith is proven by their capacity to live righteously by faith through all persecution and every difficulty— looking forward and receiving eternal reward. Because
even when we were dead in trespasses, we were made us alive together withChrist (by grace you have been saved), who raised us up together to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:5-7 adapted
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended
into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess!
