Devotion 2: Has Jesus Reached All the Way to Your Heart?
My son grew up attending church. He sang the songs and listened to the lessons the teachers taught about Jesus. However, as a teenager, he began to live with God on the outside of his life. He later joined the Marines and served our country, was married and had a beautiful daughter. Sadly, his marriage did not last. He wandered through his life with no place for God in his decisions and activities. This lifestyle continued for many years, until a friend sent him a Bible study he had written and asked him to read it. That started a journey of looking for answers to the aching questions of his heart. Through prayer and Scripture, my son discovered that Jesus, who is a mediator for us to God and our Great High Priest, made a way for him to repent of his sins and gain eternal life.
As our Great High Priest, Jesus bridged the gap of our separation from God. Through His death on the cross, Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, forever washed away our sins with His blood. The book of Hebrews was originally written to Jewish believers who knew only of the sacrificial system that had existed all through the Old Testament. Acts 6:7 tells us that many Jewish priests became believers who were obedient to the faith. Their newfound faith in Jesus changed their life rituals when animal sacrifice was no longer needed because the Perfect Sacrifice had been made once and for all through the shed blood of Jesus.
The sacrificial system was initially established by God and designed to teach God’s chosen people about His character and His plans. The qualifications for the high priest are outlined in Hebrews 5:1-4: “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. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.”
Every high priest was chosen from among men. In the Old Testament, priests came from the line of Aaron. They were able to understand the sins of the people because they were sinners just like them. Hebrews 5:5-6 tells us that Jesus, the Great High Priest, was appointed by God: “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;’ as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’”
God’s plan was always to send the perfect high priest. Jesus is perfectly God and perfectly man. He is sinless and sympathetic, perfect in every way, without the blemish of sin. Jesus sacrificed Himself for our sins. He is always there. We can always come directly to Him; we no longer need an intercessor. We can take our failures to Jesus and find forgiveness. In His death on the cross, He made the way for us. In His resurrection, we find life. He is waiting for us to come to Him in repentance, waiting and wanting to forgive us. We could never earn salvation. We don't deserve it; yet, He willingly died to make a way for us to be saved. Our hearts and lives can be forever changed in the name of Jesus, our Great High Priest.