Then He Sat Down
Jesus is
the Son whom God appointed as our merciful and faithful High Priest after his suffering,
death, and resurrection. A key theme in the Letter to the Hebrews is the elevation of Jesus to the office of the High Priest because of his obedience “unto death.” In his sufferings, he was “perfected,” and in his resurrection, God vindicated his sacrifice when he “sat down” at the “right hand of the Majesty on High.” There, he now intercedes on behalf of his “brethren.” The stress is not on his status as the Royal Son, as true as that is, but instead on his priestly position and ministry.
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[Photo by Matt Houghton on Unsplash] |
The description of him “sitting down” contrasts his priesthood with the Aaronic high priest who NEVER sat down in the Holy of Holies. The Levitical priests only stood in the inner sanctum for brief periods, and only on the annual Day of Atonement. But the “Son” sat down in the Greater Sanctuary where he remains to this day in the very presence of God ministering for the Assembly.
The Letter builds its case on a series of
comparisons between the past revelations of God and his definitive “Word”
that He has spoken in Jesus. Hebrews does not denigrate the past words “spoken
in the prophets.” They did indeed originate from God, but they were
partial, promissory, and incomplete.
The Letter employs the comparisons to stress
the superiority of the complete “Word” that God is now “speaking”
in His Son. Though the Law was mediated by mighty angels and accompanied by “scorching fire
and gloom and mist and tempest,”
the word unveiled in Jesus is vastly superior in all respects to its
predecessors.
Jesus of Nazareth “became superior to the angels, having inherited a more distinguished
name.” To “inherit” means a change in condition and status. The Letter
validates this proposition by combining two Old Testament passages:
- (Hebrews 1:5) - “For to which of the angels said he at any time: You are my Son, I, this day, have begotten you, and again, I will become his father, and he shall become my Son?” - (Psalm 2:7, 2 Samuel 7:14).
The
clause, “this day,” translates the
emphatic Greek adverb sémeron. It points
to a specific time when Jesus was appointed by Yahweh. At no point did God ever
say this to any angel.
The opening paragraph concludes by comparing
the “Son” to the angels, using a passage from the Psalms that becomes one
of the Letter’s chief proof texts - “But
to which of the angels has he said at any time: Sit at my right hand until I
make your foes your footstool?” - (Psalm 110:1).
The first comparison concludes with an
exhortation not to abandon the things believers have received from the “Son.”
Since his “Word” is supreme, to disregard it will result in far worse
punishment than any of the penalties under the Mosaic Law - (Hebrews 2:1-4).
PERFECTING THE SON
All things have been subjected beneath the
Son, and God “left to him nothing un-subjected.” While we do not yet see
all things subjected to humanity…:
- “We do see Jesus made some little less than angels; by reason of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, to the end, that by the grace of God, on behalf of everyone, he should taste of death.”
Moreover, we are told WHEN his exaltation
occurred – When he “tasted death.” But first, God determined to
“perfect” him “through suffering.” His need to attain “perfection” points
to a change in his status. His “suffering” refers to the death by which he “paralyzed
him who held the dominion of death, the Devil.”
To accomplish victory over Satan and death,
Jesus “was obliged in every way to be made like his brethren so that he
might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” The Greek verb rendered “become” denotes
a “becoming” (ginomai), in
this case, a change in rank, condition, and status - (Hebrews 2:14-18).
Next, the Letter compares Jesus to Moses.
Once again, it emphasizes his present elevated status as a High Priest. The Great
Lawgiver was more honored than all the other prophets, and unlike them, God
spoke to him face-to-face - (Numbers 12:7-8, Hebrews 3:1-6).
As our “Apostle,” God sent Jesus to
deliver His final “Word.” As our
“High Priest,” he intercedes for us before His Father. The description
of him as “one who is faithful,” and
the reference to Moses as one such “also
in all his house,” allude to a passage in the Book of Numbers - “My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful
in all my house.”
Since the “Son” is superior to the angels, and since disobedience to his “Word” incurs even greater punishment than disobedience to any word mediated by angels or Moses, logically, he is of superior rank than even Moses, the greatest of all the prophets.
The keywords in the passage are “faithful,”
“priest,” and “house.” They allude to the prophecy when God
promised to “raise up a FAITHFUL PRIEST;
according to that which is in my heart and in my soul will he do. Therefore,
will I build for him an assured HOUSE.” Jesus is that “faithful priest”
who now fulfills the promise - (1 Samuel 2:35).
But there is a difference. Jesus is worthy of more honor than Moses,
just as the one who “prepares” the house is worthy of more honor than
the house. The “Son” is linked with the “Builder,” namely, God,
and he is set over the “house.” But Moses was a “servant” in it.
Moses was an “attendant” in the
house “for a testimony.” As the faithful “attendant,” he was the witness
to the word that one day would come. Thus, the Law given by angels was preparatory
for the superior “word spoken in the Son.”
LEARNING OBEDIENCE
In the “days of his flesh,” Jesus offered
up supplications to the one who was able to save him from death. Though God hearkened
to him because of his devoutness, and “even though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience from what things he
suffered.” In this way, he was “made perfect”
or “complete” - (Matthew 26:36-46).
Once again, Hebrews presents the “Son”
as one who was “made perfect” by his sufferings, and he also “became to all those who obey him the author
of everlasting salvation.” His exalted status is based on his past
obedience and death.
His disciples have “a mighty consolation…an anchor of the soul, both
secure and firm,” because their “forerunner” entered the
interior of the “Sanctuary” through the “veil.” Thus, he “became the High Priest forever according
to the rank of Melchizedek,” a position he did not hold prior to his death-
(Hebrews 6:18-20, Psalm 110:4).
As our “High Priest,” he “became the surety of a covenant” that is better than anything provided under the Aaronic priesthood. His appointment as “High Priest” occurred when he “sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” following his death and resurrection.
As the High Priest after the “rank of
Melchizedek,” he attained “a more distinguished public ministry” than
any of the Levitical priests, and he became the “mediator of the better
covenant” that is based on “better promises.”
TABERNACLE, COVENANT, SACRIFICE
Jesus “approached as High Priest… through
the greater and more perfect tabernacle,” one
not made-by-hand. Moreover, “through his own blood, he entered
once for all, having discovered everlasting redemption.”
The reference to “blood” stresses
the reality of his death. He died a genuine human death. Through the “blood
of the Christ, who offered himself unspotted to God through an everlasting
spirit,” and the resulting “New Covenant” now purifies our
conscience from dead works so we can render divine service to God - (Hebrews
8:1-13).
The “blood of Christ” means that he
was able to enter the greater Tabernacle “once-for-all.” In contrast to
the “first covenant” with its repeated animal sacrifices, it was
necessary that the heavenly counterpart of the Tabernacle be established “with
better sacrifices than these,” namely, the death of the “Son.” The result
was his entry “into heaven itself” where he now is “manifested before
the face of God for us.”
Because of his superior sacrifice, Jesus
has no need to “offer himself often,” unlike the Aaronic priests with their
repeated animal sacrifices. Instead, “once-for-all,
upon a conjunction of the ages, for a setting aside of sin through means of his
sacrifice,” he offered himself. Thus, “having been offered once for all
for the bearing of the sins of many,” he also will appear a second time “apart
from sin.”
Believers are made holy “through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once-for-all.” Unlike every other
priest who must “stand daily publicly ministering and continually offering
the same sacrifices,” Jesus “offered
one sacrifice for sins forevermore,” after which, he “sat down on the
right hand of God.”
By his “one offering,” he achieved
the “purification of sin” and “perfected forevermore those who are
being made holy,” and he became our “faithful high priest” who intercedes
for us.
His “perfection” was accomplished through
his obedience, suffering, and death. God vindicated his sacrifice by raising him
from the dead and SEATING HIM at His “right hand.” Thus, the Letter to the Hebrews bases
the present priestly status of the Son on
the historical events of his obedience, death, and resurrection.
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