What Does Priesthood Really Mean?

[HKHaugan]

Hebrews 2-3

Chapter 1 establishes the superiority of Jesus as Lord and the One through whom Creation came into being. He is God the Son, the exact representation of His being. The place of
angels is summed up in vs.14. They are
ministering spirits to those who will inherit salvation. Further in 2:2 they are ministering
servants. They carry the message, the
Word of God, they were present with Moses at the giving of the Law (Deut.33:2),
they don’t seek worship, acclaim, nor do they exercise any authority or
initiate action apart from God. This is
what the devil did.

therefore,

(2:1) we do two things, first, we pay careful attention to what we have heard and second, so that we don’t drift away. Are we drifting or do we tend to drift?
It is inevitable that if we lose the Word we will drift. That is, one leads to the other. A timely quote from Earl Sandifer, “If you
are 5 minutes away from the Bible I can’t trust you. And if I’m 5 minutes away from the Bible you can’t trust me.”

The key here is distraction. Am I distracted or do I tend to get distracted or allow myself to get distracted? It is easy to be spiritually distracted. It is the devil that will
tempt us to center in on some tangent doctrine or experience. Once that starts the spirit of control will
lead us into taking control and thinking that we can be in control not only of
how we think but how others think as well.

This makes distraction the means by which we drift away. Sin is the agent of distraction. It’s like watching the current carry away whatever it has
hold of. Whatever the prevailing
cultural or spiritual current we can become a piece of ‘drift’ wood in it.

Problems can become currents. Social, personal, interpersonal, political and economic issues can intrude and distract us. They can either be currents that control us
or we can choose to let the Lord be Lord over them and they become part of our
testimony and witness for Him.

(2:3) Distraction leads to ignoring the source of salvation. What is this salvation announced by the Lord? 2Sam.7, 1Chron.17 give us one view of
many to see what salvation contains.

(2:4) God testified to the salvation He has given through Jesus by signs (semaion), wonders (teras), miracles (ergon) and gifts (charismata) of the Holy Spirit distributed
according to His will. To get a
handle on the concept of His will look at Eph.1:3-14, 3:10-11.

(2:5-9) Here is the refocus section that shakes the fear, the lethargy and drifting loose from the moorings of sin. The writer is shaking the
shoulders of the drifters and reminding them of the One who is the final answer
to personal salvation.

(2:10-18) What God did was to make His Son Jesus perfect through suffering. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may
also share in his glory (Rom.8:17).” Here we see perfection
defined as holiness and the ones being made holy are one with the One who is
Holy and perfect. He calls them
brothers.

It is in vs.14-18 that the buildup leads to the central theme of the epistle, the merciful and faithful high priesthood of Jesus (vs.17). This
is a new and totally different priesthood that is being revealed. It is a spiritual priesthood. Here we note the sevenfold function of this
new spiritual priesthood of which there are two parts, the human and the
divine. First we will look at His human priesthood and then when we move into
Chapter 3 we will look at His divine priesthood.

As a human priest before God Jesus does the following:

1. shares our humanity of flesh and blood

2. dies to destroy the devil who holds the power of death

3. frees those who are spiritual slaves of the fear of death

4. helps the descendants of Abraham (children by faith)

5. serves God

6. makes atonement for the sins of the people

7. specifically works with those who are tempted

Therefore (based on 2:17, the atonement)

(3:1) holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, that is the calling of being priests. Believers are raised to the position of priesthood by virtue of having received Jesus as their High Priest. The therefore and the ‘fixing their
mind” (katanoeo) is an imperative. A
believer’s thinking, feeling and perception has to be centered on Jesus as the
High Priest precisely because He is the author of salvation. Only The Author can be The Priest. The last
days start and end in Him. This is where we see His divinity, His being God the
Son.

(3:2) Whereas we have seen Him described as a human priest before God He functions as the spiritual priest of God before men. Jesus is the High
Priest of God’s mind, heart and Spirit.
Jesus is the priest of spirituality in general. He is the One who sorts out the ‘chaff from
the wheat’ and through Him we see the priesthood of God’s power, morality, will
and glory. As a preparation for chapters to come we can see His priesthood
spelled out already in what we have studied.

1. faithful to the One who appointed Him. Jesus’ focus was His Father and His will.

2. (vs.3) greater honor than Moses (builder of the house has greater honor than the house). Easy to fall back on Moses but that is a distraction and an excuse to fall backwards.

3. (vs.4)Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house. Jesus is faithful as a Son over God’s house (vs.5).

4. (vs.6) we are His house if we hold on to our courage and hope (spiritual qualities). Every new believer, along with present believers and all past believers, is a part of God’s house, His Body, His
family of believers. When we begin to
look at God’s eternal qualities Jesus is the priest of all of them. To the ones listed here we can add more but
let’s continue:

5. He is the priest of holiness, the One who makes men holy

6. He is the priest of perfection

7. He is the priest of life

8. He is the priest of mercy

9. He is the priest of forgiveness

10. He is priest of the Word

11. He is priest of God’s will and purpose

12. He is the priest of God’s calling

13. He is the priest of definition

14. He is the priest of righteousness

15. He is the priest of faith, hope and love

Vs.7-19 can be divided into three parts, the hardened heart, vs.7-11, the unbelieving heart, vs.12-15 and the rebellious heart, vs.16-19. The first
has to do with strongholds, the second leads to self-deceit and deceiving
others while the third is self-justifying assumption of being in control. All three are overlapping and share the same
characteristic, unbelief.

Next
time: Chapter 4 also begins with a ‘therefore.’ We will look at what the ‘therefore’ is there for.