God's Word for You (Tuesday, Dec 27, 2011)

A Daily Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith

Hebrews 7:26-28

26 Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.  27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

Verse 27 contains one of the most important phrases in the New Testament, or in the entire Bible. “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” We also see three characteristics of Christ as the ideal high priest:

  1. He is holy. This was even admitted by demons: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24), but it would be better to remember the prayer of the early Church: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.” (Acts 4:26-27)
  2. He is blameless. David said, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless… You save the humble” (Psalm 18:25,27).
  3. He is pure. His is the personification of the wisdom that comes from heaven who is “first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17).

28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

What does verse 28 mean when it says, “But the oath…appointed the Son”? Back in verse 20 of chapter 7, we were reminded that Christ did not become a priest without an oath. The oath is given in Psalm 110:4: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever…’” So the oath sworn by God in the inspired Psalm appointed Christ our high priest forever.

Because he is perfect, we have been made perfect through him. As we already heard: “Once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:9-10).

Jesus Christ is our perfect, our salvation, and our peace.

Pastor Tim SmithPastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.


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