JESUS IS OUR HIGH PRIEST, AND YOU’RE A PRIEST TOO.

LOOKING PAST CALVARY

Revelation 5:10   And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” [NKJV]

Heb 4:14   Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [NKJV]

I want you to see something. Picture the ascension. Do you understand where Jesus is and what He is doing on your behalf? He is passed through the heavens and sits at the right hand of the Father. When the accuser tries to lay condemnation on you, Jesus holds up His nail pierced hand and the Father sees your sin paid for. Your sin was nailed to the cross. Therefore, this verse ends with the admonition to, “hold fast our confession.” In other words, live what you say you believe. We need to understand, and be mindful of Jesus functioning in HIS priestly role and interceding for us before the Father. He is our role model.

Heb, 4:14   So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.

15   This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

16   So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. 

Romans 8:33   Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

34   Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

1 Thessalonians 5:17   pray without ceasing,

2 Timothy 1:3   I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers.

The Altar if Incense pictures this wonderfully. There’s a song we do with the chorus, 

DAY AND NIGHT,

NIGHT AND DAY,

LET INCENSE RISE

 

Exodus 30:1   “Then make another altar of acacia wood for burning incense..

7   “Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar.

8   And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense in the Lord’s presence. This must be done from generation to generation.

Rev. 8:3   Then another Angel, carrying a gold censer, came and stood at the Altar. He was given a great quantity of incense so that he could offer up the prayers of all the holy people of God on the Golden Altar before the Throne.

4   Smoke billowed up from the incense-laced prayers of the holy ones, rose before God from the hand of the Angel. (MSG)

Hebrews 5:1   Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.

2   And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses.

This says allot about the responsibilities and qualifications of priests. We are called to be a kingdom of priests so let’s walk worthy of the calling. Priests are taken from people and appointed for people. Now, in Christ, priesthood is not a leadership position; it is a responsibility of every believer with Jesus being our Great High Priest. Jesus took care of the offerings for sins, now He has left us with the obligation to forgive and to exercise the compassion specified in Gal. 6: 2 below.

Gal. 6:1   Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

If we are, “appointed for men in things pertaining to God,” every believer has intercessory responsibility. Pray for people, hold them before the Lord, We are accountable to each other. If we see someone stumbling or fallen; love dictates that we help them get back up, always beginning with prayer and hearing from the Lord how best to do that.

We are not left alone to stumble, but placed in the Body of Christ. It has often been said that there are no “lone rangers” in the Body and this is why. Is there enough love in our relationships for us to be at this level of help and accountability to one another? If so, intercession becomes more personal

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

The old covenant priesthood had the responsibility of performing sacrifices for their own sins and the sins of the people until Jesus came and finished the work. These guys had to slaughter and butcher, boil and burn many animals every day. Thank God our priestly responsibilities don’t involve all the blood gore and guts every day, but sometimes the Lord puts an intense gut level burden for something or someone in us. We get a taste of praying for others with such intensity that the physical body sometimes feels some pain and their spirit groans, aching for the deliverance from sin, sickness, brokenness of people. Sometimes we feel the pressure of someone else’s adversity. Priestly intercession often includes identification with the sins of others. Oh how much we need the prayers of the intercessors and to be willing to be in that role ourselves. Jesus exemplified intercession at this level, especially in the garden just before they came to take Him.

This may sound negative but look at the last phrase. The scriptures say allot concerning the fear of the Lord. When we understand that we find so much hope, realizing God hears and answers prayer. Going through the troubles of life should cause us to develop compassion for others and enable us to pray for them more effectively. Ask any of the hundreds of thousands of people who couldn’t find a good, long-term job. I was there several times. Companies downsizing and reorganizing, or just going out of business left us suffering the feelings of failure and rejection. Oh the wonder of His grace, the beauty of His face. We look at His face instead of the face of adversity and find that grace to help in time of need. People joining with us in prayer over things we can’t control lessens the load.

Jesus’ whole earthly existence was so focused, so directed to this purpose. Everything He did, everything He said, everything He experienced was for our salvation and set the example of how we ought to live and love.

Heb 12:2   looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

”You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3); there is no sacrifice, only loving obedience to our loving savior. All we are, all we have, we have on loan from Him. Jesus looked past the Cross and saw you. Wow, this realization always overwhelms me, what did Jesus see when He looked past the Cross? Was it the grandeur of Heaven? Was it the enemy of our souls cast into the bottomless pit? These things are real but were not what He went to Calvary for. I believe He was looking at us, and seeing us as born again, filled with His Spirit and in right relationship with the Father, walking in the Spirit and experiencing the Joy of the Lord. He saw us tapping into His grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16). He saw us as His beautiful bride in that pure white robe, free from the bandages of sin. Knowing this should drive us to our knees in thanksgiving and urgently praying for those without Christ or living with less than what God has for them.

There are so many people whose hearts are hard, who just don’t want to hear it. There are lukewarm pew sitters, believers not committed to local churches, fence sitters. My heart cries out for the fire proofed kids and grand kids of those who were on fire. There are many scriptures that address these “dull of hearing” people.

Isa 6:10   "Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed."

Acts 28:27   For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."

In all these, we see God’s heart is that the broken people would hear and be

healed, be made whole. Every believer not in this category can probably think of some broken, “dull of hearing” people. I know Jesus gives us the intercessory burden for. Don’t try to manufacture intercessory burdens, just make yourself available. Join us here Sunday mornings before service praying for those walking in the door to wake up from their spiritual slumber.

As a body we all need each other and grow together in Christ, we all are responsible to bare each other’s burdens and to reach the world for Christ.

One final thought. Considering the verse:

Revelation 5:10   And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Can you wear this hat?