Heb 5:1–10 — The God-Appointed High Priest

Our text contains many words and phrases that might distract us from its main point. What is the Melchizedek thing all about? But there is one main point in the passage that we read, and it can be found in chapter five, verse one, and it is repeated again in verse five.

Chosen to Represent His People

And it is the point that the high priest that we have is appointed by God. 5.1, for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God. And then again in verse five, 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. And so the title of the sermon is just that, the God appointed high priest. We have a great high priest who is appointed by God himself.

Now one of the things I think is interesting in this letter to the Hebrews is that the author of Hebrews emphasizes the priest first before examining the sacrifice. We are going to get into Hebrews, as we get deeper into the letter, in Hebrews 9 and 10, the focus is going to be on the sacrifice of Christ.

He offered himself as the sacrifice, the one final sacrifice for all time, so that the sacrifices that were offered repeatedly in the Old Testament no longer need to be offered. They were only pictures of the work of Christ, but Christ has offered the true and final sacrifice that truly deals with sin. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was insufficient. It did not truly deal with sin. Now it did in a way, in the sense that those types and shadows pointed to Christ and his work, and so the godly, pious Israelites who offered those sacrifices did so in faith, not trusting in the sacrifice, but trusting in Christ to come. So in a way, you could say that the sacrifices did effect forgiveness and atonement through that method, through pointing to Christ to come. But in themselves, the blood of bulls and of goats is of no efficiency. It cannot do anything to take away sin. Only Christ can do it through his sacrifice.

But the author of Hebrews does not begin there. He does not begin with delving into the ins and outs of the sacrificial system and the significance of the sacrifice of Christ. The author of Hebrews begins with the priest, with the priest who offers the sacrifice. So often we focus on the Old Testament sacrificial system, giving little thought to the priesthood.

All we think about is the sacrificial system, and we think of it as all of these types and shadows pointing ahead to Christ’s atonement. And that is correct to do, but the priesthood is primary. The priest is the one who offers the sacrifice, and the priest is the one who therefore purifies the people, presents the people to God, and perfects them. Remember the three Ps I mentioned before? That is the summary of the whole sacrificial system and the priestly system of the Old Testament.

Purification, presentation, and perfection. Purification, to offer the sacrifice that atones for sin, to deal with sin so that we could be right with God. Presentation, to enter into the heavenly sanctuary and to present us before God. The high priest wears upon his breastplate the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, representing the people of God. And his ability to stand before God, before a holy God in the inner sanctuary where God himself is dwelling in the midst of the cherubim, the throne room of heaven.

The very fact that he can stand there and he is accepted there means that we, who are represented by him, are accepted there as well. And so purification, presentation, and then perfection. Because the people of God are being brought to glory. We are not yet there. Our head and mediator is there, but we are not yet there, but we are on the way. And he is bringing many sons to glory. And one day we will be gathered around that throne room of heaven with our savior in the new creation.

Purification, presentation, and perfection. That is the whole point of the Old Testament sacrificial and Levitical system. But the focus of it is on the priest. Now the advantage of a priest-centric analysis of the whole Old Testament system of worship is that it creates a direct linkage with Christology. Because if we focus on the priest, then we are immediately thinking about, well, who is that priest representing? That priest is a symbol, a type, a shadow of Christ, our great high priest. And so the greatness of Christ as the mediator of the new covenant, as the great high priest who mediates this new covenant is the focus of the author of Hebrews in this letter. What is a high priest exactly? I think we have kind of fuzzy notions in our mind about that. And so we need to get it clear in our mind. We need to really drill down and understand what does it mean to be a high priest?

And we can do that by looking at the way the priesthood was set up in the old covenant. And then that then helps us to have the mental furniture and the ability to understand what it means that Christ is our great high priest under the new covenant. That is the whole reason why God set up that system to begin with. The tabernacle, the holy of holies, the priesthood, Aaron and his sons, All the ceremonial washings and purification, the Day of Atonement ritual, all of that was set up. To provide us with a stock of images and metaphors so that when Christ comes, we can understand what he has done. When we see him hanging upon the cross, we can then interpret that in light of that whole system, and we can see that what he is doing there is he is fulfilling the old covenant day of atonement ritual. And the author of Hebrews makes a big deal out of the fact that it does not just end on the cross. The consummation of the work of Christ as a great high priest is when he is raised from the dead and he ascends into heaven. He is our great high priest in heaven presenting us to God.

So our text here in Hebrews chapter five is giving us some detailed information about the significance and meaning of the priesthood in the Old Testament so that we can then better understand the work of Christ. The first thing that the author of Hebrews wants to point out is that a high priest must represent men.

A high priest represents men. Verses 1 and 3, 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 sin. He is chosen from among the people to represent the people before God. So that is the first key thing to understand about a high priest. You might think a high priest sounds like a king, sounds like somebody that is very exalted and far beyond us. Who is someone that we just look to in awe. But according to the author of Hebrews, the focus of the priesthood, the focus of the high priest is that he is on our side. He is chosen from among the people to represent the people. He is chosen from among those whom he represents in relation to God. This is definitional. This is a key thing to understand. A priest represents men to God. He is our defense attorney. He is the one who argues our case. Or in the case of, let us say, the LAPD, he is our union rep. When there is a shooting, he is the union rep that comes there to be on your side. To find out what was going on in your mind in that shooting, to represent you, to represent your interests.

And this is necessary because without this, without having a priest who is our representative, who stands for us, then we cannot relate to God. That is the whole point of a priest, is to enable us to have a right relationship with God. As it says there in our text, every high priest chosen among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God. To stand before God for us. He is appointed to act on our behalf before God. One commentator puts it this way, to act in matters for which they are responsible to God. The people of God are responsible before God.

They are supposed to be a clean and holy people to the Lord, but they are constantly getting beset by sin. And by uncleanness, the congregation of Israel is constantly experiencing things that keep them away from the presence of God. That exclude them from the presence of God in the temple or the tabernacle. Whether it is because they came into contact with a dead body or because they ate some unclean food. Whatever it is, are they committed a sin?

There are all these things that the people of God are being blocked from access to the presence of God because of sin and weakness and impurity. But the high priest is there to represent the people so that they can, in spite of their sin, in spite of the things that block them from the presence of God, can be enabled to have access to the presence of God through the proper means, through the offering of the sacrifices, through the Day of Atonement ritual, so that the people of God are able to have a right relationship with God.

We saw this idea already back in chapter two. In Hebrews chapter two, the author of Hebrews, remember the basic beginning of the letter is that in Hebrews chapter one, the author of Hebrews is focusing on the deity of Christ. He is the eternal son of God. He is the out-raying, out-shining of his glory. He was there at creation through whom God created all things. The deity of Christ is emphasized in chapter one. But then in chapter two, the author of Hebrews talks about the humanity of Christ. That although he is the divine son, yet because the children share in flesh and blood, this is chapter two, verse 14, he himself likewise partook of the same things. That is referring to his incarnation, to his virgin birth when he came into this world. Although he is the divine eternal son of God who is the mediator of creation, he is on the creator’s side of the creator-creature distinction, yet he entered into our world. He partook of the same things as we do, that is of flesh and blood.

Why? So that he might be able to undertake for us, so that he might be able to represent us. 2.17, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. That phrase, in the service of God, in 2.17, it is the same phrase that is used in 5.1, where it says to act on behalf of men in relation to God. He is acting on our side to represent us before God.

He had to be made like his brothers. He had to become a man, a true man, of course, without sin, but he had to become a true man to partake with us of our nature so that he might be able to represent us in matters for which we are responsible to God.

Just think about that point. That is just such an incredible point. Christ is on our side. He is for us. He represents us. And all that he does, he does for us. He did not have to do this for himself. He is God. But he did it for us. He became one with us to represent us before God. To bear away the wrath of God that we deserved for our sins. To perfectly obey God. In our place to endure those tests and trials and temptations that we always fail in, but he did not. He endured those trials and temptations to the very end, obediently laying down his life on the cross for us that we might be redeemed and saved. So the author of Hebrews then is focusing on that first point that every high priest is chosen from among the people to represent the people.

Appointed by God

He is one of us. He is on our side. He is our union rep. He is there for us. But the author of Hebrews then goes on to say that he also is appointed by God. Verse five, so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, quoting from Psalm 2, verse 7, you are my son, today I have begotten you. As he says also in another place, quoting from Psalm 110, verse 4, which we sang for our song of joy, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So we have another aspect of this then.

So on the one hand, we have this strong emphasis on the fact that he is there for us, he is on our side, he becomes one with us to represent us before God. But now we have another element of the equation here, which is that he must be appointed by God and not self-appointed.

If he is not appointed by God, then his work on our behalf will not avail before God. If he is not appointed by God, then we are simply hiring our own defense attorney to try to persuade the judge of our side. But that is not the case. He did not appoint himself, he was appointed by God to act on our behalf. Christ was appointed by God. No one appoints himself to this office.

Aaron in the Old Testament, you can read about it in Leviticus, after the law of the offerings in Leviticus 1-7 that goes through all the different types of sacrifices that could be offered. In Leviticus 8 and 9, we have the ordination of Aaron and his sons.

And they did not come forward and say to Moses, hey, we think it’d be a great idea if we were a priest to represent the people. No, it was God who told Moses, here is what you do. And he gave him all the instructions about the garments that they were to wear, the turban on the head, the anointing oil. And he told Moses to take Aaron and his sons, put those garments on, put the anointing oil on his body and to offer the sacrifices that were needed to ordain them and consecrate them and set apart unto God. Aaron and his sons did not appoint themselves to this role. God appointed Aaron and his sons to this role.

And it has to be that way because God is the one who is providing this whole system of offering and sacrifice and atonement so that the people of God can be accepted before God in spite of their impurities and sins. Christ also then. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by God the Father.

And the author of Hebrews then at this point quotes two key verses. I already mentioned what they are. They are from Psalm 2. Verse 7, and Psalm 110, verse 4. Now at first, if you just read this at the surface level, it sounds like he is saying that Psalm 2:7, you are my son, today I have begotten you, is the moment when he was appointed as a high priest. But that is not correct, because we already know from earlier in Hebrews, in chapter one, that Psalm 2:7, the statement, you are my son, today I have begotten you, is not referring to his appointment as a man to the high priesthood, it is referring to his deity. This is in chapter one, the chapter about the deity of Christ, where he first quotes Psalm 2:7.

The son was begotten of the father, not at the moment when he was appointed as a man to be the high priest, whether at his baptism or maybe at his resurrection from the dead, but he was appointed from eternity as the divine son of God who is eternally begotten of the father.

There was never a time when the Son was not the Son, and the Father did not beget Him. He was always the eternal Son of God. The today there in that text, today I have begotten you, is the day of eternity. It is not a specific day in the life of Christ.

Tested through Suffering

Now we know that this is the correct interpretation of Psalm 2:7, not only because the author of Hebrews quotes it in chapter 1 under the heading of the deity of Christ, but also in our own text if you keep reading down in verse 8 where it says, although he was a son, He learned obedience through the things that he suffered. That verse there, verse 8, is harking back to verse 5, the quotation from Psalm 2:7.

Perfected as the Source of Salvation

You are my son, today I have begotten you. And so it says, although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And then, because he passed the test, and he learned obedience to the point of death on the cross. He then was made perfect and became the exalted high priest designated by God as a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

In other words, what I am saying is that verses 8 and 9 of the text is mentally linking back to verses five and six. Verse eight, although he was a son, links back to verse five, you are my son. And then verse nine, designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, links back to verse six. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So then why does he quote Psalm 2:7 if it is referring to a divine and eternal begetting prior to his incarnation and prior to his becoming one who is chosen on behalf of men to represent them before God. Why does he quote that?

It is because it is fitting that the eternally begotten son be the one who is appointed to be the great high priest. His divine begetting qualifies Him for that appointment. He was not appointed by being begotten, but it is His being begotten that qualifies Him for His office. It is fitting that it would be the eternally begotten Son who would be the one who would be appointed by God to say, yes, you are the one who is going to be sent into the world to become man, to represent the people, to go to the cross, and to be raised to the right hand of God. It was fitting for him as the son to be appointed as the great high priest.

But the appointment itself is from Psalm 110, verse 4. Where it says, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This divine oath, it is actually an oath. If you read the context, it says that God swore an oath saying, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. This divine oath is what actually appoints him to his role as the God-man, not as the eternal son, but as the God-man, the incarnate son, to be appointed as the high priest, chosen from among the people to represent the people before God. You are probably wondering, what is this reference to Melchizedek all about? Why is he talking about Melchizedek?

Why is that important? We are going to get into that in chapter 7. Hebrews 7 is all about that, explaining that in more detail, though we cannot get into it in too much detail at this moment. But very briefly, the purpose of that quotation is to show us that even in the Old Testament, there is evidence that the Aaronic priesthood, the order of Aaron, the Levitical priesthood, was temporary. Because even the Old Testament made mention a few times, it is actually only twice in the Old Testament, once in the book of Genesis and once in Psalm 110, there is a reference to another priestly order, this mysterious order of Melchizedek. What is that all about?

But even the Old Testament then is giving us a hint that the Aaronic priesthood, the Levitical priesthood that is set up in the book of Leviticus was temporary and that there is going to be a greater priest to come according to this new and higher order, the order of Melchizedek, which of course is Christ.

Christ himself is the priest according to the order of Melchizedek. So the key thing here that I want you to get from this is that under the second point, the first point is the priest represents the people. The second point is that the priest has to be appointed by God. The key thing to get from that is that Christ was appointed by God, not by his being begotten of God, that is what qualifies him for the office, but he was appointed through that divine oath. According to the order of Melchizedek in Psalm 110 verse four, which is fulfilled in his ascension. His priestly office begins with his incarnation, and it continues all the way to the cross where he offers himself as the final sacrifice. But it culminates in his ascension into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God.

Is that not an interesting thing that Psalm 110, which is the most famous verse of the Old Testament. It is quoted, of all the verses of the Old Testament quoted in the New, it is the most commonly quoted. It is quoted throughout. There are even many points in the New Testament where the authors will allude to it, not quoting it, but just allude to it.

Whenever they refer to Christ being seated at the right hand of God, they are alluding to Psalm 110, verse one. You are my son, not you are my son, but, He says, sit at my right hand until I make all the enemies a footstool for your feet. But is it not interesting that psalm, which focuses upon the ascension of Christ, it was at the ascension of Christ that he sat down at the right hand of God, that very same psalm also refers to his priestly office. It refers to his kingly office, sitting at the right hand of God, sitting on the throne of heaven, but it also refers to his priestly office.

You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. What a wonderful psalm that is. It is an incredible psalm. There are these psalms that are just so Christological. They are just pointing directly to the work of Christ, like Psalm 2, but also Psalm 110. Just beautiful to see. What is that moment when that word was spoken to him? When did that happen? When did God say, I am swearing according to myself that you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. When was that divine oath made?

I believe it was made in eternity past, in the covenant of redemption, the intratrinitarian covenant. The Father appointed the Son with an oath and set him apart, even before his incarnation, saying, you are the one who is going to become incarnate. And you are the one who is going to come into this world to provide salvation for all those whom the Father gives to the Son. The words of Psalm 110 are spoken long before they are actually fulfilled in the days of eternity in the covenant of redemption.

What a wonderful passage this is. The fact that our high priest is on our side. What a wonderful thing. Our text is so full of comfort and encouragement for us. We know that we have a high priest who represents us before God. Our high priest has passed through the heavens and he sat down at the right hand of God. And that makes the throne of God not a throne of judgment and wrath, but a throne of grace. A throne of grace for us because our high priest is there, our representative is there. As he says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

And if you recall last week I mentioned that phrase, he has been tempted, is in the perfect tense. Not in the past tense. The past tense would be that he was tempted. No, it is in the perfect tense, which means that it was a past event with ongoing implications and ongoing relevance for us today.

Even now in heaven, although he is beyond the testing phase, even now he is in glory, yet he still remembers his temptation. He still remembers all that he went through for us. We have now, presently, This very moment, a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he has been tempted and still remembers that temptation and knows what it is like. And he is there for us.

Let us then with confidence, the author of Hebrews says in verse 16, let us draw near to the throne of grace with confidence. We draw near to a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment and wrath. We can be honest with the Lord in our prayers. We can lay before him all of our struggles and problems and difficulties that we have in this life. And he understands. He is sympathetic. He is there in heaven to represent us. He is on our side, supporting us, helping us, interceding for us.

And here is the great thing, is that God appointed him to that role. It was not that we hired an attorney to try to convince God. God himself appointed him to that role. The judge himself has appointed our defense attorney because God himself wants us to draw near to his throne with confidence through the mediator that he has appointed for us.

What comfort we have from this text. What encouragement we have to know that we have a high priest who is there for us. How it is so helpful then to not just go right to the issue of the sacrifice and talk about the types and the shadows of the sacrifice and how that is fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ. How the author of Hebrews wants us to focus on the person of the priest because that is a present reality. That is a present reality. We do not see him, but he is there in heaven now, right now at this moment, for us, on our behalf, interceding for us.

He is there, chosen from among the people, appointed by God to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to represent us before God in all that we are responsible to God for. Another thing that is helpful to see about the author of Hebrews’ way of thinking about all of this is that he is thinking about all of this in terms of Christ being our forerunner. Remember I have mentioned that before. He uses different terms for that. He will say Christ is our forerunner. He will say Christ is our captain, the captain of our salvation.

And the idea is that he is the one that has forged the path for us. He has gone through the time of suffering and temptation and trial, and he has passed to the other side up into heaven, but he is there for us, and we are following in his wake. We are following behind him to receive all that he has done for us.

The author of Hebrews thinks about the Christian life as being similar to the sufferings of Christ. Now there is a big difference. Christ is suffering as our savior, as our representative. He bears the wrath in our place. But he is also saying there is something similar between Christ and us.

That just as Christ went through trial and difficulty, he was tested. And he was tempted when he cried out in the garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from me. He was going through the trials and tribulations and difficulties that we also go through. He goes through them as the God-man. He goes through them as the Son of God and as our representative before God. But we also experience the same thing. We experience trials and temptation.

Obeying the Obedient One

Every time we are tempted, we are being called to obey the Lord and to obey God, even though it is painful. That is the essence of temptation is that there is part of us that wants to do something wrong, something that goes against God’s will. Because we desire something that is, we think, going to bring us greater happiness. And to obey the Lord in spite of that difficulty is painful. It is painful to submit to God’s will. It is painful to do what God is calling you to do, even though it hurts, even though there is a cost associated with that. And what do we need to do in those situations? We need to obey the Lord and trust God.

Trust Him that even though There is going to be some cost or some pain associated with it that He is going to see us through. And that it will be okay in the end. That He will eventually reverse that pain. There will be a vindication for us just as there was for Christ. That He was raised from the dead and vindicated. And now He is beyond that time of suffering and pain and trial. And so the author of Hebrews is saying, Christ is a forerunner who has paved the way for this whole process, and we are coming in behind him.

And we are being taught in the midst of our trials and temptations and difficulties to submit to God’s will, even though there is cost and pain involved, and to trust the Lord that it is going to be okay in the end, even if that end is ultimately at the day of the resurrection and not in this life.

That is exactly what Christ experienced for us and experienced it for us in our place perfectly. We always fail in that test, in that temptation. We always fail. But he went through it perfectly and he did it for us on our behalf to bring us with him to that glory.

And that is what gives us the strength then in union with Christ, to trust the Lord in spite of the cost and in spite of the difficulty. That is what the author he was referring to there in verse 16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. When you are in that moment of need, when you are being tempted to deviate from the will of God because it is so painful, at that moment, You can go to the Lord and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need because you have a great high priest who has done it for you. He has passed the test where you fail. He is representing you before God. He is going to ensure that your faith does not fail. He is going to bring you all the way to glory. He is bringing many sons to glory.

That gives us the strength then to obey the Lord in spite of our frailty and our weakness and our temptation. What a glorious High Priest we have. What a wonderful Savior and Redeemer we have. Not just one who suffered in the past to deal with our sin, but one who is now our representative before God. What a glorious Savior. Let us trust in Him and let us obey Him.