Following the exhortation to hold fast their confession as set forth in 3:7 - 4:13, the apostle brings the recipients of his letter to its central theme, Priesthood. Someone has said, "Think of Christ as Son and Priest and you will understand the epistle." The writer having shown the Son to be superior to prophets, angels, Moses and Joshua, now proceeds to prove Him better than Aaron. Note the progress of development in the argument. The prophets were the mouthpieces of God, giving the Word to Israel. The Word was given to the prophets through the mediations of angels. Moses was chosen to deliver Israel from Egypt and Joshua was appointed to bring them into Canaan. But Aaron was ordained of God to the priesthood to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Without a priest to make propitiation for sin, all would be of no avail. The high priest held the highest position in the history of Israel. Without a priest there could be no sacrifice and without a sacrifice there would be no atonement.

The Son, Israel's Messiah, our great High Priest, far surpasses Aaron, and mediates a better covenant. From 4:14 to 8:6 this great theme of Priesthood is presented, setting forth the Son as Priest in all His glory an beauty. Oh that we may 'consider Him, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession' till with bowed heads and thankful hearts we shall be occupied with him and Him alone. Had Aaron not taken the blood of bulls and of goats into the tabernacle, and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat, the atonement would not have been complete. Likewise, had not our Lord when he had offered His own blood at Calvary, entered the tabernacle in the heaven, our redemption would not have been completed. Our glorified High Priest, in His body of flesh and bones at the right hand of God, is the proof that eternal redemption has been obtained.

The Son of God, the Feather's consecrated Priest, is the established link between the Creator and His redeemed creatures. He is not the world's High Priest. The world is not of God. He represents His own. He lives to succor and to comfort them whom He has reconciled through His death at Calvary. There could be no enjoyment of abiding peace unless besides the finished work of Calvary there was a present ministry of grace in constant sympathy with the believer's need. When in his sore distress, conscious of his relation to the Creator, Job cried out...... "He is not a man as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us that might lay His hand upon us both." Job 9:32,33 The distance between God in heaven and His feeble creature here below is too vast. The contrast of Divine holiness with that of intrinsic evil, whose presence yet afflicts the saint while in this body, is too severe. No enduring confidence and ease can be enjoyed without some intervening daysman who should make God always near, and always near to succor and to bless. The priestly ministry of the Son of God is the Father's gracious provision to meet the believer's need.

A picture of the priestly ministry of Christ is portrayed in John's gospel. In the thirteenth chapter we see Him washing the disciples' feet. In the seventeenth chapter we see Him in intercession as He touches the Father's throne in prayer. Is not this a true picture of our daysman for whom Job sorely longed to come to his aid? With one hand upon the disciples' feet and the other hand upon the Father's throne, we see Him laying His hands upon both the Creator and His creatures. Such is our risen and glorified Lord who intercedes on behalf of His own and ministers grace to meet their every need. Because of His divine holiness and gracious compassion, God has made such provision for His children. Though frail creatures of dust, having no ability to maintain themselves in an acceptable position in the presence of His holiness, the present ministry of our great High Priest sustains them by His intercessory word. "Wherefore He is able also to save to the uttermost, that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. (7:25)

In 2:17 our High Priest has already been described as 'merciful and faithful.' By the incarnation and patience in suffering He has acquired a perfect knowledge of His people's griefs. Therefore He is merciful and is able to succor them that are tempted. His character as 'faithful' was shown in 3:1-6 as pertaining to the things of God. (2:17) The other aspect, 'merciful,' is now taken up in 4:14-5:10

Directing now our attention to the passage before us, we are confronted with the Person Ministry and Place of Ministry of our High Priest. In verse fourteen we notice three things: 1. What He is; 2. Where He is; 3 Who He is. We shall deal with these in turn.

1. What He is ..... "A Great High Priest."

Had any Hebrew been asked who was the great high priest, he would have said, Aaron was first, and as directly called, took preeminence over all others. Aaron, the son of Amram and Jochebed could trace his ancestors back to Adam, but Jesus, the Son of God, came from the 'bosom of the Father.' He has a three fold greatness:

2. Where He is ....."Passed through the Heavens."

The superiority of the Son over Aaron is here shown in that He passed through the Heavens. The word 'into' in the authorized version does not give the significance as does the word 'through' translated in other version. On the day of atonement, Aaron passed through the outer court, through the Sanctuary and through the second veil into the Holy of Holies, into the symbolic presence of God. But our Great High Priest passed through the atmospheric heavens, the starry heavens and into the third heavens at the right hand of God. He passed through 'far above angels, principalities, powers, might and dominion;' (Eph 1:21) 'angels and principalities being made subject unto Him." (1 Peter 3:22) Not only the pull of gravitation would have kept Aaron from passing through the heavens, but Satan, 'the prince and power of the air' and his demons would have opposed his progress. But following His resurrection triumph, the Son passed through the heavens when all forces of evil had to give way to the mighty conqueror. Aaron 'entered the holy places made with hands,' but the Son 'entered into heaven itself, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (8:2; 9:24) Our Great High Priest is in heaven. No earthly priest, neither the God appointed priest in Jerusalem under the old covenant, nor the man made priest at Rome under pagan rule, could meet the need of the child of God.

3. Who He is ...."Jesus the Son of God."

This High Priest is none other than "Jesus of Nazareth," Jesus, 'which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom 1:4,5) He who had made the worlds, He who was rich in power, glory and splendor, laid aside His glory, and condescended to take our humanity's garb by the stoop of the incarnation, was nailed to a felon's gibbet. Though He died and was buried, the grave could not hold Him. He arose by the power of the Spirit and was vindicated, declared, marked off to be the Son of God. No one but the Son of God, the One who came from the bosom of the Father, the Sinless One, could triumph over hell and death. If Jesus, the Son of David, was less than the Son of God, he could not be in the presence of God today. The writer says: "We have a great High Priest." The verb 'to have' means more than mere possession. It means to be conscious of our possession. Se many Christian today do not seem to be aware of the fact that 'we have a great high priest.' One may have a bank account but not be aware that money had been put into his account. He does not know of his privilege to cash in and enjoy what is rightfully his. So today many people are not aware of their High Priest who has passed through the heavens. He is there now. The man Christ Jesus is The man in the glory who pleads on behalf of His own. He is our Lawyer, our Attorney in the court of the universe. He is our Advocate. He does no plead our cause, but His own cause, and that for us.

We have a Great High Priest. This is the sum or crowning point (8:1) of the apostle's theme. Jesus the Son of God has passed through the heavens into the immediate presence of God for us. A priest, in order to succor and to comfort, must understand those whom he represents. Our High Priest understands us perfectly. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (4:15) Three things are to be noted in this verse:

1. He is compassionate or sympathetic
2. He was tempted
3. He is sinless

The Sufferings which He endured, enabling Him to feel for us was a necessity. Nevertheless, His experience gaining for Him sympathy for redeemed creatures, must not be purchased at the cost of sin. Only the sinless Conqueror of temptation could be the Captain of our Salvation.

1. Touched with the feelings of our infirmities

The compassionate character of our High Priest is stated in the words 'touched with the feeling of.' This phrase is one word in the Greek, 'sumpathesia' from which we get our word sympathy. It is only used twice, the other reference being Hebrews 10:34. Here it is translated 'compassion.' He is able to sympathize, to feel with. A sympathizer is one who comes near to you and enters intelligently into your distress and shares your feeling about it. This is true of the Lord Jesus, and more. We not only find that in every grief He shares a part, but we are attracted by His grace and loveliness.

He sympathizes with our infirmities, not our sins. We must not look to Him for sympathy when we yield to sin. He cannot sympathize with sin. Nevertheless, a penitent confession will bring forgiveness. Infirmities are the sinless consequences of sin such as the sorrows of life, physical limitation, and bereavement. Job had these infirmities. He had sickness, grief and bereavement. Though Job was sustained in his trial, he had no sympathy. He had no one who was touched with the feeling of his infirmities. But 'we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.' Notice the double negative here. "We have not an high priest which cannot." This double negative is given to emphasize the fact that He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

2. He was Tempted like Us

It is because He was tempted in all points like we are that He is able to sympathize with us in our infirmities. Temptation has a twofold meaning.
1. Testing: Abraham was tempted, that is tested. (Gen 22:1) "He was tried." (Heb 11:17)
2. Enticed to sin: This cannot be said of Christ. "Every man is tempted (enticed) when He is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." Our Lord was tempted in the first sense. He was tested or tried. He hungered. He thirsted. He knew of pain, weariness and loneliness. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. He was tempted by circumstances. He had no place to lay His head. He was tested in that His own people, the Jews, and His mother's own children did not believe in Him. He was constantly tested by His own disciples, who shoed little faith and slowness of heart.

3. Yet Without Sin

The little word 'yet' found in the authorized version is very misleading. The literal translation read: 'without sin' or 'apart from sin.' "he was tempted in all points apart from sin." "Apart from' signifies having no connection with, no relationship to. Temptation does not involve sin. The phrase 'without sin' appears twice in Hebrews, first in f:14 and second in 9:28. In the latter we read: "Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin (apart from a sin offering) unto salvation." "Without" or "apart from" denotes an entire absence of sin in 4:15 and of a sin offering in 9:28. Compare James 2:26. "The body without (apart from) the spirit is dead, so faith with (apart from) works is dead also."

Concerning the phrase 'tempted apart from sin.' Dean Alford says: "The words imply that throughout the temptations, in their origin, in their process, in the result, sin had nothing in Him. He was free and separate from it." (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5.

I may be argued that, because of His sinlessness, our Lord Jesus is unable to enter into our position or understand our problems. His sinlessness does not make His temptation unreal. It is because of His sinlessness that He felt the temptation most acutely. In his book, High Priesthood and Sacrifice, Du Boise says: "It is not necessary that He should have Himself succumbed in order that He should know. One knows the sin and death which one has perfectly met and overcome better than if one had in the least been overcome by them."

It is not the one who yields to temptation but the one who resists temptation who suffers the keenest agony. The keenest agony of temptation can be known only by one who remains sinless. Others are tried till they yield, and those who yield soonest suffer least. All our temptations Christ knew, feeling them not with our course and blunted perceptions, but with exquisite and fine strung sensitiveness. Sinlessness can truly estimate sin, for the very act of sinning disturbs the balance of the moral judgment.

A doctor does not need to suffer a dreaded disease before he can minister to the one who had the disease. Plato once said, "The best doctor is the man whose knowledge, not whose experience, of bodily ills is the greatest." A judge must not first be a crook before he can administer justice. He who is free from evil habits is most capable of knowing and judging guilt. A sinner is an ill judge of sin.

Bishop Moule in the International Biblical Encyclopedia says: "Not only is Christ's sinlessness true to Scripture, but evidently also He was totally immune from the sense of sin, free from all inward discord or imperfection or discontent with self. Yet this is not automatic or effortless condition. His sinlessness (from the human stand point) stands in the perfect fidelity to the Father of a will exercised under human conditions, filled absolutely with the Holy Spirit willingly received."

He was the stainless, sinless Lord. In Him was no sin. He knew no sin. There was nothing in Him to respond to sin. There are certain temptations which do not affect us, such as theft. Such temptation does not affect us in the least. We are not assailable at this point. Just as we are not assailable in one point, Christ was not assailable in any point. Christ willed to do the will of the Father, therefore as it was impossible for God to lie, (Titus 1:2) so it was impossible for Christ to sin. He was God manifested in the flesh as to His humanity. He willed the will of the Father. He could not sin because He would not.

The question now arises - if He could not sin, how did He suffer in the temptation? the fact that Christ was Almighty and victorious in His resistance does not unfit Him for an example for imitation to a weak and sorely-tempted believer. Because our Lord overcame His temptation, it does not follow that His conflict, His victory, did not cost Him tears and blood and His success was an easy one for Him. (Isa. 52:14) In the struggle He cried (Matt. 26:39) Because an army is victorious, it by no means follows that the victory was a cheap one.

If it is true that there was nothing within to respond to sin, in what sense did He suffer? He who is immaculately holy suffered at the very presence of sin. The pure minded, virtuous woman who is approached by those who would ensnare her, suffers by the suggestion of the evil she abhors. If two women, a pure-minded virgin and a harlot were placed in a house of ill fame, the pure-minded virgin would suffer far more than the harlot. Christ, the infinitely Holy One, loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He suffered at the presence of evil and when assaulted by every evil which Satan, evil men or poor faltering disciples could bring to bear upon Him. "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity (Heb 1:9) was the testimony borne to the Son by God the Father.

There are two extremes that we must guard against:

1. Christ could not be tempted if it were impossible to sin;
2. His temptations were not real, and therefore, His humanity is of no value to us.

Christ was truly tempted. To say that Christ was not tempted simply because He could not sin, one might as well reason that because an army cannot be defeated, it cannot be attacked. His temptations were real. He was subject to physical and mental temptations. He was open to all forms of temptation except those that spring out from lust or corruption of nature.

Christ is the sinless One. We are sinful. Throw a lighted match into a keg of gun powder and there is an explosion. Throw a lighted match into a barrel of water and the fire is snuffed out. Sinful, frail creatures of dust, when attacked, are like the gun powder. Too often there is an explosion. But Christ Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (7:26), when attacked, snuffed out the temptation.

Since Christ is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, tempted in all points as we are, apart from sin, we are told to "come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." The saint has a High Priest in the presence of God which gives him boldness to come to the throne. "Let us therefore come boldly" says the apostle. The word here translated "boldly" or "boldness' means all - spokeness. It means unreservedness in speech, freedom, frankly, without concealment, fearless confidence. compare 1 John 2:28. "That we may have confidence." Thayer says: "Boldness is the diametric opposite of being covered with shame." Such is the privilege of every child of God. Through faith, by Christ Jesus our Great High Priest, we have boldness to come to the throne, not a throne of judgment but a throne of grace.

What a contrast we have here between the Old and New Covenants. Under the Old Covenant the congregation stood afar off. Only the high priest came into the presence of God. And he only once a year. We under the New Covenant, have access and may come moment by moment. Aaron, Israel's high priest and representative, stood silent in the presence of God. But we may come with boldness, with freedom of utterance. Aaron came to a symbolic mercy seat, in the presence of God's symbolic manifestation. But we may come into the very presence of God Himself. It is our privilege to come and obtain mercy when we fail and find grace to help in time of Need. "Let us come boldly."