Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Hebrews 7:26-27 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST (2)
Another reason that Jesus is the greatest High Priest is that He only needed to offer up one sacrifice. The sacrifices of the Old Testament priests needed to be repeated regularly. No earthly priest had the power to perform one, single sacrifice for all Israel, let alone for all mankind for all time.
What made Christ's sacrifice so complete and powerful? It was the only one ever offered by a perfect priest and the only one that contained a perfect sacrifice! Jesus is unique because He was both the priest and the sacrifice. He was "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens." Because all of those descriptions are true, Jesus never had to cleanse Himself before interceding for the people.
These qualities only apply to Jesus, which is why only Jesus can take your sins away. Pastors, as called servants of Christ, represent Jesus today, but no man on his own has power over sin, whether it be his own or someone else's. Only through Jesus do we have true and complete forgiveness -- and the right to proclaim that to ourselves and to others. His "once for all" sacrifice on the cross is the life force behind everything we believe.
