Saturday, March 28, 2015
Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST (6)
This passage serves as an appropriate summary of what it means to confess that Jesus is our great High Priest. The writer recorded a similar statement in chapter ten: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:23-25).
To share a confession is literally to speak the "same words." The believer's responsibility is to "hold fast" to this unity of heart and voice. And here we see that holding fast to a confession includes loving, encouraging, and building up one another in the faith, knowing that the last Day is approaching.
Jesus, our great High Priest, is both the strength and example of holding fast this confession. He is the power in our spiritual lives. As Jesus told Peter on Maundy Thursday: If He does not wash us, we have no part with Him (John 13:8). Jesus alone has the power. But we also follow Jesus' example. He is a model for how we are to act in our lives. Through the grace of our Savior, there's a lot more to our confession than simply speaking words together in church. Our confession means something deep within our hearts, and leads to daily glorifying our Savior who redeemed us from the lawlessness of our sin.
