Hebrews 7:26-28 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;… For such a High Priest became us, holy, harmless, etc. By way of introduction let us glance at three truths which are either expressed or implied in the text. 1. That man needs a high priest. (1) As the offerer of sacrifices on his behalf. The awakened conscience, sensible of its guilt, feeling that sin merits suffering, cries out for sacrifice for its sin. (2) As his representative with God. The sinner who is alive to his own character and condition feels that be needs some one to represent him with the holy God. 2. That the high priest who would satisfactorily meet man's need should possess certain qualities, Any priest will not do. There should be a fitness between the holder of the office and the duties of the office - between the priesthood and the human needs to which it would minister. 3. That these qualities are found in Jesus Christ. His priesthood answers to man's needs. "Such a High Priest became us," i.e. was suitable to us, was appropriate to our condition and need. Let us now look at the qualities which render our Savior the appropriate High Priest for man, as they are here specified. It is important to remember that some essential attributes of our great High Priest have already been mentioned in this Epistle (Hebrews 4:15). I. HE IS PERFECT IN HIS CHARACTER. "For such a High Priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled," etc. 1. Holy. Our Lord was truly and inwardly holy. His holiness did not consist merely in his consecration to his office, but in the perfect sanctification of his whole being. The Jewish high priest had "Holiness to the Lord" inscribed upon his miter; but in Christ it was interwoven with every fiber of his being, and stamped upon every expression of his life. 2. Harmless. The Jewish high priest was sinless only in this way, that he offered sacrifice for his own sin before offering for the sins of the people, and that he cleansed himself ceremonially before appearing before God on behalf of others. But Jesus was perfectly free from sin. In all his relations with men he was guileless. And no wrong was ever done by him in any way to any one. 3. Undefiled. Sin is a polluting thing. Ceremonial purity was required in the Jewish high priests. But our Lord was undefiled both legally and morally. In thought and feeling, in word and action, in inward heart and. outward life, he was stainless. The Jewish high priests needed to offer sacrifices for their own sins; but our great High Priest had no personal guilt to expiate, or sins to confess, or impurities to purge. 4. Separate from sinners. The Jewish high priest was required scrupulously to refrain from association with any person who was ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 21:10-15). Our Lord was "separated from sinners." We do not regard this as meaning local separation. He did not shun association with sinners during his life upon earth. It was charged against him by the self-righteous religionists of his day, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." "They murmured, saying, He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner." "A friend of publicans and sinners." His separation from sinners was far higher and diviner than any merely local or physical isolation. "Christ in his intercourse with sinners," as Ebrard says, "remained inwardly free from all participation in their sinfulness, inwardly untouched by its contagion; notwithstanding that he mingled with men in all their varieties of character and situation, he yet never let drop, for a moment, that inner veil of chaste holiness which separated him from sinners. This is what is meant by the expression, 'separate from sinners.'" His moral health was so vigorous, his spiritual purity so intense, that he could associate with the morally corrupt and degraded without contracting even the slightest moral defilement. How sublime is our great High Priest in the perfection of his character! Of all the sons of men, of him alone can it be said that he was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners." How immeasurably superior is he to Aaron and every other Jewish high priest! Their perfection was only ceremonial and symbolical; they were "men having infirmity;" they were liable to sin; they were subject to death, and to the termination of their priesthood. But our Savior had no moral infirmity. In his character and conduct, in his person and office, he was gloriously perfect. He is now "perfected for evermore." II. HE IS PERFECT IN HIS POSITION. "And made higher than the heavens." This exalted position which our great Representative occupies has already engaged our attention (see on Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 2:9; and cf. Hebrews 8:1; Philippians 2:9; Revelation 5:12). III. HE IS PERFECT IN HIS SACRIFICE. "He needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices," etc. 1. The value of the offering. "He offered up himself." Alford has pointed out that "this is the first place in the Epistle where mention is made of Christ's having offered himself. Henceforward it becomes more and more familiar to the reader: 'once struck, the note sounds on ever louder and louder' (Delitzsch)." The value of this offering is seen in two things: (1) The sacrifice which was offered - "himself." Not a thing, but a person; not a sinful person, but the "holy, harmless, undefiled" One - the richest, most beneficent, and most blessed personal life. (2) The spirit in which this sacrifice was offered. Our Savior was both the Sacrifice and the Priest; both the Offering and the Offerer. And his sacrifice was a voluntary one. He freely "gave himself a ransom for all" (cf. John 10:17, 15). 2. The finality of the offering. "This he did once for all, when he offered up himself." His sacrifice will never be repeated. (1) Its repetition is not necessary. The Jewish sacrifices had to be repeated day after day and year after year, because they were imperfect. But the sacrifice of our great High Priest is complete, gloriously and perpetually efficacious, and needs no repetition, and admits of neither improvement nor addition. (2) Its repetition is not possible. When Christ appears again it will be, not in humiliation, but in glory; not as the great Sacrifice, but as the supreme Sovereign. - W.J. Parallel Verses KJV: For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; |
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