Jesus: holy, and higher than the heavens…
The writer of Hebrews continues to elaborate on how unique Jesus is as our High Priest – “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.” (Hebrews 7: 26-28)
To be ‘holy’ means to be separated from what is common or unclean, and to be consecrated to God.
John the Baptist testified of Jesus – “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3: 11-12)
After John the Baptist baptized Jesus, God’s verbal witness came from heaven – “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3: 16-17)
MacArthur writes – “In his relationship to God, Christ is ‘holy.’ In his relationship to man, he is ‘innocent.’ In relationship to himself, he is ‘unstained’ and ‘separated from sinners’ (he had no sin nature that would be the source of any act of sin).” (MacArthur 1859)
A priest is defined as an “authorized minister in sacred things, especially one who offers sacrifices at the altar and acts as mediator between God and man.” (Pfeiffer 1394)
A Levitical high priest was required to offer sacrifices for himself when he sinned. He had to offer sacrifices for the people when they sinned. This could be a daily requirement. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the high priest had to offer sacrifices for the people and for himself – “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.” (Leviticus 16: 15-16)
Jesus had no sin and needed no sacrifice for Himself. Only one sacrifice ‘by Him’ was needed. This He did when He laid down His life as payment for our redemption, once for all time. When He died, the veil in the temple was split from top to bottom. His sacrifice was perfectly sufficient.
From the Bible dictionary – “In the New Testament Christ becomes the fulfilment of all that the Old Testament priesthood signified in person and activity. In the New Testament the Church, as the nation in the Old Testament, is a kingdom of priests. The Church, however, has not only an imputed holiness but a developing personal holiness because of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.” (Pfeiffer 1398)
Christ has been ‘perfected forever,’ in that He is eternally complete, and we can only be made eternally complete in Him.
REFERENCES:
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
Pfeiffer, Charles F., Howard Vos and John Rea, eds. Wycliffe Bible Dictionary. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1975.