Christ, The Priest: Our Sacrifice

Christ, The Priest: Our Sacrifice

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.

Hebrews 7:26-27

Sacrifice is integral to the priesthood. As we look back over the ancient Aaronic priesthood we find sacrifices of every stripe and variety. The whole of the worship of the Tabernacle and of the Temple, which followed it, was full of sacrifices. The writer of Hebrews is building a case for the superiority of the Priesthood of Christ, over the ancient Aaronic priesthood. To that end, he both compares and contrasts the ancient sacrifices with the Sacrifice which Christ made of Himself. Our text for today is his conclusion. His conclusion is that Christ’s Sacrifice was a once-for-all sacrifice, which needs never to be repeated. This is critically important for us to grasp. With regard to our atonement, Christ, the Perfect Priest has offered Himself as the Perfect Sacrifice for sin. This makes all other sacrifices no longer relevant or necessary. The writer of Hebrews will go on, at some length to continue to press his point. He declares, ‘For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another.  He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.’ All of our hope for forgiveness of sin, all or our reconciliation with God, all of our acceptance with Him, rests upon the once-for-all Atoning Sacrifice of Christ. This is why we make much of Christ, His Person and His Work. ‘Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’ Today, let us meditate upon Christ, Our Perfect Priest, and His Perfect Sacrifice for us.

O, Christ Our Great High Priest,
we rejoice that You have been willing to give of Yourself completely,
that we might be completely free,
from all our sin and shame.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning