Hebrews 5:1-16

Dealing with sin has always been a very difficult thing for the people of God.  Sacrifices, confessions and vows are all means by which man strives to deal with his sin.  These attempts are all flawed and inadequate but man has been bound to strive in this way to deal with sin.  Thankfully, those days are behind us because of Christ.  Sin has been dealt with and we are set free from the rituals that are meager attempts to do that which we are unable to accomplish apart from Christ.

THE IMPERFECTION OF THE HUMAN PRIEST: Priests had a very special and important function in the plan of God for the redemption of men.  However, their work was not a complete work.  It was merely a foreshadowing of the ultimate work that Christ would do on our behalf.  Priests were appointed by God and they offered sacrifices for the sin of the people but they also had to offer sacrifices for their own sin.  This is obviously an imperfect system but it was God’s way of preparing men for what Christ would do.  The sad thing is that many men still cling to the artificial and inadequate sacrifices of human effort and religious ritual when Christ has already made the ultimate sacrifice.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST AS HIGH PRIEST: Christ was appointed by God as the ultimate and final high priest.  He accomplished what no man could ever do.  He who was sinless gave Himself as the sacrifice for sin.  He did not sacrifice an animal or perform some ritual He gave Himself on the cross and shed His blood for the remission of our sins.  He suffered greatly and desired that there be some other way, but He obeyed the will of the Father and He demonstrated the ultimate love for every one of us by paying sins price and setting us free from the sin that enslaved us.  He is the source of our salvation and our true representative before the Father.  He is our Priest forever and the only Priest we will ever have or need.

THE IMMATURITY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE: The author of Hebrews chides his readers for having to still teach them these elementary principles.  To be honest with you, I think that all of us would do well to read this warning and recognize the immaturity of our faith.  If the truths taught in this book are only the milk of the Word, I confess that I still have trouble digesting some of these truths.  I am not sure what we could consider solid food if this is only “milk.”  The truth is that we all need to dig deeper into the Word of God that we might grow in our maturity before Him.  That God for His patience for us in Christ Jesus and may He help us to grow in our discernment of sin in our lives as well as the opportunities we have to serve, honor and bring glory to God because of Christ.