“Seeing… we have a great high priest, … Jesus the Son of God,… Let us … come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:14, 16).
In Hebrews chapter five, we see our Lord Jesus Christ as the great heavenly High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, with a four-fold ministry. Firstly, He intercedes on our behalf for all our shortcomings. He is our Advocate, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). Being a merciful High priest, He pleads on our behalf. All of us in our weakness and foolishness do things to grieve God. Even though we do not want to do wrong, the enemy drags us into temptation. The Lord Jesus Christ knowing our weakness and failures pleads on our behalf.
Secondly, in the Old Testament period the high priest had to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. These sacrifices pointed to the Lord Jesus in five ways: Firstly, there was the burnt offering which speaks of the complete sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, the sin offering reminds us how the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself all our sins to be our Saviour. Thirdly, the peace offering shows how the Lord Jesus Christ has become our peace and has reconciled us to God. Fourthly, the trespass offering reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ has made full provision for cleansing and forgiveness of our sins which we commit even after we are born again. Fifthly, the meal-offering shows that the Lord Jesus Christ has become our meat and drink to satisfy our hunger and thirst. The Lord Jesus Christ has become all these five offerings on our behalf. By one perfect sacrifice He has made us righteous. We should go on saying by faith, “Lord, you are my burnt offering, you are my peace offering, you are my sin offering, you are my trespass offering, you are my meat offering.”
Thirdly, the high priest helped those who wanted to find the will of God. He had on his breastplate, two stones called Urim and Thummim. Through these two stones he could find Gods will. No one knows how these precious stones operated, but we know that with their help the high priest could find God’s will (1 Sam. 23:9-12). The Lord Jesus Christ is our great heavenly High Priest Who lives in us. We can talk to Him directly and find God’s will for us.