According to Hebrews 10:19-20, “We’ve been given complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place, because the death of Jesus opened a new way, a living way” for us, so that now, verse 22, “we can come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith.” So, what is this “living way” that only becomes available to us through Jesus’ death? 

There’s a clue in Hebrews 2:14-15, that Jesus “by his death destroyed him who holds the power of death – the devil – to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” 

Before Jesus’ death, then, no such means of destroying the devil’s power of death existed. The devil had free rein to tempt and deceive Adam and Eve into rejecting and resisting God, the result of which – for them and anyone else the devil influenced into sin – was slavery to the fear of death, exactly as God had promised in Genesis 2:17. 

For the Israelites in the Old Testament, however, God relieved that fear of death by cleansing them of their sins through the death of animals on the Day of Atonement once a year (Leviticus 16:29-30). So the death of animals dealt with the consequences of the Israelites’ sins, but never did it stop the Israelites from sinning in the first place. The gory parade of death, therefore, just kept on going year after year. But what a way to go, when the only way of dealing with death from sin was more death, in the killing of millions of innocent animals. 

It was totally “a death way” of dealing with sin, but a solution came along in the person of Jesus, who “Unlike the other high priests (in Israel) does not need to offer sacrifices day after day for the sins of the people,” because he “sacrificed for their sins once and for all when he offered himself,” Hebrews 7:27. And that included all the sins that all the Israelites had committed; he “set them free” from the whole lot (9:15). 

Because when “Jesus entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, he obtained eternal redemption” (9:12). Never again, therefore, would sin – past, present or future – need to be dealt with by death. Jesus’ own death took care of that. This, then, is the new “living way” Jesus introduced, so that the devil no longer holds the power of death, and we’re no longer in fear of it either. 

And just as important, Jesus’ death was also the new “living way” of “Cleansing our conscience from dead works” too….(next blog)

When Hebrews 10:20 speaks of “a new and living way being opened up for us,” there must be something ‘old and dead’ it was replacing. Which it was: Hebrews pictures it as “old” and “new” covenants – the old one being “obsolete, aging and soon to disappear” (8:13), and the new one replacing it being “superior” and “founded on better promises” (6). 

Which seems odd, though, that God would set up a system with built-in obsolescence, in which “Day after day the priests did their religious duties, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, but nothing in what they did took away sins,” Hebrews 10:11.

Jesus was also recorded as saying to his Father, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” – yet “the law required them to be made” (8). So here we have God requiring a system he didn’t like, that also made it “impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (4).

But Jesus clearly knew what was going on, because in verse 9 he said, “Here I am (Father), I have come to do your will.” And that was enough to “cancel that old system and put in place a new one,” because Jesus understood God’s will, that the only way in which we humans are “made holy is through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (10).  

Jesus, therefore, perfectly fulfilled what God created the office of high priest for, to “do away with sin” (9:26) – not “by (the old) means of the blood of goats and calves, but by entering the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood and securing our redemption forever” (9:12). 

And having “offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God” (10:12), where he now “lives to intercede for those who come to God through him” (7:25), meaning that we can now “enter the Most Holy Place (where he is) with confidence” (10:19), and “draw near to God with full assurance of faith” (22). 

The Israelites under the “old” system never experienced this, because “the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed” (9:8), but for us “a new and living way (into the Most Holy Place) has been opened up” (10:20). 

A “new way” replacing an old way is easy to understand, but “What does ‘a living way’ mean?”….(next blog) 

In Hebrews 7:25, “Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him.” But why the word “completely”? 

Because there’s a comparison being made in Hebrews between two ways of dealing with guilt; one way that saves from guilt completely and perfectly, and the other that does not. And it’s a crucial difference that affects the very heart of our relationship with God. 

On the one hand, there was the Old Covenant system of “repeating the same sacrifices endlessly year after year,” which God set up to enable the Israelites to stay in contact with him despite their sins – but – it still left them “feeling guilty” (10:1-2). Their conscience still bothered them, so in their relationship with God they were never at rest. Which is why that “former (Old Covenant) regulation was set aside” as being “weak and useless,” because it “made nothing perfect (or complete)” (7:18-19). It didn’t save completely and perfectly. 

That old system did have a purpose, though, as both an annual reminder (10:3) and as “an illustration,” Hebrews 9:9, to show that all those “gifts and sacrifices being offered (and all the “various ceremonial washings” too, verse 10), were not able to clear the conscience.” 

And that was the issue, that pesky conscience that made you feel you were never really “in” with God. And that too was pictured by the high priest being the only one allowed into God’s presence on the Day of Atonement (9:7), while you and all the other Israelite tribes could only watch from a distance.

But that changed when God made Jesus our high priest, because unlike the high priests of old whose “sacrifices could never take away sins” (10:11), Jesus “entered the Most Holy Place once and for all by his own blood” (9:12) and “did away with all sin (for all time, 10:12) by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26). And topping that off – “how much morethe blood of Christ cleanses our consciences” too (9:14). 

Meaning that, unlike the Israelites, we can “enter the Most Holy Place” (10:19) and “draw near to God with total confidence” – because in Jesus’ blood we’ve been saved completely from our pesky “guilty conscience” (22). That’s because, Hebrews 10:20, what’s been opened up for us is “A new and living way”….(next blog)

In Exodus 28:29, “Whenever Aaron the high priest enters the Holy Place he bears the names of the sons of Israel over his heart.” The names were on a square breastplate with twelve precious stones mounted in gold settings, “each engraved with the name of one of the twelve tribes” (16-21). Also in “the breastplate over Aaron’s heart,” verse 30, were “the Urim and Thummim, the means by which decisions for the Israelites were made.”

On each of his shoulders the high priest had an onyx stone engraved with the names of the Israelite tribes, also set in gold, six names on each shoulder (9-12). Imagine, therefore, being an Israelite, and watching this man, with your clan name represented by its very own precious jewel, enter the one place on earth where God was present – and the crucial reason for it happening being you. 

And God made sure the high priest understood that, not only by having him carry the names of all your Israelite clans over his heart, but also in the onyx stones on his shoulders carrying all your burdens into God’s presence too. He carried the Urim and Thummim over his heart as well, which God had provided to reveal his will and wisdom to the high priest in critical matters affecting the nation (Numbers 27:21, 1 Samuel 14:41, 28:6). 

In the high priest, therefore, the Israelites could see that God knew them and loved them – in his wish to guide them through difficult times, carry their burdens, meet their needs, and view them like precious jewels. Which is exactly what God wants us to see as well, because as Hebrews 8:1 points out, “We have such a high priest” too, “Jesus the Son of God” (4:14), who right now is “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven” (8:1) to “meet our need” (7:26). 

And what a high priest he is too, because God in his love for us has given Jesus the ability “to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (7:25). We have a high priest, then, who has us over his heart too when he enters God’s presence because, having “shared in our humanity” (2:14) and “been tempted in every way, just as we are” (4:15), he not only “sympathizes with our weaknesses” (4:15), he can also “help” us when we’re weak and being tempted (2:18). But what does “Jesus saves completely”mean?….(next blog)

“But we see Jesus”is the answer given in Hebrews 2:9 for two things: first of all, to give us total confidence in God’s amazing plan for us humans, as described in the previous two verses, that we’ll be “crowned with glory and honour with everything in God’s creation given over to us” – and secondly, to give us reason for why “at present,” verse 8, “we don’t yet see” that future happening.

In other words, we’ve got a future that’s so amazing it’s hard to grasp, but also hard to grasp is why God left us stuck in a world for now that’s nothing like what he has in mind for us. What, then, gives us hope and confidence in our future when there’s little evidence of that future to give us confidence in it, and what gives us a reason for living in this world now, when it doesn’t seem to tie in with our future either? 

And on top of that, imagine being a Christian like those in Hebrews 10:32-34, who were being well and truly battered for being Christian. They were insulted and abused, their property confiscated, and some even ending up in prison. It was a real struggle, therefore, to “stand their ground in the face of suffering” (32) and “not throw away their confidence” (35).

So how did saying, “But we see Jesus,” help them? Well, according to Hebrews 2:14, Jesus “shared in our humanity,” and he’s “now crowned with glory and honour” (9). In which case it needn’t be hard to believe our amazing future is possible, when a human like us is already living it. “Seeing Jesus,” then, we see in him the evidence of our future too.

But how does “seeing Jesus” help with being stuck in this world, not only facing suffering and death from being physical, but also as a Christian having to face misunderstanding and abuse, as well as being drawn away from God by “sin’s deceitfulness” (3:13)? But according to Hebrews 2:17, Jesus was “made like us, his brothers, in every way,” so he faced all these things too. But what they did for him was enable him to “become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,” not only to “make atonement for our sins,” but also “in being tempted himself, he’s now fully able to help us when we’re being tempted too” (18). 

And we get to “see Jesus” doing that for us again and again, because that’s what he’s our high priest for – and because he’s “A high priest who knows and loves us” too….(next blog)

The reason we have a High Priest is to enable us to “enter God’s rest.” Entering God’s rest was what the Israelites in the Old Testament could have done too, but “they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief,” Hebrews 3:19. 

Fortunately, “the promise of entering his rest still stands,” Hebrews 4:1, because God provided the solution – “a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (14). But what is this “rest,” and how does Jesus being our high priest enable us to enter it? 

Hebrews describes the “rest” as the rest God himself entered on the seventh day of creation (4, 10). His job of creating was done; he rested. In human terms he could sit back in total confidence that everything would work out exactly as he’d planned. For us to enter his rest, then, we share the same total confidence in his plan that he has – not only in what the plan is, but also in its successful completion.

So, what is God’s plan, and how do we have complete confidence in it too? The book of Hebrews answers both questions. It asks God in Hebrews 2:6, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” – or – “Why on earth – in the vastness of this staggering universe – did you come up with the idea of us tiny little creatures, and care for us so much too?” 

The answer in verse 7, given many years previously in Psalm 8, is that “God made us just a tad less than himself,” modelled in his very own image (Genesis 1:27). And the reason God made us into such a near copy of himself was to “crown us with glory and honour, putting everything under our feet,” Hebrews 2:7-8. So when God sat back on the seventh day of creation, this was the plan he had total confidence in, that humans would be handed the reins of the entire universe and successfully run it.

But how is that even remotely possible? We’re stuck in physical bodies that wear out and die, and with minds that are never at rest, because we still have no idea – on just this tiny planet – how to successfully take care of everyone’s needs. How, then, can we ever “enter God’s rest” by having total confidence in what seems like an impossible plan? 

Fortunately, Hebrews answers this question too, in verse 9, starting with four simple words: “But we see Jesus”….(next blog)

God gave two things to the Israelites to enable them to draw near to him: his law given at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20 to Leviticus 27), and priests.

Obey God’s law and God would personally bless them (Exodus 19:5-6) and be “near them whenever they prayed to him” (Deuteronomy 4:5, 7). The flip side to that was God being “angry with them and hiding his face from them….because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods (31:17-18). 

There was a solution, though. When the Israelites broke God’s law, a system of sacrifices and offerings administered by priests from the tribe of Levi enabled forgiveness and the removal of guilt. And once a year the head priest, or high priest, was allowed by God into his presence for the cleansing of all sins committed by all Israelites (Leviticus 16:21, 30). 

This combination of law and priests, then, seemed like a good system for the Israelites to experience God near to them – in both blessings for obedience and the peace of mind that came with his mercy (Numbers 6:24-26). But there was an endless problem the law and the priests could not solve, and that was the Israelites’ “hearts always going astray,” that so often caused them to “turn away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:10, 12). They could never fully obey God or trust him, so they never truly drew near to him, or “entered his rest” (18-19).

But then we find out in Hebrews 10:1 that “The law was only meant to be a shadow” that couldn’t make the Israelites perfect anyway (7:18-19). Nor could “repeating all those sacrifices year after year” either (10:1). Instead, they served as constant reminders that nothing the Israelites did could totally absolve their guilt or their inability to obey God fully (3-4).

But that only applied “until the time of the new order when Christ came as high priest” and “offered himself unblemished to God” (9:10-11, 14) – and “by that one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (10:14). That’s an amazing statement, because it means the perfection needed to draw near to God – that the Israelites were never capable of – is now ours forever. 

In asking, then, “How do we draw near to God today?” Hebrews cries out with a simple answer: we’re already near to God, because “We have a High Priest too”….(next blog) 

So first of all, God started with “Melchizedek, priest of God Most High” (Genesis 14:18). Then a gap of 500 years or so to the time when God designated Aaron and his descendants from the tribe of Levi as priests (Exodus 28:1) and the rest of the Levite tribe as their assistants (Numbers 3:6-7). The Melchizedek priesthood then took over from the Levitical priesthood when Jesus “became a high priest in the order of Melchizedek” in Hebrews 6:20, and since “Jesus lives forever, his priesthood is permanent” (7:24).  

But what did God have all these priests for? There’s a clue in Hebrews 7:18-19 in the author’s explanation of why the Levitical priesthood ended when Jesus arrived; it’s because in the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus “a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.”

So the Melchizedek priesthood offers something “better” than the Levitical priesthood, but the underlying purpose of both the Levitical and Melchizedek priesthoods is exactly the same, to “draw us near to God.” This is what God has priests for.  

Which takes us back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were near to God, but God banished them from the Garden for disobeying him (Genesis 3:11 and 23). Which could’ve been the end of it, no more being near to God at all. But when “Abel offered choice cuts of meat to God from the firstborn animals of his flock (4:4), God very much accepted Abel for what he’d done.” Through animal sacrifice, then, God had provided a way of maintaining a connection with him.

Following the Flood, Noah also sacrificed animals, to which God again responded favourably, that “Never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done – despite the ingrained human leaning to evil” (8:20). Sacrifices again had kept God and humanity connected, and would do so in future too, when God formally set up the Levitical sacrificial system in Old Testament Israel as “an aroma pleasing to him” (Numbers 28:2), so that, even though the Israelites continually fell far short of trusting and obeying him, they could still interact with him and draw near to him. 

And the priests were the ones God put in place to make all this possible. But here we are now with no such system in place, so “How do we draw near to God today?”….(next blog) 

Up to Genesis 14:18, there’s no mention of priests in Scripture. But then, out of the blue, appears Melchizedek, “priest of God Most High.” But why, when God hadn’t sent a priest to Abram up to this point? 

Abram knew Melchizedek, though, and deeply respected him too, because he “gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything” he’d brought back from his battle to rescue his nephew Lot (20).

But why such a large gift to Melchizedek? Because, as Melchizedek himself explained in verse 20, it was “God Most High who’d delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand.” Melchizedek, therefore, was on the scene as God’s representative, speaking on behalf of God in passing on God’s blessing to Abram himself (19), and then, in blessing God, relaying thanks to God for giving Abram such a resounding victory (20).

But why was it necessary to do all this through a priest? There’s a clue in why God gave us a Melchizedek priest too. The Message translation of Hebrews 6:18-20 phrases it this way: “We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.”

These verses tell us why we need a Melchizedek priest. He’s there in the very presence of God on our behalf, as the one designated by God to keep our lifeline to him secure so we never give up, or give in, when things happening to us in this world are overwhelming. He lives to anchor our hope in God and his promises (19).

Which is what Melchizedek did for Abram. God had made amazing promises to Abram in Genesis 12:2-3 that Abram had placed his hope in too. Then troubles hit in chapters 12 to 14 — famine, nearly losing his wife to a Pharaoh, quarrels in the family, and then a violent invasion. But that’s when the human priest of God’s choosing turns up – first of all, to meet the exhausted Abram’s physical need, and then to anchor his mind on God (14:19-20). The timing was exquisite, because it gave Abram the courage to fend off a major temptation coming up in verses 21 to 24. But this is “What God has priests for”….(next blog)

In Romans 8:34, “Jesus died, was raised to life, and is now at the right hand of God interceding for us.” He “always lives to intercede for us” too (Hebrews 7:25), so it’s an intercessory role both now and forever. 

But what is Jesus’ intercessory role and why is it necessary? There’s a clue in Hebrews 5:10, that Jesus was “designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek” – and that’s “forever” too (7:17). 

The purpose of that high priestly office is hinted at in the first appearance of “Melchizedek king of Salem and priest of God Most High” in Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek arrives on the scene just after Abram’s sensational victory over four kings to rescue his nephew Lot (11-17). And that’s when Melchizedek intercedes in the life of the exhausted Abram, by personally serving him with bread and wine, and saying to him, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High who handed your enemies over to you” (19-20).

Three things of note here: that God already had a priest on hand for Abram long before he began the priesthood in Israel. Secondly, Melchizedek came to serve Abram in his hour of need; and thirdly, he “blessed Abram” (19), pronouncing a blessing from God on Abram himself, and then a blessing on God for pulling off Abram’s victory.

Which ties in with Jesus and his intercessory role as a Melchizedek priest. That first of all, God has a priest on hand for us in our day too (Hebrews 4:14). Secondly, Jesus came in our hour of need as well, that “at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6), and he continues to serve us in our hour of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). And thirdly, Jesus was also sent by God to bless – with blessings from God (Luke 4:18-19), and blessings to God as well, as in Matthew 11:25-26, when Jesus prays, “O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, I thank you (bless you) for hiding these things from the clever and intelligent and for showing them to mere children. Yes, I thank you, Father, that this was your will” – for pulling off such an impossible plan on our behalf. 

So Melchizedek and Jesus intercede in the same ways, as humble servants on hand to help in stressful situations, but also with full authority to pass on blessings from God to us, and blessings to God for what he’s done and doing on our behalf. But why do all this through a priest? To the second point in paragraph two, then: “Why is intercession by a priest necessary?”….(next blog)