Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Thursday of Holy Week - Hebrews 5:1-10

Thursday of Holy Week

Daily Lectionary Readings: Exodus 12:1-28; Hebrews 5:1-14; (Lamentations 4:1-22; Psalm 31)

Hebrews 5:1-10 [1] For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. [2] He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. [3] Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. [4] And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

[5] So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”;

[6] as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,

after the order of Melchizedek.”

[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, [10] being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 5:1-10 shows us Christ as the source of eternal salvation. The preacher contrasts the qualifications of a man to be a high priest, in verses one to four, with the qualifications necessary to be our great high priest, which were met by Christ and described in verses five through ten.

• v.1-4: The qualifications of a man to be a high priest:

◦ Must be appointed by God to represent man before God

▪ Taken from among men because he knows and understands what it is to be a man

▪ He represents man in the things of God. He leads prayer, worship, righteousness, morality, and study of scriptural things.

▪ Ordained by God. He does not choose – he is chosen.

◦ The high priest offers gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can never be acceptable before God unless his sins are forgiven because no man can erase sins.

◦ The high priest must be able to be compassionate to the two types of men:

▪ The ignorant = those who sin without knowing it.

▪ Those who willfully sin.

▪ The high priest must remember that he is guilty of both.

◦ The high priest must offer sacrifices for his own sins before sacrificing for the sins of others.

◦ The high priest must be God-appointed, not self-appointed.

• v.5-10: The qualifications necessary to be the great high priest were met by Christ

◦ v.5-6: Christ was incarnate as a man and sent into the world by God.

▪ Known by prophecy: Gen.3:15; Psalm 2:7.

▪ God’s irrevocable oath that His Son was to be a priest: John 3:16; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 5:5.

◦ v.7: Christ suffered bitterly as a man and willingly sacrificed Himself (Hebrews 2:17-18). His suffering was beyond any other human’s suffering or experience. Verse seven is a picture of Gethsemane. Cf. Mark 15:34; Luke 22:44; Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 13:12; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; Isaiah 50:6; Isaiah 53:5.

◦ v.8: Christ willingly came to earth to do this – God could have gone another route. But it was God's will, and Christ's only path to complete obedience was thus. He fulfilled every qualification of the priesthood, experiencing obedience by learning to obey God as a man, suffering as a man, and dying as a man. See also John 10:11, 13, 17-18; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 5:2; Titus 2:14; 1 John 3:16; Revelation 1:5.

◦ v.9: Christ was made perfect flesh and became the source of eternal salvation. He came to earth to suffer as a man in order to secure obedience – perfect and ideal → obedience and righteousness are the same thing. "Without sin" is critical – Christ became perfect and ideal righteousness; therefore, his righteousness can cover man. He became the author and source of eternal salvation. See also John 8:46; 2 Corinthians 4:15, 5:2; Hebrews 2:10, 5:9, 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19, 2:22.

◦ v.10: Christ was appointed by God. God appointed and sent the Son after the eternal order of Melchizedek, not the transient and dying human order of Aaron. See also Hebrews 2:17-18, 4:14-15, 6:20, 7:26, 8:1, & 10:21-22.