An introduction

 

Broadcaster

 

People who are in an enemy relationship have no point of contact. No matter how much we talk, it only gets worse emotionally, and there is no room for improvement at all. Especially in the relationship between husband and wife, I often see people who don't have a point of contact with each other. That's because men and women are very different. Because of this different part, there is no communication between each other, and it eventually spreads into a fight. Especially couples have lived different lives and different values, so they decided to meet, get married, and live together because they love completely different people, but when they live, these are just crazy things. Then what should I do? It's about fighting until one person obeys completely. Dear members! If the family is peaceful, it is one of the two. It's "one person is completely obeyed" or "concession to each other". A better model is to give in to each other. It maintains a healthy relationship. But if one person completely overwhelms another, it's more likely to lead to a twilight divorce later.

 

According to one statistic, the divorce rate of couples without children is a whopping 24% higher than that of couples with children. Why is that? That's because the child mediates. When a couple fights violently and comes to a situation where they can't understand each other, their children come and reconcile in the middle. Then strangely, I feel relieved. There are endless examples of those relay in our daily life. For example, when buying a house, the seller and the buyer do not bargain with each other, but the real estater acts in the middle. Then the contract will be concluded well. In court, the plaintiff and the defendant do not fight each other, but the agents, that is, the lawyer, take over. Then it is often resolved smoothly. Like this, there are many cases where we need a relay in our daily life. We experience that when we meet a good relay, things are resolved smoothly, but when we meet a wrong relay, things become more twisted. That's why the role of the relay is important.

 

The main discourse

 

The high priest of the Old Testament

 

Role

 

The organizer of the ritual

 

When we were sinners, we were enemies of God. God hates sin, and sinners who eat their sins like food dare not go before God. As a result, there is a distance between God and man, and there is a situation where people cannot go to God. However, God gave us a way to relay the relationship between God and man through the system of high priest. So the most important role of the high priest is to organize the ritual. There is the most important festival for Jews. That's the day called 'Yom Kippur'. It's called 'Atonement Day' in easy terms. Once a year, all the people of Israel must give sacrifices before God to receive forgiveness of their sins. The person in charge of the work was the high priest. If you look at the procedure on the day of atonement, first of all, the high priest sacrificed a calf for himself and the priests and makes atonement. And after that, they'll bring two goats for all the people. And by drawing lots, one of them is caught and sacrificed, and the other one is put on its head by the high priest and transfer all the sins of the people of Israel. And they send the goat to the wilderness. We call it ''scapegoat'. On this day of atonement, the high priest alone enters the holy place in the tabernacle. Anyone can enter the Holy of Holist is a place where only the high priest can enter once a year.

 

In other words, the high priest acts as a relay between the holy God and the sinners. When a sinner goes directly before the holy God, that person will die immediately. Therefore, it is to seek God's forgiveness through the high priest and see His glory.

 

Requirements

 

Decendants of Aaron (appointed by God)

 

Then what kind of people could have become high priests? The first qualification is a descendant of Aaron. Of the twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of Levi is known as the tribe of priests. In other words, no one could do the priest, and only the tribe of Levi could handle it. And the high priest could only be a descendant of Aaron among the tribe of Levi. Who decided that? Yes, that's what God commanded. In other words, the position of high priest was only granted to those appointed by God.

 

A person without physical defects (holy)

 

Also, not all of them were able to become high priests just because they were descendants of Aaron. There should be no physical defects. For example, a person who lames his legs, who can't see ahead, or an eunuch couldn't be a priest. This is the fact that they have to be a complete person to become a high priest. In other words, it is the fact that only a holy person could be.

 

A limitation

 

He was a sinner (the ritual process of the day of atonement)

 

So if you look at this system carefully, the perfect people appointed by God could become priests. Then was this high priest a perfect one? No. They were surrounded by a fragile body. So they had to offer a sin offering for themselves before offering a sin sacrifice on the day of atonement. They were blessed to go to God on behalf of people, but they were still sinners.

 

You have to sacrifice repeatedly (Heb 10:1)

 

We can also see that although people's sins were forgiven through this ritual system, it was not a complete sacrifice. Hebrews 10:1 explains it well. "Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. -- Hebrews 10:1 (CSB)" That's right. The law we are talking about here means the ritual system. Because it is not complete, it proceeds to the same ritual every year, but in the end, it has a limit that cannot be done completely.

 

As a result, people can't be perfect, commit sins repeatedly, don't want to put God in their hearts, and can't give up the habit of living on their own. As a result, it is an institution that cannot satisfy God who wanted not only the outside of people, but also the people inside to be clean and complete, and at the same time, only the evil of humans who tried to destroy even the ritual system is revealed. There are even people who misuse this ritual system.

 

Why,

 

This high priest system is a shadow system that was temporarily implemented until the prototype came.

 

However, this system is a shadow system that was temporarily implemented until the prototype came. This is not a prototype. This is a model. The model helps to understand the prototype. But if you consider this model more important than the prototype, it would be stupid. The Jews are still making the mistake of valuing this model more than the prototype. 

 

True high priest

 

It shows the personality of the high priest, but it must be the essence (incarnation)

 

But now we have a great priest. It explains not only the words of the text we read today, but also throughout the Hebrews. So far, all the high priests appointed among people have been surrounded by human weakness and have not been able to play the role of true high priests. And Jesus Christ was born on this earth two thousand years ago in a human body. We call it incarnation. Last week, we looked at the event of this incarnation under the theme of kenosis, or self-emptiness. Then 'What does the incarnation of Jesus have?' You will be able to ask a question. Jesus came to this earth to take on three duties. The first is the position of the high priest. He also came to perform the duties of a prophet and the king.

 

The fact that Jesus came to serve the duties of the high priest can be confirmed by several facts. The first is the fact that he is innocent. That's why he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the body of a virgin. If he were a descendant of Adam, Jesus would not have been able to avoid Adam's original sin. However, Jesus is telling us that he was born to the Virgin Mary and he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

 

It should be solved at once, not repetitive (Hebrews 7:27;9:12-13,26,28)

 

Also, he solved all the sins of the world at once. Hebrews 7:27 explains it well. " He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do ​— ​first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself. -- Hebrews 7:27 (CSB)" That's right. The sacrifice of Jesus was completed only once because it was a complete sacrifice. Also, Hebrews 9:12-13 explains it like this. "he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, -- Hebrews 9:12-13 (CSB)"

 

Also, in verses 25 to 26 of the same chapter, " He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. 26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. -- Hebrews 9:25-26 (CSB)"

 

Yes. All these verses emphasize that the power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ is the power to forgive all the sins of the whole world at once. Therefore, we no longer need to sacrifice sheep, cattle, and goats for atonement. Because the blood of Christ's precious blood has already forgiven all the sins of those who believe in Jesus.

 

The reason for the incarnation of Jesus Christ

 

Mediator

 

To summarize, Christ came to this earth as a high priest. That's why He acts as a mediator between God the Father and our sinners and defends us. So we do not go before God by our merit and righteousness, but boldly go before the throne of grace by the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

 

He fought against the temptation of sin and won in order to fulfill his duties as a high priest. When Satan tempted Jesus with three things, the Lord rejected them with the Words of God. In order to be flawless, Jesus completely obeyed God the Father. That's why He fully fulfilled the duties of the true high priest, freed us from the deep quagmire of sin, and made us those who live for the glory of God the Father.

 

Application

 

Think deeply about Jesus

 

What should we do now that we welcome Christmas? Yes, Christmas is a time to think deeply about Jesus. We must think deeply about His lowness, that is, the incarnation, His duties, and Jesus, the high priest. The author of the Hebrews asks us to understand Jesus deeply. And he emphasizes the role of his high priest. Why is it important to know that Jesus is the true high priest and to meditate?

 

The current owner of Christmas is not Jesus. Santa Claus has already settled in the place of Jesus. There is a long line in the shopping mall to take pictures with Santa, not Jesus. Santa's face is engraved with Rudolph on the card. What is the relationship between Jesus and Santa? If we need some divine being with some mysterious ability to distinguish between bad children and good children, and give rewards and punishments according to their actions, it is not a problem for us to change Santa and Jesus. If we only needed some transcendental being to preside over the encouragement and punishment, it would not be a problem to put the Mahomet or Buddha in the place of Jesus. People claim that it doesn't matter to anyone as long as they treat Buddha, Jesus, if whoever make us well and bless us. It doesn't matter whether it's the God of Christianity or the Allah of Islam, or people think it's all the same.

 

It's a serious problem. Because Jesus Christ did not simply come to this earth to be recognized as a god at a common sense level, but came to carry it out with some distinct role. And one of those roles is the role of the high priest. Santa can give gifts with his mysterious abilities, but he is not an existence that can atone for our sins and intercede for us. Buddha can influence people through the realization of pain, but he is not an existence that can bear our sins and solve the problems of our sins with death on the Cross. Mahomet insists on monotheism and demands strict prayer and good deeds, but in a situation like us, he is not an existence that can understand our people and understand God as a true God and take on the role of intercessors.

 

If we don't understand Jesus correctly, it will be understood even if we put Lee Man-hee in the place, and there will be no problem if we put Moon Seon-myung in it. We don't just need a divine existence. We need the God who completely humbled himself, came to the place of man, carried all our sins, and died to save us from the cross. People in the world have no problem putting Santa in the seat of Jesus, but we can't do that. Because Santa was not entrusted with the position of high priest, and he has never performed that role. So we have to think deeply about Jesus. Because if we don't think deeply about who He is, we are always serving alternative idols.