Your Path to Connection

Grace grants access and restores the proximity to God that was lost in the garden

Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:14
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

“The theological word for this is solidarity, which just means “with-ness.” He’s right there with us. In our pain, Jesus is pained. In our suffering, he feels the suffering as his own even though it isn’t. This doesn’t mean his invincible divinity (the fact that he is God) is threatened. It means that his heart is drawn into our sadness and weakness. His love is a kind of special love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain.” — Dane Ortland

“When we look up Hebrews 4:15 in the NIV, however, we read, We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin. The Greek word underneath the English word in question is sympathizo. Instead of using the English cognate sympathize, however, the NIV uses a different word — empathize — to translate the Greek. At one level, this is a very small change, the substitution of one prefix for another. Sympathy (and its Latin equivalent compassion) literally means “suffer with” (sym + pathos in Greek; com + passio in Latin). Empathy, on the other hand, means “suffer in.” – DesiringGod.org

Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Confession is more about us being transformed, that it is about God being informed

The job of the priest, before the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, was to intercede on behalf of the people with God. The priests made atonement for the sins of the people by sacrificing a lamb symbolically placing the people’s sin onto the lamb. The problem with this system is that it could never totally satisfy the wrath of God. The Earthly priests were also imperfect people themselves, so they had to also make atonement for their own sin.

Jesus didn’t have to make a way for us, but He chose to make a way for us.

“We can only surmise, but there are good grounds for believing that his readers were troubled by what they perceived to be the invisibility and remoteness of Jesus Christ. Why could they not see him? Why did Jesus not continue to appear to them, as he had to the earliest disciples? In addition, coming from a Jewish background, those addressed in the letter no longer participated in the visible rituals that had for centuries been perceived as God-given ways of atoning for sin. They missed the sacrificial worship at the Jerusalem temple, which with all its rituals was thought to offer atonement for their sins. Their loss of reassuring ceremonies and the absence of Jesus Christ may well have caused a crisis of faith, especially when the cost of following their Lord and Savior entailed suffering, insult and persecution, imprisonment, and the confiscation of property” — Desmond Alexander, Face to Face with God

“By meeting with Yahweh daily, morning and evening, the high priest develops a relationship with God that enables him to speak to God regarding issues involving the Israelites. Through being known by God and by finding favor in God’s sight, the high priest is well-placed to mediate on behalf of the Israelites when their inappropriate actions threaten to undermine the covenant relationship.” — Desmond Alexander, Face to Face with God

Numbers 18:5-7
You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the tent of meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.

The sufferings of Jesus perfect him for the priestly office. As high priest he is well equipped by his own experiences to empathize with others and intercede for them.

“Unlike the other high priests, he [Jesus Christ] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” Christ has no need to offer any atoning sacrifice for his own sin, for he is sinless.

“By way of contrast, the earthly tabernacle constructed by the Israelites at Mount Sinai is merely “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.” While the two sanctuaries have much in common, the earthly sanctuary is merely a model of the heavenly one. By emphasizing the superiority of the heavenly sanctuary over the earthly sanctuary, the author of Hebrews establishes a basis for affirming that Jesus’ high priestly ministry far exceeds that of the Aaronic high priest.” — Desmond Alexander, Face to Face with God

“Jesus never crossed that line. He was tempted in every respect that we have been tempted, but never once did he permit that temptation to become sin in his heart, in his thoughts, or in his actions. Thus, temptation that resists or rejects sin falls short of sin, while temptation that gives over to sin is sin. In other words, millions upon millions of people who have never committed adultery in the flesh have committed adultery in their hearts. Moreover, every person has in some respect given permission to some temptation to become sin. Thus, the author of Hebrews is exhorting his readers to find rescue from their temptations in Christ, the only high priest who can deliver us from temptation.” — Albert Mohler, Christ Centered Exposition

“If Christ were not our great high priest, we could not stand before God. We would be cast from his presence for all eternity. And yet, no Christian lives under this threat. Righteous judgment has been replaced by radical mercy.” — Albert Mohler, Christ Centered Exposition