Hebrews 5

God has always called His people to worship Him. This is as it should be. He is our great divine King, and we are His subjects. Yet, in Christ, our King is also our High Priest who represents us before the Almighty.

Moses wrote about the Old Testament offices of prophet, priest, and king in the Law. But long before Moses, the patriarch Abraham encountered a mysterious figure, Melchizedek, who was both a priest and a king.

The priests who served God according to the Law of Moses had no connection to Melchizedek. They were all descendants of Moses' brother Aaron. They had to follow the system of sacrifices given by God in the wilderness. At the head of those descendants of Aaron was a high priest chosen from among them. This man continued in his office until he died, representing the people before God. Knowing what sin was like first-hand, he could understand those who come with sin offerings, since he had his own weaknesses. He offered sacrifice for his own sins as well as for the sins of his brother Israelites.

A person could not just decide to be a priest according to Old Testament Law. He had to be called by God. Christ was called by God to be our High Priest. The same God who appointed Him to be the King of the resurrection age, saying in Psalm 2, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you,” also said in Psalm 110, “You are a priest forever.” But Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron. Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi. Jesus, according to His human nature, was from the tribe of kings, Judah. God knew all about this long before Jesus was born. In the place in Psalm 110 where He said, “You are a priest forever,” He continued with these words, “after the order of Melchizedek.” Though we learn many things about Jesus from the Old Testament Law, Jesus was not a priest according to that Law, but according this earlier mysterious figure spoken of in Genesis, Psalm 110, and Hebrews.

We will have more to say about Melchizedek when we get to Hebrews 7. For now it is enough for us to think about Jesus as our great High Priest. The reason we are even considering this office of Jesus is that God wants us to find hope in the face of His earlier warning, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” God calls us to worship Him in the midst of a very challenging world of distraction and unbelief. Jesus knows what that world is like, since He lived here. He faced every temptation, yet without sin. God demands that we walk along this road of faith, hope, and love that He calls in Hebrews “His rest.” When the Lord makes that demand, He does not leave us without help. Jesus, who understands trouble, traveled that road, and He is the One who represents us now before God.

Not only is Christ our High Priest in heaven, He was our High Priest on earth. It was intense work representing us before the Father. Jesus entered this world of mortality, becoming flesh in order to live and die as a mortal man. He also prayed for us like the best father prays for his wayward children. He was not ashamed to cry out to God with all that He had. He prayed for His resurrection, not only for Himself, but because of what it meant for us. If He did not receive resurrection, we would have had no hope of resurrection life. He cried out to the Father in Gethsemene, and He called out to Him from the cross. Surely His whole life of prayer was a great work of faith on our behalf. Did God hear His holy Son? We have the proof of the resurrection. He was heard because of His reverence.

When Christ calls us to worship, He commands us to do what He did during His days on earth. He was the perfect worshiper of the Father. He came as the divine Son in His essence, but He lived as the obedient Son in His subservience. In His human nature He learned obedience through suffering. How perfect! He led the way for all of us who would learn through suffering.

Now He lives in resurrection glory, but He has not forgotten what it is to suffer. We who have Him as our Priest and the Captain of our salvation are called to fight the good fight in the perfection of His power. He is able to strengthen us in the life of faith, so that we will not finally foresake the pathway of rest through disobedience.

There is much more to say about this life of true rest. We have the privilege of this life of suffering love because we have been joined to a Rock that cannot be moved. This is where we rest, and it is not always easy. Will we turn away from the voice of our Commander?

Many Christians become dull of hearing. They may not find the words to express it. They may not even be able to admit it to themselves. When they responded to the Lord's call to worship, they had not anticipated that His rest would involve so much hearing and obeying. Many should be teachers by now, but they still refuse to learn. They should have the basic principles of the Word of God firmly in their hearts. They should know about repentance and faith. They should know about the power of baptism to recreate and the blessing of the hand of God to bring life. They should not need to be reminded again about the coming resurrection and eternal judgment.

Perhaps we need to be reminded of the basics of Christian living again. If we will seek a renewed desire to hear and obey the Word of God, then we will be able to experience greater maturity in the Lord. In the strength of our exalted Priest and King may we hear God's call to worship with resurrection ears as those who are ready to respond with fruitful obedience.