Jesus, Our Great High PriestSample

The Supremacy of Christ

The title of High Priest isn’t one we use often or typically associate with Jesus. We tend to call Him Lord, Saviour, Redeemer, or King. But Jesus can’t be contained by any or all of these titles. In Colossians 1:15–19, Paul gives us a sweeping description of who Jesus is. He’s calling us to embrace an incredibly high view of Jesus, so we can worship Him as we should and understand the weight of what He did for us. It wasn’t a great teacher or prophet who sacrificed Himself for us. It was ‘the fullness of God’ in the person of Jesus.

Christ’s supremacy should impact what we do daily, but the pervasive influences of the culture we live in vie for our attention. By ‘culture’ I mean what we grew up seeing, knowing, and doing – the activities, practices, and traditions that have shaped us. Culture can become the lens through which we view the world. Jesus invites us instead to view culture through the lens of His supremacy.

When I was sixteen, a family member invited me to take part in a cultural initiation ceremony with the rest of the teen boys in my family. I declined. I wanted to live sold out to Jesus. I knew next to nothing about what that looked like since I was not yet a mature believer, but I knew that what I was being asked to participate in didn’t glorify God. Of course there was backlash from my family, but I don’t regret the decision. God wants us to be doers of His Word. That means the supremacy of Christ revealed in the scriptures can and should impact how we live and the decisions we make, the way it impacted my decision not to go to initiation school.

The writer of Hebrews explains that today God speaks to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:1–2). God has always been and will always be our information source. This is crucial, in an age where we consult Google before we consult God. In Hebrews 1:3–4, we read that Christ is the heir of all things. He created the world. He’s the radiance of God’s glory. He’s the exact imprint of God the Father. He upholds the universe. He purifies us from sin. He’s at the right hand of God on high. He’s superior to heavenly beings. And He has inherited a name more excellent than any other. Imagine what might change in your life, this week, if you lived with all this glorious truth front-of-mind!

May you give Jesus the glory due His name, refusing to allow culture to dictate who, what, and how you worship. May you acknowledge Christ’s supremacy, echoing 1 Chronicles 29:11: ‘Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head above all.’