Names of Jesus | Advent DevotionalSample

Sunday, December 22 Hebrews 4:11-16 | Great High Priest Author: David Bibee

Despite my pale complexion, I am, in fact, Italian (and a bit salty about that complexion). Some of my most cherished memories growing up were those random Wednesday nights: everyone sitting around the table, Chianti in glasses, Mario Lanza singing in the background, and my mother brandishing her wooden spoon like a conductor, pasta sauce splashing as she gestured and laughed. Sitting around talking and eating with family is a simple pleasure and one we often take for granted as it is happening.

My son is now learning to cook a bit. He climbs up his little kitchen tower to reach the counter, stirring and pouring, cracking (and spilling) eggs, and over-seasoning everything with salt. In the playroom at church, he always runs right for the stove. He’s learning to do adult things. He’s playing at reality before one day being called to step into that reality as a man.

At times, it’s easy to believe that the old covenant religion was a bit more substantial and real than what we’re doing today. It makes some sense. Seeing priests drain the blood from bulls and goats, flaying and dissecting their bodies with sacrificial blades, before offering the flesh up to the Lord in flames seems a bit more serious than our Sunday get-togethers—singing some songs, hearing some teaching, praying some prayers, and eating a bite of bread and wine or juice, shaking hands and giving hugs before we’re off for a leisurely sabbath.

This is one reason why the book of Hebrews is so critical for Christians to wrap their minds around. It can feel like a whirlwind, with obscure references to Old Testament figures and even temple furniture. However, the basic point of Hebrews is that the coming of Christ Jesus into the world means that the old covenant, along with its system of worship and sacrifice, was about to end with a bang. But this is no problem because the old covenant’s close isn’t an end but the launch of something far more glorious.

Hebrews describes the old covenant as an era of shadows, darkness, and obscured vision. The law was “but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form” (Heb. 10:1). Even the temple and tabernacle were mere replicas of the true heavenly temple, a mere “copy and shadow of the heavenly” (Heb. 8:5). Indeed, the very design of the tabernacle and temple, the author says, was intended to clue us into the fact that the “way to the [heavenly] holy places” had not yet been opened to us so long as the earthly temple remained standing (Heb. 9:8). And this is true of the priesthood as well. Every sacrifice had to be repeated because those very serious sacrifices of the “blood of bulls and goats” could “never make perfect those who dr[e]w near” because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:1, 4). No matter how faithful his service, every priest would eventually die, and his ministry would pass on to another—the work never fully completed. This is because the temple, the priesthood, the rituals, andthe sacrifices were all play-acting, like a young child working at his cookstove, imagining that he is crafting Michelin star quality. The coming of Jesus into the world signaled that the time for childlike living was over.

With Jesus coming into the world, the true Priest has arrived. Unlike the old priests, Jesus is the eternal priest who has died but defeated death. Unlike the old priests, Jesus does not offer the blood of animals but offers up his own blood once and for all. Unlike the old priests who ministered in the earthly temple, Jesus is God-the-Priest, Lord of the Heavens and Earth, who has made us, his servants, to be the living temple of God. And he has made us fit for the very presence of God, sinners stained with bloodguilt, because he has washed us in his own crimson flood, made us spotless forever. Now, every aspect of our lives is worship. Now, every moment of our day, we walk surrounded and filled by the same Presence that filled the Holy of Holies.

This Advent, may we draw near to God with great confidence, knowing that our High Priest has opened the way before us.