Msg #1511 Christ Our Perfect High Priest

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Without the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ we would have no High Priest to atone for our sin, and no mediator to stand between us and God. I have heard a hundred sermons on the importance of the resurrection. For me all reasons pale before our need of a High Priest. When Christ, God incarnate, died as my Passover Lamb, he cried, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Even though, at this point, he fulfilled the role of a Passover Lamb, i.e. he died “for” us, he had not yet purged our sins. The epistle to the Hebrews states, “When he had by himself purged our sins, (he) sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high” (Heb 1:3b). “It is finished,” applied to his role as our Passover Lamb; in his role as our high priest he had to take the Lamb's blood into the most holy place and sprinkle it on the ark of the covenant. There was a physical ark containing the covenant with Israel, but that ark was only made after the pattern of the one residing in heaven (Exod 25:9). The resurrected Christ took His blood to the actual throne of God and sprinkled it on the ark of the covenant. Recall how the resurrected Lord told Mary Magdalene, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). In like manner, the high priest was not to be touched as he brought the sacrificial atoning blood into the most holy place on the Day of Atonement. God did not put more into his Old Testament imagery than he could fulfill in his Only Begotten Son. When he purged our sin with his blood, he did it as our High Priest.

An Essay for week #11 Mar 15, 15

Msg in audio at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/audio/gs150315.mp3

In Tablet format at http://www.gsbaptistchurch.com/ppulpit/biblesays15.pdf

In paperback at www.lulu.com/spotlight/GSBaptistChurch