This section begins a theme that the writer will continuously develop to the end of chapter 10. Recognizing this up-front might help make this long ride more enjoyable. When you see something that appears redundant you might look for subtle nuances and further development of earlier points.

Yet everything the writer has written up to this point has been building up to this theme: How Jesus is superior to every other high priest, and why it matters.

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HEB 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

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The writer sums up everything he wrote about Jesus in 1:1-3:6 in this one phrase: “A great high priest who has passed through the heavens.” So I'd like to start by summarizing that. I've put the key points together in a more modern way of communicating. For accountability purposes, at the end of my final post I'll include a bulleted list of key messages with verse references that I used to write this.

I just think it’s extremely important to understand the context clearly before moving on. Here it is:

• God created everything through JesusJesus upholds the universe by the word of His own power.
• Jesus has the same nature as God, and He radiates God’s glory.
• God called Jesus His Son and made Him the heir of everything.
• Jesus wanted others to become sons of God, to reflect God’s glory, and be heirs like Him.
• He also wanted to remove any reason to fear death.
• So He gave up His glory and became like us in every respect. He gave up being exactly like God so He could be exactly like us.
• Jesus struggled with temptation in the flesh, but He never gave into sin.
• He died as a perfect man. In doing so, Jesus tasted death for everyone.
• Though dead, Jesus would live eternally
• Satan’s only power (death) was now disassociated from sin.
• Perfection could now experience death too.
• Those who die in the flesh could now be made perfect, too.
• God appointed Jesus ruler of the world to come.
• Jesus' victorious battle against temptation means He struggled with it far beyond what any of us has.
• Jesus' experience of fighting temptation and dying allowed Him to sympathize with and desire God’s mercy for us.
• He then purified our sins, established our salvation, and sat down on a throne at God’s right hand.
• Jesus is God’s in-person communication with man.
• Jesus is much greater than the prophets; He is God’s Son. The angels even worship Him!
• He is worthy of far more honor than Moses, who was only God’s servant.
• Jesus' perfect faithfulness and the total reconciliation with God He arranged for us makes Him our ideal high priest.
• He alone can and will sympathize with our temptation struggle and intercede on our behalves with God as a Son.
  

How could any high priest in the Old Testament tradition compete with those qualifications? None can.

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HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

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True, since He was conceived by the seed of the Holy Spirit rather than of man, Jesus did not have the sin nature that we inherited through Adam. But neither did Adam or Eve, yet they capitulated to sin the first time temptation presented itself. Like Adam, Jesus was tempted from the outside without a sinful nature, and he could have given into it without a sinful nature. He was truly the “second Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Because of that, He could fully sympathize with our fleshly desires. That’s the message we are to take into the text that follows.

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HEB 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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The verb tense in Greek makes this “let us *CONTINUALLY* draw near....” The throne of grace!!! How much is wrapped up in that single expression! That throne - which will be our throne someday as Jesus’ brothers, sons and daughters of the Most High – is approachable to us now because of the grace of the One who sympathizes with our weaknesses through His willing firsthand experience our struggles! Without that grace it would be a throne of condemnation. But God has turned over all power to Jesus (Mathew 28:18).

There’s no reason to feel shy about approaching God’s throne now! Jesus knows exactly what that temptation you faced was like. Yes, even that one you gave into. Again. And again. And again. He’s at God’s right hand saying “I remember how hard that struggle was! Please extend mercy and grace here. I’ve got it covered! Someday he or she will be perfect too!”

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HEB 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; 2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.

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After you see Jesus’ qualifications as our intercessor, it’s hard to imagine how anyone merely “taken from among men” could effectively serve in that role.

First, fallen men choose the fallen high priest themselves. That’s soft soil to stand on from the start. Anyone you could choose would be as fallen as you are.

Second, a fallen human high priest will “deal gently”[*] with the ignorant and misguided. That is because the high priest gives into sin, too. Unlike Jesus, he’s never taken temptation so seriously that he consistently overcame it.
[*] It might be best to read that as “deal lightly,” i.e., without adequate attention to the seriousness of sin. The Greek word is a compound of “moderate” and “emotion.”

Intentional sin was punished by death in the Levitical system – no sacrifice covered it. Priests were only there for the unintentional sins or those done in ignorance. For one of several examples, read Numbers 15:22-31.]
Third, this fallen human high priest will have to offer sacrifices not only for the sins of others but for his own sins too (this ritual is introduced in Leviticus 6:16 and described in Leviticus 7:7-14). That means he can’t truly approach the throne of God on your behalf as Jesus does.

We have a perfect high priest now. No one else needs to apply.

KEY POINTS AND THEIR VERSES USED IN MY CONTEXTUAL SUMMARY

• God spoke to people from a distance in the past, but now He has spoken to us in person through Christ (1:1-2)
• Jesus, through whom God created everything, was appointed as God’s Son and heir of all things (1:2, 10).
• Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s nature (1:3)
• Jesus holds up the universe by the word of His power (1:3)
• Jesus purified our sins, established our salvation, and sat on a throne at God’s right hand (1:3, 8, 2:2, 10)
• Jesus is far superior to angels because His name is “God’s son” and angels worship and serve Him (1:4-7)
• Jesus is eternal (1:8-12)
• Jesus rules over the world to come (2:5-8)
• Jesus tasted death for everyone (2:9)
• Jesus was made perfect through suffering and death in the flesh (2:9-10, 14)
• Jesus made others God’s sons, His own brothers, so that they can share God’s glory with Him (2:10-13)
• Jesus destroyed Satan’s power, death, by overcoming it and delivers His brothers from fear of it (2:14-15)
• Jesus became like us in every respect (2:17)
• Jesus is a faithful high priest who sympathizes with our struggle against temptation and sin (2:17-3:2)
• Jesus, as God’s Son, is worthy of greater glory than Moses, God’s servant (3:3-6)