Title: Qualifications of the High Priest
(27) Qualifications of High Priests
(Hebrews 5:1-4)
Because Jesus' office as high priest is an absolute truth in our salvation, the book of Hebrews has a lot to say about this office. The high priest who existed for the people of Israel in the Old Testament times was an indispensable person in saving the people of Israel. In this sense, it can be said that the priesthood of Christ and the priesthood of Israel have the same meaning. However, it is very important to know and realize that the priests of the Old Testament were only a shadow of the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
1. Qualifications of High Priests
The high priest is the person who represents man in his relationship with God. Therefore, the high priest was called the most holy among Israel. The High Priest was the official who offered the sacrifices and offerings that the Israelites offered to God, and prayed. They could never loosen their hair, rip their clothes, or take a widow as a wife when their wife died.
In verse 1, the qualifications for a high priest are found, and it is said that “every high priest was taken from among men.” No matter how holy the office of the high priest was, no angel or any other spiritual being took it. You must be chosen from among men. Please see verse 4. He said, “No one can take this honor on his own, but he must be called by God like Aaron.”
Among the 12 tribes of Israel, God chose only the tribe of Levi to be a tribe suitable for this office, and He called Aaron of the tribe of Levi to be the high priest, and Aaron's descendants were to serve as priests from generation to generation. There were many holy men in Israel, and there were many who were zealous for God and respected by many, but they could not be called as high priests under any circumstances. Because he was not a descendant of Aaron of the tribe of Levi.
Then why did God call a high priest from among the people? Verses 2 and 3 show its meaning. In order for the high priest to offer gifts and sacrifices for atonement for people, he must first be in a position to understand people. Who is the high priest offering the sin offering? Neither are they wise to the truth, nor are they perfect. They were said to be ignorant and ignorant. Many of them are ignorant of the Word of God and have little knowledge of world affairs. Not only that, they are spiritually young and easily deceived by Satan.
Therefore, if a high priest is to represent the people before God and offer sin offerings for them, he must understand and sympathize with the weakness of these people. Only then will they be able to offer prophecy before God with compassion for their people, shed tears like Moses, and repent as if they had sinned for their forgiveness. This is possible because the high priest is a human being. For divine beings like the angels in heaven, this is impossible.
Because the high priest is also a human being, he will go through the hardships and trials that God's people go through, and he will also experience the same tribulations and sorrows as other people. Because there are no righteous people among the people living on this earth, even the high priest must be troubled with the problem of sin and must repent because of the sins he has committed. Therefore, the high priest himself had to offer a sin offering to God for his sins and transgressions.
One of the most meaningful things a high priest does is to go into the Most Holy once a year and offer a sin offering for God's people. At this time, the high priest could never enter the Most Holy without first offering his sin offering to God. The high priest first offered a sacrifice with the blood of a calf for his sins and then made a sacrifice with the blood of a goat for the sins of the people.
It is important for the pastor to understand the weakness of the sheep and to pray to God for them, as he felt pain as in his own case, and for the sheep to have the love to forgive the shepherd's faults and sins and to cover them with God's love, even if the shepherd has faults. is.
Conclusion: However, such a high priest cannot be a perfect priest to us. A person who is a sinner and needs a sin offering even for himself cannot fulfill the full office of a high priest. Here, the author of Hebrews is testifying to how precious the priesthood of Christ is.