Mike Focht 4/4/2025
And there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 7:23-25
Having a High Priest can seem irrelevant to our daily life. It doesn’t sound very spiritual to say so out loud, but it can easily be felt, especially for those unaccustomed to interacting with a human priest as a part of their worship. You and I do not need a human priest to come between us and God because we already have a divine High Priest. No priest should ever come between me and God because no human priest can ever be who Jesus Christ is, do what Jesus Christ has done, or stand where Jesus Christ currently sits. You and I have a Faithful High Priest who lives forever. This is a blessed Biblical doctrine. We have a High Priest forever.
Does the fact that Jesus is our High Priest seem distant from our current battle with temptation and sin? Does a heavenly priesthood seem like it has little relation to our daily struggle to remain pure or live holy? Maybe it does from our point of view, but it most certainly doesn’t from God’s! Why does the fact that Jesus is our High Priest matter?
Because Jesus is able to save to the uttermost! My daily sin is proof that I am broken and need deliverance. I would be hopeless if my only hope of securing a holy life was through my good works. Praise God, that is not the case! All the righteousness we require is secured because Jesus Christ is risen, glorified, and has entered heaven as our Forerunner.
Has your sin, maybe even now, caused you to doubt your salvation? The ups and downs of spiritual growth make it easy to lose the assurance of eternal life. Even so, every doubting saint can look away from themselves and rest assured that their salvation is secure because of the death and life of Jesus Christ who is unchangeably able to save! He is able to save while I am doubting, and He is able to save while I am broken and failing. In my inability I look to my High Priest who is able.
Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. Not only is Jesus able to get us to heaven, He is able to save to the uttermost: body, mind, and soul. Many of us fear a holy life is nearly impossible. We believe that Jesus can help other, more spiritual, obedient Christians, but we doubt His ability to work in us. We despair in our sin and are more confident in the proneness of our hearts to wander than in our Savior’s ability to deliver. We rightly doubt ourselves, but we wrongly doubt Him. If Jesus cannot save us to the uttermost, all we will ever do is sin.
The lives of Noah, Daniel, and Job were so righteous that they made a difference in the generation in which they lived. Even so, God would admit to Jeremiah that the righteousness of the best of fallen men can only go so far and, in the end, is only able to save them from temporary judgment on earth. Yet there is no end to Jesus' ability to save the worst of sinners because there is no end to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. His mission is saving sinners, and He and He alone is able to save them to the uttermost. Do you want the furthest reaches of your heart, mind, and body to be saved and sanctified? You have a High Priest for that! Run to Jesus, for He alone is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners!
Finally, Jesus constantly makes intercession for them—those He represents as an eternal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Do you need cleansing? Do you need forgiveness? Do you need sanctifying? There is one Person, one Priest, one Son of Man who never tires of interceding for us. We need to come to Christ today, tomorrow, and every day of our lives from here on out. We need to come when we feel like sinners and when we feel like saints. We need to come on our good days and on our bad days. We need to come when we feel like coming and even more when we don’t. We might become tired of coming for mercy and might even begin to fear that Jesus is growing tired of interceding for us, but listen to the Word of God: He always lives to make intercession for them!
Does having this High Priest still seem irrelevant? Christ’s position in heaven intimately relates to our daily lives and struggles. Do you desire a priest like the Lord Jesus Christ who ever lives to make intercession for you? Well then, here is God’s good doctrine: Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.