Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Jesus the Priest

Q. 25: How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
Answer: Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual intercession for us. (WSC)

As the catechism has already said, Jesus became our redeemer to deliver us from our estate of sin and misery. The position of redeemer (the larger catechism uses the term “mediator” to refer to the same position) has three aspects. As our redeemer he executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king.

The book of Hebrews explains a great deal about the priesthood of Jesus. It describes how he is a merciful high priest, able to sympathize with our weakness, having been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 2:17, 4:15). It teaches that he is a priest of the order of Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem who received a tithe from Abraham and was a type of Christ (Heb. 7, Ps. 110:4). In contrast to the Levitical priests, who were “many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever” (Heb. 7:23-24). He continues even now to make intercession for those who draw near to God through him (Heb. 7:25). Hebrews also explains how Jesus secured an eternal redemption by his once-for-all offering of himself as a sacrifice without blemish to God (Heb. 9:12, 14). “But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

By his death, Jesus satisfied divine justice and reconciled us to God. His sacrifice of himself was a “propitiation” for our sins (Rom. 3:25, Heb. 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 4:10), which is to say that it appeased the just wrath of God and incurred God's favor by atoning for our sins. It is the grounds for our forgiveness, the debt of sin having been paid by Christ. It is the basis for Christ's intercession for us before the Father, so that our persons and service is accepted by him. This is not to say that Jesus and the Father were at cross-purposes. The Father had sent the Son because of his love for us for this very purpose, that God and sinners be reconciled. As John Murray has said, “The doctrine of the propitiation is precisely this: that God loved the objects of His wrath so much that He gave His own Son to the end that He by His blood should make provision for the removal of this wrath.”

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