Jesus Christ the High Priest is My Center (Heb. 5:1-14)
Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. May the great blessing of God be upon all the individuals and families that are worshipping in the church, in their homes, and especially out of state.
The title of today’s message is, “Jesus Christ, the High Priest, is My Center.” If someone’s center is shaking, then their entire life shakes. What is the center of my life? Most people say my thoughts and heart are the center of my life. If God doesn’t reside in our thoughts and heart, then our lives are bound to shake, because the physical things you see like, people or material things, are not things you can rely on. If you rely on God, you won’t shake.
If Jesus Christ, the One Who has true power, is the center of my thoughts, heart, and spirit, then it’s impossible for us to shake. The problem of this world is that people are shaking. What’s shaking, exactly? It’s the fear within each person. We are not aware of our own fear. Hebrews 2:14 says that when we’re separated from God, we belong to our flesh and blood. Then, our life will become like Ephesians 2:3 where we pursue the cravings of our sinful nature, so we have this greed inside our hearts and thoughts, and we try to satisfy that craving. That’s not a greed for grace, but it’s a race to fulfill my own plans, goals, and desires.
But the Bible tells us that these people are living their entire lives as slaves to the fear of death. In other words, if our thoughts and heart are separated from the invisible God, we will live for the physical things. Then we will have fear because we don’t want to die; we want to live. We keep living in that state, then when we face a problem, we think we have to face our fears because of that problem. We misunderstand the problem. The fear was always within us, but it was revealed externally because of the problem.
Because of our misconception, we pray to try to get rid of our fear. We pray and try to use methods to solve the problem because we think the problem is causing our fears. Some people will work very diligently and earnestly because they think if they get rid of the problem, they will get rid of their fear, and as we live our entire lives, this fear within us never goes away.
We’re going to be scared that we’ll face another problem in the future. We still have the fear now from the traumas and scars from our past. The fear we have from birth is the fear of death that has been given to every child of God who has been separated from God.
1. High priest (Heb. 5:1)
We read Heb. 5 today, and these are the Jewish people who converted to Christianity after meeting Jesus Christ, and they went to church, but their faith is shaking.
1) Those called by God (Heb. 5:4)
(1) Selected from among the people – Aaron’s family (Heb. 5:1)
They’re shaking because instead of holding onto the fundamental reason and solution for their fear and shaking, they think that it’s because they’re not relying enough on the priest and sacrifices. In other words, we have to have the answer. If we have the answer to be okay no matter what kind of problems or difficulties we are facing, it means we are centered on Christ. We are in a state where we’re unaffected no matter what problems, crises, or incidents come our way.
If we’re not able to find these answers when we come to church, we’re bound to wander in a religious life, then we’re going to fall into another misconception. We think that if we save up a lot of material possessions and achieve a lot of goals, our fear will go away. In today’s passage, where it talks about priests and Melchizedek, it really has nothing to do with us, it seems. Why are we looking at this today?
The Jewish people lived their lives centered on the priests 1500 years before Jesus Christ was born, they had this structure of priests during the age of Moses. Then, why did they have this position of the Priest? Before priests, human beings had no way of going to meet with God; we were separated because of our sin. In other words, there was no way to get rid of our fear and seek true rest, there was no way to find the happiness the world talks about.
There’s nothing in this world that gives us true happiness, and that’s why God gave us one path in Genesis 3:15, the offspring of the woman. Before Jesus Christ was born on this Earth, there was only one way for us to be reunited with God: the blood sacrifice, transferring all our sins to an animal and spilling its blood. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned against God in Genesis 3:22, they had animal hides as clothes, which means they gave blood sacrifices to God so they could come before Him.
Cain could not understand the meaning of the blood sacrifice, so he did not receive atonement for his sins and went as far as killing his younger brother. There’s only one way. In Genesis 6, after Noah came out of the Ark, the very first thing he did was to give the burnt offering to God. The meaning of this burnt sacrifice is that I’m transferring all of my sins onto this animal, sprinkling its blood, and then burning it completely up, so that by smelling its fragrance, God says, “I will never put another disaster on this Earth because of mankind’s sin.”
(2) Work from God
There’s only one way to make God happy, that way is Jesus Christ Who came to Earth, but he doesn’t sound like the answer to us. God called Abraham and Abrahram was always building altars to God, but in Genesis 22, when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac as the blood sacrifice, that’s when God poured all the blessings upon him. The Israelites were then enslaved by Egypt for 400 years, and they lost hold of that covenant, but in Exodus 3:18, God told them to give the blood sacrifice again.
(3) Bring offerings and sin offerings for the people
(4) Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites (Lev. 16:34)
What does it mean to spill the blood of an animal after we transfer all of our sins to it? It means it’s the only way for us to be liberated from all of our sins, curses, disasters, death, darkness, and Satan.
2) Atonement – Priest (Tribe of Levi)
(1) Sin of the Israelites – Curses, Disasters
From that point on, there were millions of people in the Israelite community, so He raised up a priest. Not anybody could be the priest, but God raised up Aaron, the brother of Moses, and made the priests his family line. Then, what is it that the priest does? As soon as human beings are separated from God’s Word, we are sinning. In the Old Testament, they died immediately. Why would our lives end because of that? We die immediately as a punishment of our sin, or sometimes we face diseases. There’s only one way to atone for that sin.
(2) Sacrifices
It is the flawless animal the LORD designated, and we sacrifice it. Not anyone can give the sacrifice; it must be through the priest.
(3) Priest – Transfer sin through laying of hands
What the priest does, then, is they transfer all the sins of the human being into the animal. They kill the animal, sprinkle the blood, then burn up the animal, and as this sacrifice is received by God, God gives the grace and blessing of being with that person again.
3) The Hebrews and today’s apostles who received salvation
There were many priests, but there was one high priest, and once a year, they would atone for all of the Israelite community’s sins, beginning with their own sin. Why is it that God is telling us these words through Hebrews? It’s because these are the people who are used to this order of the Priesthood for thousands of years. This tradition lasts even today in the Catholic Church, they think they have to confess their sins to the Catholic priest to receive forgiveness for sins.
From our perspective it seems kind of silly, but it’s really not laughable. This Bible verse explains to us that the True Priest has already come, He is Jesus Christ, but they thought the priest had to come through the tribe of Levi and Aaron’s clan. But Jesus Christ is in a different clan, He came through the lineage of David. So the Israelites received salvation through God’s grace, but because they are so confused about the Word, they’re not rooted deeply in it.
(1) Rooted in the system of law – Centered on Me (Knowledge, Experience)
They’re not rooted deeply in the faith. Just as our own experiences–the knowledge we have studied–will make us shake in our faith. Did Jesus Christ really finish everything? Is He really enough? You and I are Gentiles, we didn’t have a community of priests. We just believed in ourselves and lived however we wanted, then we received salvation, but we haven’t reached the complete answer: is Jesus Christ really the answer to everything?
We still rely on our own experiences and trust in our own knowledge. We believe in Jesus Christ but we haven’t yet received the faith that He is everything. That’s why we’re not able to overcome problems in the world.
(2) Relied on the priests – Centered on people, materials
We don’t even know the reason why we face problems, we think it’s because we lack power, so we try to gain more power. There are some people who are okay even if they face problems. The problem itself is not the problem, but it’s the fear inside of me that’s the problem. Don’t you think that’s right? Even if there is a war that breaks out, it doesn’t matter for someone who doesn’t have fear. We think it’s scary for war to happen, I’m not saying we’re going to go into war, but I’m just giving you an example.
(3) Did not root in the Gospel even after salvation
If I don’t have fear, then it doesn’t affect me at all. If you’re not able to find that answer when you come into church, then even if you go to church, you’ll have fear for the rest of your life. That’s what today’s Word is saying.
2. Christ who became the High Priest (Heb. 5:5)
This passage we read in Hebrews is explaining who Jesus Christ is using the source of the Hebrews’ confusion, which is the High Priest. Moses’ older brother Aaron and his entire family line did the role of the priest, and Jesus Christ is not from Aaron’s family; He’s not a Levite. He came as the offspring of David, so the Hebrew people couldn’t understand that at all. The Levites are the priests, how is it that someone born in the line of David could be a priest? They are confused.
“How can we have only Christ? I have the nature with which I live so diligently.” I’m not telling you to not live diligently, but you haven’t come to the answer, is Christ really everything? You’re in the same situation as the Hebrews. To come to the answer of Christ, this must be sufficient for you.
Colossians 2:3 says that all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. Christ is the Creator of the Universe, He is also the Inheritor of the Universe, and is sustaining all things with His Word. When this comes into you strongly through faith, then the fear will disappear.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don’t care because it doesn’t matter. Someone is cursing me out, but I don’t care; it doesn’t matter. My business is about to fail, but so what? It doesn’t matter. I can just start it again and if God doesn’t give me a way, then I won’t do it. Even if I face a disease, it doesn’t matter, why not? Because if Christ is within me, and He is giving me true rest and peace, I will overcome any disease.
If you don’t understand what those words mean, you’re living a religious life, like a Buddhist or any other religion. A problem is not a problem for you. The real problem is what’s inside of you. The real problem is you, wanting to pursue the cravings of your flesh, and that’s the reason you have scars. The other people aren’t the problem; it is your own problem that scarred you. Think about it carefully, was I really scarred because of my dad? There’s no such thing as perfect conditions on Earth. The real problem is not having the answer. This world is full of problems.
If you say, “My life is ruined because of problems,” then you’re a failure. God has opened up a way for this not to be a problem because of Christ. The one who holds onto this and enjoys this is a Christian. If you’re not able to hold onto Christ and enjoy it, then you’re a religious person. That’s why people say, “I’ve tried going to church.” They say, “I tried going, but it’s the same. The scripture is a little different, I changed from the Buddhist text to a Christian text,” let’s say maybe you’ve exchanged the star of David to the cross, but within, things haven’t changed at all. May this grace of God be upon you today.
Depression is not treated with just medication, you have to treat it and have the fundamental healing. It’s the same with panic attacks, it comes from fear. You must have fundamental healing. There are also those who create worries for themselves because of the future. Every time they look at their kids, they worry because they don’t believe. “What if I lose my job?” So what? “What if I die?” Then just die. Everything is in God’s hands; the fundamental thing is your fear. You’re not afraid because you lost your job, but you’re always afraid, and now that you’ve lost your job, you’re even more afraid. But the Lord has absolutely promised to feed us, clothe us, and guide us, so nothing matters.
1) Melchizedek – Before the law of Moses
(1) King of Salem, Priest of God (Gen. 14:18)
(2) Blessed Abram (Gen. 14:19)
There was a priest before the age of Moses, and that was Melchizedek. After Abram fought against Sodom and Gomorrah to save Lot, he brought Lot out, and after winning the battle, Melchizedek, King of Salem, came and he was a priest of God. Even before Moses, there was a priest of God.
King of Salem means “King of Righteousness” or “King of Peace,” which represents Jerusalem. This King of Salem is a King and Priest, does this remind you of someone?
(3) Abram gave him a tenth of everything (Gen. 14:20)
(4) Brought out bread and wine (Gen. 14:18, Matt. 26:26-28)
He brought bread and wine. Jesus Christ also said “This bread is My Body and this wine is My Blood,” does this remind you of anything? Abram gave a tithe to this Melchizedek. Jesus Christ is the Priest Who came from the foreshadowing of Melchizedek. Psalm 110:4 says that Melchizedek is the Eternal Priest of God, which means he is still Priest. Eternity means even right now, it’s part of eternity. Melchizedek represents Christ.
2) Order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:6)
The priest following Aaron’s bloodline is not going to cut it, so God Himself had to give us a priest and that priest came from the line of Melchizedek. From the perspective of the Israelites, they were confused, because whenever they heard the word “priest,” they thought of the Levites and the line of Aaron, and they would get atonement of their sins from them, but now a young adult born in a manger says He’s the priest?
(1) Source of salvation (Heb. 5:9)
(2) Those who believe in Christ receive salvation (Heb. 5:9)
(3) High priest in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:10)
(4) Not the order of Aaron
But in Heb. 5:9 it says He is the source of eternal salvation. Anyone who is obedient to Jesus Christ has salvation. Salvation is talking about being liberated from sin, death, hell, and Satan.
3) Hebrews whose time has passed (Heb. 5:12)
(1) Ought to be teachers (Heb. 5:12)
(2) Need to be taught the elementary truths of God’s word (Heb. 5:12)
(3) Need milk, not solid food (Heb. 5:12)
(4) Infant – Centered on me, my things, my success (Heb. 5:13)
To these Hebrews shaking in their faith, v. 12 says “by this time,” which means they have been believing for a long time. He is saying, “though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.” In order for us to eat solid food like meat, you have to have teeth, but these people have had a very long walk of faith while having no teeth, and they still have to drink milk, the elementary truths of God’s Word.
What’s the characteristic of an infant? They only care about themselves, they only assert themselves, and if they’re wrong, they throw a temper tantrum. They just cry. And if anything doesn’t fit with them, they express it. Right now, we believe in Jesus Christ but we’re not able to escape from “only me.”
For example, if I’m having a conversation with someone and they say something strange or hurtful to me, someone who is mature will ask God, “God, why did you allow me to hear these words?” But someone who is immature in the faith will have a scar and their fear will never go away. The characteristic of a child is, “Whatever I have in my hand is mine.” They received salvation, but they only care about taking care of what’s “Mine, mine, I want more of mine.” That’s a child and their thoughts are all “me.”
So the characteristic of a young child is that they’re very stubborn. They never listen to their mom’s words, and that’s the kind of childish faith these people had even after a long time. Then, when they go out into the world, “everything is a problem if it doesn’t fit with me. If something fits well with me then it’s not a problem.” The center of my life is “me,” and Satan knows that, so he attacks and completely controls that person, but that person is fooled without knowing they’re being deceived.
3. Those who eat solid food
It’s time for us to eat solid food, then, what is solid food? Physically speaking, solid food would be things like meat. In order for you to chew meat, you have to have strong teeth, then you will be able to do hard work as well. If you live your walk of faith for a very long time, but you’re still at a childish level, where you’re still receiving the basic message of salvation, you’re drinking milk from a teat, then you won’t be able to do anything in society, it’s because you don’t have the strength to overcome. You need to be able to eat solid food for you to gain strength to do any work out in the world, but because you’re only drinking milk, you don’t do anything.
1) For the mature (Heb. 5:14)
(1) Acquainted with the teaching about righteousness (Heb. 5:13)
Why? Because it says in Hebrews 5:13 that these people have not experienced the teaching of righteousness. Then what is the teaching of righteousness? Rom. 1:18 says only the gospel reveals righteousness. In other words, Jesus Christ is righteousness, and if I believe in Jesus Christ, I am righteous.
(2) Christ who finished everything (Jn. 19:30)
Jesus Christ said on the cross, “It is finished” in Jn. 19:30, and I have not experienced that yet. Jesus Christ has finished all the problems of our past, present, and future on the cross and we believe it, but we don’t really believe it, and we fall into problems.
(3) Life of Christ in me (Gal. 2:20)
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified on the cross with Christ and now the Lord lives within me as life.” We’ve heard this but we haven’t experienced it, why haven’t we experienced it? Because we don’t believe it, because works arise depending on our faith, so don’t pray for anything else. If you’re not able to believe in Jesus Christ according to the Bible, then you cannot begin.
(4) Those who can distinguish good from evil – Word (Heb. 5:14)
Jesus Christ said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and if you start from anywhere other than Christ, you will not follow the truth and you will make incorrect decisions. “Oh, I could’ve sworn this was a really good person according to my judgment, but it turns out they’re not,” that’s because you relied on yourself and you followed your judgment.
The Word of the Lord will reveal even the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. I’m proclaiming God’s Word today and I can see everything inside of you. I’m not saying it’s like an x-ray, but I’m saying that when I give you the Word of God, the reaction that comes from within you is your reaction to God’s Word. But when I give you God’s Word, but your thoughts are always wandering somewhere else, that’s your inner state.
If you are given God’s Word and you get very annoyed or irate, that’s your inner state. The Word of God is the Truth. People who don’t like to stand before the Word of God will stand before something else. If you don’t like listening to the Word of God, it means you like something that’s false.
We don’t know ourselves, we can’t judge any person properly. We think that if we’re intelligent and very quick, we’ll be okay, but God says otherwise, because we cannot see someone’s inner state. Only when you relay the Word of God to them will their inner state be revealed. There are some people who keep falling asleep when given the Word of God, but they live so diligently and they’re so hard-working, and they’ve succeeded. That’s all we look at, but the fact that this person keeps falling asleep when the Word of God is given to them, that’s their inner state. So the devil works wholeheartedly upon this person.
This is why we don’t belong to the flesh and blood; our spirit must be healthy with Christ alone, because only Christ is the True God, and that Christ is with me right now with life and spirit. To have Jesus Christ be your center means that words of Jesus Christ must be the center of your thoughts and heart.
Hebrews 5:14 says, “Those who are mature can distinguish between good and evil,” they can distinguish between people as well. People who don’t know the word will only look from their own perspective and cannot make the distinction, but those who have the Word of Jesus Christ will be able to distinguish things based on the standard of God’s Word.
In other words, is your life okay with Christ alone? If your life is not okay with Christ alone, Christ is not the problem; you’re the problem. It means that your center is off-kilter, in another direction. As you are living your lives, living and studying, do you see your future? If you do not see the future, it’s evidence that your studies and job are being worked upon regardless of Christ.
Christ is the Truth, you should be able to see the future in whatever work you’re doing. If the Words of Christ are in my center, then I can see the future in the work I’m doing, but there are many people who are dreaming a false dream with the wrong things. You must be able to distinguish good and evil, you must be able to distinguish what kind of business you must run that would be a good business.
If the Word of Christ is not your answer, then you’re going to live your life incorrectly without knowing it.
2) Those who eat solid food
(1) Only Christ (Jn. 19:30, Ac. 1:1)
In order for us to eat solid food, we have to come to the conclusion of John 19:30 that all my problems are really finished on the cross. For people who have come to that answer, if they face a problem they see, it’s not a problem to them. If someone has not come to the answer of only Christ, then when they face a problem, they will shake, it means that they are centered on themselves. They shake because it’s a problem to them.
(2) Only kingdom of God (Word, mission) (Ac. 1:3)
Even if this is a problem, if Christ is my center, then nothing is a problem. That’s the solid food we eat with grace, and that Christ lives within me as life through the Holy Spirit.
(3) Only Holy Spirit – Witness (Ac. 1:8)
That’s why we pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit to completely control and empower all my thoughts, heart, spirit, and even my physical body. Therefore, not by my thoughts, but by the power of the Holy Spirit through the words of Jesus Christ.
Then, it doesn’t matter how weak I may be because I live with the power of Christ inside of me. When? We enjoy that right now. How? With prayer in faith. You have to enjoy prayer for the working of the Holy Spirit to be upon all the work you are doing and the people you are meeting. But if you don’t have faith in that, then it’s just going to be a repetitive fear because you’ll have to do your work and meet people with your own strength.
(4) Royal priesthood, prophet (1 Pt. 2:9)
1 Peter 2:9 says God has called us as the royal priesthood to declare His wonderful light, so I hope you will have true faith and pray for the spirit of Christ to come within you, then you will realistically and powerfully work with the Word of Christ.
3) Prayer – Enjoy 24 hours
(1) Filling of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 1:14)
The problem of Christians nowadays is that they say, “Let’s pray about it” so easily, it’s like their motto, but if you actually, in faith, pray for the filling and working of the Holy Spirit, then He really does work.
(2) Working of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 2:1-4)
Then instead of my thoughts, God’s thoughts come upon me. Instead of my weak heart, God is holding onto my heart in power. God’s power holds onto my emotions, and that’s real. But if this isn’t actually taking place for you, it’s just a theory, then you’ll have no strength in the field.
(3) Through work, people, circumstance, environment
You’re sitting here right now, but pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit to be upon all your work and meetings for the rest of the week, but you don’t believe it; you only believe in yourself. “I will live with my diligence,” and it’s a problem because you can’t do it with your strength, and if you meet the wrong kind of person, you’re going to fail again.
(4) Life that lives forever (Ac. 2:41-47)
You have to have true faith in order for you to digest solid food and have the masterpiece of life that saves yourself and others. The work you’re doing and the people you’re meeting must come to life. It is not by your works, it is by the working of the Holy Spirit. It is not by your words. If you enjoy this in prayer, when you pray, God works, transcending time and space. Right now, you’ve made time to be here, but you can make more money if you’re working. Why are you here? It’s better for you to be studying right now. If you don’t understand these words, it’s going to be your own loss.
Yes, there’s no such thing as a real loss to you, but may the grace of God be upon you so that at this time, you can understand God’s Word, receive the filling and working of the Holy Spirit, and when you pray holding onto God’s Word, then the forces of failure working in your field will be broken down. God Who transcends time and space will work and you can enjoy being with Him 24 hours a day, because He’s with you 24 hours, especially if you’re diseased or facing a problem, these people must have a time where they concentrate on the words of Christ.
That’s not going to solve your problem, but when you do this, the power of God will work upon you, then you will have something such that even if your disease isn’t solved, it’s okay. You’re going to have an answer where it’s okay even if you have the disease, or not.
Conclusion
1. Christ the priest who is the ransom for mankind’s sin
2. Christ the king who rules over the kingdom of God
3. Christ the prophet who reveals through the word
4. Enjoy this in my life through prayer…
Prayer
May you enjoy the prayer that has Jesus Christ, the High Priest, as the center of your hearts, thoughts, and spirit. Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received. God, at this time, may the Spirit of Christ completely fill me and hold onto me. May the Holy Spirit work upon all the meetings and work I will do l throughout this week.