Hebrews 7 Lesson

A BETTER COVENANT

Jesus’ sacrifice was superior to all previous sacrifices of the high priests for three reasons:

1. In sacrificing Himself, Jesus became our High Priest forever,
2. Jesus’ sacrifice removed sins permanently,
3. Jesus’ sacrifice was voluntary.

We will look at these one at a time today, and then the lesson will be yours.

JESUS IS OUR HIGH PRIEST FOREVER

Prior to Jesus, high priests were mortal. They would come and go and only served as high priests for a period of time.

Jesus changed all of that when He was resurrected from the grave!

With Jesus as our permanent High Priest, there will never be a need for a replacement high priest because Jesus is immortal, and His reign will know no end.

The Hebrew writer wrote about this in the following scripture:

• “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,  but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.” – Hebrews 7:23-24. 

Jesus is our High Priest forever!

And if we stay faithful to Him, He will advocate for us to His Father on the Day of Judgment.

• “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” –Luke 9:23-26.

JESUS’ SACRIFICE REMOVED SINS PERMANENTLY

Without Jesus, it would be impossible for us to be reconciled with God.

That is because of these two things:

1. God hates sin,
2. We are all sinners.

Consider the following three verses:

1. “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.” – Proverbs 6:16-19,
2. “The boastful will not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do injustice.” – Psalm 5:5,
3. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” –Romans 3:2.

Fortunately for us, Jesus came to Earth and was willing to accept our punishment for us.

This changed everything, as we see in the Book of Titus:

• “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” – Titus 3:5.

And because of His superior sacrifice, once our sins have been forgiven, God remembers them no more, as we see in the following two scriptures:

1. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness .” – 1 John 1:9,
2. “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12,

JESUS’ SACRIFICE WAS VOLUNTARY

Unlike animals that had to be taken forcefully and then sacrificed, Jesus died for our sins voluntarily.

Consider these words spoken by Jesus:

• “For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.    No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” – John 10:17-18.

CONCLUSION 

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is all that we need to get right with God and to have our sins washed away.

He is superior to all previous sacrifices and high priests for three reasons:

1. Jesus is our High Priest forever,
2. Jesus’ sacrifice removes our sins permanently,
3. Jesus’ sacrifice was voluntary.

And because of the superior sacrifice of Jesus, we can have hope in a fallen world.

We will end today’s study with the following scripture:

• “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” - Isaiah 40:31.