Thu Apr 30

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word priest.

Reading

Hebrews 4:14-5:6—Our Forever High Priest

Optional Reading

Lev 16:1-34

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

The high priest in the Old Testament made atonement for the people of God.
But he too was a sinner.
Jesus is our perfect and forever high priest.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

Why do we need a high priest?
How is Jesus better than the OT high priests?
What does Jesus do for us as our high priest?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

Jesus is our great high priest. God reminds us of that over and over in Hebrews. Andrews reminds us that in Hebrews, we … see that Jesus Christ, the ever-living Son and High Priest is brought constantly before our view. High priest is mentioned 15 times in the book. Ten of those are referring to Jesus in this work.

But what is the role of a high priest? Aaron was the first high priest, and the priesthood was to be passed on to his descendants (Ex 29:9, Lev 16:32). The distinction between the high priest and the other priests is seen most clearly on the Day of Atonement. As high priest, Aaron was commanded by God both when he was permitted to come into the most holy place (Lev 16:2) and how he was permitted to come (Lev 16:3ff). The reason for Aaron, the High Priest, coming into the most holy place was for making atonement for God’s people. Sin separates God from His sinful people, so they must be made to be one with God. And only God can make His people one with Himself, so the high priest had to first make atonement for himself (Lev 16:6).

Unlike Aaron, Jesus didn’t need to make atonement for Himself. Because He is without sin, He could offer atonement for His people, not once a year, but once for all time! But Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron. We’ll wait until chapter 7 to learn more about Melchizedek. For now, rejoice that you have in Jesus a perfect and forever high priest.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 110b, 111a

Prayer

Rejoice in Jesus as your perfect and forever high priest.
Pray for the preparation for preaching God’s Word this Lord's Day.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.