Christ, Our Priest

Copr. 2013, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references are to the New International Version (NIV), copr. 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted. Quotations from the NIV are used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: . Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.

Introduction: Two weeks, ago we discussed that everything has changed. Instead of having a physical temple on earth where God lives and humans approach God only through a priest, our bodies are now temples (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and God’s Spirit lives in us (Romans 8:9). If everything has changed, then why does Hebrews extensively discuss Jesus’ current work as our High Priest? Let’s dive into our study of the Bible to find out what we can learn about what God is doing!

1. The Order of Melchizedek
   1. Read Hebrews What do we immediately notice is different about Melchizedek? (He is both a king and a In Israel, the king and priest were )
   2. Read Hebrews To whom is Melchizedek compared? (Jesus, the Son of )
      1. How is Melchizedek like Jesus?
   3. Read Hebrews We can see that the writer of Hebrews is constructing an What do you think the writer is arguing? (He is asking the Jewish people familiar with the sanctuary system on earth to consider that something greater exists, something that pre-dated the sanctuary on )
   4. Read Hebrews Why is the Melchizedek system better than the Levitical system? (Perfection! Perfection could not be attained through the human )
      1. Perfection for who? (Us! Praise )
      2. Let’s contemplate this a Did we change? )
         1. What changed? (The That means that perfection does not depend on )
   5. Read Hebrews What has changed along with the priesthood? (The )
   6. Read Hebrews What aspects of the law changed? (Hebrews says the rules about the priesthood Melchizedek and Jesus are not priests because of regulations about ancestry, but because of “the power of an indestructible ”
   7. Read Hebrews How does this say the law changed? (Recall that we decided a few minutes ago that the pursuit of perfection is the difference between the new and old Hebrews tells us that the law is “weak and useless” for making us )
      1. These are powerful What do they mean as a practical matter for our daily living? (They mean that we will never become prefect by trying to obey the Such an effort is useless because it is too weak to accomplish the “Part-perfect” is an obvious )
   8. Read Hebrews How does Jesus meet our need for perfection? (He is “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners” and “He is able to save completely those who come to God through ”)
      1. How then, do you become perfect? How do I become perfect?(Through )
   9. Let’s step back a We started out saying that everything is We are temples, and God’s Spirit lives in Is what Jesus is doing also new? (Yes! This tells us that Jesus’ priesthood is new and improved, but it is not without The precedent is the Melchizedek )
      1. If precedent is important, how can you fit precedent into what is happening today? (The precedent is that the forgiveness of sin was never through human It was through the death of an The precedent is that the sin transfer process was handled by the Now, Jesus died on our behalf (we died with Him), and He is the one who now deals with the sin transfer The precedent is that God meets with humans in a special Now, God meets with us - but He wants our temple to be a special )
2. Intercession
   1. Read Hebrews Have you every heard someone say, “Now here is the point?” The writer of Hebrews is saying, “Now here is the point!” What do you understand is the point? (We have this fabulous, wonderfully superior priest who is serving right now in heaven on our behalf!)
   2. Read Hebrews In what way is Jesus our fabulous, wonderfully superior priest? (He is in heaven, not earth, He sacrificed once, not many He did away with sin and appears on our behalf before God!)
   3. Read Romans We noted in our discussion two weeks ago that the Most Holy place in the sanctuary was a “danger ” People died if they entered the presence of God at the wrong time in the wrong What do these verses in Romans suggest about God’s attitude toward us? (He loves us so much that He gave us God will graciously give us “all ”)
      1. Who brings charges against us? (This suggests that no one is sufficient to bring )
      2. Read Revelation Who is the accuser? He is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of )
      3. Do you feel guilty about past sins? Sins you have confessed?
         1. If the answer is, “yes,” what do these texts suggest about this? (That it is the work of the evil one to accuse No one is sufficient to accuse you when Jesus is interceding on your )
   4. Read Romans Wait! Do we have a second intercessor? (Yes! The Holy Spirit also intercedes for us! This makes perfect sense in light of the doctrine of the All three Members of the Godhead are pulling for us!)
      1. What, exactly, is the Holy Spirit doing for us that is different than what Jesus is doing for us? (The Holy Spirit “helps us in our ”)
         1. What weakness is this? (Jesus takes away our sins, but the entire sanctuary system shows that sin is the Thus, we need to determine to live a life in accord with the Our attitude and our acts are our weakness, and the Holy Spirt helps us with Again, our actions never save us, only Jesus’ work on our But, what saved person wants to be an agent of Satan?)
      2. Romans 8:26 contains some strange language: “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot ” What kind of intercession is this? (A close relative of mine may have a serious medical Have you had so desperate a prayer need that you do not know how to put things into words - words that will describe how much you need God’s help? That is another kind of human The Holy Spirit intercedes for us to express the deepest emotions - so deep we really cannot adequately put them into )
      3. Romans 8:27 brings to mind another aspect of Have you ever faced a need and were uncertain about God’s will in the matter? How can you know God’s will? (The Holy Spirit “intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s ”)
   5. Re-read Romans 8:34 and read Romans We have two main problems in We are sinners, deserving death, and we live in a sinful Jesus cured the death problem and He continues to intercede on our behalf in How do we deal with the living in a sinful world problem? (This is the intercession of the Holy The Spirit helps us, guides us and directs )
      1. What do these two intercessions show? (God’s great love! You can decide to leave God, but nothing external can take away Jesus’ sacrifice for you and the Holy Spirit’s daily help to you! Praise God!)
   6. Friend, would you like Jesus and the Holy Spirit to intercede for you? Would you like them to remove the condemnation of the law, and give you comfort and guidance in day to day problems? If so, why not invite Jesus into your life right now? Why not confess your sins and accept His sacrifice and the power of His Spirit?
3. Next week: The Pre-Advent