Yesterday in this verse, we saw that Jesus is our high priest. But what kind of priest is he?
When I was growing up there was a priest in the local Roman Catholic church. He was miserable and unfriendly. Jesus is not like that.
He is a “merciful” high priest. He is compassionate and kind and gracious to us. He does not turn us away. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. We fail and we can still go to Him. We feel guilt and we can bring Him our guilt.
This mercy is not simply a feeling, but it is active compassion. We can go to Him with our weakness and He gives strength; we can go to Him with our sorrow and He will comfort us. We can go to Him when our hearts are troubled and He gives peace. We go to Him when we are tempted and He will help us (verse 18).
He is also a “faithful high priest in the service of God.” He faithfully represents us before God. We are sinners, but Christ faithfully covers our sins with His own blood. We deserve death, but He faithfully went to the cross and died in our place.
The wonderful thing is that He will never fail. Many religions have priests, but none of them can properly represent people before God because they are sinners. Many religious leaders are leaders for what they can gain from people financially. Often people and church leaders will disappoint us.
However, Jesus cannot disappoint us. He never fails because He is the perfect high priest. He gives freely – there is no cost to us. We don’t have to earn His mercy.
He is merciful and faithful. Why not talk to Him today?
The best is yet to come 