Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 261

September 18;     Hebrews 7:24;      211/260(IV);      ‘An Unchangeable Priesthood’

Hebrews 7:24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

One of the titles of the Lord Jesus is our High Priest.  When Jesus ministered on the earth, as a Priest, He represented God the Father to us.  Jesus told us that if we see Him, we have seen the Father.  The conduct and character of Jesus, teaching them, healing them, praying for them and relating to those He ministered to, revealed the loving nature of God.  As a Priest, Jesus also represented us to the Father.  His sacrifice on our behalf, becoming a Man, loving us in spite of our short comings and opening heaven to us by taking upon Himself our sins and sicknesses on the cross, showed Jesus’ willingness to do what was necessary so that we could be with Him eternally.  The Jewish High Priests were prevented by physical death from continuing perpetually.  Because Jesus is our High Priest forever, we have a better covenant through His Priesthood.  In heaven now, the Lord Jesus prays for the salvation of the lost and He prays for any need that we, His people may have.  The Jewish High Priests offered animal sacrifices for sins daily.  The animal sacrifices covered the High Priest’s sins and the sins of the people.  The Lord Jesus, our eternal High Priest offered not the blood of an animal, but His own blood once.  When the Lord offered His own blood in the Heavenly Holy of Holies, our sins were cleansed forever.  The Jewish priesthood was a picture of what Jesus would do when God the Father sent Him to earth to offer Himself for our sins.  The blood of innocent animals covered the sins of the people.  Jesus blood cleansed us.