acts on our behalf.
In chapters 1–4 Jesus is compared to the angels who have been active with God in creating the world and bringing God’s message to humanity through the words of law and prophecy. People failed to respond to God’s leading and were found to be faithless and disobedient. Consequently, God allowed them to lose their way and even lose their lives. Their experience becomes our example.
Hebrews is leading into the next way of comparing Jesus and demonstrating the way in which what God has done in his Son has surpassed what God has done in the past. The next comparison beginning in chapter five will be the priesthood. Not only can Jesus be described as priestly, but in this heavenly typology Jesus is a High Priest, in fact a “great high priest”—an expression applied to those high priests of previous centuries who not only served as religious functionaries but also held political power. Jesus’ rise to power was exaltation to heaven.
Frequently in Jewish writings, heaven is described as being multi-layered—three or even seven stories of heaven. Jesus passed through the heavens, penetrated to the highest heaven, the dwelling place of God, where God is described as seated on a throne. The one to whom we claim allegiance is the one who has risen to ultimate power in the universe.
In the tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde, we learn the lesson of heeding our allegiance. Without giving away too much of the story for those who might want to see the movie, Tristan grows up to become second to the king, King Marke. Tristan faces the moral dilemma, does he give in to his passions and be with Isolde, his true love, or does he stay committed to his allegiance to the king, someone who has been like a father to him. Tristan becomes distant from the king to King Marke’s utter amazement. Together they had dreamed of the day when the tribes of Britannia would be united against the Irish, when their tribe would be supreme and rule with strength and equity. And when it finally becomes a reality, Tristan is reluctant to be a part and lends no support to his king. In the end, Tristan pays dearly for his divided loyalty.
God must be utterly amazed at our behavior at times. God chose a people, rescued them from oppression, protected and fed them in the wilderness, gave them a means for relationship with God, and in return God gets complaints and faithlessness. God gives to the people leaders in the forms of judges, priests, prophets, and kings and they are not listened to; they are abandoned and even killed. The Messiah, Jesus, endures the antagonism and assaults of the enemies of God’s people, faithfully suffers a martyr’s death, and is raised to the heavens to sit next to God’s throne. Still the people of God falter and flounder in their commitment to God in the world. How often must God come to us as King Marke does so tragically to Tristan and just want to know why. What more could we want? What more could we ask for? In the end we could also pay dearly for our divided loyalty.
Jesus has two qualities that make him the best sort of mediator. One is the divine aspect, that he has entered the heavenly temple as a great high priest. The second relates to where he got his start. Since he was one of us, he is able to intercede for us in heaven with sympathy for our human weaknesses. But even though he experienced the testing of human existence, he was not tainted by it.
We like to hold up as an example people who have achieved something but started out like us. We feel a special affinity to those people. The politician who now serves in state or federal government but who came from our home town is one we feel can represent us, because he or she was one of us. The pastor who came from the same kind of town as us, went to the same sort of schools, but through it all was well-liked and well-thought of, we may feel is someone who could understand us. That’s why we should maintain our allegiance, remain committed, “hold fast to our confession.”
Jesus was one like us and now he is our representative, our intercessor, our advocate before God. Surely that’s a good reason for us to be devoted followers of Jesus. It is our effort that’s called for, but it’s not the only thing. When we come to the difficult times and our strength and conviction falters, we are able to get the help we need.
Help’s Available When Needed (4:16)
Approach is what someone does when they come to God. Moses approached the burning bush (Acts 7:31). The children of Israel approached the foot of Mt. Sinai where God’s presence was seen and heard (Exod 16:9; 34:32; Lev 9:5; Deut 4:11; 5:23). The priests approached the altar with sacrifices (Lev 9:7, 8). In prayer to God we are transported to the highest heaven, to the throne room of God, and we approach God’s presence.
Rather than a throne of judgment, it is a throne of grace. We are to be in fearful reverence and awe, but, because of the one who sits next to the throne of God, we are able to come with boldness and confidence. At the right time, when we need help, we experience the mercy and grace of God.
Remember the story of Joseph at the end of the book of Genesis? Nearly the baby of the family, one of Daddy’s favorites and apparently a bit pretentious, Joseph was always having visions of grandeur. Just when the boys think Joseph is long-dead and they are in peril of losing everything, whom do they end up bowing in front of other than Joseph, now the Pharaoh’s right-hand man? They are oblivious to the identity of this one who is the answer to all their needs, one who is in fact one of them, their own brother, who loves them still and is ready to show them mercy and grace.
When life comes at us hard, knocks us off our feet, what’s our response? Most of the time most of us turn away from the help that’s right in front of us. “No one knows what we’re going through,” we think, “No one can help me with this.” That’s not true. Our brother, one of the guys, someone who’s been through it all, is the one who stands ready to help. We are oblivious to the one who has the power of the universe at his disposal, the one who loves us, gave his life for us, penetrated through to the highest heaven, and is now the Great High Priest of the universe. His help is there just when we need it.
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The final exhortations in this first section of Hebrews is we need to do our best to stay committed and we need to go to God when we need help. The Christian band Petra has a song called “It’s All About Who You Know.”
You are tied-in and networked
You’ve got people to see
You have friends in high places
You’ve got places to be
You’ve got plenty of time to make your mark
You’ve been able to get things done
And all the white shirts will take your calls
You’ve really had quite a run
Who can you turn to
When your life is behind you?
You have learned how to pull strings
And call in a favor or two
You have found some ways to spend your time
Instead of with “you-know-who”
There’s only one name
You can call on without blame
Some may wonder where, when if not how
There’s no worry, if you know Him now
Nothing we do here below
Is gonna save us ‘cause
It’s all about who you know
(Chorus)
When you get to the end and you’ve got nothing to show
It’s all about who you know2
Do you know him? Are you staying committed to him? Do you turn to him for help in your time of need? If it’s all about who you know, then we are very well connected.
2. Bob Hartman, “It’s All About Who You Know,” Lyrics. Jekyll and Hyde, Inpop Records, 2003. Accessed March 14, 2008. Online: http://www.petrarocksmyworld.com/jah.html.
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