Not just a prophet
By Rev Dr Paul Blackham
At the very centre of life for the ancient church in the Old Testament was the high priest – the man who had the job of presenting the life, fruitfulness, power and purity of the LORD Jesus Christ.
Though the high priest was just a sinful man like everybody else, yet he was representing the Great High Priest who is the source of all life and light, all logic and love.
In one sense, when Aaron put on the high priest outfit he was dressing up like the ultimate ‘super hero’: he was dressing up as the Man who has all the power, all the answers and all the life.
How powerful is our great High Priest?
When the universe was created, it was the divine high priest who laid the foundations of the world, put the stars in place and set the boundaries for the waters. He alone could do what seems impossible; doing the will of the Father by the power of the Spirit.
Filled with the Spirit, He is the champion of heaven and earth, the Hero of both humanity and God. He is the highest and best of all that God and humanity can ever be – the fullness of divine and human life.
Job yearns for Him as the only One who can put His hand on both the Father in the highest heaven but also on the lowliest, most broken human in the filthiest gutter on earth – Job 9:33-34.
When all hope is gone, He is the Friend who will step in and sort everything out, taking all our problems as His own and never leaving us, no matter how tough it gets- Job 16:19-21.
In the book of Exodus, He is the middle Man who stands in the fire between heaven and earth; and He is the One who stands between all the armies of Egypt and the church.
In Joshua He is the Divine Warrior who commands all the armies of heaven and the church. When the undefeated armies of the world surrounded the church, He sent them His people to sleep in bed while He went out to single-handedly defeat all the enemies – [Isaiah 37:33-36].
Throughout the Bible, the Divine High Priest holds heaven and earth together.
Jacob sees Him like a ladder holding heaven and earth together: it is as if all the angels climb up and down on Him in all the business of heaven and earth.
Daniel saw that He is the Son of Man who has all the power in the universe; When Ezekiel felt powerless and abandoned in a pagan land, Jesus the High Priest came to pick Him up with all the power and glory of heaven.
He was born as one of us and showed that He is the both the Lord over every detail of reality but also the Saviour who would beat all the forces of evil and death with His own blood. He alone can bring God and humanity together - 1 Timothy 2:5.
