Hebrews 4
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Heb. 4:15–16)
Priests in the Old Testament were mediators. If prophets represented God to the people, priests represented the people to God. The Levitical priests were taken from among men and appointed by God. They were given the task of acting on behalf of men. Their work was to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins (Heb. 5:1–9).
Although Christ fulfilled the work of the Levitical priesthood, the New Testament stresses that Christ was a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110; Heb. 7). Francis Turretin highlights several differences between the two priesthoods. One came from Aaron, the other from Melchizedek. One was associated with the Mosaic administration, the other with Abraham. One had a derivative power, the other had power in itself. One was temporal and of finite value, the other eternal and of infinite value. In short, the two differ in persons, in institution, in efficacy, in perfection, and in duration.1
Christ’s work as priest chiefly consists of two things: atonement and intercession. “Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering himself as a sacrifice without spot to God, to be a reconciliation for the sins of his people; and in making continual intercession for them” (WLC Q/A 44). We will look at the atonement in more detail later, so we will focus here on the priestly work of intercession.
The nature of Christ’s ongoing intercession is manifold. Christ not only prays for us; his perpetual presence in heaven is itself part of his mediatorial work (Heb. 7:25; 8:1–4; 9:24). Christ is also in heaven in a judicial capacity to be an advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1) and to turn away the accusations of the accuser (Zech. 3:1–2; Rom. 8:33–34). In all this, Christ’s atonement and his intercession are inextricably linked. The suffering and death of Christ were “preparatory and antecedent to his intercession.”2 Suffering was the part of his priestly work done on earth; intercession is the part of his priesthood to be performed in heaven. Christ procured salvation by his suffering; he continues to apply it by his intercession.
Christ also ministers to us as a sympathetic high priest (Heb. 2:18; 4:15). We should not equate Christ’s sympathy with the notion that the Son of God is weeping in heaven for our sakes. Any notion of Christ’s continued suffering undermines the completed nature of his atoning work and confuses the state of exaltation with the state of humiliation. The sympathy of Christ is not the same as contemporary notions of sentimentality. Interestingly, Hebrews doesn’t actually say Christ sympathizes with us, but with our weaknesses. The point is that because of the Son’s identification with his brothers, he can help us. The emphasis is not on Jesus feeling the right thing in heaven. Rather, the good news is that because he has felt what we feel, he will surely come to our aid.
Our comfort is not that Christ is still bound up in our sorrow, but that because he suffered for our sake we can be caught up into his glory. Suffering itself is not sacred. Christ sanctified suffering because he suffered with a purpose. He suffered to save the lost. The aim of Christ’s ongoing priestly intercession is not for Christ to continue to participate in the life of suffering on earth, but for believers to participate in the life of God in heaven.
1. Turretin, Francis. Institutes of Elenctic Theology. 3 vols. Translated by George Musgrave Giger. Edited by James T. Dennison Jr. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1997. 2.406–8.
2. Turretin, Elenctic Theology, 2.406.
This article is adapted from Daily Doctrine: A One-Year Guide to Systematic Theology by Kevin DeYoung.
Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.
