The Apostle and High Priest of Our Profession - Hebrews 3:1

A slightly different but much needed look at who for us Christ Jesus is to be.

Author: Randy Pritts

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From the SoGreatSalvationSeries

Today's Text

Our considerations today will be centered primarily on the first part of this description "Apostle", as there will be greater opportunity in the chapters soon to follow regarding Christ's role as High Priest. The thing to take note of is that both Apostle and High Priest are mentioned in close proximity here together. They are separate enough to consider as two distinct roles, but function well side by side together.

What is meant by Apostle?

Have you ever thought of Jesus Christ as a Apostle? Surely, you have though of Him as savior, or a teacher or a prophet. It is more likely that you have thought of His disciples as apostles such a Peter and John, James and Andrew etc... more than Christ Himself. One would almost get the impression that apostle is something one would work their way up from disciple into.

Apostolos (dict:strongs G652 ) carries the idea of being a delegate/ambassador with it, a messenger who is sent in an important person's stead, given the authority to negotiate and act on that important persons behalf, an official representative of. This delegate is typically associated and confirmed by miraculous powers by this word though. So we are already seeing a very important aspect of Jesus that could easily get lost in all His other titles and functions; that Jesus was officially sent by the Father as a diplomatic ambassador of the Father with the Father's stamp of authority, confirmed by the evidences of the Father's own power.

You will recall a parable told by Jesus of a vineyard owner moving to distant land, hiring husbandmen to tend his vineyard while he was away kjv@Luke:20:9-19. When the expected time came, the owner sent for his profits via a servant only to be turned away empty handed. This happened multiple times with the same results. So then the owner thought the next best thing to going there himself would be to send his very own son, the heir to his great business and fortune. In this analogy there is a marked difference between the household servants first sent and the actual son having to do with the level of importance and authority. This is the same level of distinction this author is making between God's faithful servant Moses and God's faithful Son Jesus Christ.

It is stated in verse 2 that both Jesus and Moses were faithful. There is no intent to knock Moses. There is however a distinction to be made in the level of glory (verse 3) given specifically to Christ. "Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant" verse 5, "But Christ as a son over his own house".

Moses could be said to be an apostle in that he was God's chosen delegate to the people of Israel and was confirmed to be so by several God granted miracles. Jesus can be said to be an Apostle in that he was God's chosen delegate through whom "all the nations" would be blessed, and was confirmed to be so by many more miracles/voices/prophets/wonders. Moses' house that he served under was built by and for Christ as indicated verse 5 "for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after".

Remember now that Moses spoke of a prophet coming after him that would be like unto him, it was to this like but greater prophet he said we should listen? kjv@Deuteronomy:18:15

What does that form of apostleship mean for us?

Let's first consider this apostleship in terms of being a delegate. Jesus later tells us that what He see's the Father do, Jesus does. What the Father says to say, Jesus delivers. If He were to say or do anything that had not been issued to Him by the Father, He would not be considered the Father's official delegate. And this is true not once or twice or in a general manner in the lifetime of earthly Jesus, it had to be true throughout His official ministry.

Now that we understand the importance of Christ being this type of say as said/do as done delegate, we can now better think upon the added importance given to the confirmation of this apostleship by means of the miraculous. Here it is the Father's power producing these miracles as a means of confirmation, not Jesus' power (though He surely could have done it by His own). This point is crucial to understand.

An apostle does not heal by his own power else then he forfeits his role of being an apostle. This means that Jesus had to keep Himself at all times in complete submission.

The Devil tried to trip Him up by saying "if you are who you say you are - do this, do that, call upon these helpers...". "If you are really who you say" is encouraging Him into proving Himself by His own means prior to the Father confirming Jesus for Him. "Change these stones into bread" is summoning Him to use His own power. Every thing mentioned, Jesus could have done, but then (and this is important) He would have ceased being submitted in His entirety to the will of the Father. It would not be much of a temptation if the Devil had asked the same from you and I, because turning stones into bread is not within our power. It is only a temptation when we leave behind our submission to God in order to prove we are of God by our own power.

Christ is being sent not to do His own many great works, this is not the all about Jesus touring miracle show, rather it is Christ being sent by the Father to accomplish the Father's will by the Father's delegated power. This is what makes the earthly walk of Jesus so much different than the rest.

So often we read of a paralytic etc.. that has been healed by Jesus and we think that it is by Christ's power. No sir, that is not true, it is by His entire submission. In fact, we can take all of this one step further, when the paralytic was healed, where did the infirmity afflicting him go? According to kjv@Matthew:8:17 Christ took it upon Himself, He bore it.

This is just one of several indications of just how deep the submission of Christ actually goes: rather than healing the ailment by His own power, He bore it in complete submission to the Father's will, plus He constantly kept Himself from the temptation to do this a more direct less painful to Himself way. And because of this submissive obedience the Father would confirm/glorify the Son by miraculous confirmations upon those many afflicted, time and time again.

Have you ever considered Christ's apostleship in that submissive a light?

How does Apostle in this sense relate to High Priest?

We cannot exclude High Priest from this consideration. There is a definite separation of the two responsibilities and yet a curious and certain linkage.

The role of high priest is a role of becoming a go between. We have Holy God on the one hand, we have unholy man on the other. In between them comes the priest as an intermediary, one foot in God's camp and the other in man's. The apostle role of Christ is totally submitted to and delegated by God.

Moses was a high priest in a similar sense as is Jesus, in that he stood in between God and man, God spoke with man through Moses, man spoke to God through Moses. It was his brother Aaron however who assumed the role of Levitical High Priest (Chief Priest of the developing Levitical order). In a sense he is a high priest in Israel before there was such a thing; through him the Levitical Priesthood was officially being established.

Jesus is not a High Priest in the Levitical order. The order that Jesus can be associated with precedes all that, back to the time of Abraham, to the kingly high priest of Melchizedek. There will be plenty that this author of Hebrews will have to say about that and we will soon get to that. For now though, the thing to consider is that both Moses and Jesus are high priests in their own respects but of unconventional Hebrew means, just as they standout as un-ordinary and highly confirmed apostles.

Moses however was not ever asked to submit himself to God's will of providing himself as a suitable substitutionary sacrifice. In this sense Jesus stands alone in that He became High Priest by being at the same time the ultimate atoning sacrifice. Moses and the Jews were only beginning to understand this, it was being explained to them symbolically through the repetitive sacrifices being prescribed into the Jewish culture of those early days. They had to understand that before they could reasonably understand any of this that was to come.

So then the one man Jesus "was counted worthy of more glory than Moses" v2. Not that what Moses did was not glorious, but that what Moses did in his time set up the future reception of the ultimate glory that was to come next for all times. We are now "partakers of the heavenly calling" v1 largely because of what had been established through Moses for Jesus in the past.

Apostle relates to High Priest beautifully in Christ's case making Him the "Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus". Add to this then that HE is also great Prophet and King of kings, alpha and omega, Emmanuel, one with the Father and Spirit, made lower once then restored higher than even the angels; given the right to execute final judgment; there you have a very impressive resume to profess of. Each item in this list is very important to the overall profession.

Comment Board: ApostleAndHighPriest Tags: Jesus, Priest, Apostle, Moses, Profession,

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