The Apostle and High Priest of Our Confession

Jesus is our faithful Apostle and High Priest of our confession. His faithfulness is our security!

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The Apostle and High Priest of Our Confession

Hebrews 3:1  Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

Much like the book of Romans, Hebrews is also a building block style of writing.  Going to the middle of the books without understanding the truths established earlier in the book leads to misunderstand and sometimes outright false doctrines.  Hebrews 3:1 starts with the word “therefore”.  Because of the truths found in Hebrews 1 and 2 we are ready to build further to bring greater revelation to that truth.  The Father speaks to us now exclusively through His Son who after He purged us from our sin sat down at the right hand of God.  Jesus was exalted and the Father set in stone forever the deity of Jesus calling Him God!  We see Jesus who suffered for our sin and bore the guilt shame and faced the punishment for our sin.  Because of His obedience to the cross is able to come to our aid.  Because of this truth we can be called holy brethren!  Oh that all of the body of Christ would gain the truth we are holy brethren who are partakers of the heavenly calling!  Jesus made you and I partakers.  Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.

Have you ever stopped and consider Jesus to such a degree you know Him to be your Apostle (sent one) and High Priest (advocate) of your confession.  The church would do well to meditate on the meaning that Jesus is our High Priest and Apostle.

1 Peter 2:25  For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Jesus' work to deal with our sin is finished.  It is the finished work of the cross.  Jesus' work as Apostle and High Priest is still an on going work on your behalf.  Jesus is truly the great Shepherd and Overseer of your soul!  The KJV says He is the Bishop of your soul.  The great Shepherd loves and cares for His sheep; He is always overseeing and caring and advocating for those who have submitted to Him.

2 Thessalonians 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Jesus is faithful.  JESUS IS FAITHFUL!!  Jesus will establish you and guard you from the evil one.  Oh that the saint would have this word in their mouth, “Jesus is faithful and He establishes me and guards me from the evil one!”.  If we the saints of God would get the complaint out of our mouth and put the powerful word of truth in its place we would experience satan being the defeated foe in our life.

Hebrews 3:1  Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2  who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

Here in Hebrews 3 it becomes a compare and contrast between the household of the law of Moses and the household of Jesus Christ.

John 1:17  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  18  No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

The covenant of grace comes exclusively through Jesus Christ.  If you are a partaker of grace you seek to hear from the bosom of the Father.  Our Apostle and High Priest came to let us know and learn the intimacy His reconciliation has brought us!

Hebrews 3:3  For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.  4  For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.  5  And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant,for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,  6  but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

The greater glory is found in Jesus Christ.  The greater honor is found in Jesus Christ!  Moses was found faithful as a servant; Jesus is found faithful as the Son over the Father’s house.  We belong to that house if we hold fast the confidence of our confession.  Jesus is our Messiah.  We must consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession!

Hebrews 3:7  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice,  8  Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,  9  Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.  10  Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.'  11  So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"

The covenant that made men servants never allowed men to enter the rest of God.  However we can consider the work of our Apostle and High Priest to understand our availability to His rest.

John 8:34  Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  35  "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  36  "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

The difference between the households is expressed in the slaves can be sold out of the house, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed!  Under the law of  Moses one could never truly be set free from sin.  Consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession who frees us from our sin; freedom indeed. 

Hebrews 8:6  But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.  7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.  8  Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah ; 

Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession has the more excellent ministry.  He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which is established on better promises.  Beware of the false teacher who try and bring you back under the law of performance.  Beware of the teachers who have you studying your own performance at the expense of taking your eyes off the better covenant found exclusively in Jesus Christ.  Beware of them who try to bring you under Old Testament practices and promise you intimacy through such practices.  One thing brings you near to God and no other thing can and will.  The blood of Jesus brings you near.  Notice it is the covenant made with Israel and with the house of Judah .  Jesus arose from root of Jessie the tribe of Judah .  Do you belong to His house?

Ephesians 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  14  For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 

Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.  It is His work at the cross alone that brings us near.  He Himself is our peace!  If you don’t consider yourself near to God you are discounting the grace of God in your life.  The strong sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the lone agent that brings us near to God!  The Father considers the strength of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God when he considers who His children are.  Have you come into the covenant by the blood of the lamb?  Trust nothing less than the Lambs blood to have enough power to keep you near God.

Hebrews 8:9  "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.  10  "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  11  "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  12  "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."  13  In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Considering our Apostle and High Priest of our confession changes everything.  It is power to enter into His rest.  It is power to walk as children of Abba Father!  His divine power has given us everything we need for godliness!  His very grace has such power that it teaches us we have been cleansed so we can add to our faith!  Life is found exclusively in considering and keeping our eyes upon the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.