Hebrews 4:14 says, “Having therefore a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.” In this verse the title Jesus refers to His humanity, whereas the title Son of God refers to His Godhead. In 7:26 we are told that Christ is the High Priest, who is holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and having become higher than the heavens. In verse 28 we see that Christ as the Son is perfected forever. Verse 11 of chapter 9 speaks of Christ as a High Priest of the good things; 10:21 speaks of Christ as the great Priest over the house of God. These verses reveal that Christ is a great High Priest of the good things, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, having become higher than the heavens, and perfected forever.
According to 4:14, Jesus, the Son of God, is a “great High Priest.” The word great in this verse means “excellent, wonderful, glorious, and most honorable.” Christ is great in His person (1:5, 8; 2:6), work (1:3; 2:17, 9, 14-15, 10; 3:5-6; 4:8-9; Acts 2:24, 27), and attainment (Heb. 6:20; 9:24; 2:9).
First, our High Priest, Christ, is great in His person. He is the Son of God, God Himself (1:5, 8). He is also the Son of Man, man himself (2:6). He, being both God and man, has the divine nature and the human nature. He not only knows the things of God and the things of man; He also is in the things of God and the things of man. No other high priest has ever been like Him.
Our High Priest, Christ, is also great in His work. He has made purification of and propitiation for our sins (1:3; 2:17). He has taken away sin and has solved the problem of sin. He tasted death not only on behalf of every man but also on behalf of everything (v. 9). By tasting death, He conquered and subdued it. Death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24, 27). He also destroyed the devil who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14). By His death on the cross, Christ annulled Satan, the power of death. By conquering death and destroying the devil, He has released us from the slavery of death (v. 15). We have been freed by Him not only from the slavery of sin but also from the slavery of death. Through His suffering, He has been perfected to be the Captain of our salvation (v. 10). He fought the battle and entered into glory. As the Pioneer, He is leading us on in the same way to glory. He is now taking care of God’s house as Moses did (3:5-6). As the Builder of the house, He surely knows how to take care of it. He is now also bringing us into rest, as Joshua did (4:8-9). He has given us the Sabbath rest in the church age, and He will bring us into the Sabbath rest of the kingdom age. As our High Priest, He is great in all these wonderful and excellent works of His, which no high priest in the Old Testament had ever accomplished.
Moreover, our High Priest, Christ, is great in His attainment. His attainment is so high that He entered into the Holy of Holies in the heavens and was crowned with glory and honor (6:20; 9:24; 2:9). He is no longer on earth bearing the crown of thorns; He is now in the highest heavens wearing the crown of glory. No high priest can exceed Him in His attainment; no one can even compare with Him in this matter.
Our High Priest, Christ, who is great in His person, qualification, work, accomplishment, and attainment, has passed through the heavens (4:14). After He was crucified and before He was resurrected, Christ walked through Hades, having a good sightseeing tour. Although Satan and all the powers of death tried to hold Him, at the time of His resurrection, He rose from the grave (Acts 2:24, 27). Later, as He was ascending to the heavens, He overcame the gravitation of earth. The demons desperately tried to prevent Him from leaving the earth, but He made a wonderful takeoff. Then He ascended to the heavens. As He was passing through the air, the evil spirits, the principalities and powers, tried to grasp Him and hold Him back, but He stripped them off, making a display to the whole universe. This is the meaning of Colossians 2:15, which tells us that Christ stripped off the rulers and the authorities and “made a display of them openly, triumphing over them.” In this verse we see three main points: that Christ stripped off the rulers and the authorities, that He made a display of them, and that He triumphed over them. Now, having risen from Hades, having stripped off the rulers and the authorities, and having passed through the heavens, He is sitting on the throne at the right hand of God, where He is restfully enjoying a Sabbath. But He desires to see that all His members come into His Sabbath rest. The way to enter into His Sabbath is by experiencing Him as our High Priest. We simply need to come forward to the throne of grace on which He is sitting and receive mercy and find grace. When we do this, we are immediately in the Sabbath rest of the church life, waiting with Him for the better Sabbath to come in the age of the millennial kingdom.