As you are probably aware, the Bible tells us that Christ has three offices: prophet, priest, and king. Christ came the first time mainly as the Prophet foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18. In His earthly ministry He spoke for God, spoke forth God, taught the disciples, and prophesied. This was His role as prophet. Then in the last part of His earthly ministry He began to offer Himself to God until finally on the cross He offered Himself as the sacrifices to God for us. In this He was fulfilling His role as priest. From that point on, He has had this function.
In Levitical times the priests did two kinds of work. The first was the offering of sacrifices to God in the outer court around the altar. Once the offerings were made, the priests entered into the Holy Place. The high priest entered the Holy of Holies. Here they would minister to God on behalf of His people.
The first priestly work typifies Christ’s earthly priesthood; the second, His heavenly. When Christ offered Himself on the cross to God for us, He was a priest, offering on the earth in the outer court. Then after His resurrection He entered into the third heaven, which is the Holy of Holies. Here He continues to serve as the heavenly priest. It is this second aspect of His priesthood that we shall consider now.
This priesthood in the heavens is what mostly occupies Christ today. It is a vast subject for us to cover. The book of Hebrews deals with this matter quite comprehensively. Since we are limited by time in our consideration of it here, I recommend that you read the Life-study Messages on Hebrews that deal with it (especially Messages 13, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, and 35).
For Christ to be a priest, He must be a man (Heb. 2:16-17). The high priest was “taken from among men” (5:1). If he had been an angel, he would not have had any understanding of human problems. Because the priest was chosen from among men, he could sympathize with man’s weakness. Our High Priest today, Jesus Christ, is a man! He has partaken of our nature. He has shared in blood and flesh. He has been made like us in all things. He had to eat and drink. Sometimes He even wept. He shed tears at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35); He wept over Jerusalem at the end of His earthly ministry (Luke 19:41); and He prayed “with strong crying and tears” (Heb. 5:7) in the garden of Gethsemane. Even today He is a man, a man in the glory. “For we do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who has been tried in all respects like us, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Because He thoroughly knows all our weak points and problems, He sympathizes with us. Such is our High Priest as a man.
Our High Priest is also God! Because He is human, He can sympathize with us. But because He is also divine, He can take care of us. In the Old Testament the high priest Aaron could sympathize with the people, but many times he could not help them, because he was not divine. Our High Priest, however, is according to the order not of Aaron but of Melchisedec (Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20). Of Melchisedec no genealogy is recorded in Genesis (14:18-20) that he might be a proper type of Christ as the eternal One to be our High Priest perpetually. As a man, Christ knows our case and sympathizes with us; as God, He is able to take care of all our needs. Hallelujah for this God-man who is our High Priest!
The priesthood of Christ is “not according to the law of a fleshy commandment, but according to the power of an indestructible life” (Heb. 7:16). Aaron was constituted high priest according to the powerless letter of the law, but Christ according to the powerful element of an indestructible life. Our High Priest is constituted of a life which nothing can conquer, but which rather conquers everything! It is a life which cannot be destroyed. A life which saves to the uttermost. The endless, eternal, divine, uncreated life. The resurrection life which has passed the test of death and Hades.
Our High Priest is now serving God for us in the Holy of Holies. He is our Representative in the supreme court of the heavens! He is our Attorney, presenting our case to God. We do not fully realize how much Christ is doing for us there. Though His redemptive work has been accomplished, His heavenly service to us never ceases.