jesus royal priesthood
We've been exploring the theme
of the royal priest in the Bible.
We started by looking at Adam and Eve,
who were called to represent God
and rule over creation as his image.
Ruling and representing God,
this is the ideal role of a royal priest,
but tragically they're deceived by a creature,
they abandon their calling,
and so, humans are exiled from Eden
and fill the world with violence.
But, all is not lost.
God promises that one of their descendants
will come to intervene on their behalf
and restore the blessings of Eden.
A new priest to restore the failed priests.
He's going to strike that deceiver
while being struck by it.
He's like a royal priest who becomes a sacrifice.
Now through Israel's story,
God raises up many people
who could have been this royal priest,
like Abraham, Moses, and David.
And they all fail,
but their stories point forward,
anticipating the ultimate royal priest.
And this brings us to Jesus.
Now in the time of Jesus,
the people of Israel were ruled by the Roman Empire,
but they were governed by their own priests,
including the high priest
who worked in the Jerusalem Temple.
The high priest was the only one
who could enter the most holy space
and it was separated by a thick curtain
embroidered with images of cherubim.
And the high priest at this time was a man named Caiaphas.
He is the one
who currently represents the people before God,
but then Jesus came onto the scene.
When we're introduced to Jesus,
he's outside of Jerusalem
at the Jordan river getting baptized.
The skies opened up and God says,
"You are my son. Whom I love; with you I am very pleased."
Now these words blend together
three statements from the Hebrew scriptures
that are all about the coming royal priest,
who will be the king that God promised
to raise up from the line of David
and also the beloved son, like Isaac was to Abraham.
And he's the suffering royal servant of Isaiah,
who dies for the sins of his people.
This baptism is like his ordination
as a royal priest.
Right, and so it's no surprise that afterwards,
Jesus starts going around acting like a priest.
Oh, right, like forgiving people of their sins
or restoring people who were impure,
so they could enter the temple.
These are the things
that the priests who work in the Jerusalem temple
were supposed to be doing.
But Jesus is doing it outside their authority,
and so they start to see him as a threat.
And so this leads to a story
where Jesus goes up with some friends to a high mountain
and there, he's transformed.
He starts shining and all of his clothes become pure white.
This is like the vision Moses had
of the ideal high priest.
Yeah, exactly.
Jesus is here being revealed as the ultimate royal priest.
And it's here that Jesus decides
that he's going to Jerusalem,
even though he knows that he'll get killed.
And so later, when Jesus rides into Jerusalem,
he challenges the authority of the current priesthood
who are running things in the temple.
Like when he storms in
and disrupts the sale of animal sacrifices.
Yeah, this is his way
of showing he's the priest in charge.
And then later he's asked, who do you think you are?
And so Jesus responds by quoting from Psalm 110
in Israel's scriptures.
This is the song where King David speaks of someone
that he calls his Lord,
someone greater than him who will rule as a royal priest.
Jesus is claiming that he is that priest.
This makes the priests in Jerusalem angry.
So they have Jesus arrested
and they put them on trial before Caiaphas, the high priest,
who asks Jesus, "Are you the anointed one?"
And what he means is are you the royal priest?
Because right now that's my job.
And Jesus responds once more by quoting Psalm 110,
saying, "I am
and you are going to see me ruling at God's right hand."
But actually we're about to see Jesus get killed.
How is that ruling as a high priest?
Well, remember from Israel's scriptures,
the pattern of the royal priest
who surrenders himself as a sacrifice.
Jesus is saying that offering his life for others
is the way that he's going to ascend his royal throne.
When Jesus died,
the curtain in the temple tore in two.
God's own life presence,
the blessings of Eden that were once guarded and separate,
now they can flow out of the temple to fill all of creation.
And when Jesus comes alive from the dead,
he appears to his followers
and commissions them to go out to the nations.
So that they can share the good news
that Jesus is the ruling king and priest
who's going to restore the blessings of Eden.
This is why the apostle, Paul, called Jesus the new Adam.
He's inviting us back into Eden to become like him.
So that we can take up our lost calling
of being God's royal priests.
Yes and that new royal priesthood
that's made up of the followers of Jesus,
that's what we're going to explore next.
papers shuffle
birds chirp
God bless you
