Walk Of Life – Day 09, December 2021 – Christ-Centered Christmas – Titles Of Jesus Christ

JESUS CHRIST – OUR HIGH PRIEST

 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. Hebrews 4:14 

In the days of old, a high priest was the one who would represent you before God. He would take your atonement, offer it on the altar and then enter the most Holy place and intercede for you. In other words, priests were mediators between God and man.

In more ways than one, the Lord Jesus is our High Priest. He himself became the atonement for our sins and entered the Holy of Holies with the precious Blood of the covenant reconciling us to God.  He is the one who even now intercedes for us in the presence of the Father. John 17 is the longest recorded prayer of the Lord Jesus and is also called the High Priestly prayer.

John 17 contains the true “Lord’s Prayer.” The three sections are Jesus prays for Himself (John 17:1-5),  He prays for His disciples (John 17:6-19), and in the third, He prays for all who would believe in Him or He prays for us (John 17:20-26).

The Lord Jesus fully steps into this high-priestly role and prays this beautiful prayer for disciples for all ages. You can sense the authority, power, and honesty as the Lord Jesus gets ready for the end of his earthly ministry and prays for the Father’s plan to redeem the world to be put into action. The Lord Jesus, in the first five verses glorifies the Father while requesting for glory in return.

Then the great high priest starts to pray for and about believers:

• The Lord Jesus says that He revealed the Father to who He has set apart, that is, the elect and clarified that the power and authority of Jesus is from God (verses 6 to 8)
• He prays not for the world but for those who would believe in Him – His disciples
• He prays that His disciples or believers will be One, they should be united always (verses 11 and 21)
• He prays that the Father may ‘keep’ us in his name (verse 11)
• The Lord Jesus knows that His disciples will face persecution so he prays for them, not that God will take them to safety but will protect them from the evil one, Satan.
• BY being a believer in Christ, we do not anymore belong to this world, we are a set apart people just as Jesus is set apart. (verses 16 to 19)
• He gives his disciples the great commission (verse 18)
• The Lord Jesus clearly says that He is not praying only for the 12 disciples but for everyone who would believe in Him.
• He shares his glory with us (v.22)
• He gives us the great privilege of being united with him, being perfectly one and that through this, it will be known that God loves and sent his disciples to the world. (verse 21 to 23)

John 17:24 is a treasure house because it depicts the Lord’s desire for His disciples.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

The desire of the Lord Jesus just before His own sacrifice was that we would be one day with Him in heaven and see Him in all His glory. He is so excited about the fact that we sinners saved by His grace would spend eternity with Him. This world may be full of trials and tribulations but the world to come is beautiful and special…what is to come is glorious.

Truly He is our glorious high priest, the one who prays for us before the Father. Are you troubled, distressed, overwhelmed, upset, or frustrated. Take heart, my friend the Lord Jesus is standing before His Father pleading your cause. The Father no longer sees my weaknesses or my sins but He sees the image of His son in me and acquits me as free, as His child, as a citizen of the heavenly kingdom.