HIGH PRIEST – MERCY AND JUSTICE

Heb.2:17,18 – Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

The natural man does not and cannot understand the things of God. In this passage, we see two apparently opposite qualities in God’s heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ. The first quality most people will agree with, He is an incredibly merciful God. Unfortunately many of us cannot quite understand the basis of this mercy. Paul uses the word propitiation in this passage. Propitiation speaks of justice and holiness. God is not only merciful He is holy and unapproachable by sinful beings. Man was hopelessly separated from God until our High Priest offered His blood in order to propitiate our sin. Here is how Paul describes this dilemma. In Romans 3:25, Paul presents the solution for our sin. He introduces a word called propitiation. This is a very powerful and very important Bible word. Propitiation describes the joining together of the two diverse qualities found in our Lord, justice and mercy. Our God is a Holy and Just God. Sin cannot enter His presence and sin cannot go unpunished. At the same time the Lord is incredibly merciful, “the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.” At the cross, sin was judged. Christ became the representative of the human race. The Lord did not overlook sin, He judged it. Man’s sin, my sin, was judged by God. Because of the judgment of sin at Calvary, mercy becomes available. Because Christ suffered in my place, mercy has triumphed over judgment. Christ has forgiven me. I have been declared righteous, by faith I can now live. This is one of the great truths Paul proclaimed. Sin has been judged, the sacrifice has been accepted. We have been declared righteous because our representative took our judgement on Himself.

So in this passage in Hebrews, Paul displays how mercy and justice are both accomplished through the ministry of our heavenly High Priest. The Lord is merciful and holy, our sins have been done away with by the death of Christ at the cross. Christ took our judgement, sin was judged, my sin was judged and now I enjoy the benefits of the infinite mercy of God.