Our Great High Priest

Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19-23

What is the most important experience for any human to have? To experience love and acceptance from another human being. To experience genuine happiness and enjoyment. To experience profound wonder and awe. To achieve material, professional, or financial success. All of these are important, desirable experiences for sure – but none of these compare to the most important of all – experiencing close and direct access to God.

Unfortunately, some people ignore this experience completely and make no attempt to have it. Many other people, though, make one kind of attempt or another, with varying levels of effort, but they fail to have this experience because they pursue a mistaken identity of God or else they pursue God in a wrong and inappropriate way. Jesus himself acknowledged this dilemma by using an illustration of two roads:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt 7:13-14)

So, if the road or way to God is narrow (like a dirt path in a forest) and relatively few people travel on it and the road to destruction is broad (like a six-lane expressway in the city) and many people travel on it, then what is the narrow way to God? Jesus answers that question in plain and simple terms:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (Jn 14:6)

To experience close and direct access to God, a person must believe on and follow Jesus. He is the only way and the only person who can give anyone a close and direct access to God. The difficulty with statements like this, though, is that rather than sounding simple and clear – which is normally something we appreciate – it can sound exclusive and restrictive in a negative way due to how our sinful natures normally respond to Jesus.

For this reason, people either refrain from following Christ or they first attempt to follow but then feel pressure, both from without and within, to draw back to their former way of pursuing God – often through another religious tradition. Sometimes this tradition is another religion entirely (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.) and other times an aberration of Christianity (Seventh Day Adventism, Roman Catholicism, Unitarianism, etc.).

That’s why the book of Hebrews was written. There were people who had grown up practicing orthodox Judaism, but who later transitioned to following Christ, instead. These people faced severe pressure, suffering, and persecution due to their new faith. On one hand, they endured persecution from the Roman Emperor Nero’s anti-Christian policies; on the other hand, they endured severe pressure from former their former Jewish family and community who resented their departure from Judaism.

As a result, they faced a difficult choice: go back to traditional Judaism or persevere in following Christ. This dilemma strongly resembled how the Israelites of the Old Testament (OT) wished that they could go back to Egypt (Num 11:4-6; 14:1-4). They felt this way even after God had rescued them from through powerful plagues and miracles and even though they had experienced terrible treatment in Egypt as slaves. The phrase “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is often true, but not always in a good way. Sometimes the challenges of life cause us to look at the past in an inaccurate way, failing to realize that despite the challenges we face today, we are in a much better place than before.

For the people to whom the book of Hebrews was written, the book points out the simple fact that Christ is better than the past experiences of Judaism—better than the prophets, better than angels, better than Moses and Joshua, and even better than the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices. The key word better is used twelve times in this book (1:4; 6:9; 7:7, 19, 22; 8:6 [twice]; 9:23; 10:34; 11:16, 35, 40). So, since Christ is better, then going back to something inferior makes no sense. Christ gives a better sacrifice, priesthood, and eternal inheritance (1:4; 6:9; 7:19; 9:23; 10:34).

Let’s take a look at what Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us about following Christ. In this brief portion of Scripture, we’ll see that since Christ along gives us direct, close access to God, then we should continue to follow him with confidence.

This Scripture is the opening to a larger section of Scripture which compares Christ to the OT system of priests and sacrifices as a means to come closer to God. This section concludes at 10:19-23, which says basically the same thing as 4:14-16.

Since Jesus gives us direct access to God …

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God... (Heb 4:14)

Jesus is better than Jewish temple worship because unlike OT worship practices, he gives us actual direct access to the heavenly presence of God. A key phrase here in this passage is “passed through the heavens.” This statement contrasts with how OT priests “passed through” a great cloth veil when they entered into the Holiest Place in the Temple.

This veil and room in the Temple were not the actual, real throne room or concentrated presence of God – it was only an example and less direct presence. Though God did reveal himself there in a special way behind that curtain in that Holiest Place, this was not his actual, most concentrated presence as it was at the throne room of the universe.

Fans of baseball may know that the “Green Monster” is. The Major League team, the Boston Red Sox, have a large green wall in their outer leftfield that measures 37 ft. 2 in. tall. Baseball fans travel from all over to watch players try to hit the ball over this difficult, imposing wall. What many people don’t know is that two of the Red Sox’s Minor League teams also have replicas of this Green Monster – the Greenville Drive (High-A) and the Portland Sea Dogs (Double-A). So, for less money you can watch less-experienced, less-talented players in a smaller ballpark try to hit the ball over their own Green Monsters in left field. But none of this compares to watching elite players trying to do this at the original Green Monster in the oldest, most historic Major League stadium in Boston.

The point here is why would anyone want to go back to OT Judaism, approaching God indirectly through a priest in the Holiest Place of the Tabernacle, when you can now approach God in an even closer, direct way through Christ in heaven, the actual, concentrated place of God’s presence and throne. Not only this, but why would anyone want to go back to any other way of trying to approach God? Christ himself made the same point when he said:

No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Lk 9:62)

Not only does Christ give us access to the real, actual presence and throne room of God, but he does so directly. He himself passed through the heavens to God for us. In other words, there is only one person standing between God and mankind, connecting and communicating with God on our behalf. As Paul says,

There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5)

This means there are no other “middlemen,” “go-betweens,” etc. Not only are people like this not necessary, but such people are also of no use. Because Christ provides us with direct access to God as our ultimate High Priest, we have no need or use of others to do this for us.

He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb 7:25)

Christ alone is our mediator, the person who connects us closely and directly to God. But though Scripture makes this very clear, not everyone agrees.

A recent document from Pope Leo XIV called Mater Populi Fidelis (published Nov 4, 2025), an official pronouncement on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church, seeks to clarify the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in our salvation. On one hand, it says in various ways that only Jesus provides salvation. No one else, not even Mary, does so. This is true – but the document goes on to explain how other lesser mediators supposedly take part in this process.

On the other hand, the document says that Mary is somehow involved in connecting us to the salvation that Christ provides. It says that she “prepares us to receive the life of grace” and “opens our hearts to Christ and to his sanctifying grace" through "motions" or "promptings.” It does on to say this about the role of Mary today:

Because of [Mary’s] singular union in motherhood and in grace, her prayer for us has a value and an efficacy that cannot be compared to any other intercession. Saint John Paul II … noted that Mary “puts herself ‘in the middle,’” that is to say, she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that, as such, she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind.

About Mary’s intercession, the document concludes that “the People of God trust firmly in her intercession.” It then goes on to explain how other deceased saints also pray and intercede for us today:

The Catholic faith reads in Scripture that those who are with God in heaven can continue to perform acts of love by interceding for us and accompanying us.

However, all but one of the Scriptures this document cites as support speaks about angels doing things for God’s people, not about deceased believers offering prayers to God. The only exception is Rev 6:9-10, which shows deceased martyrs in heaven praying for God to avenge their wrongful death. So, they are praying for their own selves, not living believers, neither are they praying things which living believers have asked them to pray.

This concept of how we approach God – by requesting the aid of other deceased saints in order to receive help from Christ in approaching God contradicts what Scripture says about the mediator, intercessor role of Christ:

There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5)

There is only one Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus himself. No one else participates in this process. It is Christ alone. For this reason, the letter of Hebrews says…

… we should continue to identify with him closely.

let us hold fast our confession... (Heb 4:14)

Because we have such close and direct access to the very presence of God in the throne room of the universe, and since no other person, form, religion, or system of worship provides such access to God, we should cling tightly to our confession of faith in Christ. No amount of pressure from anything or anyone should be able to pull or pry us away.

This means we should persevere in our singular, complete faith in Christ and should not be afraid to identify with him publicly. When public pressure from culture and friends, family and relatives, or others causes you to feel inferior, illegitimate, disconnected, mean, or impolite for leaving their beliefs and traditions or for causing them to feel as though you believe they are wrong, cling tightly to your faith in Christ alone. When family, professional, career, financial, emotional, or social stability and acceptance is threatened because of your faith in Christ alone, grasp strongly to your faith in Christ alone. As Heb 10:23 says:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Earlier in this letter, it says Christ was “not ashamed to call us his brothers” (Heb 2:11). If he was not ashamed to call us brothers who were formerly sinners and enemies of God, then why should we be ashamed to identify publicly with him who is perfectly loving, good, and sinless and who died for our sins at such a great cost and pain?

But Jesus does more than provide us with close and direct access to God. He also understands us in a way that no one else can do.

Since Jesus understands our difficulties …

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Heb 4:15)

In this statement, we see two key realities that we must clearly understand and take to heart. The empathy of Christ, the shared experience of Christ and the sinlessness of Christ. Said another way, we not only have a representative before God who takes us into close and direct contact with God but who also understands our difficulties while also triumphing over them.

First, Christ understands our difficulties. The way that this statement is written makes this emphatic. It says, “we do not” and “who cannot” back-to-back. We call this a “double-negative” today and consider it bad grammar. But in the Greek language, this was a way of making a strong and emphatic point. In this case, it means that our High Priest – Jesus Christ – really and genuinely understands our difficulties.

The word weaknesses here is plural, which shows that he doesn’t just understand our weakness in a general categorical way but in every number of ways possible. The word weakness also covers a wide range or difficulties, from the normal, non-sinful weakness of being human (like anxiety, hunger, pain, thirst, tiredness, etc.) to the temptation to do any number of sinful things as well. So, you can never say about Christ, “You just don’t understand what I’m going through,” because he always understands.

To make this even clearer, the writer explains how Jesus was tempted “in all points as we are.” This does not mean that he had a sinful urge to do things, because we know he had no sinful nature. It also does not mean he was tempted to do every specific sin possible. After all, there are drugs, technology, and more today which tempt people to sin today which were not available in the first century BC. But this does mean that every kind and category of sin was present to Christ during his earthly life. So comprehensive was his experience that whatever temptations you face today he faced comparable ones himself.

Not only did Jesus experience every kind of sin and human difficulty possible, but he did so without ever committing a sin. In other words, he never gave in to temptation. He never sinned. The Apostle Peter affirmed this when he said, “He committed no sin” (1 Pet 2:22), and the Apostle John said, “In him there is no sin” (1 Jn 3:5).

When we hear that Jesus faced temptations – even the kinds of temptations we face – but that he never sinned, we may feel as though he doesn’t actually understand or sympathize with us in our struggles, then. After all, how can he understand our difficulties if he never actually failed and sinned? Christian author C.S. Lewis answered this objection in a very helpful way when he said this:

A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. . . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.

To illustrate this from the life of Christ, let me give you the following examples:

• When Jesus faced the careful rules of Joseph and Mary as his parents, he was tempted to disobey. But he never did.
• When Jesus was left without a father as the oldest child in the home, he was tempted to steal in order to provide for the needs of the family. But he never did.
• When Jesus was an adult with no bed or house of his own, he was tempted to covet his brothers’ or neighbors’ houses. But he never did.
• When Jesus answered questions from government and religious leaders, he was tempted to lie in order to protect his life. But he never did.
• When his cousin, John the Baptist, was beheaded for calling out the sin of Herod, the local governor, he was tempted to complain about God being unfair. But he never did.
• When Jesus spoke alone to the woman at the well or when a woman wiped his feet with her hair, he was tempted to lust. But he never did.
• When he was falsely accused, he was tempted to speak harshly in return or to even take revenge. But he never did.
• When he won arguments and silenced critics with his answers, he was tempted to be proud. But he never did.

[Thanks to John Piper for providing a similar list.]

As C.S. Lewis went on to say:

That is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist. (Mere Christianity, 142)

The point is this. When you face new and more difficult challenges, trials, pain, and even temptations because you are chosen to follow Christ, don’t turn back and don’t turn away from him because he genuinely understands your difficulties more than anyone else possibly can. For this reason alone, why would you ever want any other “middleman” or person between you and God and why would you ever fall back to any other, former, lesser way of seeking a close, direct relationship with God?

Now, as I mentioned Mary as a contrast to Christ, let me do so again here. Just as Roman Catholicism portrays Mary as another, secondary mediator between God and man (and became Christ and man), so they also portray Mary as being sinless, too. And by doing so, they suggest or teach that Mary is someone that we can more readily relate to, perhaps even more than Christ himself, which makes her a helpful “intercessor” when come to God.

Some base this claim on how the angel, Gabriel, addressed her with “Hail, Mary, full of grace” (Lk 1:28). They claim that “full of grace” means something like being completely freed from the presence and practice of sin from the moment of her conception onward. But this interpretation is based upon a poor handling of Greek grammar in this case. It also overlooks how Eph 1:6 uses the same words to describe how all who believe on Christ alone are also “highly favored” (same word used as with Mary). The Catholic Encyclopedia itself says this:

In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin.”

It goes on to say this (and I quote):

No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture.

Even the Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges that this teaching has no clear biblical basis. And it goes on to explain how this doctrine has also been debated and disagreed about through the centuries, with far less support and strong disagreement in the earliest centuries. But Scripture is clear:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23)

This includes Mary since Scripture never says otherwise and since the only person whom Scripture calls sinless is Christ. Said another way, Christ alone understands and sympathizes with your difficulties far more than any other person can, Mary or otherwise. There is no one who understands your difficulties – even your temptations to sin – better than Jesus. For this reason,

… we should come to him for help with confidence.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16)

With this statement, the writer of Hebrews contrasts our ability to come closely and directly to God through Christ with how the Hebrew people used to approach God on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This was a special day once a year (during our September) in which Jewish people gathered together at the Temple for a large-scale sacrifice.

On this day, after many expensive and elaborate rituals and sacrifices, the High Priest would enter into the Holiest Place where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. They would do all this to receive forgiveness for all their sins as a nation, sins which they had not recognized, sins for which they had not repented, sins of the nation as a whole, etc. Before he entered the tabernacle, the High Priest had to bathe and put on special clothing (Lev 16:4); he would then sacrifice a bull as an offering for the sins of himself and his family (Lev 16:6, 11). The blood of the bull would then be brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant. These were only some of the many requirements for the High Priest on this day. And if he failed to follow these instructions, then the death penalty would be the result (Lev 16:2, 13).

Knowing all of this, why would anyone want to go back to this former way of approaching God? Here, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that we may now come boldly – which means to come confidently – to God’s throne of grace. We can come directly into God’s presence through and thanks to Christ alone. And we can do so without first passing through Mary, other deceased saints, or even people called priests today. None of these intermediary persons are necessary or helpful. We can go directly into the presence of God through Christ.

And we can do so without the fear and dread of wondering whether we will be struck dead for doing so. Why? Because Christ has already died in our place. He is both our Great High Priest and perfect sacrifice.

What’s more, this “new and living way” that Christ’s provides for us to come directly and closely into God’s presence is available “to help in time of need.” This phrase may be translated as “any time we need help.” This means that we are not limited to a particular day each year, each month, or each week to come into God’s presence, as with Yom Kippur. We may – and should – come to God for grace whenever we need to – not only after we’ve sinned, but before, too.

When we come to God for mercy and grace, we must do so directly through Christ alone and at any time we need. We are never “put on hold,” told to wait for such and such ceremony or festival, or told that we need to go through someone else. To the child of God, his mercy and grace are fully available at all times because of the direct and close access that Christ provides as our Great High Priest. The Day of Atonement was a one-time event, but we are told to come to God’s throne of grace continually.

Why would we go back or turn aside to any other way?

• Have you turned to Christ alone for forgiveness of sins and for a close and direct relationship with God? If not, are you willing to do so today?
• If so, then do you come to Christ confidently and continually for mercy and grace every time you need God’s help?

Far too often, we Christians neglect the open invitation of Hebrews 4:16 to "come boldly to the throne of grace" in our moments of need. We too easily forget how freely accessible God's mercy and grace truly is. We treat prayer as a last resort rather than a first response, or we allow shame, pride, or busyness to keep us from approaching the throne with confidence. We may even be tempted to fall back to other unbiblical ways of approaching God which deny that Christ alone is able and ready to help us. Another pitfall, of course, and perhaps all too common, is to feel that Christ – of all people – is not able to understand our difficulties, when, in fact, he is the only person who actually, fully does.

Instead of casting every care upon Him in real time – whether in times of human weakness or temptation to sin—we isolate ourselves, rely on our own strength, resort to rituals, traditions, and superstitions, and miss out on the timely help that comes directly from God through Christ.

Imagine a single mother, tempted to despair as bills pile up and children cry for food; she kneels in her kitchen at midnight, boldly asking for provision and peace. Or consider a teenager facing peer pressure to compromise his integrity; instead of hiding the struggle, he texts his youth leader for prayer, then stands firm, strengthened by grace in the moment of decision and says no. A husband stung by betrayal chooses to pray aloud in his car, confessing anger and pleading for healing, and finds the power to forgive before bitterness takes root.

Like these, let us come boldly, again and again, and find mercy for every need. May this sort of prayer become increasingly common in your life as you realize just how much better your close and direct access to God truly is through Christ.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-21)

Discussion Questions
Life101

• Why is direct and close access to God the highest and most important experience for a human to have? (Why is God in Christ “better” as the writer of Hebrews says?)
• What are some pressures that tempt us to “go back,” like the early Christians or Israelites after Egypt, and forsake our identity in Christ?
  • What are some practical steps we can take to “hold fast” in these situations?
• How should the direct access we have to God impact our prayer lives? What about the availability of God’s grace in any “time of need?”
• What is the significance of Christ’s sympathizing with our weaknesses?
• What are we believing (in practice) about our access to God when we go other places first during crisis moments? (Even “small” crises.)

Digging Deeper

• What kinds of requests do you think normally flow from the heart of someone who regularly and confidently approaches God for His grace?
  • What can we learn about our priorities in prayer requests?