Jesus: The Perfect Priest and Sacrifice:

I just started a devotional book from the Daily Grace Company over the book of Hebrews.  This book is called, “Jesus is Better: Living for the One who is worthy,” by Tiffany Dickerson. One of the first devotional entries I read today was perfect for Easter coming up this week.  The book of Hebrews showcases Jesus as a few perfect things.  He is the perfect Son, the Perfect Savior, the Perfect embodiment of the Law, the Perfect Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice.  

In the Old Testament, Priests were incredibly important.  They were the ones who were in charge of the sacrifices the people brought in order to be saved from their sins.  However, even though priests were important, they were still not perfect.  They had to follow certain rules and regulations in order to be good priests.  Jesus is already perfect, and therefore He would have the ability to be the most perfect priest.  However, Jesus chose to not just be a priest.  He chose instead to sacrifice his body for the good of man.  

Usually in the Old Testament was the use of animals, fairly perfect and good animals, in order to be a good and useful sacrifice.  This sacrifice would also only work for a short period of time.  However, Jesus is our perfect sacrifice. He is often considered to be a perfect lamb.  He is the only one who can be sacrificed who can forgive our sins. He chose to become the sacrificial lamb in order to save people for eternity as opposed to saving people for a short period of time like the Priest’s sacrifice did.  

This is said in this way through this quote:  “And Jesus functions as both priest and sacrifice.  By living an innocent life, unblemished by sin, Jesus became our perfect sacrifice.  And through His death, He served as the final Priest, achieving complete purification and ending the need for a blood sacrifice forever.  Therefore He is our better and final priest.” (pg.29) Again, because Jesus chose to be a perfect sacrifice, he became our final priest. We never have to make any more sacrifices.  We still sin, and we are still going to sin, but we have a new opportunity to ask for forgiveness.  This is through prayer and relationship with Jesus Christ. 

This Easter Season, we can be reminded of God as our perfect priest and as a perfect sacrifice.  This past Friday, we celebrated and honored Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross for our sins.  Then we on Sunday celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. He was able to complete what many people had to do for centuries.  This is preparing the sacrifice.  This is finding the sacrifice, the best animal in order to create the best sacrifice for all people.  This took following certain rules and regulations.  He did it all, and He did it all for us. 

One verse I thought really captured this message of Jesus as both the great priest and sacrificial lamb is 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 which says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 

This verse reminds us of who God is.  He again was the Passover Lamb who was able to be sacrificed for the good of all people and for all the sins we have committed.   Jesus is also compared to unleavened bread.  During Passover, the Jewish people would have eaten unleavened bread after the sacrifices were completed.  This would be during the time of Passover as well as during the festival for right after Passover.  Because of this, it is a very important food for the Israelites.  Jesus is compared to the unleavened bread because now it will be a time of celebration.  He has died as our perfect sacrifice and now all people can celebrate the endless salvation.  This is the truest and most sincere form of this bread and celebration, hence why they call it the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

The challenge for the week is to spend some time praising God for this Easter season.  This isn’t just to celebrate for one day because it is Easter, but rather to spend some time in praise this week for what God has done for you and what He will continue to do in your life for the rest of time.  

I hope you have a blessed Easter day and season.  I hope you can remember Christ as both the perfect Priest and sacrifice.  I hope you can remember what God has done for you.  When we spend time remembering the Gospel message, we are less likely to be distracted by the things that are coming up in this world.  When we remember the relationship we have in Christ, we are less likely to go looking for the things in this world, people will say are the things we need to be happy.  We can hear a lot of the things that are supposed to make us happy, but we need to remember none of these things are true.  We just need Jesus, our true and perfect priest and sacrifice.