“We have such a High Priest, Who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1).
This was originally written several years ago. It seems appropriate to repeat it today.
Today as I write I realize that it is the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. (Today as I repost this, it is the day before Easter.) This is the one day set aside every year for the high priest to enter into the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the temple to make atonement for Israel. I also realize that the temple in Israel no longer exists today for a high priest to make this sacrifice on his own behalf or on behalf of those who follow Moses’ Law. What will be shown by today’s study why Jesus is that perfect sacrifice ending the need for a yearly Day of Atonement.
Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin of Israel. Luke’s gospel shares the story well. The angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her she would conceive and bear the Son of God. She did bear the Child in Bethlehem and named Him Jesus as she was told. (Luke 1:26-28; 2:4-16) I’m not going to drive this point home. I think it has been well established and you can read the verses cited in the Bible to learn more on your own. The point I want us to accept is that Jesus was physically carried and delivered by Mary. He shares her same blood lineage. Keep that in mind as we continue.
Mary had a relative named Elizabeth. (Lu. 1:36) The King James Version says that they are cousins. Most other translations say relative. The meaning of the original language speaks to the fact that they were blood relatives and that is what is important for what we are about to learn. Luke 1:5 states that Elizabeth was “of the daughters of Aaron.” Aaron was Moses’ brother and the first high priest of Israel. This is important, because if Elizabeth and Mary are blood-related then Mary, too, must have been descended from the line of Aaron, the high priest! Do you see where I am going? Jesus wasn’t just called a High Priest because it suits Christian beliefs. The very blood coursing through His veins was the blood of Aaron the first high priest to the last High Priest. That is amazing! Jesus was born a priest! He was born to enter the Holy of Holies!!
When the gospels report the lineage of Jesus, however, they do not look to the mother’s line. A young man’s lineage was related to his father. When Jesus’ lineage is recounted in the gospels, it is not given in maternal and paternal, but just his father’s line. (Matt. 1:18-25) The interesting thing to note here and the thing I think is so amazing is that Jesus was not blood-related to any of these people listed! Jesus was adopted to his royal lineage, but He was born to His priestly one. He carried the blood of a priest, but the gift of royalty on earth.
The other thing that can be gleaned from the gospel lineages of Christ is that Jesus’ royal line was of mixed race and some questionable characters. Judah’s line carries the royal lineage and the promise of the Messiah. Judah married a Canaanite woman and took Tamar, most likely also a Canaanite woman for his son. When his sons died and Judah did not give Tamar his last son as husband, she dressed like a prostitute and tricked her father-in-law to sleep with her and produce for her an heir. (Ge. 38) Boaz married Ruth the Moabitess. (Ru. 4:13) Their grandson was David, the man after God’s own heart who had an affair with another man’s wife and had him killed when he found she had become pregnant. (2 Sam. 11) He then married her and that first child died, but the second child was Solomon. (2 Sam. 12:24) She is not named in the lineage of Jesus. Instead, it reads “by her who had been the wife of Uriah.” (Matt. 1:6)
Jesus’ paternal lineage on earth was probably a lot like yours and mine. There were included in his lineage mixed races, mixed religions, saints, and sinners. Yet this was the lineage God chose for Jesus to be adopted into. I think it is interesting that He was born to the priests, but adopted into the royal line. There is a point here I think that Jesus was untouched by the sins of His earthly fathers in this. I also think there is a point to be made that He was, in an earthly sense, given the gift of royalty through adoption. Go with me here. I’m speaking in earthly terms. I know He is the Ultimate Royal without an earthly inheritance. Yet nothing the Lord does is wasted, so there must be something to this.
The final note or point of Jesus’ earthly lineage that I want to point out is that His earthly line was made up of Jew and Gentile. From the beginning, God has accepted all to Israel who wanted to come to Israel. When God made His covenant with Abraham, he said that the foreigners in his house ought to be circumcised along with him and his household. (Ge. 17:12) Circumcision was the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and Abraham’s descendants (Israel). To allow the circumcision of those outside of Abraham’s fold was a message that all are welcome who will come under God’s covering. It has always been God’s plan to bring all nations unto Himself. Isaiah says that the Jews were meant to be a light to the Gentiles or a witness to God for the rest of the world to see. Not that they should shy away and perish, but that they should see His awesome goodness and forsake their ways to become Israelites. (Is. 42:5-8) In short, Jesus has all types in His earthly lineage as a witness that all are welcome who would believe on Him.
Why is all of this so important? Why should we care about Jesus’ lineage whether maternal or paternal? Well, simply because God saw fit to write it down for us to read. Our God does nothing without plan or purpose attached to it. He is gloriously able to teach us through everything He does. So let’s keep learning and marvel at what He is about to reveal to us on this Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement.
Let’s start with the royal lineage. Jesus has been adopted into the lineage of the kings. He is royalty by adoption to Israel. Israel in Old Testament included all those who submitted to God and looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Israel in New Testament times includes all those who submit to God and accept Jesus as the promised Messiah. While on earth He displayed His power to heal, cast out demons, raise the dead and forgive sins. (Matt. 11:4-6) Through His death and resurrection, Paul tells us the He is seated “in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” (Eph. 1:19-23) Jesus has the power to save because He is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. He came to earth, born of a virgin and adopted into the line of the kings, and returned to His throne having won the victory for us. (1 Cor. 15:57) All powers and principalities must submit to Him, and the Bible says that “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Ro. 8:31) We can have confidence that He truly is able to save us to the uttermost!
He has the power through the lineage of the kings, but He has the right through the lineage of the priest. Not only was He the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, but He is also our Perfect High Priest who only had to enter the Holy of Holies one time to bring atonement to all once and for all. (1 John 1:29; Heb. 9:12)
The earthly temple was made up of courts. The hidden most part of that temple was the Holy of Holies where the presence of God dwelt. The Ark of the Covenant was in there behind a veil. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter with the blood of a perfect animal sacrifice held up in a bowl over his head. He could only enter by the blood. If he did not come with a blood covering he would die.
When Jesus died on the Cross that veil was torn in two from top to bottom. (Matt. 27:51) It was symbolic of God the Father reaching down from heaven and tearing the veil with two mighty and powerful hands. The message was clear. He had received the blood of Jesus as a covering for all people making a way for every person to come into the Holy of Holies – into His very presence. Jesus’ blood restored man to right and intimate relationship with God – as it was for Adam and Eve before the fall. However, the blood of Jesus is required for this entry. Just like the high priest in the temple, we must enter with the blood of Jesus covering us, lifted up in authority over our heads. We must receive what Jesus did for us. We must believe that He is who He says He is and submit our lives to doing things His way to be under His covering.
It is fascinating to me to think about Jesus not only being our High Priest in opening the veil for us, but in the fact that His shed blood actually is the shed blood of the lineage of the high priests. He is the All-Powerful King, the Sacrifice, and the Priest. No wonder He is the only way to the Father. (John 14:6)