The Perfect Priest for a Ruined People Text: Hebrews 7:26-28
Introduction: The Great Inadequacy
The entire religious history of mankind can be summed up as a frantic, and ultimately futile, search for an adequate priest. Man knows, deep in his bones, that he is estranged from God. He knows there is a vast chasm between his own defilement and the blazing holiness of heaven, and he knows he cannot cross it himself. And so, every religion is an attempt to build a bridge. Every ritual, every sacrifice, every priestly system is an exercise in bridge engineering. The problem is that man is trying to build a bridge out of fog and good intentions.
The pagan world offered up priests who were simply reflections of their own lusts and limitations, appeasing gods who were capricious and monstrous. Modern secularism offers up the high priest of self-esteem, where every man is his own mediator, offering up the pathetic sacrifices of his own good works on the altar of his own ego. And the Old Covenant, given by God Himself, provided a priesthood that was glorious in its time, but it was glorious as a signpost, not as a destination. The Levitical priesthood was a magnificent shadow, a detailed architectural drawing of the true bridge, but it was not the bridge itself. Its central, divinely intended function was to declare its own inadequacy. Every bleating lamb, every cloud of incense, every bloodstained priest, was a daily, weekly, yearly sermon on this one great point: this is not enough. This cannot ultimately solve the problem.
The author of Hebrews has been systematically demonstrating the superiority of Christ over every Old Covenant institution. He is greater than the prophets, greater than the angels, greater than Moses, and greater than Joshua. Now, he brings his argument to its pinnacle. Christ is the ultimate High Priest, not just a better version of the Aaronic priests, but a priest of an entirely different order, an eternal order, the order of Melchizedek. In our text today, he summarizes why this new priesthood is not only superior, but why it is the only one that is actually sufficient for our desperate condition. He shows us that in Jesus Christ, God has provided the perfect priest for a ruined people.
The Text
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has been made perfect forever.
(Hebrews 7:26-28 LSB)
A Fitting Priest (v. 26)
The first thing the author tells us is that the priesthood of Jesus is perfectly suited to our need. It is appropriate, it is fitting.
"For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;" (Hebrews 7:26)
Look at this cascade of glorious descriptions. This is the resume of the only qualified mediator. First, He is "holy." This refers to His essential nature. He is set apart, consecrated to God in a way that is absolute. For the Levitical priests, holiness was something ceremonially conferred. For Christ, it is who He is. He is the Holy One of God. He is not just acting in a holy office; He is the source of all holiness.
Second, He is "innocent." The Greek word here means guileless, without malice. There is no evil in His character. He is utterly pure in His motives and actions. He never once had a thought or desire that was out of line with His Father's will. This is crucial. A priest who is himself compromised cannot truly represent others. A defense attorney who is guilty of the same crime as his client is in no position to plead for mercy.
Third, He is "undefiled." This speaks of His moral purity, His freedom from any stain of sin. The Old Testament priests were constantly worried about ceremonial defilement, contact with a dead body, a skin disease, and so on. But Christ was free from the ultimate defilement, which is sin itself. He walked through this filthy world for thirty-three years and not a single speck of its grime ever stuck to Him.
Fourth, He is "separated from sinners." This does not mean He was physically aloof. The Pharisees complained that He was the "friend of sinners," that He ate and drank with them. This separation is a moral and spiritual separation. Though He lived among sinners to save them, He was never one of them. He was in the world, but not of the world. He was like a surgeon who enters a quarantined zone, immune to the disease He has come to heal.
Finally, He is "exalted above the heavens." This points to His ascension and enthronement. Our High Priest is not ministering in an earthly tent that is a copy of the real thing. He has passed through the heavens and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High. His work is not provisional; it is finished. His position is not temporary; it is supreme. He has total access and total authority. This is the kind of priest we needed, one who was one of us in His humanity, but utterly separate from our sin and exalted in His divinity.
A Final Sacrifice (v. 27)
Because of who He is, what He did is utterly unique and final. His work is not a repetitive ritual but a finished accomplishment.
"who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." (Hebrews 7:27 LSB)
Here is the great contrast. The Levitical system was a treadmill of sacrifice. Every day, sacrifices were offered. And on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest had to go through an elaborate process. Crucially, he had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins first. Why? Because he was a sinner. He had to secure his own temporary, ceremonial cleansing before he could even begin to represent the people. This was a built-in reminder of the system's weakness. The mediator himself needed a mediator.
But Christ has no need of this. He had no sins of His own for which to atone. His holiness was not borrowed; it was inherent. And so He could offer a sacrifice not for Himself, but only for others. And notice the sacrifice He offered. The old priests offered bulls and goats, creatures outside of themselves. But Christ "offered up Himself."
This is the heart of the gospel. The priest and the sacrifice are one and the same. This is the only way the scales could be balanced. A mere man could not pay an infinite debt. A mere animal could not atone for the sin of a man made in God's image. The only sacrifice sufficient to atone for the sins of humanity was the sacrifice of the perfect man who was also God Himself. God the Son offered Himself to God the Father, through the eternal Spirit, to satisfy the demands of God's perfect justice.
And because the priest was perfect and the sacrifice was perfect, the work was accomplished "once for all." This phrase is a death blow to any system of works-righteousness. It means finished, completed, never to be repeated. The Aaronic priesthood was a ministry of repetition. Christ's is a ministry of accomplishment. The door to the Holy of Holies is not just open for one day a year; it has been torn open forever. The debt is not just deferred; it is stamped "Paid in Full."
A Superior Appointment (v. 28)
The chapter concludes by summarizing the fundamental difference between the two priesthoods, grounding it in their respective origins.
"For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has been made perfect forever." (Hebrews 7:28 LSB)
Here are the two covenants set side-by-side. On the one hand, you have the Law of Moses. What did it do? It appointed mere men, mortal men, and it appointed men who had "weakness." This weakness was not just that they would eventually die. It was a moral weakness. They were sinners, just like the people they represented. Their work was therefore limited by their own character.
But on the other hand, you have "the word of the oath." This refers back to Psalm 110:4, "The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'" This oath came "after the Law," indicating that it superseded it. And who did this unbreakable, divine oath appoint? Not just a man, but a "Son." This is the eternal Son of God, who possesses the very nature of God. The old priesthood was filled by sons of Aaron; the new is filled by the Son of God.
And this Son has been "made perfect forever." This does not mean He was once imperfect and sinful. As we saw in chapter 5, He "learned obedience" through suffering. This is the perfection of a tested and proven character. It is the maturity of a son who has completed his mission. He passed the ultimate test on the cross, and through His resurrection and ascension, His qualification as our High Priest was vindicated and finalized forever. The old priests were weak and their work was temporary. The Son is perfect and His work is eternal.
Conclusion: Our Confident Access
So what does all this mean for us, right here, right now? It means everything. Because we have "such a high priest," our entire relationship with God is transformed. We do not approach God with uncertainty, hoping that our latest good deed might outweigh our latest sin. We do not come to God through a system of flawed human mediators who need forgiveness as much as we do.
We come to God through the Son. We come on the basis of a finished work. We come to a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment, because the judgment for our sin was fully exhausted on the cross. Because our priest is holy, we are counted as holy. Because He is innocent, we are declared innocent. Because He is undefiled, we are cleansed. Because He is separated from sinners, we are separated unto God. And because He is exalted above the heavens, our salvation is secure and our access is guaranteed.
The old priests could only stand, because their work was never done. Our High Priest is seated, because His work is finished. The temptation for those first-century Hebrews was to turn back to the shadows of the temple. The temptation for us is to turn back to the shadows of our own efforts, our own religious striving, our own attempts to build a bridge. This passage calls us to abandon all such flimsy structures. There is only one bridge, one priest, one sacrifice that is fitting for our condition. His name is Jesus, the Son, perfected forever. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence.