Hello and welcome to Walking with Jesus, a devotional journey through books of the Bible from Forest Hill Presbyterian Church. I'm Jason Van Bemmel. Well, we are in day 16 now of Hebrews and we're beginning chapter 5. We're going to be asking the question, how is Jesus a better high priest than Aaron. So our scripture reading is Hebrews chapter 5 verses 1 through 6. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins as he does for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor to himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. as he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. I know I'm getting older, 44 years old. I'm kind of getting to that age where I see new versions of things come out and I think, well, what was wrong with the old one? Sometimes, of course, the answer is nothing, right? Nothing was wrong with the old version and we don't really need an upgrade. But sometimes we do. Somehow I think that if you had an infection in your leg, you would want modern medical care and not old school Civil War era medical care. care for a bloody dirty saw? The author of Hebrews was writing to believers who were tempted to believe that they did not need Jesus' high priestly ministry because God had already given his people the priesthood of Aaron. They were tempted to think, well, what was wrong with the old priesthood? God called and consecrated Aaron, and his sons as priests, right? And they offer sacrifices for sins. Why do we really need Jesus? Is He really any better? The pressure of persecution was pushing these Jewish believers to think these thoughts about Jesus and to be tempted to go back. And the author of Hebrews wants to pull them back from the brink and restore them to a better perspective on Jesus. Throughout this book, he's been arguing for the superiority of Jesus. Jesus is superior to angels. He's superior to Moses. Now he's turning his attention to the superiority of Jesus over Aaron. Aaron was indeed chosen and appointed by God, but so was Jesus. Aaron was sympathetic toward the people, for he knew their weaknesses, just as Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses. But here's where the similarities end. Both men chosen and appointed by God, and both men sympathetic. Priests, in the line of Aaron, are weak and subject to sin themselves. Jesus is strong and never sinned. Aaronic priests must offer sacrifices for their own sins before they can offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Jesus had no need for a sacrifice, so the sacrifice he offers is solely for the benefit of his people. Finally, at least in this section, Jesus is an eternal priest, appointed to his office forever, whereas all the priests in the line of Aaron die and pass their office to another. Hebrews will continue to explore these themes more deeply in the coming chapters, but it's already clear in just a few short verses that going back to the Aaronic priesthood makes about as much sense spiritually as going back to Civil War-era medicine. In fact, Civil War-era medicine is a wiser choice because at least it offers some hope of survival. The priesthood of Aaron offers no real hope of forgiveness and salvation, as we will see clearly in the coming chapters. Any other alternative to Jesus falls woefully short of His majestic perfections. In Him, we lack nothing, and everything else falls pitifully short. So let us press on in our confidence in our Great High Priest, who is the Son of God and who never fails.