The priesthood of the Lord Jesus is first introduced to us in Hebrews 2:17–18. He must become a Man in order to be a “merciful and faithful High Priest.” The theme of His priesthood is picked up again in today’s text and runs as a thread throughout the Epistle, concluding at Hebrews 10:25. Essentially, the entire body of this wonderful Epistle is dealing with the subject of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus; what a theme! We read, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest.” There are several high priests mentioned in the Bible, but there is only One who is called “great”: Jesus, the Son of God.

The Jewish believers are exhorted here to “hold fast” their confession of faith. And what was that confession? Simply this, that the great High priest who passed through the heavens is Jesus, the Son of God. Aaron and all the subsequent high priests availed nothing, for they themselves were sinners in need of a savior. Their repeated offerings were ineffectual, and they were subject to death. It is not just that we have a High Priest in the heavens—this would have been little comfort for us—but that “Jesus” lived, suffered, and died on earth before passing through the heavens. Thus we have one there who can sympathize.

The blessed result of this is that we can approach the “throne of grace” for mercy in our various needs. And not only this, but we “find grace for seasonable help” (Heb. 4:16 jnd). The idea here is receiving help just at the appropriate time. Not too soon, or too late, but exactly when needed.