Jesus, Our Perfect High Priest in Heaven

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus rises high above all other individuals and powers as our High Priest forever.

Jesus comes out of eternity, and He moves into eternity. He has no beginning and no end. He is the beginning. He is the end. You can’t go beyond Him in the past, and you can’t get ahead of Him in the future. He encompasses all of time and all of eternity.

Melchizedek came and ministered to Abraham, yet Abraham submitted to him by offering a gift. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. He recognized that Melchizedek was above him and that he was the priest of the Most High God. This story would have resonated with these Hebrew believers as a compelling example of humility and submission—of a great individual, even as great as Abraham, humbly blessing a revered priest like Melchizedek. And yet, Jesus is far superior to both Abraham and Melchizedek.

We come to God through Christ. Jesus Christ is a perpetual priest and He is a perfect priest. The Aaronic priesthood could never hit the high standard of perfection. Now we have a perfect priest in Jesus.

God’s promise to us in Jesus is so much better than the promise He made to His people. Everything is fulfilled in Jesus. Everything you could ever need is found in Him.

Because Jesus eternally lives on your behalf, He is able not only to save you but to intercede for your salvation into eternity. That means His priestly ministry is superior and comprehensively above anything else. In other words, He is able to keep on saving you. He is able to save you completely and perfectly.

Once you belong to Jesus, you will always belong to Him. And He is able to keep you in that place of favor with God until one day He will present you before God the Father, perfect, without a single fault (Colossians 1:22).

But there’s so much more, too. Jesus lives forever as your High Priest to pray for you before His Father in heaven. He actively and graciously oversees your life and goes before you in prayer, speaking your deepest needs before His Father.

How wonderful to know we have a living Savior and High Priest in Jesus. You are not alone. He is there and faithfully prepared to advocate for you no matter your need. And He is exalted in all His holiness and perfection. When was the last time you turned to Him in prayer? Or set your mind on His promise to care for all your needs?

He became sin for you so that you could know God and stand before Him in perfect righteousness. That is how gracious Jesus is for you. Christ is just what we need; He is just right for us—we couldn’t have anyone better than He is.

One powerful thought you could consider: If it were necessary for Jesus to come to earth and die for you again, He would return. Yet, none of that is necessary because He died once- for all and for you. In Jesus, your sins have been removed and settled based on the perfect sacrifice of His own blood. He accomplished all you need in His body on the cross. His blood covers your sin, past, present, and future—eternally.

Jesus lives for you and stands for you forever. He has perfectly made a way for you to come to know God through His once-for-all, perfect gift. Will you trust Him forever?

1. Melchizedek represented a picture of who Jesus would be when He came. He pointed toward Christ. In the same way, we should be images of Christ pointing people back to Jesus. How well can people see the picture of Jesus in you?

2. Imagine being a Jewish believer and reading that Jesus was superior to Melchizedek, and Melchizedek was superior to the great Abraham, father of the nation of Israel. How might this truth have changed how you thought about your heritage and how much importance you put in it?

3. Think about the idea of Jesus as your companion. What would you do differently in your life if you truly believed that Jesus would be right by your side the whole time?

Additional Resources:

Trusted Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee's, complete audio teachings of Hebrews 6:12-7:2, Hebrews 7:2-19, Hebrews 7:20-8:2

For a deeper study of Hebrews, try the Hebrews Bible Companion.