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The encouragement offered by our great High Priest:
v. 14. Seeing, then, that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
v. 15. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
v. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The picture which the inspired writer had just drawn of the omniscience of God as revealed through His Word might well cause the average reader to quail in terror, feeling his own insignificance in the face of such divine perfection, his own sinfulness in the face of such divine holiness. But here is a comforting reassurance for all poor sinners: Since, then, we have a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. The author never loses sight of the fact that Jesus the Savior is his great topic, Heb_1:2-3; Heb_2:17; Heb_3:1, and that the preaching of the Gospel of salvation is the only way of working faith. Of Jesus it is truly said that He passed through the heavens. For just as the high priest of the Old Testament passed through the forecourts and behind the veil to reach the Holy of Holies in the Temple, so Jesus passed through the heavens and appeared among eternal realities in the very throne-room of God. We know that this our High Priest is pleading for us the atonement made during His whole life and completed on Calvary's hill, and that the Father cannot withstand the pleading of this Advocate. And what better and more cogent argument could be devised to keep us in the confession of His holy name, in our Christian profession, than this saving knowledge?
This encouragement is further confirmed: For we have not a High Priest unable to have sympathy with our weaknesses, but tempted in all things like us, without sin. This is one special point of human interest that tends to draw our hearts to this great High Priest. He was and is flesh of our flesh, true man. And during His earthly life He underwent the severest temptations that have ever come upon any man. It was not merely that the temptation came near Him without really assailing Him. It was rather so that His entire being, body and soul, was sometimes shaken to the very depths, as when He declared His soul to be exceeding sorrowful unto death, and when He found Himself forsaken of His heavenly Father, not to speak of the attacks of the devil which beset Him time and again. See Mat_4:1-11; Luk_4:1-13; Mat_16:21-23; Mat_27:45-46; Psa_22:2-21. So He can indeed be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, He can indeed have sympathy with our weaknesses; He knows what it means for weak flesh and blood to battle with dangerous enemies. Since, however, in His case He passed through all temptations without sin, He is able to be our High Priest and Advocate with the Father.
This fact should therefore serve as an inducement to us to place all our trust in Him with all cheerfulness: Let us, then, approach with confidence to the Throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need. Ordinarily no sinner would dare to come near to the holy and righteous God. Through the merit of Jesus, however, we are enabled to enter upon this act of worship, that of approaching the very throne of the great God Himself, with all cheerfulness and confidence. For it is not that we intend to urge any merit on our part in vindication of ourselves, but that we know we may obtain mercy, the free favor of God, that we shall find grace, God's free love. In all hours of trial and affliction, then, when we feel so sorely in need of some comfort that cannot be challenged and doubted, we have this fact to rely upon, that our High Priest has perfected a full and complete reconciliation, and that God no longer is angry with us, but will accept us with all the kindness of a fatherly heart and give to us all that we need for the enjoyment of eternal bliss in His presence. Thus both the assurance of pardon and of divine assistance is ours, and we may go on through life in the cheerfulness of faith, knowing that the rest of the Lord awaits us at the end of the course, when He takes us home.
Summary
The sacred writer continues his warning against unbelief by showing that the promise of God is still in force, that there is still a rest remaining to the people of God; he points out the power of God's Word, and shows that we may boldly approach the throne of God in reliance upon the mercy earned by our great High Priest.