A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in His once offering Himself
a sacrifice without spot to God,¹ to be a reconciliation for the sins of His people;²
and in making continual intercession for them.³

The Lord Jesus Christ is not only Prophet par excellence; He is our Great High Priest. As Prophet, He is God’s representative in speaking to men; but as Priest, He is men’s representative in approaching God.

As the Great High Priest of His Church, the Lord Jesus Christ represents every of His elect children by "offering Himself
a [substitutionary] sacrifice without spot to God" and "making continual intercession for them" before God (Heb 5:1; 8:3; 7:25).

We must realise that the Lord’s priestly ministry did not only begin at the incarnation. He was the Great High Priest already in the Old Covenant, though his office was ratified and manifested only in the incarnation. We may say that during the Old Covenant, the Lord exercised His office in anticipation of His redemptive work at the incarnation; and moreover, His priestly work was known, administered and taught to the people through the office and functions of the Aaronic priesthood. Indeed, the entire order of priests and the ceremonial system were shadows of heavenly realities in Christ (Heb 8:1-5; 10:1-4) and typical of the Lord’s priestly office, which was clearly manifested only when He took on human flesh.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that the fulfilment of His priestly office was one of the chief reasons why Christ took on the nature of man rather than of angels, for only as man can He represent us as a merciful high priest (Heb 2:16-17).

But how could the Lord Jesus be a priest when He descended from Judah rather than Levi? The answer lies in the fact that He was anointed a priest in the order of Melchizedek with an oath (Heb 5:6; 7:15-17; cf. Ps 110:4). By design, the Melchizedek priesthood is already a higher priesthood than the Aaronic Priesthood since Abraham who is the ancestor of Levi gave tithes to Melchizedek (see Heb 7:1-10). But more than that, Jesus’ priestly ministry is far superior to the ministry of the Aaronic Priests.

Firstly, He need not offer any sacrifice for Himself since He is without sin, though He was in all points tempted like as we are (Heb 4:15; 7:27).

Secondly, rather than offering animal sacrifices which are but shadow and types which cannot take away sins (Heb 4:10), our Great High Priest offered Himself, the antitype which all the OT sacrifices were pointing to (Heb 9:14, 28; Col 2:17). In doing so, He not only propitiated the wrath of God by vicariously taking the punishment for sin that is due us upon Himself, but reconciles us to God (Heb 2:17; Eph 2:16).

Thirdly, unlike the Aaronic priests, Christ our Great High Priest continues ever to make intercession for us (Heb 7:24-25; 12:24,25). Moreover, He does not intercede for us on earth as the Aaronic Priest would have, rather, He is exalted to the right hand of God the Father, and He intercedes for us there (Rom 8:34). What does He intercede for? As our advocate, He pleads with God that on account of the merit of His death our sins may be pardoned; our consciences quieted and our souls preserved: "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). As our mediator, Christ beautifies our prayers by removing all impurities and sin, and then presenting them to the Father pleads that such as made in His name and in the will of God may be answered: "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:14), He says.