NOVEMBER 30, 2018 BY MARCUS BENEDICT PETER
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” – Hebrews 4:14
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews advocates a novel manner of approaching the Old Testament — as typologically speaking of Christ. He demonstrates how there exists a truly eloquent continuity to all of Sacred Scripture, particularly when considering that, even from the Old Testament, God continually reveals himself in and through his Word, covenanting himself to his creation, as he did with Abraham (Gen 15:18) and, through Moses, with all of Israel (Ex 24:8). Drawing his people unto himself, God continued to reveal himself in both word and deed to them. The oikonomia of the Trinity is seen throughout Scripture to be a consistent revelation of God as he truly is: one, living, and true. It was within this plan of salvation that God willed for man to come to experience him. He accomplished this by revealing himself in material time, by speaking to them, covenanting himself to them, ministering to them, and, ultimately, becoming one with them (Ps 21:28–29; 95:1–3; Is 2:1–4; Jer 3:17). By making of his people a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation (cf. Ex 19:6; 1 Pt 2:9), God paved the way for Israel to eventually become a kingdom of priests to him (cf. Rev 1:6; 5:10), priests who ministered in the covenants God so graciously showered upon man, the last of which he instituted in and through his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This New and Eternal Covenant and its priesthood called for a new and eternal high priest who would eternally minister it — a covenant role God had prepared for his Son since the beginning of Salvation History. It is in this light of a hermeneutic of continuity between the Old and New Testaments that this article explores the theme of this high priesthood of Christ in the Letter to the Hebrews. continued
