Jesus is our High Priest

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. Hebrews 4.14

The High Priest was the spiritual leader of God’s people and made sacrifices for their sins.

What could you learn about your friends by visiting their houses? People’s houses and the things inside them show us something about who they are! This was true about God’s house, called the Temple.

God told David’s son, King Solomon, to build a house for Him. He gave King Solomon exact instructions about how it should look. God wanted a place where people could come to be near Him and learn about Him. God is not limited by a building, He is everywhere!, but His presence would be in the Temple in a special way.

The Temple was lovely. It had walls covered in gold! It was decorated with jewels and with carvings of flowers and fruit and angels, but God being there was the most beautiful thing about it. There was an important room called the Holy of Holies. This room held the Ark of the Covenant, a big, golden box with precious things inside, like the Ten Commandments. There were two golden angels on top, and the place in between the angels was called the Mercy Seat. God told His people He would meet with them here.

But the Holy of Holies was too special for just anyone to come inside. Only one person who asked God to atone for (cover over) his sin could go into God’s special room. This person was the greatest leader in the temple, called the high priest. He could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year! When he came in, he had to bring the blood of an animal that had been killed. He would sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat and ask for that to cover over the people’s sin.

Jesus did not work at the temple, but He is our great High Priest. He does not need the blood of animals to cover people’s sin. His blood that spilled out on the cross when He died does not just cover sin for a little while, it takes away all sin as if it had never been there. The high priest at the temple only went to God once a year to ask Him to forgive His people. Jesus now sits right beside God in heaven and constantly asks God the Father to help those who are trusting in Him. Jesus is our High Priest.

God speaks about the temple that was just built. 2 Chronicles 7.15-16

What did Jesus do to take away sins?

What could you learn about God from what the temple was like?