Jesus Our Perfect Priest with Yannick Christos-Wahab
Today Lauren Bowerman is talking with Yannick Christos-Wahab about the theme of priest and priesthood that we see throughout Scripture. Yannick and Lauren trace the theme of priesthood through the Bible, from its early hints in Genesis, through the priests of Israel, and ultimately all the way to Jesus, who fulfills and transform the role as our great high priest (and who then passes the baton to us as a “royal priesthood” of believers!). We hope that seeing Jesus as your high priest in this episode helps you to love him more!
Time Stamps from the Conversation
4:30 Understanding Biblical Theology
7:45 Role and Purpose of the Priest
12:30 Why Were Priests Needed?
17:30 The Need for a Better Priest
21:00 Jesus as Our Priest
28:00 Before the Throne
32:00 Priesthood of Believers
37:00 The Word and the Church
NOTES & QUOTES
“A priest is a person who mediates between God and people. In particular, a priest accesses God's presence on behalf of the people.”
“The beautiful thing about the God of the Bible is the God of the Bible means to dwell with his people. And priesthood, broadly speaking, exists to enable that to happen.”
“Sin is the issue it is because it prevents us from being in God’s presence.”
“The big issue of the Old Testament is that if the priests are meant to deal with the sins of the people, what do you do about the fact that the priests themselves are sinful?”
“We sin, human beings sin. And the idea of the sacrificial system is that in one sense, the life of the animal covers for the debt of sin. But the life of the animal is just not enough. It's not sufficient enough, it's not weighty enough. And so with Jesus Christ, not only is he the priest, but what he offers is himself. This is unique. Jesus is both the priest and he's the sacrifice. And the sacrifice is weighty enough to deal with the problem of sin. This is what John says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’”
“This is where the incarnation and the cross need to be held together. The amazing thing about Jesus as the priest is that what he offers us is God's blood. This is something that honestly we can't marvel at too much. God shed his blood. By virtue of the incarnation, because God became a man, the blood that is shed is God's. This is God's life that is poured out, and the life of God is sufficient to cover all sin. It's infinite. It's amazing that God could offer his life. It's amazing that you could even speak of God's life being offered. And yet, Jesus as the priest, what he offers, it's difficult to even compare it to a bull or a goat. It's God, the almighty God, the Lord of hosts’ life is the sacrifice.”
“The ascension is key. Jesus is in heaven. And because he's in heaven, because he's right there in heaven, he offers the sacrifice. The sacrifice is ever before the father.”
“My sin, my sin is heavy, it's weighty, it's serious. But when I realized that it's God's life that was shed for my sin, It's easy for me to see that actually my sin is not more weighty than God's life. Not because my sin isn't weighty, it's way more weighty than I could imagine. But because Jesus shed his blood and because Jesus is God, that means that I can draw near with confidence knowing that my sins are dealt with at the cross. My sins have actually been dealt with because the sacrifice is so great.”
“But the goal of life is communion with God. Sin is the problem it is because it ruptures communion with God. And so the first part of being a royal priest is you get to enjoy being with God.”
“Jesus is in heaven and he stands there for me. And in so far as Jesus is in heaven, I should have confidence to draw near to God in spite of my sin.”
“As Christians we're constantly struggling. I've sinned, so I feel like I can't be near God. But what the Bible says is go in with confidence because Jesus is in heaven.”
“Hebrews says we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus is there on my behalf. Jesus is in heaven. He's at the right hand for me. And so as long as he's there, I have a right to go before God. I can commune with God because my priest is there and his sacrifice is efficient. It works. It's done.”
“Christ died so that I might be with him, so that I could be in God's presence. And so I should not spend one moment in self-pity—“woe is me”—but take my sin to Christ, to draw near to God, to come with confidence, with assurance, because of the work of Jesus Christ as my priest.”
“By preaching the gospel, by sharing the gospel, we help to mediate God's presence. We help to be the means by which God deals with people's sins. Not because we shed our blood or because we sacrifice, no, but because we are the means by which people know, we point people to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so we get to be the means by which God reconciles people back to himself. And that's an incredible privilege.
“Keep reading your Bible. And don't be discouraged that you don't take in everything you could, because you're never going to take in everything. But you're going to keep enjoying it more and more. The Bible really rewards repeated reading.”
Leviticus 9:24
Leviticus 17
Numbers 1:1
John 1:29
Hebrews 4:14
1 Peter 2:9
Genesis 2:15
Exodus 29
Exodus 32
Exodus 40:35
Leviticus 1:1
Leviticus 8–9
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Was your understanding of the Old Testament and the Levitical priesthood system broadened as you listened to this episode? How so?
How does seeing Christ as your perfect priest increase your love for him?
Does understanding Christ’s priestly work have an impact on the way you feel the weight of your sin, guilt, or shame? How so?
What do you think about the fact that you—and every believer—is now a part of a royal priesthood? How does that impact your understanding of your mission in the world?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
RECENT CONVERSATIONS
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Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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