Hebrews 4:14-16 - Homiletics

Christ's sympathy and help.

This passage is one of the great signposts of the Epistle. In Hebrews 1:1-14 ., 2. the writer has discussed the superiority of Christ as a King to angels; and in Hebrews 3:1-19 ., 4. his superiority as a Prophet to Moses. He now proceeds to discourse more at length of his superiority as a Priest to Aaron.

I. A TWOFOLD STATEMENT OF DOCTRINE . This double statement concerns the cardinal truth of the Savior's priesthood.

1. Its outer aspect. ( Hebrews 3:14 ) Fallen, sinful man needs a priest to act for him before God, and the world has sought for one long and earnestly. The Jewish religion embodied an elaborate priesthood; and its types have at length been stereotyped under the Christian dispensation. Every believer is now a priest unto God; and Jesus Christ is the Arch-Priest of the Church. The author here encourages the Hebrew converts to steadfastness, by reminding them of the reality and majesty of Christ's priesthood. He is "a great High Priest"—the Archetype and Antitype of the Jewish pontiff. His majesty appears when we consider:

2. Its inner aspect. ( Hebrews 3:15 ) This verse opens up before us the secret workings of the Redeemer's heart. It speaks of his priestly sympathy. Sympathy is a great power in human life. It bulks so largely that an eminent Scottish thinker, Adam Smith, makes it the basis of his whole system of morals. Now, says the apostle, the Savior's unparalleled greatness does not by any means render him incapable of sympathy. Although he has passed through the heavens, "heaven lies about us," and thus he is very near us. Although he left the world nineteen hundred years ago, he is yet" with us always." Although he is the Son of God, he has a human soul—a soul intensely human—which underwent a complete curriculum of trial, and graduated to its glory through suffering. Although he was "without sin," his earthly life was a life of constant temptation, as well as of constant and culminating sorrow because of sin. So he is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities"—our infirmities of health, of temper, of devotion, of resolution, of service. He knows experimentally the precise force of every evil suggestion which may try us. As the Head of the Church, he is its great Nerve-center; and he that toucheth any one of his people "toucheth the apple of his eye."

II. A TWOFOLD ENFORCEMENT OF DUTY . The double exhortation corresponds to the two aspects of the doctrine respectively. The apostle exhorts to:

1. Steadfast confessions. ( Hebrews 3:14 ) The early Hebrew Christians found it very difficult openly to confess Christ; for their unbelieving countrymen treated all who did so as renegades from Israel, and apostates from Israel's God. But fidelity to the truth was necessary then, and it is equally necessary now. Every believer is bound publicly to confess Christ. He must do so for Christ's sake, for his own sake, and for the sake of his fellow men.

2. Constant supplication. ( Hebrews 3:16 ) To the universe at large God's throne is a throne of majesty; to sinners, it is a throne of judgment; to believers, the presence of Christ at God's right hand makes it a "throne of grace." And the thought of our High Priest's tender sympathy should fill us with holy confidence to go daily and hourly into the Divine presence for the supplies which we need. What a joy to know that we have a Friend at court, and that he is our Sovereign's Son! As often as we look up to his open, loving face, we may use all "liberty of speech" in asking pardoning mercy for the past and helping grace for the future.