July 16 - Our High Priest

July 16 - Hebrews 8:1-6 - Our High Priest

We finally get to the point of the previous chapter. We have a high priest, Jesus Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God. The right hand is the point where God releases His power.

From the Tyndale Bible Dictionary, "Figuratively speaking, God’s right hand is the means whereby victories are obtained for the people of God (Pss 17:7, 98:1); it is also an instrument of punishment for the ungodly (Hb 2:16). While the right hand of man is impotent to save (Jb 40:14), God’s right hand sustains his children in the hour of need (Ps 139:10). Furthermore, God promises to strengthen the right hand of the person he purposes to help (Is 41:13).

"To be at the right hand of God is to occupy a place of the choicest blessings (Ps 16:11); it is the place where the Lord Jesus Christ now reigns in glory and intercedes for those he has redeemed (Rom 8:34).

"To offer the right hand of fellowship is to extend the warmest and most accepting type of camaraderie (Gal 2:9). Giving the right hand as the sign of a pledge also has a biblical antecedent (2 Kgs 10:15)."

Jesus Christ serves in the true tabernacle. It is in this passage that we discover that the Tabernacle given to Moses was simply a pattern, a copy of what is found in heaven. We get a much truer image of what will be found in the throneroom in Heaven in the Revelation. We see many different powerful images when God gives John a glimpse of the center of His power.

While the Levitical priests served in a copy ... a shadow of what is in heaven, Jesus as the superior priest, the mediator of the New Covenant, is the high priest that stands with us as we approach the throne of God.