This Description In Hebrews 13 tells us perfectly the meaning behind the term ‘high priest’ as it applies to our Saviour the Lord Jesus. The best scripture in this regard is from the prophet Isaiah: “he shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall carry the lambs in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.”
The most exalted definition of the Great Shepherd is given to us in Hebrews 1:1-4. The language is superb, to match the one whom it describes. Is this the concept of our Saviour that we have learned of him? How does our appreciation of our Lord compare with that of the one who wrote those words? In the experience of this inspired writer — and his readers — God had spoken in unequalled terms in His Son. He was not just another prophet.
“Never man spoke like this man,” declared men who, sent to arrest him came back empty handed. For the best part of a day, Jesus held an audience of thousands spellbound, so that they forgot all about food. Then he fed them.
As a teacher he had no equal, then and now. Additionally, he spoke with authority. His personal claims were unique: I am the light of the world; I am the bread of life; I am the water of life; I am the resurrection and the life; I give to my sheep eternal life. No man could ever make such claims but the Son of God.
Nor was the message confined to words. Every miracle, every act of compassion, underlined his work as the Great Shepherd of the sheep. His was the glory of God described to Moses and all Israel: merciful, gracious, longsuffering, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving sin. Before him the darkness of sin retreated and was exposed. Even when his light was eventually put out, the sun burst through the darkness which pervaded the cross, lighting up his lifeless body.
Consequently, he was the express image, the very stamp of God’s person. In every way he reflected God his Father. In His wisdom, God sent His Son as a man like ourselves, so that we might see the Father in him, and be drawn by him to the Father.
A great act of self-sacrifice for sins brought the Great Shepherd’s work to its climax, to be followed by a triumphant victory over the grave, and ascension to a place of honour at the Father’s right hand. The “purification for our sins” is that which qualified Jesus for resurrection and exaltation to his Father’s side.
Men have left their memorials in tombs and pyramids, testifying to the futility of human glory. God has left as His greatest memorial a plate of bread and a chalice of wine. They speak of agony such as we shall never know. They speak of joy which sustained him. They speak of sins forgiven. They speak of a Father who yearns to forgive, who holds out arms of welcome, who loves all men and all women and all children. Whose love is so deep and wide and high that all the shame of the cross was not too high a price to pay. Whose love is such that He “did not spare His only Son, but gave him for a world undone” as we often sing.
Whenever and wherever we share the memorials, let us not just remember the Lord Jesus, but exalt him. Let us honour the Son as we honour the Father. Let us honour the name which is above every name, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, and through him draw nearer and bolder to the Father of all.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One