Hebrews 4:14, commentary and pictures

Jesus the Son of God is the great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, and believers are called to hold fast their profession of faith in Him. He was tempted in all points as human beings are, yet without sin, and He is touched with the feeling of human infirmities with mercy and compassion for the tempted and tried. He has entered the heavenly sanctuary to minister for His people, appearing in God's presence for them and pleading His own blood, His merits, and His imputed righteousness so sins are forgiven and they are linked to God. In 1844 He entered the most holy place to begin the investigative judgment and the cleansing of the sanctuary, with the cases of the dead first and the living afterward judged according to deeds. Because of Him believers can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need, holding fast with a living, growing faith that hears the Word, searches Scripture, and labors to enter God's rest rather than fall through unbelief.

Identity and Heavenly Place

Jesus the Son of God is the great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, and on that ground believers are to hold firmly to their profession, their confession of faith in Him. He is the same High Priest who understands human weakness because He was tempted in every way as people are yet remained without sin, and therefore temptation can be overcome in Him and believers may come boldly to God's throne to receive mercy and timely grace and help in need. That steadfast holding fast matters because God's promised rest is entered through faith and not through unbelief.

He has entered the heavenly sanctuary to minister there for His people. Though He is invisible to human sight, His absence causes no break in communion and no loss of power, for by His Spirit He remains with the church. Prayers are to be directed to Him as He pleads on behalf of His people, as the earthly priest's faith-directed gaze toward the mercy-seat pictured this heavenly ministry.

He carried His humanity into the heavenly courts as humanity's representative, so that all can claim Him as their own and be made complete in Him. That completeness comes by becoming partakers of the divine nature, which means giving up one's own way to follow the path He marked out and thereby escaping the corruption in the world through lust. With His human arm He embraces Adam's children and with His divine arm He grasps the throne of the Infinite, thus joining earth to heaven and finite people to God.

He is the living, risen, triumphant Saviour, and His death and resurrection followed by His triumphant ascension assure believers that He continues His work for them, presenting each person's case by name before the Father. Because He lives and intercedes, religious life should show peace, happiness, and joy rather than the gloom of a faith without a Saviour, and this calls for wholehearted consecration and devoted service. He is now in the heavenly courts as the Chief Physician, whose leading physicians as His representatives are not to be confined too closely to one institution but are to go where there is need to speak counsel and encouragement to new congregations and words of mercy and pardoning grace, broadening their experience and receiving by that association new ideas, increased light, deeper thoughts, and clearer views of the close relation that must exist between God and His people. He is the promised Messiah and Son of God whose death made atonement for sin once for all before He began His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, which is the reality foreshadowed by the Jewish priesthood and whose sacrificial offerings find their meaning fulfilled in His sacrifice.

Sinless Sympathetic Priest

He was tempted in every point as human beings are tempted, yet remained without sin. This sinlessness belongs to Him as man, who suffered under temptation and therefore understands human weakness and is able to help those who are tempted.

He is touched with the feeling of human infirmities and understands human weakness. He is merciful and faithful, tender and compassionate toward the ignorant and those out of the way, and especially sympathetic to the lowly, suffering, and tested. He treats the cases of the tempted and tried as His own and ministers to them, supplying the weak with spiritual nourishment.

Having left His high command and clothed His divinity with humanity, He stood at the head of the race to bear the trials men must bear and to overcome the temptations men must overcome. Not once did He yield, but from the desert to Calvary He clung to His Father under Satan's wrath and continued. Satan found in Him no cherished sinful desire and no sin to exploit for victory, for He kept His Father's commandments.

Because He Himself suffered being tempted, He knows how to succor those who are beset by the powers of darkness. He gave Himself to a life of lowliness, privation, poverty and affliction, and was afflicted in all human affliction so He would know how to reach every suffering, afflicted sinner. In the days of His flesh He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, learned obedience by the things He suffered, and was Himself compassed with infirmity, having compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. Hence He knows every impulse of the heart, every circumstance of temptation, and every deed of the past life.

His victory shows that by power received from on high man can live an unsullied life. His death makes it possible for people to live through faith in His redeeming power, revealing God's love and grace.

Mediation and Atonement Work

After Adam's sin caused a fearful separation between fallen people and God, Jesus Christ stands as the great High Priest between them bringing the devised plan by which God is reconciled to people and people to God. He mediates and pleads in behalf of sinners so they may yet come to the Father, present their case through Him, and find access to God, so that even if they sin their case is not hopeless.

As Mediator for the salvation of souls for whom He gave His life, He has passed into the heavens to serve in the courts of heaven, now appearing in the presence of God for believers to present petitions and intercede as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. By virtue of His own blood He entered once for all into the holy place above and obtained eternal redemption, pleading His blood and His merits as Advocate for those who have sinned. He represents His people before God, presenting their weak progress with infinite grace, forgiving sins and counting His righteousness as theirs so that they are joined and linked to God. He is especially sympathetic to the lowly, suffering, and tested, understands weakness and suffering having been tempted without sin, and prays for His people amid temptation and persecution.

Like Aaron who bore the names of the children of Israel on his heart in the breastplate when going into the holy place, He as the great High Priest of the church in the holy place in heaven bears all His people upon His heart with unchanging love. Their names are represented on His priestly breastplate and they are precious to Him, and He remembers all the words by which He encouraged them to trust and is ever mindful of His covenant. He intercedes for His co-laborers by name so that many are saved to eternal life, showing the love and sympathy and solicitude His earthly ministers should share.

He is merciful and faithful to make reconciliation for sin and to make atonement for His people, and can help the tempted because He Himself suffered temptation yet was without sin. Because of transgression of the law He became the Sin-bearer, substitute and surety, Himself undeserving taking the punishment the guilty deserved to satisfy justice, vindicate the honor of the law, and uplift fallen people degraded by sin. Through faith in the crucified and risen Saviour who is the only hope of salvation, sins are pardoned, the guilty are set free and return to allegiance to God, becoming prisoners of hope on probation with forgiveness and reconciliation through repentance, contrition of heart, and belief in Him as the atoning sacrifice. While He does this believers are to seek perfection in Christ and separate from sin through faith in His atoning blood, uniting weakness to His strength and relying on His merits as God shapes character, for His sinlessness shows the condition needed to withstand temptation since Satan found no sin in Him to exploit.

He receives His people's repentance, answers their prayers, and presents them to the Father through the merits of His own righteousness. His wounded hands plead their blood-bought pardon, and the wounds of His humiliation, suffering and anguish secure for the church the gifts of God's power.

Sanctuary Fulfilment and Judgment

In 1844 He entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin the investigative judgment, to make a special atonement and to cleanse the sanctuary. The seventh-month expectation that He would then come out of heaven to bless His waiting people, as the high priest emerged from the earthly sanctuary on the Day of Atonement, mistook His being in heaven for His emerging from it. In this judgment He pleads for His people as their cases are reviewed, with the cases of the righteous dead considered first and the living judged afterward, each person judged according to deeds with final decision.

Those who continued to trust that God had led them through the Advent Movement followed their High Priest by faith in 1844 into this further ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. By that following they recognized the closing work of the church and received and proclaimed the angels' messages. At the end of the 2300 days the Father rose from the throne and in a flaming chariot went into the Holy of Holies within the veil and sat, and Jesus rose from the throne and was borne in a cloudy chariot with wheels like flaming fire and angels around it to where the Father sat.

There He stands before the Father in the Holiest within the veil, wearing a garment with a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, on its hem. Before leaving He told His followers to wait, to keep their garments spotless, and that in a little while He will return from the wedding to receive them to Himself after going to His Father to receive the kingdom. Those who rise with Him keep their eyes fixed on Him and send their faith to Him in the Holiest in prayer for the Spirit, and He breathes upon them the Holy Ghost with light, power, love, joy and peace, while those who do not follow Him are left in perfect darkness.

His priestly ministry will end before the time of trouble, when there is no High Priest to plead for people. Those who receive God's seal and are protected then must already reflect Jesus' image fully and cannot rely on a later preparation. Sins must be confessed and dealt with at the sanctuary before the people can enter where the angels are.

Knowing the position and work of the High Priest, including the sanctuary and investigative judgment, is essential to the faith and duty God calls believers to, and His work as Mediator and the atoning sacrifice are truths believers must keep in view with nothing distracting them from studying these truths. While He makes atonement for His people, believers are to seek perfection in Christ and through faith in His atoning blood separate themselves from sin. His sinlessness shows the condition needed to withstand temptation, since Satan found no sin in Him to exploit, and believers are invited to unite their weakness to Christ's strength and rely on His merits as God shapes their characters.

He is the great antitype foreshadowed by the earthly high priest, whose whole and without-blemish official garments of glory and beauty were made after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount and consecrated to a most solemn purpose. Clothed for holy official work as a representative character, the high priest represented Israel and showed the glory Israel as God's chosen people should reveal to the world, and this is fulfilled in Jesus and His perfect character. Unlike Caiaphas, who dared to appear and officiate in a rent robe showing human passion and human imperfection, thereby severed himself from God, cut himself off from being a representative character, and was no longer accepted by God as an officiating priest, Jesus remains the whole, perfect, and accepted High Priest.

Holding Fast the Profession

The call is to hold firmly to the profession, which is the confession of faith in Jesus the Son of God as the great High Priest who has passed into heaven and entered the heavenly sanctuary to minister for His people. Though invisible to human sight, His absence causes no break in communion or loss of power, for by His Spirit He remains with the church, and believers are to hold firmly to faith in Him and look to Him as their High Priest. In this context the call shows that temptation can be overcome in Christ, who as Advocate and Intercessor pleads His merits and prays for believers amid temptation and persecution. Because He was tempted in every way as people are yet remained without sin, He is compassionate toward human weakness and understands it, giving reason to come boldly to God's throne for mercy and timely grace and help in every time of need.

Holding fast requires a living, growing faith that hears the Word in faith with humility of mind and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, not carelessly, indifferently, or independently of God, so that preaching brings profit and help in time of need. It requires diligent, penetrating searching of Scripture with a heart cleansed from rubbish and earthliness, hearing the word mixed with faith, and laboring to enter God's rest instead of falling through unbelief. The call rests under the searching power of God's word that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart with all things naked and open before God, and on the nearness of a High Priest touched with human infirmity.

Holding fast means more than claiming faith; it means professing to follow Christ and showing it in words and actions by living according to His holy principles, with patient endurance through trials and brave resistance to temptation. Faith is maintained by putting Christianity into practice, demonstrating its transforming power and the faithfulness of its promises, while Christ who completed one phase of His priesthood by dying for humanity now pleads before the Father for repentant, believing sinners and presents their offerings, having also been given judgment of the world before whom each case will come. Taking Him means taking Him as Priest and Advocate who alone can represent fallen humanity to the Father and receive and pardon transgressions, and also as King by enlisting in His service, seeking to know His will and doing it, looking to and believing on Him in all His completeness to follow the Lamb wherever He goes as subjects of His kingdom. Holding fast therefore leaves hesitation and indecision behind to speak with confidence and pray to Him directly rather than rely on a human place or institution, keeping confidence in God and serving faithfully through every trial, for salvation is by the power of God through faith as the gift of God with nothing depending on human ability.

For young men and young women preparing for service, holding fast means first giving themselves to the Lord for sanctification to His service, seeking from Christ that grace and clearness of comprehension which will enable successful work. It means coming boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, trusting One touched with the feeling of their infirmities because He was in all points tempted as they are yet without sin, while the word of God pierces to soul and spirit as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart before Him with whom they have to do.

The call rests on His saving care, for though ascended into God's presence He remains compassionate and understands human weakness, holding fast those who have given themselves to God and refusing to abandon anyone for whom He died unless they choose to leave Him. The wilderness generation's failure to enter God's rest through unbelief warns believers not to let go of their confidence but to approach God's throne with confidence for mercy and timely help. Even while Satan appears to triumph on earth, Christ carries forward His work in the heavenly sanctuary, and believers are to hold fast their faith and continue their appointed work with courage, remaining faithful and courageous to Him as Captain who supports those working unselfishly for others, trusting in His final victory.

Every tried and tempted one, especially when exasperated by perverse, stubborn brethren inspired by Satan, is to hold fast the profession by remembering life lived in the presence of this compassionate Priest. Because in the days of His flesh He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, learned obedience by suffering, and was compassed with infirmity, He has compassion on the ignorant and on those out of the way and knows how to succor those beset by the powers of darkness, having been tempted in all points as members of the human family are tempted yet without sin and being touched with the feeling of human infirmities. Trust in Christ is to be such that no one can sever the believer from Him, refraining from words that arouse unbalanced feelings in another and hurt Christ in the person of His family member, while coming boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Bold Access and Daily Help

Because this great High Priest has passed into heaven, those in trouble, conflict and temptation may come boldly with a true heart in full assurance of faith, in united prayer with full trust, to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need. He understands human weakness because as a human He was tempted in all points as people are yet remained without sin, and having Himself suffered being tempted He knows every impulse of the heart, every circumstance of temptation and every deed of the past life. Holding firmly to profession of faith matters because God's promised rest is entered through faith, not unbelief, with diligent hearing of the Word in humility rather than carelessness or independence.

The gift of Christ pledges help in trouble and victory in conflict, for in Him is His people's strength and to Him all power is given through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. Those who wait on the Lord and bring requests with confidence renew strength and do not faint, weary or fall, finding rest and peace. His victory and help are available because He took human nature, faced temptation without sin, knows humanity's trials, and as risen and ascended Advocate brings requests to God with confidence.

Temptation can be overcome in Him, and sinners who acknowledge need and seek divine grace through Him are not turned away. Even the darkened, remorseful, backsliding soul wrenched with agony, fearing misjudgment and condemnation from people with hearts of steel who cannot read the heart, can turn from people to Him without fear, trust the case with God as merciful and compassionate, and plead for pity for Christ's sake. Such a one receives pardon and peace and relief from fear, lays hold of grace under affliction and trial as God's discipline, and becomes patient, trustful and triumphant, coming forth as gold purified with hope kept alive, rather than becoming discouraged or focused on self. From the desert to Calvary Satan's wrath struck Him yet He clung to His Father and overcame on behalf of others, so mercy and grace may be sought when help is needed and Satan's temptations resisted.

The verse gives reason for faith, courage, hope and confidence so believers do not sink into hopeless discouragement because they make mistakes. As Elder Brother who left His high command and clothed divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race, bear human trials and overcome human temptations without once yielding, He is touched with infirmities and has compassion on the ignorant and those out of the way, showing that by power from on high a life may be unsullied. Because He is the living, risen High Priest who intercedes and presents each case by name before the Father, religious life should show peace, happiness and joy rather than gloom of a faith without a Saviour, with wholehearted consecration and devoted service assured by His triumphant ascension and continuing work.

Believers can depend on God and come boldly to the throne in prayer rather than relying on finite human leaders or putting people in God's place as guide and counselor. Workers, especially in far distant lands, must move every hour in humble dependence upon Him, direct souls to Jesus Himself, and believe the Lord hears and answers prayer. He has provided that the Holy Spirit, another Comforter, shall descend upon workers and dwell in every place where consecrated hearts seek to do His work, and those who seek the Father may receive the Spirit's abiding presence. His authority surpasses every human and spiritual power and He treats tempted and tried cases as His own, supplying spiritual nourishment to the weak, while trusting Him gives power beyond human strength and studying His life deepens knowledge of His power and human weakness, develops faith, courage, patience and love, cultivates virtues, and shows sin in its terrible deformity.

Forgiveness is sought from God through Him as the only true Mediator, not from a human priest, for He understands weakness and can cleanse every stain of sin and iniquity. He takes up the petition of each sincere blood-bought person, places His own righteousness on the suppliant's side, blends His prayer with human prayer, and bears requests to the Father with the incense of His righteousness. His mediation secures all God has promised on His unchanging word, so prayer is to be as the breath of the soul, with silent requests ascending from anywhere without ceasing.

This assurance belongs with tender, compassionate labor rather than an authoritative or forceful spirit. Having ascended without losing sympathy for those He came to redeem, He looks with tender love on mothers and reaches out to help each person where she is. As Chief Physician now in the heavenly courts, His leading physicians as His representatives are not to be confined too closely to one institution but to go where there is need, speak counsel and encouragement and mercy and pardoning grace to new congregations, broaden experience, and by that association receive new ideas, increased light, deeper thoughts and clearer views of the close relation between God and His people.

Because He is now pleading in God's presence by virtue of His own blood, by which He entered once for all into the holy place above and obtained eternal redemption, now is the time to make sure work for eternity. Worshipers stand in solemn relation to Him for present and eternal good, bound with Christ in God and together in brotherhood to love as He loved, offering selves as a free acceptable sacrifice, confessing rather than covering sins to find mercy and grace, putting away and loathing the sins that caused His suffering, pouring out the soul in repentance and contrition, and receiving a new heart with transgressions fully removed. While He makes atonement believers are to seek perfection in Christ and separate from sin through faith in His blood, uniting weakness to His strength and relying on His merits as God shapes character, for Satan found no cherished sinful desire or sin in Him to exploit and He kept His Father's commandments, and those who stand faithful and courageous to Him as Captain in the time of trouble must be found in like faithfulness.