Consider Jesus as our High Priest and what this teaches about the Lord's Supper.
Hebrews 8:1 – Jesus is our High Priest, seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.
Hebrews 7:24,25 – Because He lives forever, He has an unchangeable priesthood. So He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.
Under the Old Testament, Levitical priests needed an order of succession because they died and needed to be replaced. Jesus never needs to be replaced because He lives forever. He is able to save to the uttermost.
(1 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14,15; 7:26-28; 10:21; 1 Peter 2:5)
Priests in the Bible perform several duties. One main duty was offering sacrifices.
We do not need Levitical priests under the gospel because we no longer offer animal sacrifices (Hebrews 10:1-11).
Hebrews 9:11,24 – Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands … For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Jesus as our spiritual High Priest once for all entered the Most Holy Place (Heaven) to obtain eternal redemption.
(Compare 2:17; 8:3; 7:26,27; 10:9-18.)
Hebrews 5:1,3 – They offered sacrifices for their own sins and for those of the people.
Leviticus 17:1-9 – The people were forbidden to offer their own sacrifices. They had to take them to the priest.
Hebrews 10:1-4,11 – But animal sacrifices could not permanently remove sin; they had to be repeated yearly, because the sins were remembered. So, animal sacrifices and the Levitical priesthood ceased when the Old Testament was removed.
(Compare 13:11; Leviticus 16:1-34; 2 Chronicles 26:16-21; Numbers 16:39,40.)
Hebrews 7:25 – He is able to save to the uttermost.
Hebrews 10:10-18 – This sacrifice does not need to be repeated since it removes sins so that they are remembered no more.
1 John 1:7 – His blood cleanses us from all sin.
The perfect High Priest offered Himself – His own blood – as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is both the Priest and the sacrifice.
In the Lord’s Supper, we remember the sacrifice offered by our perfect High Priest.
(Compare Hebrews 9:11-14,24-26; Titus 2:14.)
(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2019; gospelway.com
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Scripture quotations are generally from the New King James Version (NKJV), copyright 1982, 1988 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. used by permission. All rights reserved.