Lesson 12: Now - What Is Jesus Doing? (1)

What is Jesus doing now? Most of us know He is in heaven building a home for us as He promised in John 14:1-6. As we keep talking about heaven, we keep looking forward to being there, looking forward for Him to have our homes finished. But while we are waiting, there are some other things Jesus is doing for us.

First of all, the Bible says He is acting as our High Priest. In order, however, for us to understand what this means, we have to read the Scriptures to see what it meant to be a high priest. Let's start by reading Hebrews 5:1-3, “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.” Jesus offered these sacrifices in the form of His own body and His own blood on the cross. The only difference between Jesus and the earthly high priests is that Jesus did not have to offer any sacrifices for His sins – only for the sins of the people.

This sacrifice was not a ransom-payment God made to Satan to buy us back. Satan received nothing in this transaction except his final defeat. It was not, like in a kidnapping case in our culture, a ransom in exchange for freedom. This sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was a payment to God for the sin of the people. God's righteousness and justice demanded death for just one sin. Man could not pay such a price himself without being forever dead. Only God, whom death could not hold, could pay the price of death and then rise again in victory, because only God has never sinned.


Another duty of the high priest is named in Malachi 2:6-7 where we read, “True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” The high priest was the source of all religious teaching. One man could not possibly do all of that himself, so he was allowed to delegate some of it; he, however, remained the responsible party. Does Jesus teach us today? The answer, of course, is yes. We need only look at John 16:13 to see this prophesied and fulfilled. Notice here that the delegated responsibility is given to the Holy Spirit who does not teach His own agenda. He teaches only what He hears from God. This might sound a little strange since we know that the Holy Spirit is God but the emphasis is on the fact that it is Jesus who was responsible for all we are taught, and the Holy Spirit acts on behalf of Jesus. In the case of Old Testament high priests, what people learned was the law; in our case, what we learn is truth.

*What have you learned from Scripture through the Holy Spirit’s teaching this week?