“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

What is the meaning of all this? The ‘therefore’ tells us. Before He could take His position of God’s high priest and offer the true sacrifice for sins for humans, He had to be human. He could not understand the sins of those He was offering for without going through the same trials and temptations they went through.

With this long verse, we are seeing the goal of the Hebrews writer. He intends to show that the old priesthood is gone and with it the puny sacrifices that were offered by those priests. To do this, the writer wants us to understand that there is a new and better high priest who can and did wipe out sin for good.

We must not fail to grasp the meaning of ‘in every respect.’ Jesus was truly a man. He had a human body that aged and knew frailty. He was subject to the same temptations we are facing in our lives. He knew pain and sorrow just like we do. He knew loneliness and fear, and because He experienced all of these things He was able to be our high priest. Notice that this experience made Him merciful. It also made Him faithful. He rose from the garden and walked to the cross that He might offer Himself as the only propitiation that God would accept.

There at last in the presence of God, He offered His own blood in lieu of mine and yours. God accepted His sacrifice and set you, and I free of blame. Our sins are no longer counted against us. We are free of condemnation because of sin. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Task for Today: Open your heart to what Jesus did for you. Keep in mind that Jesus was the Word and as such was God. He became like you to save you. Say thank you to God. Rejoice in your forgiveness today. Live with the knowledge of complete forgiveness.