“For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.”

In other words, the law required that those who served at the altar be of the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi. Jesus could not be a priest, much less a high priest under the law because He was of the tribe of Judah. By law, no one of the tribe of Judah could serve the altar. The only way to make Jesus a high priest was to change the law because Jesus could not change tribes.

In truth, Jesus was not going to serve at the physical altar that the Levites did. He was not offering lambs or bulls or goats at the earthly mercy seat. Jesus had no intention of reenacting the physical rite of Yom Kuper. Those altars and their sacrifices were earthbound and brought nothing but temporary forgiveness. The blood of animals offered temporary cleansing but had to be repeated year after year. Jesus came to offer Himself before the actual throne of God. The blood He gave was His own.

Task for Today: Thank God for the gift of His Son as the sacrificial lamb. Among men, only Abraham has understood what God did. Use your imagination and give Him praise. If you followed Jesus to the grave and through the grave to the resurrection, your sins are forgiven. Not for a year but for all eternity.