“…and since we have a great priest over the house of God…”

By His appointment as high priest over a new order of priest we, those He has made priest under Him, will now have certain benefits. That’s where this big ‘therefore’ is going, and we will see what it is in the very next verse. Our author has spent much space denoting this great priest and how He was appointed and what that meant as far as the covenants were concerned.

By changing the priesthood, there was necessarily a change in the law or covenant that established the priesthood. The very fact that God appointed a high priest outside the order of Aaron meant that the Old Testament Law was voided. The voiding of the covenant required a new one, which was brought by a new prophet, one greater even than Moses, as Moses himself predicted. Therefore, not only was the priesthood changed, but all the requirements for membership in the house of God changed. This is why Jesus came teaching with such authority that the kingdom of God was near. This is what prompted the ‘You have heard, but I say,” discourses. This explains the reason for the sermon on the mountain and many other startling revelations. Jesus came, as he said, not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. When a thing is fulfilled, it is completed. That covenant was completed, and Jesus brought a new one, which is totally different in its openness to God.

Task for Today: Prepare yourself for the climax to this ‘therefore.’ Something big is coming, and you won’t want to miss it. Just keep in mind that if you aren’t a part of that new covenant priesthood that the climax will not apply to you. Why not enter that new covenant relationship with God by dying to self and being buried with His Son so that you can be added as one of those living stones?