Jesus the High Priest Who Leads Us to the Throne of Grace
Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition, Lecture 8

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Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Archive

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Cluster content connected to the pillar page for the full exposition of Hebrews · The first core article that opens the theme of "Jesus the High Priest" in earnest

1. Humanity exposed before the Word, yet not abandoned

The opening part of Hebrews 4 describes the human person standing before the Word of God in a deeply solemn way. God's Word is not merely religious information or a set of sacred sentences. The Word is living and active, exposing the deepest inner life of human beings. The thoughts and intentions of the heart, hidden motives, and concealed fears cannot remain covered before the Word. Before the eyes of God, human beings stand exposed like those laid bare.

Yet Hebrews does not stop at that point. To human beings exposed before the Word, it immediately says, "Therefore, since we have a great High Priest." This is the gospel depth of Hebrews. Human existence is revealed, but that revelation is not the end of hope. The place where sin and weakness are brought to light is also the place where grace must be sought. The person who can no longer hide before God must now lay down self-righteousness and come to Jesus, the High Priest.

In the life of faith, many believers pull away from God when their weakness is exposed. They avoid the place of prayer, fear standing before the Word, and imagine that they will return to God only after they are sufficiently prepared. But the direction of Hebrews is the opposite. Because weakness has been exposed, we must approach the throne of grace. Because failure exists, mercy is needed; because we are shaken, grace to help in time of need is necessary.

Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Lecture 8 follows this movement and turns the believer's gaze away from the self and toward Jesus Christ. The passage does not tell us to conceal human insufficiency. Rather, it invites us to bring that insufficiency before God. That invitation is possible because we have Jesus Christ, the great High Priest.

2. We have a great High Priest

Hebrews 4:14 begins with the central declaration of the passage: "Since then we have a great High Priest." This statement shows what the believer's faith stands upon. The important phrase here is "we have." Hebrews does not present Jesus merely as an impressive religious figure. Jesus is not a distant person unrelated to believers; he is the High Priest who belongs to us and stands for us.

A high priest stands between God and the people. He approaches God on behalf of the people and stands before God bearing their sins and weaknesses. In the Old Testament, the high priest carried out the ministry of atonement for the people within the appointed feasts and sacrificial system. But Hebrews calls Jesus the "great High Priest." His high-priestly ministry is not limited to an earthly sanctuary or repeated sacrifices. He is the eternal High Priest who has passed through the heavens.

Hebrews introduces Jesus as "the Son of God" who has passed through the heavens. His ascension means that Jesus is not a priest confined to earthly limitations, but the High Priest who belongs to heaven. Jesus, the Son of God, opened the way of salvation through the cross and resurrection, and he has ascended and is seated at the right hand of God. His intercession is not a temporary consolation; it is the foundation of eternal salvation.

For this reason, the author of Hebrews exhorts believers to "hold fast our confession." The strength to hold fast to faith does not come simply from personal determination. The perseverance of faith is grounded in the high-priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. We do not keep the faith because we never waver; we hold on to faith because there is one who holds us. This is also a key message of Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Lecture 8. Believers are not people who cling only to inner confidence; they cling to Jesus, the High Priest in heaven.

3. Jesus knows our weaknesses

Hebrews 4:15 describes the high-priestly ministry of Jesus with remarkable warmth: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses." This word becomes one of the deepest comforts for believers as they approach God. Jesus is not ignorant of our weakness. He knows our fatigue, fear, loneliness, tears, temptations, and possibility of failure.

The sympathy of Jesus is not merely emotional pity. The sympathy spoken of in this passage is a powerful compassion that truly knows human suffering and is able to help those who are in it. Jesus did not observe human pain from far away; he entered the human condition. He knew hunger, fatigue, rejection, loneliness, and the fear of death, and he prayed with loud cries and tears.

At the same time, the passage says that Jesus was "yet without sin." The statement that Jesus was tempted as we are does not mean that he yielded to sin as we do. Jesus was truly tempted, yet he did not surrender to sin. This is precisely why his sympathy is deeper and stronger. If Jesus knew nothing of our weakness, we would be afraid to approach him. Conversely, if Jesus had been defeated by sin just as we are, he could not save us. But Hebrews testifies that Jesus knows our weakness and has conquered without sin.

This is the believer's true comfort. Jesus is not only the one who understands me; he is the one who leads me and establishes me in grace. He does not merely stand at a distance and judge believers who are being tempted. As the one who has already passed through the path of temptation, he helps us. Therefore believers can bring their weaknesses to the Lord without hiding them.

4. Approach the throne of grace with confidence

Hebrews 4:16 is the central invitation of this lecture: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." This verse is the practical conclusion of Hebrews 4:14-5:10. Because we have a great High Priest, because he knows our weaknesses, and because he was tempted yet overcame without sin, we can draw near to God.

The word "throne" evokes God's kingship and authority. A throne is not normally a place one approaches casually. Yet Hebrews calls this throne "the throne of grace" because Jesus Christ stands as High Priest. Apart from Jesus, the throne may be a fearful place of judgment; in Jesus, that throne becomes the place where believers receive mercy and grace.

For believers to approach with confidence does not mean that they treat God lightly. Confidence is not irreverence, nor is it self-assurance. Christian confidence is grounded in the mediation of Jesus Christ. We do not approach because we are sufficiently righteous; we approach because there is a righteous High Priest. Prayer is not an act reserved only for qualified people. Prayer is the act of faith by which those who need grace come before the throne of grace.

The phrase "grace to help in time of need" gives very practical comfort to the believer's life. God does not give grace only in the abstract. He gives the grace needed for the very hour believers must endure, the very place they must stand, and the very moment they must make a decision. Today's temptation requires today's grace, and tomorrow's suffering will require tomorrow's grace. Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Lecture 8 centers on this invitation and leads discouraged believers back to the place of prayer. The more weakness there is, the more deeply we must draw near; the more temptation there is, the more confidently we must come.

5. The qualifications of a high priest in Hebrews 5

Hebrews 5 explains the qualifications required of a high priest. A high priest must be taken from among human beings, and he must be called by God. These two requirements reveal the essence of priesthood. Because a priest represents human beings, he must know the reality of human life; and because he stands before God, he cannot take this honor for himself.

First, the high priest is taken from among human beings. He is a person who approaches God on behalf of the people. He cannot ignore the people's sins, ignorance, and weakness. Jesus fulfills this condition perfectly. He is truly God, and at the same time he became truly human. The incarnation shows that Jesus did not save humanity from a distance; he entered the human condition.

At the same time, the high priest must be called by God. No one can take the honor of high priesthood upon himself. Just as Aaron served in the priestly office by God's calling, Jesus also did not glorify himself to become High Priest; the Father appointed him. Hebrews quotes the Psalms to show that Jesus is the Son of God and, at the same time, the priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Here Hebrews speaks of both the identity and the office of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. Yet he did not merely insist on the glory of sonship; as High Priest, he walked the path of suffering. The fact that the Son of God became High Priest is astonishing grace for believers. This section naturally leads into the argument about Melchizedek in Hebrews 7.

6. Obedience learned through suffering

Hebrews 5:7-9 gives a profound picture of the obedience of Jesus. The passage says that in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears. This expression shows that the suffering of Jesus was not formal or symbolic. Jesus truly suffered, truly knew the weight of death, and truly pleaded before the Father.

These words bring to mind Jesus praying in Gethsemane. Jesus did not face the cross in detached silence. He knew the depth of pain, the fear of death, and the weight of being forsaken. Yet in the midst of all that pain, he entrusted himself to the will of the Father. The obedience of Jesus is not an abstract doctrine; it is obedience that passed through tears and cries.

When Hebrews says that Jesus "learned obedience through what he suffered," it does not mean that there was disobedience in Jesus. Rather, the expression means that Jesus, as a true human being, actually walked the path of obedience. Obedience is not confessed only in words; it is revealed in the reality of suffering. Believers learn how to approach God in suffering as they look to this Jesus. A believer in suffering has not failed before God because of tears. The believer who prays with tears is following the path of Jesus, the High Priest, and approaching God through him.

Hebrews 5:9 says that, being made perfect, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Here Jesus is not merely an example of obedience. He is the source of salvation. Believers follow Jesus in obedience, but the strength for that obedience also comes from him. Salvation does not begin with the believer's resolve; it begins with the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ.

7. A High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek

Hebrews 5:10 says that Jesus was designated by God as "a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek." This expression is a crucial theological link within the whole book of Hebrews. Melchizedek is a distinctive figure who appears in Genesis and the Psalms, and Hebrews uses him to explain that the priesthood of Jesus is greater and more eternal than the priesthood of Aaron.

The Melchizedek argument is not unfolded in detail in this passage. Yet Hebrews 5:10 functions like a doorway opening toward the argument of Hebrews 7. The high-priestly ministry of Jesus is not confined to bloodline or institution. He is the High Priest established according to the power of an indestructible life, and by a once-for-all sacrifice he fully saves his people.

For this reason, Lecture 8 holds an important place in Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Archive. It is not merely a lecture that comforts believers; it is the lecture that opens in earnest the central Hebrews theme of "Jesus the High Priest." Later lectures expand into the themes of Melchizedek, the better covenant, the heavenly sanctuary, the once-for-all sacrifice, and complete atonement.

8. The place of Lecture 8 in Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Archive

The flow of the Hebrews exposition progressively reveals the superiority of Jesus Christ. The earlier lectures show that Jesus is God's final revelation, greater than angels, greater than Moses, and the one who leads his people into true rest. They also explain how human beings are exposed before the Word of God. Lecture 8 now tells those exposed human beings where they must go. The answer is Jesus Christ, the High Priest.

This lecture does not leave the believer's faith at the level of self-examination. Once the believer has been exposed before the Word, the response is not despair or hiding, but approaching the throne of grace. This is the pastoral exhortation of Hebrews. Because Jesus is the High Priest, believers can come to God again even in discouragement.

Within the archive structure, this article is well placed as the first core cluster content that opens the theme of "Jesus the High Priest." If the full Hebrews exposition page serves as the pillar page and each lecture is connected as individual cluster content, readers can follow the flow more easily, and search engines can better understand the relationships among the themes. In particular, this eighth lecture naturally connects to the ninth lecture on Melchizedek, the eleventh lecture on the better covenant, and the twelfth and thirteenth lectures on the perfect sacrifice.

9. Applying the message to life

First, believers must not hide their weaknesses, but bring them before the throne of grace. Faith does not begin by pretending to be strong. Jesus knows our weaknesses. Therefore believers do not move away from God because of shame; they come to the Lord with those very weaknesses.

Second, prayer must be understood not as a matter of qualification but as a matter of grace. We do not pray because we are sufficiently prepared. We pray because we need mercy and grace to help in time of need. Third, in suffering, we must look to the obedience of Jesus. Jesus is not one who is unfamiliar with suffering. He is the one who prayed with loud cries and tears.

Fourth, we must hold fast our confession. The ground of faith is not the stability of our emotions, but Jesus Christ, the High Priest in heaven. Fifth, the community of faith must not deal with weak members only through condemnation, but must lead them to the place of grace. If Jesus is the High Priest who knows our weaknesses, then the church community must learn his heart. A community that leads people to the throne of grace is a gospel-shaped community.

Hebrews 4:14-5:10 turns the believer's gaze away from the self and toward Jesus Christ. Human beings cannot hide before the Word, and they cannot stand before God by their own righteousness. Yet believers have a great High Priest. He is Jesus Christ, the ascended Son of God, who knows our weaknesses, was tempted as we are, and yet overcame without sin. Therefore believers do not move away from God because of weakness. Rather, because of weakness, they approach the throne of grace. Jesus not only understands us; he helps us. He fulfilled obedience through suffering and became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Pastor David Jang's Hebrews Exposition Lecture 8 clearly holds fast to this gospel invitation. Because we have a great High Priest, we can hold fast our confession and approach the throne of grace with confidence.