The Promised Priest

Psalm 110:4

Immanuel – Candlelight Service – 12/24/25

          I imagine, if you’re anything like me, you’ve done something stupid a time or two in your life. Consequently, you’ve hurt someone. You didn’t mean to hurt them, you didn’t set out to hurt them, but you did. You did something you shouldn’t have, said something stupid, forgot something important; and that action caused offense and hurt.

          Too often, our natural instinct is to want to justify ourselves: “I didn’t mean to do that!” “I never tried to hurt you.” “That’s not what I meant to say.” “It was an accident.” “I simply forgot.” Much of the time, at the bottom of our self-justification, is this idea: “I’m good! Please, just overlook when I’m not good!”

          The conflicts that we have with one other, these are an echo. They’re a ripple effect. Because there is one relationship that affects all the others. God has created us to have relationship with him. But it’s not an ordinary relationship. Our relationship to God orients all other parts of life – including our relationships with one another.

          Sin is a catchall word for those manifold ways we offend God, and throw darts as his heart. Sin has broken our relationship with him, and now all of our other relationships suffer from brokenness.

          Scripture tells us that there will come a moment of reckoning for all the ways you have lived offensively towards God – a judgment day. On that day, so many people hope their good deeds will outweigh their bad. In other words, they hope in, “I’m good! Please just overlook when I’m not good!” They hope to repair their relationship to God with self-justification.

          I have learned – too many times the hard way – that self-justification does not work with my earthly relationships. If it doesn’t work there, how will self-justification suddenly work with God?

          It won’t. To come before God based on your own merit and self-justification is repulsive to him – in a similar way it is to your spouse. Self-justification earns eternal separation from God. The Bible says we are sinners condemned to eternal death.

          But there is a way of life. And this Christmas Eve, I don’t think there is any greater gift to consider. It is a gift extended to all people.

          That gift was given in Bethlehem: a baby boy, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The angel said his birth was, “Good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10).

This baby was the Promised Seed, prophesied of in Eden, come to destroy the works of Satan. This baby was the Promised Prophet, prophesied to reveal God to man like never before. This baby was the Promised King, born to rule as Lord of lords and King of kings. This baby was the Promised Priest, come to lead humanity before our Holy God.

A millennia before he was born, The Holy Spirit caused David to overhear God the Father speaking to God the Son. This is a bit of what David heard and wrote down:

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”                                                    -Psalm 110:1-4

          God the Father was speaking to his Son, that’s what David heard! And he heard that the Son would be a king-priest, like the mysterious Melchizedek. Laying aside the figure of Melchizedek, let’s consider the eternal priesthood of Jesus.

A priest is a mediator between God and man, bringing sinful man before God. But, that priest is also a man.

          Therefore [Jesus] 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.                                                          -Hebrews 2:17

          When God became flesh, he was becoming like us in every respect – subject to our weaknesses and limitations, afflicted by sufferings and temptations. He profoundly knows us. He understands us.

          He also understands what it takes to live a perfect human life – because he did. His whole life was oriented by God, and he perfectly did the will of his Father. He did not sin even once. Therefore, Jesus is the only person qualified to emerge from humanity’s ranks, stand before God, and plead the case for the rest of us.

          But God is not just our Heavenly Father, he is also the Supreme Judge. So it’s not just relationship that needs to be mended, but justice needs to be satisfied. If we are condemned because of our sins, he can’t just ignore it. That’s called injustice. Injustice allows criminals to roam the streets.

          In the Old Testament, priests offered animal sacrifices as a temporary measure. A person would bring an animal to the priest, which they either owned or had to buy. It was costly for that person. The priest would then sacrifice the animal. The act was symbolic. God transferred the sins of that person onto the innocent animal, and the animal faced death instead of the person.

          And if you think that’s horrific, that’s the point! The animal faced what is horrifying so the person didn’t have to!

          But there was a problem in this system. The sacrifice was made, you go about your life, you sin again: a lie, an outburst of anger, a lustful gaze, indifference towards suffering, whatever else. Another animal has to die, your sins demand another sacrifice.

          Jesus, God in the flesh, who lived the perfect life, and perfectly understands our lives, offered his precious life as the final sacrifice.

          Jesus steps forward from humanity and approaches the Judge. He has come to advocate for us, to mediate. He knows a sacrifice is required. He knows there aren’t enough animals in the world to resolve our evils. And he knows we’re just gonna go on sinning anyway!

          But despite all of that, Jesus approaches the Judge with a cross on his back. He will be the sacrifice. He will lay down his life, that the condemned would be set free. And as Jesus is dying, pierce by the agony we deserve, forsaken and ashamed, he cries out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34)

          Our sins, transferred to Jesus. His death was our death. And when Jesus – this one perfect human, this one sympathetic Mediator, this one Holy High Priest, this Son of God – when he asks for our forgiveness, and lays down his life for it, two things have happened.

          First: justice is satisfied. Jesus’ perfect life, eternal, beloved, is a payment so precious to God that it covers all sins for any person forever.

          Second: Jesus has asked for our forgiveness. Since he satisfied justice, and since he is God’s most beloved Son, the Judge eagerly, passionately, rhapsodically, grants Jesus’ request. He bursts from his judgment seat, throws off his robe, and becomes a Father to us!

See the scene where every day a father longingly, painfully looks down the road, hoping. After far too many days, one day, he sees his prodigal son returning, and he races to meet him with arm flung wide! It’s an explosion of joy and celebration and surprise. Surprise, because the son was not expecting such love and warmth when, in humility, he returned to his father.

          Jesus, the Promised Priest, has changed the whole landscape for us. As our Mediator, he is the way back to God, he is the road prodigals must travel to return to their Heavenly Father. There is no other way.

          If when we die and face our Judge, we stand there and tell him about all the good things we have done with our lives, and that we deserve his kingdom: what a woeful state – like the emperor with no clothes. If self-justification doesn’t work with one another, how will it suddenly work on that day? If you come before the Judge without a worthy sacrifice, then there is only one sacrifice to be made – your everlasting life.

          But if we look to Jesus and trust him, trusting that in his sacrifice we are forgiven, then we will be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. He died our death so we can live his life. On your own, there is nothing about your life worthy of self-justification. Jesus is worthy. If you trust him, he justifies you before God. You are forgiven and made righteous by faith.

It takes humility, but any who believe this will not meet a judge on that day, but a father. Jesus is our High Priest, only he reconciles us to God.

          But remember, as David wrote, Jesus is not just a priest, he is our King-Priest. As the King gave up his life for ours, so now must we give up our lives for him. He has said, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). He has commissioned us to go and make disciples of all nations. He has ignited our hearts, that we would be brilliant and unashamed lights in the world.

          It’s a dark world this baby boy was born into. But radiant beams from his holy face, are the dawn of our redeeming grace. Christ, the King-Priest, was born. Christ, the King-Priest, rules and reigns today. Christ, the King-Priest, is the one who brings us to God.

          What a gift! I’ve just unpacked it. Will you received it?