How does Christ fill the office of a priest?

Posted on April 3, 2019 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Question 25 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, How does Christ fill the office of a priest?

The answer given is, Christ fills the office of a priest in his once offering up of himself to God as a sacrifice, to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God; and in making constant intercession for us.

I notice first the word “once” which is used to modify the verb offering. Christ does not continually offer himself up as a sacrifice, nor does the sacrifice need to be repeated on a daily or weekly basis. It was completed once and is effective for all time.

The answer also provides the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice. It was done to satisfy divine justice and provide the means were we can be reconciled to God. In other words our relationship with God was broken and we needed Jesus to intervene to restore the relationship. We bring sin and failure to the table and Jesus takes it and gives us his righteousness in return.

But perhaps the most comfort of all can be obtained from the last part of this answer. Jesus functions as a priest by continually interceding on our behalf.

This really hits home with me right now. I have gone through a period of time when I wasn’t really sure who was fully in my corner supporting me. When life is difficult and nothing seems to be going right, it makes all the difference in the world to know that Jesus has not given up and has not abandoned me. The reminder that Jesus is making the effort to intercede on my behalf makes it possible to persevere and avoid despair.

If you are in need of encouragement right now, may I suggest that you take a few moments and read the prayer In John 17 and spend some time letting it marinate? By reading this prayer, we get a deep view into how Jesus intercedes for us.

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Keller on prayer and Scripture

In his book on prayer, Tim Keller writes this about the importance of having Scripture as the foundation of our prayer life: “Without immersion in God’s words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality. We may be responding not to the real God but to what we wish […]

Assent versus Action

For now, I will continue to have a gap between my assent and my action, but it will not always be so.

One day, Jesus will return or I will go to meet him and all will be put to right. The gap will be eliminated. Assent and action will be simultaneous.

What a relief that will be.

No retreat baby and no surrender – Inspired by Bruce Springsteen

The Bruce Springsteen song “No Surrender” inspired some thoughts about what is worthy of such dogged pursuit by the believer. See what the Apostle Paul and C. S. Lewis have to say in relation to this.

God is the initiator

We are wilfully ignorant of God. We are ignorant because we choose to be. The coming of Jesus confronts us in our rebellion and forces us to make a choice. We can choose to remain as we are or engage in the process of learning to respond to God’s initiative.

On discernment ministries

I recently read a post by a pastor who, with a broad brush, condemned all “discernment ministries” as being unloving and promoting disunity in the church. The concern is that such statements could be construed as saying that it is wrong to exercise discernment. Are we to take the position that anyone who claims his […]

A check that won’t bounce

During a recent Bible study where we were discussing the resurrection of Jesus I thought of the analogy of writing a check. Jesus claimed to have power over death, he claimed that he would die and then rise again. Using the analogy of writing a check, Jesus wrote a large check to us when he promised that we could be raised to new life.

Share

About Mark McIntyre