Draw Near

For a whole year, we have heard about the superiority of Christ — His superiority to angels, to Joshua and Moses, and then (at great length) his superiority to Aaron. You know that Jesus is better than the Levitical system, and He is better in every respect. There is no area where you can say, "Well, the Levitical system is actually superior here." Do you know how rare that is, for something to absolutely outclass another thing across all categories? You might say that a car is superior to a horse and buggy across the board, but I would remind you that the horse will not run off a cliff or into a wall. The car will do whatever you tell it to, no matter how dumb. In other words, even where there are clear superiorities in many areas, very rarely in this world do we find something that is better in every way imaginable. But Jesus is better in every way imaginable. There is literally no downside to leaving OT Judaism or Rabbinic Judaism and becoming a Christian. That's the first year of Hebrews sermons in a nutshell. But though there is no downside, there is most definitely a cost, a commitment. If you are going to possess Christ and the benefits of His priestly mediation, then you are going to have to spend time worshiping Him. That is the requirement, the major application. Having provided us with every reason under the sun why Jesus is the best high priest ever, the writer now hits us with a simple application: make use of His priestly services! Since He died to open the way into God's presence, you need to make use of that way.