The High-Priestly Ministry of the Ascended Christ
Christ’s ascension secures our confidence and perseverance because, as our great High Priest, he has completed atonement, sympathizes with our weakness, and continually intercedes for us at the throne
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 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. (Hebrews 4:14–16)
The author of Hebrews begins this passage by pointing to Christ’s ascension into heaven as a source of encouragement, which may seem strange at first. When Jesus ascended, the book of Acts suggests that his disciples were discouraged. They stood there “gazing into heaven as he went” (Acts 1:10). That gaze suggests longing, as if they were saying, Please don’t leave us, Lord.
Immediately, two men in white robes stood beside them and said, “Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). In other words, do not be afraid. His ascension does not mean abandonment. He will come again.
But here in Hebrews, the author does not reassure us by pointing to Christ’s second coming. Instead, he points to Christ’s ascension itself—his departure from this earth—as a source of encouragement. And it is encouraging because of what Christ is doing right now as we wait for his return.
Throughout this epistle, the author speaks of Christ as our great High Priest. He is convinced that a right understanding of Christ’s high-priestly ministry will steady us when storms arise. When doubts surface, when confusion sets in, when fear creeps in, knowing what Christ is doing right now at the right hand of God is a tremendous help to us.
Christ’s Greater Priesthood and Our Confession
Under the old covenant, the high priest would, once each year on the Day of Atonement, pass out of Israel’s sight. Carrying the blood of atonement, he would leave the people behind and enter the Holy of Holies. It was a moment filled with gravity and fear because everything about it emphasized limitation—limited access, limited time, limited effect.
But Jesus, as Hebrews shows us, has done something infinitely greater. He passed from the disciples’ sight, as recorded in Acts, into the ultimate Holy of Holies. He did not offer the blood of another. He shed his own. Unlike the Levitical priest, he never has to repeat this work. On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The work of atonement is complete once and for all.
According to Romans 8:34, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
Once the sacrifice was made and Jesus was raised from the dead, he “passed through the heavens” to the right hand of God. And then he did something none of the Levitical priests ever did after entering the Holy of Holies. He sat down. He stayed. More to the point that Hebrews is making, he has been interceding for his people ever since.
This is the heart of the author’s argument. Pressure and persecution have a way of distorting memory. Think of the Israelites who complained that they were better off in slavery in Egypt than in the wilderness. Suffering makes us look backward with rose-colored glasses. The original audience of Hebrews, Jewish believers, were tempted to think that the old covenant system was safer, more familiar, and more tangible than trusting in an unseen Christ.
The writer of Hebrews insists there is no comparison. What Christ provides is infinitely superior to the Levitical system. Going back would not be a step toward safety. Far from it. It would be a step away from reality itself.
So he exhorts them, “Let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14). What is our confession? Hebrews 3:1 answers: “Jesus [is] the apostle and high priest of our confession.” Who Jesus is—that is our confession. We confess that he is God’s apostle, the One whom God sent to save us, and our High Priest, the One who now represents us in heaven.
One commentator notes that the author “everywhere insists on the duty of the public confession of the faith. The crisis claimed not simply private conviction but a clear declaration of belief openly in the face of men.” In other words, we are called not only to believe who Jesus is, but to openly and boldly declare who he is. That kind of confession strengthens faith, especially in difficult moments or unfriendly settings, because it reinforces what we hold inside.
So when life presses in on us, we should resist the impulse to retreat into silence. Instead, we openly confess Christ as our great High Priest. We embrace his ministry and hold it tightly.
A Sympathetic High Priest
Why should we hold fast to our confession? “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
This was a shocking claim in the ancient world. For many people—think of the Stoics—God could not possibly be sympathetic. Sympathy implied the ability to feel, and if God could feel, then he might be affected by emotions, even manipulated or controlled by them. The Epicureans believed the gods were detached, removed from the emotions and affairs of human life. Even within Judaism, for all its strengths, many struggled to grasp the nearness and intimacy God would reveal in Christ.
Jesus changed everything. He addressed God as “Father” and taught his disciples to do the same. More than that, God became a man in Jesus. Hebrews says he was “made like his brothers in every respect” (Hebrews 2:17). He had a real human body, a real human mind, and real human emotions. He learned. He grew. He knew hunger, fatigue, and sorrow. He lived within the limits of human weakness. That is why he is able to “sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15).
Yet he did so without ever sinning. “In every respect [he was] tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). That does not mean he faced every possible temptation. He did not encounter temptations unique to marriage or old age, and he never faced temptations arising from personal guilt or past sin. But he experienced the full weight of temptation in a way we never do. Only those who resist temptation know its true force; those who give in experience only part of it.
Jesus resisted to the end. He bore pressures and pains we will never fully know because he remained sinless. No one has ever been tempted as deeply as Christ.
That is why he can truly sympathize with us. He entered into our weakness and felt it firsthand. So there is no one better to trust or turn to, especially in times of hardship or confusion, than Christ.
Drawing Near to the Throne of Grace
The author of Hebrews concludes, “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” (Hebrews 4:16).
“Confidence” is not a word ancient pagans would have associated with prayer. The term implies open, direct speech—that is, speaking plainly and freely. Yet Scripture applies it here, even urges it, in our approach to God. We are to speak frankly to him. We come with reverence, but we also come with confidence.
There is no veil separating us from God any longer. Christ entered the Holy of Holies, made atonement once for all, and tore the curtain in two. Now, in Christ, who is interceding for us, we may approach God’s throne with confidence. We may come freely, turning to him moment by moment, day after day, to “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
How do we do this? First, we believe and confess who Jesus is—our great High Priest. And second, we pray. We speak confidently to our heavenly Father, who hears us because he hears his Son.