Beset with Weakness

In chapter 5 of Hebrews we learn that the high priests serving in the temple are just like we are; they are beset with weakness, ignorant, and misguided.  You might ask, then, how can such a person help us reach up to God.  The answer is given that this person can help only if (a) God has called him to be the high priest, so that here we see God’s grace in election and calling; and (b) that the high priest himself must offer a sacrifice for his own sins before he seeks to go to the Lord on behalf of others.  The priest could not call himself to be a priest, and he could not on his own merit march into the presence of God.

Christ, on the other hand, could merit an audience with the Father, and he could rightly call himself a priest (I suppose); he had the righteousness to remain in the presence of the Father.  Yet, Christ did not glorify himself but became humble to the will of the Father.  The Father designated him a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 

What this says is that we are beset with a weakness that prevents us from going to God; there is no strong tower of Babel in our righteousness that would reach to the Heavens.  No, we are weak, ignorant, and misguided.  So, where we were weak and unable to reach up to God, Christ, though strong and full of knowledge, made himself weak and reached down to us from Heaven.  We cannot climb to the holiness of Heaven; we must be picked up and carried there. Christ is the one who picks us up in the power of the Resurrection. May your souls be lifted today in Christ.