Song: Psalms 29:1-11

“Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

Jesus, the great high priest, is the word God has spoken to save.

When God chose to make Jesus the great high priest of a new covenant, he did not confer with anyone. Because his choice confirmed his decision. God said I will not accept the blood of rams and goats (Hebrews 9:11-12) any longer to shield my people from my wrath and I require a priest who has a permanent position who will make an offering once, for all establishing a new covenant that will fulfill my word that through him, Jesus, all would be saved and through him, Jesus, all would be made acceptable to God.

God is the one who chooses people, and his wrath is set against people who question his decisions. He chose Moses during a time when God’s people were transitioning from a place of captivity to the inheritance that God had destined for them. One day while the people of God are in the wilderness, Miriam and Aaron, the siblings of Moses turn to one another to complain about God’s decision to speak through their brother Moses and not them.

They say he didn’t even marry an acceptable wife from among our people, because Israel was very concerned about lineage and descent. The inheritance that God had promised to their forefathers was for Israel not the children of foreign women. So, they grumbled against Moses and his Cushite wife (Number 12:1) and said, if God can speak to and through Moses, why not speak to and through us as well? “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? They asked (each other) hasn’t he spoken through us” (Numbers 12:2)?

The scripture says that God heard Miriam and Aaron speaking poorly about Moses and questioning God’s decision in choosing him (Numbers 12:2). When God chooses, he also makes a point to defend his decision; and to not allow anyone to speak against what he has spoken or attempt to change what he has said. When God says Jesus is the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:1-14) that word is final.

When God says I desire mercy not sacrifice (Hosea 6:1-11) Jesus is the great high priest honoring God’s word to give mercy where punishment is due to those who look to him for salvation.

God hears Miriam and Aaron and immediately calls for them all. “At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, ‘Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you’” (Numbers 12:4). He doesn’t wait for the grumbling to spread through the camp but acts at once to confirm his word to his people. When they gather it says that the Lord himself shows up, “Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud: he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam and said, ‘Listen to my words’ “(Numbers 12:6).

How much more should we listen to the word of God who has come down from him through Jesus and has spoken that anyone who comes to Jesus he will accept and will not send away (John 6:28-40).

In this account however, the words that God wanted Aaron and Miriam to listen to were these: God tells them the significance of who Moses is to him and the difference between his position and Aaron and Miriam.

“When there is a prophet among you, I the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my house, with him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles, he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses” (Numbers 12:6-8)?

God says Moses’ position and structure is a unique service to God, “I speak clearly to him , not in riddles” or dreams, like prophets that you can dismiss as not having heard from God, you know that I have spoken face to face with him and that he sees me, why would you question someone I chose who has such a close relationship with me (God) unless you do not respect me or my decisions.

Anyone who says that Jesus’ sacrifice is insufficient or that a person who looks to Jesus for salvation must do something else in addition is saying like Aaron and Miriam, why have you chosen to use him? Jesus is God himself and the great high priest of a new covenant fulfilling what the former law required.

God was so angry with Aaron and Miriam that Miriam immediately broke out in a skin disease that was leprous (Numbers 12:10) as punishment for her unfaithfulness in questioning God’s choice. When this happens Aaron says to Moses, “please do not hold this against us, this sin we have so foolishly committed” (Numbers 12:11). And the scripture says that Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God. Heal her” (Numbers 12:13) and after a rebuke that lasts seven days God heals her (Numbers 12:14). Miriam was sent away from the company of the people of Israel and after seven days it says, “she was brought back” (Numbers 12:15).

Jesus as the great high priest of a new covenant is the one God has chosen to bring back all who are separated from God, to draw all people to himself, to turn the day of God’s wrath into a day of rejoicing forever. Jesus as the great high priest of a new covenant has a position where anyone who cries out to him for salvation he saves from God’s wrath and from the bondage of disbelief in him.

Jesus, the great high priest, is the gift of God.

In Numbers 18:14 God says to Aaron and the priests of the temple that “everything in Israel that is dedicated to the Lord is yours”. “This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you. Your sons and your daughters as your perpetual share” (Numbers 18:11). “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites” (Numbers 18:20).

Jesus is the perpetual share given to believers, by God. God requires holiness, set-apartness, reverence and devotion from people who believe in him; he wanted to distinguish people from people. People who are under his protection and blessing from people who worship other gods, praise idols and are not under his protection.

As God’s chosen priest of a new covenant, God has given Jesus everything that belongs to God (Numbers 18:14) and God himself has placed Jesus as the great high priest of a new covenant in charge of all offerings presented to God; this is a perpetual service that Jesus has as the great high priest (Numbers 18:8).

Just as God was the provider and portion for the priests, who were not given land possession, God has spoken that he is the portion and inheritance for Jesus. Jesus as a greater gift has among his possession all that God has, all power, and all authority belong to Jesus as his portion.

Just as priests were responsible for offenses connected with the physical sanctuary, the place where God dwells, Jesus as the great high priest of the new covenant has been given the responsibility to bear the consequences of all sins (Numbers 18:11)

God has spoken this word as a final decision just as he said anyone else who determines to perform the services of the priesthood outside of who God chose: Aaron and his sons must be put to death (Numbers 18:7) Jesus as the final word God has spoken to bring life to the world, saves all who come to God through Jesus and all who reject him are eternally separated from God.

The priesthood is a gift from God to mankind (Numbers 18:7). A gift of all that God possesses in the place of lack, a gift of salvation in the place of destruction, a gift of eternal connection to God in place of eternal separation, a gift of forgiveness in the place of judgment for sins.

God has chosen to have the service of the priesthood to be a way of redemption for his people. In the times Moses and Aaron the Israelites offered the best of their crops and livestock to access God’s grace and salvation, Jesus as the great high priest of the new covenant has continued the service of the priesthood to God by offering himself, once for all, that through him and the offering of his life he has been given the permanent place of a priest before God on behalf of everyone who believes and calls on him alone for salvation and forgiveness; and since Jesus has access to all power and authority God has because God gives himself as the portion for priests, all who come to Jesus have access to this same power and authority.

God said to Aaron that he will be their portion, that is, their provider for you and your sons, we as children of God, through Jesus, have the inheritance given to the children of God, not only salvation and forgiveness of sins but access to the Father and God of heaven and earth, the giver of life who just as he raised Jesus from the dead speaks to dead situations and breaths his life and healing into them.

Faith in Jesus gives power.

People who believe in Jesus are able to receive the gift that Jesus is. If you believe Jesus is the gift of God that brings salvation, salvation is yours. Having faith or believing in God’s word gives believers access to the authority God has given Jesus. In Jesus is life everlasting so all who believe in Jesus have access to the word of God that brings life into dead situations.

There was a Roman military official who believed that Jesus was who he said he is, the son of God with all power and authority in earth and heaven to deliver, save and to heal. This man had a servant who was on their death bed, about to die and he heard that Jesus was visiting the city where he was and he asked Jewish leaders to find Jesus and ask him to come and heal his servant, because the Centurion had faith that Jesus had the power to heal (Luke 7:1-3). When Jesus was not far from the Centurion’s house the Centurion sent his friends to meet Jesus on the way and ask him not to come to his house (Luke 7:6).

This man tells his friends to tell Jesus that he is not worthy enough to have the son of God visit him or come to his house (Luke 7:7). He says this because he is a person of high rank, familiar with entertaining people of rank and who is worthy of having someone of authority visit them. This man said that he was not worth but believed that because Jesus is the son of God he didn’t need to come into his house anyway to perform a miracle for him. He believed that because Jesus is God with authority over sickness, death and disease, if he was willing to heal his servant he needed only to speak the words wherever he was and his word alone would be enough to heal his servant (Luke 7:7-8). He said this because he was a man of rank and told his friends to tell Jesus he tells people all the time to do this or that and it is done, he does not need to go and supervise that his word is accomplished he only needs to speak, and it is done.

This man believed that Jesus was who he said he is, God’s word come alive to fulfill what God promised to bring his word into being and that Jesus as God’s word living and active had the power of God to speak to everything under his authority and what he speaks will happen. Jesus tells the Centurion’s friends who meet him on the way to the Centurions house that he had not found such great faith in all of Israel (Luke 7:9).

The account does not say that Jesus spoke anything about the servant or any word of healing but that when the friends of the Centurion returned to his house the servant was well (Luke 7:10). Because the Centurion believed in Jesus’ power to heal, healing was made real to him, through his faith. Jesus did not need to say be healed, in essence, the Centurion called on the power of the healer to heal and his name alone invoked healing.

When we say and believe that Jesus is our deliverer, we who have faith do not need Jesus to show up we only need to have faith in the power of God’s word and speak that power into our situation. When we have faith that we are covered by the blood of Jesus and saved from God’s judgement, Jesus does not need to return to the cross and say this sacrifice is for you, the person who has faith only needs to believe that Jesus’ sacrifice covers and saves them, and they’re covered and saved. The believer needs to only believe that the power of Jesus’ name heals, and they are healed, the power of Jesus’ name delivers and they are delivered. The power of Jesus’ name can turn their situation around and things change.

If you believe that Jesus has authority over heaven and earth and that he is God over all things when you speak his name into your life and over your situation your faith, like the Centurion, in God’s power to do what nothing else can do changes your situation because Jesus as the great high priest of a new covenant is a promise that is a greater gift. This kind of faith and the power it brings into your life is only accessible to people who believe in Jesus that he is God’s word fulfilled.

God has chosen Jesus as his great high priest to establish his kingdom forever.

“Daniel said: In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.

The first was like a lion, and it had the winds of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it.

And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, “Get up and eat your fill of flesh!”

After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back, it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.

After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.” (Daniel 7:2-8)

“As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.

Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority but were allowed to live for a period of time.)” (Daniel 7:9-12)

“In my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and people of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)

God has chosen Jesus as his great high priest to save forever.

“Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” (2 Samuel 14:14)

God shows Daniel in Daniel 12:1 a book of names written on a scroll and says to Daniel, “everyone whose name is found written in the book will be delivered” (Daniel 12:1). Jesus, as the great high priest of a new covenant has been given authority by God to speak words of life for everyone who believes in him, that he is the salvation promised by God that covers and rescues God’s people from God’s judgement.

This prophesy and vision about the end of days that is shown to Daniel in Daniel 12:1-4 says that at the end of the earth and/or at the end of one’s life is a time of distress, but does not have to be for people who are believers in Jesus, the great high priest who gives eternal life. Those who believe Daniel 12:2 says, “will wake to everlasting life” but those who reject Jesus as the word that brings life will awake to “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).

God has chosen Jesus as high great high priest to have authority over all kingdoms forever.

In Zechariah 12 God speaks a word of prophesy about Jesus as the great high priest of a new covenant that will destroy all of the enemies of the kingdom of God to Zechariah in Zechariah 12:1-9. God says that he “will make Jerusalem (his kingdom) an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves” (Zechariah 12:3).

Jerusalem in this account is not the city itself but the kingdom of God, the place where God dwells, God says his kingdom will be attacked, Judah and Jerusalem, the seat of the kingdom of God, not the physical locations but that his kingdom will be a kingdom that causes all other kingdoms to be under its authority, not because of his kingdom’s military strength but “because the Lord Almighty is their God” (Zechariah 12:2,5). Zechariah 12:6 says God’s judgement will consume all kingdoms right and left but Jerusalem, the kingdom of God will remain intact in her place

On the day that God’s judgement destroys the enemies that attack his kingdom Zechariah 12:7-8 says that he will be a shield to his people and his salvation will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them, meaning the salvation that Jesus is to God’s people is a shield because God has not chosen swords or battles or armies to protect his people from judgement and from their enemies but that God himself has chosen to go before his people to shield them in righteousness through the sacrifice of the great high priest of a new covenant and to shield them from all of their enemies even the judgement of God (Zechariah 12:9).

Jesus is the new foundation for eternal access to God. The stone that kingdom builders reject is the cornerstone of the kingdom of God. Salvation, deliverance and healing is accessed not through works but through Jesus alone. Although Jesus’ covenant is established on better promises, “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets and the Levites with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David King of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord: He is good his love towards Israel endures forever. And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away” (Ezra 3:10-13).     

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teachings the islands will put their hope. This is what God the Lord says, the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: ‘I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare’ before they spring into being I announce them to you” (Isaiah 42:1-9).

Song: Isaiah 42:10-17 “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountain tops. Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands. The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools. I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. But those who trust in idols, you who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame.”

Prayer: I believe that you are God’s word fulfilled. By the power of your name, Jesus, bring life into every part of my life, remove death from my life, turn dead faith into living belief that you are God and that there is nothing too difficult for you. Turn all of my doubt into belief by the power of your name. Help me to see you for who you are God, ruler of all, the one who saves, heals and delivers me.