Useful Bible Studies > Hebrews Commentary > chapter 10
During the lives of Jesus and the first Christians, Israel’s chief priest came from the group called the Sadducees (Acts 5:17). The Sadducees were a group of priests who had some strange beliefs (Acts 23:8). Although most people in Israel did not agree with those beliefs, they still respected the chief priest (Acts 23:1-5). He had authority over everything that happened in God’s house, called the temple. Although people respected his authority, they still argued with his beliefs (Acts 23:9).
Those chief priests carried out the ceremonies properly. But they did not rule God’s house well. They even opened a market inside the temple’s outer walls. It was this market that Jesus stopped on two occasions (John 2:13-16; Mark 11:15-17).
Some of the leaders asked Jesus whether he had authority to do such things (Mark 11:28). Really, they thought that he did not have authority. Only the chief priest had authority over the house of God.
But many people in Israel saw the wrong things that the chief priest was doing. And, like Joseph from Arimathea, they were eager for God to establish his rule (Luke 23:50-51). Ezekiel had described a temple where priests were genuinely loyal to God (Ezekiel 44:15-16). Only a priest who was truly great would have authority there.
The ‘great priest’ whom the author of Hebrews refers to is, of course, Jesus (Hebrews 4:14). It is Jesus who has authority over God’s house now. And the real house of God is not a building, but God’s people (Hebrews 3:6).
So Jesus rules God’s people now. He rules in a way that is completely loyal to God the Father (Hebrews 3:1-2). And as our great priest, he makes it possible for us to approach God with confidence.
Next part: When God declares people clean (Hebrews 10:22)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.