Jesus Now

Unveiling the Present-Day Ministry of Christ

Frank Viola

• Publisher: David C Cook
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780781411295
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Biographie biblique

During His ministry on earth, Jesus of Nazareth spent most of His time healing the sick, casting out demons, training disciples, teaching the people, and preaching the kingdom of God. But what is Jesus Christ doing today? What is His present-day ministry?In Jesus Now, bestselling author Frank Viola gives us the first comprehensive treatment of what Jesus has been doing since His ascension until His second coming. In an easy-to-read format, Viola explores the seven aspects of Christ's ministry today and shows how each one benefits the saved and the unsaved. Open these pages and discover what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing now and how it will impact your life.

CHAPTER 1

GREAT HIGH PRIEST

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Hebrews 4:14

When I think of Jesus as our high priest, I’m reminded of a story I once heard about several generations of holy men who lived outside a particular village near a mighty river. During the lifetime of one holy man, the river overflowed its bounds, exposing the village to grave danger.

The women and men came to the priest and asked him to pray to God to save them, and so he did. He stole away to a secret place, where he uttered the sacred words and asked the Lord for His favor. Miraculously the town was saved. As long as he was alive, the village remained untouched.

But eventually the holy man died, and once again the river threatened to flood the town. The elders came to the priest’s apprentice and begged him to go before God on their behalf. So, with fear and trembling, this holy man took it upon himself to seek God’s favor. But he had forgotten where the secret place was. He came before the Lord and said the sacred words, then he prayed, “Oh God, You are not a small and petty territorial divinity. The heavens are Your throne room, and the whole earth is Your footstool! What need have You for secret places? But please accept these words as a gift offering, and if You see fit, spare this town.”

And the Lord did just that. The town was spared. As long as the great man was alive, the town was safe. But then he died, and once more the village was thrown into peril. The town leaders sought out the student of the last holy man and asked him to do what his predecessors had done before him. The only problem was that he had forgotten both the secret place and the sacred words. And so he simply came into God’s presence and whispered to the Most High, “Lord, You are not to be found in any one spot on this earth, or even in special words—for You are more profound than any single word could ever hope to describe. So I pray that You will hear these common words. Still the waters of the river and save the village!” And God’s hand was moved. The town was saved.

But this holy man also grew old and died, and one day his own heir was called on to come before God on behalf of the village. This priest was, however, a poor one. He did not know the secret place or the sacred words. In fact, he didn’t particularly believe in miracles. So when the villagers approached him, he simply stared at them, not saying a word.

At last he stood up, grabbed his coat and work gloves, and said to the dumbstruck villagers, “Come on! We have a lot of work to do. We must move the village to higher ground!” As they left the priest’s home, two unseen figures came out of the shadows—God and one of His angels.

God smiled and nodded in the direction in which the men had just gone in. “This last one’s my favorite, you know,” God said. “He’s most like Me, actually. He did what none of the others could. They all said special words and invested energy in certain places. But this one—he joined me in my work. Instead of just talking about change, he cared enough to be the change!”

I love this simple little story. God is more concerned about loving people practically than about simply investing in a series of rituals. This is the context from which we must consider Jesus Christ, our real high priest. He is the one who rolls up His sleeves and joins us in the broken places of our lives. The role of high priest is as infinitely practical from this vantage point.

In order to understand Jesus’ ministry as our great high priest, we need to review the role of the high priest in the Old Testament.

Essentially, Israel’s high priest represented God before the people and the people before God. This was a functional role initially. It was meant to be a practical transaction between the high priest and God on behalf of the people.

Once a year, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place in the temple of God to offer the blood of innocent animals. The blood of those animals would cover the sins of the people for an entire year.

Having made a sacrifice for himself first and then for the people, the high priest would bring the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, which was understood to be God’s throne.

However, even though the blood of animals covered the sins of God’s people, it could not remove the root of sin. Nor could it cleanse the consciences of the people. Israel still struggled with guilt and a sense of condemnation.

The book of Hebrews spills a great deal of ink in presenting Jesus Christ as our great high priest—the fulfillment of the Old Testament high priest, who was a type and a shadow of Jesus.

In fact, the book of Hebrews is built around the theme of the Lord’s present-day ministry as high priest. This is often missed because there are five parenthetical warnings in Hebrews that break up the author’s flow of thought. Those warnings are found in the following texts:

Hebrews 2:1–4

Hebrews 3:7–4:13

Hebrews 5:11–6:20

Hebrews 10:26–39

Hebrews 12:15–29

If you read the book of Hebrews without these warnings, you will get a clear and uninterrupted presentation of the high-priestly ministry of Christ from beginning to end.

A Greater High Priest

Unlike the Old Testament high priest, who had to enter the Most Holy Place each year to atone for the nation’s sin through the shedding of animal blood, Jesus Christ entered the Most Holy Place in heaven once and for all with His own blood.

By this sacrificial act, Jesus obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12–28).

But that’s not all.

Not only did Jesus forgive all our sins—past, present, and future transgressions—through His shed blood, but on the cross He also destroyed the power of sin:

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom. 6:6–7)

Beyond that, the blood of Christ—having satisfied God’s holiness—cleanses our consciences, removes our guilt, annihilates our shame, and takes away our sense of condemnation.

All of these things make the new covenant much more powerful than the old covenant.

A Better Covenant

It is my observation that many Christians today live like old-covenant people rather than new-covenant people. According to Hebrews, the new covenant is far superior to the old (8:6). This is because Jesus is greater than any other priest. Thus He is called our “great high priest” (4:14).

Consider the tight relationship that Abraham, Moses, and David had with God. The author of Hebrews made a pretty remarkable statement in this regard. He said that those who are under the new covenant have a closer relationship with God than our spiritual forefathers:

And all these [people], having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (Heb. 11:39–40)

Is your relationship with the Lord closer and more glorious than that of Abraham, Moses, and David? If not, then you—like many other believers—are living like an Old Testament Israelite when God has given you His new covenant sealed with the blood of His precious Son.

In other words, you are living far below your potential and what God desires for you.

A Cleansed Conscience

It is the presence of sin in our consciences that hinders the unrestricted communion we can enjoy with God. But the high-priestly ministry of Jesus cleanses our consciences. This means that the blood of Christ removes the guilt, shame, and condemnation that so often debilitate us.

The author of Hebrews argued that the blood of bulls and goats could never remove the consciousness of sins from God’s people (Heb. 10:2). Th...