Do you ever think of Christ as our priest? In the Old Testament, the priest would go before God on behalf of the people to address the guilt of sinners. The same happens with Christ. He is our great high priest. In the Old Testament, the priest would lay his hands on an animal and then offer the animal up to God as a sacrifice for sin. Christ, just like the priests of the Old Testament, is the representative of man before God. This picture of substitutional sacrifice points to the perfect sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary’s tree.

The Bible calls our Lord, “the Lamb of God”. The Lamb of God was foretold in the Old Testament by the Prophet Isaiah. He wrote, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” In John 1:29, the Bible says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Christ came to reconcile us to God. Sinners are brought into fellowship with God by the blood of Jesus. 1 Peter 1:19 says, “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

The Old Testament sacrifices were continual. Christ’s sacrifice was once and for all. Hebrews 9:28 says, “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” Our Lord does not need to be offered afresh again and again as some false teachers say. His sacrifice was a one-time event that covered all the transgressions of God’s people. On the cross, divine wrath and justice were met.

Another role of the priest is to pray for the people. The Lord Jesus Christ also fulfils this role for his people. Christ pleads and prays for man before God. His sacrifice on the cross was a one-time event, but his intercession for us is continual. Our Lord is praying for our sanctification before God, the Father. This truth ought to encourage us because we know that we have the Lord Jesus Christ pleading our case before the Father. Christ’s finished work on the cross deals with our guilt before God. Have you realised your guilt before God? Have you trusted in Christ to take away your guilt and to pardon you before God?