A better high priest

As I read this passage, I thought about Aaron.

He was the first high priest that Israel ever knew.

But he was a flawed man.

While Moses was up on the mountain getting the ten commandments, Aaron gave into pressure from the people, built a golden calf for them to worship, and then had the gall to call it “Yahweh.” (Exodus 32)

Then here, in this passage, he (along with Moses this time) fail to honor God as holy.

I am a little puzzled as to why God included Aaron in this rebuke, as it was Moses who struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Aaron so far as we can tell was just standing by when it happened.

But God sees the heart, and there was apparently something wrong in Aaron’s heart that day as well.

But the most important thing that shows the inadequacy of Aaron comes at the very end of this chapter: he died.

He was not a priest who could intercede for God’s people forever. Because of his sin, he too had to die, and another had to take his place.

What does all this show? The need for a better and greater high priest.

And that’s what Jesus is for us.

Unlike Aaron, he always obeyed his Father in heaven. Not once did he fail to honor his Father as holy.

More importantly, though he died (for our sins, not his own), he rose again, and lives forever never to die again. 

Because of that, the writer of Hebrews writes,

But because [Jesus] remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently.

Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:24-25)

That’s the hope we have. Aaron couldn’t do it for us. Nor could any of his sons or descendants after him. But Jesus can and does.

So as the writer of Hebrews says,

Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:21-23)