Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
The Letter to the Hebrews
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
April 19, 2026 :: Hebrews 4:14-16
“Great High Priest.”
Those three words are the title for today’s message, and they come straight from verse 14 which is our newest verse to memorize together as a church.
And they also signify the central themes of the central part of this sermonic letter to the Hebrews.
If someone asked you what Hebrews chapters 4 through 10 are all about, you could simply answer, “Great High Priest!” (Especially chapters 4 through 7.) Great High Priest! That’s the heart of this letter.
And who is that? Who is the great high priest of the Book of Hebrews? Verse 14 clearly tells us that, as well, “Jesus the Son of God!”
Jesus is a Great High Priest. In fact, Jesus is our Great High Priest. Verse 14 says, “we have” Him. We have Him. He’s ours. Jesus is our great high priest for the people of God.
Which sounds wonderful, but what does it mean?
Well, it’s going to take us several weeks, probably several months, to really cover it. This is the place in the Bible where it’s most clearly taught.
The writer to the Hebrews has already used the words “high priest” to describe Jesus twice in this letter. The first was in chapter 2 verses 17 when he said that Jesus had “become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God...”
Merciful and faithful. And then he went on to unpack the word “faithful.” I think he’s going to do the same here now with “merciful.”
And also in chapter 3, verse 1, he called upon us to “fix [our] thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” He’s the high priest in which we believe.
And now the letter-writer is going to focus us for the next several chapters on how good it is that Jesus is our high priest.
And He is not just our high priest. He is our great high priest!
This is the only place in the Bible where those three words are put together in that way. Some places it says, “high priest,” and others “great priest,” but here it’s all three together, “Great High Priest.”
Which sounds wonderful, but what does it mean?
In general, you and I don’t know that much about priests like this. It’s kind of a foreign concept to most modern people in the West. But it wasn’t a foreign concept to the people he’s writing this letter.
Remember, the letter to the Hebrews was apparently written to primarily Jewish people who knew all about priests because they have had priests all throughout their history. Priests were a regular part of their world, and ever since God rescued Israel from Egypt and gave them the Law, they have had a very structured priesthood that was central to their life and worship as a people.
I’ve been reading the Book of Leviticus the last few weeks, and there is a lot in there about priests.
At its most basic level, a biblical priest is a person with a special role to safely represent sinful people to a holy God.
Priests are intermediaries between people and God. A go-between. A mediator. And specifically in the Bible, a priest represents sinful people to a holy God and makes atonement for them, offers sacrifices for them. The people are sinners who need to be redeemed. They need to have their sins covered and expunged and dealt with. They need an intermediary that somehow brings atonement for their sins, propitiating the just wrath of God through a holy sacrifice presented on behalf of the sinful people.
You see this theme again and again in the Old Testament, especially in Leviticus. Leviticus is like a handbook for priests.
And in their system of priests, there was one priest that was the chief priest. The high priest. The big priest over the other priests. To top priest. The priest of priests.
And he had a particularly special role. It was his job (you can read about this in Leviticus chapter 16) to make atonement for all of the people once a year on the Day of Atonement (Hebrew: “Yom Kippur”) where the high priest took the sacrifice (the blood of a bull), and he went into the tabernacle, into the holy place, and then into the holy of holies, the most holy place.
The high priest took that sacrifice all the way in where no one else was allowed to go, and he made atonement for the sins of the people. He put that blood on the atonement cover, “the mercy seat,” on the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place and everything was safe for another year. Only the high priest.
So the Hebrews knew all about that. They were so thankful for that. This concept was central to their worldview.
And this pastor who is writing to them is insisting that Jesus is the high priest, and not just any high priest, but their high priest, our high priest, our great high priest. The high priest of high priests! Who has done what no other high priest has ever or could ever do.
And that makes all of the difference. If they understand this, it will cause them to fix their eyes on Jesus. Which is what he’s been trying to do to them this whole time.
“Great High Priest”
I have only two points of application for this passage, and they are easy to find. Twice in these three short verses the writer says, “let us...” and then gives a strong word of application. Here’s the first one. It’s in verse 14.
Because Jesus is our Great High Priest...
#1. HOLD FIRMLY.
Hold firmly to your faith in Jesus. Look again at verse 14 and see its glory. Keith put it on the front of your worship bulletin. You can’t miss it.
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”
Hold onto Jesus and don’t let go.
Do you hear how he’s like a broken record? How many ways can he say it?
“Fix your eyes on Jesus.”
“Fix your thoughts on Jesus.” (Chapter 3, verse 1)
“Hold on to [y]our courage and the hope of which we boast” (3:6).
This pastor desperately wants these Christians to hold fast to their faith in Jesus Christ.
Because he knows what’s at stake. For the last two chapters, he’s been warning them that if they fall away and don’t keep their faith in Jesus, don’t hold firmly to Jesus, then they will fall in the desert. They will not enter the promised land. They will not reach glory. They will not enter God’s (sabbatismos), His Sabbath-Rest.
Remember verse 9. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Heb. 4:9-11).
That’s what’s at stake. So he says, “Hold firmly to the faith we profess.”
Fix your eyes on Jesus, and don’t turn back.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record myself, I want to ask you how you are doing at this yourself? Are you holding firmly to the faith we profess? Are you keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, or are you drifting away? I’m so glad you’re here today so I can ask you. Where is your focus? What is your faith trained upon? Which direction are you headed? Are you running the race with Jesus or are you veering off course?
The greatest thing about this letter is that it has these warnings and these exhortations to fix our eyes on Jesus, but it helps us to heed to the warnings and to fix our eyes on Jesus by teaching us and reminding us just how great He is!
And how much greater He is than anything and everything else and anyone and everything else.
In the first couple of chapters, he showed us how Jesus is greater than the angels, as amazing as they are. And then he showed us how Jesus is greater than Moses, as faithful he was. And then he showed us how Jesus is greater than Joshua and how His rest is greater than the rest that Joshua led his people into.
And now, he’s going to show us that Jesus is greater than Aaron the High Priest and all of the other High Priests who came after him.
Great high priest. Greater High Priest! Greatest High Priest!
And he starts by pointing out where our great high priest went. Where did he go?
Church, where is Jesus right now? He’s at the right hand of the Father. What does verse 14 say?
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens...”
What’s he talking about? He’s talking about the ascension, isn’t he?
We don’t think enough about the ascension. Jesus lifting off to heaven. We read about it briefly two weeks ago on Resurrection Sunday in Luke 24. It’s also in Acts chapter 1. Jesus blasting off. We don’t think enough about the ascension, but the writer to the Hebrews is going to make sure we do some more!
And it’s not just that He ascended. The old NIV has, “gone through the heavens.” Other versions say, “passed through the heavens.” It’s picturing Jesus as not just going to heaven, but going through the heavens–perhaps the first heaven of the atmosphere, the second heaven of outer space, and the third heaven of that holy dimension (if we can speak that way) of the place where God Himself dwells in unapproachable light (see 1 Timothy 6:16).
Jesus didn’t just go into the Most Holy Place in the mostly symbolic tabernacle here on earth.
He went into the Most Holy Place in the Universe!
And He didn’t just go there for Himself. He went there as our great high priest!
We’re going to think deeply about this for the next several months. Here’s what it says in chapter 9, verse 24.
“Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.”
I think that’s what he is talking about in our verse 14.
Our great high priest has gone through the heavens to the heavenly sanctuary to represent us to God! “To appear for us in God’s presence” as our mediator.
The ladies in the choir just sang about this in verse 4:
"Living for me, living for me,
Up in the skies He is living for me;
Daily He's pleading and praying for me,
All because Jesus is living for me."
-W. G. Ovens & Gladys Westcott Roberts
And we all sang about this, too. We'll probably be singing this one a lot this year:
“Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.”
My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart.
I know that while in Heav'n he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.”
- Charitie Lees (Smith) Bancroft
While in heaven He stands! Our high priest has gone through the heavens.
Why ever would you want another high priest?! These folks were tempted to fall back on Judaism. If they could, they were tempted to run back to whoever was the high priest at the temple in Jerusalem. We’re all tempted to find someone else to be our high priest.
But none of them has done what Jesus has done!
Because He’s (v.14), “the Son of God!” And God the Son. He’s all the things we’ve been reading about from chapter 1 on. And He’s all we need. And so we need to hold firmly to our faith in Him. Amen?
And that’s not all that makes Jesus great. Look at verse 15.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.”
Wow. What a great high priest!
Now, in English, we’re not supposed to use double negatives most of the time. Nobody’s not supposed to do that. (Gets confusing.) But when you do it well, you can really emphasize something.
See the double negative in verse 15?
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...”
The two negatives cross each other out. We do have a high priest Who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. Our high priest understands!
That’s amazing. Our high priest understands what it’s like to be us. That’s mind-blowing. Especially because we just saw how exalted He is! He’s gone through the heavens. He’s the Son of God!
He’s glorious! He’s One of a kind. And yet, He understands. Why?
Because He became one of us, right? The Son of God became the Son of Man. He took on humanity. He became weak for us.
There is greatness in His weakness.
What did we just sing?
“Jesus Christ, one Lord of creation
From the Father, begotten, not made.
He is the Light from Light eternal
And the God of every age.”
That doesn’t sound very sympathetic!
But then it says:
“For this world and for our salvation
He came down from the heavens above
born of a virgin and the Spirit
truly man and truly God.”
And He was so much a man that he could be tempted. He could be tested. He felt temptation every single day.
I don’t think we think about His temptation enough either. Jesus was truly tempted. We read about it in Matthew chapter 4 and Luke chapter 4 and then again in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22.
Satan came after Him hard. The enemy tried to get him to disobey the Father’s will. He threw everything at Jesus. And it was truly tempting! There wasn’t anything inside of Jesus that was sinful or wrong. So He didn’t want something sinfully from His own heart. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t look good to Him. He felt the temptation with every fibre of his human being. Look at Jesus in the garden. Wrestling. Sweating like drops of blood.
Don’t ever say that Jesus doesn’t know what it’s like to be tempted. Nobody’s ever been tempted like Jesus was. Especially because He never gave in. Sometimes I get out of temptation by giving in to it. To my shame. But Jesus never got out of temptation by succumbing. He knows like no other what it’s like to be tempted. And that’s good news for you and me.
Because His heart goes out to us. He’s sympathetic. He’s compassionate. He’s a merciful high priest.
I can imagine a high priest who doesn’t care.
I can imagine a high priest who cannot relate.
I can imagine a high priest who turns sinners away because they are weak.
But not this One. He gets us. He fully identified with us. Jesus knows what it’s like to be weak. To feel weak.
Tempted for me
Tempted for me
There in the garden He was tempted for me. (Or at least, “like me.”)
But He never gave in. Verse 15 says, He “has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.”
And that makes Him the Great High Priest! Great in His weakness to be tempted and great in His strong victory over that temptation. Because that means Jesus doesn’t have to be cleansed Himself. Aaron and his sons had to be atoned for themselves first (cf. Leviticus 16). But not Jesus. And it also means that Jesus could present His own blood as the atoning sacrifice.
And so we’re saved!
“When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free,
For God the just is satisfied
To look on him and pardon me.”
He’s this perfect fusion of sympathy and sinlessness, empathy and purity, weakness and victory. He’s our great high priest! And because of that, we can draw near to God.
#2. APPROACH BOLDLY.
Look at verse 16 with me. Every Christian who knows it loves this verse. Our great high priest sympathizes with our weakness, was tempted in every way, yet was without sin. Verse 16.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
You and I are invited and expected before the throne of God. We are supposed to come to God for help. And we can expect to be heard when we ask for it! We can get mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.
When is that? Most of the time, isn’t it? It’s today. It’s tomorrow. It’s when life gets hard. We need help.
And, church, we don’t deserve it.
If we get help, it will be mercy. Help that we couldn’t do on our own. If we get help, it will grace. Help that, by justice, we shouldn’t receive. You and I? If we go up to the throne of God, we should be turned away. We are sinners. We have rebelled. We have given in to temptation time after time. Why should we expect good things from the God we’ve spurned?
And it’s not because He missed it. It’s not because we’ve pulled a fast one on Him. Remember verse 13. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Why should we expect good things from that God?
Because of our great high priest, that’s why!
Church, where is Jesus right now? He’s at the right hand of the Majesty on High. He’s right there at the throne! It’s a holy throne of a holy God, and yet for us it’s a “throne of grace.” It’s a throne where we can expect a welcome. It’s a throne where we can expect help.
Do you need help today? I know you do. Where are you going for help? Go to the throne of grace. Because of our great high priest, we are accepted there. We are forgiven. We are covered. We are loved. We are not turned away. We are embraced.
“What do you need, my child?” That’s how God is towards us when we pray. When we worship Him. When we draw near to Him, we find grace.
What are you praying for these days? Are you too scared to pray? Are you too scared to bring your troubles and cares to the throne? Are you too intimidated to pray to come to the throne?
If you have faith in Jesus, you don’t have to be scared. He understands. He cares. He’s calling you to come to Him.
Verse 16 says, “Let us then approach the throne...with confidence.” Some of your translations may say, “boldness” or “courage.” He’s saying, let’s march right in there and ask. Don’t be afraid. Fear God. Be worshipful. Be respectful. But be expectant. Not timid. Not terrified. But bold! Tell Him what you need. Tell Him how it hurts. Tell Him how He could help.
Be bold. Come! Approach boldly.
Because you will not be not alone at the throne.
You’ll be there with your great high priest.
***
Messages in this Series:
01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14
03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4
04. "We See Jesus" - Hebrews 2:5-9
05. "Flesh and Blood" - Hebrews 2:10-18
06. "Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus" - Hebrews 3:1-6
07. “Today, If You Hear His Voice” - Hebrews 3:7-19
Bonus Historical Message: The Gift of My Rest - A Fictional Letter of Sabbath Theology
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