And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
— 1 John 2:2

In the body of Christ, believers know little about the meaning of the high priesthood. That’s no surprise, because you will very rarely hear a sermon that reveals the meaning of the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is very important to know who our high priest is and what his functions are. In the Old Testament the Jews attached great importance to this. Their well-being depended directly on what kind of high priest they had. If the high priest was good, the whole people was blessed, and if he was bad, like Eli, the people suffered. Today our High Priest is Jesus, and as it is written: “You are a priest forever.” [Heb.7:17]

So what is the meaning of the high priesthood, and what are its functions? In fact, a high priest is a representative — in other words, an intercessor and advocate. He is the one who represents our interests before God, in the case of the high priest, and before a judge, in the case of an advocate. Since God is also the Judge [Heb.12:23], Jesus represents our interests before Him, seated at the right hand of the Most High. In the Old Testament, once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of a bull and a goat on the mercy seat, thereby cleansing the sins of the whole people of Israel. [Lev.16:16] And when the cherubim, which symbolise God’s eyes, saw the blood, it was rather like Egypt, when the Israelites put blood on their doorposts and God said: “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you“. [Exd.12:13]

Let’s ask a question: “In the Old Testament, when the high priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, whom did he cleanse with the blood of the bull and the goat?” The people of Israel, of course. After all, he sprinkled the blood for their sins and iniquities. Fine, and when Jesus, the High Priest of the New Testament, went up into heaven, into the sanctuary not made with hands, and sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat, whose sins did He cleanse? It is written: “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” [1 Jhn.2:2] So He is the High Priest and Intercessor [Representative] not only of us believers but of all mankind.

You may have heard the following picture of Jesus the Intercessor: “A believer sinned. Satan immediately accuses him before God, and Jesus intercedes: ‘I shed My blood for him, so don’t punish him.'” All this is fiction that does not match reality. At one time Satan used to come into God’s presence by right of the ruler of this world, a right he had stolen from Adam by deceit, as in the time of Job, for example. But after Jesus died on the cross and rose again, the devil was cast down to the earth, for Jesus Himself said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” [Luk.10:18] The enemy can no longer accuse anyone, for it is written: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” [Rom.8:33-34] “But it clearly says here: God’s elect, that is, Christians.” As Intercessor, Jesus does not plead with the Father, as I have already written; His blood testifies to the cleansing of our sins, and not ours only but those of the whole world. And whom, then, did God choose?