“When this Son arose, He kept rising” by Bobby Jamieson
“As Hebrews 1:3 hints, this Son who existed before the ages came to exist as a human. At His incarnation, this Son “for a little while was made lower than the angels,” and in His death He tasted death for everyone (2:9).
He came to share in flesh-and-blood humanity, so He could disarm by His own death the one who had the power of death (2:14–15). In His death Jesus not only defeated the devil but redeemed His people from their sins against God’s first covenant (9:15).
Christ came into the world to do God’s will (10:5–9), ultimately offering the body God had prepared for Him in order to sanctify and perfect His people (10:10, 14). To become a merciful and faithful high priest, Jesus “had to be made like His brothers in every respect” (2:17), which involved not only becoming human but also sinlessly enduring temptation (2:18; 4:15). This Son lived an unmistakably human life.
In anguished suffering He cried out to God and was answered (5:7). “Although He is the Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered” (5:8, my translation). As the “founder” of His people’s salvation, He had to be made “perfect through suffering” (2:10).
After suffering faithfully, Jesus was indeed made perfect, and “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (5:9–10).
The incarnate Son, like the Levitical priests, was mortal (7:8, 23). He lived, suffered, died. But He rose again with life indestructible and so arose as a priest in the likeness of Melchizedek (7:15–16).
When He thus arose, the same one who said to Jesus “You are my Son” also said to Him “You are a priest forever” (Heb 5:5–6; Ps 2:7; 110:4), and so He now “holds His priesthood permanently” (Heb 7:24) and “always lives” to intercede for His people (7:25).
When this Son arose, He kept rising, passing through the heavens (4:14), being exalted above the heavens (7:26), and finally entering God’s dwelling itself, the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in heaven (6:19–20; 8:1–5; 9:11–12, 23–26).
Like the Levitical high priests who yearly entered the earthly Holy of Holies with blood, in order to offer it there (9:7), Jesus entered the Holy of Holies in heaven through His own blood, in order to offer to God His own blood, body, and self (7:27; 9:11–14, 24–25; 10:10, 12, 14).
After offering to God this singular, sufficient sacrifice, Christ sat down at God’s right hand (1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2), where He reigns over all, and from where He will return to save His people (9:28).”
-R.B. Jamieson, The Paradox of Sonship: Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2021), 5.
