“He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.” Hebrews 7:26 NLT 

Footsteps #428 We have been contemplating the amazing things the Father and the Son did to bridge that gulf heaven and earth. Hebrews 5–7 provides a careful analysis of Jesus’ priesthood.  The author carefully analyses its origin and purpose (Heb. 5:1–10) and then exhorts readers not to disregard it (Heb. 5:11–6:8) but rather to hold fast to the assurance of hope it provides (Heb. 6:9–20). He also explains the characteristics of Jesus’ priesthood (Heb. 7:1–10) and its implications for God’s relationship to believers (Heb. 7:11–28).  

Think for a moment of the characteristics of Jesus in the header verse. He is ‘holy’ which means He was without fault before God. He was ‘undefiled’; He remained pure and untouched by evil, despite being tempted in all points. (Heb.4:15, 2:18). Jesus’ perfect sinlessness is important for His priesthood.  The old covenant stipulated that sacrificial victims had to be “without blemish” to be acceptable to God (Lev. 1:3, 10, etc.). Jesus’ perfect obedience during His earthly life made it possible for Him to offer Himself as an acceptable sacrifice to God (Heb. 9:14). Jesus was ‘separated from sinners’ when He ascended to heaven, He was perfectly sinless. 

Jesus was “exalted…above the heavens” (NASB).  It means that Jesus has been exalted above everything there is and, therefore, He is one with God. In the Psalms, God is the One who is “exalted above the heavens” (Ps. 57:5,11; Ps. 108:5). Jesus was fully human, but He was not a sinful human being, as we are (Heb. 2:14–16, Heb. 4:15). Jesus is perfect, not simply because He never sinned but because He was not corrupted by sin as we are. Yet, because He also was fully human, He also is our Example. He shows us how to run the race of life (Heb. 12:1–4). He is the example that we must follow (1 Pet. 2:21–23). Because He is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens;” (Heb. 7:26, NASB), He is our Saviour. 

How is this so? As we study this subject it becomes evident that Jesus had Adam’s spiritual nature from before the fall – uncorrupted by sin. However, it is also evident that Jesus had Adam’s physical nature from after the fall, affected by 4,000years of sin. In this way Paul had previously called Jesus the second Adam (Romans 5:12-21), because He had covered the same ground the first Adam had covered, ‘yet without sin.”