“Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD (Jeremiah 30:21).”
Prophet Jeremiah lived about 600 years before the birth of Christ. He prophesies here and declares that GOD will raise up a ruler who’ll come from their own people; this individual will be able to draw near GOD and approach Him, for no one dares to approach Him! In the Old Covenant to approach God meant death (Ex. 19: 21-25; I Sam. 6:19). The beauty of Jer. 30:21 is, it predicts the coming of Jesus Christ, who would become the High Priest, the only mediator between God and mankind (I Tim. 2:5), who does dare to approach God on His own without fear or animal sacrifices. In the Old Covenant we see that God was not approached without sacrifices or without the mediatorship of the priesthood. In order to better understand the priesthood of Jesus Christ and how He reconciles sinners to God, we’d also need to apprehend the history of the High Priest in the Old Covenant.
In the Old Testament the High Priest or the anointed priest was one who was higher than his brethren on whose head the anointing oil was poured (Lev 21:10. 4:3,5, 16). A High Priest was elected and sanctified by God to appear before Him for the people to bear their guilt when they consecrate their sacred offerings (Ex. 28:38).
In the Old Covenant the approaching of the people to God was through the mediatorship of the High Priest. He was the people’s representative to God (Ex. 28:12, 29). The Bible shows the inadequacy of the High Priest and of the Old Covenant to effect true reconciliation. During High Priest’s intercessions for the people, he had to offer sacrifices for himself and his weaknesses and was required to not dare go before God without a priestly garment, otherwise he would be dead (Heb.5:3; Lev. 4:3, Ex. 28:43).
Due to the prevailing inadequacy in the priesthood, in the prophets and in the entire Old Testament, scriptures emphatically point to someone who would come and offer His body for the forgiveness of sin (Heb.10: 8-12, Isa. 53:6, 59;16). This someone is none other than Jesus Christ, the Anointed One of God. Since the animal sacrifices couldn’t do it, the Mosaic system couldn’t do it, prophets’ righteousness and intercessions being limited, Jesus dares to approach God for our sake. He doesn’t need Urim and Thummim like the High Priest in the Old Covenant. He knows every thought in human beings. He chooses to offer His own life so that through his death we can become the righteousness of God in Him. Through His death He entered into the Holy of Holies, where the shekinah dwelled to make atonement for our sins before God as it was witnessed by the breaking of the curtain which stood between the Most Holy and the Holy of Holies. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:24 that Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant by His blood which was shed. Today, you have a chance to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, the great High Priest; just repent, believe in Him, be baptized, and receive the promise of the Holy Spirit
Pastor Benson Msando
Agape Road Church 
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