BibleProject - The High Priest Showdown – Priest E5

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

Why were the Levitical priests always getting mad at Jesus? Jesus identified himself as another of God’s anointed priests––except he came in his own authority. In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss how Jesus fulfills Moses’ prophet-priest role and the priest-king role we saw in David.View full show notes from this episode →Timestamps Part one (0:00-12:00)Part two (12:00-21:30)Part three (21:30-34:00)Part four (34:00-45:30)Part five (45:30-end)Show Music “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTSChillhop Essentials Spring 2021 EPShow produced by Dan Gummel. Show notes by Lindsey Ponder.Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the Bible. And up till now, we've been exploring the expectation

of a coming royal priest through the storyline of the Hebrew Bible. And in this week's episode, we get to Jesus. We're going to explore how Jesus saw himself as a royal priestly figure. Most people often think of maybe the prophetic or the royal identity of Jesus as a king, but he actually presented himself as a priest, it's just that we don't often have the eyes to see that that's what he's saying and doing. We're going to look at the story

where Jesus heals a paralyzed man, but then does something very priestly. He forgives the man's sins and only priest did that in ancient Israel. We're going to look at the fascinating story of how Jesus goes up to a mountain with some disciples and he starts glowing. Like Moses did on Mount Sinai and he starts to look like he's closed with the clothing of the high priest. We're also going to tune in to Jesus' arrest and trial before Caiaphas, the High Priest. He begins to ask Jesus questions about whether he thinks he's the High Priest. It's like a showdown of the anointed High Priest. We're going to look at these stories

and a whole bunch more. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. So we're talking about the theme of priest. The theme of the priesthood. I think that's why I first thought of the word priesthood. Yes. Because it is talking about the office bed as like an office bed. It's an idea. Yeah. The priesthood.

The theme of the priesthood. I think that's it. And it's been a great conversation. If you're jumping in right now, this is episode five. So there's a whole great conversation. We've been recapping along the way. I just want to do a really quick recap this time. Great.

You want to try it? The blitz. You want to try it? You want me to? Oh, boy. Remember once we set timers for ourselves? That's how you do it. All right. So on page one of the Bible, humanity is introduced Oh boy. Remember once we set timers, we sell them. That's how you do it. Okay.

All right. So on page one of the Bible, humanity is introduced as the climax of God's creative work and God appoints these images who will embody and represent his own power and creativity and rule and presence in the creation so that they will rule it on its behalf and be his presence. The word image is the standard biblical word used for idle, the statue that would be set up in the middle of a temple or sanctuary in the ancient Near East. This helps us understand one part of the human role, which is to be God's presence in the sacred space, the way that statues, but also holy sacred humans were in those holy spaces, ancient temples and so on. This is a way of thinking about the image of God that one layer of that role is a priestly layer.

Priests are figures who stand as a gateway between heaven and earth. They represent God in physical form to people, and they represent people before God. And that's one core part of what the image of God is. Humans are called to be priests in the sacred space that's represented by the Garden of Eden, but they are ushered into folly and rebellion, and they're exiled from the blessing and life in abundance of Eden. Raising the question, are humans ever going to gain accents again to Eden? And if so, how is the huge mess of rebellion and evil that they're creating going to be dealt with so that they can get back into the Eden space? We meet a character named Abraham, whose key to God's plan to restoring the blessing of Eden,

word blessing is a key Eden motif. And God tells him that he's going to bless his family line, and those who bless him will be blessed so that all the nations of the earth can be blessed. The first person in the story who blesses the line of Abram is not just priest, but also a king in pre-Israelite Jerusalem, a guy named Melchizedek. And there Abraham experiences God's blessing of abundance and Eden through this royal priest in Jerusalem. And it's awesome, it's really great. And it reminds us of the dream of one day, not just him, but all nations experiencing that blessing.

Abraham also ends up one other time in Jerusalem, himself acting like a priest, having to surrender the life of his son to God because of his own sins. And so these two events in Jerusalem, the royal priest, the Abraham meets there, and Abraham having to cover for his own sins by offering the life of his son, become an important image of the priestly role that will need to take place here in Jerusalem to bring the blessing of God to all of the nations. As we go on into the story, we meet these characters of Moses and Aaron, and Moses was called to be one of these image of God royal priest types, but he's stubborn and unbelieving in God's promises. And so his brother Aaron gets introduced into the mix. He will be the priest of Israel.

But he turns out he's a lousy priest, right from the beginning. Moses and Aaron are doing things the wrong way together. And then right when Moses is invited up into the high sacred place on the mountain, where he is reflecting the image of God and seeing a new Eden that he wants to create in the tent. What is his brother Aaron doing? Will be the high priest. He's down at the base of the mountain creating a false image and leading Israel into idolatry.

And from that point on, the line of priests through Aaron and the line of Levi for Israel is pretty much just a failed institution, the way the biblical authors are presenting it. And this creates the need for someone else who's not from that line who will be like that Abraham, Melchizedek, new humanity type of figure that we're looking for. When we're introduced to David, he is introduced as this one who will become the faithful, anointed one, a faithful priest, and we're told that God is going to build him a family that will be faithful. So the story of David, we watched David establish, go to the very city where Melchizedek was a priest king, and he reinstates the Melchizedek type of king priesthood.

David becomes the royal priest. He recreates Jerusalem as a new Eden. He gives Eden gifts of food and worships on every seventh step and it's awesome. And God makes to him an even greater promise than to Abraham that through his line one particular descendant will come who will restore God's kingdom to the world and bring Eden to the nations. But David fails all of his descendants fail, creating the need for someone to come to be that new royal priest to open up the way back to Eden. David in a poem that we call Psalm 110 reflects on all of this together and anticipates a future figure that he calls his Lord, who will share in God's rule over the world, who will vanquish the enemies and the seed of the serpent and the serpent, and this figure is called a priest forever according to the line of Melchizedek.

And so that's what the Hebrew Bible is anticipating, a non-traditional non-Leavite priest king who will open up the way back to Eden. That's what the story is so far. Well done. How long did that take? Five or six. Okay, got it. Cool.

Yeah, that's great. You know I was picturing the whole time was one of those RSA drivers. I was saying like, picture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you basically wrote a script right there. Perfect. Okay, so that was a great summary. Where are we going today, Tim? Yeah, I'm picture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you basically wrote a script right there. Perfect. Okay, so that was a great summary.

Where are we going today, Tim? Yeah, take us somewhere. Yeah, totally. Well, I thought we'd just hop into the book of Isaiah real quick to just look at a couple things that'll launch us right into the story of Jesus. Okay. As the book of Isaiah opens in chapter one,

we're not gonna read it. And I always say that and then we end up reading it. We're not going to read it. But it's a description of Jerusalem as the anti-Eden. Isaiah chapter one ends describing Israel planting their own gardens, the gardens that they have devised, and worshiping false gods there, and injustice, and it's terrible. And so, Isaiah has this vision that we've looked at before in chapter two where he sees the mountain of Yahweh

exalted up and all the nations streaming up to it like a river going against gravity. Up to a new house of Yahweh, where they worship God and there's justice and peace. That's the opening vision and you're like, yeah, let's get some of that going on. So the book is just recycling and spiraling with that basic hope of naming what's wrong with Jerusalem in the present day and

aiming at that future goal. As you go throughout the book, a figure gets attached to how Jerusalem is going to be purified and restored. And it gets attached to a seed from the line of David. Isaiah chapter 11 is a really important point here, but this figure has a strong royal identity in the earlier part of the book. It's a line of David, knee rules and such. But as you go throughout Isaiah, this figure takes on the title of the servant, and in some passages it's hard to tell whether this figure is a king or a prophet or a priest. Because they do all of those things, and for long time this is puzzled scholars like who or what is the servant? Is it a new Moses? Is it a new David? What is it? And I've come to the conviction that the point is it's all of them. All of these figures, prophets, priests, kings, make up narrative images in the Bible of

which the servant is the mosaic that takes up the mosa story, the David's story, the Abraham story, and those characters become images that are all brought together in this servant. So I just want to look at a couple of passages. One is from the famous suffering servant passage, and I say 52 and 53. Here's the opening line of the suffering servant poem. It's verse 13 of chapter 52. And this is God speaking. He says, look, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people. Being Israel. Being Israel.

So also, his, my servants' appearance was more disfigured than any human, and his form was more disfigured than any of the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him because what they have never been told, they will all of a sudden see. And what they've never heard, they will come to understand. Sprinkling is that that's a priestly thing?

The sprinkling of the blood on the altar? Totally. Okay. Totally right. So there's this figure called God's servant who's gonna be lifted up and exalted. Okay. But then we're immediately told he's going to get worked over. Hmm. Really?

His appearance is going to be more disfigured. Oh, that's not because he's just ugly. Oh, got it. No, he's going to suffer harm. Hmm, he's going to get beat up. You're going to go on to read about. Oh, and it's that beating that sprinkling the blood. Yes, and it's his exaltation. His exaltation is having people be shocked at him

because he's so beat up. And somehow that exaltation by being beat up is the way that he sprinkles the nations. So it becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation.

It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation.

It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a sacrifice for the nation. It becomes a verse 14, this disfiguring or suffering of the servant is compared to just as many people

are astonished or shocked at you. Israel. Yeah, it's as if Israel's suffering in exile becomes all focused in on one representative figure who will go through an exile desmoment on behalf to cover for the sins of the many. That's remarkable stuff, man. So that's the introduction to the poem. We got this priestly character who's sacrificing himself. He's sacrificing himself. And so we think of the moment of Moses on Mount Sinai.

And then also of David at the very end of the book of Second Samuel, which we haven't actually read that story yet together, we need to. And he makes a huge mistake, brings disaster, and there's a disease spreading through Jerusalem, and he offers his life in the place of the people, for his own sins. And so this servant is doing the David most of this stuff. So this figure comes up again in Isaiah chapter 61 in a passage that was very important to Jesus. This is the passage Jesus reads from in Nazareth. So it opens up this servant of speaks and says, the spirit of Yahweh, God is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me.

Messiah to me. So that word anoint, oh, we haven't mentioned this. So the word Messiah means anointed me. Messiah to me. So that word anoint, ooh, we haven't mentioned this. So the word Messiah means anointed one. There are only two figures called anointed one in the Hebrew Bible. I think we have talked about this before. Well, we just talked about David was. David was, yep.

And actually, this is a hyperlink to that because when David was anointed by Samuel, we were told the spirit of Yahweh came upon him. So this is the David figure, but also the only other figure that's called the anointed one in Israel's kind of life in the Torah is either a king or the priest. The high priest is also called the anointed one.

Oh, okay. And so there's two offices that are called. What's that? It's two offices, not two characters. There's two offices that are called. What's that? It's two offices. There's two offices that can be referred to as the anointed one, the king and the high priest, which in the narrative, once they split, in Israel's life, they're different, but the whole point is that they're not supposed to be different. They're supposed to be together like in Melchizedek or like David or the image of God.

So this figure is an anointed one by God's spirit. He brings good news to the afflicted and this is the year of Jubilee that Jesus, excuse me, whoa, yes, it is about Jesus. The servant is going to launch. He's going to launch a new Jubilee. Yeah. Oh, with the Jubilee year was announced with by blowing the horn on the day of atonement. It launches the beginning of their religious year or their liturgical year. So if you go down in verse 3, this servant, the spirit anointed one servant, keeps speaking, he says, I'm here to grant to everybody in Zion who's grieving and mourning. I'm going to give them a garland instead of ashes. Like it's cool necklace. But then he says this, I'm going to give them the oil

of gladness instead of mourning. He's going to annoy them with oil. I'm going to give them a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. He's going to give them anointing and new clothes. What's a mantle? Oh, a cloak or a robe. Oh, really?

So they're gonna get new cloaks, new clothes, and new oil. You're like, that's interesting, because that's kind of like what this figure, you got some oil, anointing. So here's what these newly anointed, newly closed people will be called, this is verse three, they will be called oaks of righteousness that Yahweh has planted so that he may be glorified. Wow, he's going to plant a forest of new trees. And these trees will lead God's reputation to be exalted and glorified

among the nations. That's awesome. They're going to rebuild ancient ruins, raise up former devastations. This is a rebuilding, becomes a motif in Isaiah of restoring Eden, is rebuilding the ruined creation, rebuilding the ruined city. Look at verse six, and you all, that is these people, this anointed one, is going to give new clothes to.

He says, y'all will be called the priests of Yahweh. You will be spoken of as the ministers of our God. You'll eat the wealth of the nations and in there riches you'll boast. Why does he go from, what was it? Is that third person to second person? It's they, they, they, and then but you. Oh, got it. There's a shift. It actually happens in a bit. I skipped right here. Oh. And here in verse five. Yeah. So yeah, it's here. It's the servant. Yeah, that's a good point.

He's talking about this plural group that this anointed one is going to speak to and they're described as they and then in verse five it shifts to you. I need to think about that more. I don't know the answer. Oh, we talk about the same group people. Same group people. Yeah. So the point is that this servant sees themselves as doing something for a group of people

that will then take on his character traits. He's an anointed royal priest and so they are going to start acting and dressing in like priests. And they will be called priests. So you can just kind of see where a passage like this is going. It's kind of bringing all the threads together here. And then there's going to be a feast. Yep, big feast.

You'll eat the wealth of nations. Yeah. We can just pause here. We could do a lot more in Isaiah. But these are the texts, you know, the Jesus grew up on. Jesus reads from this text, the day that He launches His public mission, which tells us He did believe that He was on the scene to do something that He uniquely and only He could do. But as a crucial part of His mission, He started these groups of people that He would then send out to represent him.

So he wasn't like a loner. He wasn't like the lone ranger. He saw himself as a royal priest who was creating a community of people that would share in his role and go out. And so that's essentially so much in the Hebrew Bible, but all these threads that come together that create this figure that the Hebrew Bible tells us we need to restore and open the way back to Eden for the new planting of the garden. And it's all of this is what Jesus is activating when he comes on to the scene.

All of this is sitting there waiting to be activated when Jesus comes on to the scene. All of this is sitting there waiting to be activated when Jesus comes on to the scene. So, I guess I don't know how to tie up the Hebrew Bible. It's not a thing that you just tie up, but that's the launching pad into the gospels. Yeah, yeah, that's cool to see this passage come to life in new ways. It's amazing how hyperlinked things really are. Yes.

There's like just this core vocabulary and ideas. And when you read this passage, just kind of pop it up and read it. It's just like, wow, this all seems really cryptic and random. Whether you follow these ideas, and it's like, becomes this really beautiful way to explore these themes and to's like becomes this really beautiful way to explore these themes and

to then project forward like where's this all heading. Yeah, actually just think through even a passage like as a 61, how many theme videos we've made on things that are in this one poem. Spirit. The anointed one. The favorable year of the Lord, That's all about our Sabbath video, the seventh day. Good news to the afflicted. Good news. Yep, that's right. And then the planting of the Lord and the oaks of righteousness, that's Eden imagery, like temple and tree of life.

Tree. Yeah, trees. People are trees. Yep. Ruins and devastations and ruined cities is exile and restoration imagery. And then priests, y'all will be called priests. So what we have to separate out and kind of study independently through the biblical story just so we can make sense of it. Make sense of it. Yeah, but in the biblical author's minds that it's all one Yeah, interconnected set it's a unified story. Yeah Even though it's not a straightforward linear story, you know, yeah, the symphony

Metapores makes a lot of sense here. Each theme is totally an instrument. Yeah, that's right And it's like you got this just beautiful movement here So maybe here's a stepping a way to a stepping stone. The Hebrew Bible is anticipating a seat of the woman and a big part of the role and identity of this coming one is a priestly role, opening the way back to Eden on behalf of all humanity to restore the vocation of the image of God.

So what we're gonna see is that Jesus was fully tuned in to all of this. And often some of the odd cryptic things that he says to describe himself are him doing what this poem in Isaiah 61 is doing is using scriptural imagery that's bound up with this set of royal priest themes to describe who he was and what he came to do. So I thought we could touch down at a few texts and just kind of show this at work. And it all comes culminating up to the moment where Jesus, the royal priest, stands before Caiapherst, the anointed hypriest, and it's the showdown of anointed ones. Yeah.

And lo and behold, it's anointed showdown. Totally, yeah, man. It's a Dawson scene. So but first let's start with Jesus's Anointing where perhaps we could call it his ordination. Otherwise known as Jesus baptism I'm going to do a little bit of the same. So this is a story we've looked at multiple times too. Jesus goes to the Jordan, he's getting baptized. Now and baptism, I mean this was, John the Baptist was doing this kind of like, what would you call it, a movement. Yeah, like a renewal movement.

Yeah. Taking Israel, Israelites back to the Jordan River where they've crossed into the Promised Land, kind of re-cross it, re-enter it. And this is all connected to the biblical theme of going through the waters, the chaos waters, out into life. And so how common was this practice? Oh, well, it was a standard ritual symbol that most Jews did pretty regularly. Donking themselves in a river? Oh, or more often in a little self-made or created pool, it's called McVote, which just means a little gathering of water.

But yeah, before you would, or you would just do it to your hands, you would baptize your hands, purification and renewal, kind of simple. Okay. And yeah, it was a standard fixture in the daily weekly rhythms of Jews, in this period. Something you would do often. Something you would do often. What's unique about what John's doing is that he's doing it at the Jordan River. And he's saying that he's launching a new Kingdom of God movement and that God's about to come do anything. That's kind of the charged atmosphere here. So when Jesus comes to identify himself with this movement,

something unique happens when he goes into the waters. It's a Mount Sinai moment. It's like Mount Sinai happens. The heavens open, a cloud appears, and a voice comes from the skies, and God's presence comes down in a bird-like form. And we actually made a video about this, I think, in our how to read the Gospels.

Wait, the whole section on this. God's speech combines three Hebrew Bible hyperlinks. You were my son, that's, quote, from Psalm 2 about the seed of David. The beloved one, this is what God calls Isaac in that story about Abraham and Isaac that we looked at. Genesis 22. The sacrifice.

And then in you or with you, I am pleased is a quote from the opening line of the first servant poem in the book of Isaiah. We read from the third suffering server poem. So the seed of David, who will do the Isaac thing, which is to cover over the sins of the people, and as they have 42, that royal priestly one who will give up his life.

It's all packed in here. So dense. But the fact that the spirit comes down upon him, anoints him. It's like it's anointing. Just like David's anointing, when he gets the oil poured on his head, the spirit came upon him. And so spirit empowerment comes synonymous with anointing.

And baptism is a purification ceremony. Which is a priestly duty. Yeah. And again, priest is not separate from king. The whole idea is that they're actually ideally supposed to be joined in the Melchizedek model. And so Jesus' baptism through these hyperlinks and the spirit, I think, is all being portrayed as his anointing scene, his commissioning scene, to be the royal priest. So that's a good example, real subtle. Yeah, yeah.

But I think it's right there now. You can just kind of see it. Next story, next chapter, Mark chapter two. This is the story about the paralyzed man. Jesus is hanging out in a house, all these people crowd around, and these four guys want to get their paralyzed friend, this paralyzed legs in front of him.

So they rip apart the roof. It is some holy vandalism. Totally, such a good story. Shred the roof apart to get the guy in front of Jesus. Jesus, verse 5, sees their faith and then he said to the paralyzed man. I've always thought it's a remarkable little detail that he relates to the paralyzed man on the basis of the faith of his friends. It's worth a long walk. Sometimes it's a community's faith surrounding someone that can release God's power on that person's behalf.

If they don't, perhaps have the faith for themselves. Or the ability to move their bodies. Or the ability to move, yeah, that's right. It's actually a powerful point being made in just a few words. What's interesting is that very clearly this man's in need of a physical restoration. What Jesus first says to the man is,

your sins are forgiven, which I, you know, I'm trying to imagine the scene. Part of me can imagine that the guy would be like, that, thank you, Jesus. But have you noticed that I've got the mother issues too? It totally. But I think they just think about it differently. To be paralyzed is to live outside of Eden

because of the sins of humanity in the sins of my people. So, ooh, actually, remember in Abraham's story, for the blessings of Eden to be released, he had to surrender all for his own sins, surrender the life of his sons. So forgiveness of sins is really keyed into this restoration to the power and life of Eden. So it seems like Jesus is dealing on that level here. In the narrative, quickly shifts, and we're told that some

religious Bible nerds are sitting there, the scribes. Which means Bible nerds. Sitting there, reasoning in their heart, saying, he can't say that. No, okay, so Han, are they like, is this a professional position to be scribed? The scribes and the Pharisees and the priests all become kind of a collective character in opposition to Jesus. Okay. And this is one of the first opposition stories. But if I'm a scribe, am I doing that on the side or is that like my...

Oh, no, that's your thing. Yeah, you're a Bible teacher. I'm a Bible teacher. You're a Bible teacher in the synagogue system that is overseen and connected to the Jerusalem religious establishment. Yeah. You maybe say, if you have like a church denomination, that you know, trains and commissions pastors to local parishes or churches kind of a part of a centralized system, then everyone, any one of those pastors represents and is accountable to the

denominational headquarters. Yeah. That's kind of more how this would work What the scribes are describes. Yeah, they're the top dogs. Oh, they're local representatives City and town representatives that represent the Bible Institute That is connected to the Temple in Jerusalem. So they're sitting there listening to Jesus say that and immediately they say, he's blaspheming, which means he's saying something that brings God's reputation into distribute, and he's not more than that. He's stepping on God's toes. He's saying and doing things that are only appropriate for God to do. And that's exactly what they say. They can say, who can give sins, but the one God? Notice how they use the wording of the Shema

right there, the one God. So this is fascinating, because if Jesus just says, your sins are forgiven, He could be taken to mean by God. Listen, God has forgiven you. But that's not His role. Well, first of all, there's two things. So one is there's a perfectly way, good way to get your sins forgiven. Yeah, you go to a priest. That's right. And you go to the Temple. You go to the Temple.

So that's the first shocker. Jesus is making available here at Pengali in this house. This thing that Israel is supposed to get through the official channel and priest. Yeah, that's interesting. Right. So that itself is, you know, it's just like going over to my neighbor and saying, hey, you know, your mortgage is done.

And then their lender will give them a call and be like, I'm who told you your mortgage? Yeah, sorry, that guy. Don't listen to that guy. No, my neighbor told me that I'm done with my paying my mortgage. This is a stupid example. That's a great example.

A better example, even would be something where you really do have to go somewhere special to make that happen. Oh, sure, yeah, that's right. Like the DMV. Totally. Here's your new license. That's right.

For non-American listeners, that's the department of motor vehicles. So it's sort of like just saying, I grant you a new license. Yes. You're like, you're not the person, this is not the place. Yeah, that's right. So that could have been it.

It's just Jesus is claiming priestly authority. But that's not the conclusion that the Bible nerds draw. They see Jesus as infringing on God's reputation, because they say, who can forgive sins but the one God? So even what they recognize is when the priest is there pronouncing the forgiveness of sins, it's not the priest forgiving. It's the priest saying, your sins are forgiven by God.

And they see Jesus taking on divine authority with just proclamation. So Jesus is aware of all this and he says, what's the problem here? Why are you saying this? And so he creates a little puzzle for them. He says, which is easier to say this guy, your sins are forgiven, or to say,

get up, pick up your mat and walk. I think it's obvious. Anybody can say, any koot can go in round saying, God forgives you. Yeah, how would you know if he's actually successful at that? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, this is the moment of like, who authorizes you to give me a new license?

Yeah. Yeah. And then you would pull out your DMV credentials or something? No, the whole point is that Jesus is independent of the DMV. Yeah, it's kind of like, you same have a new license, but can you show me it? Yeah. Where's the actual license? Yeah, that's right. That's kind of like you same have a new license, but can you show me it? Where's the actual license?

Yeah, that's right. He says, but I want you to know that the son of humanity has authority on the land to forgive sins. And he says to the parabolic, get up, pick up your mat. So first of all, notice, he doesn't call himself king or priest. He uses the Daniel chapter 7, son of Anton. Which is like his favorite way to talk about himself. Totally. And notice what he says is has authority on earth. So Jesus sees himself as a figure

on earth who's an earthly representative of God's heavenly authority. And what is that but a royal and priest? It's the image of God. Let them rule. And in this case, Jesus exerts His power and rule as the image of God or the Son of Man through this priestly act. The Son of Man is a priestly king character. Ah, I think so. Yeah. And this was a layer of the Son of Man's identity in even the book of Daniel that a scholar, Crispin, Fletcher Lewis, that we've interviewed once before, he kind of alerted me to that. So Jesus is asserting not just priestly authority but image of God in authority, of God as a human, doing in God's place and on God's behalf, what God, up in the heavens, the Son of Man does it.

So this is a priestly activity. Let's go to Mark chapter 9. I think we alluded to this. Oh, this is this transfiguration. Yes, yeah, this is Jesus. Mark chapter 9 begins Jesus saying, hey, you know, there's some of you, my disciples, who aren't going to die before you see the kingdom of God coming with its power. Oh, that's cool. Wonder when that's going to happen. Well, six days later,

implication on the seventh day after six days on the seventh day implied. Jesus took Peter, James and John, and went to a high mountain. Of course, they went to a mountain on the seventh day. And he was metamorphed. It's the Greek verb, metamorphed in front of them. And his clothing became glowing and extremely white. And then Mark has this detail, more white than any laundry machine, that's what I would say, a person could ever get them white. They didn't have bleach. Yeah, wow, that's interesting. would say, the person could ever get them white.

They didn't have bleach. Wow, that's interesting. I wonder if they had some sort of bleach, probably. They had some sort of, they had something. Natural form. So, this is really interesting. So, we talked about the priestly garments being white linens. That also, they had all these shiny gems and gold.

So, there's this shiny whiteness to Prius. We also talked about Moses when he met it more if he became transfused on top of the mountain. When he's up there, interceding. Doing priestly stuff. On behalf of the people, even willing to offer his own life for their sins. And so here, it's as if the disciples are getting a glimpse of Jesus' real identity, which is this exalted, royal priest image of God figure. That Moses was like on occasion, you know, but that apparently Jesus is just as his identity.

Mark also tells us that Elijah, along with Moses, appeared, and they were talking with Jesus. All kinds of stuff there. Elijah and Moses both run outside and I, both meek out in the cloud and the fire. What's interesting here is that Jesus is depicted as like a, you know, a new Moses, but I think by putting having Elijah and aus there, it also is making a claim that he's not just a new Elijah and a new Moses. He is the one that Elijah and Moses met on the mountain. Mm. In other words, Moses and Elijah accounted,

encountered God as fire on the mountain. But now Jesus is the one radiating with light and power. And he's the one they are seeing and talking with That makes sense. Yeah, this is some like Christopher Nolan Storytelling totally because remember Moses is glowing because he encounters the one who is the source of fire and light Yeah, Jesus is right here the source of the light and the fire. Okay, so Christopher Nolan Well, I don't know the way He tells stories and he messes with time and he messes with

I can just you know you have this picture of Moses going up to Mount Sinai meeting with Yahweh and now this other scene. Yeah, it's Moses up on a mountain meeting with Jesus Yeah, it's Moses up on a mountain meeting with Jesus Yes, figured and he's Jesus is the one radiating Jesus the one radiating. Yeah, and just those connections I don't know I just watch inception again, so I just oh did you Oh gosh, it's so good. Yeah, I should do that. So look at what Peter says Peter says to Jesus rabbi man So glad we're here right now

Could we make three tabernacles? You'll get your own. You'll have a special tabernacle, just for you. But you know Moses and Elijah, they should also have a tabernacle. Then Mark, I love this, Mark, steps outside the store and he tells the reader, he didn't know what he was saying. They were terrified. So good. And then this is a link back to the, this is a design pattern in Mark's Gospel.

It replays the baptism scene. Another cloud came overshadowing and a voice comes repeating the anointing. This is my son, the beloved one, but there's one tweak, listen to him. Actually, this is a quote from what Moses says in Deuron 18, Yahweh is going to raise up a prophet like me. Listen to him. And you should listen to him.

Oh, wow. So this is kind of a new Moses thing. So what's interesting is all of a sudden, then next verse, all at once, they looked around and it's all done. It's all done. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders, strict orders. Don't tell anyone what they saw until the Son of Man rises from the dead. So there's something that they just witness that won't make sense to anybody,

until his death and then his vindication from death. Then this story't make sense to anybody until his death and then his vindication from death. Then the story will make sense. And so what else is this? But another one of these rich, dense stories painting Jesus as, well, not just the image of God and the royal priest who will give up his life, but the one who Moses met when he was being an image of God giving up his life. Oh, that's the inception piece that you were getting out there, right? We're saying it again. Well, Moses on Mount Sinai was giving his life for the sins of the people in the presence

of a radiating divine one. Yeah. And now Jesus is the radiating divine one. Yeah. Who's going to give up his life? Yeah. That Moses image. Yeah, and somehow Moses is there.

Yeah. So again, the point of bringing and somehow moses is there, yeah. So again, the point of bringing this up is this story assumes all of this cool stuff about the royal priest. Okay. Two more, quick. Two more Jesus. Yes, it's good.

All right. Jesus goes to Jerusalem and he throws down. He rides in on a donkey, just like Solomon did when he was enthroned. This king, I was thinking about this recently. Solomon is the seed of David. Son of David is declared king over Jerusalem and he rides in on a donkey.

So Jesus activates all that and he just begins a week of showdown. Lots of Bible disputes and theology disputes, but they're all, they all have political freight to them. So there's one story where Jesus kind of picks the Bible debate, and it's a pretty short little story. It's in Mark chapter 12, verse 35. So Jesus started to say, as he was teaching in the temple,

how is it that the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, said by the Holy Spirit, quote, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. Jesus then picks up again. David himself calls this one Lord. So in what sense is he his son and the large crowd really enjoyed this one.

That's what Mark says. And that's the story. And that's the story. The short little story. It's arranged in a perfect way. So that's one of the two times he quotes Psalm 110. Yeah, that's right. So this tells us Psalm 110 was important to Jesus,

but he's also pointing out something interesting that David, the most, you know, royal authority figure in the Old Testament, calls someone else, his Lord. Yeah. Now, he's kind of turning up the rhetoric, like how is the Messiah the son of David? I don't think the Jesus is saying that he's not the son of David. The Messiah doesn't come from the Son of David? I don't think that Jesus is saying... That he's not the Son of David.

The Messiah doesn't come from the line of David. Okay. Actually here, I'm going to let Ben Witherington bring some clarity from his commentary on the Gospel of Mark. He says, quote, Is Jesus repudiating the Davidic origins of the Messiah? Some have suggested this, but it seems unlikely. Since elsewhere, he doesn't repudiate the title,

Son of David, so pause some people to call him Son of David, and he accept it. But, with Rinton goes on, he may well have repudiated certain popular Jewish notions about the Davidic Messiah, for instance, that he would be just a normal, God-empowered human being like David himself. It's best to say that Jesus is repudiating the adequacy, not the accuracy of assessing the Messiah by means of his Davidic descent. The point is that in Jesus' view, the Messiah is more than, but not other than, the son of David. I think that's surely right. So he's saying that, yes, of course,

he comes from the line of David, but the fact that he is exalted to share in God's rule, how could he merely be the Son of David? That's right. Yeah. Jesus wants to define the rule of the Messiah, the identity of the Messiah by his relationship to God, primarily, not simply to David.

His descendancy from David. Yeah. And to make the point, he quotes from Psalm 110, which is this exalted seed of David, who is a new Melchizedek, like priest king, who embodies God's rule. It's the image of God. He's checking in on how this line of David idea is connected to this milk hesadac. Yes, that's right. Priest King ideal, those two ideas kind of merge

and we're looking for someone who is this ultimate priest king who is from the line of David, but isn't merely Son of David. Is more, yeah, it's more. Yeah, this is Jesus making this point from the line of David, but isn't merely... That's right, son of David. Is more. Yeah, it's more. Yeah. This is Jesus making this point from the Hebrew Bible. Yeah, totally. And so, you know, you could just say,

well, he's Jesus, you know, he can say what it means because he's Jesus. But I think he's actually tapping into what we've been tracing. Yeah. That the Hebrew Bible is telling us that this figure... Something more going on with this figure. Yeah, totally. 1 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 個 Okay, so this all leads us up to the showdown of the two inointed ones in the trial of Jesus before Caiaphas, the high priest.

So there's two moments in Jesus' trial that I just want to highlight here. The first is he gets arrested in a garden where he surrenders his will to the father's will and then he's taken into the Sanhedrin, kind of the key power brokers. So first, what some people are trying to do is actually make some kind of legal case against him that they can verify. So some people get up and start saying what they heard Jesus teaching, and that we're given a quote here, we heard Jesus say, I'm going to destroy this temple

that is made with hands and in three days build another temple made without hands. So this is, what do you say, in their minds, this is damning evidence that he's a threat to the temple. Remember all the way back to that promise to David that I'll raise up a seed from your line and he will build my house. Okay. That raised the question of like, is that fulfilled in Solomon? Yeah. And the building? And this building we have here as a second version of it?

Yes. But very clearly, Jesus has thinks that the seed of David and the house that will be built is just as made without hands. Yeah, something else. It sounds me like a family. What other kind of house is there in Hebrew? There's a physical house or the word house can mean household, family. Remember David said, I wanna build you a house.

And God says, no, I'm gonna build you a house. Meaning a family. For the family. Yeah. So in Jesus' mind, the temple building has, and this is after Jesus performed a stunt in the temple, shutting it down the sacrificial system and declaring that this building would be destroyed. So Jesus has in mind a more enduring house that he's here to build that doesn't consist

with hands. Incidentally, that little phrase made without hands comes from Daniel chapter two that describes the meteor that strikes down this statue of four metals. It's a little phrase that said, remember the rock conflying out? And it says it was a rock cut without hands.

Oh, it was cut without hands. Yeah, interesting. Anyway, Jesus just doesn't answer anybody. And so finally, interesting. Anyway, Jesus just doesn't answer anybody. And so finally, the high priest, son, top of page 38 comes up to him and says, listen, tell me, are you the anointed one? Cut to the chase.

Says the anointed one. Yeah, all right. Do you think you're in charge here? That's right. And then notice he equates being the anointed one with being the Son of God. So he's not just saying, do you think you're like another average priest who's going to take my job? Are you claiming to be the image of God, Melchizedek, Priest King?

Yeah, the one that's on the mountain. We see screaming out of the Hebrew scriptures. And in Mark, Jesus says, I am. In Matthew's version, Jesus is a little more coy because Jesus says, well, you say that I am. But the key thing is what Jesus says next. It's his second quotation from Psalm 110, combined with Daniel 7.

Daniel 7. And Matthew's version makes it super clear. You say that I am, but I tell you, from this moment forward, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. So someone tends just to sitting at the right hand of power? Sitting at the right hand. Yeah, that's right. Sitting at the right hand and then Son of Man and going on the clouds of heaven.

That's Daniel 7. Daniel 7. And Caiaphas response is exactly what the scribes was back at the house. He says, he tears this clothes and he says, blast for me. And to everybody in the room, Jesus did something worthy of death because this is what seals the deal for them. Yeah. So he's not just saying, I'm like another priest. This is as Jewish, he revival of a way, as you could say, I'm that one that Moses met on the mountain. I am the one that David talks about in Psalm 110. I am that one that Daniel had a vision about. That goes to the right hand of the human that extends to the right hand of God. Yeah, and all roads lead back from those passages to the image of God of Genesis one the ideal vision of humanity that humanity is for. I am the ideal human

Yeah, and as the ideal human I am annoyed as the king and priest to make a way for everyone else Yeah, well, you could just sit there and priest to make a way for everyone else. Yeah. He could just sit there. He could. That's right. Totally. Yeah, I'm with you on that one.

But he did say it. He just said it in his own way. He said it in a very, he rubbed on their way. A tribal way. For anybody listening, if you want to go next level on the depiction of Jesus as a priest in the Gospels, Nicholas Perrin, New Testament scholar at Wheaton, has a book called

Jesus the Priest, just shorten to the point. This is his kind of comment on the trial scene of Jesus. It's great. He says, all along, Jesus has been hinting at his own identity as the royal priestly son of man, in flat contradiction to the high priest's own tenure. Mark's account is a tale of two competing priestly powers, and now in Mark 14, Jesus finally comes into a confrontation with Caiaphas, declaring his doom in unmistakable scriptural terms. Daniel 7 and Psalm 110 share more than a few themes,

subjugation of God's enemies, divine rule, judgment, priesthood. Daniel's son of man is a priestly figure, and in exalted sacro-dotal office, sacro-dotal, me priestly office, is clearly in view in Psalm 110 by mentioning though, Kizadek. Both texts present visions of a priestly figure

in conflict with God's enemies, who proves ultimately victorious. For Mark, Jesus is this royal priestly son of man, the Melchizedek type, seed of David, who displaces and judges Caiaphas. Why does Caiaphas get so ticked off? You get some translating on the fly there. I did. Yeah, no, Caiaphas. Why does Caiaphas get so ticked off? You get some translating on the fly there. I did.

Yeah, no, he's riding... Milchizadekian. Milchizadekian. Davidide. Davidede. Davidide, who will displace and judge. So to say that Jesus is a son of man and Milchizadek is to say that Caiaphas is like the King of Sodom

from Genesis 14, or the beasts, the beastly kingdoms of Daniel chapter 7. Really? Yeah, the Son of Man is exalted over the beasts. Yeah, and the beasts want to travel. And in Genesis 14, Melchizedek is the true king in contrast to the greedy king of Sodom, who just wants to get Rich off Abraham. That one just came to me in the moment,

but he's a contrast figure. Yeah, he's a contrast. So start to finish the Gospel of Mark. We could do half a dozen more texts, but this is clearly a red thread, the priestly identity of Jesus. The apostles are into this too. This is why they use so much temple and priestly language

to talk about Jesus' followers. Because if my identity is shaped by the one who did this on my behalf so that he becomes what I am so that I can become what he is, then it means that as followers of Jesus, we will take on a priestly layer to our identity. And you see that at work in acts and in the apostles too. So I think that's worth ssessioning a little bit. And then I think this just has huge implications for even what we think about what the mission or significance of a local group of Jesus followers is in the world. This gateway between heaven and earth, it's just kind of a cool image to think about what a local church is in its neighborhood. That's cool.

Jesus the priest. You guys, thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. We're collecting questions right now for the Q and R episode that's gonna be at the end of the series. So if you have been listening through the series, you've got a question on the topic of the Royal Priesthood, we would love to hear your

question. You can record yourself asking it and let us know where you're from and your name. And if you could try, keep the question to about 20 to 30 seconds and you can email the recording to info at BibleProject.com. In that email, if you could write out your question as well, that would be super helpful for us at SAVE. That's a lot of time when we compile the questions. Again, you can send the recording to this email, info at BibleProject.com. The deadline for submitting questions

will be end of the day, Monday, April 5th in the year of 2021. Also, you might wanna know that after John and I conclude kind of talking through this series, we have some interviews coming with difficult scholars who have researched and published on these themes of the Royal Priest in the Bible. We think you're really gonna love those interviews. Today's show was produced by Dan Gummel,

our show notes are from Lindsay Ponder and our theme music is by the Van Tents. The Bible project is a crowd funded and never. We're in Portland, Oregon and we're making free resources to help people experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. And it's all free because of the generosity of people all around the world, including many of you. Thank you and thanks for being a part of this with us. Hi, this is Amelia and I'm from Singapore. I first heard about Bible project through YouTube.

I used Bible project for me to have a better overview of the different books in the Bible. My favourite thing about Bible project is how the team make it so easy to understand the happenings in the Bible and of course the wonderful illustration. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus dan berhubungan dalam bribu dan berkata-kata terbaik. Kita percaya bribu adalah percaya yang berbual di jalan dan berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang berbual di jalan yang ber you