This is one of those verses that many "casual Christians" would rather put in a box. Yes, they will agree that Christ Jesus is the high priest of our confession, but they box in and limit "confession" to mean their "confession of faith for salvation." They will grant Jesus authority as the chief priest to atone for their sins, but when it comes to other confessions, to the other things that they profess to be true, they get skittish. They want Jesus to the be the High Priest of some things that they say, but not of other things they say. This is hypocrisy.
As long as their speech is about something that glorifies God, they are happy for Jesus to be the One who continually intercedes on behalf of what they said. But what about when they say things that don't glorify God?
What about when they expressed worry when Jesus said do not fear?
What about when they voiced concern over direction after Jesus said this is the way?
What about when they indicated they had misgivings about Jesus' plan for their life?
What about when they spoke anxious thoughts after Jesus told them worrying won't add a single hour to their life?
What about when they confess doubt that they heard in the first place when Jesus pronounced that His sheep do hear His voice?
Such people can suddenly go all two-faced about wanting Jesus to be the High Priest of their entire confession! Talking worry does not glorify God, so they don't want Jesus to be High Priest over their confessions of doubt and fear.
But you don't get to pick and choose; not if you are going to live an abundant life. The concept is brought up again in Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering."
The word hope is ἐλπίς in the Greek, and it means expectation. It can go either way, an expectation of evil/fear, or an expectation of good/hope. The parameters have been defined in the previous verse, 22, that the "expectation" is coming from "a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water," so obviously the expectation in this case was one of hope and not of fear, but the point is that the spiritual principle works either way. A person can have 'faith' and expectation in evil words of confession in the same manner as one can have faith and expectation in God's good word.
The Lesson
One of the most difficult things to come to terms with in the wake of the runaway bride's flight has been the "great faith" in "failure" that was exhibited by Gwen, mother of the runaway. She planted her strong confessions of failure in KatieLyn and grew a bumper crop. Gwen, who had no clue, who had not gotten a clear word from the Lord on her daughter's future, had great faith in her doubts. It is hard to express how appalled I am at her insistence that her unbelief was wise. It wasn't wise. It was wicked. It has set back God's plan for Joe's life and pulled KatieLyn deeper into an unproductive and harmful codependency that keeps her entrapped in her childhood.
It is very dangerous to go around blabbing words of doubt and anxiety that contradict what God is saying. Giving birth to a word by voicing it works on both sides of the aisle. Gwen unknowingly allowed the enemy to come in and be the high priest over her confession of fear, and she wrought untold destruction. She is still deeply deceived. Any claim that this was God's will and that it will "all work together for good" is duplicitous. That is just an excuse and a twisting of scripture to appease her own conscience.
Before I end this post, we need to look at that excuse and at the verse that people corrupt to try to make their excuse fit. Romans 8:28 says:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.• First, we see that this applies only when we are loving God. Doubting Him is not a loving act; it is highly disrespectful.
• Secondly, we see that this applies to 'those who are called according to his purpose.' Opposing God's purpose invalidates the all-things-working part of this promise.
• Finally, the "we know" cannot be known by someone who has failed the first and second bullet points that I listed.
Breaking off the marriage was not according to God's purpose. It was not an act of love for God. And things did not work for good. No amount of denial will change that. Repentance might.
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