Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; – Hebrews 3:1

Apostle. Not an office we associate with Jesus too often. But here in Hebrews, we see the writer calls Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. For the record, it’s the only reference to Jesus as an apostle unless you take his own words in John 13

“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. – John 13:16

What is an Apostle? (I’m actually going to pass on this one for today. Perhaps another day we’ll come back and probe this office a bit, but for today, just the word, and a surprise appearance from that old favorite, Isaiah)

In it’s most basic form, it means sent one or messenger.

I can’t help but when I think about Jesus’ sending, I go to Isaiah 6. This is one of those iconic passages. It’s in my top 10 for sure. I fell in love with it when I heard Leonard Ravenhill preach his wonderful sermon, “Woe, Lo, Go.” This famous sermon (which you can hear for yourself here) presses the point, that anyone confronted with the holiness of God and cleansed at His altar cannot help but take up his commission among God’s sent ones.

I do have a theory about this chapter, that I have shared here before, but I want to pose it again here.

You’re likely familiar with the scene (if not you can catch up quickly here, it’s only 7 verses.) Isaiah sees the throne room of the Father and falls down before him, seeing in the Lord’s stark holiness a contrast to his own wickedness. Side thought: The first five chapters of Isaiah’s ministry stand as Spirit breathed scripture. And yet, Isaiah experiences an encounter with God in all His holiness and it wrecks him.

God quickly cleanses and forgive Isaiah’s iniquities, and then Isaiah begins to hear what’s going on.

And here’s where I like to wiggle the common turn on this passage.

Isaiah hears the question on the table

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”  – Isaiah 6:8

Isaiah, in his new found passion immediately answers,

“Here am I. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:8 NASB

Oh the sermons that have been preached on these five words.

God honors his heart and gives Isaiah a new commissioning.

But what was really going on?

Could it be that Isaiah was getting a glimpse of the commissioning of Jesus before the foundation of the world?

Could it be that Isaiah overheard the Father asking Jesus to go and give His life for the sins of all mankind?

I know we hear Isaiah say “Here am I. Send me.” But in my spirit, I hear Jesus saying, “Here am I. Send me.”

Jesus is the Sent One. He is our Apostle.

We’ll dig a little deeper on this idea of Jesus as our Apostle next week when we come back to Hebrews.

Thanks for stopping in.

God’s crazy about you!

Ben