Jesus Christ, High Priest, King, and Victim

This icon depicts our Lord Jesus Christ in three aspects of his person and mission.

1) Jesus is high priest (Heb. 4:14-16). He is the mediator of a new and eternal covenant between God and mankind (Lk. 22:20; Heb. 8:6, 9:15). Our Lord shed his blood upon the cross to establish this covenant, and entered into the sanctuary of heaven to effect our reconciliation with the Father (Heb. 9:11-12, 13:20).

2) Jesus is king (Jn. 19:19). Though his kingdom is not of this world, yet his desire is to establish a kingdom within the hearts of all who live in the world (Jn. 18:36). He does this principally through the sacraments and prayer. Thoroughly acquainted with human misery as the man of sorrows, upon the cross he was revealed as the king of glory (Is. 53:3; Jn 17:1-5).

3) Jesus is victim (Heb. 9:14). Priests of the old covenant offered animal sacrifices as a means of expiation for sin. Jesus, high priest of the new and more perfect covenant, has "appeared at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 2:26). The cross thus becomes an altar.

God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, upon Mount Moriah; the knife and fire in his hands were to be used for this purpose (Gen. 22:1-14). The sacrifice of Isaac is a prefigurement of the sacrifice of Jesus, the only Son of the Father. On the way to the place, Isaac asks, "where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" Abraham's reply, "God will provide," finds its fulfillment in Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29).

Melchizedek, another Old Testament prefigurement of Christ, was a priest-king who offered bread and wine. He was king of Salem, a name which means peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace who brought peace to our world by shedding his blood on the cross (Col. 1:20). Jesus is a priest "according to the order of Melchizedek" (ps. 110:4; Heb. 5:5-10).