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Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus is a high priest who is able to do what the Levitical priests could not. Their ministry was limited by the facts that they were sinners and that they were mortal. Individual priests had to make an endless repetition of offerings just to keep up with their own sins and those of the people. And even that did not prove truly efficacious, in proof of which one generation of priests was succeeded by the next with no sign that the multiplication of sacrifices was ever going to be enough to suffice. Jesus was contrasted with those priests because his own sacrifice was in fact sufficient for all times and all places and was available to avail forever "since he lives forever to make intercession".
It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens.
Jesus was the one who was the true innocent lamb of sacrifice, without spot or blemish, a lamb such as the law demanded be offered for Passover. Though he himself knew the human weakness of being tempted he never succumbed. He was therefore perfectly situated to be our high priest, with compassion for us, yet entirely unencumbered to minister for our sakes. So too was his offering uniquely perfect compared to the blood of animals offered according to the law, for the sacrifice Jesus offered was himself:
he did that once for all when he offered himself.
Jesus continues in his ministry as our high priest forever in a way that wouldn't make sense on earth. But because he ministers forever in heaven his one sacrifice for all was not constrained to be relevant only in one time and place as with those who "offer gifts according to the law". All of the worship in the earthly temple was revealed to be a mere shadowy prefigurement of what now happens in the true heavenly sanctuary. Those Levitical sacrifices were in fact only signs pointing forward to the one sacrifice that was truly necessary, that of Jesus himself, the lamb of God. By their repetition they showed that they were insufficient. It was fitting that these sacrifices ceased now that the perfect offering of Jesus himself had been offered. They were offered for something which they could never attain but which, in virtue of our heavenly high priest and his one offering, is now available for us and for all, unto the end of the world.
Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry
as he is mediator of a better covenant,
enacted on better promises.
Moses was the covenant mediator of the covenant that pertained to the sacrificial economy of the Levitical priesthood. But it was clear that such a role was too limited and time bound to help future generations. Jesus is a mediator who is more excellent in every way, not limited by time, by personal sin, who is entirely compassionate for us, and yet with divine power to save. Moses was a mediator taken from among men, but could not finally bridge the gap to God. Jesus alone, who was God and man, could be the perfect mediator and finally deliver on all of the promises of God that had seemed to have been negated by our human weakness.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
Jesus did not even allow the weakness of his humanity, his weariness and desire for solitude, to prevent his being available to those who sought him for healing. How much more so now that he is in heaven is he ready and able to save those who approach him. That salvation has in fact already been purchased, and is now and forever an acceptable offering before the eyes of the Father. Jesus himself lives forever to make intercession for us. Let us not be afraid to press upon him and touch him.
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