Aaron’s rod, a dead stick from an almond tree, sprouted buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. (Numbers 17:8). This unique miracle was that of bringing life out of something that was dead. It served to vindicate Aaron’s role as God’s High Priest for his people, Israel.

God gave the Prophet Jeremiah a vision at the beginning of his ministry and asked him what he saw. He said, “I see an almond tree rod.” (Jer 1:11). It was a call to Jeremiah to present God’s message that death was to come to the nation of Israel, but that it would come back to life again. It served also as a vindication of Jeremiah’s message to the people who rejected him, just as the rejected Aaron’s Priesthood.

The New Testament presents Christ to us as our “Great High Priest.” It is through Him we have access to the Father. But that role is randomly rejected today just as Jeremiah’s was and Aaron’s was. Jesus, himself, died and was resurrected from the dead. Just as it was the budding of life from the dead almond tree rod of Aaron that substantiated God’s anointing of Aaron, so too is it the budding of life from the dead body of Jesus that verifies His anointing role as our one and only High Priest. Paul writes to the Romans, saying that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power…by the resurrection of the dead.” (Romans 1:4)

Since Jesus is our High Priest, verified through his resurrection from the dead, we can do what the Author of Hebrews tells us to do. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)