PM Home Bible Study Group; May 27, 2015
Hebrews 7:1-28
Theme: Jesus is presented to us as the High Priest of a better covenant by being of a superior priestly order than that of Levi.
(These notes are adapted from a message preached at Bethany Bible Church on May 23, 2010. All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated.)
(These notes are adapted from a message preached at Bethany Bible Church on May 23, 2010. All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Back in Hebrews 5:10, we saw that the writer of Hebrews had begun addressing the topic of the Lord Jesus’ priesthood. He affirmed something that might have come as a shock to his Jewish readers; and that is that Jesus Christ was called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek”—that is to say, His was a priesthood NOT of the tribe of Levi according to the law from Moses. You might remember that there was more the writer wanted to say about that; but at the time, he expressed frustration that he couldn’t go as far into the matter as he would like to. His readers had not yet matured in their understanding to the level that they should have matured. And so, breaking from his theme for a short while, he talked about the need for spiritual maturity instead.
And now, he is ready to take the subject up again. He reintroduced it in Hebrews 6:20—speaking of Jesus as the ‘forerunner’ of our faith, the Lord Jesus; “having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”. That High Priesthood is the theme of Chapter 7.
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It’s a very sacred theme that the writer is taking up in this chapter. And to understand it as we should, we need to prepare ourselves for it by first examining four other passages.
The first passage helps us to understand who this person Melchizedek is. We find him very early in the Scriptures—in Genesis 14. God had just allowed Abraham to win a very important battle in which he successfully rescued his family and the family of others in the region around him. You may never have thought of Abraham as a military hero before; but by God’s grace, that’s what he was!
After the battle was over, and the captives had been restored, the king of a place called Salem (which, by the way, was ancient Jerusalem)—a name which means “Peace” (Jerusalem means “Possession of Peace”)—came out to meet Abraham and bless him. This man’s name was Melchizedek—a name which itself means “King of Righteousness”. He was a remarkable man because he was both a king and a priest. He was not a priest of some pagan god, however. He was the priest of God Most High—long before the priesthood of Levi had been established. Genesis 14:18-20 tells us;
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all (Genesis 14:18-20).
Those last words are meant to communicate to us that Abraham honored Melchizedek’s priesthood by giving him a tithe of all of the spoils of war. Melchizedek, then, is shown here to have been a truly remarkable man. God had already established Abraham as the man in whom all the world would be blessed (see Geneis 12:1-3); and yet Melchizedek blessed him!
So; thus we’re introduced to Melchizedek—this important and seemingly-mysterious ‘priest of God Most High’ from the Old Testament, who served long before the law of Moses was given. But as we move along in the Scripture—long after the time that the law was given—we make a fascinating discovery. Even though the Old Testament priesthood of Levi was established in the law that was given through Moses, we find that the priesthood of Melchizedek had never been set aside. In fact, we’re told that the promised Messiah would be a priest; and not of the order of Levi, but of the priesthood of Melchizedek! No less than God Himself promised that this would be so! Speaking of the promised Messiah, King David wrote in Psalm 110;
The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
Now how can this be? How can it be that God established a priesthood in the Old Covenant through Moses—a priesthood through Levi that was established through very firm laws and accompanied with very serious penalties for violation; and yet promise that the Messiah would be a “priest forever” of a completely different order? The answer is that God also promised that there would one day be a completely new Covenant. In a third passage for us to consider, Jeremiah 31, God Himself says;
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
What a wonderful promise this New Covenant is! The old one failed—not because of any fault that could be found in it, but because of the failure of the people with whom God had made it. But here, He promises that he will make a New Covenant with Israel—one in which He will change the hearts of the people so that they could keep it.
And there is a very important principle that is involved in that promise: A NEW COVENANT NECESSITATES A CHANGE OF PRIESTHOOD. And that’s where Jesus comes in. In a fourth and final passage, we’re shown that Jesus is the High Priest of the priesthood for that promised New Covenant—a priesthood according to the much older and far more perfect order of Melchizedek. As it says of Jesus in Hebrews 8:6;
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises (Hebrews 8:6).
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You can put it this way, dear fellow Christian. You and I need a priest. You may be from a tradition of the Christian faith that had ‘priests’, but the fact is that you need to be under the ministry of a priest. In fact, you need a High Priest. But the priesthood of Levi won’t do the job. That would be a priesthood of a covenant that is no longer in operation. You need a High Priest of a priesthood that is of the New Covenant; a priesthood established on better promises than the old one; a priesthood with a High Priest who’s priestly order before God is superior in every way to the old priesthood through the law. And that’s what you and I have in the Lord Jesus; “having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”.
Now; with all of that background in mind, let’s look at Hebrews 7; and consider first how the writer gives us . . .
I. A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF MELCHIZEDEK (vv. 1-3).
A. The writer wants us to see how Jesus is very much of the priestly order of this great man from the Old Testament. He writes;
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually (vv. 1-3).
1. You can see that the writer is simply seeking to reflect what that Old Testament passage from Genesis 14 told us about Melchizedek. But he also draws out a few implications of what it says to us. He speaks of Melchizedek as someone “without father” and “without mother”. This doesn’t mean by this that Melchizedek was not human. His next phrase, “without genealogy” puts this in proper perspective. Genealogy was very important to the priesthood of Levi; because all priests had to trace their lineage back to Aaron—the brother of Moses, of the tribe of Levi (see Ezra 2:59-63 for an example of how important this was.) There is, however, no such genealogy offered for Melchizedek. We’re told nothing biographically of his birth or his death; but that he is “made like the Son of god” in that—like Jesus—there are no genealogical or biographical limitations to the story of his priesthood.
2. It would be important to ward off a mistake that is frequently made about this man Melchizedek. He is often thought to have been a per-incarnate appearance of the Son of God. But there is no evidence for this. Jesus is presented to us as only being of the priestly order of Melchizedek; but not being the same person as Melchizedek. If Melchizedek had been a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God, then the Lord Jesus could only have been said to be a High Priest according to the order of Himself.
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Though the Lord Jesus should be seen as a distinct person from Melchizedek, the similarities in their priesthood are nevertheless very important for us to see. In relationship to the priesthood of the Old Covenant, the writer stresses to us . . .
II. JESUS’ SUPERIORITY AS OF THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK (vv. 4-28).
A. We will only examine these ‘four superiorities’ briefly. But first consider that the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood is shown as one that received tithes from Levi through Abraham. The writer points us back to that Old Testament encounter with Abraham, and tells us this about Melchizedek:
Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him (vv. 4-10).
You can sum the writer’s argument up into the following basic points:
1. The sons of Levi—the priests according to the law of Moses—were to receive tithes from the people (see Numbers 18:21-24). But here, Melchizedek—a priest not of the tribe of Levi, and not according to the law—received tithes from Abraham.
2. After receiving tithes, Melchizedek blessed Abraham. The bless-er is always greater than the bless-ee; and so Melchizedek showed his superiority over Levi—who was still, as it were, in the body of Abraham.
3. Mortal men receive tithes in the priesthood of Levi for as long as they live. But here, one receives tithes, as it were, of Levi of whom there is no biographical record of death.
4. And even Levi himself—by being yet in the body of Abraham—paid tithes to Melchizedek.
Thus, the writer argues, you and I can submit ourselves safely and freely to the newer, greater High Priesthood of Jesus. He is of an order that is manifestly superior to the order of Levi. Even Father Abraham—in whom all of the Jewish nation existed—submitted to it!
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B. Next, the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood is shown as one that was promised to annul the priesthood of the law. That would almost have sounded like a very rebellious and blasphemous thing to say—if it weren’t for the fact that God had already promised to replace the Old Covenant with a New Covenant—and that the New Covenant necessitates a new priesthood and a change of law. The writer points our attention to the affirmation from King David in Psalm 110:4, and makes his case by saying;
Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. For He testifies:
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God (vv. 11-19).
A change in the priesthood is shown in that Jesus is a priest from the tribe of Judah—not of Levi. And a change in the law is shown in that, if the Old Testament law had been sufficient, there would not have been the need for the promise of another priesthood of a completely different order. It’s not that the Old Covenant meant nothing. Always remember: it failed not because of anything wrong with it in itself, but because of the failure of the people with whom it was made (see Romans 7:7-12). And so, the superiority of Jesus is shown in that the Old Covenant is set aside and the New Covenant—of which He is High Priest—is established.
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C. Third, the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood is shown as one that was confirmed by an oath from God. It’s not that men simply chose to set the old priesthood aside and propose a new one. That would truly be a terrible act of rebellion against God and His law! But rather, it was God Himself who proposed the change and promised that it would be established. He even affirmed it with an oath. The Old Testament priesthood was not affirmed by “oath” but by “birth”. The priests simply needed to be born of the family of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. But this was not the case with our Lord. Again quoting from Psalm 110:4, the writer speaks of the Lord Jesus and says,
And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:
“The Lord has sworn
by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant (vv. 20-22).
And will not relent,
‘You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek’”),
A “surety” simply means “a guarantee”. Jesus’ coming, then—fulfilling His priesthood in a way that is in keeping with the better order of Melchizedek; and by God Himself declaring through an oath that it is so—assures us of God’s full establishment of a New Covenant; and of His full acceptance of sinners through the better priesthood of which Jesus is High Priest.
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D. Finally, the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood is shown as one that is made perpetual by the fact that He is eternal and undefiled. Even the best and most godly of priests in the Old Covenant priesthood of Levi was limited. On the one hand, they were limited in their ministry to the people in that they would eventually die. And on the other hand—even while they lived—they were imperfect sinners who constantly needed to make offering for themselves as well as for the people. But all this underscores the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood under the “endless” priesthood of Melchizedek. The writer says,
Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever (vv. 23-28).
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Perhaps no conclusion could be better than to go on and say a hearty ‘Amen’ what the writer affirms at the beginning of Chapter 8:
Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man (Hebrews 8:1-2).
Let’s go to Him confidently for all we need!
According to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4).