HEBREWS: “A Greater Promise and Priesthood (Hebrews 6:13-7:27)" | 10/15/23
Hebrews 6:13-7:27 | 10/15/23 | Will DuVal
We opened our series in Hebrews - “Jesus is Greater” - with some of the classic “G.O.A.T.” match-ups: MJ or LeBron; Beatles or Stones. But let’s open this morning with a Bible-edition round:
Who was the greatest KING in all the Old Testament?
Well, assuming it’s not a TRICK question, with the answer being GOD (Ps 103:19 - “[God’s] kingdom rules over all”), but assuming we’re talking HUMAN kings, I suspect the most popular answer would probably be KING DAVID. There is certainly more written about and BY David, than any other king; he was a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam 13:14). And yet, there’s at least an argument to be made - from 2 Kings chs18 and 23, resp. - for both King HEZEKIAH and King JOSIAH.
How about the greatest PROPHET in the OT?
Elijah? Isaiah? I suspect the majority might vote for MOSES, especially in light of Deut 34:10 - “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”, although R.C. Sproul has argued pretty compellingly that JOHN THE BAPTIST is the greatest OT prophet.
But now if I asked you to name the greatest PRIEST of the OT, I bet MANY of us would be STUMPED. A few might say AARON, Moses’ brother, the founder of the Levitical priesthood. But after him, the list of candidates gets pretty slim. The Bible only mentions ~2 dozen priests by name, and typically we only hear about them when they’ve sinned.
But the answer to THIS particular G.O.A.T. debate is actually the most straightforward of all, because our text for this morning, Hebrews ch7, sets the record straight: the greatest priest in the OT was…? [MELCHIZEDEK]
Now, what’s so interesting is that Melchizedek only shows up in FOUR verses in the entire OT. So let’s go ahead and READ them, so we have context for this morning; who WAS this guy?
Well, in Genesis ch14, Abram’s nephew LOT - who was living in Sodom - gets kidnapped by four invading nations, and Abram has to go rescue him. After defeating the enemy armies, Abram is thanked and blessed by the King of Sodom, and then by:
“Melchizedek king of Salem [who] brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed [Abram] and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”
And then Melchizedek just disappears. And we don’t hear ANYTHING about him again, for a THOUSAND years, until Psalm ch110, when King David pens this prophecy:
“The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
…“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.””
And that’s IT. These 2 tiny passages, 4 enigmatic verses. And then we don’t hear another peep about him for ANOTHER 1,000 years, until this book of Hebrews. You may recall, our anonymous author has already alluded to Melchizedek, back in ch5, when he began his argument for Jesus’ greater priesthood. But then he went off on that quick tangent / TIRADE two weeks ago about how he WISHED he could say more on the topic but many in his church were so spiritually IMMATURE they couldn’t stomach his meaty teaching. And then LAST Sunday he said, “In fact, SOME of you here at church aren’t even Christians AT ALL; you’re FAKERS. And you will PROVE it in the years to come, by falling AWAY from the faith.”
But then he ENDED last week on a note of comfort, for the majority of his church: “yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation” (6:9). And now he’s gonna return to his discussion of Melchizedek, and Jesus’ greater priesthood, but FIRST, he will explain WHY he’s so sure of their “salvation” - the REASON for his confidence in the saving faith of those TRUE believers in his congregation: it is the PROMISE of God.
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And he’s going to further assure them that God’s PROMISE of salvation, has now been secured for us, by Jesus’ PRIESTLY intercession. That is the best 1-sentence summary I can offer you of our entire passage for this morning:
“God’s promise of salvation is secured for us by Jesus’ [Melchizedek-like] PRIESTLY intercession.”
So let’s turn there now and consider both in turn - God’s promise of salvation as we finish Hebrews 6, and then Jesus’ priestly intercession in ch7 - would you STAND… Hebrews 6:13- 7:17, vv23-25:
Remember: he has just assured them of his confidence in their salvation. Then he said, ‘But I want YOU to be fully assured as well, so WORK OUT your salvation, by imitating “those who through faith and patience inherit [God’s] promises.”’
And now he’s gonna explain what he MEANS; hear the word of the Lord:
“For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their [own] brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.” [skip down to v23 now…]
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he [JESUS] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 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. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”
[This is the word of God… SEATED…]
TWO REASONS the author gives us here why we can trust God’s promise of salvation: First: because God ALWAYS keeps his promises; and Second: because Jesus has already secured God’s promise for us as our great high priest.
Now, I’m not gonna spend a lot of time this morning trying to convince you of your NEED for salvation; until the last 200 or so years of human history that truth was just self-evident. All you had to do was turn on the news for 10 seconds and any reasonable person could conclude that there is something WRONG with the world, and any HONEST person would have to admit that “Ya know, I’m probably more a part of the PROBLEM than I am the solution.” It’s not just that the WORLD is broken; I’M broken. Humanity is NOT basically good, with a few outliers here and there; No, we are BROKEN. We’re Sinful. In need of FIXING.
The author of Hebrews just takes that much for GRANTED. But then he reassures his church of the good news - the gospel - that though they have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, God has FORGIVEN their sins - by grace they have been SAVED through FAITH - and through faith and PATIENCE, they will one day “inherit” God’s PROMISE of eternal life in heaven.
How can he be so SURE?
#1 - Because God’s promises are FINAL (6:13-18).
God does not renege, go back on, his word. That’s the upshot of vv13-18. These are RICH verses - we could spend all morning unpacking just the rest of ch6 here - but I want to keep us moving, so let’s just consider his overarching point here: that God’s promises are DEFINITIVE. Absolute. FINAL. When God says it, that SETTLES it.
That was true of God’s promise to ABRAHAM, v13 reminds us. When God promised him “descendants as numerous as the stars”, promised to BLESS them, and bless those nations who would bless God’s people, and promised them a “land flowing with milk and honey”, all God’s beautiful promises to Abraham from Genesis 12-17, those promises were as good as FULFILLED the very moment that God MADE them; God is THAT trustworthy. But to ensure it, and “since he had no one greater by whom to swear, [God] swore by himself”.
As kids, we used to “swear on our mothers’ GRAVES” - that’s when you KNEW someone was serious, right? - but God doesn’t HAVE a mother.
So if someone was REALLY serious (and if they were a HEATHEN, cuz us good little Christian boys and girls - we knew better than to do this), but our pagan friends might even “swear to GOD”, right? “I kissed Reid Minnick under the bleachers; I swear to GOD.”
v13: GOD swore by HIMSELF. God’s promises are backed, personally, by God’s OWN consummate character. Why can you be CONFIDENT that when you hand that little green slip of paper from your wallet to the cashier at Taco Bell today at lunch, that she will bring you tacos? Why is SHE confident that that paper is actually worth $10? Because it’s BACKED by the U.S. Treasury.
God’s promises are backed by GOD’S SELF. For one of God’s promises to fail, God HIMSELF would have to fail. And our God is no failure.
V16: God’s “oath is final for confirmation.”
SO, v17, “when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise [he’s talking about God’s NT promise of SALVATION in Christ now; to CONVINCE us of] the unchangeable nature of his purpose, [God] guaranteed it with an oath”.
Why? V18: “so that by two unchangeable things, [both God’s promise, as well as his GUARANTEE, his OATH, to KEEP his promise…] in which it is impossible for God to LIE” - he reminds us: God didn’t need to do EITHER; God could have just said: “Abraham - you’re having a KID.” He didn’t have to make a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. And God didn’t have to guarantee that covenant with his OATH, in ch15. It’s already impossible for God to go back on His word. God isn’t just “truth-FUL”; God IS TRUTH. He DEFINES truth; He’s the very SOURCE of all truth. He couldn’t lie and still be God. But nevertheless, God wanted to make it SO clear to Abraham, and in our case, so clear to US - that His promise of SALVATION in Christ was FINAL - unwavering - “so that… we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us.”
This is strong imagery - “fleeing for REFUGE”; it’s militaristic language. Last week, Israeli war planes flew over Gaza and dropped leaflets warning civilians to FLEE for REFUGE before Israel continued and escalated their bombing campaign in retaliation for Hamas’ attacks.
It’s actually a pretty accurate picture of the GOSPEL. Jesus came to earth “preaching the gospel”, handing out leaflets, as it were, urging us to “flee from the wrath to come” (Matt 3:7).
WHOSE wrath? GOD’S wrath! The Bible says, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men” (Rom 1:18). Our SIN - our REBELLION against God - rightfully makes Him ANGRY. And God’s holiness demands that he deal with, that He PUNISH, our sin.
But here’s the GOOD news, friends: Jesus not only warned us to FLEE; He has provided us with the one true, fail proof BOMB shelter! In His death, Jesus satisfied God’s holy wrath against sin - he took the punishment we deserved, in our place - and then in His resurrection, Jesus secured for us God’s eternal life and favor and BLESSING instead. And now all who would simply trust in Him by faith are promised REFUGE in Christ. We have “strong encouragement to hold FAST to our hope” in Christ, because God’s promises are unfailing.
They are, #2 - SURE (6:19-20). God’s promises are SURE.
“We have… a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”.
Lot of drifting souls these days, aren’t there? Lots of folks aimlessly searching for meaning, identity, joy, HOPE. The Bible says, “Search no more; DRIFT no more. Come and ANCHOR your soul in CHRIST” - the one true Rock in a world full of sinking sand - you can have HOPE; a hope that “enters into the inner place, behind the curtain”.
Now speaking of appeasing God’s righteous wrath against sin, in the OT, that’s where it was ACCOMPLISHED. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would suit up and enter into the Holy of Holies, behind the veil, the curtain, and he’d sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice on God’s mercy seat in order to atone for Israel’s sin.
According to the Bible, THAT’S the kind of hope we need: a hope that addresses our REAL problem, our SIN problem.
That promotion you’ve been “hoping” for at work - it can’t deal with your SIN problem. That child you’ve been waiting and praying for - it can’t reconcile you to a holy God. If all you HOPE for is the stuff of THIS world, then where are you gonna turn on JUDGMENT day, when you LEAVE this world? When you stand before the Lord and have to answer for your SIN? v19 says: “We need a hope that can get us past the CURTAIN” - the one in the tabernacle, the Temple that separated the EARTHLY world (THIS world), from the HEAVENLY one (God’s realm, His presence). V20 says: “We HAVE such a hope, because JESUS has passed from this world into the next, past the curtain, and NOW he serves as our “high priest forever”.
See, the role of the high priest was to make atonement - forgiveness - for the sins of the people by means of a sacrifice. He served as an INTERCESSOR - an intermediary, a “go between” - IN between a HOLY God, and a SINFUL people. Because God is holy, he MUST deal with sin. So the only basis on which sinful man can approach God, have relationship with God, is by means of a SACRIFICE. Hebrews 9:22 will explain that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” No sacrifice, no forgiveness. No forgiveness, no relationship with God.
But no PRIEST, no sacrifice - they were the special “consecrated” ones whom God had appointed for the job of offering sacrifices on behalf of the people. THAT’s why the high priest was so important.
But there were PROBLEMS with this sacrificial system, and with the priesthood in particular. 7 problems, in fact, that the author of Hebrews is now gonna turn his attention to, as he opens ch7. And he offers us 7 REASONS why JESUS’ priesthood is GREATER than that of the Old Testament. The OT priests were:
Limited
Temporary
Inferior
Flawed
Antiquated
Mortal, and
Impotent
But now the author is going to CONTRAST those shortcomings of the Levitical priesthood (the OT priests in the line of LEVI, and AARON), with JESUS’ greater priesthood, a priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek”, v20 tells us. Jesus is a GREATER high priest, in SEVEN ways:
#1 - Whereas the OT priests were limited - they were ONLY priests - Jesus, like Melchizedek, is also a KING. (7:1-2)
The Levitical priests were all defense; no offense. They could deal with the negative problem of sin (the clean-up, after the fact), but they didn’t actually LEAD the people, they couldn’t govern, they had no power to positively PREVENT sin from happening in the first place.
In OT terms, that was the role of the KING. But look how “this Melchizedek” is described in ch7 now:
“king of Salem, priest of the Most High God”
He’s BOTH! This is unprecedented in the entire rest of the OT. Melchizedek apparently played both linebacker AND quarterback! He atoned for sins AND led the people in righteousness. And thus, he foreshadowed the even GREATER Priest-King of the NEW Testament, Jesus, who was not ONLY “by translation of HIS name” the “king of righteousness” and “king of peace”; JESUS’ name is even BETTER; HIS name means “he SAVES”. “For our sake he [BECAME] sin, though he knew no sin [Jesus was perfectly righteous], so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). JESUS not only rules in righteousness; he has IMPUTED to us his own perfect righteousness.
Jesus not only rules in peace; “he himself IS our peace,” Ephesians 2 says, because JESUS has “broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” and “reconcile[d] us to God… through the cross” (2:14-16). The Bible says our sin had SEPARATED us from God (Isa 59:2), made a WALL between us; but Jesus tore it DOWN, and RECONCILED us to God by His cross; He is our PEACE.
#2 - Whereas the OT priests were temporary, Jesus’ priesthood, like Melchizedek’s, is permanent, PERPETUAL (7:3).
V3 says Melchizedek was “without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life… he continues a priest forever.”
The Levitical priests were hit or miss. Aaron was good; but then he DIED, and his successors, his kids - Nadab and Abihu - were WICKED. Eli was a good priest, but same thing - he died, and his sons Hophni and Phinehas were WICKED. This was yet another weakness of the OT priesthood - it was temporary. And it was also hereditary - v16 reminds us that under the OLD covenant, one became priest “on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent”. And remember: the priestly BLOODLINE was polluted from the START - Aaron (the very first priest), his first ACT AS priest, was to build Israel a Golden Calf, an IDOL to worship. So both the temporary and the GENETIC nature of the old priesthood were problematic.
But Melchizedek didn’t even HAVE a bloodline to pollute! No “father or mother or genealogy” to muddy. Not only that, Melchizedek had neither BIRTH nor DEATH - “neither beginning of days nor end of life”. Apparently he is ETERNAL, because, v3, “he continues a priest forever.”
I think the ONLY way we can make sense of that, theologically, is if Melchizedek in Genesis 14 was not only a foreshadowing of Christ, but was in fact a preincarnate appearance of Christ himself, a “theophany” as theologians call them. If God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, is truly eternal - we know he was present at CREATION, John 1 says, “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him”. But what then did Christ do for thousands (millions?) of years AFTER that until he was born in a manger as JESUS? You should take Austin Gooch’s Sunday school class this winter and FIND OUT! “Jesus Through the Old Testament”. But one of the things I’m sure Austin is gonna COVER in that class, because one of the instances when we KNOW Christ showed up, was 4,000 years ago as this enigmatic, eternal Priest-King Melchizedek on the road to Sodom.
#3 - Jesus’ priesthood, like Melchizedek’s, is SUPERIOR to that of the OT Levites. And expositing those 3 cryptic verses from Genesis ch14 now, the author of Hebrews makes a twofold argument here for Christ’s superior priesthood. He’s actually arguing for MELCHIZEDEK’S superiority, but as we’ve just said, Melchizedek IS the preincarnate Christ. He says:
“See how great this man was” (and here’s his FIRST argument): because “Abraham the patriarch gave [him] a tenth of the spoils”.
This was the first TITHE ever in history; the word “tithe” literally just means “tenth”. And in the OT, the Lord commanded his people, Israel, to bring him their “full tithe”, as a REMINDER that all they had was GIVEN to them by God in the first place. God owns it ALL; he LEASES a tiny portion to each one of us to steward for His own glory; and then God instructs us to give a portion - a tithe - BACK to him as a tangible reminder of our subordination - our dependency on God and our deference to Him. The LESSER always tithes to the GREATER.
So if Abraham - Israel’s patriarch - tithed to Melchizedek, then he must’ve been even greater than the FATHER of their whole NATION. In fact, since Levi - the priestly patriarch in particular - was the great-GRAND-son of Abraham, v9, “One might even say that Levi himself… paid tithes [to Melchizedek] through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of [Abraham]”.
And not only was Abraham’s tithing a sign of his deference to Mechizedek, but so too was his acceptance of Melchizedek’s BLESSING.
V6: Melchizedek not only “received tithes from Abraham; [he also] blessed him who had the promises.”
Moreover, v7: “ It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.”
Levi was blessed by his superior, his father JACOB.
Jacob was blessed by his superior, his father ISAAC.
And Isaac was blessed by his superior, his father ABRAHAM.
But who blessed “Father ABRAHAM”? Melchizedek.
And not only is Melchizedek’s, and therefore Jesus’ priesthood SUPERIOR, but #4 - it is PERFECT (7:11). The Levitical priesthood was FLAWED, but Jesus’ priesthood is PERFECT.
V11: “Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood… what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek”.
With the implication being that we DID need another, better priest because we DID need PERFECTION.
If you’re starting to get LOST in all this talk about Melchizedek and the Levites and what does ANY of this have to do with MY life here in the 21st c - FIRST of all, that means you need to GROW UP spiritually; “I’ve got even MORE I’d love to preach - whole SERMON SERIES on Melchizedek - if only we could all stomach the MEAT of God’s word, and not just the MILK.” But SECONDLY, let me remind you again of the practical, eternal relevance of Jesus’ priesthood to YOUR life today: the reason you need Jesus to be your priest is because you are imperfect, and God demands and deserves PERFECTION.
Jesus told us, “You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). That’s not hyperbole. Jesus wasn’t just exaggerating for rhetorical effect. He was reminding us that God the Father is literally and ontologically perfect in every way, and that HEAVEN - God’s eternal abode - is likewise a perfect place reserved for perfect people; if God let YOU in, if he let ME in, as is, we’d RUIN it; it would no longer be HEAVEN, cuz it’d be TAINTED with the stain of our SIN. So in order for us to be WITH God, to come INTO God’s holy presence, according to JESUS, “you must be PERFECT”.
And the problem with the OT sacrifices and priests, the biggest problem of ALL, was that they couldn’t make you PERFECT. They could atone for sins, cover over our violations of God’s holy law - they could negate the NEGATIVE impact of our sin - but what is required for true, intimate relationship with God isn’t just the absence of sin; it is the positive quality of RIGHTEOUSNESS. Holiness. And according to Hebrews and indeed, all of the BIBLE, the priests, the sacrifices, the Law - NONE of them can give us THAT, sinless PERFECTION.
Only JESUS can. And through his priestly intercession on our behalf on the CROSS, Jesus HAS. As our author will put it just a few weeks from now in ch10: “by a single offering (Christ) has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (v14). If you are IN CHRIST this morning, if his once-for-all-time offering of HIMSELF has justified you, and is SANCTIFYING you, then in God’s eyes, you have already been PERFECTED by the blood of His Son, and thus, accepted into relationship by your heavenly Father.
#5- whereas the OT priesthood was antiquated, Jesus’ priesthood is REVOLUTIONARY (7:12-14).
v12 says: “For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.”
Now, we’re gonna save this point and discuss it in greater depth next week in ch8, when he’ll explain that AS our greater high priest, Jesus now presides over a greater COVENANT than the old Levitical priests did. But he introduces that point here, when he claims that IN ORDER for there to be a change in the priesthood - for a priest to arise OUTSIDE the tribe of Levi - there had to be a change in the LAW as well. Because God’s OT Law had stipulated that priests MUST be from the tribe of Levi (Ex 28). But v14: Jesus was “descended from JUDAH”. Because Judah was the ROYAL line (of David, Solomon…). And Jesus, like Melchizedek, would be a KINGLY priest. But that meant an OVERHAUL of the entire old covenant. He’s gonna tell us next week in ch8: now “In speaking of a new covenant, [God] makes the first one obsolete.”
Now, Jesus made a lot of audacious, OFFENSIVE claims to his 1st c Jewish listeners. He said, “I’m greater than your TEMPLE” (Matt 12:6), “I’m greater than your father, Abraham” (Jn 8:58). But perhaps the most staggering of all was Jesus’ claim of superiority to the LAW. He acknowledged the HOLINESS of God’s word, its infallibility, its truthfulness and absolute authoritativeness. And yet, Jesus reproved the Pharisees for “search[ing] the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; yet it is they that bear witness about me ” (Jn 5:39).
The whole point of the OT is to point you to ME! Something GREATER than the old covenant is here.
And Jesus’ superiority was CONFIRMED by his RESURRECTION!
By #6 - the “power of his INDESTRUCTIBLE life”! (7:15-17, 23-24)
The OT priests were mortal; Jesus is IM-mortal. In-VINcible. The One of whom it was prophesied: ““You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
V23: “The former priests were many in number, [there were LOTS of them; there HAD to be… cuz they all kept DYING!] they were prevented by death from continuing in office”.
But “ [JESUS] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.”
You know what Jesus is doing RIGHT NOW? He is PRIEST-ING for you, in Heaven. Jesus is “continuing his priesthood”, on our behalf, before the throne of God the Father. V25 says “he always lives to make intercession for [us].”
And it’s a really good thing, that Jesus is perpetually priesting, because most of us down here are just about perpetually SINNING.
I got asked a couple weeks ago why we confess our sins every Sunday at church, if Jesus has already FORGIVEN them all on the cross.
1 Jn 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So we confess our sins to avoid LYING, fooling ourselves into thinking that we no longer NEED Jesus - “Maybe I did years ago, back when I was still a SINNER, but these days…” - NO! John says, “If we say we haven’t sinned, we make [GOD out to be] a liar, and his word is not in us”
BUT, John continues, if instead “we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (v9)
Which begs the question: WHY? WHY does God forgive and cleanse us? John’s answer: “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (2:1-2).
Friends: God forgives us because when we sin, we now have a permanent advocate, a full-time DEFENSE attorney, in the courtroom of heaven: Jesus Christ, the righteous. Our greater high priest, who “always lives to make intercession for us”, to plead our case by pleading HIS OWN blood before God the Father; every time we sin, Jesus REMINDS God of his own all-sufficient sacrifice - his “propitiation” - on our behalf.
Which brings us to our final point, and the one way in which Jesus’ priesthood is NOT like Melchizedek’s. Melchizedek was just a type, just a shadow.
But #7 - Jesus’ priesthood is SALVIFIC! (7:25-27)
Jesus is “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him”
Hebrews is gonna tell us a few weeks from now in ch10 that the OT priests and sacrifices couldn’t actually SAVE anyone. “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4); “every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (10:11). They could ATONE for sins, cover OVER sins; sweep the dirt under the rug. But to take AWAY our sin, to remove not just the penalty but the PRESENCE of sin, to be truly SET FREE… SAVED from our sin, friends, we needed JESUS.
“a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. [Who] has no need, like [the OLD] priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people”, because Jesus didn’t HAVE any sins. And that’s PRECISELY why he was the ONLY high priest who was qualified, v27, to “offer up HIMSELF”, as the “once for ALL” time sacrifice for sin. In order to “save to the uttermost those who [would] draw near to God through [his BLOOD]”.
God is inviting you to draw NEAR to Him this morning, through His son Jesus - your great high priest, your once-for-all-time sacrifice, your at-this-very-moment INTERCESSOR - who is able to SAVE you to the uttermost, if you will but turn from your sin and trust in Him.