Priesthood And Law

I. EXORDIUM:

Are you under grace and not under law?

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show that we are now under Grace and not under Law.

IV. TEXT:

Hebrews 7:12 (Amplified Bible)

7:12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is of necessity an alteration of the law [concerning the priesthood] as well.

V. THESIS:

I am now living under Grace in the New Covenant, where JESUS, my LORD fulfilled everything the Law requires and I get all the blessings, my free gift from GOD as promised by GOD. I am now a royal priesthood of GOD and by GOD.

VI. TITLE:

Priesthood and Law

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Date of writing: Before AD. 70

B. Style of writing: Best Greek style

C. Authorship: Not specific, but generally attributed to Apostle Paul. Can be also ascribed to Barnabas, Luke, Apollos

D. Audience: Hebrew Christians

E. Theme: Christ is superior to the prophets; Christ is superior to angels—J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible

F. Purpose: The chief doctrinal purpose of the writer was to show the transcendent glory of the Christian dispensation, as compared with that of the Old Testament.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

G. Keyword: better

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. Change in rules of priesthood

"For when there is a change in the priesthood,"

Isaiah 66:21 (Amplified Bible)

66:21 And I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

Acts 6:13-14 (Amplified Bible)

6:13 And they brought forward false witnesses who asserted, This man never stops making statements against this sacred place and the Law [of Moses];

6:14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will tear down and destroy this place, and will alter the institutions and usages which Moses transmitted to us.

Change means "to transfer", "to exchange", "to carry over" but not to destroy. The old covenant of priesthood that priests must come only from Levites, are changed, transferred, exchanged to a better covenant of Grace. Now those who believe in the finished work of CHRIST are all royal priesthood.

Deuteronomy 17:9 (Amplified Bible)

17:9 And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them and they shall make clear to you the decision.

Ezekiel 44:15 (Amplified Bible)

44:15 But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me, and they shall attend Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.

2 Chronicles 23:6 (Amplified Bible)

23:6 But let none come into the [main] house of the Lord except the priests and those of the Levites who minister; they may go in, for they are holy, but let all the rest of the people carefully observe the law against entering the holy place of the Lord.

Now we know those who are disciples of the LORD are also called priests, a change in the rules of priests.

1 Peter 2:9 (Amplified Bible)

2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

B. Change in the Law

"there is of necessity an alteration of the law [concerning the priesthood] as well"

Hebrews 8:13 (Amplified Bible)

8:13 When God speaks of a new [covenant or agreement], He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use and annulled because of age) is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Amplified Bible)

31:31 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,

31:32 Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, says the Lord.

31:33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.

31:34 And they will no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me [recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Me], from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will [seriously] remember their sin no more.