Once someone’s mind is made up it is very difficult sometimes to change it. Back in the 15th century the world’s leaders and scientists were convinced that earth was flat because, after all, when you look out towards the horizon it looks flat. People were executed for doubting this principal. It wasn’t until the likes of Christopher Columbus and others came along that the western world grudgingly let go of their outmoded beliefs.
For the recipients of the letter of Hebrews the situation was similar. They were Jews who were coming out of Judaism to embrace this new Way of Jesus Christ. But Christians were not very popular at the time and so persecution arose. This made them doubt that Jesus was better than the system which had been ingrained in them for many generations.
So the author of Hebrews has to start at the beginning - with the first Hebrew: Abraham, then go point by point to show that it is okay to let go because something better has come.
Sometimes the victims of a war or natural disaster will be reluctant to give up their hovel to be rescued because they have created their own sense of comfort and security - no matter how flimsy it seems to someone from the outside. The Jews had a terrible time giving up their beliefs, as weak and ineffective as they were.
The whole point of Chapter 6:13 through Chapter 7 is that God’s Word, His oath, is a more powerful and more trustworthy thing than that brought:
- By priests put in office by family line
- By the Law which is unable to make anyone holy, or
- By Man who is destructible.
He begins his proof by going back to Abraham. We ended in verse 19 of Chapter 6 when the author is talking about relying on the promises God made, being sure about your salvation:
Chapter 6:13-20
Verses 13 - 20
13 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.
This comes out of Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. ESV
Swearing by something was like saying - "if I don’t follow through then a person or being more powerful than I will hold me to account." Since there is no one more powerful than God, there wasn’t anyone else to hold Him to the promise - and His promises are sure. All Abraham had to do was 1) believe what God said and 2) wait for the fulfillment - which didn’t come for 25 years. It didn’t mean God wasn’t going to do it, he just didn’t know God’s timetable. We don’t know God’s timetable either.
We often need extra convincing - as if God telling us wasn’t enough. God knows that and in this case made a special effort to assure Abraham that He meant what He said:
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.
Not only did God promise to bless Abraham, but He swore to do it (the two things) - to indicate it was unchangeable. The promise was to not only bless Abraham but all the people of the earth - this part of the promise didn’t come about until Jesus Christ.
God cannot lie nor violate His own Word - if you believe that, then you can leave your flimsy shack on a desert island and run into the rescue ship of God’s grace. And you can have "strong encouragement to hold fast 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.
Our hope in Jesus extends beyond death - and into the presence of God. Jesus went there ahead of us - through the heavenly curtain in the literal presence of God and takes us with Him (we’ll see this more in detail in a later study). He can do this, not as a Levitical priest, but as a priest from another order - Melchizedek.
Chapter 7
To understand this, we’ve got to turn back to Genesis 14.
Melchizedek was both a priest and king of Salem (probably Jerusalem). Abraham paid to Melchizedek a tithe of the spoils from his battle with the kings of the area around which he lived. So he was in a way Abraham’s priest, which would make him better than a priest descended from Abraham (Aaron).
Verses 1 - 3
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.
Chizedek in Hebrew means "righteousness" and Salem means "peace."
"…without genealogy" means that his line was not listed in Genesis - something very very important for priests who had to prove their lineage. Melchizedek’s death is also not recorded. Yes he had parents and yes he died - but here it is a matter of typology and theology. What is left out of Genesis is as important as what is written. So Melchizedek is a "type" of Jesus.
Some used to thing that Melchizedek was the preincarnate Christ - but that doesn’t seem likely - and it says he "resembles" the Son of God - and is really besides the point for what this author is trying to say.
Verses 4 - 10
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 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.
Melchizedek brought out wine and bread and blessed Abraham. It’s a cool foreshadowing of our communion. But his point here is that if people pay tithes to the descendants of Abraham - and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, then Melchizedek is greater than Abraham - in the case of this typology - that God is bringing about a greater priest than those that Abraham gave birth to.
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. ESV
The whole idea here is setting up that Jesus is greater than Levi and all the priests that flowed from that line because He "lives." This is vital in his argument that God has changed the priestly system away from Levi and Aaron to Jesus as our new high priest.
There are two main points then in the rest of the chapter:
1. The Levitical priesthood (and by it the Law) cannot bring salvation
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.
The Jews were used to the priesthood managing their contact with God. They might have questioned the change to a priest by the name of Jesus who was not born into the tribe of Levi - this would be like suddenly changing the way our president is elected - you’d have to change the law first! That’s exactly what God has done. He gave the Law - it’s His Law - and He can change it if He likes.
God didn’t say anything about priests coming from Judah but He did say that the Messiah would come from Judah. Judah was the largest tribe, it was the source of most of Israel’s kings and was among the only tribes to return from captivity in Babylon. Jesus can be the high priest, though because of two things: 1-the old system has been eliminated, and 2-Jesus’ life itself (we’ll see that next):
2. Jesus, the high priest of God’s new system, brings salvation because He lives forever
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."
No Aaronic priests lived forever - only Jesus, a Melchizedek priest.
The Jews were looking for a Messiah - but some, including the folks that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, were looking for two Messiahs - one priestly and one kingly. Both came through Jesus, though the Jews didn’t see it at the time.
What we see is that death was very important in passing down to the next priest in the Levitcal system. You got your position as priest based on being born into a certain family and then when the high priest before you died - but because Jesus is alive forever, God’s oath making Him high priest is enough.
This whole old system was weak and was designed to point to the new system that is strong:
Verses 18 - 19
18 On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
The Law may be "weak" but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. The Law had one purpose:
Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. ESV
You simply couldn’t hope to be made perfect by the Law - but now, through Jesus you can hope to be made perfect and draw near to God - something that the Law and the priestly system could not offer. As a sideline - people today still try to be made perfect through obedience to an external set of rules - many made up out of whole clothe. We are justified only through what Jesus did for us and does through us.
Verses 20 - 25
20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ’You are a priest forever.’"
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
A priest became one by being born one - Jesus became one by God’s oath, as we saw at the end of chapter 6. God coming down to make us perfect is a better agreement than us trying by our own efforts to follow a set of laws no one can hope to fully abide by.
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he 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.
Josephus estimated that 81 high priests served from Aaron to the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70AD. Jesus is the first and last of a new line of priests and can be counted on to be our only and permanent way to God - we don’t have to look back nor look anywhere else.
Look at verse 25. "save to the uttermost" can also be translated "now and always" or "completely." The emphasis is that Jesus saves us now - and He is never going away by death so He can save us totally for all time - He is the complete salvation - just as the priestly system under the law provided incomplete salvation.
Jesus intercedes on our behalf with the Father - His blood providing the washing away of our sins - and since He will never die like an earthly priest - He will always be there to make that intercession for us. Jesus also constantly talks to the Father about your needs. Only once a year was the high priest allowed to intercede with God on the people’s behalf - but right now Jesus is talking to the Father about what you need - isn’t that marvelous?
26 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. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. ESV
This is such a cool reference to Jesus. All men from Adam on down are stained with sin from birth and unable to approach God without the atonement of animal sacrifices.
But Jesus was completely pure and not affected by sin at birth - and at death. The high priest offered sacrifices in the morning and in the evening every day - Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice one time and it lasts for all of eternity.
God promised it - sealed it with an oath - and appointed Jesus as His Son who is the "perfect" high priest, sacrifice, and Savior for us!
Conclusions
What More Proof do you Need?
The physical life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact that would be very hard to disprove. Given that - what is holding you back from placing your trust in Him as the ultimate, eternal, and only access to God?
What Do You Need Today?
Did you know that God knows what you need before you ask?
Psalms 139:4 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. ESV
Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. ESV
Take comfort in your constant intercessor. God always listens - He just doesn’t answer the way we think He should all the time.
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