The Greatness Of Melchizedek’s Order In Relation To The Levitical Priesthood Series

• A Superior Priesthood.

All the priests whom David knew were sons of Aaron, but Melchizedek was his spiritual superior; Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Since Aaron and Levi and all the priests were descendants of Abraham, they too, so to speak, paid tithes to Melchizedek, in Abraham, when Abraham paid his. It followed, therefore, that any priest after the order of Melchizedek would be superior to any priest after the order of Aaron.

The Spirit of God has made matters clear for us in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Jesus is this Melchizedek priest of whom David spoke so profoundly.

(7:16). one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.

(7:17). For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Christ became a PRIEST by His resurrection from the dead; He has an endless life. But because Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, He lives by “the power of an indestructible life.” What a contrast between an endless life and a profitless Law!

Since Jesus Christ is “Priest forever,” and since He has a nature to match that eternal priesthood, He can never be replaced. But nobody can annul the “power of an indestructible life”! The logic holds: Jesus Christ is a Priest forever.

(7:18). The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (unprofitable)

The Mosaic system went out of style -it wore out because “it was weak and useless:” it could not continue forever; it never gave what men must have, perfection; it was not given by God Himself (Could God give anything that was weak and useless?). The answer is that God never intended this to be the ultimate law of the priesthood. It was preparatory to the coming of God’s ideal priesthood. It was a partial and temporary picture of that which would be perfect and final.

The setting aside (annulling) of the Law meant the abolishing of the priesthood.

(7:19). (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

We come to God through Christ. We have seen that the Lord Jesus Christ is a perpetual priest and He is a perfect priest. The Aaronic priesthood could not fill the bill because it never made anything perfect. The people were never able to go into the presence of God in the Most Holy Place. This enforced distance between God and man was a constant reminder that the sin question was not settled once for all. Now we have a perfect priest, and that one is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has provided salvation for you and me. God has taken us out of Adam and put us in Christ. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ {1], the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Cor. 5:17). We are no longer joined to Adam but are now joined to the living Christ.

The writer kept in mind the temptation his readers were facing to go back into the old temple system. Therefore, he reminded them that Jesus Christ has accomplished what the Law could never accomplish: He brought in a better hope, and He enables us to draw near to God. To go back to Judaism would mean losing the enjoyment of their fellowship with God through Christ. The only hope Judaism had was the coming of Christ and these believers already had that blessing.