Heb 7:11-19 The Showdown

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.” 18 For 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.

Today we continue studying chapter 7 of Hebrews and the description of Melchizedek. We might find it hard to focus as we study passages like this. I don’t know about you, but as I prepared and studied this section of Scripture, I caught myself struggling to focus and be excited about what God says here. I’m guessing if this is true for me, it is probably true for all of us today, and we might question ourselves about the reason for studying passages like this.

However, this text was life-giving to the original readers of this letter, I’m confident that the first readers were praising God for this portion of Scripture, while today we might open our mouths for a yawn instead. What is the difference? Why do we yawn instead? Why do we find it hard to focus and be excited?

As believers with a gentile background, we have no concern about priesthood in general. We readily accept the fact that Jesus is our high priest. Furthermore, we don’t struggle with the temptation to fall back into Judaism. They had such a strong view of God’s revelation in the OT that they were tempted to rely solely on that instead of Christ. If we were in the same circumstances of Christian persecution as the original readers were, our temptation and pressure would be to abandon Christ and view the Levitical priesthood with higher esteem than Christ.

However, that is not the case for us today, with our gentile background we can easily be tempted to think that we don’t need an intermediary to draw near to God. We might think that because of the years, we have followed Christ we now don’t need as much grace as we needed before. We might think that we can on our own, based on what we have done, or maybe years of serving that somehow we have earned enough credit to approach God on our own without Christ.

As we dig into these verses let us remember God’s holiness is so great that God had to come down and die so we can draw near to God, but it is only through Jesus Christ. However, before Jesus came God had instituted the Levitical priesthood as the means for people to approach God. Therefore, these were brothers and sisters who were struggling to conciliate these two revelations of God.

Hebrews 7:11 ESV

Here the author is answering why it was necessary for another priest to arise other than from the Levitical order. Because through the Levitical priesthood, perfection could not be attained, there was a need for some other priest from a different order so that perfection could be attained.

What is this perfection that the author is talking about? In one sense, the same word was used other times in the Old Testament in reference to the consecration of the high priest. Thus, it is an indication of the perfection of the high priest. Through the Levitical priesthood, the consecration of the priests couldn’t make the priests completely perfect. It is only Jesus who is perfect. He is the only perfect high priest as fully God and fully man.

Additionally, perfection is related to the office of the priest, which is the intermediary or reconciler of the relationship between God and man. The Levitical priesthood was only a shadow of what was to come through Jesus.

Riggans said “The goal which was in mind for the priesthood was the establishment of complete reconciliation between God and Israel. This is only possible in and through Jesus, our great High Priest. Jewish people would be inclined to respond that the priestly system initiated in the Torah can effect that reconciliation, so Hebrews takes some time to explain why this is not so.”

What we see is that God will not lower His standards of perfection. Instead, He lowered Himself so that we could obtain the holiness required to approach Him. Ultimately, our confidence is not anything in us, but Christ through us.

(2 Cor 3:4-5) “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God”

Furthermore, perfection is related to the age of perfection, or perfect access to God. Bruce said:

“If God had intended the Aaronic priesthood to inaugurate the age of perfection, the time when men and women would enjoy unimpeded access to him, why should he have conferred on the Messiah a priestly dignity of his own—different from Aaron’s and by implication superior to Aaron’s? In fact, as is argued below in manifold detail, the Aaronic priesthood was neither designed nor competent to inaugurate the age of fulfilment; that age must be marked by the rise of another priest, whose priesthood was of a different order and character from Aaron’s”

Hebrews 7:12–14 ESV

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.

Allen says “The author of Hebrews does not assert that the Law has been deleted or abrogated. Both law and priesthood abide. The law has become, “internalized” as “Christological Law.” As we have seen, the key to the author’s hermeneutical method is to read the Old Testament, including the Law and practice, through a Christological lens.”

“Verses 13–14 further explain why there must be a change in the law. The law prescribed that all priests must be from the tribe of Levi. If there is another priesthood, which supersedes the Levitical, then there must be a change in the law, otherwise, the new priesthood would be in violation of the law. Jesus belonged to the tribe of Judah, not Levi.”

This change of the law or the establishment of a new priestly order cannot be just arbitrarily established by men, it must be established by God and that is the whole point that the author of Hebrews is making in chapter 7 as he analyzes the description of Melchizedek in the Old Testament. The Melchizedek priesthood existed before the Levitical law was given to the descendants of Abraham, and it was prophesied many years later through David in Psalm 110.

Hebrews 7:15–17 ESV

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.”

The author says in v15 that “this” becomes even more evident, so what is the “this” that is referring to here? Considering the context of the passage the “this” is the entire argument, the temporary nature of the Levitical priesthood and the establishment of the eternal priesthood of Jesus. Therefore, the author is saying his argument is even more evident when another priest, Jesus, arises in the likeness of Melchizedek.

Riggans says: “Hebrews then sets out the Levitical priesthood, by which a person becomes a priest not on the basis of character or gifting, but simply on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry. If your ancestor was Gershon, from the tribe of Levi, then you were a priest. If your ancestor was Gershon’s great-grandson, Aaron, then you could be the high priest of Israel. In contrast, Jesus is High Priest on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. Jesus himself is the one who has the authority and power to effect our forgiveness and reconciliation to God. The promise in Psalm 110 was a word to us that such a priest in the order of Melchizedek would have to come to deal with the problem of alienation from God, since the Levitical priesthood could not do it.”

It is a drastic difference between the Levitical priesthood and Jesus’ priesthood. We might say really, how could one be tempted to fall back into Judaism? We need to remember that for the readers of this letter, it was a matter of being persecuted or not. They knew that God had revealed himself through the Old Testament, God was the one that established the Levitical priesthood. In a sense they were not denying God, they were still trusting God, it seems like it was a subtle change. However, it was a drastic change and had serious consequences for setting the law above God’s revelation through the Son. This is why the author says the following in v18-20.

But before we get to these verses, I think there is an important application here for us. We can’t change what Scripture says because we don’t like it or the world around us disapproves. There are many Christians saying that homosexuality is not a sin, or that it is ok for women to be pastors. The question is are we going to stand and rely on what God says or are we going to give in just a little bit? It might be a subtle change, but in the end, it is questioning what God said, just like in the garden when the serpent asked, did God really say?

Hebrews 7:18–19 ESV

18 For 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 author is not saying that the law is bad or irrelevant to us, as some false teacher say today, it was written for our instructions as Rom 15:4 says “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”

However, when one is looking for hope solely in the law instead of Christ, then the law is weak and useless to save. It is not what we do that save us, even after many years of following Jesus, it is still only through faith in Jesus.

Paul explains in Rom 3 (Rom 3:20-21) “20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.”

Thus, relying on the law instead of Christ has some serious consequences. Paul in Romans points out that through the law there is knowledge of sin and that the law bears witness to the righteousness of God that was manifested through Jesus.

Thus, trusting in the law and not in Christ in a sense goes against the law itself, that is why Jesus said to the Jews in John 5:39;45-47.

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me.

45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

The original readers of Hebrews were not the only ones struggling with the law and following Jesus. The Galatians were also struggling with a similar issue. Paul writes in Gal 3:19-26

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

That is why the author of Hebrews says here that the law made nothing perfect. Riggans says that in the law “in ultimate terms it could only produce a priesthood which was weak and useless. It had nothing in itself which could empower change in people, and such a claim was never made for the Torah in the Hebrew Bible. It served as a tutor to convict us of our sins, to lead us to appreciate and confess our distance from God, and to make us realize our desperate need for God to somehow solve the problem of our lives.

Jesus is the one who has the power to change us. In fact, Hebrews says, the Torah was so inadequate in itself that it had to be changed. The change of order of priesthood for the Messiah, from Aaron to Melchizedek, implied a change of the law. Jesus as High Priest was not, as might have been expected by the Jewish people who followed him, defined by nor confined to the Levitical order of priesthood. He came with a better hope, making it really possible for us to draw near to God.”

The key aspect from verses 11 to 19 is that through Jesus a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. This is what saves us. The law shows us that we need a savior a redeemer, who can remove the stain of sin.

Allen states “The entire system of law, temple, and priesthood could not, in the final analysis, bring people into the presence of God. In fact, everything about the structure of the temple, its priesthood, and regulations, prohibited people from coming anywhere near the holy place or the holy of holies, where the presence of God dwelled. Jesus, our “better hope,” removes the barriers of sin and allows us entrance into God’s presence—something that the law and the temple could never accomplish.

It is only through Jesus Christ by faith that anyone can enter into God’s presence and have the stain of sin removed. Heb 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” It is only through the blood of Jesus that there is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the true holy God.

The first readers of this letter were tempted to return to the practice of approaching God through the Levitical priesthood. That is what they had done for many years, they knew that is how God had ordained for people to approach God before the coming of the Messiah. Furthermore, by doing so they were “free” from consequences for following Jesus. So, when they read this passage, they were very encouraged to not turn back but to remain steadfast in following Jesus. They would see that Jesus’ priesthood is far superior to the Levitical priesthood because it is through Jesus that anyone can draw near to God.

However, this is not the case for us today. We don’t have the same background rather if anything we lack knowledge of the Old Testament. We are not tempted to see the Levitical priesthood with high esteem, we know that Jesus is superior and that He is the only way.

But we might be tempted to think that after many years of following Jesus, we somehow graduate from grace. When we first came to faith in Jesus, we knew we were in desperate need of His grace, that there wasn’t anything in us worth for Him to look on us and save us. Now after years of following Him, we might be tempted that we are better than we were, that in a sense we don’t need as much grace as we needed before. While in reality all the progress in our sanctification it was all His work in us.

Tripp said “We all tend to want to think we are more righteous than we actually are. We don’t like to think of ourselves as still desperately in need of God’s rescuing grace. And we surely don’t want to face the fact that what we need to be rescued from is us! When you argue for your own righteousness, working hard to deny the empirical evidence of your sin, then you fail to seek the amazing grace that is your only hope.

Grace is only ever attractive to sinners. The riches of God’s goodness are only ever sought by the poor. The spiritual healing of the Great Physician is only ever esteemed by those who acknowledge that they still suffer from the spiritual disease of sin.”

This reminds me of the Pharisee and the tax collector parable. Luke 18:10-14

10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector (like this corrupt politician who is working hard to destroy our country). 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector (the worse sinner you can imagine, maybe your boss, or a pedophiler, or your neighbor or the rascal that caused pain and suffering in your life or your family, this sinner was), standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

As you grow in your Christian walk are you becoming more and more like the Pharisee or the tax collector? Do you see yourself as more righteous than others because of what you do or what you know, or do you recognize more and more of your desperate need for Christ? Are you comparing yourself with others, your own standard or are we looking at the perfect and holy God and His standard?

We are going to close with the song “Yet not I but through Christ in me”, but before we sing listen to the words, and may these words be our confession and confidence.

What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer There is no more for heaven now to give

He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace

To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus For my life is wholly bound to His

Oh how strange and divine, I can sing, "All is mine" Yet not I, but through Christ in me

The night is dark but I am not forsaken For by my side, the Saviour He will stay I labour on in weakness and rejoicing

For in my need, His power is displayed To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me

Through the deepest valley He will lead Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome Yet not I, but through Christ in me

No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven The future sure, the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon And He was raised to overthrow the grave

To this I hold, my sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my plea

Oh the chains are released, I can sing, "I am free" Yet not I, but through Christ in me

With every breath I long to follow Jesus For He has said that He will bring me home And day by day I know He will renew me

Until I stand with joy before the throne To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus

All the glory evermore to Him When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat

Yet not I, but through Christ in me To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus

All the glory evermore to Him When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat

Yet not I, but through Christ in me When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat

Yet not I, but through Christ in me Yet not I, but through Christ in me

Yet not I, but through Christ in me

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