The Bible Binge: Judah's Priest (Hebrews 7:11-27)

Gospel opportunity in crisis

Things were kind of scary last night. No matter who you plan to vote for in November, what happened in Pennsylvania last evening gave us all a sense of unease. If you were like me, you were glued to the TV or internet. In the aftermath of the attempted assassination and the collateral loss of life, opinions and speculations were rampant… people already pointing fingers, on both sides of the aisle. Everyone marshaling the law and morals even the Bible in defense of their opinion as to what happened and why it happened. In a society that is quick to use angry words about the guy they don’t like, the Gospel has something to say. This is a perfect opportunity for us to remind ourselves of the Gospel. We do not know what the future holds. We have no idea how this is going to all play out. But our text today is a help for this moment.

We’re making our way through the Bible Binge. We’ve come to the book of Hebrews. I’m quite tempted to spend a couple of weeks in this book because this book, unlike many other books in our Bible helps us understand the entire storyline of the Bible. We often say the Bible is all about Jesus. And we often say that the theme verse for the Bible is found in John’s biography of Jesus when he says that the Bible was written that we would believe that Jesus is the Messiah, God himself, and by believing have life in his name. Hebrews, then, is a fantastic guide into showing us just how it is that the entire Bible is all about Jesus.

Here’s the Bible Project summary to help us think about Hebrews:

Video

Here’s summary of the book of Hebrews:

We don’t know who wrote it.

Hebrews is a sermon.

Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians.

Hebrews was written to show that Jesus is “better than”.

Hebrews was written to warn the church against abandoning Jesus.

Main theme: Jesus is a better High Priest.

Jesus is better than

The running theme through Hebrews is that Jesus is the ultimate better. He is better than anything that has come before. He surpasses all things Old Testament. Here’s a run down of all the things that Jesus is better than.

Jesus is better than:

Angels

Moses

Jesus is a better:

Sacrifice

Covenant

Hope

Possession

High Priest

Christians have a better:

Place

Resurrection

Inheritance (of the Promises)

You get the point, right? A church that is suffering persecution and beginning to think that they had it better when they were part of the Jewish religion are being told no… there’s nothing better about a Judaism that has become obsolete in Jesus.

But the main focus, when the author of this sermon gets to his big point… is that Jesus is a better High Priest. In fact, all of these other things that Jesus is better than can be subsumed into this one last biggie… Jesus is a better High Priest.

Jesus is a better High Priest

In the Old Testament, when God was setting up Israel’s worship at Mount Sinai, he set up priests to handle the worship. But it would be too simple to think of priests as worship leaders. They were that. But priests had a more basic function: they were mediators between sinful people and a holy God. They were the living Gospel for the people. God’s relationship with his people had been broken in the garden of Eden. He’s unapproachable. Sacrifice must be made in order for there to be forgiveness and reconciliation between God and his people. So that’s what the priests did… they handled the sacrifices. You couldn’t just approach God. You couldn’t just access God. You couldn’t just offer any ole sacrifice. You had to have the help of a priests. People died trying to get to God their own way… trying to bypass the priests.

And the top guy was the High Priest. He was considered THE mediator between God and the people. It was the High Priest who, once a year, went into the inner sanctum to meet God face to face and offer the atonement for sin. Israel’s king ruled on behalf of God to the people. The High Priest mediated God’s favor with the people through sacrifice. The High Priest was the most important person in all of Israel. Even moreso than the king. Kings had to go through the High Priest for atonement of sin.

Jesus is Judah’s Priest

But by the time the author of Hebrews starts talking about Jesus as a priest, as a better priest, as a mediator… the Jewish congregation is scratching their heads. Jesus is better than the angels. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is a better sacrifice. OK, you’ve made your point. But one thing we know about High Priests, is that they were always from the tribe of Levi. They were descendents of Aaron. Jesus isn’t. Jesus is from Judah. How can he be the High Priest? How does He have standing to mediate sin between God and people?

The writer of the sermon says two things. First,

Jesus changed the rules.

The writer has already begun making the case that Jesus is bringing the Old Covenant to and end, and with it the regulations of the law. This is no different. He says Jesus is a priest from Judah, even though Moses never said anything about Judah having a priest. In fact, what we know from the Old Testament is that the ultimate King would come from Judah. But a priest. The author says the rules have changed. Here’s what he says:

Hebrews 7:16 “Jesus...did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life.”

What validates Jesus as a high priest isn’t his physical pedigree, but his resurrection. The resurrection changed everything, including what it takes to be a mediator between God and people.

Second,

There’s precedent: Melchizedek the priest wasn’t a Levite

Now, we’re not going to go into all the granular details about Melchizedek, who he was, where he came from… there are countless discussions and speculations. What we will say is this: Melchizedek shows up in the story of Abraham as a priest, and he’s not from the tribe of Levi. In fact, we don’t know his origin story. So, getting the stomach in knots about Jesus not being from Aaron’s descendents kind of misses the point. It’s OK that Jesus is Judah’s priest because his claim to be High Priest isn’t based on his ancestry but the cross and resurrection.

And because Jesus died and rose from the dead, his priesthood is permanent. All those Levites, including Aaron, died. Here’s what the author says:

Hebrews 7:24–25 “Because Jesus remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.”

Because Jesus is forever, his mediation and reconciliation and his intercession between God and people is permanent… forever.

Jesus is the High Priest we need

Why spend all of this time making this case about the High Priest? Sounds like a theology class, right? This is for dusty libraries and cranky theologians trying to make their case that what they have is better than what the next guy has. I’ll admit, I’ve been this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesus is the High Priest who paves the way for us to have access to God. How is it that we say it like that? Have we ever thought about the fact that there would be no access to God if Jesus isn’t the Ultimate High Priest? Do we listen to ourselves?

I hear quite frequently, when we are talking about the things that are important for when we gather here, I don’t need all that… God hears me. I don’t need church, I don’t need the gathering, I don’t need any of the institutional trappings in order to have access to God. And I get it, that’s true, but it’s also a product of our culture’s anti-institutional bent. But have we stopped to consider how we even have access to God? Is it because we chose Jesus? The preacher of this sermon in Hebrews spent an awful lot of time making the case for Jesus to be the Great High Priest, it’s his biggest argument for why these Christians should hang in there and not go back to their old way of life and worship. There isn’t any of this this morning, if Jesus isn’t the High Priest due to the cross and resurrection.

The writer says this:

Hebrews 7:26 “This is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”

Think about those attributes. Holy. Innocent. Undefiled. Separated from sinners. Exalted above the heavens. Who is that? Who is the author describing? What he’s saying is that we need God to be the High Priest for God. It can’t be us. The author goes on to say that God became High Priest the moment he offered himself as a sacrifice. He is both High Priest and Sacrifice. And what is it that Jesus is doing by dying and rising for us as High Priest? The author already told us:

He is able to save us completely

He always lives to intercede for us

Completely. And always. Those two words are everything we need to know. Jesus is the HIgh Priest we need because we are self-salvation freaks who ironically, can’t save our selves. We are obsessed with saving ourselves. Only a High Priest who is God Himself can save us completely. To the very end. And Jesus is the High Priest we need because we are sorely in need of intercession in front of God on our behalf. Again… we think we can manage.. we even think we know how to pray… no.. Jesus is our High Priest, now, saying all the things to God that we fail to say or we do say out of our narcissism.

Jesus is the High Priest we need when the world is upside down

Our nation is in shock. We are in shock. I heard it more than once yesterday, “this isn’t supposed to happen here”. I heard more than one politician from both sides of the aisle saying “I don’t understand”. That’s honesty. Anyone who claims to understand is claiming to be God. We live in a world of sin. Sinners sin. Sinners are always grasping for self-salvation. There will be opinions. There will be inquiries and investigations. And everybody will be taking stabs at answers. That is the world of the recipients of the book of Hebrews. A world that is upside down. A world that doesn’t make sense. And into that world the author says, “This is the High Priest we need… a High Priests who offers himself in the place of sinners.”

We hear that, and we’re like what??? We need answers, we don’t need a High Priest or talk of a high priest right now. what we need is a High Priest who will lay down the law… all of our eggs are in the justice basket. We want someone who will bring about peace with the law, and not coincidentally, get rid of all the people we don’t like. I think the author of Hebrews would just stop and stare and say, no… This High priest isn’t the one you want. He’s the High Priest you need. When a guy kills and tries to kill, sending a Saturday night into the surreal, what is missing? Peace. And what’s the point of the High Priest, ultimately? Peace. We have to go to the cross, the most violent act in the history of the world. We find peace in the cross. Peace that cannot EVER come through the law. Peace that comes through Forgiveness and Grace. Peace starts there. At the cross. With the High Priest who offers himself as a sacrifice for people who hate him. Sinners. Me. You. Us. FOR US. We need a High Priest who will save us completely in this moment, and always lives to intercede for sinners who can’t make sense of the world.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

This right here is the only thing that makes sense of what we’ve witnessed in the past 24 hours. The only thing. You want to know why we named this gathering the table? Why we do this every week? Why we have this altar as the centerpiece of our worship? Because our identity is given to us here. Because the meaning of life is given to us here. This is the meaning of life. Christ’s body and Christ’s blood, given for you and for the forgiveness of your sins. And the sins of the whole world. If the world goes completely unstable, this right here is your stability. Jesus is your stability.. in his body and in his blood FOR YOU.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.