Forever Preist
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Recap:
Jesus is the High Priest, but not Levitical, like Melchizedek
Aside about maturity - stop being sluggish and become skilled in the word of Righteousness
There is hope - The certainty of God’s promised based on swearing to Abraham
Now, Abraham into Mel
Who Is Melchizedek?
Who Is Melchizedek?
A question we haven’t delved into much yet! But now is the time to answer.
A figure who shows up in Genesis during Abraham’s Day
Abraham’s nephew Lot was kidnapped by a coalition of kings fighting other kings in what would become Israel.
Abraham hears about his nephew getting kidnapped and pulls together a small army to pursue.
He launches a surprise attack and puts the enemy to flight. Gets all the stolen stuff and his relatives back.
Abraham returns to a diplomatic meeting - not like the recent ones in the White house, this was a meeting of kings to celebrate victory and figure out how to divide the spoils.
This interesting figure shows up - Melchizedek.
We don’t get his actual name, we are only given titles
Melchizedek - King Of Righteousness
King of Salem (possibly Jerusalem)
Priest of God Most High - (el elyon) Before the LAW of Moses was given and the Levites given the priesthood.
Melchizedek, what does he do?
He brings out Bread & Wine to eat & drink
He gives Abraham a blessing
He receives a tithe of the spoils of war
The he disappears!
This has led to an air of mystery about the man. This glorious figure, unlike any other in Genesis, pops onto the stage of salvation history, then as abruptly as he arrived, he disappears again. He will come up again in Psalm 110, but we’ll get there in a minute.
The thing that makes it all the more strange is that Genesis is known for it’s Geneologies. Everyone who shows up in Genesis, you can at least trace their family line through the several genealogies. You know who their father’s were, and how long they lived.
Not so with Mel. And the writer to the Hebrews picks up on this anomaly:
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.
Mel appears, in the text of Gen, to be wholly apart from the other family lines. We don’t know who his parents were, how long he lived.
This appearance is used in Hebrews to show how Jesus is a different kind of priest - one who has no known beginning or end.
Now who was Melchizedek in his person?
Some say a pre-incarnate Jesus. He is very much like Jesus, so was he Jesus? No - the text says he “resembled” the Son of God, not that he WAS.
An Angel? No. We need a high priest who is like us a human. If Mel was an angel, it would undo the argument Hebrews has been making.
Shem? This is the most plausible so far,
Shem was Noah’s son. He was alive during Abraham’s life.
If Shem was around, he would be the oldest, and probably most powerful man.
He would appear like a guy who had no beginning and no end because he lived from before the Flood. and at that time he was outliving all the younger generations. He would appear eternal.
As a witness to the flood, and son of Noah, he should be a Worshiper of YHWH. If he founded a city, would it be any surprise if he called it “Peace”?
An interesting though experiment, but that’s all.
Some other guy? Maybe. Even though Mel appears in the text as eternal, he was not literally eternal. He was a man who was born and eventually died. The important part is not his personal identity, but the biblical picture that resembles the Son of God - Jesus
Author wants to acknowledge how Levitical priests receive tithes, part of the Law to support the levites in their work and support the worship of God at the temple.
Who collects taxes? It’s always someone superior, or with more authority - in our case Civil Governments.
Receiving the tithe was a great honour, but in our text, it is pointed out that Abraham tithed to Mel. If Mel was much greater than Abraham, such that he tithed, it suggests that Mel was a greater Priest than the Levites, in facts...
One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
This ancient way of thinking unites generations in a way that we don’t normally understand. We are individualistic, and keen to break down ancestral bonds, but they understood that there was a linage here, and it is as though Levi was in Abraham.
SO that’s what we need to know about Mel.
What does all this have to do with Jesus? The author tells us.
Jesus has a Better Priesthood
Jesus has a Better Priesthood
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?
For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
The Son, the Lord of Ps 110, is a king and Priest together - a Mel Priest.
Jesus has a Better Covenant
Jesus has a Better Covenant
For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 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.’ ”
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
Jesus is a Better High Priest
Jesus is a Better High Priest
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
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.
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
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. 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.
So What?
So What?
We have a High Priest
without beginning or end - he never dies
who is is King of Righteousness
who is King Of Peace
Who brings out bread and wine in victory
He is perfect, and makes a perfect once-for all sacrifice
He can perfect his people, unlike the priests of old
He ever lives to intercede - any one of you can come to him today!
