A Priest Like Melchizedek Hebrews 7:1-14

-Jesus is the only priest who can bring us salvation, because He is a different kind of priest.

Matthew 4:18–20

[18] While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [19] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [20] Immediately they left their nets and followed him. (ESV)

This is a pretty shocking level of trust that is quite personal. Why should you trust Jesus in this way?

I. A Different Kind of Priest vv. 1-3

In our passage tonight, the author continues his discussion of Jesus as a priest like Melchizedek. But, who in the world is Melchizedek?

You have to go back to Genesis 14:17-20, where we see Abraham returning home from a great battle where he rescued his nephew Lot and won an incredible victory

On the way, he met a man named Melchizedek who is a bit of a mysterious figure

Melchizedek is:

A King

Of righteousness- that is his name “righteous king”

Of peace- He is the king of a place called Salem, which means peace. This place eventually became the city we know as Jerusalem!

The names and the order are interesting. This king brings both righteousness and peace; If you try to have peace without righteousness, you will fail completely.

If you have peace that comes through righteousness, you have received a true gift from God!

A Priest

Melchizedek is also a priest; this combination of functions is a little unusual

He is without genealogy. He does not receive his priesthood as part of a family lineage

His priesthood does not have a defined end or beginning. No one precedes him or follows him. It is uniquely his.

Here is what is most important: His ministry resembles the priesthood of Jesus

Jesus is both Priest and King

He gives us peace through righteousness

He is not a priest based on ancestry

His priesthood has no end or beginning

All of this is important because Jesus is a priest whose ministry exists outside of the boundaries and norms of the Levitical priesthood.

The British theologian Leslie Newbigin told the following story to illustrate how different cultures water down the claims of Jesus:

When I was a young missionary I used to spend one evening each week in the monastery of the Ramakrishna Mission in the town where I lived, sitting on the floor with the [Hindu] monks and studying with them the Upanishads and the Gospels. In the great hall of the monastery, as in all the premises of the Ramakrishna Mission, there is a gallery of portraits of the great religious teachers of humankind. Among them, of course, is a portrait of Jesus. Each year on Christmas Day worship was offered before this picture. Jesus was honored, worshipped, as one of the many manifestations of deity in the course of human history.

But this wasn't a step toward leading people to faith in Jesus Christ. It was actually what Newbigin called "the cooption of Jesus into the Hindu worldview." He explains:

Jesus had become just one figure in the endless cycle of karma and samsara, the wheel of being in which we are all caught up. He had been domesticated into the Hindu worldview. That view remained unchallenged. It was only slowly, through many experiences, that I began to see that something of this domestication had taken place in my own Christianity, that I too had been more ready to seek a "reasonable Christianity," a Christianity that could be defended on the terms of my whole intellectual formation as a twentieth-century Englishman, rather than something which placed my whole intellectual formation under a new and critical light. I, too, had been guilty of domesticating the gospel.

II. A Greater Kind of Priest vv. 4-9

Not only is Melchizedek a different kind of priest, but he is a greater kind of priest than the Levitical priests. We see this through his relationship with Abraham

When Abraham meets Melchizedek, he immediately shows deference to them

These men are not relatives or even countrymen, but they do worship the same God.

Abraham does this by giving a tithe of the spoils of war to Melchizedek

This is not commanded, but is a show of respect to the priest-king

Later on, in the Levitical system, we see the tithe practiced as part of the worship of the Israelites

The people give a tithe to the priests, but there it is an internal family matter. Abraham’s children support Abraham’s children

Melchizedek also understands their relative standing by how he responds to Abraham: He blesses him.

This sends a clear signal: Melchizedek receives the gift from Abraham as the greater party

Likewise, Melchizedek blesses Abraham as the greater party

At this point, this likely seems all a little strange and slightly academic, but it is important

If Melchizedek was “greater” than Abraham, He is greater than the Levites. Through Abraham, they received Melchizedek’s blessing

Further, if it was true of the actual Melchizedek, it is much more true of Jesus, who Melchizedek resembles

We must understand this! Jesus is not just another kind of priest and His priestly ministry is not merely symbolic.

He is greater than any human priest. At their best, they simply point us to a reality that is fulfilled in Jesus.

A man was once conversing with a Brahmin priest, and he asked: “Could you say, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life?’”

“Yes,” replied the priest, “I could say that.”

“But could you make any one believe it?”

Christ proved His superiority right there. His character and His actions were back of His words. He exhibited His divine power to silence His enemies.

Source: Moody’s Stories, p. 64

III. A Necessary Kind of Priest vv. 10-14

Finally, we are left with a question: Why did we need a different kind of priest?

We need a different kind of priest because the Levitical priesthood was insufficient to the task of perfecting us as sons and daughters of God

The Law and the Levitical priesthood go hand-in-hand

They have a purpose, but they cannot fulfill God’s ultimate purpose

They show us our need for a priest, but they cannot resolve the function of the priesthood

We see that we must have a mediator between God and Man, but they cannot fulfill it

Jesus is completely different, the kind of priest that we needed

He is a priest like Melchizedek- not from the tribe of Levi

He is a king like David- from the tribe of Judah

He is the priest who offers and He is the sacrifice that was offered!

With this new kind of priest of a different kind, there must be a new kind of Law and a new kind of loyalty; salvation can only be found in Him.

When I was a teenager, we went to a meeting with Billy Graham in a high school football stadium. There were probably 20,000 people sitting in the bleachers in the cold of the morning to hear Billy Graham. And he related a story about how he arrived in a small village where he was going to preach. He needed to mail a letter and asked a little boy how he could get to the post office. As the boy gave the directions, Billy Graham invited the boy to come to the meeting where he was going to preach on how to get to heaven! To which the little boy replied, "I am not sure I will come. You do not even know how to get to the post office!"

John 14:6

[6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)