Time To Grow Up

If you will remember, last week we talked about the book of Hebrews being divided into three sections. The first section, dealing with the development of Sonship of Jesus. The second section, 4:14-10:18 dealing with the development of the Great High Priesthood of Jesus and in 10:19 through the end of the book dealing with the development of Great Kingship of Jesus. We finished last wee part 1 and started into the Great High Priesthood of Jesus. If you will remember and if you weren’t here, the High Priest in the time of the Tabernacle and the Temple was the only one who could go into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat of God was. The High Priest could only enter once a year and that was to offer the Sacrifice for sin on the Day of Atonement. But, that sacrifice was only temporary, awaiting the permanent sacrifice of the perfect Lamb, Jesus. The Temple sacrifices ended in 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple by the Romans.

Jesus with His sacrifice at the Cross became the Great High Priest and ended the need for any more sacrifices. We are told in the Bible that in the end times that the Jewish leaders will begin sacrifices again in the rebuilt Temple that will be stopped in the middle of the Tribulation by the Anti-Christ. That gets into some serious end times studies that hopefully you have or will pursue some day.

We wrapped up last week hearing that our Great High Priest Jesus, who paid the sacrifices for our sins and the sin of the world can sympathize with our sufferings because He suffered as we do. He can sympathize with our weaknesses because He was tempted in all ways as we are but He was without sin because He never gave in. And here we will pick up in Chapter 5.

The New King James Version Chapter 5

5 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

From the time of Aaron, every High Priest was appointed that he would make sacrifices for the people but each one was subject to the sacrifices himself. They were compassionate because they were under the same fallen state of sin as all others. No man could take this honor to himself but must be called to be a High Priest by God. Assumed that it was done by lots.

The New King James Version Chapter 5

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

“You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.”

6 As He also says in another place:

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek”;

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

Jesus did not call Himself to the position either but was called by the Father. He was named to be a priest forever. Here we get into an interesting thing. This name comes up, Melchizedek. He is mentioned only in two other books of the Bible, and , which is being quoted here. We’ll run across his name several times in this chapter, 6 and 7 and then he will disappear without a trace.

This fellow Melchizedek gains a position of honor in being related to our Lord and Savior as the only other person with the position of King and Priest. And, he is one of the least known characters in the Bible. Melchizedek comes out of no where in Genesis and disappears the same way a few verses later. Next thing we know, King David is comparing Jesus to him through the prophetic words of the Holy Spirit.

Melchizedek, his name means King of Righteousness. Back in Genesis, we have the story of the Four kings against five. You can read this in this week. There was a great battle and the four kings routed the armies of the five which included the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah who fled during the defeat. The four kings then plundered the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and also carried away people including Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family. When Abraham found out Lot had been taken, He rounded up his 318 trained servants and went in pursuit of them. He divided his forces against them and ran them all the way back to northern Syria. Abraham got all the goods back and rescued Lot and his family.

Upon Abraham’s return, the king of Sodom came out to meet him and it says in

18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:

The New King James Version Chapter 14

18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

Possessor of heaven and earth;

20 And blessed be God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And he gave him a tithe of all.

This is during a time of very little monotheistic religion happening. The Jewish nation had not yet been established as the covenant between Abraham and God had not happened. That comes in . Out of nowhere, we have this King of Salem show up. Salem was Jerusalem and all this was taking place in the Valley of the Kings, east of the city.

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

In these three verses, we see several things about Melchizedek. First, he was king of Jerusalem. He brought out bread and wine, not really explained but significant none the less. He was the priest of God Most High. This is the first use of the term priest anywhere in the Bible. And last, we see that Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe, a tenth of all that was recovered. This also is the first use of the term tithe in the Bible. And, as quick as he shows up here, he disappears, not to be heard of again for about 1000 years. I’ll leave you with a bit of suspense about this for a few weeks. We’ll get back to Melchizedek in .

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

Back to . This brings up Jesus, God in the flesh as a human and defines His most human qualities summed up. “In the days of His flesh,” when Jesus was man, and acting and living solely as man (not using His God powers), He offered prayers and supplications. Let’s stop there for a minute because that brings us to a learning spot.

Possessor of heaven and earth;

Many people think that prayers and supplications are the same but they have distinct differences. Prayers are praises and even requests lifted up to God along with thanksgiving and honor. A supplication is generally more of a humbled and pleading time before God. Supplication is generally made on the knees and bending, bowing down before Him in a humbled state making a petition or entreaty of God. Supplication is always a prayer of request.

20 And blessed be God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Hebrews tells us the Jesus prayed and supplicated “with vehement cries and tears to God.” If this doesn’t point out the humanity of Jesus, nothing will. He cried out it says in a strong, mighty, and powerful voice with tears. He cried out to the one that could save Him from death. He couldn’t go back on His choice to leave His godly powers aside to be here as a man. He had to rely upon God the Father just as each of us has to and IS ABLE TO! He cried out and God heard Him because He revered the Father from His position as the Son. He honored God and although He was God’s only Son, Jesus learned obedience (compliance and submission) by His suffering. God knows what obedience is but in this aspect, He practiced it in a way as never before. He is a Savior who can relate to what we go through. He understands what suffering is and He knows what obedience takes. HE CAN RELATE TO YOU AND WHAT YOU ARE EXPERIENCING!

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

He was perfected in that He did all that was required of Him and in doing so, He became the author (the causer) of salvation. Salvation is traced back to this root, Jesus’ suffering and His death. His obedience to the Father’s wish. And this salvation is not for everyone, it is not for those who desire to live in sin but for those it says, “who obey Him.” He was called by God we see again as the “High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Here the author of Hebrews switches gears. He closes this section saying that there is much more to be said about this guy Melchizedek and this relationship and parallel between he and Jesus but, it is hard to explain he says because they are “dull of hearing.” Wow, when this is really looked at, it’s a real slam to the readers. That word dull actually means, sluggish, literally lazy, and slothful.

And he gave him a tithe of all.

Here is the author’s chastisement for the readers and for us.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. The New King James Version. (1982). (Heb 5:12–14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The New King James Version Chapter 5

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The New King James Version. (1982). (Ge 14:18–20). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Whoever wrote this must have known some of the people very well that he was writing. He must have known that they had been hearing the Word of God for a while and had been under good teaching. These were not new converts. How long had they been Christians? That is unknown to us but we certainly see that they have had the basic doctrines taught to them and the writer feels that at this point in time, they should be teaching others instead having to be taught the basic principles of the Word of God.

The New King James Version. (1982). (Heb 5:12–14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

How many of us fall into this category? How many of us are growing in our walk with the Lord and the knowledge of His Word? Have you been a Christian for more than a year? Do you know the basics of leading someone to Christ? Do you have your basic doctrines down? Do you even know what a doctrine is? Your doctrine is what the principles of your beliefs are.

What do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about salvation? What do you believe about God…the Holy Spirit…the Devil…angels…heaven…hell…sin…fall of man…redemption…justification, sanctification and glorification? The writer of Hebrews is trying to make a point that there is so much intricacy of what we should be studying about God, Jesus and the Scriptures and yet we spend most of our time going back over the basics of the Christian faith. Do you desire to get deeper in your understanding or are you as the writer says just a partaker of milk as a babe is?

In M

Our call is to make disciples of people. Learners. scholars, pupils and followers of Christ and His teachings.

The New King James Version Chapter 28

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 28:18–20). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

To make disciples as we are commanded, we must first be disciples. To teach what He has commanded us, we must first know what He has commanded us. This is for each and every individual. When we get to heaven and God starts asking questions of us we can’t point and say that was the pastor’s job. No, it is all our jobs. When will we take our jobs for God as serious as we take our jobs for man?

Let’s go a little further here.

6 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. The New King James Version. (1982). (Heb 6:1–3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The New King James Version Chapter 6

6 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

His call is to leave elementary doctrines, the beginner stuff and move on to an advanced level of learning. Move on to perfection. The only way for us to move toward perfection is for us to become more and more like Christ and we can’t do that if we are staying and studying in the kindergarten and elementary school learning areas. We have to mature! The effort we put into our discipleship is a direct reflection of the value that we place upon our salvation and relationship with God.

Look at what the writer calls elementary principles of Christ. The doctrine of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. The doctrine of baptisms. The understanding of laying on of hands. The understanding of the resurrection of the dead. And, the understanding of eternal judgment. These are basics.

But then the writer says that he is confident that they will make those advances in their knowledge and their walk. “And this we will do if God permits.” This phrase is not to mean if God would allow it but instead it is pointing to a dependence on Him in that effort.

The New King James Version Chapter 6

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

This is a difficult passage that has been interpreted in several different ways. Some believe that it means those who heard and appeared to believe but then fell away. Others believe that this is a hypothetical argument to warn against spiritual immaturity. Still some insist that this is a clear warning to those who believe and are genuine Christians and yet later renounce Christ. In light of some of the passages we have been reading lately that talk of believer’s that hold on to the end, I have to believe that this is hypothetical. We either become believer’s or we do not. If we are, then we hold to the end. If not, then we never were to begin with.

The idea in this passage is that we have one shot at salvation. Jesus died once for our sins and the sin of the world. We cannot bounce back and forth on accepting that or rejecting it. Whatever the true meaning here, it is a clear warning for us that have heard and say we believe not to reject Him and return to our life of sin and unbelief. Salvation and eternal life are not something to be played with and minimized. No way you could truly taste what God has to offer, be filled with the Holy Spirit and then turn your back on that. But if you did…there would be no return.

We finish up today with a promise and a warning.

The New King James Version Chapter 6

7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

If we soak up the Word and the knowledge that is available to us, we will produce something useful for God but if we let it just run off of us, we produce nothing of value, just as the weeds and thorns and we will be thrown into the fire in the end.

God doesn’t warn and is not harsh with the words that He has for us to be mean. He does it because He loves us. He wants us to grow in Him and grow to be more like His Son.

Time To Grow Up

Jesus - Our Great High Priest

Time to Grow Up