Melchizedek - An Investigation (Part 2)
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13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Family Feud: We asked 100 people: Who do people in the world say that Jesus is?
Class break
Class break
God is your source. We should be one of his resources. Allow him to bless people thorugh you. Be his funnel . . . . text someone right now. “I pray that God will bless you with everything you need”
9 answers
The Son of God
Savior
The Messiah / Christ
A prophet
A great teacher
A good man
moral example
A religious leader
A myth / someone who never existed
The disciples said
John the Baptist
Elijah
Jeremiah
One of the prophets
Then Jesus turns the question around: “But who do YOU say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
What does that mean, “Christ, the son of the living God”?
One answer would be, that means he is my high priest in the order of Melchizedek!
39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
last week - The old testament points to Jesus
his coming, his lineage, his works, his suffering, his role, his purpose . . . .
OT - gives the idea/framework, but because of people, it always fails to deliver
NT - Jesus makes the idea work and it is a better and higher form of the idea
OT - Adam - tempted and messed up, through him sin and death is passed to humanity
Jesus - 2nd Adam, tempted but never messed up, through faith his righteousness and life is passed to humanity
OT - Moses - the giver of the law, used by God to make a covenant between God and the people, through following the Law
Jesus - the fulfiller of the law, used by God to make covenant between God and people, through faith
OT - passover lamb - angel of death passed over because of the lamb’s blood
Jesus - saved from the 2nd death through the shedding of his blood (happened during same celebration of the 1st event)
OT - Joshua - took people into the promised land, Moses couldn’t do it, but Joshua could
Jesus - greek form of Joshua, he takes us into the real promised land: heaven. Moses and the Law couldn’t do it, but Jesus could
Jacob prophesied that the descendants of Judah will rule forever
OT - David from the tribe of Judah, born in Bethlehem - became king and his descendants ruled for about 425 years
Jesus - descendant of David, nicknamed “son of David” also born in Bethlehem will rule forever when he comes back, fulfilling the prophecy of Jacob
just to name a few
What do we know about Melchizedek?
King of Salem
Priest of God most high
so both king and priest (full power to rule)
brought bread and wine and blessed Abraham (another thing to point to Jesus)
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
A prophecy by David (ancestor of Jesus) in song that the Messiah would not only be king (earlier verses) but the Lord has sworn that he will be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek
remember the promise of this prophecy - priest forever
The Levitical Priesthood
The Levitical Priesthood
we must understand this because we keep talking about priest
don’t think Catholic priest with collar
[show pic]
Priests in the Bible - set up way after the time of Abram and in the time of Moses (in the wilderness)
first rule: All tabernacle/temple workers and assistants had to be from the tribe of Levi
This is the tabernacle where they would work
show pic of tabernacle
show pic of 2nd temple
1st had more gold
2nd was larger surroundings
if you did priestly duties - the more sacred duties and working with holy objects . . . you had to be not only a Levite, but also from Aaron’s lineage
the top priest was called the high priest (usually the oldest son of the last high priest)
Once a year, He went into the Most Holy Place where the ark of the covenant was on the day of Atonement, and sprinkled blood upon the lid of the ark of the covenant for the forgiveness of the people’s sins
show pic of high priest
show pic of inside of tabernacle
Holy Place
heavy curtain
The Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies)
people would pray outside the temple
most people never saw the Holy Place
some priest might see it once or twice in their lifetimes
only one person ever saw the Most Holy Place . . . the High Priest
The most Holy place was like God’s throne room on earth. the Bible describes the ark as like God’s footstool
think about how scared Esther was to go see the king . . . multiply that by a million
if a High priest did not do the ceremony right, he would die (bells on the robe) . . .
two of Aaron sons got burned to death by God’s fire by doing things wrong in the holy place, let alone the most holy place
Day of Atonement was scary day for a high priest - standing between God and the peopele
This is the picture we should see in our minds when we talk about Jesus taking on the role of the high priest . . . it is monumental
Old Testament High Priest (the order of Aaron) - the only one that could go into the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle,
he had to make a sacrifice for his own sins first
the one who brought a blood sacrifice of a goat before God so that all the people could forgiven of their sins
he would do this one per year, and repeat every year
Jesus - true high priest, he himself was the blood sacrifice . . . he was perfect.
the Bible says he presented his blood at the true Holy of Holies in heaven (tabernacles was a copy)
Jesus did it as a one time permanent sacrifice for our sins
when he died the huge curtain was split in two, God and man don’t have to be separated any more . . . all who put their trust in Jesus can now come into the Most Holy place
One problem - Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, not Levi
God is into details . . . so how did God reconcile this?
He set it up way before Jesus was born
before David
before Aaron the first high priest
before Jacob
before Isaac . . .
he set it up early in Abraham’s journey when Abraham met Melchizedek
2 Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.”
his name means king of justice (righteousness)
the death of Jesus was justice for our sins, made us righteous
king of Salem - king of peace, he brought peace between God and men, “peace on earth and goodwill toward men”
3 There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.
no father, mother, no genealogy
neither beginning of days, nor end of life
remains a priest perpetually
interpretation1 - some mysterious man who was never born and never died
problem: never born makes him God like because only God is the one which was, is, and is to come
we are not given information about king of Sodom either
interpretation 2 - a quick appearance by Jesus before his full incarnation (angel of the Lord, three Hebrew boys and 4th man)
problem: but he would have to stay to remain king of Salem and priest of Salem
interpretation 3 -
no beginning, no end is symbolism
he had parents and genealogy, but the Bible doesn’t mention them (just like king of Sodom)
Melchizedek “remains a priest forever” because Aaron had descendants to take over, but no one is listed as taking over for Melchizedek
basically saying Melchizedek seems to appear out of nowhere and it symbolizes that Jesus seemed to appear out of nowhere
who is this guy?
some thought he was born in Nazareth
showed up big time at age 30
verses 6-10 Melchizedek is greater than Abraham and Levitical priesthood
Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek
Melchizedek blessed Abraham
earlier chapters already talked about how Jesus is greater than angels and Moses
11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?
people could not achieve righteousness through the Law (the Levitical priesthood is part of that law)
so we needed something better than the law
we needed something better than the Levitical priesthood
better than law is righteousness through faith
better than Levitical priesthood is another priesthood . . . . the order of Melchizedek
higher priesthood
and one that last forever (unlike Aaron, no sacrifices today)
listen to how Hebrews talks about the new system, the new covenant
20 This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath,
21 but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’ ”
22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.
23 There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.
24 But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.
25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
26 He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.
27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.
28 The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.
keep reading all the way to chapter 10 on your own in NLT
All of this should give us more faith in this scripture
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
our savior is our high priest
he understand us because he was born like we were
but he can connect us with God because he did not sin
So we can go boldly to the Most Holy Place to receive mercy and find grace
Pastor west sermon about Access
it’s like our high priest stays in the Holy of Holies all the time and invites us in to ask for grace and make our requests
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