Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus is praying for you.

If you trust Jesus, he is praying for you.

Jesus has a priestly role.

He is a high priest who is making intercession for you.

You might think that because of what you have done or who you are that you can’t draw near to God.

You can draw near to him because Jesus ALWAYS lives to make intercession for you.

To understand this better, we look at

This Psalm is about Jesus.

Jesus is under the authority of God the Father.

The Father spoke and said that Jesus was Lord.

The Father sent Jesus to rule in the midst of his enemies.

Here in verse 4, the Father has sworn that Jesus will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

This verse raises several questions that I will attempt to answer this morning.

Why would David write, “the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind?”

What is the order of Melchizedek

How does this verse relate to us?

“What is the order of Melchizedek?

Chedorlaomer was the king of Elam, in present day Iran.

He had swept through the area defeating armies and taking prisoners for slaves as well as anything of value.

He fought the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adah, Zeboiim and Bela.

For twelve years these kings had lived under the thumb of Chedorlaomer.

In the 13th years they said, “Enough” and rebelled against him.

A year later they were routed by Chedorlaomer and the kings fled for their lives.

Among the prisoners that Chedorlaomer took was Lot, Abram’s nephew.

Abram took after Chedorlaomer and defeated him.

He brought back the people and the treasures that had been stolen from the various countries and kings.

Abram meets the king of Sodom near Jerusalem in the Valley of Shaveh.

The king of Salem, Melchizedek, brought out bread and wine.

He is identified as a priest of God Most High!

He had seen what Abram had done and he blessed him.

Abram gives Melchizedek ten percent of everything that he had taken from Chedorlaomer.

Some points to note here.

First, everything Abram had taken from Chedorlaomer was technically his.

Possession was ten tenths of the Law.

Second, Melchizedek didn’t lose anything.

Abram had no real reason to give him anything.

But he did.

He gives him ten percent.

Why?

Because Abram recognized Melchizedek as a legitimate priest of God and gave 10 percent of what he had as a way of recognizing that the victory came from God and that what he had taken from Chedorlaomer was not because of how good Abram was, but because of how good God was in helping him.

There are some in this church who tithe.

They give ten percent of their income to God.

They are mocked out in the world.

Why would anyone do that?

If you ask them they would say, “If it wasn’t for God I would have nothing.

God gave me the brains, the strength, the opportunity to make a living.

I follow Abram in giving back to the Lord an amount that is worthy of the Lord who has blessed me.”

This is in contrast to what he does with the king of Sodom.

The king of Sodom is a wicked man and Abram does not want to be tainted by anything he has to offer.

So he refuses to take anything from him, though he just gave 10 percent to someone who wasn’t even in the battle.

What is the “order of Melchizedek”?

The priestly line in Judaism is the Levitical priesthood.

That family group was designated by God to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation.

Melchizedek was not a Levite, but a different kind of priest from outside the Levitical priesthood.

He combined two offices in one.

He was a priest and he was a king.

When Psalm 110 says that Jesus would be after the order of Melchizedek, he is stating that he would not be a Levite and that he would be both a king and a priest.

So why did David write,

What is the big deal?

Why would God make an oath and David would say that he would not repent or change his mind?

The reason is not given; so let me give you what came to me.

The reason that this is stated so strongly is because of the major change this would be for Israel.

When Jesus was born, one element of Judaism that had been in place since the birth of the nation was the priesthood.

God had set aside the Levites to be priests.

If Jesus is going to be a priest forever, it would not be according to the Levitical priesthood, but a different order.

Is there any way possible that God could be convinced to change his mind?

Is there any way that through prayer, supplication and petition that God might stay with the Levitical system?

Moses prayed to God and he appeared to change his mind back in Exodus.

Could it work again?

The answer is, “No!” God is going to make this change and there is nothing anyone can do to change this.

Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah, would not be born a Levite; he would be from another family.

His priesthood would be like Melchizedek’s; he would be both a ruler and a king.

This is important in the book of Hebrews in the New Testament.

The writer is trying to show how much better Christ was than what Israel had experienced.

He is better than the angels, better than Moses, a better sacrifice and a better priest.

It’s hard to change.

It’s hard to change even when God has spoken.

The reason why David wrote so dogmatically about this priesthood was because God knew that when the time came, people would find change hard.

Which bring us to what we can learn today.

Jesus is our priest.

We don’t need to become Jewish in order to come to God.

The Levitical priests are not our priests.

The pastor is not your priest.

Jesus is the high priest and your pastor is not.

There should be no separate group of Christian who designated themselves priests above other Christians.

We are all priests, knowing that Jesus is the only high priest.

As Israel had many priests working with and under the high priest, so every Christian is a priest working under Jesus.

We Gentiles were those who were “once…not a people…” Peter is writing 1 Peter to assures those who trusted Jesus are now a royal priesthood and a holy nation.

As such, we have a responsibility to pray for one another.

Whatever you think a priest should do, you should do.

To even think this way may require a change.

You may believe that priests are special people.

The office is special and you are one.

God has spoken.

He will not lie and he will not change his mind.

We are all priests and Jesus is the chief priest.

He is both priest and ruler.

How often we fight against what the Bible says.

We know what it says, we understand it, but we are afraid of change.

We are afraid to move forward with Jesus.