Source of Salvation

Introduction

I will apologize in advance as to my abilities today. Disease has taken its toll on my body and it is slow in recovering. I did not know when I would be better and some days I questioned everything. However, God brought me through it all and I am here today. This virus did a number on my body and it was very humbling and humiliating in the way in which it took hold of my body and made me the sickest I’ve ever been in my whole life. I was humbled because for days, all I could do was lay there praying to God to take it away. I could not read, I could not smell, I could not taste. I could not do much of anything except pray that God may have mercy on us. I didn’t have much of anything left in me. When everything is stripped away from you, there is little you can do. We were surrounded by the love of others that brought us meals, groceries, and checked on us every day. My High Priest watched over us and we are here today.

I may be weak but my God is strong. I may not have energy and lingering effects that flair up but I can still proclaim Christ as my King and High Priest.

Today is about examining Christ as the high Priest. We often talk about Christ as King and Christ as the Son of God but we spend little time talking about Jesus as High Priest. Hebrews 5:5-10 deals with that topic as part of a broader topic of understanding Christ as superior to all other created beings. Listen to Hebrews 5:5-10

Hebrews 5:5–10 NRSV

5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Verse 5 starts off with the reminder that Christ did not bring himself into this position of high priest. High Priest as the priest over all the priests and the people, was the spokesperson to God. The high Priest was the one who offered atonement sacrifices, the one who prayed to God on behalf of the people. This High Priest held the final authority in judging all spiritual matters and legal matters. The high priest brought all matters before God.

While I could go on and on about the High Priest role in Judaism, I imagine you might be wondering what does that mean to us today. Two things, first, Jesus Christ is not a Levite and in Judaism, priests from the tribe of Levite were the only ones allowed to be priest and elected high priest. Only a handful of times do you hear this name Melchizedek. He first shows up as the King and Priest of Salem where Abraham offers a tithe of the spoils of war. What is unique is that he is the first priest of God. What is also unique is he has no beginning or ending in scripture. Abraham offered to him willingly and freely. Abraham recognized something about him. This priest offered to bless Abraham. In later years, he was also referred to as the model for Priest/King that was aspired to uphold.

There is a good bit when you dig into this person and lots to speculate about. Jesus truly fit the model of a Priestly King. No other in history has been able to fulfill this Priestly King role. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus could not come from the levites normal priestly line. This was because Jesus was prophesied to. come from the line of David (Judah). Just like Melchizedek, Jesus predated any levitical priestly order that was established many centuries later after the encounter of Abraham and Melchizedek.

It was not just the fact that Jesus predated any other establishment of priests, it the fact that Jesus predates any of it at all. This is what they mean when they say there is no beginning or end. Jesus is eternal. Jesus is King and High Priest forever.

Lets look at verse 5 for another important clue. ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you .” Christ as the Son of God was according Nelson, “to bring into being - Predicted, Prefigured, Proclaimed, Proffered, Professed” To avoid making this more complicated than necessary, don’t focus on when was Jesus born or made because that is the wrong question that will lead you down a path of confusion. Jesus is eternal and has always been and always will be. Jesus as the second member of the Trinity has no beginning or end.

We study int his passage Jesus displayed key traits that qualified him as High Priest, not because he was the Son of God and demanded the position but because he demonstrated the best qualities of a Priest/King. Jesus demonstrated all throughout the gospels the ability to be perfectly obedient to God. Jesus also demonstrated perfect submission by willingly going to the cross to atone for all sin. Jesus demonstrated perfect pleading for the people to God, even while hanging on the cross. No other in history has demonstrated perfect submission to God’s will and love and dedication to providing eternal salvation to humanity. Jesus is the perfect source of eternal salvation.