Jesus is the Greatest Priest
Notes
Transcript
This week as I’ve wrestled with how to consider this text today, I’ve been perplexed a bit. Not so much because of the message of the passage, but because of the fact that it discusses a subject that we are not very familiar with - the role of priests. It would be short sighted and incomplete to simply say that pastors are the modern day equivalent of priests. There are overlapping roles, but a priest does some jobs that come no comparison among a Pastors. I think one of the other ways that I’ve been challenged by this text is knowing which parts to bring out and which parts to lay aside. Finally, I’ve wrestled with the interest factor. Up to this point the writer of Hebrews has had a basic argument for his Jewish background believers. He is arguing that Jesus is greater - than Ángels, than Moses, and today than all other priests.
so today, we are going to consider his argument, which might be. A bit predicabl, but we will also seek to reflect on some of the elements that were implicitly known to his first century audience.
Basic outline of this section:
Jesus the Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14-5:10)
Warning Against Falling Away (Heb. 5:11-6:12)
Confidence of God’s Promises (Heb. 6:13-20)
The Priestly Order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:1-10)
Jesus Compared to Melchizedek (Heb. 7:11-28)
What do priests do?
What do priests do?
In the OT a priest had a few different roles.
Priests represent humanity to God - Their primary job - as we saw last week, is to represent humans to God. They would go before the altar with sacrifices on behalf of the people, leading them to repentance. Their hob was messy, and smelly. I can imagine that their garments were stained with the blood of the sacrifices they offered. some of this job may also include caring for the religious artifacts and buildings.
Priests teach people about the covenant. They were given the task of explaining the Word of God to people. We see this most clearly exhibited in the ministry of Ezra (Ez. 7ff; Neh. 8ff). As he would read the Torah aloud to the congregation and would give an explanation of how to live out the law.
They would counsel the leaders and the nation - ultimately working to bring people toward holiness. Theocracy
What kind of priests are there?
What kind of priests are there?
As it pertains to our discussion today, we can see two:
Levitical Priests - descendents of Aaron (Moses brother), and of the tribe of Levi.
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
Some commentators have gleaned from scripture that there may have been priests from other tribes, but primarily the tribe of Levi was specifically set apart as being the priestly tribe. Now, not all Levites were priests, but most of the priests seem to have been called from among the Levites.
The writer of Hebrews helps us to see that the Levitical priests, because they are fallen individuals would offer sacrifices to address their own sins, and then would offer sacrifices on behalf of God’s people.
They were also given special jobs in order to care for the tabernacle and the temple.
But there is another kind of priest that is mentioned in the OT. That is...
Melchizedek - a priest-king - He is only mentioned twice in the OT - once in Genesis 14:17-20 and in Psalm 110:4 and then is given a great deal of consideration here in this section of Hebrews.
A little background - Melchizedek was a real man who was both the king of Salem (Jerusalem) - and priest to God Most High (Gen. 14:18). The writer of Hebrews helps us to understand that his name means “King of righteousness” and his title means “King of Peace” - Heb. 7:2b.
Abram and Melchizedek met after Abram had rescued his nephew Lot and defeated another king. Melchizedek came to meet with Abraham. Interestingly, he brought “bread and wine” to their meeting. It’s unclear if this was a means of honoring or refreshing Abraham or simply a means of showing hospitality and fellowship. He then blessed Abraham by stating:
And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Abraham clearly saw Melchizedek as a representative of God, which is why he gave him a tithe (Heb. 7:1-10). While Melchizedek was an historical person, there is no record of his lineage or his ancestry. He just sort of steps onto the scene of biblical history as an enigmatic figure - but a figure that fore-shadows a greater person to come.
This kind of begs a question...
Which kind of priest is greater?
Which kind of priest is greater?
There is an entire book in the Old Testament dedicated to the roles and work of the Levitical priests. They played a major role throughout Israel’s history. But the writer of Hebrews seems to be arguing that a priest in the order of Melchizedek is superior. Let’s briefly consider his line of thinking:
Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.
The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.
So the essence of his argument is that since the Levitical priests (who are descendents of Abraham) paid tithes through Abraham to Melchizedek, then the order of Melchizedek is greater. He uses this argument rooted in logic as a means of comparing the two priestly orders.
there is also a permanence of Melchizedek. He is said to have no beginning and no end. He doesn’t really but there is no record of his birth or death. The Levitical priests served for certain times and were limited by their own mortality.
What kind of priest is Jesus?
What kind of priest is Jesus?
The writer of Hebrews argues that Jesus is a priest...
in the order of Melchizedek
First of all, the Levitical priests were from the tribe of Levi - Jesus is from the royal tribe of Judah.
Secondly, just as Melchizedek figuratively seems to have the priest-king title permanently, so too Jesus as the eternal son of God has that role forever.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
But there are a couple of of other qualities that we get to see in Jesus. He is ...
Relatable to us - know our weaknesses - he understand what emotional and physical pain is. He knows what it means to feel betrayal and to feel the joy of seeing someone succeed.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Direct access to God - In the Tabernacle and the Temple there was a special place that was set aside. It was called the “holy of holies” or the “most holy place.” It is in this place that the presence of God was revealed to the priests. The High Priest would enter into this place once a year on the day of atonement in order to intercede on behalf of the people of Israel. No one else was allowed in. Jesus, because He came from heaven and has now returned there, essentially passed through the Holy of Holies.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
In fact, after Jesus death on the cross, there was a great earthquake and the veil or curtain that shielded the Holy of Holies was torn in two - signifying that Jesus had now accomplished the permanent atoning (Matthew 27:51).
Perfect - He has no need to offer a sacrifice for himself. When people would sacrifice an animal, they had to sacrifice something that was as perfect as possible. It could not be blemished or discolored. Realistically, there is no truly perfect animal sacrifice. But Jesus himself became the sacrificial offering.
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
In Jesus, he showed us what perfect holiness is and then sacrificed his life as a means of atoning for all the ways that we fall short.
This is why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The night before he laid down his life as a sacrifice for our sins, Jesus instituted a new sacrament or ordinance. In some ways it resembles the passover. In some ways, it resembles Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek. If you remember, Melchizedek brought bread and wine to their meeting and then blessed Abraham. Jesus used the bread and wine of that meal to illustrate what he would do. You see, bread and wine become a sort of invitation to fellowship. It’s an invitation to gather around the table. It’s an invitation to meet with Jesus. He is the means by which we can meet with God. His broken body identifies with our weakness. His spilled blood covers our sin. He chose to fellowship with us. Will we fellowship with him?
Normally, we would do the Lord’s supper after the sermon, but I want to pause for a moment so that we might relish in all that Jesus did for us.
(Lord’s Supper)?
In light of the fact that Jesus is this great high priest, a High Priest of a different order and is able to eternally mediate between us and God, it leads us to ask...
What should we do?
What should we do?
Thankfully, the writer of Hebrews gives us several suggestions.
Hold Fast - Heb. 4:14 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” - Remember, the writer was reaching people who were being tempted and persuaded to go back to the old activities; to turn away from Jesus. Since he is so much better, we are called to hold fast - or to seize - our confession. What is that confession? 1 Cor. 15:3-4 summarizes this beautifully:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Draw Near - Heb. 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” - We have no reason to fear coming before God. Jesus did not pay for our sin with his life so that we would be all alone. We don’t have to go through a high priest who has to get himself clean, sacrifice, go in to the holy of holies to represent us before God and then come out to communicate. We get to go directly to God because of Jesus. He wants fellowship with us. He wants us to come to him with our needs and desires. He wants to reveal how he will meet our needs - maybe in ways that we don’t understand. We have no reason to fear rejection. Jesus took our rejection on himself.
Keep Growing - build on the foundational knowledge of our faith
The writer notes six characteristics of the basic foundation. He seems to be urging us to build on this foundation - to grow. Not to remain as spiritual infants, but maturing disciples. Wiersbe notes that when looking at them in pairs, we get to see some specific orientations:
Upward - - repentance and faith: Heb. 6:1 “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” - this is where each of us must begin. We begin by repenting of our worthless works and sinful ness in order to turn toward God - who through Jesus paid for our sin. We do this by faith. but once we’ve made that step, the next part of the foundation is..
Inward (“Body of Believers”) - Baptism and laying on of hands: Heb. 6:2a “and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands...” - The Bible says to believe and be baptized. When we’re baptized, we are essentially baptized into a body of believers. We become part of one another. that group can then endorse our gifting with the laying on hands or really mobilization toward ministry. Let me encourage you, if you’ve not yet taken that step of baptism to consider that. Baptism is both a public profession of faith and an affirmation by the church that you are a follower of Christ. It’s a symbolic act, but also an act of obedience to what Jesus called us to. There is also a sense in which being in covenant with one another we get to encourage, affirm, pray for, care for, exhort, and love one another.
Forward (“Future”) - resurrection and judgment: Heb. 6:2b “...the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” - In having this forward thought, we we recognize that there is more than just the here and now. There is a future resurrection. There is a future judgment. We will be held accountable. For believers, this is a future hope of rejoicing, knowing that we’ve been saved and sealed for eternity.
Closing thoughts
Closing thoughts
One of the things that the priests would do is to encourage people to be holy - to live in holiness - to be completely set apart for God. The challenge is, we are always going to fall short. Because Jesus has paid for our shortcomings, we are declared holy. Now we get to continue to grow into that holiness.
(bring a child or young person up to put on a coat - talk about growing into the coat, learning pursuing, tweaking, adjusting)
Let’s pray.
Benediction
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
References:
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/hebrews/
http://newcitycatechism.com/new-city-catechism/#51
Brown, Raymond. The Message of Hebrews. The Bible Speaks today. Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
Hewitt, Thomas. The Epistle to the Hebrews. TNTC. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 1975.
Kruger, Michael J. Hebrews for You. The Good Book Company, 2021.
Swann, John T. “Priest.” Edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Confident: Live by Faith, Not by Sight. NT Commentary: Hebrews. Colorado Springs, David C. Cook: 1982