Melchizedek Foreshadows Christ Part 2: Heb. 7:11-19

I. A New Priesthood For A New Covenant vs. 11-12

A. The reason the Levitical priesthood had to be replaced, was because its sacrifices temporarily covered sin, but did not abolish it. Jesus fulfilled the law.

Matt. 5:17 ““Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

Matt. 5:20 ““For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

B. Our hearts can’t be changed by the Levitical priesthood, but it can be changed by Jesus. Ezekiel 36:26

Ezekiel 36:26 NASB95

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

C. The change of law, means that the law was meant to show us Christ, but the New Covenant has the law of love. Matt. 22:37-39

Matthew 22:37–39 NASB95

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

II. A New Tribe For A New Covenant vs. 13-14

A. No one could minister at the alter, but the Levites. Uzziah tried and was severely punished. II Chron. 26:18-21

2 Chronicles 26:18–21 NASB95

They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.” But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the Lord had smitten him. King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house judging the people of the land.

B. The word descended means to arise from. Mal. 4:2

Malachi 4:2 NASB95

“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

Numbers 24:17 NASB95

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.

Luke 1:78 NASB95

Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

Revelation 2:28 NASB95

and I will give him the morning star.

2 Peter 1:19 NASB95

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

C. Judah wasn’t a priestly tribe, but Jesus was after a different priesthood and covenant. No other priest could have arisen like Jesus. He qualified after a new requirement.

III. A New Requirement For A New Covenant vs. 15-19

A. There were 3 requirements for a Levitical priest. 1) legitimate son; 2) a Levite (his mother had to be a Jew, and his Father a priest before him) and 3) having no physical defects. There were 142 psychical defects that could disqualify him. (Lev. 21:16-23 [some are spelled out here]). These were all external.

B. Jesus’ requirements were both external and internal. Jesus’ resurrection was external in that it was a physical resurrection, but was accomplished by an internal requirement, and that is holiness. Rom. 1:4

Romans 1:4 NASB95

who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

C. Hence Jesus’ Melchizedekian priesthood is eternal.

D. It is better because Jesus makes us holy/perfect. The more you draw near to God, the more He makes you holy. James 4:8

James 4:8 NASB95

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

E. We have access because of this new covenant.

During his student days in France, Donald Grey Barnhouse was pastor of a little Evangelical Reformed Church in the French Alps. Once a week he went to a neighboring village for an instruction class. Each time he made the trip he passed the local priest, going on a similar errand in the opposite direction. They became good friends and often chatted together for ten minutes or so before they went their separate ways.
On one occasion the priest asked him why we Protestants do not pray to the saints. “Why should we?” Barnhouse asked. The priest launched an illustration of the way one might get an interview with the president of the French Republic. One could go the Ministry of Agriculture or to the Department of the Interior, etc.; any one of the cabinet members might succeed in opening the door of the president’s office so that Barnhouse might see him. The priest’s triumphant smile implied that the simplicity and clarity of the argument were such as to preclude any reply.
At that time Raymond Poincare was president of the Republic; he lived in the Palace of the Elysee in Paris—the equivalent of the White House. Barnhouse said to his friend, “But, Monsieur le Cure, suppose that I were the son of Monsieur Poincare? I am living in the Elysee with him. I get up from the breakfast table and kiss him good-bye as he goes off to his office. Then I go down to the Ministry of the Interior and ask the fourth secretary of the second assistant if it is possible for me to see the Minister of the Interior. If I succeed in reaching his office, my request is for an interview with my papa.”
The absurdity of a son’s having to go through a father’s assistants to reach him was at once apparent. The priest was thunderstruck as Barnhouse added that he was a child of God, an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ, and that he had been saved through the death of the Savior and thus had become a son with immediate access to the Father