A High Priest in the order of Melchizedek

Melchizedek

Hebrews Sermon 5

“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.”.

Those were the words of Peter to the onlookers at Solomon’s Colonnade just after the crippled man was healed. This was the aim of Peter and all the other leaders of the early church: to focus the attention on Jesus, especially the attention of the first believers, who were mainly Jews.

And this was to be the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews, to focus the attention of those believers on Jesus, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Heb 12:1–2). We have seen how God’s full and final revelation was in his Son, that Jesus was and is more excellent than the prophets, more excellent than the angels, more excellent than Moses. And the writer showed Jesus to be our Great High Priest.

The writer to the Hebrews says this about him in Hebrews 6: 19,20

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

A high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. A mysterious figure, who appears just once in the Bible and then is referred to in Psalm 110 and not again till we come to Hebrews, where his significance is explored. That’s what we are going to look at today.

Throughout the Bible there are people that we know about, or think we know about, but pass over them without giving them too much thought. It would be good, sometimes to look again at some of these characters and to consider afresh what part they played in God’s revelation of himself to us. I want to take a look at one of those characters.Abraham’s nephew, Lot. What has he to do with this story? Who was he? To find out we need to go back to Genesis chapter 11, where we find the family:- Terah and his sons Abram, Nahor and Haran and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran. At this time they are living in Ur of the Chaldeans. We learn that Lot’s father, Haran, died there and that Abram and Nahor both married, but that Abram’s wife, Sarai was unable to have children. We discover also that Terah and Abram and Sarai moved to a new place in the north, taking Lot with them. They settled in a place that we know as Haran, perhaps named in honour of Lot’s father.

When Terah died in Haran, it became time for Abram to move on and we read of God’s call to him and we also read that Lot went with him. There is no doubt that Abram felt responsible for Lot and indeed was responsible for him while he was growing up. It is certain that Lot was like a son to him and no doubt the bond between them was strong as they continued together, even during the famine, when they went down to Egypt.

Later, when both Abram and Lot had accumulated flocks and herds and people to look after them, we catch a glimpse of how Abram looked on Lot. Their herdsmen had begun quarrelling over the grazing land and it became necessary to part company. Abram, being the elder would have been within his rights to decide how this would be done, but his love for his nephew was such that he gave the choice to Lot. Now Lot could have reacted in different ways. He could have said to his uncle, who had been like a father to him that he would remain and they would sort out the problems of the herdsmen and their quarrels. He could have acknowledged all that Abram had done for him and insisted that Abram make the choice if they did have to part. Here’s what we read in Genesis 13: 10.11

Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

There are those who see in Lot a low-minded, mean-minded man, who took for himself the opportunity to claim what he judged to be the best land and the best water in all the country and drove his flocks into it without a moment’s hesitation or touch of remorse.. He went to live among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

But it is not Lot’s motives that I wish to focus on here. Rather it is Abram, the man, the older man, with the right to all the land of Canaan, who was willing to put all that aside and place himself as an equal with his dependent nephew. In fact less than an equal, for he gave Lot the choice. You cannot help but wonder if Abram knew that Lot was making a wrong choice, attracted by the lure of living near, and, later, in the city of Sodom. I am sure that he did, but I am also sure that never a day went by when he didn’t wonder how Lot was getting on.

Lot was indeed in trouble, for in Genesis 14 we read of a war of four kings against five kings. Verse 11 tells us:

The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

We discover more about Abram when we read on.

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

As Abram returned, victorious, from this episode we learn that the King of Sodom came out to meet him and made him an offer.

Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.

Abram’s reply brings into stark contrast the way of the world and the way of God

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’

This was Abram, the man who always put God first, ahead of worldly gain.

There was another who came out to meet Abram.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth.

And praise be to God Most High,

who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

This Melchizedek, a priest king, appears as if from nowhere, with no genealogy and, following this meeting with Abram, is not seen or heard of again until we come to a psalm of David, psalm 110, where David’s Lord is told, “you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

It is the writer to the Hebrews, who states in Chapter 5:10

and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek,

It is in this letter that we begin to see the magnitude of Christ as High Priest.

When we looked at Jesus, our Great High Priest, we learned how, in every way, his priesthood was superior to the Aaronic priesthood, that was such a fundamental part of the Jewish sacrificial system. The writer has shown already that Jesus had fulfilled the Aaronic type by himself offering to God a perfect and final sacrifice for the sins of his people. Remember that on the day of atonement each year, the High Priest alone, stripped of his regular garments and wearing a sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments would enter the sacred place behind the curtain, carrying a censer full of burning coals and frankincense and would sprinkle the bull’s blood or the goat’s blood over and in front of the atonement cover. This was the Mercy seat or golden cover of the Ark of the Covenant.

But there was one major difficulty for the Jewish believers. To affirm that Jesus was high priest was to affirm something that, in their eyes, was inconsistent with and contrary to the Law. Their priests all belonged to the tribe of Levi. Jesus did not. He was not legally in the line of priests.

Yet, Jesus was indeed High Priest. Now, if Jesus was not in the line of Levi, how could any sacrifice by him be legitimate?

The writer to the Hebrews asks that very question in Chapter 7:11

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?

There are two verses in Hebrews which clearly state that Jesus did indeed enter the holy place and that he did so as High Priest.The first is at the end of chapter 6

6:19,20 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

The second is in chapter 9

9: 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

What was required was a priesthood that in all respects was superior to that of the Levitical priesthood, but which was different and had been established by God before the Levitical priesthood. This was the priesthood in the order of Melchizedek.

In Hebrews 7 the writer begins to show that the priesthood of Jesus was far more glorious that that of Aaron’s. How does he do that? He takes us to the psalm 110. This psalm is worth a study in itself and its subject is David’s Lord, the Priest-King.

The heart of the psalm is in verse 4

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent,

Thou art a priest for ever

After the order of Melchizedek.

This is an astonishing beginning to the verse: The Lord has sworn. What need does God have to swear? None, but it gives the complete affirmation to the Priest-King in the next part. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

This is a priesthood, established long before the Levitical priesthood came into being. It is a priesthood not based on natural descent. The Aaronic priesthood was.:

Numbers 3:9,10

Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him. Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.

The Levitical priests began their service as priests at the age of 25 and their service as priests ended at the age of 50. No such restrictions applied to the King-Priest. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Verse 3 is clear

Heb 7: 3

Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever

What do we know about Melchizedek?

This Melchizedek was King of Salem and priest of God Most High.

His name means “my King is righteous” and Salem is generally accepted as being Jerusalem with the idea of King of Peace, two qualities that we find throughout scripture which refer to Jesus. Righteoousness and peace.

Jer 23 5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,

“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,

a King who will reign wisely

and do what is just and right in the land.

This is the name by which he will be called:

The LORD Our Righteous Saviour.

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty

will accomplish this.

That Melchizedek was recognised and acknowledged as Priest is demonstrated by the fact that Abram gave him a tenth of everything. The writer of Hebrews offers this as proof that this priest and his priesthood is greater than Abraham and greater than any subsequent priesthood. In the example of tithes he says that the Levites collected the tithes from fellow Israelites and all of them descendants of Abraham. The tithes are collected by people who die. But in the case of Abraham and Melchizedek the tithes are collected by him who is declared to be living. When Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and received a blessing from him the writer was, as Father of the nation yet to come, in a real sense paying tithes and receiving a blessing on behalf of all those who came after him, including those who served as priests, those Levitical priests. The Melchizedek priesthood was, therefore, greater than the Aaronic priesthood.

Verse 7: The lesser is blessed by the greater.

This was an example of Abraham’s faith in action and it was this faith that Jesus alluded to in that dispute in John chapter 8, when he said

Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

In verse 3 Melchizidek, ordained by God as priest long before the Aaronic priesthood, is described as resembling the Son of God, or like unto the Son of God. The phrase “resembling the Son of God” has the sense of “being made similar to”. In other words it is Christ’s priesthood that the writer has in mind here. What makes Melchizedek’s order perpetual is that Scripture says nothing about the succession. What makes Christ’s perpetual is, however, his own nature.

The writer of the letter summed all this up in the verses towards the end of the chapter:

because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

Jesus, our Great High Priest, not like all the priests of Judaism, descendants of Levi, whose sacrifice offerings were but a shadow pointing to the one true sacrifice. Jesus, a King Priest in his own right, a priest forever, who gave his own body and blood to establish a new covenant. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”

Before I finish I want to take us back to Abraham, when he rescued his nephew. Two Kings came out to meet him — the King of Salem, who blessed Abraham and acepted the tithes that Abraham Offered, and the King of Sodom, who offered the spoils of battle to him. Abraham’s choice was to have nothing to do with the the King of Sodom and what he represented. His choice was to continue to believe in God, who, in the very next chapter said to Abram:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield,

your very great reward. ”

In v 6 we find this statement

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

But I wonder about Lot. Remember that he had parted from Abraham and went to live near Sodom. And we know how that turned out. Now he had had the experience of being caught up in a war, had been taken captive, had been rescued by his beloved uncle. He was no doubt a witness at the meetings between Abraham and Melchizedek, and between Abraham and the King of Sodom.

An opportunity for him to repent, to turn away from the lure of the city of Sodom and to go in the way that God would lead him. Sadly, we next encounter Lot, just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Where is he? At the gateway to the city.

We all face the same choice. The way of God or the way of the world.