Friday, October 12, 2018

07 Hebrews 7 – Jesus’ Greater Priesthood – So Draw Near!


Hebrews 6 closed by noting that Jesus has become “a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:19-20). That last phrase returned the discussion to what had been noted in Heb 5:6, 10-11. A parenthesis followed, challenging the readers to sharpen their listening skills and press on to maturity. They – and we – must not remain as babes or fall away into sin.
Now, with that in mind, we come back to the mysterious Melchizedek. He is noteworthy both because of what is said about him and what is not.
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7:1-10        The Shadow of Jesus’ Greater Priesthood
Please read Heb 7:1-10 carefully before proceeding. Sharpen your listening and thinking skills (Heb 5:11-14). Write down significant words and statements.
That Christ would be both king and priest, was indicated centuries earlier in Psalm 110, a messianic text. Ps 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” … 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The writer of Hebrews is inspired to develop this idea of Melchizedek as a type (shadow or likeness) of Jesus as the antitype (reality or actuality). He introduces Melchizedek and then compares and contrasts him with Christ.
What precious little we actually know about Melchizedek is recorded here:
Ge 14:17 Then after [Abraham’s] return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a tenth of all.
As we see in Hebrews, this man was both king and priest. So is Jesus.
His name means “king (mechi) of righteousness (zedek).” He was also king of Salem, which is the same word as shalom, “peace.” Again, all this fits Jesus.
He was a contemporary, not a descendant, of Abraham. So of course he preceded Levi and Aaron. In fact his genealogy was not even listed. As far as the record went, he had no birth certificate naming his father or mother or date of birth. He had no death certificate officially dating the time of his death. Yet he was a king and a priest. How? Why? Simply because God named him as such. Likewise,  Jesus is our king (Ps 110:1) and priest (Ps 110:4) by divine decree.
Ironically, Gen 14 clearly implies that Melchizedek was superior to Abraham, the ancestor of all the OT Levitical priests. Though Abraham was the number one patriarch, and father of all the Israelites, Melchizedek was superior. This is clear because of two facts. For one, Abraham (as the implied lesser) gave a tithe (ten percent) of the spoils of battle to Melchizedek (as the implied greater). For another, Melchizedek (as the greater) gave a blessing to Abraham (as the lesser).
Therefore, the argument goes, since Melchizedek was superior to Abraham, the “priest like Melchizedek” (Jesus) is superior to Levi, Aaron, and all the priests who descended from Abraham. Since Levi was “in the loins of Abraham” (as his future descendant) when Abraham gave the tithe to Melchizedek, one could say that, in Abraham, Levi also gave that tithe. Implication? Melchizedek and his priestly order are superior to Levi and his priestly order.
That’s the message of Heb 7:1-10. But before we go on …
Was (is) Melchizedek an angel? Or Christ himself before his birth to Mary?
Some well-meaning students of Scripture have concluded, mistakenly I believe, that Melchizedek was actually an angel or even the pre-incarnate Christ in human form. No Scripture calls Melchizedek an angel or the second person of the Godhead, yet some can be quite dogmatic about their conviction! On what do they base their thinking?
They take Heb 7:3 to require that Melchizedek was never born and never died. They believe that he literally had no father or mother or other human ancestors. He is a priest “perpetually,” and they take this to mean that he is still a priest serving eternally somewhere, perhaps on earth since they claim he never died. The Bible never mentions him going into heaven. Where does he now serve?
Let’s address these teachings.
Heb 7:4 calls Melchizedek a “man.” Though some insist that he was an angel who appeared as a man (as in Gen 18-19), the Bible never says this. We are undeniably safe to say he was a man.
As Martel Pace notes in the Truth for Today commentary on Hebrews (pp. 258ff):
Melchizedek was “without father or mother” in the priesthood. The Romans spoke of one as being “without father” if there was no record of his parentage. The Jews referred to those whose parents were unknown or who were not found in genealogies as being without mother or father (Philo On Drunkenness 14). A rabbi would say that a converted Gentile had no father (Robert Milligan, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, New Testament Commentaries (Cincinnati: Chase and Hall, 1876; reprint, Nashville: Gospel Advocate Co., 1975, p. 249). Josephus told his readers that he himself was born into a priestly family and that he could prove it by the public records (Josephus Life 1).
“Forever” (7:17, 21) and “perpetually” (7:3) mean, as they often do in the Old Testament, throughout the period to which the term is applied. The Romans applied the title “dictator Perpetuus” as a more honorable office than that of an ordinary dictator (Moses Stuart, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (London: William Tegg & Co., 1856), p. 391). They realized that a dictator, or a Caesar, could not live forever; but since no statute limited the tenure of a Roman emperor, his rule was said to be “forever.”
Here are some questions for those who hold these other views. If Melchizedek was an angel, why doesn’t the Bible say so? If Melchizedek is an “eternal” priest, where and how does he now serve? And, if he is still God’s appointed king and priest, why would Christ need to serve in that role? Has Christ not superseded all priests who have gone before? Are there now two eternal priests, Melchizedek and Christ? If so, doesn’t that contradict the whole theme of Hebrews, that Christ is the final fulfillment of all that went before, making them obsolete?
Conclusion: Nothing actually stated in Scripture requires that Melchizedek was either an angel or the pre-incarnate Christ. He is specifically said to be a man declared by God to be king and priest, even without genealogical records. In this way he was a type (shadow or facsimile) of Christ, the antitype (reality or substance).
7:11-19      The Succession of Jesus’ New Priesthood
The need for a new priest, such as the priest promised in Ps 110:4, implied that the OT system was broken and had to be replaced. After all, if the Levitical priesthood had worked perfectly and permanently, no change would have been necessary. This is the argument in Heb 7:11.
Well, if there had to be a new priest, there would also have to be a new law as well. The OT law and the OT priesthood were interdependent. Neither could stand without the other. And that fact plays right into what follows.
The previous OT law had established the Aaronic priesthood. It had specified that all the priests had to be from the tribe of Levi and all the high priests from the lineage of Aaron. But since both the priesthood and the law were to be changed, those requirements would no longer apply.
Under those former stipulations, Jesus would not have been qualified to serve as high priest. He was from the tribe of Judah, not Levi. And because the OT was silent about any priests being allowed from Judah, that silence was prohibitive.
However, God had promised that the future priest, Jesus Christ, would be after the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron. This promise implied the removal of the old Aaronic priesthood and the old law with their restrictions. Therefore, there could be no objection to the new high priest having come from a tribe other than Levi.
So, as Heb 7:16 declares, Jesus “has become such [the new high priest] not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.”
So, see what follows in Heb 7:18-19.
18 For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
7:20-28      The Superiority of Jesus’ New Priesthood
Remember that Ps 110:4 began by saying, “The LORD has sworn …” Yahweh’s oath in making Christ the new priest is very significant to the writer of Hebrews. God did not swear or take an oath when the former OT priests were appointed. This difference (the unique declaration of God’s oath) makes Jesus the guarantee of a better covenant.
There are other factors that make Jesus’ new priesthood superior.
The former priests were many in number, because their service ended when they died. They had to be replaced continually. They could only provide a partial, limited, temporary kind of salvation.
Jesus, on the other hand, continues forever and therefore holds His priesthood permanently. As a result he is able to save eternally, “to the nth degree,” “to the max.” He always lives to make intercession as the one irreplaceable mediator for God’s people (7:24-25).
Also, unlike the former OT priests, Jesus is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (7:26).
They offered sacrifices daily, first for their own sins, because they were weak and sinful themselves. He, the sinless eternal Son, needed no sacrifice for himself. Nor did he need to offer repeated sacrifices. Rather, he accomplished through one sacrifice for all time – the sacrifice of himself – that which an infinite number of OT priests and offerings could not achieve, our eternal salvation. And his ministry for us continues forever, as he intercedes perpetually for us in the true “tabernacle,” the true “Most Holy Place” in heaven.
Therefore, let us draw near!

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