You can actually watch this talk online as we are currently live streaming our services. I come in around the 30min mark.
I like to put up my talks, to kinda pay reference to where I sole all my ideas from. I have a feelings that there are still ideas in here that are uncited, as I did read also The Message of Hebrews (The Bible Speaks Today) by Ramond Brown and thought it was helpful, but that isn't cited in the footnotes.
Anyway, have a watch or follow along and see how much I change on the fly (not much)
Do you like knowing you have someone in high places that has your back? This could be a good boss or a family friend who has power or influence. Before our ACT elections, I had a few conversations with people, and they said they appreciated some candidates who took the time to answer their questions, one candidate even returned phone calls with people to continue conversations with them. Those who engaged in these discussions felt like they had been heard and listened to, by someone who may represent them at a Canberra level. It does feel good to know that when there is a power differential, those who feel subordinate are listened to and understood and even represented by the senior person.
Today we are continuing in the book of Hebrews. We are in the middle of an argument about Jesus being a high priest. Already the author has mentioned a few times that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek and today we will be looking at this point directly - to see what this actually means. Then, over the next few weeks we will see how Jesus’s priesthood is part of a greater covenant, is a better temple and offers a greater sacrifice[1].
You may have heard the threefold roles of Jesus being Prophet, Priest and King. People in Jesus day seemed to get the prophet and king bit, but have you thought about how Jesus is a Priest?
In Jewish law, only those from the tribe of Levi could be priests, and the Bible is very clear that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah and from the line of David, a kingly line.
I don’t know if you know but when a king tried to do the work of a priest it ended badly[2]. In 2 Chronicles 26 we read of king Uzziah who burned incense on the temple altar. He is confronted by the priest who says that this was not right. He said, only descendants of Aaron are allowed to do this. And King Uzziah is struck with leprosy for the rest of his life because of his priestly actions.
So, then where did this idea that Jesus was prophet, priest and king come from? Can you see the problem? It a king and a priest goes against the law of Moses.
Enter Melchizedek. Our author deals with this issue head-on, by looking at this strange guy Melchizedek.
Now, have you ever done a Bible timeline exercise? Its where you are to put various Biblical characters or events on a timeline. We have done this a few time at youth. You kinda are trying to work out where and when things happen in a chronological order. You put Jesus near the end, and then normally David and Abraham are next, Peter, Solomon, Adam at the start etc…
Not once when I have done this exercise, has anyone said, “between Abraham and Isaac we should put Melchizedek”. This guy is such a minor character in the Bible, that you would be forgiven to have not even know who he was. He is like Enoch, who turns up and nicks off. Or other randoms like Dorcas in Act 9 (I just love that name - also on the live stream I said Acts 7 by mistake) or Rufus in Mark 15, these are people who are mentioned in the Bible but you would think because of so little air time, you don’t really need to know who they are.
In our Old Testament reading today, we saw all the references to Melchizedek there is. He gets like 3 verses in Genesis 14 and gets one verse is Psalm 110. And from these few verses, our author makes some deep points about Jesus. Melchizedek helps us see Jesus in a new light.
This chapter is one of contrast, but it isn’t about Melchizedek vs Jesus, it is about the Levitical Priesthood vs the Melchizedek Priesthood. Or the order of Aaron vs the order of Melchizedek.
Today we will first look at why Melchizedek is a big deal, and then we will contrast the two priesthoods, and finally, we will look at the role of a priest and why this really matters.
Now, Abraham is a towering figure in the Bible. Some say, that in order to understand the Bible and God’s rescue plan, you have to look at Abraham. He was this pagan smuck who in Genesis 12 gets some key promises from God. God says that Abraham would become a great nation, that his name would be great, that he would be blessed by God and that all peoples will be blessed through him. And the rest of the Biblical story is really about the fulfilment of these promises to Abraham: how Israel was formed, how they became a great nation, and how through this nation, because of Jesus all people on earth can be blessed.
And in our text, it says, that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Come on! How is that so? There are no kids songs about Melchizedek[3], but I bet some of you know that “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had…”
Our passage says that Melchizedek was greater because he blessed Abraham and receives a tithe off him.
It is Melchizedek who gives Abraham a blessing, not the other way round. Melchizedek blesses this blessed one. And in response to this, Abraham gives Melchizedek a tenth of his plunder of war. Abraham was not commanded to give this plunder away, He had recently acquired it for rescuing all the people of the city of Sodom, but he gave this tithe to Melchizedek and in doing so recognised something of his greatness. In this act, the author in one fell theological swoop, puts the Levitical priesthood under Melchizedek[4]. This was because Abraham was in a sense acting as the representative of Levi and all the priests to come. They were in Abraham, so what Abraham did, they also did. As one person from the mid-week service said, this was because Abraham was wearing Levi genes.
The point is, in verse 7 “without a doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater”. Because Melchizedek blesses Abraham, it shows how great Melchizedek was.
Some people take v3 and draw all sorts of ideas about who this mysterious figure is. I read some think he was Shem[5], or an angel, possibly the archangel Michael, or the pre-incarnate Christ or a Canaanite king-priest[6].
I think, all the author of Hebrews is doing, is saying the text in Genesis doesn’t give us a genealogy. Melchizedek, I think was a real historical guy[7], and we aren’t told about his family line because we don’t need to know it. He wasn’t a priest because his father was a priest[8]. He was a priest not based on some line of successors. This is different to the Levitical priesthood which was based on family descent[9]. Melchizedek would be disqualified to be a priest under Moses, and yet we are told he was a priest and Abraham recognised this[10].
From the silences in the text of Melchizedek’s genealogy and what happened to him afterwards, the author says this is like, or resembles, in reality, the Son of God who is an eternal priest.
The old priesthood was established by law and passed down throughout the generations, so it involved many priests and many sacrifices. Theses priests were not perfect as they had to deal with their own sin, and ultimately in verse 18 the old system is said to be “weak and useless”.
These may be fighting words to a Jew, but the law was not able to save. Or in verse 11, it was not able to make people perfect. The law was used to condemn us, to show us that we are in need of salvation, but it was never able to save sinners[11]. God plan was always to introduce another order, this time, not by law, but by an oath, that would secure salvation for all people[12]. One that would involve a better priest, a permanent priest, one that would enable all people to come to God.
Josephus, a Jewish historian from the first century says[13] there were 83 high priests from Aaron to the fall of the Jewish temple in 70 AD. All of them died. No matter how great they were, they couldn’t continue because “death prevented them from continuing in office”. Every time they died, another had to take their place. And, they all had to make sacrifices for themselves as they too were personally sinful and under the curse of death.
But Christ is a different priest, from a different order, not based on law, or genealogy but based on an unchangeable oath or promise. Verse 21 quotes this oath:
On top of Jesus’ priesthood being established by God’s word, it is also based on God’s power given to Him as He has an indestructible life. Verse 24 it says because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Since, Jesus has taken on death, and risen again to never die, we have a priest who is unshakable and eternal.
And, not only is there no need for a successor, Jesus the new priest is also, verse 26, holy, blameless and pure. Unlike every other high priest who has ever existed, Jesus had no need to make sacrifices for His own sins. He was perfect, he was what the law could not achieve. While Christ can and does identity with us in our humanity, in another sense he is set apart from us because He did not sin[14].
In summing up this whole argument of contrast in verse 28 it ends,
Jesus is after all not here. He went away. He left us. We remember and are thankful for what He achieved on the cross, and we look forward with hope when He returns, but what about today?
What about now? We have our troubles. Things are messed up. Life is hard, inequality and poverty are around us, our relationships aren’t what we want them to be, marriages are hard, parenting is tiering and being single is lonely. We have stress, anxiety, depression. We see perpetrators and victims all the time, and oh yeah, we are in a global pandemic that has killed over 1 million people[15]. What is Jesus doing?
What about when this letter was written? We read in chapter 10[:33-35], that the recipients had been insulted and persecuted for following Jesus. Some had been in prison and others have had their stuff taken away from them. And around this time, or a tad little later, Christian were used as human torches to light up Nero’s outdoor parties[16] and later still they would be thrown to the lions for entertainment. Where was Jesus then? What was He doing for those Christians?
Now that we know Jesus is a great high priest, so what? How does that help us?
There are two main functions of a priest, they would offer sacrifices to God and provide intercessions for the people. These two functions are touched on in this passage and these two functions I think should give us great comfort. Sacrifice and intercession.
I don’t know if you remember the news when COVID first hit. The numbers, the fear, the risk. The potential stress on the health care system, we have to flatten the curve, the world looking on at what happened in Italy. It was scary. Our Prime minister was addressing the nation weekly giving us updates and shutting things down. There was this terrible thing out there, and it was out of control.
COVID is deadly, it can be fatal and can have long term health implications. We shouldn’t be too casual about it. But there is something else out there worst than COVID and no one is reporting on it. It is fatal and no independent reporter is writing about this, no experts on the radio are giving warnings, no documentary is being made about this certain death. You do not hear about this at all and the spread is worse than cancer, the Spanish Flu and the Black Plague, combined.
This deadly thing is sin. It affects everyone, and the penalty or consequences for sin is death. And the priest acting as a mediator would perform a sacrifice. A killing of an innocent animal, as a substitute or replacement for the sinner. It may sound brutal, and barbaric, but so is sin. We will read later in this book, that the blood of these poor innocent animals actually didn’t take away sin (10:4).
But the good news for this problem of sin is there is a cure. It is free and easy to access.
In our passage, verse 27 it says that since Jesus was the sinless, perfect human, he offered no sacrifice for Himself, but instead offered Himself as the sacrifice, and this sacrifice was once and for all because it dealt with sin, once and for all.
The good news is that Jesus, our high priest, offered himself, as a great sacrifice to bring you to God. It was this one-off sacrifice, by this high priest that was able to wash us from our sins. Because of Jesus we are free. Free from sin, and death. We have a future hope and current relationship with God. We don’t get salvation apart from Jesus, we get Jesus who is our salvation[17], and this is key.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, proving He was God and the acceptable sacrifice for sins, everyone who trusts their life to Jesus is saved and considered in Christ.
Being “in Christ” is one of the major descriptors of what a Christian is in the New Testament. When I try to explain what being “in Christ” is like to the youth, I use an analogy I stole from Rory Shiner[18]. It is a bit archaic now, it involves aeroplanes. You remember when we used to use these things? You used to see them in the sky and travel overseas in them.
If you’re in a plane that took off from Sydney, then you too also took off in Sydney, if it lands in Perth, you also land in Perth. If it experiences turbulence, then you too experience turbulence. What happens to the plane, also happens to you, because you are in the plane.
Do you ever feel too sinful for God? Do you feel too far away from God? That you are not good enough? That God would not accept you?
Well, if you are in Christ, what happens to you, happens to Christ. If you are in Christ, when God see you, He see Jesus. All your sins are forgiven, and you are seen as righteous because Jesus is righteous. When God see Jesus, He sees you. When God see Jesus’ glory and blesses Him, He blesses you[19].
Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and so this means that if we are in Christ, we are there too. That is why in Colossians 3[:1-3] Paul can say
In our passage we read in verse 24 and 25 that:
No, the passage says, that it is “because he always lives to intercede for them”. Because of Jesus’ continual representation of His people to God, He is able to save them completely.
What if someone said to you they were saved because Jesus prays for them? How would you respond to that?[21]
See, I thought it was the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that saved us. I thought that was effectual and able to save all those who come to Jesus. But here, in this passage it says Jesus’ permanent priesthood is able to save completely those who come to God, because he always lives to intercede for them.
We need to realise that salvation belongs to the Lord. From the beginning till the end. From new birth, (or even before the foundation of the world) till glorification, Jesus has His people, no one can snatch them from His hand (John 10:28-29).
Jesus is a completer finisher. What he starts he finishes[22]. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion (Phil 1:6).
Jesus has beaten death, so He is always going to live, He is eternal, and now as a priest He always, continually, eternally[23] interceded for His people.
I don’t know how long you have to be in Christian circles to know what the correct answer is when you hear of someone’s troubles. You hear their story, and you can’t do anything about their situation, it is messy and confusing, and sometimes you are only hearing one side of the problem. Generally, we Christians say, “I’ll pray for you”. And this isn’t wrong, in fact, it can be comforting to know others are praying for you. And they are praying to the Father for help. He is almighty and able to do great things. He is a great Father who wants to bless His children.
Sometimes I get prayed for in services and I am encouraged when people do, even if sometimes I find it a bit awkward when done in a public setting.
But, it is one thing to have a peer pray for you, it is another to have a high priest, who is right next to the Father continually praying for you. If you are in Christ, Jesus is interceding for you. Our great high priest gives us immediate access to the Father.
Now we do face trials and circumstances that are hard. Relationships are tricky and fluid, sometimes difficult to maintain, but our biggest need is salvation. And we have a high priest who always prays for us.
What do you think Jesus prays for you? That your life will be void of trials? That you will get that big house and a raise?
Before Jesus was going to be crucified, He tells Simon Peter that Satan has asked to sift him like wheat. Of which I think means, Satan wants to remove Peter’s faith[24]. Kinda like what Satan asks of Job in the Old Testament. But Jesus says,
So far in Hebrews we have seen Jesus is able to help us (2:18) and he is able to sympathise with us (4:15) but here He is able to save us completely[25]. He is the perfect mediator between God and human beings because He is God and a human being[26].
If you are in Christ, you have access to the Father. You will be heard, you are loved, your name is mentioned in the throne room of God. God knows who you are. Cast your cares and worries to the Almighty one, for you are in Christ.
Jesus is the best high priest the world has ever seen and will ever see, for he was the pure one-off sacrifice for the sins of all people. He was from the order of Melchizedek. After beating death, Jesus always lives to intercede for us. He has not taken a nap or nicked off. He still cares for you and your circumstances. He is not far away.
This week let us be confident, knowing that our high priest has made the one off needed sacrifice to bring us to God, and is now interceding for us. He “truly meets our need” (v26) and is able to save us completely (v25). Let us be confident, even in our daily troubles, that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38-39), for we have a high priest, in the order of Melchizedek, who forever lives to intercede for us.
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe (1982) Be Confident: Live by Faith, Not by Sight
[2] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[3] I did find this random song about Melchizedek,but it's not really a kids song. Even stranger is this song/chant
[4] David L. Allan (2010), Hebrews (The New American Commentary)
[5] David Alsobrook, Melchizedek: King of Righteousness and Peace. This argued that Melchizedek was a Christophany
[6] David L. Allan (2010), Hebrews (The New American Commentary)
[7] William L. Lane (1991), Hebrews 1-8, Volume 47A (Word Biblical Commentary), “There is no hint in the argument that unfolds in vv 4–10 that the writer regarded Melchizedek in mythological terms. He presents the royal priest of God Most High as a historical personage in primal history” See also David L. Allan (2010) who I thought had the best arguments as to why he can’t be the pre-incarnate Christ.
[8] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[9] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[10] Peter T. O’Brian (2010), The Letter to the Hebrews (Pillar New Testament Commentary)
[11] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[12] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[13] Ant 20.227 cited in William L. Lane (1991)
[14] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[15] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
[16] Tacitus: “Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
[17] Ian Hamilton: Our Great High Priest: The Heavenly Ministry of Christ
[18] One Forever (Rory Shiner) I did find out later that before Rory was doing the promotion for this book, he asked on Facebook for an analogy to describe being in Christ, and someone else suggested to him the plane analogy.
[19] Ian Hamilton: Our Great High Priest: The Heavenly Ministry of Christ
Do you like knowing you have someone in high places that has your back? This could be a good boss or a family friend who has power or influence. Before our ACT elections, I had a few conversations with people, and they said they appreciated some candidates who took the time to answer their questions, one candidate even returned phone calls with people to continue conversations with them. Those who engaged in these discussions felt like they had been heard and listened to, by someone who may represent them at a Canberra level. It does feel good to know that when there is a power differential, those who feel subordinate are listened to and understood and even represented by the senior person.
Today we are continuing in the book of Hebrews. We are in the middle of an argument about Jesus being a high priest. Already the author has mentioned a few times that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek and today we will be looking at this point directly - to see what this actually means. Then, over the next few weeks we will see how Jesus’s priesthood is part of a greater covenant, is a better temple and offers a greater sacrifice[1].
The problem of Jesus being a priest
If you were asked the question who is Jesus, what would you answer? Jesus asked His disciples this question. They answered by way of what Jesus’ role was. Some said He was a prophet, but Peter nailed it when he said Jesus was the Christ, or another name for a king. Some people think “Christ” is Jesus’ last name as it is used so often. But “Christ” is a title or office. We often say that Jesus is Lord, which again is like saying he is “king” or “ruler”.You may have heard the threefold roles of Jesus being Prophet, Priest and King. People in Jesus day seemed to get the prophet and king bit, but have you thought about how Jesus is a Priest?
In Jewish law, only those from the tribe of Levi could be priests, and the Bible is very clear that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah and from the line of David, a kingly line.
I don’t know if you know but when a king tried to do the work of a priest it ended badly[2]. In 2 Chronicles 26 we read of king Uzziah who burned incense on the temple altar. He is confronted by the priest who says that this was not right. He said, only descendants of Aaron are allowed to do this. And King Uzziah is struck with leprosy for the rest of his life because of his priestly actions.
So, then where did this idea that Jesus was prophet, priest and king come from? Can you see the problem? It a king and a priest goes against the law of Moses.
Now, have you ever done a Bible timeline exercise? Its where you are to put various Biblical characters or events on a timeline. We have done this a few time at youth. You kinda are trying to work out where and when things happen in a chronological order. You put Jesus near the end, and then normally David and Abraham are next, Peter, Solomon, Adam at the start etc…
Not once when I have done this exercise, has anyone said, “between Abraham and Isaac we should put Melchizedek”. This guy is such a minor character in the Bible, that you would be forgiven to have not even know who he was. He is like Enoch, who turns up and nicks off. Or other randoms like Dorcas in Act 9 (I just love that name - also on the live stream I said Acts 7 by mistake) or Rufus in Mark 15, these are people who are mentioned in the Bible but you would think because of so little air time, you don’t really need to know who they are.
In our Old Testament reading today, we saw all the references to Melchizedek there is. He gets like 3 verses in Genesis 14 and gets one verse is Psalm 110. And from these few verses, our author makes some deep points about Jesus. Melchizedek helps us see Jesus in a new light.
This chapter is one of contrast, but it isn’t about Melchizedek vs Jesus, it is about the Levitical Priesthood vs the Melchizedek Priesthood. Or the order of Aaron vs the order of Melchizedek.
Today we will first look at why Melchizedek is a big deal, and then we will contrast the two priesthoods, and finally, we will look at the role of a priest and why this really matters.
Genesis 14 Mel was better than Abraham (v1-10)
Blessings and Tithe
So, in the first 10 verses of chapter 7, the author looks very closely at Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek. He does this to show that Melchizedek is a big deal.Now, Abraham is a towering figure in the Bible. Some say, that in order to understand the Bible and God’s rescue plan, you have to look at Abraham. He was this pagan smuck who in Genesis 12 gets some key promises from God. God says that Abraham would become a great nation, that his name would be great, that he would be blessed by God and that all peoples will be blessed through him. And the rest of the Biblical story is really about the fulfilment of these promises to Abraham: how Israel was formed, how they became a great nation, and how through this nation, because of Jesus all people on earth can be blessed.
And in our text, it says, that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Come on! How is that so? There are no kids songs about Melchizedek[3], but I bet some of you know that “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had…”
Our passage says that Melchizedek was greater because he blessed Abraham and receives a tithe off him.
The point is, in verse 7 “without a doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater”. Because Melchizedek blesses Abraham, it shows how great Melchizedek was.
Forever
Another point the author draws from Genesis 14 is that we are not told who Melchizedek’s parents are. Verse 3 points out that he has no genealogy listed, and this is a strange quirk in the Genesis text, as it is big on family lines. In Genesis, we learn about Ishmael's line, Lots daughters’ line, Noah’s son's line. There are loads or genealogies listing from Adam to Abraham, telling us who their parents were, how many years they lived and that they died, and yet with Melchizedek, we do not know who his Dad is, nor how old he was when he died.Some people take v3 and draw all sorts of ideas about who this mysterious figure is. I read some think he was Shem[5], or an angel, possibly the archangel Michael, or the pre-incarnate Christ or a Canaanite king-priest[6].
I think, all the author of Hebrews is doing, is saying the text in Genesis doesn’t give us a genealogy. Melchizedek, I think was a real historical guy[7], and we aren’t told about his family line because we don’t need to know it. He wasn’t a priest because his father was a priest[8]. He was a priest not based on some line of successors. This is different to the Levitical priesthood which was based on family descent[9]. Melchizedek would be disqualified to be a priest under Moses, and yet we are told he was a priest and Abraham recognised this[10].
From the silences in the text of Melchizedek’s genealogy and what happened to him afterwards, the author says this is like, or resembles, in reality, the Son of God who is an eternal priest.
Levitical Priesthood vs The Order of Melchizedek (v11-28)
After establishing that Melchizedek was a superior priest outside of the Levitical line, from verse 11 till the end, the author goes on to contrast the Levitical priesthood vs the Melchizedek priesthood.The old priesthood was established by law and passed down throughout the generations, so it involved many priests and many sacrifices. Theses priests were not perfect as they had to deal with their own sin, and ultimately in verse 18 the old system is said to be “weak and useless”.
These may be fighting words to a Jew, but the law was not able to save. Or in verse 11, it was not able to make people perfect. The law was used to condemn us, to show us that we are in need of salvation, but it was never able to save sinners[11]. God plan was always to introduce another order, this time, not by law, but by an oath, that would secure salvation for all people[12]. One that would involve a better priest, a permanent priest, one that would enable all people to come to God.
Josephus, a Jewish historian from the first century says[13] there were 83 high priests from Aaron to the fall of the Jewish temple in 70 AD. All of them died. No matter how great they were, they couldn’t continue because “death prevented them from continuing in office”. Every time they died, another had to take their place. And, they all had to make sacrifices for themselves as they too were personally sinful and under the curse of death.
But Christ is a different priest, from a different order, not based on law, or genealogy but based on an unchangeable oath or promise. Verse 21 quotes this oath:
“The Lord has swornGod does not lie (Heb 6:18) and God’s word does not fail, and He declared that a new priest would come from the order of Melchizedek.
and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest forever.’”
And, not only is there no need for a successor, Jesus the new priest is also, verse 26, holy, blameless and pure. Unlike every other high priest who has ever existed, Jesus had no need to make sacrifices for His own sins. He was perfect, he was what the law could not achieve. While Christ can and does identity with us in our humanity, in another sense he is set apart from us because He did not sin[14].
In summing up this whole argument of contrast in verse 28 it ends,
“the law appoints as high priest men in all their weakness, but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.”
Role of Priests and how Good Jesus is
So, this is great. A bit heavy on facts and details, but yeah, we get it, Jesus is a priest. Not a Levitical priest, thankfully, for that was weak and useless, subject to sin, death and interruptions. It could not make us perfect, and could not bring us to God. Instead, Jesus is a great High Priest, one who is perfect, one who will last forever, but so what? You may now score a point in the next Bible trivia game you play, but so what? Good on Jesus getting this role, but what does He do? How is Him being a priest, besides some biblical nerd point, even helpful?Jesus is after all not here. He went away. He left us. We remember and are thankful for what He achieved on the cross, and we look forward with hope when He returns, but what about today?
What about now? We have our troubles. Things are messed up. Life is hard, inequality and poverty are around us, our relationships aren’t what we want them to be, marriages are hard, parenting is tiering and being single is lonely. We have stress, anxiety, depression. We see perpetrators and victims all the time, and oh yeah, we are in a global pandemic that has killed over 1 million people[15]. What is Jesus doing?
What about when this letter was written? We read in chapter 10[:33-35], that the recipients had been insulted and persecuted for following Jesus. Some had been in prison and others have had their stuff taken away from them. And around this time, or a tad little later, Christian were used as human torches to light up Nero’s outdoor parties[16] and later still they would be thrown to the lions for entertainment. Where was Jesus then? What was He doing for those Christians?
Now that we know Jesus is a great high priest, so what? How does that help us?
There are two main functions of a priest, they would offer sacrifices to God and provide intercessions for the people. These two functions are touched on in this passage and these two functions I think should give us great comfort. Sacrifice and intercession.
Sacrifice
A priest would work in the temple and do the sacrifices for the people. This was a needed function, as law required it because of sin.
COVID is deadly, it can be fatal and can have long term health implications. We shouldn’t be too casual about it. But there is something else out there worst than COVID and no one is reporting on it. It is fatal and no independent reporter is writing about this, no experts on the radio are giving warnings, no documentary is being made about this certain death. You do not hear about this at all and the spread is worse than cancer, the Spanish Flu and the Black Plague, combined.
This deadly thing is sin. It affects everyone, and the penalty or consequences for sin is death. And the priest acting as a mediator would perform a sacrifice. A killing of an innocent animal, as a substitute or replacement for the sinner. It may sound brutal, and barbaric, but so is sin. We will read later in this book, that the blood of these poor innocent animals actually didn’t take away sin (10:4).
But the good news for this problem of sin is there is a cure. It is free and easy to access.
In our passage, verse 27 it says that since Jesus was the sinless, perfect human, he offered no sacrifice for Himself, but instead offered Himself as the sacrifice, and this sacrifice was once and for all because it dealt with sin, once and for all.
The good news is that Jesus, our high priest, offered himself, as a great sacrifice to bring you to God. It was this one-off sacrifice, by this high priest that was able to wash us from our sins. Because of Jesus we are free. Free from sin, and death. We have a future hope and current relationship with God. We don’t get salvation apart from Jesus, we get Jesus who is our salvation[17], and this is key.
Intercession
Jesus did not stay dead. Not only are we brought to God thought this sacrifice, but we also stay in God’s presence because of Christ, since he is our high priest. This remaining in God’s presence is huge and we don’t really talk about it, maybe because we don’t really think having a high priest is a big deal, but it has to do with our salvation.Because Jesus rose from the dead, proving He was God and the acceptable sacrifice for sins, everyone who trusts their life to Jesus is saved and considered in Christ.
Being “in Christ” is one of the major descriptors of what a Christian is in the New Testament. When I try to explain what being “in Christ” is like to the youth, I use an analogy I stole from Rory Shiner[18]. It is a bit archaic now, it involves aeroplanes. You remember when we used to use these things? You used to see them in the sky and travel overseas in them.
Do you ever feel too sinful for God? Do you feel too far away from God? That you are not good enough? That God would not accept you?
Well, if you are in Christ, what happens to you, happens to Christ. If you are in Christ, when God see you, He see Jesus. All your sins are forgiven, and you are seen as righteous because Jesus is righteous. When God see Jesus, He sees you. When God see Jesus’ glory and blesses Him, He blesses you[19].
Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and so this means that if we are in Christ, we are there too. That is why in Colossians 3[:1-3] Paul can say
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."Your life is raised with Christ, your life is now hidden, like buried treasure, it is safe.[20]
In our passage we read in verse 24 and 25 that:
“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”.Since Jesus lives forever, we are told he is able to save those who come to God through Him. Have a look at the reason why in this passage. Why is He able to save completely? It says, “because he achieved it all on the cross” No, sorry it doesn’t’ say that. He is able to save “because Jesus rose from the dead”. No sorry, not that either, is it because he is a great guy?
No, the passage says, that it is “because he always lives to intercede for them”. Because of Jesus’ continual representation of His people to God, He is able to save them completely.
What if someone said to you they were saved because Jesus prays for them? How would you respond to that?[21]
See, I thought it was the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that saved us. I thought that was effectual and able to save all those who come to Jesus. But here, in this passage it says Jesus’ permanent priesthood is able to save completely those who come to God, because he always lives to intercede for them.
We need to realise that salvation belongs to the Lord. From the beginning till the end. From new birth, (or even before the foundation of the world) till glorification, Jesus has His people, no one can snatch them from His hand (John 10:28-29).
Jesus is a completer finisher. What he starts he finishes[22]. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion (Phil 1:6).
Jesus has beaten death, so He is always going to live, He is eternal, and now as a priest He always, continually, eternally[23] interceded for His people.
Sometimes I get prayed for in services and I am encouraged when people do, even if sometimes I find it a bit awkward when done in a public setting.
But, it is one thing to have a peer pray for you, it is another to have a high priest, who is right next to the Father continually praying for you. If you are in Christ, Jesus is interceding for you. Our great high priest gives us immediate access to the Father.
Now we do face trials and circumstances that are hard. Relationships are tricky and fluid, sometimes difficult to maintain, but our biggest need is salvation. And we have a high priest who always prays for us.
What do you think Jesus prays for you? That your life will be void of trials? That you will get that big house and a raise?
Before Jesus was going to be crucified, He tells Simon Peter that Satan has asked to sift him like wheat. Of which I think means, Satan wants to remove Peter’s faith[24]. Kinda like what Satan asks of Job in the Old Testament. But Jesus says,
“I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail”. (Luke 22:32).I think something like this is going on in our chapter.
So far in Hebrews we have seen Jesus is able to help us (2:18) and he is able to sympathise with us (4:15) but here He is able to save us completely[25]. He is the perfect mediator between God and human beings because He is God and a human being[26].
If you are in Christ, you have access to the Father. You will be heard, you are loved, your name is mentioned in the throne room of God. God knows who you are. Cast your cares and worries to the Almighty one, for you are in Christ.
Jesus is the best high priest the world has ever seen and will ever see, for he was the pure one-off sacrifice for the sins of all people. He was from the order of Melchizedek. After beating death, Jesus always lives to intercede for us. He has not taken a nap or nicked off. He still cares for you and your circumstances. He is not far away.
This week let us be confident, knowing that our high priest has made the one off needed sacrifice to bring us to God, and is now interceding for us. He “truly meets our need” (v26) and is able to save us completely (v25). Let us be confident, even in our daily troubles, that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38-39), for we have a high priest, in the order of Melchizedek, who forever lives to intercede for us.
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe (1982) Be Confident: Live by Faith, Not by Sight
[2] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[3] I did find this random song about Melchizedek,but it's not really a kids song. Even stranger is this song/chant
[4] David L. Allan (2010), Hebrews (The New American Commentary)
[5] David Alsobrook, Melchizedek: King of Righteousness and Peace. This argued that Melchizedek was a Christophany
[6] David L. Allan (2010), Hebrews (The New American Commentary)
[7] William L. Lane (1991), Hebrews 1-8, Volume 47A (Word Biblical Commentary), “There is no hint in the argument that unfolds in vv 4–10 that the writer regarded Melchizedek in mythological terms. He presents the royal priest of God Most High as a historical personage in primal history” See also David L. Allan (2010) who I thought had the best arguments as to why he can’t be the pre-incarnate Christ.
[8] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[9] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[10] Peter T. O’Brian (2010), The Letter to the Hebrews (Pillar New Testament Commentary)
[11] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[12] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[13] Ant 20.227 cited in William L. Lane (1991)
[14] R. Albert Mohler Jr. (2017), Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary)
[15] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
[16] Tacitus: “Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
[17] Ian Hamilton: Our Great High Priest: The Heavenly Ministry of Christ
[18] One Forever (Rory Shiner) I did find out later that before Rory was doing the promotion for this book, he asked on Facebook for an analogy to describe being in Christ, and someone else suggested to him the plane analogy.
[19] Ian Hamilton: Our Great High Priest: The Heavenly Ministry of Christ
[20] From a previous youth camp talk I gave on Colossians 3 (links are all broken)
[21] Ian Hamilton: Our Great High Priest: The Heavenly Ministry of Christ Ian may have a different take on what I think Jesus' intercessions are.
[22] From a previous youth camp talk I gave on Philippians
[23] I took the word “eternally” out in the 4pm service, as someone after the 9:30am wondered if Jesus would be interceding for us after His return. I hadn’t thought about and did wonder the need for Him to be praying for our salvation after we had entered this “Sabbath rest” (Heb 4)
[24] John Piper, Jesus Is Praying for You Today, That Your Faith Might Not Fail
[25] Donald Guthrie (1983) Hebrews, Volume 15 (Tyndale New Testament Commentary)
[26] Getting Excited About Melchizedek (TGC 2011) by D.A. Carson
[21] Ian Hamilton: Our Great High Priest: The Heavenly Ministry of Christ Ian may have a different take on what I think Jesus' intercessions are.
[22] From a previous youth camp talk I gave on Philippians
[23] I took the word “eternally” out in the 4pm service, as someone after the 9:30am wondered if Jesus would be interceding for us after His return. I hadn’t thought about and did wonder the need for Him to be praying for our salvation after we had entered this “Sabbath rest” (Heb 4)
[24] John Piper, Jesus Is Praying for You Today, That Your Faith Might Not Fail
[25] Donald Guthrie (1983) Hebrews, Volume 15 (Tyndale New Testament Commentary)
[26] Getting Excited About Melchizedek (TGC 2011) by D.A. Carson
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