It's a privilege for us this morning to have Dr. Stephen Wellam with us to preach God's Word. He is a professor of Christian theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, I think they say Louisville, right? Louisville, Kentucky.
As well, he is associate pastor of the Hazelwood Baptist Church, also in Louisville, Kentucky. So, brother, please come and preach to us. Well, it's really a privilege to be with you this morning. I did live in this beautiful area that you probably maybe take for granted, right?
With all these beautiful mountains and the sunshine today, back in 96 through 99. And I was teaching just down the road here at the Associated Canadian Theological Schools of Trinity Western. So it was great to live in the BC area. I grew up, really, even though I've been in the United States for many years, and now 12 years in Louisville, Kentucky.
I grew up in the Toronto area, so you have to put up in B.C. with one of these people from Ontario, right? The East, that East-West divide across the country, but it's a great privilege to be here. I was here for the Sola Scriptura conference and got to meet Pastor Butler there, and some of you, and that was a good time together with some of the area churches and people around us. So I'd invite you to turn in your Bibles.
We're going to look at a couple of sections from the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 5. We're going to look at the first 10 verses, and then we're going to put that together with Hebrews chapter 7. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to be with us.
We'll introduce this section and then look at this wonderful portion of God's words. Let's pray.
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, it's our privilege to gather as your people. It's our privilege to have your word. We confess that we often, too often, take this for granted. We can open up the scriptures, that we can Read of your great work of salvation.
Read of your greatness and who you are. And supremely know and understand and read of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great mediator of the new covenant. The one who is our only hope.
The one who meets our every need. The one who is our great high priest. He is our great prophet. He is our great king.
But today we want to focus on his great priestly work. That in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, all that he has achieved for us. He has paid for our sin. He has won for us our salvation.
He has brought about our justification. He is the one that has given us His righteousness. We have an all-sufficient Redeemer who has met our every need. And so, help us to, as we think about Him this morning, as we turn to this great book that you have given to us by your Spirit, the book of Hebrews, that in so many ways unpacks for us this priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray that you will enrich our minds and thinking on this matter. You will inflame our hearts. You will send us from here desirous to know and to love and to adore and to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we ask all of these things.
Amen.
Introduction
Now, you know, when you go to various churches to speak in that you often have the privilege of picking sections of Scripture that are your favorite. Well, the entire book of Hebrews, now every book of Scripture is important, right, but the book of Hebrews is one of my most favorite books. There's a number of reasons for this. One is because when we understand who the book is addressed to, right, and think of sort of original audience, we can relate to them in so many ways.
This original audience, I mean, as you sort of think through who this book was written to, it was probably written to Jewish Christians. We know that, we at least surmise that, because of the kind of content of the book. It's dealing with Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament and unpacking these riches from the Old Testament plan of God that's now come to culmination in Jesus Christ? Probably.
They were Jewish people raised in that heritage who have now come to faith in the Messiah, and the book is addressed to them. But it's addressed to them, as you look inside the book, it's addressed to them who were facing a lot of difficulties. They were facing persecution from outside of them. You can read chapter 10 in other places, chapter 5, chapter 6. where you begin to see that they've probably been Christians for a while.
They faced trials and tribulation. They endured. Probably there was more persecution on the horizon. And the author writes them to encourage them, to warn them, to face that trials and tribulation well.
Now, how does this relate to us? Well, there's many Christians around the world who are facing trials and tribulation. I mean, we don't face it like they do, but we do face the ongoing culture around us that tries to squeeze us into its mold, that tries to lead us away from the conviction that Christ alone is our Lord and Savior. I mean, so we face pressures like this, but probably we can relate to them sort of, not sort of externally, but internally.
They were also facing a kind of internal compromise. Many, many places in the book. The book is famous for its warning passages. Five different places in the book that it warns Christians in the most severest of terms that if you don't keep pressing on, you're going to lose everything.
If you don't keep looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, it'll be for naught. And we wrestle with these warning passages, and we won't be doing that today. But that tells us that these Christians were in danger of standing still and probably going backwards. I think in today's church today, broadly speaking, we face some of those challenges, especially in sort of the Western context.
We often are those who are very status quo kind of Christians. We are often those who maybe assume the gospel and take it for granted, and by not realizing it, we become more conformed to our world than being transformed by the renewing of our minds. And so we can identify with these Christians, these Christians who are going through struggles from within, from without. And I love the book because of our identification with them.
But more so, another reason why I love the book is not just sort of we can identify with them, But the message that the author gives to them, and really that's probably the most reason why I love the book so much, is what does the author say to people like this who are going through trials and difficulties? Well, he doesn't give them a kind of fluff message. He doesn't give them something just sort of to tickle their fancy and to pull them up by the bootstraps and say, you know, think positive thoughts or things that people do in our day. What he gives them is a good dose of theology.
He gives them a good dose of biblical exposition. He goes back, and really the book of Hebrews is constituted by going back to the Old Testament. The New Testament is just being written. The only Bible they have at this time really is the Old Testament.
And he goes back to that Old Testament, and in passage after passage after passage, he unfolds to them the plan of God. how that plan leads them to Jesus Christ, how he is far greater than all that preceded, so that if they are in danger of thinking, let's go back to the old ways, the author says, if you go back to the old ways, the old ways really drive you forward to the coming of Christ. And so he presents Christ in all of his splendor and all of his glory and all of his majesty. That's why the great theme of the book is that Christ is greater, Christ is better, Christ is superior. A whole number of ways that we can say it.
And that's why I love the book so much, because it helps us focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. And who else can we focus on that's greater than that? And then thirdly tied to this, and this is related to the theme of focusing from the Old Testament, leading us to Christ, is the book of Hebrews is a wonderful book. for helping us understand how the whole council of God fits together. The book of Hebrews is a wonderful example of, I think, what Jesus gave on his famous sermon on the way to Emmaus.
Remember that famous sermon that Jesus gives to those two downcast disciples? They don't fully understand after the resurrection. They're sort of trying to put together the pieces of how it is that their concept of the Messiah could suffer. They just didn't have that kind of seeming understanding.
Peter didn't seem to have that either, right? Earlier in the gospel accounts, you know, when Jesus speaks about his going to be crucified and is going to die, he says, what are you talking about, right? We understand you to be a great king and a great Messiah anointed one, but this idea of a kind of priest and sufferer, I mean, that's hard to figure out. And so Jesus, as He takes these two downcast disciples on the way to Emmaus, what does He do?
Well, He opens up the Scriptures, doesn't He? And He opens up the Scriptures and He says, you know, ought not. Wasn't it of necessity? Wasn't it of God's plan?
That's what He's saying. That the Christ had to suffer. And He had to suffer and die and enter into His glory and from the book of Moses, from the prophets, and from later on in Luke 24, the Psalms, right? From the whole canon of the Old Testament.
He unpacks all that which pertains to himself. And sometimes we say to ourselves, boy, I'd love to have heard that message. Well, if you read your New Testament, you'll hear it. If you read the book of Hebrews, you'll hear it.
And that's another reason why I love this book so much, right? So we can identify with these people. They are an example to us. The message of the book drives Christ home to us, and it helps us understand the whole counsel of God, the plan of God, and how all of that plan centers in Jesus Christ.
The Priestly Theme in Hebrews
Now, what we want to do this morning, and I've asked you to turn to Hebrews chapter 5, what we want to do is begin to just think about how the book of Hebrews unfolds from the Old Testament. the great priest theme applied to Jesus Christ, our Lord. One of the major contributions of the book of Hebrews, when you think of all of the books of the New Testament, it really alone develops in more detail than any New Testament book. It develops this theme that Jesus Christ is our great high priest. Now, it's not as if this theme is not found elsewhere, in the Gospels, in Paul's letters, and elsewhere in the New Testament.
But, I mean, if you took the book of Hebrews out of our Bibles, what would be lost? Well, it would be this great truth, unpacked for us in great detail, that He is the fulfillment of the priests of the Old Testament, that He is a greater priest. that in his work he brings about a salvation that is full and complete and finished, that he meets all of our need. I mean, all of that is the way this is developed here. So we want to think of the priestly work of Christ in Hebrews now in three steps.
You have to have a three point sermon, right? Three steps here. One, we want to think just a little bit about sort of step back from the book because we can't look at the entirety of how this priestly theme is developed, but I want to set for you how the book of Hebrews develops this theme of Christ's priestly work, how it sort of fits together, sort of giving the big picture, right? So I'll put on my sort of teaching hat here, try to get some sense of the whole, of how the book develops this theme.
And then secondly, we want to see how that theme is developed and illustrated in Hebrews chapter 5 and then in Hebrews chapter 7. And in fact, really, Hebrews 5 through 10 is probably the most detailed development of this great truth. So let's look at those three areas, thinking about how the book of Hebrews develops the theme of priest, turning then to Hebrews 5, secondly, Hebrews 7, thirdly, as an illustration of that.
Typology and the High Priest
Now let's think of how the book develops this theme of great high priest. When we say, and when the book of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is our great high priest, Automatically, that connects you to the Old Testament, doesn't it? Automatically, you begin to think of Levites, the Book of Leviticus, the Old Covenant, the priestly role that takes place there. When it says that Christ is the fulfillment of the priesthood, what the Book of Hebrews introduces for us, as in many places in the New Testament, it's introducing the notion of what we would say typology. or typology of how you want to say it.
Now, what's typology? Well, typology is a God-given pattern. And usually we talk about typology in terms of persons. God-given persons that He brings into the world that point beyond themselves.
God-given events that point beyond themselves. God-given institutions that point beyond themselves in God's eternal plan. He has planned the end from the beginning, and part of that plan is to lead us to Christ. And as he unfolds his plan on the stage of history, he gives to us various persons, events, institutions that function in their context to say a lot of things, but they point beyond themselves.
That's what typology is all about. So what kind of persons do we see? Well, all kinds of examples of this. The first man that is created is Adam.
Now, Adam, you could say, what's the significance of Adam? Well, he's the first man. But he's more than that, isn't he? He's the first man that points forward to a greater one to come.
That's typology. So you have a kind of pattern, type, ultimately leading to its fulfillment in what we call the anti-type. So what's the kind of promise theme? promise to fulfill. You think of other persons that are significant in the Old Testament.
Moses. Moses not only is a great leader and ruler and mediator and prophet, but he points beyond himself and And we know that he does that because in the Old Testament text there's anticipations of a greater Moses and there's themes of Moses that have developed in the Old Testament canon. We just don't make anything a type. There's certain exact people, persons that the text develops that point beyond themselves.
David is another good example of this. The great King David, the Davidic covenant, all of this in terms of prophetic anticipation leads to The coming of a greater David, greater than Solomon. That's typology. Events.
Well, probably the greatest example of this would be the great act of redemption in the Old Testament. The exodus. The nation of Israel is delivered from their bondage. They take place in an exodus.
They enter into covenant relationship. And we're not to think that that event was just, oh, that's just a nice, interesting historical event. As the Old Testament scriptures are unfolded, the exodus event becomes picked up in prophetic anticipation. God then says, just as I redeemed my people in that great exodus of old, so there is coming in the future a greater redemption, a greater exodus.
And, of course, that's picked up and applied in the cross of Christ, in the coming of Christ, in this cross, and so on. So that event points beyond itself. Institutions. The entire priestly institution, the entire, you know, you think of the tabernacle and temple.
I mean, these various things are patterns that God has deliberately designed to speak beyond themselves. They're not just randomly put there. They're part of an overall plan. Now, the priest functions that way as well, right? often prophets, priests, and kings.
And it's interesting we see if Christ's work in that threefold way. And all of that is a typological pattern. Now, the priestly theme. How does the Hebrews develop this priestly theme?
Priests are a kind of pattern type of that which is to come. It develops it in two ways, and that's what we'll illustrate here from chapter 5 and chapter 7. As each priest is laid down for us in the Old Testament. And, of course, that priest in the Old Testament is tied to the Levitical priesthood.
That priest and those Levites that come from Aaron, they eventually point beyond themselves to Jesus Christ. And in how they carry out their work, how they represent the people, how they do the various roles that they have, Jesus Christ fulfills that role yet greater. And so there's lots of Levitical themes that are picked up in the New Testament. Christ is the fulfillment of the Levites.
He does what they do, but greater. Chapter 5 will develop that, and we'll illustrate that in just a moment. Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 develop that. But there's also another way the book of Hebrews develops the priestly theme.
And this raises, and it is the only place in the New Testament where this issue is raised, which is a crucial theological issue, and we would say a defense of the gospel issue, or we would say an apologetic issue. If you begin to think and begin to proclaim, right, if the Christians begin to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest, there's a problem. You say, what's the problem? He's not a Levite.
He comes from the tribe of Judah. Now of Judah, we know all kinds of anticipation that's Davidic. What do you do with priests? So the book of Hebrews develops this theme from the Old Testament.
That the Old Testament not only anticipates the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood, but the Old Testament also anticipates that there is a priest who's coming who will come from an entirely different order. That if Christ was a Levite, he wouldn't fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures. And it's those two themes that are put together, and it's developed in this kind of typological pattern. So
Two Strands of Priestly Typology
Christ fulfills everything that the Levites did, anticipated, carried out in their work in the tabernacle, temple, and so on. He fulfills all of that. Yet he also comes from an entirely different order, which is what the Old Testament anticipated as well. So that the Jew, in hindsight, obviously, right? 2020 hindsight.
If you play with the stock market, 2020 is always better, right? Than trying to do it while you're in the midst of it. But hindsight, right? You know, if you look back, the Jew should have been able to see that there is coming a priest, who will fulfill all of what the Levitical office did, but will also come from a different order.
They should have been able to see that. That's part of what Jesus says in the way to Emmaus. You ought to have known these things. You ought to have seen these things.
Again, we can't be sometimes too hard on them, because 20-20 hindsight is always 20-20, but it's there. And that's what the book of Hebrews develops.
Hebrews 5: The Levitical Pattern
So let me illustrate that in terms of chapter 5, 1 through 10. This really is picking up the first element Levitical priests carry out a certain role. Jesus fulfills all of that, yet greater. And then we'll turn to chapter 7 to see how he comes from an entirely different order.
So 5, 1 through 10. Now, the priestly theme has already been anticipated before you get to chapter 5. It's there in chapter 1, verse 3. It's there at the end of chapter 2.
It's there at the end of chapter 4, verses 14 through 16. So it's already running through the entire book. But then he picks up to develop this theme in detail in verse 1 of chapter 5. If you want a one-verse summary of the entire work of priests, here you go.
You can often find that, right? A one-verse that summarizes what's a priest in the Old Testament? Well, here it is.
The Threefold Role of the Priest
Every high priest is selected from among men, is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. Now, in that one verse, you have a nice sort of threefold summary of what a priest does. What's a priest? Well, a priest comes from among the men. selected from among the men.
In the Old Testament context, that means comes from Israel. And specifically, it comes from the tribe of Levi. He comes from among us. He picks up his humanity and picks up the fact that he will now come from among them and represent them.
You have the representational role emphasized as well. He not only comes from among them, but he's appointed. He's appointed to represent them in matters related to God, right? There he is the go-between.
He is the mediator. He stands on behalf of the people before God and for a specific purpose. He's not just there to say, hello God, how are you doing today? What's going on?
Let me get some information from you. But he does that in relation to gifts and sacrifices for sins. A prophet is a kind of go-between. He takes the word of the Lord to the people, but the priest is the one who stands between the people and God on behalf of sin.
He has to offer something. He has to offer a sacrifice. Obviously, this is tied back to the whole truth of Scripture, that God is the Lord and is the holy God, and us is sin. We cannot come into God's presence in our sin due to His holiness.
And so there needs to be an atonement. And the priest now functions in that way to bring the people before God, to allow God to be present among the covenant people, and there to be forgiveness of sin. And so that one verse summarizes. He comes from among the people, to go between.
He is the one who offers that for sin. It goes on to then describe this priest as well. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant, who is going astray since he himself is subject to weakness. Now, this will be an area where he identifies with the people.
He's in solidarity with them. He understands that he's able to deal gently with them as a fine balance between Not being apathetic, but not being angry because he knows he's one with them. He's a fellow sinner with them. Now, of course, when we get to Christ, this is where he's going to be far greater.
He's still going to be able to have solidarity with us, yet he is not a sinner. And that'll pick up the difference between the Levitical priest and Christ priest. But he is able to, the Levitical priest, deal gently with those who are ignorant, who are going astray. He is subject to weakness.
Weakness there not only in terms of I think there's sin, but also just physical infirmity This is why he is able to offer sacrifices for this is why he has to offer Sacrifices for his own sins as well as for the sins of the people Go back to the Old Testament the Day of Atonement was a good example of this Before the priest could ever offer for the people He first had to deal with his own problem He first had to deal with his own sin And here, the author is saying this priest now comes from among the people. He's in solidarity with them. He understands them. Verse 4 picks up the idea that people just can't take this role to themselves.
They have to be selected. They have to be appointed. And in fact, in the Old Testament, they had to come from a specific family, a specific tribe. You came from Benjamin.
You say, hey, I want to go to college and university and be a priest. You've got to lie. You can't just, you know, in our society say, hey, I want to be this and I want to be that. And my parents did this job, but I'm going to do something else.
Well, you didn't have that luxury under the old covenant, right? It came from a certain family, a certain tribe. And that's where verse four is getting at. No one takes this honor upon himself.
He must be called by God just as Aaron was. Now, in those first four verses, you have a description of the Levitical priest. You have this idea that he is in solidarity with the people. He is able to sympathize with them and deal gently with them because he knows his own fellow weaknesses.
And he is that which is chosen by God, selected and appointed.
Christ as Superior Fulfillment
Now Christ, to be the fulfillment of this, has to in all those ways fulfill this yet greater. He too has to be chosen. He, too, has to come from among us. He, too, has to be able to sympathize with us.
Yet, in all those areas, he will be chosen, he will be sympathetic, he will be in solidarity in a far greater way than any Levitical priest could ever be. And that's what verses 5 through 10 is picking up. So, Christ. See, there's the comparison.
Just as these ones were like this, so Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. He just didn't say, well, I'm just going to be a high priest. No, God, the Father, God said to him. And now you have two very, very important quotations of the Old Testament.
One from Psalm two and one from Psalm 110 already earlier in the book, they've been quoted and they've been developed. Psalm 2, you are my son. Today I have become your father. And he says in another place, he's combining these texts together.
You are a priest forever. In the order of Melchizedek. Now interesting there, when he mentions Melchizedek, he'll eventually develop that in chapter 7. But here are two passages that are crucial Old Testament Messianic passages. that pick up this theme that the son is appointed to this task.
We speak of this in terms of God's eternal plan. The father is the one who initiates. The son is the one who comes to redeem. He is the one who is given a people.
All of this ties to his appointment. He is one like the Old Testament priest who is selected and appointed. His appointment here is tied to eternal relations. It's tied to his work as Messiah.
He is the one who is given appointment that eventually, in verse 6, picking up from Psalm 110, will be an appointment forever. That forever will be really important as you develop this theme of priest. This priest here will have a forever priesthood. Those Levitical priests came and went and died, and the next priest showed up, but this one here now is forever.
So he's appointed. Similar, yet, of course, there's some massive differences here. Verse 7 picks up the idea that he is the one who is in solidarity. He is sympathetic.
But his sympathy is not tied to the fact that he is a sinner. You and I can sympathize with one another because we know our own failings and shortcomings and sin before God. But this one here is the one who is sympathetic because he, in chapter 4 develops this, he is tempted like us, yet he is without sin. He is the one who knows what it's like to obey the will of God, but to do so in a way that you and I never bring about.
He brings about eternal salvation. He brings about obedience to his Father's will, where he understands what we go through, but he does so as the perfect Son of God. That's what's emphasized here in verse 7.
Christ's Solidarity and Obedience
During the days of Jesus' flesh on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made Perfect that perfection language here is is priestly language It's it's made by his obedience by his living his life and ultimately what's being described here in terms of this Prayers and petitions is probably a reference to the Garden of Gethsemane through his whole life he obeyed and We have that right from the very beginning. He comes to do his father's will temptation at the beginning of his ministry through his entire life.
He is the obedient son and uniquely so at the Garden of Gethsemane, where he faces. He knows what is before him. He is going to have to go and bear the cup of God's wrath. He is going to have to go as our priest.
And he says, not my will, but your will. I would prefer that I did not have to do this, but I have come. To obey your will, I have come to save a people." And he then says here he learned obedience. He was made perfect.
He was made the all-suitable Savior. And he becomes then, and this is where you have the major contrast with the Levitical priest, he became the source of eternal salvation. No Levitical priest can bring eternal salvation. The priest himself needs to be saved himself.
But he now becomes, through that obedience, through that submission, Through that act of obedience, which is reflected in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is epitomized on the cross. Think of Philippians 2. He becomes obedient even to death. Death of a cross.
That obedience is what now brings eternal salvation. He now brings with him a priesthood that is forever. Now, there's solidarity here, isn't there? He can understand, you say, who can we go to to understand what I'm going through?
He understands not as a sinner. He understands because he faced temptation. He understands what it means to live in this cruel, hard fallen world. He doesn't understand as a fallen creature.
He is the Lord of glory who now opens up eternal salvation for us. But he understands we can go to him. He can sympathize with us. Yet his sympathy isn't just sort of, oh, I feel sorry for you.
His sympathizing actually brings a result. His sympathy brings with it forgiveness of sins and salvation. No Old Testament priest sympathizes with us all we wanted, but they could not bring with us this eternal salvation. So here you have in this chapter here, you have this kind of comparison and contrasting.
Levitical priest, chosen, he's chosen yet greater. Solidarity with us, he's in solidarity with us, but all far greater. Sympathy, he sympathizes, but greater. And this is the basis, then, for his priestly work, which accomplishes now an eternal salvation in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7: The Order of Melchizedek
Now, we're going to turn to chapter 7 here. He breaks off. You know where he's going to go with his arguments. But he, as a good preacher, teacher, he probably is thinking of those who he's addressing.
And he says, I'm going to introduce here a theme of Melchizedek. But these people are so dull, they're so slow of hearing. I've got to I've got to now revert here a little bit and warn them. And then he, after doing that, returns to this great theme.
And this is the secondary where he develops his theme of priest. Christ isn't just the fulfillment of Levitical priests, but he ultimately transcends them. He comes in an entirely different order. Now, that's the burden of chapter seven.
And in chapter seven, it's really broken down into, you know, four sections that will walk through here. very quickly. 7, 1 through 10 introduces from the Old Testament this very, very interesting figure named Melchizedek. Melchizedek only shows up twice in the Old Testament. Two passages that speak of him, and this author reflects on both of them. Genesis 14, Psalm 110.
That's the only two places that he's found. And what the author is doing, because of course he's got Psalm 110 in his mind, you are a priest in the order of Melchizedek. And also tied to Psalm 110 is the great theme that this priest is David's Lord, that he is the one who is Messiah, he is the one who is coming. So obviously this author is thinking of Psalm 110 and he's connecting it back with this historic figure named Melchizedek in the Old Testament.
In the first 10 verses of chapter 7, you basically have, really in the first couple of verses, you have a summary of what is given to us in Genesis. And then you have his commentary on it. In this context of Genesis 14, you remember that situation where Abraham, Abraham and his nephew Lot, Lot wasn't the most wisest, you know, sharpest tack, right? He picks the wrong land to live in the city and everything else.
And the four Canaanite kings come and capture Sodom and Gomorrah, take Lot off. And old father Abraham here, he must have been a pretty plucky fella, you know, he's fairly old at this time, he takes his 318 trained men and he goes to war with these kings, recaptures Lot, brings him back. And as he's coming back, he is met with the king of Sodom and the king of Sodom says, oh, thank you, Abraham, thank you. Can I give you something?
And Abraham says, hit the road. I don't want anything from you." And then he meets up with this man named Melchizedek. He just pops onto the scene. He's described, as we'll see here, as a priest, and he's a king, and he's the priest of the God Most High, the name for God.
And Abraham then gives him a tenth of time. And then he disappears, and you never hear about him again until Psalm 110. Now, this is what the author is reflecting upon. Let's just read the text, and we'll see how he mentions this.
Melchizedek in Genesis 14
This Melchizedek was king of Salem. That's what we find in Genesis 14. Salem here is another form of the word peace, probably the forerunner to the city of Jerusalem. This Melchizedek was king of peace, priest of God most high.
He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him. And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. And that's pretty much what happened in Genesis 14. Now, the author begins to reflect upon Genesis 14.
He's doing what we would call a kind of inductive Bible study, right? He's looking at the text and saying, hmm, I wonder what God's teaching me here. First, he says, and these are just observations that he draws from the Bible, what does Melchizedek mean? Well, literally, it means king of righteousness.
He's also from Salem, king of Salem, which means king of peace, comes from Shalom. All of those things just simply are where he's from, his name, and so on. Now, verse 3 is an interesting comment. Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days and end of life, he's like Jesus.
He's like the Son of God. who remains a priest forever. Priest forever. He's a forever priesthood tied to Psalm 110. He's like him.
Now, this has raised all kinds of questions in the history of the church. Is this a pre-incarnate Christ? Christophany? Is this just a human figure?
What does it mean? He has no genealogy and all that. Well, there's a lot of speculation. It's hard to nail it down perfectly.
But I do think that this probably is just a man who lived in, who's a priest-king, who lives in the time of Abraham. So you say, well, where do you get this without father or mother, without genealogy? Well, if you read the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis has all kinds of genealogies in it. In fact, the entire structure of the book is genealogies.
Maybe this afternoon at lunchtime you can flip through those genealogies and you see if you can find Melchizedek's name in there. Not in one of those genealogies. So what the author of Hebrews is doing is he's reading Genesis, He's observing the fact that everyone's tied to a genealogy, but this Melchizedek figure, there's no genealogy. There's no recording of his birth, there's no recording of his death.
He's light, just a kind of comparison. He's like the Son of God who lives forever, right? So he's observing these things from reading the passage that is there. Now, he also then reflects upon how great he was.
Think of how great he was. Even the patriarch, Abraham, gave an attempt at the plunder. Now, that's amazing, right? In Scripture, Abraham, Father Abraham is a pretty important fellow.
In Abraham, all the hopes of the world are found, right? Through him, through Isaac, through the promised seed, will come the promise to the nations. He will bring ultimately, you tie Abraham back to Adam, he will bring God's promise of salvation to the world. But then you see Abraham, Giving this king priest, interestingly enough, he's a king priest.
He gives him a 10th. And when you give a 10th to someone, it really signifies that the one who gives it is a little bit lesser than in importance than the one who receives it. But then who is this Melchizedek? That's it.
Why? Why would father Abraham be doing that? You see, that's what he's referencing on. Just how think how great he was.
Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a 10th to plunder. Now, the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people, that is, their brothers, even though their brothers are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Without doubt, the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
Now, he's reflecting on the fact that later, and everything you know about Levitical priests under the Old Covenant, how were they paid? Well, they were paid by the other tribes. There was no land allotment for Levites. They served the Lord.
The other 11 tribes, they paid them money in order to live and to carry out the priestly service. Everything from the brothers paid them. But now he's observing the fact that Abraham, who is the patriarch of all of the brothers and all of the Levites, now is giving this man. certainly speaks, at least in Genesis, of Melchizedek's greatness. Without doubt, the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
In a case, the tenth is collected by men who die, but in the other case, a man who's declared to be living, just man whose no genealogy is recorded. One might even say, this becomes very important, one might even say that Levi who collects the tenth, right? Levi's brothers pay him, but in Abraham giving the tenth to Melchizedek, Where does Levi come from? Well, Levi eventually comes from Abraham.
It's as if Abraham, in giving Melchizedek a tent, it's as if Levi, and that's what he says here, it's as if Levi pays the tent through Abraham. That's a kind of Old Testament way of thinking, right? If the great-great-grandfather is the one who you come from, then what he does has an effect on you, so it's as if Levi now is paying Levi doesn't exist yet. He's paying the 10th through Abraham to Melchizedek.
In some sense, isn't there already a hint in Genesis 14? Isn't there a hint that eventually that Levitical priesthood that comes is already something lesser than this man's priesthood? That's the point that he's observing. Now, if all you have is Genesis 14, it's probably not.
I mean, that may be a legitimate conclusion, but how do you know? I mean, are you sure about that? We know for sure that's the correct conclusion to draw, that the Levitical priesthood is subservient to Melchizedek, because later in Scripture, Psalm 110 tells you that, doesn't it? It's very interesting what the author of Hebrews is doing, he's unpacking Genesis 14, And then Psalm 110 that comes many, many, many, many, many years later, right?
David writes Psalm 110 and it's written way down after Levitical priesthood are already functioning and up and running. God then says many, many years later, after the Levites are functioning, hey, there's coming a priest in a Melchizedekian order, which is going to overturn this Levitical order. And when you go back to Genesis 14, you say, boy, it's already sort of hinted at there because Abraham is showing that he's lesser than Melchizedek. God is teaching us that there's going to be a priest not only to fulfill Levitical role, but it's going to be greater.
It's going to come of a different order. That's how the argument is going here. Now, verse 11 is a crucial sort of hinge, a hinge between Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. This is a kind of very, very important sort of question.
The Insufficiency of the Levitical Priesthood
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood. And then there's a very, very important parenthesis here. On the basis of it, what's the it here? Well, the it is the Levitical priesthood.
On the basis of it, the law, what's the law here? The law of covenant, the Mosaic covenant. On the basis of the priesthood, the law of covenant was given to the people. Why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
Now, he's already thinking of Psalm 110 here. This is very, very important, and the author uses this kind of argument throughout the book. The Jew in the Old Testament, they thought, wrongly, they thought that the Old Covenant was an end in itself. They thought the Levitical priesthood was an end in itself.
They thought that as long as you had the temple of the Lord existing and the priesthood was functioning in some fashion, God will bless them and that's all you need. That wasn't the point. The Levitical priesthood, as important as it was, was never intended ultimately, those are important words, was never intended ultimately to bring ultimate salvation. That's what this notion of perfection is getting at.
Another way of speaking of perfection would be saying, ultimate salvation, full forgiveness of sins, all of justification, all these things here. If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, then you wouldn't need another priesthood, would you? If the Old Covenant could have brought full forgiveness of sins, full relationship with God restored, all of God's promises had passed, you wouldn't need another covenant. But the very fact that the Levitical priesthood could not bring ultimate salvation as anticipated in the Old Testament because there was, after that priesthood, an announcement in Psalm 110 that there's coming another priest.
And the other priest is not coming in the Levitical order, he's coming in the Melchizedekian order. If the Levitical priesthood was an end in itself, God wouldn't be saying and promising another order. That's the point. And then verse 12 picks this up, which he'll develop in chapter 8.
We won't really look at 8. You're probably thankful we won't, right? Verse 12, when there is a change of priesthood, there's also a change of law, right? When there is the change of priesthood, there must also come a change in the covenants.
And that's precisely what chapter 8 develops with the promise from Jeremiah 31. Now, what this author is doing here is he's saying, look, if you're reading your Old Testament carefully, priests are very, very important. I mean, you can't have any relationship with the author of the priest. Yet already in the Old Testament, Going back to Genesis 14, there's hints of it.
Father Abraham is lesser than the whole Melchizedek in the order. And then when the Levitical priesthood is established, it's very, very important. Yet later, God says, there's another priest coming. The Jews should have said, I'm looking forward to a day when there will be a better priesthood.
I'm looking forward to another day when there's a better covenant. I'm looking forward to a future day when there will be full forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation, a perfection that could only be anticipated in the old covenant, but was never brought about. That's the point that he's making. And so he goes on in verse 13, he of whom these things are said belong to a different tribe, right?
Jesus belongs to Judah. No one from that tribe has served at the altar. It's clear that our Lord descended from Judah. In regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests.
What we have said is even more clear. If one has become a priest, not in the basis of regulation of his ancestry, but in the base of an indestructible life, he quotes Psalm 110, you are a priest forever. And the conclusion he draws for them is the former regulation, that's the covenant, priesthood, is set aside. It was weak and useless.
And they say, what do you mean weak and useless? God-given, wasn't it? Well, of course it was. But in God's plan, it was pointing beyond itself.
If Christ never comes, you would never be saved on the Old Covenant. So that it's weak and useless in that way. The law makes nothing perfect. The law doesn't bring ultimate salvation.
It points forward to it. And a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. It's not without an oath. I'll just become a priest without an oath.
But he became a priest with an oath. Psalm 110, the Lord is sworn, will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better priesthood.
But it says here a better covenant because they're so intertwined together, right? If you have a change of priesthood, you can have a change of covenant. This better priesthood brings a better covenant. We now have the finality of salvation in Jesus Christ.
That's where he goes in verse twenty three. There have been many priests, Levites, since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, remember, we saw that already in chapter five. We see this in terms of Psalm 110 because he lives forever.
He has not a temporary priesthood. Not a priesthood that, you know, you live for 30, 40 years, you die and it's handed off to your son and then they live. No, this is a permanent. Therefore, and this is where it begins to now, what was the implication for us?
Well, verse 25, he's able to save completely.
Christ's Eternal and Sufficient Priesthood
He's able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. He not only in his work as priest on the cross accomplishes a full and final salvation, it has finished. But he now, as priest, continues to live forever and ever and ever as the one who is the interceder for his people. Verse 26, such a high priest meets our need.
Our need is great, isn't it? Our need is to be made right with the Holy God. Our need is to be found righteous in Him. Where do you find that?
You go to a Levitical priest? You offer your lamb? That was prescribed. That was important.
But it was to teach the people, wasn't it? You can offer the lamb all you want, but it's only an animal. What solidarity does the animal have with you? We need one who can represent us.
We need one who is perfect. We need one who is sinless. We need one who can stand on our behalf. as not one who offers sin for himself, and then for us, we need one who is sinless. All of this is what Christ has now brought.
He meets our need. He is holy. He is blameless. He is pure.
He is set apart from sinners. He is exalted from the heavens. He fulfills all the Levites did, but He, thankfully, is not a Levite. If He were a Levite, we are in serious trouble.
He comes from a different order. He comes with an indestructible life. He comes because He is God the Son. who has now taken on flesh, he now brings with him holy, blameless, pure salvation with him. He's exalted above the heavens, unlike other priests.
He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day." Which is the heart of the New Covenant, isn't it? The heart of the New Covenant is ultimately full forgiveness of sin. And full forgiveness of sin comes because there's a once for all time death sacrifice. That sacrifice accomplishes One for all time sacrifice.
These other priests, day after day, first for their own sins, then for the sins of the people, but He sacrificed for their sins once for all time when He offered Himself. What makes His sacrifice greater? It's Him. He is better than any priest.
He is one who is the Son incarnate. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, Levitical, but the oath which came after the law, which God anticipated already in the Old Testament, appointed the Son who has been made perfect forever.
Application: Christ Meets Every Need
Now, what's the implication of that for us? Talking about priests, talking about salvation here in terms of this great priesthood, the implication is, if you want forgiveness of sin, but you need before God, otherwise you stand under His condemnation and judgment, there's only one place you can find it. And thank God there is a priest who can take our sin, pay for it in full. We don't have to go to him and say, please sympathize with us, but can you do anything for us?
No, he not only can sympathize, he can empathize, he can do something. He can actually accomplish for us eternal salvation. He can bring a full and complete forgiveness. He can declare our sins removed from God.
He can bring us into right relationship with Him, adopt in His family, pour out the Spirit of Him. All of that is tied to the priestly work of Christ. His work is final. It is all sufficient.
It meets our need. And sinners need that kind of Redeemer. Otherwise, I mean, that's why the warning passages come. If you think you can find anything else outside of Him, you're fooling yourself.
If this is what's required to save us, then if you think you can save yourself, You're a fool. And so the Lord Jesus Christ then is presented here to these Hebrew Christians, who are probably in danger of saying, well, you know, should we continue on with him? He says, you better continue on, because there's no other. And he's a glorious Redeemer.
He's a glorious priest. He can meet your need. He can sympathize. He can help.
He can save. He can do all of that for you, and you turn to no one else. I trust this morning that He is our priest. He is our Savior.
He is our Lord. That we see in Him, in all of these patterns, beautiful patterns of the Old Testament, that He is the One who meets our need. Go to Him today and find in Him your salvation. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, Thank you for the book of Hebrews. We thank you how. It lays out for us. This anticipation from the Old Testament that we now can clearly see.
In light of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we think of the giving of your son. He's the one that makes all the difference. He is greater than Levites, because he is not just a Levite.
He's not just human, as important as that is to be our representative and Savior. He is the Son. He is the Lord. He's in a category all by himself.
He is the one who has, in obedience to your will and out of love for you and out of love for his people, has come. He has died. He has obeyed. He has died.
He has been raised. He is now the ever-living, forever priest that meets our every need. May we be found in Him. May we leave this place knowing that Jesus Christ the Lord is our Savior, our Lord.
And may we find in Him all of our delight, all of our salvation, all of our satisfaction, May we be people who are spurred on, as these Hebrew Christians were to be spurred on, to live for Him, to proclaim Him, to seek to know Him daily, to look to Him, to delight in Him. Hearts cry today, and may that be the result of seeing Him who is life eternal. And we ask this for not only our goods and for the good of the church, but for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we ask all of these things.