Introduction and Outline
I want to look at three observations tonight from verses 20 to 27. First of all, the divine oath, verses 20 to 22. It wasn't as if it was the sons of Aaron who, because of genetics or because of a particular tribal line, assumed the office of priesthood. Rather, with Christ, he was appointed according to the oath of God Most High.
Secondly, we'll notice the permanent priesthood of Jesus, verses 23 to 25. And then finally, the character of the priest in verses 26 to 27. So as I said, what the apostle is doing here is demonstrating the fitness of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ as the high priest of the new covenant to save his people from their sins. I'll just pick up reading in chapter 7 at verse 20.
Steve, could you just turn the fan on? Thank you. Verse 20. And inasmuch as he was not made priest without an oath, for they have become priests without an oath, but he with an oath by him who said to him, the Lord is sworn and will not relent.
You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. Also, there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. But he, because he continues forever as an unchangeable priesthood.
Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us. who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness.
But the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. Amen. Well, let us pray. God in heaven, thank You for this wonderful description of our Lord Jesus.
We thank You for His high priestly service. We thank You for His blessedness and His glory. We pray that tonight we would be again reminded of just how wonderful our Lord Jesus is, that we would worship Him, that we would love Him, that we would adore Him and that we would honor Him. And we ask in His most blessed name Amen.
Well, if you want to turn back for just a moment to chapter five, just as I mentioned that the larger context begins in chapter five at verse one, there is a bit of a comparison in the beginning verses, but then a contrast in the latter half of the chapter. In verse 1 of chapter 5, for every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this, he is required, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. So a couple of observations here with reference to the priesthood. They were appointed for men, appointed ultimately by God based on the reality that they were Levites and they came from a particular tribe. Notice, as well, the primary focus of the priesthood.
Verse two, he can have compassion. I'm sorry. Verse one, he is appointed for men and things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. And then at the end of verse three, so also for himself to offer sacrifices for sins.
You can never forget that reality when dealing with the priesthood. He offers sacrifice for sin. That is his function. That is his primary duty.
Of course, he intercedes as well. And those two are the basic extent of what a priest does. And so then he compares what the similarities are, but then he shows the contrast. He shows how Jesus did not appoint himself or rather he did not.
He was not appointed based on the particular tribe, but it was announced by God in Psalm 110 that he would be a priest forever. according to the order of Melchizedek. This whole idea is developed, and then we're back to this idea of Christ being from the tribe, or rather, according to the order of Melchizedek in chapter 7, beginning in verse 1, and he's summarizing now in chapter 7, verses 20 to 28, the difference between Jesus Christ being of the order of Melchizedek versus the Aaronic priesthood or the Levitical. priesthood, that were there by appointment, by appointment of the ceremonial law.
The Divine Oath
So let's look at this divine oath, verses 20 to 22. It says, and inasmuch as he was not made priest without an oath, and then parenthetically, for they have become priests without an oath, but he with an oath by him who said to them, said to him. They were made priests, again, not by oath, but by tribal descent. There was a particular group of men that were slotted to serve and function as the priesthood.
Not so with Christ. This is one of the emphases of the section. to show that Christ is, in fact, a rightful high priest. Remember, he came from the tribe of Judah. No doubt that would cause some people to question his functioning and his service as a priest.
Judah was the kingly tribe. Levi was the priestly tribe. How could Jesus serve and function as a priest if he came from the wrong tribe? Well, it wasn't based on tribal descent, but rather this oath of promise that God had given his priestly lineage. traces back not to Aaron, but rather traces back to Melchizedek.
And that's what we find here in the quotation from Psalm 110, verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. This satisfies the divine requirement for him to be a lawful, functioning priest.
He is of the order of Melchizedek. And now notice as well the reason why or the reason for this in verse 22. By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. I suspect we all know what surety means, but we'll give a bit of a technical definition and then a wonderful illustration in the writings of the Puritan John Flavel.
The word means surety or guarantee. The word was used in the papyri in legal and promissory documents to designate a guarantor or one who stands security.
Christ as Surety of the Covenant
Jesus himself is our security that there will be no annulment of this new and better covenant. He is the surety of a better covenant. Peter T. O'Brien says, the word rendered surety, guarantor, is a legal term which appears only here in the New Testament, but was commonly used in Hellenistic Greek of a surety who assumed responsibility for another person's debt if the latter could not meet it.
It's a beautiful concept. We need a surety. We need one to stand in our place, to stand in our position and to take upon himself the obligations placed upon us.
Flavel on the Covenant of Redemption
John Flavel describes it this way. in a personification or perhaps an illustration of the covenant redemption where the father promises to the son a people to save. The father says, my son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these souls?
And thus Christ returns. Oh, my father, such is my love to and pity for them that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their surety. Bring in all thy bills that I may see what they owe thee. Lord, bring them all in that there may be no after reckonings with them.
At my hand shalt thou require it. I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than they should suffer it. Upon me, my father, upon me be all their debt. But, my son, if you undertake for them, you must reckon to pay the last mite.
Expect no abatements. If I spare them, I will not spare thee. Content, father, let it be so. Charge it all upon me.
I am able to discharge it. And though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it. That's a blessed, wonderful statement. You didn't get it all.
Email me. I'll send it to you because you need to get that in your heart. It's glorious. Beautiful, the covenants of redemption, that pre-temporal covenant where God has purpose to save a people.
He gives the elect to the sun. The sun steps up. The sun lives. The sun dies.
The sun rises again to be the surety of a better covenant is what we are told here. This picks up the better hope of verse 19. It is consistent with what we'll find in chapter 8 verses 6. It is a better covenant which is established on better promises.
The new covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31 in the book of Hebrews is identified as a second covenant, as a new covenant, as a better covenant, as an eternal covenant. What the apostle is doing is showing the superiority of Jesus Christ. He's also showing the superiority of the new covenant versus the old. In this new covenant, built on better promises, we have full, free salvation in and through this perfect high priest.
This one who stood in our place, this one who carries out to the uttermost the work that God the Father had given him so that he may be the executor, the surety of a better covenant. That's the divine oath.
The Permanent Priesthood
Let's look, secondly, at the permanent priesthood, verses 23 to 25. We've already been told that in Psalm 110. You are a priest forever. Well, if you read the Old Testament, you will realize that no Levitical priest served forever.
There was this inevitability that faced them. There was this roadblock in the way that faced them. It was the specter called death. Death kept them from serving forever.
Notice, in verse 23, also there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. Josephus, the historian, said there were 83 high priests from the time of Aaron to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The New King James sort of renders it as only in the past, but there was a high priest currently operating at the time the author penned Hebrews 7. So not only the ones that were in the past, but the one currently ruling or currently serving as high priest.
They were prevented by death from continuing. John Gill has a blessed or an appropriate comment here. He says,
Death and the Levitical Limitation
Death has a power to forbid alone continuance in this world. Makes sense, doesn't it? You're not going to serve as an auto mechanic forever, because you're going to meet death. You're not going to serve as a businessman forever, because you're going to meet death.
You're not going to serve as a lawyer forever, because you're going to meet death. The same was true with the high priesthood. They were typical. They were pointing forward to something.
They were for a time, but they were prevented by death from continuing. Death has a power to forbid a long continuance in this world. John Gill, again, and no man does continue long here. Death puts a stop to men's works and to the exercise of their several callings.
No office, even the most sacred, exempts from it. No, not the office of high priests. These were but men, sinful men, and so died. And their discontinuance by reason of death shows the imperfection of their priesthood.
So you see the perfection of Christ's priesthood, this Melchizedek priesthood, by virtue of the fact that it is forever, that it is eternal, that it is not cut off. that introduces them this idea of his eternality, not the idea, but it sets forth in verse 24, his eternality. But he, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. He doesn't have the same limitations that the sons of Aaron possessed. He will not meet that specter.
He actually did meet it and he rendered it a moot. He destroyed death and the power of the one who had or the one over death. Jesus Christ lives forever. He continues forever and therefore has an unchangeable priesthood.
Notice back in verse 16, it says, who has come not according to the law of a fleshly commandment. But according to the power of an endless life, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And that is one of the qualifications or one of the attributes that sets him forth as the perfect priest on behalf of his people. So he is not like the succession of Levitical priests that were cut off by death.
He is eternal, and now the apostle draws a salvation or a salvific implication from that in verse 25.
Saved to the Uttermost
Therefore, he says, based on the reality we've just sketched, we could go into more detail in terms of the differences between Aaron and between Jesus. You notice how back in chapter 5, And if you go all the way back to chapter 16 in the book of Leviticus, what does the priest do before he offers up sacrifice for the sins of the people? He offers up sacrifice for his own sin. Not so the Lord Jesus.
He is holy, harmless and undefiled. He does not have the need to offer up sacrifice on his behalf. There's major distinctiveness between the Aaronic priesthood and this priesthood of Christ. That's what the author is taking pains to demonstrate and display before the people.
And here he brings it home for a consideration in terms of our salvation. Therefore, he is also to save to the utter most. He is powerful. Look back at chapter two in verse 18.
Chapter two, in verse 18, something that the apostle has developed, something that the apostle wants the readership to understand. Remember the historical context. The temple is standing. Sacrifices are engaged in.
The people of God, the professing Christian church, Jewish Christians are being tempted to apostatize. Tempted to defect, tempted to go back to Moses and the ceremonies and turn their back upon the Lord Jesus. So one of the things that the author is doing is setting forth the glory of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, the blessedness of Christ, the ability of Christ, so that the people of God, the professing Christians, will not leave off. They'll persevere.
They'll go forward. Brethren, one of the reasons why you ought to persevere each and every day is not because you're strong and not because you're mighty, but because your Christ is strong and your Christ is mighty. He saves to the uttermost. He answers every single obligation.
You need justification. He provides it. You need sanctification. He provides it.
You need glorification. He provides it. There is nothing left on our behalf to accomplish. He has paid the debt.
He has satisfied divine justice. He has secured our salvation. It is in that vantage point or from that vantage point that we pass on. That's what the author is highlighting.
Encourage the brethren with the sufficiency and the superiority of Jesus Christ so that they will not be tempted to go astray back to the shadows, back to the tides when they have Jesus notice in two seventeen, actually. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren. that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Definite Atonement and Intercession
This isn't hypothetical. This isn't a possibility. What the author is saying is that Jesus has made propitiation for the sins of the people. He isn't giving a general idea, a hypothetical atonement that's out there if the sinner wants to grab hold of it.
No, it was rendered for the sins particular of the people particular. When that high priest went in on the Day of Atonement to atone for the sins of Israel, it was for Israel. It wasn't for the Hittites. It wasn't for the Hibbites.
It wasn't for the Girgashites. It wasn't for the Jebusites. It wasn't for the pagans. It wasn't for the Canaanites.
It was a particular redemption rendered for a particular people with specific sin. That's why he laid his hands upon the scapegoat and he confessed the sins of Israel and then he drove that goat away into the wilderness so Israel could have something of a sacrament. Something of an ordinance where their physical limitations could grab onto and see that goat driven out into the wilderness, their sin being taken away. Brethren, he comes to do a specific task.
Hebrews chapter 4, notice in verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Throughout this epistle, the apostle is setting forth the superiority of Jesus Christ. And here he says that he is powerful. He is able to save not just partially, not just possibly, not just a little bit, but notice the language of Hebrews 725. He is able to save to the uttermost.
He is able to save completely. He is able to save you totally. He is able to save you without defect. You can hang your soul on verse 25.
You can hang your life on verse 25. You can hang everything on verse 25 because this fit High Priest. This king of kings, this Lord of Lords, this prophet of his church, came to save his people from their sins through that priestly interaction, through that priestly satisfaction of divine justice. He saves to the uttermost.
Brethren, that is the encouragement that the Christian church has. We're not partially saved. We're not a little bit saved. We're not saved today and lost tomorrow.
He saves to the uttermost. In Hebrews chapter 12, he's defined, or he's described, as the author and finisher of our faith. He begins it, he completes it. Paul tells the Philippians, I am confident that he who began this good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ.
Don't despair. Don't grow despondent. It doesn't depend upon you. It depends upon the surety of a better covenant.
The scripture says you look and you live. Believe on him and you shall be saved and you're saved to the uttermost. If you are a believer in Christ, that is something no one can ever take from you. I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but someday we may see economic collapse and everything you own will be gone.
Now, again, that's not a prophetic word. That's not a prophetic statement. It's trying to illustrate the point. I mean, you could have a fire and I hope that doesn't happen because then I'll feel guilty or I put the whammy on you or something.
I don't know. But you could lose everything. You could end up in dire straits. to be in a horrible situation. But you know, the one thing they can never take.
Nothing can ever be stripped from you. Is this perfect salvation? He saves to the uttermost. He saves completely.
He renders it absolute on behalf of his people. He saves to the uttermost those who come to God. Here is that mediator through him. We must have Christ.
It is not the case that all religious systems lead to heaven. It is not the case that however a man functions or however he behaves, whatever light he might possibly have, if he tries real hard, he'll achieve heaven and the acceptance of the Father. It is simply not the case. The only way to the Father, the only way to this complete and uttermost salvation is through the mediator. through the high priest, through Jesus Christ, the Lord.
There is no salvation apart from him. There is no other name given under heaven among which we must be saved. This was Peter's declaration at a time when the Caesar, when the emperor was known as Lord and Savior. Peter came and said, there's one Lord and one Savior, and it's Jesus Christ.
It isn't Caesar. Brethren, we must have the mediator or we perish in our sin. He saves to the uttermost. He is the mediator.
And then notice not only sacrifice, which will be developed in a bit more detail to follow in just a moment. But notice what he says here at the end of verse 25, since he always lives to make intercession for them. There's that blessed attribute of eternality. Notice what it's connected to in the context.
Notice what the eternal benefit of Christ's people is. He intercedes for us. He is there on our behalf. We sing that song, Five Bleeding Wounds He Bears, received on Calvary.
He pleads those merits on behalf of his people to his father. God has stationed Christ at the right hand, as king, as prophet and as priest, to be the advocate with the father. To be the one that shows, that demonstrates, that always lives, to show his sacrifice and then intercedes on behalf of them. It's a blessed reality.
This is stated in Romans 8, 33 and 34 as well. F.F. Bruce said this, he lives eternally, eternally engaged to bless and protect those who have committed themselves to him. He lives eternally. eternally engaged to bless and protect those who have committed themselves to him." Isn't that a great thought?
What's Jesus doing right now? If somebody were to ask you that, what would you say? Well, he's ruling over, you know, President Obama. Yeah, he is.
Praise God. He's over Prime Minister Harper. Praise God. He's over every event in this world.
Praise God. He holds the reins of the universe. All authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. Praise God.
You know what else he's doing? He's praying for me. He's interceding for me. He's at the right hand of the Father with me in his thoughts.
Isn't that amazing? He's got the reign and rule over the universe and he's got you on his mind. That's great. It's a time when you should smile.
He's got me on his mind. We should all have a card. Smile now. Happy time.
Jesus thinks of you. Jesus intercedes for you. Jesus is eternal and unchangeable priesthood. He always lives to make intercession for his people.
How is he not the surety of a better covenant? What son of Aaron fulfilled such a task? He met death and he succumbed. He died.
His was not an endless priesthood. His was not an unchangeable life. He went off to the grave. Not so our blessed Lord Jesus.
He continues forever according to the power of an endless life. He rules over all things to the church. And he intercedes for the people in the church. What a glorious thought.
And remember, it's Hebrews 1, 3 that sets forth Christ as the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. That one who upholds all things by the word of his power intercedes for you.
The Character of the Priest
And then notice, thirdly, the character of the priest, verses 26 and 27, for such a high priest was fitting for us. Such a high priest was fitting for us, his fitness. Jesus, the Savior, is the perfect answer for man, the sinner. Jesus, the Savior, is the perfect answer for man, the sinner, for such a high priest was fitting for us because he is directly antithetical.
He is a direct contrast to what we are. We're unholy. We are harmful and we are thoroughly defiled, right? He is just the opposite.
The character of this priest is described in glowing terms. He's not the sons of Aaron who had to go in and offer up sacrifice for his unholiness, for his defilement, for his uncleanness. He didn't have to go and take blood to the mercy seat and pour it down on there because he himself was defiled. That's not the case at all.
He doesn't make sacrifice for his sin. Rather, he is the sacrifice for our sin.
Holiness, Harmlessness, and Purity
The Apostle describes him as holy. This means personal piety, obedience to the Father, accomplishing the Father's will. This will be developed in detail in chapter 10. Not only does Christ die for His people, but He is the perfect sacrifice.
He is the one who lived for his people as well. He obeyed the law perfectly. He is harmless. This means free from all guile or he's innocent.
His moral qualification to be high priest. He was marked by integrity and untouched by evil. You see how it corresponds exactly to what we need. Who of us can say with reference to holiness, yes, I have a personal piety.
Yes, I have an obedience to the father. Yes, I'm a glowing specimen of a human being who loves the law, who delights in the law. Who of us can say we're free from guile or innocence? We are morally qualified for acceptance with God.
No, this high priest is fitting for us because we are so unfitted for God. And if he didn't come and answer in this particular manner, we would die in our unholiness. We would die in our disobedience. We would die in our defilement.
Here, the last term is undefiled. It means pure, unstained, moral purity. O'Brien again says, taken together, the three adjectives forcibly describe the sinlessness of the high priest. He is fitting for us.
He answers specifically for us. He corresponds to our particular need. And it's almost as if the apostle wants to reiterate that thought in Hebrews chapter eight, verse one, just in case we haven't got it yet. He says, now, this is the main point of the things we are saying.
I want you to pay attention. I want you to get this. Let this enter into the ear gate and find its mark in the heart. This is the main point of the things we are saying.
We have such a high priest. Don't go back to the temple. Don't take the sacrifice to the priest. Don't go back to that compound.
Don't go back to that system. We have a high priest. We have a sufficient one. We have a superior one.
We have one that corresponds to our specific need. Note how he continues to describe that. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. Now, I suspect your temptation today is not to go back to the Mosaic Temple.
I suspect your temptation is not to find the synagogue of the Jews and bring a sacrifice so that you can get right with God. I do suspect, however, there are other temptations that might seek to vie for your attention. The Apostle says, focus on Christ. Look at this high priest.
Look at this one who is superior and sufficient. Don't be detracted. Don't be sidetracked. Don't go in opposite direction, but rather bask in the sun of his love.
Realize what you have in the person and work of the Lord Jesus in the language of Paul and Colossians. We are complete in him. You're not complete in your peer group. You're not complete with your boyfriend or with your girlfriend.
You're not even complete with your husband or your wife. You're certainly not complete with chemicals and drug abuse. You're not complete in music. You're not complete in television or movies.
You're not complete in all those things that the world peddles as completeness. You're complete in Christ. You have everything in Christ. He is sufficient.
He is superior. He is the surety of a better covenant. That's the emphasis of the passage to get their minds off of sin and to get them rooted firmly in that finished work of the Redeemer. This is what you have.
This is what you are. This is why you run. This is why in Hebrews 12, after discussing those great heroes of the faith in chapter 11, He then exhorts them in chapter 12, verse 1, to run the race that is set before them. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, this is the Old Testament saints, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, What are we looking at?
Are we looking at our accomplishments? Are we looking at our Bible reading? Are we looking at our church attendance? Are we looking at our puritans?
Are we looking at whatever? We're looking at Jesus. You see, the doctrine gets real practical. The understanding of who Christ is as high priest is to function in such a way that the runner pressing on to the prize is looking to his victor, looking to the Lord of glory.
He is looking on to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shape and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He sets forth the priestly office of Jesus Christ as the object of our focus and attention for the run or for the race that we are running. Run with endurance, looking unto Jesus. So he is describing the fitness.
The character, the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus. But he doesn't stop there. Verse 26 is his character or his sinlessness. Verse 27 is his sacrifice.
Once-for-All Sacrifice
Who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people's. Sure, it's holy. I don't know about you, but as we've been working our way through the book of Deuteronomy, It's kind of thinking about differences between the old covenant and the new covenant. This is a significant difference.
The priesthood of the old, the priesthood of the new. The priesthood of the old had to go into the temple and confess his own sins and make atonement for his own sin. The priesthood of the new doesn't. The priesthood of the new is fit.
The priesthood of the new answers to our particular need. The priesthood of the new covenant does not need daily. As those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people's, there was an interesting thing in the book of Numbers as well. Remember that situation in Numbers 11, just a little bit of difference.
I don't think it'd be a stretch to say Moses functions as a mediator of the old covenant. Moses is the sort of go between God and Israel. Remember that the people send Moses back up to the mount because they don't want to go into the presence of God there in Deuteronomy 5, recounting the Sinai event. Moses is a blessed mediator.
Moses is a great man. But Moses says to God, why are you laying their burdens on me? I can't handle it. Read Numbers 11.
With Flavel's quote in mind, Jesus says just the opposite, doesn't he? Moses says, you're laying these burdens upon me and I can't handle it. You might as well just kill me. What's Jesus' statement in Matthew 11?
Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden. In other words, cast your burdens upon me. Take my yoke upon you. There's significant difference between the Old and the New Covenant.
This is what the book of Hebrews is highlighted, especially these chapters beginning in chapter seven, introduced in chapter seven, developed in chapter eight and in chapter 10 as well. Christ is different. Christ is sufficient, Christ is superior, Christ is glorious. He does not need daily sacrifice.
He does not need to sacrifice for himself. He sacrifices once for all. Verse 27, who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this, he did.
Here it is once for all when he offered up himself.
Transubstantiation Refuted
Every time you see that phrase in the book of Hebrews, you have to scratch your head and wonder what the doctrine of transubstantiation is really seeking to accomplish. You see, in the Romish mass, they're not saying we're remembering Jesus or our faith is being confirmed in a tangible way. They're saying that those elements, the bread and the wine, are being changed in the actual body and blood of Jesus. So they'd be re-sacrificed.
They call it an unbloody sacrifice. When the altar boy rings the bell, as the priest holds up the host, the point of the congregation is to worship the bread. Because it's been changed, it's physically Jesus now, and they must worship. When that chalice or that cup is held up that contains the wine, the people are supposed to worship.
The substance, or rather the elements, have been transubstantiated into the physical body and blood of Jesus so that he can be re-crucified, so that he can be re-offered. Remember I said earlier the function of a priest is to sacrifice. That's why in Roman Catholicism you don't have ministers, you don't have pastors, you don't have shepherds. You have a priesthood because they're engaging in sacrifice.
It is to reverse the thrust of this once for all nature of Christ's sacrifice. He paid it all. He said it is finished. He doesn't employ a priesthood now to engage in an unbloody sacrifice.
It is a once for all transaction. That brethren is worthy of our praise and our adoration to him. He sacrificed for a sacrifice for the people since once for all, when he offered up himself again, O'Brien says, by contrast, with the Levitical priests. Christ offered the definitive and ultimate sacrifice of himself once for all.
He did not make an offering for himself, but of himself for the sake of others. He didn't make an offering for himself, but of himself for the sins of others. That's our high priest. That's the high priest of this better covenant.
Conclusion: Summary of Contrasts
Verse 28 is simply concluding thoughts. Summary just draws together in one space the three things that he has been speaking of. There is the law and the oath. The ceremonial law appointed weak men, according to 711.
The oath of God brings the perfect priest of the order of Melchizedek, who serves forever. The many Levitical priests and the one priest of the order of Melchizedek. The many died. They did not continue, but rather Christ Jesus lives forevermore to engage in his work on behalf of his people.
And then the weak men are contrasted with the perfected son. For the law appoints as high priest men who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints the son who has been perfected forever. is the high priest, the surety of a better covenant. So, yes, he's our prophet. He speaks to us by his word and spirit.
He is our king. He rules over all things for the church, and he is our priest. We need that cross. We need the prophetic mantle to be sure.
We need the kingly crown, but we certainly need that cross. John Owen says that's the office we most relate to, the priestly office. As the unholy, as the harmful and as the defiled, we need Jesus, the one who is fitting for us. Well, brethren, let us pray and consider our blessed Redeemer.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for doing what the Bible tells us. We thank you that you have orchestrated such a perfect sacrifice at Calvary. We thank you for the fact that Jesus is holy and harmless and undefiled.
We thank you for the sacrifice of himself on our behalf. We thank you for salvation to the uttermost. We thank you that you who began this good work in us will indeed complete it until the day or see it through unto the day of salvation or the day of Christ. God, we just give all glory and all praise and all honor to you.
And I pray that these passages, these texts, these ideas, these thoughts would encourage us in our Christian lives. that they would be a help and a benefit to us in the coming days, that they would be a strengthening and encouraging to us, and that you would just build us up in these things. And God, for any and all here that do not know you, we pray that they would come through Christ to you, that you would save them to the uttermost, that you would show them the forgiveness of sins and show them your mercy, your grace and your loving kindness. And we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.