Hebrews chapter 7, the writer
to the Hebrews said that he had many things to say about this
one called Melchizedek. And I think he has a lot of things
to say here that is not entirely obvious, but I hope that we can
at least get to the obvious things he had to say. The early Christians
in the book of Acts we just talked about did not have this book
to read. They might have had the apostle
explaining it to them, I don't know. And they might have had
the advantage of asking the apostle what he meant. I don't know that
either. But there were thousands of them who heard Peter, one
occasion 3,000, another I think 4,000 were saved. So there were
a lot of people who heard the word. And I'm sure that there
were a lot of questions, especially concerning what we're reading
today in the book of Hebrews. Most of those who heard the gospel
in the early days were Jews, especially in the book of Acts.
But then also there were Gentiles like Cornelius and the Philippian
jailer and Lydia and so on. And it was to them that the word
of God came, as well as to the Jews. Because God is not a respecter
of persons, it says in scriptures. That means he doesn't distinguish
between people based on what they are, in either their status
of life, their race, their language, or any other condition. In fact,
he says in scripture that the king in the palace is less likely
to be found, the group of believers, than the poor. Jesus said, how
hard is it for a rich man to enter heaven? And that surprised
the apostles, and they asked, how could that be? He said, with
men it's impossible, but with God, All things are possible,
so it's possible even for me to be saved, and it's possible
for you. We're all saved the same way,
and that's what we're gonna talk about here in Hebrews chapter
seven. This is a huge book, and there's a lot of things in it,
but I hope that we can get through this chapter today. Let's open
with a word of prayer. Our dear Heavenly Father, we
thank You for Jesus' sake, that You sent Your Son into this world,
and that You made Him our High Priest, and that He has done
all the work necessary to bring us to God. Help us to see this,
Lord, in our very hearts, to believe it as the truth of Heaven,
and to rest our case on Him, and to live our lives based on
the wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that would save
sinners like ourselves. In His name we pray, Amen. In
Hebrews chapter five, verse six, it says, as he saith also in
another place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's five, six. And then in
chapter six, the last verse of chapter six, it says, whither
the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus, made an high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. This is a quotation from Psalm
110 that's taken here by the writer to the Hebrews. that Jesus
would be made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
And when he's building up to this, he takes his time. He introduces
the priesthood early on in the book of Hebrews, because the
Lord Jesus Christ is the and only high priest of God for his
people. In the first chapter, he spoke
of what he did to save his people from their sins. Listen carefully.
When he, the Lord Jesus, when he had by himself purged our
sins, that's the work of the high priest, he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. He not only accomplished
the putting away of our sins, but he also took his place on
heaven's throne because he finished that work. And so in Hebrews
chapter seven, the priesthood of Christ is going to be explained
as it follows the priesthood of Melchizedek. Last week we
looked at this in the first few verses and in Genesis 14. Let
me remind you what happened there. There was a battle. Lot, the
nephew of Abraham, was taken captive. Abraham took his trained
men and went after and destroyed five kings and brought back all
the goods and all the people and brought back Lot, Abraham's
nephew. Abraham had a purpose, an intent,
and he armed his trained men and went after those who took
his nephew. He conquered the conquerors.
Remember that in 1 Corinthians 15, speaking about the resurrection,
the Lord says that he gives to us the victory. The Lord Jesus
Christ always gives to us the victory. 1 Corinthians 15, verse
57. Now if the Lord Jesus Christ
always gives to us the victory, it's because he first obtained
the victory for us. So, and then in Genesis 14, as
we were summarizing, Abraham not only brought back Lot and
all the goods, but he was met on the way back by this one called
Melchizedek. Melchizedek. And it introduces
him there in Genesis 14, it says that he was the priest of the
Most High God. a priest of the Most High God.
And he met Abraham when he was returning from that war, that
battle when he brought Lot back, and he blessed Abraham, and he
said to Abraham, blessed be Abraham of the Most High God, and blessed
be the Most High God, because he has delivered your enemies
into your hands. And then Melchizedek gave him
bread and wine. A very significant thing. But
we learned from that, that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who
was taught by Melchizedek, who was pointed to as Melchizedek's,
as he represented him there in Genesis 14, to see that our victory
over all of our enemies is given to us by God because of Christ's
victory. And so the bringing of bread
and wine reflect the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, accepted
by God, and therefore the Lord brings those tokens of it, the
emblems of it, the signs of it, to us. This is now your life
to live by faith upon him. And so that's what Abraham did.
That's why he's called the father of all those who believe on the
Lord Jesus, because he was the first one that it was explained
of as hearing the gospel and believing Christ, and so he's
just like us. We hear the gospel, we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the book of Hebrews, he
has to develop the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ replaces,
and I'm going to use that word and explain it in a minute, replaces
those high priests. He replaces that priesthood.
He replaces the kings. He replaces the covenant. And
I heard someone one time say several years ago to me, we don't
believe in replacement theology. And I've never heard of it before.
I still haven't really looked into it. But it can be tricky
because words have to be defined. The Bible talks about the work
of Christ, the gospel itself, and all that's contained in it,
as having been determined by God before time began. So there really can be no such
thing as replacement in that sense. It was already there.
The Lord Jesus, God's Son, was ordained to be the High Priest
forever. So what we see here is the revelation,
the unfolding of what was already established before time began. And this is what Rommel mentioned
too, that the gospel is now revealed to us in Ephesians 3 verse 11,
it says, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in
Christ Jesus our Lord. God the Father had an eternal
purpose. And so the things that we see
in scripture that speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the
first time we hear of it, but that's not the first time God
thought of it. known unto God are all his works from the foundation
of the world." God's eternal. There's not one thought that
he has now that he didn't have from all eternity. Not one purpose. Not one promise. No agreements. No work intended. All was already
determined before the world began. This is the testimony of scripture.
Whatever the Lord pleased, that's what he did. And that's always
what he does. He doesn't fail to do anything
that he pleases to do. So when we talk about Melchizedek
and the fact that he was introduced in Genesis 14, it was revealed
to us through this man something about the real high priest, the
one who would come, and this is the Lord Jesus Christ. So
now let's pick it up in chapter 7. Even his name is explained
here. Even his name tells us and teaches
us about Christ. For this Melchizedek, it says
in verse one, Hebrews chapter seven, and we read from the King
James Version Bible. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. So there's several
things here. His name, Melchizedek. His title,
King of Salem. His office, priest. The office
of priest was a priest of the Most High God. And he met Abraham,
who is considered by all of the Jews as the father of the nation
of the Jews. And spiritually, he's the father
of all those who believe Christ. Not the father as in God the
Father, but the father as the first who believed. He's spoken
of that way in Scripture. And all the covenants are spoken
of as given to us in Christ, but first revealed to Abraham. And so that's why he's so significant
here. But anyway, in any case, Melchizedek
met this man who was so preeminent in the nation of the Jews, but
also he blessed him. Now that's the first thing. So
Melchizedek, what does it mean? He goes on, verse two, to whom
also Abraham gave a 10th part of all. So Abraham gave him tithes,
And then it says here, it explains his name. This is the Spirit
of God, the inspired Word of God, explaining to us how the
name Melchizedek is significant and what it means. First, being
by interpretation, King of Righteousness. That's what his name means, King
of Righteousness. Now, as I mentioned last week,
a king is the one who is the unique possessor of whatever
riches he has in his kingdom. If there's gold in the kingdom,
the king owns it. If someone is given gold, the
king gives it. And he has all control over everything
in his kingdom. In a kingdom where there's a
king, there's only one who is the king. There's not multiple
kings. There's not like a congress of kings. There's just one king. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one in Scripture, the only man, the God-man, the only man
in Scripture who is considered by God to be righteous. There
is none righteous, no not one. It says in Romans 3 verse 10
and following. So we know that there's none
righteous among men except Jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John
2 verse 1. So the Lord Jesus Christ has,
we could say, a monopoly on righteousness. As a king, he owns it. It only
belongs to him. He's the one who established
it. He is the one God gave his eternal will to, to fulfill it.
And it was his obedience unto death that accomplished and established
the everlasting righteousness. that's called the righteousness
of God, because He is God, and it was given to Him by God, as
God the Father to do, and as man He fulfilled it. And so He's
called in Romans 10, for the end of the law, for righteousness.
And in Jeremiah 23, verse 5 and 6, He's called the Lord our righteousness. And in Psalm 71.16 it says, I
will make mention of thy righteousness even of thine only. So we see
in this that the Lord Jesus is uniquely qualified to be called
the King of Righteousness. And we conclude therefore that
the one called Melchizedek in the Old Testament had to be none
other than Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate revelation. the King of Righteousness. Who but Christ could be called
righteous, and who but Christ could be called the King of Righteousness,
the Lord our Righteousness. And so I mention that because
that's what it says here, that's His name. And in Scripture, the
name is a revelation of the person and his offices and his work.
So whatever it says, for example, in Isaiah 9, 6, a verse we're
familiar with, it says, this is the name by which he shall
be called, wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the prince of
peace. All these things are true of
the Lord Jesus, that's his name. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins." So a name in
Scripture conveys or tells us who the person is, what his offices
are, and what he does. His words, what he's like, his
character, his nature. And so here, the Lord Jesus Christ
alone could be described as the King of Righteousness. Secondly,
in verse 2, and after that, also King of Salem, which is King
of Peace. Salem means peace. He's the King of Salem, therefore
he's the King of Peace. The Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9.6.
He's the one who made peace by the blood of His cross. Who but
the King of Righteousness could make peace? Righteousness has
to be rendered to God in perfection in order for there to be peace
between God and sinners. Sins have to be taken away. The
law has to be obeyed. The Lord Jesus Christ did it,
therefore He's the King of Righteousness and He made peace by His blood.
He fulfilled the law for righteousness for us. And then in verse 3,
if you look at Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 3, so we see here
in the outset that this one who met Abraham by his name and his
title has great significance. He could only have been the Lord
Jesus Christ. But notice also, it says that
he blessed Abraham. He blessed him. We, and I mentioned
this last week, sometimes we say bless you. bless you, as
if we're somehow superior to others and those other people
need our blessing. But we can't give out blessings. We can say,
the Lord bless you, and that would be a prayer. We can pray
that the Lord bless one another, but we can't make a blessing
happen, can we? If we could, who would be without
all sorts of things? We would be handing out gifts
willy-nilly, but we can't do it. But look at verse 3. This one who is called the King
of Righteousness, the King of Salem, who met Abraham and blessed
him on his victory over the slaughter of the king, signifying that
Abraham went out for Lot. one of God's elect, chosen, redeemed
sinners, and He rescued him, just like the Lord Jesus Christ
rescued His people and brought them out of captivity when He
conquered death, when He conquered our sin by His own blood. And
so the Lord Jesus has given us the victory. And so He says here,
verse 3, Hebrews 7, verse 3, Melchizedek was without father,
without mother. It doesn't talk about his father
or mother in scripture. So he was without father and
without mother. Without descent. He didn't have a genealogy. He
didn't descend from anybody. No ancestors. Having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life." What an amazing statement
this is. The Spirit of God is interpreting
the significance of the fact that in Scripture there is no
mention of His genealogy. It means that He had no beginning
and He has no end. What is that? How can you describe
someone? What is true about someone who
has no beginning or end? We say they are eternal. So he
says, but made like unto the Son of God. Obviously, that's
what the Son of God is. He is everlasting, from everlasting
to everlasting. And notice at the end of verse
three, he abideth a priest continually. He has to remain a priest continually
because he was a priest and he had no beginning or end of days,
so he's always a priest. He never ends as a priest. He
had no beginning as a priest. As long as God determined to
save his people, there's always been a priest. There's always
been a sacrifice. There's always been a covenant
of peace, wherein the high priest would make peace with God for
sinners in his own blood. This is the truth of scripture,
and we could point to many scriptures to prove it. But the point here
is that the Lord Jesus Christ, if Melchizedek is a priest continually,
then he's still a priest, isn't he? He has to be. If his life
had no beginning or end, then he still lives and he has to
still be the priest. And that can only be true of
Jesus Christ. And so now the next thing that's
gonna happen in chapter seven is that he's gonna take these
things that are true of Melchizedek and he's gonna do something.
His intent here throughout the book of Hebrews is a number of
things. First of all, get this, he's going to establish the fact
that the priesthood under the law is done away. That comes
as a tidal wave shock to these people. The priesthood is done
away? Secondly, he's going to prove
that the priesthood under the law was actually in subjection
to the priesthood of Melchizedek, and hence the priesthood of Christ.
And thirdly, he's going to show that because God said after the
priesthood of the Old Testament was in place that there was another
priest who would be called after the order of Melchizedek, which
is Christ, that there was something wrong with that old testament
priesthood. And it had to be done away because
it didn't do anything. It didn't do what it was supposed
to do as the priest. And then he's gonna go on and
say some other things too, how that this was part of a covenant,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the surety of that covenant for
us, that New Testament, and that God made him a priest by an oath
so that his priesthood is established by God, is staked on God's own
nature and character, his person as God, and so it can never end. And he's also gonna show that
Christ's priesthood, that he is a priest without sin. and
therefore our priest is always accepted by God. Now, let me
ask this question at the outset. Why do we need a priest? Who
ever thought of such a thing? Well, the problem here is sin,
you see. What about sin? And what about
God, who is holy? Look at chapter five, verse one.
Hebrews five, verse one. What about sin? Isaiah 59 verse
2 says, your iniquities have separated between you and your
God so that I cannot hear you. Sin separates us from God. It's
our sin. We separated ourselves from God. God's holiness demanded that
we be separated from Him. We made ourselves His enemies
by our wicked works and by our minds. We're separated. Now how can that separation be
resolved. Look at Hebrews 5, verse 1. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, who
can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way. This is what a high priest is. This is why we need a priest.
This tells us who thought of it, who devised it, why we need
it. What is a priest? A priest is
someone taken from among men because a priest is for men.
He's taken from among... Who takes him? God takes him. God is the one who ordains it.
All right, let's back up then. Who thought of the priesthood?
Why do we need a priest? Well, notice here he says it.
Every high priest taken from among men is ordained by God
for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sins." So the priest is an idea, a concept,
God came up with. And God ordained a man to be
a priest for men in order to provide to God something that
would allow God to remove that separation between men, us, who
sin, and Himself. A priest, therefore, is ordained
by God to reconcile us to God, to bring us to God. 1 Peter 3.18
says, He died just for the unjust to bring us to God. That's what
Christ did as our High Priest. He reconciled us to God by the
death of His Son, by the blood of His cross. All these things
are statements from Scripture. So the priest is to do what?
He's to make atonement for sin. He's to give to God an appropriate
payback, a satisfaction to God who is holy and just and righteous
and true and inflexibly just. He can't compromise himself.
He's God. God can't change. He's not going
to compromise his own nature and character. His justice has
to be executed. His righteousness must be fulfilled.
His truth must be upheld. It's inviolable. How can God
be, therefore, just and still call sinners righteous and justify
them? Only one way, through the high
priest. So the high priest plays such a pivotal, important role
that without it, we're lost. And without it, God can't justify
sinners. He can't be reconciled. We offended
God. We did by sinning what was revolting to God. It offended
God's justice and righteousness and His holiness. His justice calls for condemnation
and justice to be fulfilled. The curse must be upon us, the
wrath of God. We're children of wrath by nature,
by what we do, what we think, and only God can take care of
it. So you see here that God took the initiative, which is
significant, And when did he take this initiative? God was
in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. God took the initiative,
it was by Christ, and it was the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Before the world began, God ordained
the precious blood of Christ for his people to remove our
sins and remove the barrier our sins imposed between us and God
so that God could be gracious to us and justify us freely,
giving us the very righteousness we must have, which is the righteousness
of Christ. That's what a high priest is.
That's why it's so significant. The high priest also represents
us to God. He represents us. That means
that he stands in the presence of God for us. Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 24 uses those words, Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, not into that Old Testament tabernacle, not that tent, but
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
That's what a high priest does. He appears in the presence of
God for us. Now, in the Old Testament, the
priests were but men. That's all they were, was men.
And they were sinful men. But it says here in Hebrews 5.1,
they had to be taken from men. So, in order for a priest to
represent me and you, he has to be a man. He has to have the
same nature that we have. But the problem is that the Old
Testament priests not only had our nature, they were people
too, but they were sinful. They had our sinful nature and
they were sinners. How can a sinner stand in the
presence of God for us? I have my doubts that this priest
can do anything for me who is a sinner, don't you? But the
good thing is that because he was a priest as a man, he could
represent us, it says in Hebrews 5 too, who can have compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. He can be
very sympathetic towards us because he's a sinner. Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ is a priest too, also taken from among men. He,
the Son of God, took on a body like ours, a nature like ours,
he humbled himself, he made himself of no reputation, he took upon
him the form of a servant, and he was made in the likeness of
men. That's from Philippians chapter 2. So, he was also made
a man in nature. The one who is God in nature
also took on our nature as men and women. But not only did he
take on our nature, but he was without sin. Now he's a perfect
high priest. Because he has our nature, he
has no sin, therefore he can be accepted in the presence of
God for us. But it's even better than that,
because the Old Testament priests had a close relation to those
they represented, didn't they? They were the sons of Levi, they
were brothers, they all descended from Jacob, from Israel, from
Isaac, and from Abraham. They were all from the same genealogy,
eventually, back to Abraham. So they were closely related
as brethren. How closely related are we to
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, by nature, we have no relation.
But God did something. God made that relation between
us and Christ. And what is it? What does it
consist of? Well, it says in Ephesians 1, verse 4, I'll read
this to you, to see that this relation was established by God,
and how close it is. Look at this. Ephesians 1, verse
4, According as He, God the Father, hath chosen us in Him, He chose
us in Christ, before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love." So the relation
we have to Christ was a relation of God's, the Father's, choice. Whatever God does is holy, isn't
it? He set His name on us. He chose us in Christ. That act
of God the Father was a holy act and He called us by His name,
therefore we were then holy by the designation of God. He made
it holy because He said they're mine. He chose us as His own
in Christ. That's the first way we're related
to Him. How are we related? In Christ. How did we get there?
God chose us in Christ. The second way that we're related
to him is in a covenant relationship. So that God made him the head
in the covenant for us. He stood for all of his people
and acted for them to God. He brought to God all that God
required to fulfill the conditions of that covenant. In the Old
Testament, people had to individually fulfill the requirements of God's
law. No one could do it. It was a
covenant, but it was a two-party covenant, a conditional covenant.
We had to do our part for God to do his part. God said, I'll
do this if you do that. You do, and then you'll be blessed.
If you don't do, you're cursed. It was a covenant of works. But
in the gospel, the covenant is still a two-party covenant, but
only between God the Father and the head of the covenant, the
Son of God as the Lord Jesus Christ. He stands for us. He
represents us. And this is called the mediator
or the surety of that covenant. So all that he does now, all
that he does in that role of the head of this covenant, he
does for us. So that whatever he does is what
we do in the covenant. His blood was shed, He fulfilled
all the conditions, all the blessings therefore come to His people.
So we were closely related to Him by God's choice, closely
related to Him by this covenant relationship, but even closer
still. Because in Ephesians chapter
5 it says that we are married to Him. So close that we're married
to Him, we are members of His body and of His flesh and of
His bones. Ephesians 5 verse 30. That's
close, isn't it? So our relation to the Lord Jesus
Christ is much infinitely more intimately related, closer, nearer
than any relationship between a earthly sinful man and the
man that he represents. Not only is Christ holy and harmless
and undefiled and separate from sinners, but we're closely related
to him. chosen in Him, in a covenant relationship, and His Spirit
is given to us so that our bodies are even called, in 1 Corinthians
6, the members of Christ. He that is joined to the Lord
is one Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6.17. And so then also he says
that we were baptized by one spirit into the body of Christ,
the same thing. So before time began, we were
chosen in Christ. In time, Christ stood as our
covenant head. And then later in our own lifetime,
the spirit of God was given to us. All these things show us
that intimate union. We're at one with the Son of
God. Let me read a couple of verses
to you to show you how intimate this is. Look at John, the Gospel
of John. John chapter 14, he says this
in verse 19, John 14, 19, Jesus said to his disciples, yet a
little while and the world seeth me no more, but you see me because
I live, you shall live also. Just because I live, you shall
live. Does Christ live? Therefore we
live. Remember Jesus said he's not
the God of the dead, he's the God of the living. So Christ
lives, we live, but look at the next verse. Look at how intimately
we're related to him. At that day you shall know that
I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. That's a union,
isn't it? That is an amazing union, it's
so close. And look at chapter 17, John
chapter 17. In verse 20 he says, neither
pray I for these alone, not my disciples alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word. He knew who
they were, they were given to him, they shall believe on him.
Look at verse 21. And that they all may be one.
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me." Our union to Christ means we're joined, we're partakers
of the divine nature. His Spirit is given to us in
regeneration, in the new birth, so that we are actually born
of God. God's nature is given to us in
the form of the Spirit of God. That's a close union. And he,
our high priest, is sinless. He was chosen by God. He was
ordained by God to be this priest. And not only is he like us, as
a man, and perfect, and joined to us in this knit, tight-knit
relationship, which, how can we describe it except to say
that we're one with him? But something also is true. He's
both God and man. So when we say that he represents
us as man, he doesn't just represent us as man, but as the Son of
God. He's the God-man, the one mediator
between God and men. How well does he therefore know
the will of God? How well does he know the mind
of God? How well can he perform the work of God? How much is
he accepted by God? How likely is it that he will
be successful? All these things are absolutes
because he is God. So how close then, if we are
in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, He is in us, we are in
Him, we're one with Him, and we're in the Father, as He speaks
of, how close then are we with God Himself? In the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are as near as He is. And so there was this hymn
that I had heard Todd Nyberg quote, I looked it up and it's
a delightful hymn, I think it was written by Horatius Bonar,
but let me read it to you. And consider these things about how
God is the one who set up the high priest to reconcile sinners
to himself when they had no interest in it, no ability to do it, were
estranged from God and under the wrath of God, and he designated
his son to be our high priest. Listen to these things. A mind
at perfect peace with God. Oh, what a word is this. A sinner
reconciled through blood. This, this indeed is peace. by nature and by practice far,
how very far from God, yet now by grace brought nigh to him
through faith in Jesus' blood. That's the way we know it. So
near, so very near to God I cannot nearer be, yet in the person
of his Son I am as near as he. So dear, so very dear to God,
more dear I cannot be. The love wherewith he loves his
son, such is his love to me. The writer of this hymn understood
something about our union with Christ, his representation of
us, but it's more than just a representation. He stands as us before God. If he is accepted, we are accepted. What he does, we did. What God accepts from him, God
accepts from us. And what God gives to him, God
gives to us. This is an essential truth of
the gospel, that Christ stood for his people in their place,
in the presence of God, and he acted for them in all things,
and God blessed them by blessing him in all things. Look at Ephesians
chapter 1, and see the significance of these things. The priesthood
of Christ should therefore raise our peace and joy to heights
unknown." Look at Ephesians chapter 1. He says, In verse 19, let's read verse
17. This is a prayer of the Apostle
for the Church. He says, Ephesians 1, verse 17,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, in the knowledge of Christ. Don't you want that?
That's what the Apostle Paul prayed. That's what the Lord
Jesus Christ prayed. That's what we want. There's
a perfect agreement around what is the will of God in our own
souls. Verse 18, "...the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of His calling." what He has prepared for us and what
we should expect because of the revelation of it. And what the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. We are His inheritance
and He is ours. Verse 19, and what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us were to believe according to
the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when
he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and
might and dominion and every name that is named not only in
this world but also in that which is to come. And listen carefully,
verse 22, and has put all things under his feet and gave him to
be the head over all things to the church." Doesn't that blow
your mind? God has given Christ everything
and he gave it to him everything so that it would be given to
the church. Notice in the next verse, which
is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
The people of God, every believer together, are joined to Christ
and given all things that God has given to his son. That's
why in Romans 8.32 he says, he has delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? We're
joint heirs, we're sons of God, by God's work, by Christ's work. And praise God we do, don't we?
What a wonderful blessing it is. Now back to Hebrews chapter
seven. So, Christ, Melchizedek was Christ,
Christ is Melchizedek. He can't be anything but. Not
just a figure of Christ, he is the Lord Jesus Christ because
he's the King of Righteousness, King of Salem, greater than Abraham. Clearly was greater than all
the other people spoken of in scripture, men spoken of in scripture,
but he's greater than him. He's eternal, he has no beginning,
no end, no end of days, he's a priest forever. And He represents
us perfectly as both God and man. We're one with Him. He's holy, harmless, undefiled. He will be accepted. God is well-pleased
with Him. Therefore, He's well-pleased
with us. Our sins are removed. Now, Hebrews
chapter 7. And verse 5, Verily they that
are the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood,
have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the
law that is of their brethren, though they come out of the loins
of Abraham. So what this is saying is that those who received the
office of the priesthood in the Old Testament were children of
Levi. They received it They have a commandment. The commandment
from God was, you take tithes from the people, so the people
who were also like them, their brethren, they paid them tithes.
Now, that means that those Levitical priests were receiving tithes.
But listen, Listen, those people who paid
them tithes and the Levites themselves, they came from Abraham. But,
verse 6, he whose descent is not counted from them, which
would be Melchizedek, received tithes not of the children of
Levi, but of Abraham himself, and Melchizedek blessed Him that
had the promises, who was Abraham. Okay, so what this is trying
to prove and does prove is that Melchizedek is infinitely greater
than Abraham. Way, way greater than Abraham. Because Abraham honored him,
paying him tithes, and he blessed Abraham, the one who had the
promises. Now, look at verse 7, and without
all contradiction, the less is blessed, the better. Abraham
was the less, Melchizedek was the better. Melchizedek blessed
him, he's the better, and therefore he's greater than Abraham. Verse
8, and here, in our present time, he's speaking of the Apostle
here, here, men that die, who would be the Levitical priests,
they receive tithes So the Levitical priests received tithes, but
there, in Genesis 14, he received them, of whom it is witnessed
that he liveth. So the problem is that the priests
in the Old Testament died, but yet they received tithes. But
Melchizedek never dies, and he received tithes. Verse 9, And
as I may so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes paid tithes
in Abraham. How can you say that? For he
was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now
I'm going to stop here, but I want you to appreciate the Gospel
truth that's in this. First it's saying that, look,
All the priests of Levi had to be less significant than Melchizedek. They had to be. Because Abraham
paid honor to Melchizedek in giving him tithes. And Melchizedek
blessed Abraham, and the greater Melchizedek blessed the lesser
Abraham. But it's also true here that
the priests of Levi honored Melchizedek. The priests made under the law
gave honor to Melchizedek. The law that made them priests
also had to give honor, therefore, to Melchizedek. All of it came
after and because the Levites, born to Abraham, were in Abraham
when he gave Melchizedek tithes, therefore they also were given
him honor. What God is saying here is that,
let's take one of the Levitical priests, Aaron. was there when Abraham was there. Aaron gave tithes when Abraham
gave tithes. But Aaron wasn't there in himself. He wasn't born yet. How can you
say that? This is the way God sees it. We, no, Aaron did it. Aaron was
there, but not in his physical person. He was there in his head.
Abraham was his head. We were there in Christ when
he kept the law. We were there in Christ when
He offered His blood. We were there in Christ when
He entered heaven into the holiest of all and sprinkled His blood
by the Spirit of God and it was accepted and God blessed Him
and us with eternal redemption. This connection between us and
Christ is very, very close, so close that what He did, we did
in Him. His righteousness is my own personal
righteousness before God. And so it says in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21, He hath made Him to be sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He who knew no sin
was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. How can that be? Well, we sinned
in Adam, didn't we? We weren't there, but we were
in our father, Adam. What he did, we did. His transgression
was ours. We were guilty of it. We were
condemned for it. We died because of it. And so likewise, with
the Lord Jesus Christ, our covenant head stood for us before God,
and he obeyed God and offered his blood, and it was accepted.
God accepted us. When he raised him from the dead,
he raised us from the dead. When he justified him, he justified
us in him. And this is the gospel. This
is what was hid from the foundation of the world and was made clear
now. Now the priesthood of the Levites comes into sharper focus.
It was a temporary priesthood to teach us what Christ would
do in offering himself in his own blood, but the victory and
the triumph of it is represented in Melchizedek, who brings the
bread and wine of his accomplished work. The deliverance from all
of our enemies, from sin and death, and from hell and the
grave and the curse of the law, and our own sinful nature, all
these things are accomplished by our great High Priest. So
in the first verse of Hebrews chapter 8, it says this, now
the things which we have spoken, this is the psalm. This is what
we're trying to say. This gathers it all together.
We have such an high priest who is set on 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 pitched and not man.
The Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne. He was accepted,
exalted, and he has sovereign power to give to those he represents
all the blessings God gave to him because he offered his blood
to God for us. And his prayers, his intercession
for us, will be heard. Nothing of all he asks shall
fail. Everything that was determined before, he has fulfilled it,
and all the promises of God in him are sure and amen. Nothing
can fail. Therefore, we have assurance.
Our assurance is our high priest and his blood accepted in the
presence of God. He appears now for us there.
What a blessing it is to have such a high priest represent
us, who is in union with us, is holy and harmless, always
accepted. God himself, as near as God,
we are in Christ. And as dear to his Son, we are
in the Lord Jesus. Let's pray.