Welcome to our program. The title
of the message today is Christ, Our Eternal High Priest. And I'm going to be preaching
from Hebrews chapter 7. Now at the beginning of Hebrews
7 in verse 1, the Apostle Paul mentions a man named Melchizedek. Now who is this Melchizedek?
These verses, as we get into them, they may seem a little
complicated, but they are not complicated at all. They're very
simple if you understand the basic truth that the Holy Spirit
is teaching by the Apostle Paul here. The basic truth is this,
is that Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son Incarnate,
the Redeemer of sinners, the Savior of his people, the Great
Shepherd, Jesus Christ is the only high priest, and he is a
priest forever. His priesthood is eternal. You
see, under the old covenant law, the law of Moses, there were
many priests, and over the generations there were many high priests,
one high priest at a time, and when that one died, another replaced
him. That priesthood was a type, a
picture, of the eternal priesthood of Christ. When Christ came and
did his work, obeying the law perfectly, going to the cross
and satisfying law and justice on behalf of his people, he as
the high priest of his people who represented God to men and
who represented his elect, his church, his sheep to God, he
is the mediator. When he finished that work, the
old covenant priesthood was finished. It was over. That earthly priesthood
was no longer needed because Christ, the substance, has already
come and fulfilled his work. And now he is the eternal High
Priest. He is a High Priest forever,
as the Apostle said in Hebrews chapter 6, after the order of
Melchizedek, forever. There's one High Priest now,
Jesus Christ. Not Mary, not the Pope, not any
man on earth, but Jesus Christ. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He is our High
Priest. We need no other. And that earthly
High Priesthood of the Old Covenant typified and foreshadowed and
pictured and pointed to Christ. No mere man can stand before
God on behalf of sinners. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is also God, can and does stand in the place of
sinners. Now, what the Apostle is doing
here is showing that Christ's priesthood, his eternal priesthood,
is not in the same order as the Old Covenant mosaic law. In other words, that earthly
priesthood under the law of Moses, that was only for those who were
from the tribe of Levi, the sons and descendants of Aaron, the
first high priest, Moses' brother. In other words, to be a high
priest on earth under that old covenant, a man had to be from
the tribe of Levi. You had to know his pedigree.
But now that was a type of Christ, but Christ himself personally
was not from the tribe of Levi. He was from the tribe of Judah,
the kingly tribe. So then how could he be a high
priest? Well, he's not a high priest
after the order of Aaron. or after the order of Levi, the
Levitical priesthood. He's a high priest after another
order, and in order to prove that, the apostle goes back into
the Old Testament, back into Genesis chapter 14, and points
to another type of Christ, a man named Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek,
a lot of people, a lot of scholars have argued and debated over
exactly who he is. Some say that Melchizedek was
even Christ himself in pre-incarnate form. Others differ with that
and say, no, Melchizedek was a man, but that he was a better
type of Christ than what the priesthood of Levi. Well, we
know for sure, here's what we know for sure, that Melchizedek,
whoever he was, he was definitely a type, a picture of Christ's
priesthood, Christ our eternal High Priest. And secondly, we
know he is a better type than Levi, the tribe of Levi. Now,
why is he a better type? And that's what Paul is showing
here, that Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek
who's a better type. Now, Melchizedek is recorded
in Genesis chapter 14 in just two verses. Not much is said
about him in the Old Testament. Abraham had gone to rescue his
nephew Lot. from captivity by a confederation
of foreign kings. And Abraham took his little band
under the power of God, and he slaughtered those kings in the
valley, and he was returning from the slaughter of the kings.
Abraham had won victory. God had won victory through Abraham. It was God's power, not Abraham's.
And on his way back from the slaughter of the kings in Genesis
14, he met a man named Melchizedek, a high priest. And Melchizedek
blessed Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes of the spoils that
he got from that battle to Melchizedek. Now, the other mention of Melchizedek
is in Psalm 110, when it is referring to Christ, a prophecy of Christ
who would come after the order of Melchizedek. Here in Hebrews
7, we have the most information that is given on Melchizedek. But here's the point, and you
need to see this, this simplifies it. We're not referring to Melchizedek
personally here, but we're referring to Melchizedek officially as
a high priest, and Melchizedek as a type of Christ. The point
of these scriptures here, these verses, is not to cause us to
go away wondering who Melchizedek is, or debating or arguing that
point. The point of these scriptures
is to show us that Christ, as I said before, is the only high
priest that God has for sinners. He's the only mediator. He's
the only redeemer. He's the one who enters into
the holiest of all, the very presence of God for his people,
presenting the merits of his blood and his righteousness as
the only ground of salvation and their entitlement to heaven.
We need no other mediator. We need no other priest but Christ,
who was crucified on behalf of his people. So Melchizedek is
a type of Christ. Now let's look at these verses
in verse 1 of chapter 7. Paul writes, 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.
Now, right away we know that Melchizedek was a king, king
of Salem, that place Salem where he was king. A lot of scholars
say that's what later became Jerusalem, and that means peace,
and he was a priest of the Most High God. He was a king and a
priest. You know, the mediatorial offices,
we talk about Christ our mediator. He is in office, our mediator,
the mediator between God and his people. The one who stands
between us, the one who atones for our sins and appeases God
on our behalf by the blood of his cross, satisfying law and
justice. Now, that mediator, there are
three mediatorial offices. He is our prophet. Christ is
that prophet that Moses predicted in Deuteronomy 18, because he
is the very Word of God. He is the Word of God in the
flesh, incarnate. Everything we need to know about
God is in Christ, for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily. He is our priest. He is our mediator,
our substitute, our surety, our sin offering. He's our altar,
our tabernacle. He's the high priest, and that's
what he's talking about here, and He's our King. He rules and
reigns and disposes over all things in order to accomplish
the will of his Father on behalf of his people." So, he's our
prophet, priest, and king. Well, usually when you had a
type in the Old Testament, you had a type of Christ's office
as prophet, a type of Christ's office as priest, or a type of
Christ's office as king. Rarely did you have one who had... none of them were all three.
But Melchizedek was special. He is both a type of Christ priestly
office and a type of Christ kingly office. So he's a king, king
of Salem. And it says in verse 2, now,
Melchizedek, it says, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part
of all, That is, all the spoils. When Abraham returned from the
slot of the kings, the spoils, he gave a tenth part of that
to Melchizedek. He paid tithes to Melchizedek
in that sense. And that means he honored this
man because of his office. This is a priest of the Most
High God. This is the king of Salem. And
Abraham honored him, you see. And he says, first being by interpretation
king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which
is king of peace. Now, what does the name Melchizedek
mean? In the Hebrew, it means literally
king of righteousness. Now, in his kingly office, Melchizedek
is a type of Christ, for Christ is the Lord, our righteousness. You see, the Bible teaches us
that the gospel, is the declaration, the revelation, the manifestation
of the righteousness of God. Paul wrote that in Romans 1,
16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek or the Gentile, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Now, what righteousness is that?
He's speaking of the work, the mediatorial work, the atoning
work, the work of obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Christ came into the
world to do for his people what they could not do for themselves.
God chose a people and gave them to his Son. He determined to
save sinners. But God could not save even one
sinner apart from his law and justice being satisfied. You
see, God must be holy when He says. He must be just when He
shows mercy. He must be truthful when He exercises
His grace and His love. He must be a just God and a Savior. Therefore, in order to save His
people from their sins, He conditioned all of our salvation upon Christ
and sent Christ into the world to fulfill those conditions.
Now, what were the conditions? Righteousness. What is that? Perfect satisfaction to God's
law and justice. The law had to be fulfilled in
every precept. Christ said it this way. He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law in
every john and tittle. He perfectly kept the law of
God. And then because those whom he
represented As our high priest, they were sinners, and sin demands
death. Therefore, the justice of the
law had to be satisfied. And Christ took the place of
his sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. He took the place of his sheep and went to the
cross of Calvary and suffered and bled and died for their sins. The iniquity of his sheep was
laid upon him. And his obedience unto death,
the entire merit of his whole work of mediation as the substitute
of his people, is called the righteousness of God. Now, he's
king of righteousness. He reigns from a throne with
a scepter of righteousness. It's a right rule. And he gives
righteousness to his people. Our sins became his by imputation. They were legally charged to
him, and he suffered and bled and died for them. And he gives
us, in exchange, a perfect righteousness as our King of Righteousness.
Well, Melchizedek typified him in that way. And then he's also
called King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Christ is the
Prince of Peace. You see, he made peace between
God and sinners. That's how peace is made. He
made peace, the Bible says in Colossians chapter 1, by the
blood of his cross. You see, God and sinners are
at war. Somebody says, well, who's going
to win? Well, that's obvious. God is.
God is God. He's the Creator. He's all-powerful.
The soul that sinneth must surely die. If you don't have a high
priest, a proper high priest, a qualified high priest, an eternal
High Priest, if you don't have a substitute, a sin-bearer, a
sin offering, if you're not washed and covered in the blood of Christ,
if you're not clothed in His righteousness, then you are at
war with God. But it is Christ, by His obedience
unto death, who made peace between God and His people. Now, God
is reconciled to His people. And through Christ, people, sinners,
God's elect, are reconciled to God in Christ. So he's King of
Peace. Now, Melchizedek was, his name
meant King of Righteousness, therefore he typified Christ
our King, and he was the King of Salem. And that typified Christ
our Peace, the Prince of Peace. Now look at verse 3. of Hebrews
7. Now, this is where a lot of people
go to show that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of
Christ. And that could be, but not necessarily. It says here in verse 3, without
father, without mother, without descent or pedigree. In other
words, you couldn't trace his genealogy back. All right, having
neither beginning of days nor end of life. but made like unto
the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." Now, what the Apostle,
I believe, is doing here is simply showing here is that Melchizedek,
his priesthood, was not according to any order given under the
Law of Moses. In other words, for a man to
be a priest under the Law of Moses, he had to be able to trace
his genealogy back to Levi and Aaron. He had to be from that
tribe. He had to show who his mother
was, who his father was, and their connection with that particular
tribe. And if he couldn't do that, he
couldn't be a priest. But Melchizedek was a man whose
father's name was not recorded. Neither was his mother's name
recorded. His descent, his pedigree, his
genealogy was not recorded. Having neither beginning of days,
we don't know when his birthday was, nor end of life. We don't
know when he died. Those dates, those facts of genealogy,
pedigree, have no bearing on Melchizedek. Those things were
not recorded because Melchizedek is not after the order of Aaron
and Levi. He was way before the law of
Moses, almost 400 years before Moses. Therefore, his priesthood
is not according to an earthly priesthood. His priesthood was
appointed by God, and it says he abideth a priest continually.
Now, if this is referring to Melchizedek personally, then
we would have to say he is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. But if
it only applies to Melchizedek officially as his priestly office,
we'd have to say he's just a type of Christ. Either way, here's
the point. Melchizedek is a type of Christ. And Christ's priesthood is forever
and forever and forever. The Levitical priesthood under
Moses had a beginning. It was written on Mount Sinai
and instituted by Moses when he appointed Aaron to be the
first high priest of Israel. And then the priesthood of Aaron
and Levi under the law of Moses had an end. And that end was
when Christ said on the cross, it's finished. and when he was
buried and rose again the third day. But now the priesthood of
Christ has no beginning, has no end. It's forever. He continues
forever. Now, let me tell you something.
That is the kind of high priest that we as sinners need. We don't need a temporary high
priest. We don't need one who had a beginning and an ending.
We need a continual high priest. That's why he says over in verse
25 that Christ is able. to save us to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession."
His priesthood is continual. Now, beginning in verse 4, the
Apostle begins to show how great Melchizedek was over Abraham. And that's a type of Christ who
is greater than Abraham. Christ is greater than all. He's
greater than me, greater than you. He's greater than Moses,
greater than Abraham. He is the greatest. That's the
theme of the book of Hebrews. Christ is superior in every way,
in his person, his offices, and his works. So he says in verse
4, Now consider how great this man was, Melchizedek, unto whom
even the patriarch, the father Abraham, gave the tenth of the
spoils. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Verse 5, he says, And verily,
or truly, They that are of the sons of Levi, who received the
office of the priesthood, that is, under the law of Moses, they
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." You see, Levi and his descendants come out of the
loins of Abraham. And it was set up under the law
of Moses that the priestly tribe, Levi, they were to receive tithes
of the people. The other tribes had to give
a tenth. of everything they had to the tribe of Levi to support
the priesthood and the tabernacle and all of that. So, in other
words, these priests of Levi, under the law of Moses, they
received tithes from their brethren, though even they came out of
the loins of Abraham. They were descendants of Abraham.
Look at verse 6, that he whose descent or pedigree is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham. and blessed him that
had the promises." In other words, Melchizedek, whose descent was
not from Abraham, he received tithes of Abraham and he blessed
Abraham. Abraham had the promises from
God. Melchizedek blessed Abraham. So he says in verse 7, and without
all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. Now, who
is the better? The one who blesses. Who is the
lesser? The one who is being blessed.
You see, if we're in Christ, we are the blessed. That means
we're the lesser. Who blesses us? Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Well, Abraham was the blessed.
Melchizedek was the one who blessed him. So Melchizedek was greater
than Abraham. That's what he's saying. Well,
that's a type. Christ is greater than us. Christ
is greater than any who receive the blessings of his promises.
And he says in verse 8, And here men that die receive tithes,
but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witness that he
liveth." In other words, these men who died, these priesthood,
they received tithes, but there he receiveth them, of whom it
is witness that he liveth. Speaking of Christ, speaking
of Melchizedek as a type of Christ. Verse 9, and he says, And as
I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes
in Abraham. Verse 10, For he was yet in the
loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him. What he's making the
point here is that in that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, you
can honestly say by representation the tribe of Levi, who was yet
in Abraham's loins, were represented by Abraham, and they too paid
tithes. to Melchizedek. So even the tribe
of Levi, through Abraham, is lesser than Melchizedek. Now, that's a great type of Christ
there. The tribe of Levi, with all the things that they did
and were honored by God amongst Israel, they were lesser than
Christ, lesser than him whom they typified. And that's a great,
great truth. He says in verse 11, if therefore
perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, that priesthood under
the law of Moses, for under it the people received the law,
what further need was there that another priest should rise after
the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order
of Aaron? Now, here's an important point.
Somebody said, well, if the priesthood of Levi, the law of Moses, if
that earthly priesthood could not accomplish eternal salvation,
then what good was it? Well, it was good for several
reasons. It was good because God instituted it. It was good
because it did set apart the nation in a ceremonial, civil
way and allow them to worship God and to continue. It was good
because as long as that nation continued, it was to continue
until Christ would come. But mainly, it was good because
it typified someone greater, the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's
his point here in verse 11. If the perfection, what is that
perfection? Salvation, justification before
God, holiness, completeness, all that salvation involves,
if perfection were by that earthly Levitical priesthood, Then what
further need was there another priesthood, after another order,
Melchizedek? Well, he tells us, verse 12,
for the priesthood being changed, that Levitical priesthood, the
law of Moses, for the priesthood being changed, there is made
of necessity a change also of the law. The law of Moses revolved
around that priesthood. the tabernacle. So much so that
when the priesthood changed from Levi, as it was fulfilled and
abolished because Christ came, the whole law changed. The whole
law changed. He says in verse 13, for he of
whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe.
Christ was of the tribe of Judah, of which no man gave attendance
at the altar. No man from Judah was a priest
who gave attendance at the altar. Christ was of the tribe of Judah.
Verse 14, For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah,
of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, no priest
from Judah. Verse 15, And it is yet far more
evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek there riseth another
priest, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life. I love that language there. Here he's talking about the greater
priesthood of Christ who came after the order of Melchizedek,
not after the order of Aaron, not after the order of Levi.
The Lord sprang out of Judah. He was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh. Moses didn't say anything about
any man from Judah, the tribe of Judah. giving attendance to
the tabernacle, to the altar, the sacrifices. That was for
the tribe of Levi in that earthly priesthood. But it's far more
evident, he says, that after the likeness of another, Melchizedek,
there arises another priest. And this other priest, who is
Christ, he's not made after the law of a carnal commandment. In other words, his priesthood
is not according to an earthly temporal, ceremonial, civil covenant. But his priesthood is after the
power of an endless life, a continual priesthood, a priest forever. You see, this is Christ, our
eternal High Priest. That's the issue that we need.
His blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant of grace. His blood has power to cleanse
us from all sins forever and forever and forever. His righteousness
demands and secures the eternal salvation of every sinner for
whom he lived and died, was buried, and rose again the third day.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession
for his people. So the Jews had no argument to
say, well, he can't be a high priest because he wasn't born
of the tribe of Levi. And the Holy Spirit says, well,
hold on to the apostle Paul here. He says, he says, he's not a
priest after that order. That order's gone. It's changed. He fulfilled it. It's over. He's
a priest after another order, the order of Melchizedek, a better
type of Christ who had an eternal priesthood. His office was eternal
and it'll never end. Christ is our eternal High Priest. Now listen to Him. Are you a
sinner who needs salvation? Well, look to this eternal High
Priest.