Turn back to Hebrews chapter
7. I'm not going to even pretend
like I can handle all this this morning. These things like this, we find in
the Word of God, it's just so profound, and it's so over our
heads. Every time I step in this pulpit,
I tell you this, I realize I'm over my head. Trying to deal
with such matters as judgment, eternity, salvation, the Lord
and his person, his work. I mean, he's the wisdom of God. All the treasure of God is bound
up in that man. We haven't began to scratch the
surface. We really haven't. We haven't
began to scratch the surface of what we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ and what awaits us. In trying to put it into words,
I have to say the more I preach, the more difficult it is, I find
it, to put these things into words. I guess the best thing
to do is just use the words the scripture uses and just trust
the Lord to reveal it and make it known. Now, I titled this
message, Consider How Great This Man Was, this Melchizedek. How much is written about him,
someone said, but really the whole Bible is written about
Just as milk is as thick as Christ. That's who he is. I believe that. I believe it's a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham recognized that. Let me show you. We'll see this.
He says here, let's start out. Now, back in verse 20, in chapter
5, it says, Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus
is entered into the Holy of Holies, And this forerunner, he says
here, is made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now remember, he writes to these
Hebrews. They kept looking to that Aaronic priesthood. They
kept wanting to go back to that Aaronic priesthood. And the apostle
here is pointing them back, not to the Aaronic priesthood, but
back past that. to Melchizedek. He's after that
order. He's not after the order of Aaron
and that priesthood. Aaron and that priesthood are
types. I thought about this this morning.
It's like the priesthood of Aaron, the Aaronic priesthood. It's
like a parenthetical statement. It clears up the sentence. It
makes it read better. It gives you a little more understanding.
But you can remove it. and do no damage to the sentence.
So basically, what is you got Melchizedek? But now if you just
had Melchizedek. And that's all we had. And then
the Lord comes 2400 years later and he lives 33 years, lives
out his life, 33 years, and he dies on a cross. We really wouldn't
quite comprehend. What he was doing, because through
the Aaronic priesthood, We see that we have the Passover, we
have the Passover lamb, we have the offerings, we have all these
things that represent the Lord Jesus Christ. But when he came
and fulfilled those things, that just lifted out. Now that's done
away with. That's why he sent these Hebrews.
That's done away with. There's no connection now to
that. His connection is to Melchizedek.
that everlasting priest, that Melchizedek, that one who never
dies. He's after that order. Now, let's
look first of all, see who this Melchizedek is over in Hebrews,
or not Hebrews, but Genesis chapter 14. Then we'll come back to Hebrews.
In Genesis chapter 14. In Genesis chapter 14, let's
look in verse 10. They have this war going on,
you know about it, and this is where Abraham goes to get his
nephew Lot. It says, And the vale of Shittim
was full of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled
and fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.
And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their
food and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's
son, who dwelt in Sodom and his goods, and departed. And there
came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew, for he
dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol, and
brother of Aner. And these were confederate with
Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive,
he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and
pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smoked them, and pursued
them unto Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he
brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people." He brought
back everything. He lost nothing. Abraham recovered
it all. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chitileomer
and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheba, which
is the king's dale. And then all of a sudden, all
of a sudden, we have this king priest. God has never been without
a priest. The church has never been without
a priest. Jerusalem has never been without a priest. She's
never been without a king priest. ever. And Melchizedek, king of
Salem, and I read that to you over in, look over here in Psalm,
well I'll just read it to you, I had it marked. In Psalm 76,
in Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel. In Salem,
and everyone said that Salem is Jerusalem. It was later named
Jerusalem. And Salem also is his tabernacle
and his dwelling place in Zion. But it says in Melchizedek, the
king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. Now here is the king-priest. The priest is going to offer
up the sacrifice, but this king-priest brings bread and wine. That's
the same thing our Lord brought the night he was betrayed, and
that's the same thing we use on the Lord's table when we observe
the Lord's table is bread and wine. So this Melchizedek king-priest,
which no one ever held those two offices. David was a king. He was not a priest. Aaron was
a priest. He was not a king. Saul was a
king. He tried to perform the office
of a priest, and he lost the kingdom and got killed. Uzziah
tried it. He tried to make an offering.
He's King Uzziah. God turned him into a leper.
The only king priest that Jerusalem has ever had, that God's people
never had, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do believe this
Melchizedek is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always had one. That's who he is. And he said,
now go back over here in Hebrews 7. I don't know how far we'll
get this morning. We'll get until I run out of
what I've got to say, which may not be much. Because we know
in part and we preach in part. And we need to learn to sit down
when that part's over. Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest
of the Most High God, he met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings. And listen, he blessed Abraham. And I want you to notice something
as we go through this. Abraham recognized him as the
king priest. Abraham bowed to him. He did
this one other time. There were three men, three angels
it says. They were going to go down and
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham called one of them Lord. He recognized one of them as
Lord. Abraham recognized who this was. He recognized this is the king-priest. Now, a king has to have a kingdom,
does he not? And a priest, he's the priest
of the Most High God. Now, a priest, it says over here
in Chapter five, 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. So he's a king priest. And he's
king of Salem, which later was named Jerusalem, we know Jerusalem. Which means he has a kingdom.
But it never dawned on me and I'm thinking, you know, as I'm
reading this, I'm thinking, well, here's Abraham. And out of him
comes the Hebrew nation, the Israel, the elect, the picture
of God's church. And this is where Jerusalem comes
from. But here's already a king priest
of Salem. But I believe this is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I believe after this happened,
he went back to glory. But turn over to Galatians. I'm
going to make this connection. I think it's so. Over to Galatians. Let me see, Galatians chapter
4. Jerusalem, the Lord's land, the
Lord's people, which are Jews and Gentiles that believe out
of all nations, and that's who makes up the true Israelites,
those who believe God. Now, let me find my place here. Let me see, it's Galatians chapter
4. Let's look back up here in verse
21. Tell me, ye that desire to be
under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, Abraham
had two sons, the one by bondmaid, that was Hagar, the other by
pre-woman, Sarah. And he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh. That was not after the promise,
it was after the flesh. You remember Abraham went in
to Hagar. Sarah said, I'm too old, this
is not going to happen. So they went in and she had Ishmael,
I believe it was Ishmael, but that was after the flesh. But
of the free woman, it was by a promise. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai,
which genders to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem, which now is under
bondage. That Jerusalem that now is right
now over there in the Middle East is under bondage. It's still
under bondage. And is in bondage with her children.
But now listen. But Jerusalem, which is above, she's free. That's who he's the
king-priest of. He's king-priest of that Jerusalem
that's above. And I believe after he offered
that bread and wine there, and he blessed Abraham, and after
he blessed Abraham, he went back to glory. I have no doubt of
that. He went back to glory. He went
back to that Jerusalem which is above and is free. And she's
always been free, which is the mother of us all. She's the mother
of us all. Now, go back to Hebrews chapter
7. Now, Abraham is said here, to
whom also Abraham gave the tenth part of all, first being, by
interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that, in that order,
because there is no such peace without righteousness. You cannot
have peace with God without righteousness. So he's first king of peace,
and after that, also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
And we know that Christ is our peace. And we know that he's
a king of righteousness. He's a righteous king. He's a
king of righteousness. Now, without father, without
mother, without descent, that is, without pedigree, this Melchizedek
that met Abraham, they could find no pedigree whatsoever. of his father, his parents, they
couldn't find anything on him. They had nothing on this man.
Now, under the Aaronic priesthood, you better have a pedigree or
you're not going to be a priest. When Aaron died and the next
one came along, he had to prove that he's from the Levitical
tribe and he had to prove it by his pedigree before he could
be a priest. But this one didn't have one. It didn't have one. Because I tell you what, he's
not born from men. He has no earthly father. He has a heavenly
father. He has no earthly father. He has no earthly pedigree. He's
the Lord from heaven. That's who he is. He has neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God and advised the priest continually. His priesthood is
continual. His priesthood, now here's what
it's going to show us. I hope I make sense out of this.
His priesthood preceded that one of Aaron's. It was before
Aaron's priesthood. Aaron's priesthood, like I said,
is like a parenthetical statement. It just shows us, it explains
to us the work of Christ. But the priesthood right here
of Melchizedek is before, listen, it was 400 years before the law
was given. Before the law was given, before
the Aaronic priesthood was set up, Here we have a priest, and
he has no pedigree. He has no earthly pedigree. They can't find his father and
mother. That's because it's the Lord.
That's because the king priest is the Lord. This Melchizedek
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now consider how great this man
was. Oh, consider the greatness of this man. unto whom even the
patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." As far as the Hebrews were concerned,
who would they say was the greatest man that ever lived? Abraham. They said, we have Abraham as
our father. They traced everything back to
Abraham. Everything went back to Abraham.
And what the apostle was pointing out here, well look who Abraham
bowed to. This Melchizedek is far greater
than Abraham. Even though you can't trace his
lineage. You can't trace his lineage.
But he's far greater. And verily they that are of the
sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, they
have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the
law, The people, the Hebrews, were to pay ten percent of all
that they had to the Levites in order to take care of the
ministry and help take care of the poor people, that is, of
their brethren. They took tithes of their brethren,
though they come out of the loins of Abraham. They were all related,
but the law said that they were to take ten percent. But he whose
descent, whose pedigree is not counted from them, tithes were
paid to him by Abraham. He's going to show how great
the Lord Jesus Christ is, his priesthood is, over that of Aaron,
because they kept wanting to go back under that old Levitical
priesthood, just like the Catholics do now. They try to resurrect
that old priesthood, but our Lord has no connection to that
priesthood now because it's gone. His connection is to Melchizedek. But he whose descent and pedigree
is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham. And listen,
he blessed him that had the promises. Now, if that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it is, I believe it is, he blessed Abraham. He
blessed everyone that's in Abraham. He blessed all the sons of Abraham.
You and I who believe the gospel, we were blessed. When he blessed
Abraham, when he blessed our father Abraham, and Abraham is
our father if we believe the gospel. He's the father of all
those who believe, the scripture says, over in Romans chapter
4. The true Israel of God are those who believe God. They are the true Israel of God.
And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. That's the way it always is. And Abraham was blessed of Melchizedek. He's going to show the superiority
of Christ's priesthood here. And here, men that die are subject
to death. They receive tithes, the Levites
received them, but there he received them whom he witnessed. He's
still alive. He never died. He liveth. Who
could that be? They can be none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ, the King Priest. And as I may so say, Levi, listen,
Levi also who received tithes paid tithes in Abraham. Well,
there's your good picture of representation. But here's what
he's saying. He's saying that Abraham and the whole Aaronic priesthood
submitted to this one. He said the whole, the whole
priesthood from Abraham, starting with Abraham, then after the
law was given and the Aaronic priesthood was set up, it all
submitted to this one, Melchizedek. Don't go back to the Aaronic
priesthood. Don't go back to those ceremonies. Don't go back
to those types. They're gone. Look at this one
who lives forever. who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we'll see here later, he takes this, him being a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek, over in Psalm 110, and he applies
that to the Lord Jesus Christ. He applies it to him. Now, let
me find my place again. It says, And as I may so say,
Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he
was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. And
when he met him, Abraham recognized him. He recognized who he was. And he paid a tenth of all that
he had to this man. And he sent a whole Levitical
priesthood to submit to this man. Now, if therefore perfection,
salvation, basically, If therefore perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received
the law, then what further need was there that another priest
should rise? If the Aaronic priesthood made those who brought the sacrifices,
who came to the priest, now if it made them perfect, if it put
away their sins, then why another priest? Why another priesthood? What further need was there that
another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and
not, listen, not after the order of Aaron? Our Lord didn't arise
after the order of Aaron. It was after the order of Melchizedek. With the priesthood being changed,
there is made a necessity to change also the law. In other
words, if this priesthood that is recognized as after the order
of Melchizedek, then the law that gave the ceremonies and
tithes, it's done away with. Because it's a totally different
priest. It's a different order. What he's saying, it has no connection. The Aaronic priesthood has no
connection with Christ. Now that it's fulfilled, it's
over with, there's no connection. The connection is back to Melchizedek. It's back to him. For he of whom
these things are spoken pertains to another tribe." Not the tribe
of Levi. The Levites, that's where all
the priests came out of. The Aaronic priesthood and all
those priests after him. They all came out of that tribe.
But this priest is of another tribe. This one's of another
tribe. Of which no man gave attendance
at the altar. They didn't recognize this one.
Now he's going to tie it into our Lord. Notice how he ties
it into our Lord. Now it's evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah. That's the kingly tribe. That's where the kings came from,
out of Judah. It came out of Judah, of which
tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood. And it is yet
far more evident that after the similitude or likeness of Melchizedek,
There rises another priest, which is nothing more than a
continuation of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
always been our priest. He's always been the high priest.
He's always been the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. He's always been that. He's always been the king of
God's people. He's always been the high priest
of God's people. He's always been these things.
And what he's telling these Hebrews is that the Aaronic priesthood
and all that they did, all the ceremonies and tithes, that's
all they were, were tithes and pictures. They're gone. They're
over with. Quit going back to them. They kept wanting to go
back. You can imagine, listen, what
if you were raised up under that? What if you were raised up believing
that salvation was in these things? These offerings? You know, the
blood of the Lamb, the Atonement Day, the Atonement, all that. Do you know what it takes to
take all those great clothes off? And what he's telling them
is that that's ended. Christ is our high priest. Christ
has entered into the Holy of Holies. And his priesthood is
not after that, like Aaron's, it's after that of Melchizedek.
It's an everlasting priesthood. It has no end. It's divine. It's of God. It's of God. It
says here in verse 15, And it is yet more evident for that
act of the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises another priest who
is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, not after
that law that made Aaron a priest and those other men priests,
but after the power of an endless life. Now that has to do with His deity, the power of an endless life.
Only God has an endless life. Christ has no beginning of days
nor end of life. He's the high priest of God.
He's our high priest. For He testified, Thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He reaches back
to Psalm 110. Verse 4, and he applies that
to the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is barreling, a disannulling,
a doing away of the commandment going before for the weakness
and uncomfortableness thereof. The offering of the blood of
bulls and goats, all those ceremonies did not put one sin away. No
one. No one. was ever saved by those. I had a young man tell me years
ago, and I've told this before. He told me this years ago. He
said the people of the Old Testament were saved by the blood of bulls
and goats, and we're saved by the blood of Christ now. We're saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Abraham was saved by the Lord
Jesus Christ. From the first person saved to
the last one, Christ is the Savior. Christ is the priest. Christ
is the king. And that's why he's reaching,
he's taking them back to Melchizedek. That everlasting priest. That
priest of the most, that king priest. God's priest. The one who's the king and the
priest of the Jerusalem that's above and is free. God's people. God's people. He said in verse
19, for the law made nothing perfect. It saved no one. It put nothing away. But the
bringing in of a better hope did. Now, Paul, in writings of Timothy,
calls Christ our hope. What is our hope of eternal life?
Christ. What is our hope of forgiveness?
Christ. What is our hope of righteousness?
Christ. He is our righteousness. Whatever
hope we have, we have in Christ. And he says, and by the which
we draw nigh unto God. How is it we draw nigh unto God?
In his name. We draw nigh unto God in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his person. We come unto God
by him. Now, inasmuch as not without
an oath, he was made a priest. Well, those priests were made
without an oath. Aaron died and the next one took his place.
He died and the next one took his place. That was in line.
He had the right pedigree. He took his place. But this priest,
this priest was made with an oath. But this with an oath by
him that said unto him, The Lord swear will not repent. And here
again, he quotes Psalm 110 verse 4. Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. This one was made with an oath.
When was that oath? That was before the world began. That was in that covenant of
grace. That was in eternity. That's
when he was made the priest, the king priest of God's people. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament, a better covenant, what we call new covenant,
which really preceded the old one. It was before that the old
one was revealed first, and now we see the new covenant. But
really, you know why it's new? Because it's eternal. That's
why it's new. It never grows old. The first
one that he gave to the Israelites, it grew old. It had a time limit
on it. This man has no time limit on
it. It never grows old. It's like our Lord is timeless.
It's eternal. It's an eternal covenant of grace.
And is it ever better? It is better. They truly were
many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. They kept dying. They kept dying. But this man,
now consider how great this man was. This man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, behold the man, this man, because he continues forever,
he never dies. Death has no dominion over him.
He has an unchangeable priesthood. It's not going to change. Our
priest is within the veil. Our priest is within the holy
of holies. Our priest took his blood, which is the blood of
atonement, into the holy of holies. And he'll never die. He won't
be replaced. Aaron got replaced, and the next
one got replaced for about 2,000 years. They kept getting replaced,
but this one has never been replaced. It's like he's not carrying on
that order. The Aaronic priesthood really is just a type, it's an
explanation of his work. And it's over with. We don't need priests and ceremonies
and these things. We have a high priest of God, King of Salem, King of Jerusalem,
who's in the Holy of Holies. They're interceding for us. Now
listen. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. And because of this, because
of who he is, because of his unchangeable priesthood, he is
able. Aaron wasn't able. All the ceremonies and all that
went on during that time, was not able to make us perfect.
It was not able to save us, not able to do anything for us. But
this one, who abides forever, who is the Son of God, who is
our Melchizedek, he is able also to save them to the uttermost.
He's able to save them. Aaron couldn't save anybody. All that Aaron did saved no one. for 2,000 years. All that he
did, the blood that was shed, that was offered, that saved
no one. Those who were saved were the
ones who looked beyond that to the Lamb of God. They saw Christ in those types
just like you and I see Him in those types. They looked beyond
that. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them through the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them." He's there to make
intercession for them. And listen, such a high priest
became us. Such a Melchizedek, such an everlasting
priest became us, who is holy, Harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Who
needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices
for his own sins, and then for the people's? For this he did
once when he offered up himself. For the law makes men high priests,
which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, which
will set the law, will make the Son. He's the high priest. He's our
high priest. See, they got focused in on the
Aaronic priesthood, the ceremonies, and they missed Melchizedek.
They missed the true high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. They missed
him. And really, the whole message
of this is that Christ, our high priest, is far superior than
that of Aaron. And he points out that Abraham
and the whole Levitical priesthood bowed to this one, bowed and paid tithes, worshipped
this one, this one. And this one is able to say, Aaron can't save you. The blood
of bulls and goats can't save you. We'll see that in the next
chapter. But this one can save you. And
he's telling those Hebrews, don't try to go back to those ceremonies.
Don't go back to that old priesthood. Don't try to reestablish that.
That's over with. Christ has no connection to that
anymore. Our high priest is seated in
the heavens at God's right hand. Our king priest is seated in
the heavens at God's right hand, reigning and ruling. He reigns
and rules over all. We know that. But he's the king priest of Jerusalem
that is free and that's above. It's still in bondage. It was
just a type. It was just a picture. And if
God ever saves them, if He ever saves them, He'll save them just
like He saved you and me. Faith in Christ. They will turn
to Christ just as we've turned to Christ. The same way. They won't reestablish that old
temple and the old priesthood. That ain't going to happen. They're
going to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Melchizedek. Well, I
hope I didn't muddy that up. These things were just, after
I read all that, I tried to put some notes together. I thought,
no wonder he said, you're dull up here. He said, let us go on
in. There's so much to learn. There's
just so much more there to, boy, there's so much more there to
grab hold of, to feed on. Feed on in the Lord Jesus Christ.