Christ A High Priest After The Order of Melchizedek

Q: What does the Bible say about Melchizedek?

Melchizedek is a type of Christ, representing a priesthood that is eternal and superior to the Levitical priesthood. Melchizedek, mentioned in Genesis 14 and Psalms, is portrayed as the King of Salem and a priest of the Most High God. His role is significant as it foreshadows the eternal priesthood of Christ, who is described in Hebrews as being made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. This priesthood is characterized by its uniqueness, as no other priest held both the offices of king and priest simultaneously. Melchizedek's meeting with Abraham and the blessings exchanged signify the greater blessing brought by Christ to His people, establishing Him as the priest of everlasting righteousness and peace.

Q: Why is the priesthood of Christ important for Christians?

The priesthood of Christ is crucial because He mediates our relationship with God, interceding for us eternally. Christ's priesthood is essential for believers as it offers a way to approach God with confidence and assurance of acceptance. As our great High Priest, He mediates between God and humanity, having made the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Unlike the Levitical priests who were mortal and flawed, Christ's priesthood is unchanging and everlasting, as He continues to intercede for us before the Father. His single, efficacious sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to atone for all our sins, granting us peace and righteousness, which empowers our worship and relationship with God.

Q: How do we know Christ’s priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood?

Christ's priesthood is superior because He is eternal and sinless, fulfilling the role of priest and king as prophesied. The superiority of Christ's priesthood over the Levitical priesthood is established through His eternal nature and His unique appointment by God. Unlike the priests in the Levitical order, who had to offer sacrifices for their own sins, Christ was sinless and offered Himself as a once-for-all sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews argues that Melchizedek's priesthood, which predated the Levitical order, symbolizes the completeness and finality found in Christ. Furthermore, Christ's priesthood is grounded in an oath from God, ensuring its permanence and effectiveness in bringing salvation to those who draw near to God through Him.

Q: Why is Jesus described as our High Priest in the New Testament?

Jesus is our High Priest as He atones for our sins and mediates a new covenant between God and humanity. In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as our High Priest to emphasize His role as mediator and sacrificial lamb. He fulfills the priestly function by offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice, accomplishing what the law could not do. This new covenant, established through His blood, provides access to God for all who believe in Him. The priestly role of Christ assures believers of His continuous intercession, reflecting His ability to save fully and eternally. The priesthood of Jesus replaces the imperfect Levitical system, highlighting the grace and truth that come through Him.

We would come to God with assurance
of acceptance. We must come to him on an altar
such as he has designed, required, provided, and accepted. We must
come to him through the merits of the sacrifice which he himself
has both ordained and given and accepted. And we must come to
him through the mediation of a priest. who is able to lay
hold of God Almighty in his holy character and able to lay hold
of us and bring God and man together. Now that sacrifice, that altar
and that priest is Jesus Christ our Lord. We come to God upon
the altar of his holy divinity We come to God through the sacrifice
of his perfect humanity, and we come to God through the mediation
of him who sits in heaven as our great High Priest. Now, our
Lord Jesus is typified and represented in the Old Testament by a number
of things. He's typified in all of his offices,
in all of his character, in all of his works, by a number of
things, because no one thing can give an adequate representation
of him. And those things by which he
is typified in the Old Testament were given specifically for the
purpose of being a picture of him, representing him, prophesying
of him, and encouraging faith in him. Now as those saints in
the Old Testament, by those types and pictures anticipated our
Lord's coming with great joy. We today look back upon those
pictures and see their fulfillment and rejoice in the pictures as
well. We have a remarkable one before us in the person of Melchizedek. We're going to begin in Genesis
18. I want to lay the background for this man and his representation
of Christ in the Old Testament scriptures before we come to
Hebrews 7. In Hebrews 6, the last verse, we are told that
our Lord Jesus Christ was made an high priest after the order
of Melchizedek. And then the 7th chapter is taken
up entirely with showing us how Christ was typified by the work
of Melchizedek as he came to Abraham. Now, the first time
we meet with this man, Melchizedek, is in Genesis 14, verse 18, 19,
and 20. When Abraham had returned from
the slaughter of the kings, when he had delivered Lot out of the
hands of his captors, then Melchizedek came to him. We read in verse
18 of Genesis 14, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, that is, king
of peace, brought forth bread and wine. He brought bread and
wine to refresh and nourish Abraham, but he also brought the bread
and wine as a priest. He brought the bread and wine
to Abraham, symbolic of that sacrifice which the Lord Jesus
Christ would make on our behalf, which is yet represented to us
today in bread and in wine. And he was the priest, not a
priest, the priest. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not
one priest among many, he's the only one there is. He is the
priest of the Most High God, and he blessed him. Melchizedek
blessed Abraham as the king whom God sent to him, the king of
peace, and as the priest on the basis of the sacrifice represented
in that bread and wine. So the Lord Jesus Christ, our
great God, our King, our Savior, blesses us as our great High
Priest on the basis of his sin-atoning work, having put away our sins
and brought in everlasting righteousness. Read on. And he blessed him and
said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God. What a name for
our God. Possessor of heaven and earth. Everything's in his hands, as
you just prayed, Father. Everything's in his hands. Possessor
of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High
God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hands. And so
the Lord God will, at his appointed time, deliver all our enemies
into our hands, and we will sit with him in judgment over those
who now oppose us. And he gave him tithes, that
is, Abraham gave to Melchizedek tithes of all. Now after Melchizedek
left Abraham, we have no mention of him at all until we come to
Psalm 110. Turn there if you will. Here
is a prophetic psalm concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, having
finished his work of redemption, having put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, having brought in an everlasting righteousness,
now he ascends up into heaven and is made to be king over all
things as the God-man mediator as the result of his finished
work. And in this prophecy, David sings concerning our Lord Jesus
and his great glory as the king of Zion. The Lord said unto my
Lord, Set thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Now the rod of his strength is
the gospel of his grace. At his appointed time he sent
it to you. So we were talking about that back there in the
office. He sends the rod of his strength out of Zion, out of
his church, out of his kingdom. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. Now look at this. Thy people,
they were his before he came. They were his when he died at
Calvary. They are his by virtue of divine
gift, by virtue of blood atonement. They are his as our mediator.
They are his right now. All of them. All who ever shall
be his have always been his. Thy people. shall be willing. They are not made his people
by becoming willing, but rather they are made willing because
they are his people. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Brother Skip and Sandy and I
were talking about this recently down in Cherokee, man's will. No man will ever come to Christ.
No man. No woman will ever believe on
Christ. He must, but he won't. He won't
and he can't. But his problem is that he will
not come. But blessed be God, there are
some people who will come. God does not knock folks in the
head and drag them to heaven against their will. God does
not grab hold of folks and make them come to Christ. He makes
them willing to come, and they come gladly with all their hearts.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the
beauty of holiness, the beauties of holiness, from the womb of
the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord Jesus
Christ is ever the youthful King, and yet he's the Ancient of Days.
He is that one who never grows old and never changes. He has
the dew and the strength and the beauty of his youth, and
yet he is the eternal Alpha and Omega, the only wise God. The
Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Here is the King. And now we
have the very first word given in scripture to indicate a king
who also will bear the office of a priest. No other man ever
bore both offices. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
prophet, priest, and king. He's priest upon his throne.
This is a priest who intercedes on the basis of righteousness
established, justice satisfied, and he is a priest who sits on
a throne to execute his will for the people for whom he intercedes.
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Then
we don't hear anything else about Melchizedek, nothing else, until
we come to Hebrews chapter 5. And when we get to Hebrews chapter
5, The Holy Spirit speaks of him, the Lord Jesus Christ, as
being a priest after the order of Melchizedek twice in the 5th
chapter and again in the 6th chapter. And then all of chapter
7 is taken up with this thought, consider how great this man was. Consider how great this Melchizedek
was. I spent the last couple of days,
most of the days and most of the evenings as well, studying
about this man. I find him more remarkable every
time I open the scriptures and try to find out something about
him. But Melchizedek's greatness pales into insignificance when
we consider that he is only a type and representative of him who
is indeed the priest of the Most High God, Jesus Christ our Savior. Now tonight I'm going to do very
little more than read these 28 verses of Hebrews 7. But I want
you to follow along with me, and I'll give you the general
sense of this passage. I think it's important sometimes
to get a passage like this in its whole entire context, and
then the Lord willing we'll come back later and look in more detail
at Melchizedek and his priesthood as he represents Christ. All
right, verse 1, Hebrews chapter 7. 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 we're not
told who Melchizedek was. I've read Considerable pages,
I wouldn't guess how many, but I've read considerable pages
in recent days of fellows trying to convince me of who Melchizedek
was. Some suggest that he was one of Shem's sons, a specified
priest, a priestly order of Shem. Others suggest, no, he was a
Canaanite priest, a descendant of Ham. There are others who
make a strong argument saying that he was an angel who came
to Abraham in a human form. And then many suggest that he
was Christ himself who came to Abraham in a pre-incarnate body,
representing himself to Abraham as a man. In verse 15, I would
be very much inclined to think that all that's said concerning
this man Melchizedek, that he was indeed a pre-incarnate manifestation
of Christ, except for one thing. In verse 15, we're told that
our Savior's priesthood was that which is given in similitude
in Melchizedek. In other words, Melchizedek's
priesthood was a similitude, a likeness of Christ's priesthood,
not the very priesthood itself. And so as we read the passage,
we have no idea who this man was. who his mother or father
was, where he lived, how long he lived, or where he died. And
there's a good reason for that. Because he was raised up specifically
by God to be a representative and a similitude of Christ the
Lord, our great high priest. You see, God raised up Pharaoh
for one purpose, for just one purpose. so that he might show
forth to all men everywhere who he is, dumping Pharaoh in the
Red Sea. And he raised up Melchizedek
for one purpose, just one purpose, to be a picture of Christ. Oh,
how important it is that we focus our attention upon God's darling
son. He raises up a man, hides his
ancestry, his life, his ministry, his work, his place of residence,
his death, everything about him, hides it all, so that he might
just be a picture of our Redeemer. Everything you see, including
you and me, is insignificant by comparison to Christ. Nothing
so important as our Redeemer and His glory and His work. Alright,
look at verse 2. to whom also Abraham gave tenth
part of all. He gave a tithe of all the spoils
he had taken when he brought Lot out from under the hands
of his captors and destroyed the kings of the plain. First
being by interpretation, look at it now, king of righteousness,
and after that also king of Salem. Now here we have an additional
thing concerning Melchizedek. He is called in Genesis 18 King
of Salem, which is King of Peace. But here the Holy Spirit gives
us another meaning to the name. He says he's also King of Righteousness. That's what his name Melchizedek
represents. And then King of Salem, which
is King of Peace. What a blessed picture. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is Jehovah Sidkenu. He is the Lord who is just and
holy. But not only is he just and holy,
he is the Lord our righteousness, who by his obedience unto death
has brought in perfect righteousness for his people. And he's the
king of peace. So that on the basis of his righteous
obedience, we have peace with God. He's the one who earned
peace. He is our peace. He's the only
one who can give us peace. He's the only one. Our Lord has
made peace between God and man. He has reconciled his people
unto the Father. He's put away our sins. And he
alone can speak peace to the troubled heart. Nobody else can. I try to minister to folks. Some
of you, you go through difficulties and trouble, and I try to minister
to you personally and private. I try to preach the gospel to
you the best I know how. I try to give you the Word of
God. But when all is said and done, when your heart is flat
and wrung out, nobody can speak peace but Him. He's the King
of Peace. And if He's pleased to speak
peace, nobody can take it away. He gives peace. He gives us the
peace of conscience when He declares that our sins are pardoned. He
gives us peace with regard to His providence when He makes
us to understand that He is indeed possessor of heaven and earth.
And He gives us peace in all our relationships in life, in
all our experiences in life, as He causes us graciously to
bow to His will and His purpose. I'll write again. Look at verse
3. Without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth the priest
continually. Now here Melchizedek was made
in the picture to be like Christ our Savior, as I said, so that
he might be a fit type of him. And notice how the scriptures
describe this. As a man, The Lord God was pleased
to hide from us who his father was, who his mother was, and
when his end was. And rather declares him to be
a priest continually, so that his priesthood is never brought
to an end so far as we can see. No record of it given in scripture,
no record of it given anywhere in history. And that makes him
a beautiful picture of Christ. Our Lord Jesus, as a man, was
without father. Joseph was just his adopted father.
He is God the Eternal Son. As God, he is without mother. Mary was the mother of that human
thing formed in her body, the mother of his human body and
human soul, the mother of his human spirit. But with regard
to his eternal deity, Mary was not his mother. How carefully
the Holy Spirit guards us against the foolish idolatry of the papists
who speak of Mary and say, Hail Mary, mother of God. She was
not, in any sense of the word, the mother of God. Mary was but
a sinner saved by grace, just like you and I. And she worshipped
the one whom she carried in her womb, who was her eternal God,
without beginning of days. Well, wait a minute. He had a
beginning. He said he came in the fullness of time. He said
he came in the womb of the virgin at the appointed time. He was
made of a woman made under the law. That's referring to him
as a man. But with regard to his eternal
deity, Bobby, he had no beginning. He's the eternal son of the eternal
father. Without beginning and without
end. Without end of life. Now this speaks of him both as
God and as man. Our Lord Jesus had no end to
his existence as a man. Oh, but he died at Calvary. Yeah,
but he rose again. That was just a temporary thing.
He died at Calvary under the wrath of God, and by virtue of
his death put away sin, and his death at Calvary was the means
of his access as a man to the throne of glory. And yonder he
sits, God in human flesh, without end of life. And he was a priest
who abides continually. He is our priest forever. But pastor, won't there come
a time when his intercessions will cease? Well, sort of. Sort of. He will no longer pray
for the non-imputation of sin. He will no longer pray for the
protection of his people. He will no longer pray for our
being sanctified by him. He will no longer pray for us
being made one. And yet, by virtue It is by virtue
of the sacrifice he made as our great high priest that we will
continue forever in that state of blessedness in heavenly glory
and so he continues a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Look at verse 4. Now consider
how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave
the tenth of the spoils and verily They that are of the sons of
Levi, who received the office of the priesthood. Now remember,
in the Old Testament, the priesthood was established in the house
of Aaron, according to the tribe of Levi. Those were the people
out of whom priests were made. They have a commandment to take
tithes of the people according to the law. You can read it in
Numbers chapter 18. That is, of their brethren, though
they come out of the loins of Abraham. These Levites who were
born out of the loins of Abraham, who paid tithes to Melchizedek,
these Levites received tithes from their brethren. Now if Abraham
This one who is the head of the Levites, this one who is the
original head of the priesthood. If Abraham honored Melchizedek
with tithes of all that he had, so that he brings a tenth of
all his substance to Melchizedek, how much more ought we to honor
God our Savior with our substance. is something that was established
as a law in Israel for the taxation of the people to maintain the
priesthood and the tabernacle and the temple. But tithing has
nothing more to do with our worship of God in the New Testament than
the sacrifices of the Passover lambs. Tithing was done away
when the Lord Jesus Christ came here and fulfilled all the law
for us. Does that mean that God's people
don't give? Oh, no. God's people give. They give and honor God with
their substance. They worship God with what they
have. The tithe simply acknowledged God's ownership of us, acknowledged
that God gives everything we have, and that everything we
have is in His hands and properly goes back to Him again. The tithe
was paid, you remember, on the first fruits. First fruits. It didn't matter what else had
to come out, the tithe came out first. How come? Because it was
an exercise symbolically of faith. Now we give to God. We give because
we recognize he owns us and everything we have is his. We give because
we are honored that God would allow us in our flesh to use
what he's put in our hands for the furtherance of the gospel,
the increase of his kingdom, the glory of his name. And we
give acknowledging that, Lord, you provide for us. Now, here's
what we have. That which is given is but a
representation of the whole. How much more we ought to honor
him who loved us and gave himself for us as Melchizedek was honored
by Abraham. Look at verse 6. But he whose
descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and
blessed him that had the promises. God had promised Abraham that
he'd bless him and make him a blessing. He promised Abraham that he'd
bless him in all things and make him a blessing to all people.
And now Melchizedek comes, and he, receiving tithes of Abraham,
blesses Abraham. Oh, this is our priest. On the
basis of his sacrifice, he has from eternity blessed us, and
all the blessings of God flow to us from him. As Abraham was
blessed by Melchizedek, so we are blessed by the Lord Jesus
Christ with all spiritual blessings. Look at verse 7. And without
all contradiction, this is just, one of the logicians would say
this is a maxim you can't get away from. Without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. He who blesses is superior to
him who is blessed. That just makes good sense. Now
Melchizedek, representing the Lord Jesus Christ, was greater
than Abraham. greater than Levi, greater than
all the great ones who would follow out of the loins of Abraham.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely greater than all.
Greater than all men, greater than all priests, greater than
all sacrifices, greater than all intercessors, greater than
all friends, greater than all. He's the King of kings and Lord
of lords. In his deity None compares to
him. In his humanity, none is like
him. Holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners. In his offices, none is like
him. Prophet, priest, and king. Prophet
to teach us the will of God. King to rule over and protect
us. Priest to bring us acceptably to God. And in his work, none
compares to him. Jesus Christ, our great high
priest. by the accomplishments of his
death at Calvary, has brought in for us everlasting righteousness,
put away our sins, pleases God Almighty in all things, and makes
us pleasing to him. Look at verse 8. And here men
that die receive tithes. Those Levites, those priests
after the order of Aaron, they all died. They were just men. And tithes were received by them
from their brethren, but there he receiveth them of whom it
is witnessed that he liveth. That is in picture. The Lord
Jesus here received from Abraham his paltry gifts. This one who
is a priest forever, who lives forever after the order of Melchizedek. All other priests died, their
priesthood ceased, but Christ lives forever and his priesthood
will never cease. Look at verse 9. And as I may
so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes paid tithes in Abraham. That's a good picture of representation.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is that one who represents us before
God as our seminal head as well as our federal head. We are his
seed. Just as Abraham paid tithes,
and when he did, because Levi was in his loins, his seed, what
Abraham did, Levi did. Because Adam walked before God
as our representative and we were in his loins physically,
what he did, we did. So when he sinned, we sinned.
When he died, we died. Just like Levi paid tithes in
Abraham. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
obeyed God's law, Bob Pontius, You and I obeyed God's law perfectly
from beginning to end. We are in his loins. When he
died under the wrath of God, Rex, we satisfied the justice
of God because we died in him. And when he arose, we arose in
him. All right, read verse 10. For
he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
Verse 11. If therefore, if perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, If it were possible for men and
women to be made righteous by the works and sacrifices and
ceremonies of the Old Testament law represented in the Levitical
priesthood, 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? The reason why the priest, the sacrifices, the ceremonies,
the rituals, the rites, the commandments, the carnal ordinances of all
the law given in the Old Testament came to an end is because they
could never bring in righteousness. They could never put away sin.
They could never, David, give your conscience peace. They could
never do it. Paul said, I don't frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I recall when I was in Bible
college, if you can call it Bible college, our theology professors,
both schools I attended, our theology professors tried to
convince us, worked hard at trying to convince folks that God could
have saved people by the law. If that's the case, Christ died
for nothing. That's what Paul says in Galatians
2.21. What horrible monstrosity men would make of God. He sacrificed
his son for nothing? Oh no, righteousness could not
come by the law. Righteousness comes only by the
sacrifice of God's own Son. In Hebrews 7, verse 18, we read,
There is barely a disannulling of the commandment going before,
for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. Alright,
we'll get to that in a minute. Move on to verse 12. For the
priesthood being changed, there is made a necessity a change
also of the law. Christ is the end of the law.
The priesthood has been brought to an end, a new priesthood established.
Carnal ordinances have been put away, and now we worship God
in spirit and in truth. Verse 13. For he of whom these
things were spoken pertaineth to another tribe. of which no
man gave attendance at the altar. Some tried to, but God judged
them for it. This priest comes out of Judah,
of whom nothing was spoken concerning the priesthood. Look at verse
14. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of
which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. Now,
as I said in the beginning, we cannot come to God except by
His altar, His sacrifice, and His priest. You remember when
Isaac was going up to Mount Moriah with Abraham? They had the fire.
They were going up to worship God, and that boy had been taught
well by his daddy. He said, Daddy, we've got fire
for a burnt offering, but where's the lamb for sacrifice? We can't
come to God without a lamb. We can't come to God without
a sacrifice. Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, and thus prophesied
concerning the coming of Christ. The law had to give way to grace. The Levitical priesthood had
to die to make room for Christ, our High Priest, for the Lamb
of God, who was represented in Melchizedek and in the bread
and wine he brought to Abraham. All right, look at verse 15.
Hebrews chapter 7, verse 15. And it is yet far more evident,
for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, There ariseth
another priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandment,
but after the power, the virtue, the efficacy of an endless life. The Lord Jesus achieved his priestly
robes by virtue of his resurrection glory. Verse 17, for he testified
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For
there is barely additionally an end of the commandment going
before. And how come? For the weakness
and unprofitableness thereof. This is what Paul says in Romans
chapter 8. What the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh. The law just could not do it.
God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Look at verse 19. For
the law made nothing perfect. The law could never take away
sin. The law could never justify. The law could never bring in
righteousness. The law could never give the guilty conscience
peace. The law made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. And Christ is that better hope.
Hope. Read the law. The law says do
and live. But it gives me neither hands
nor feet. But the gospel comes and says all is done. And that's
a better hope. The law says love God with all
your heart, soul, mind and being and you'll live forever. Love
your neighbor as yourself and God will be your God forever.
And the law declares plainly you can't do it. You can't do
it. The gospel comes and says Christ
in your room instead. has loved God with all his heart,
soul, mind, and being, and his neighbor as himself. Look at
him yonder on the curse tree, dying for the glory of God, for
the salvation of neighbors who themselves despise him. It's
done. It's done. Look on. The law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of better hope did. By the witch we now
draw nigh to God. We come to God in a new and living
way through the blood of his cross. Our Lord Jesus, when he
cried, it is finished, that veil that separated the holy place
from the holy of holies was rent from top to bottom, split right
smack dab down the middle, declaring now the way to God is open and
the way to God is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. All
right, look at verse 20. And inasmuch as not without an
oath, he was made a priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, those Old Testament priests. But this, with an oath,
not for his sake, but for ours. An oath by him, by God, that
said to him, the Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Verse 22. By so much, by the
oath of God himself, the Lord Jesus was made a surety of a
better covenant. Now, in the gospel of God's grace,
in this blessed age of grace in which we live, in this blessed
day of the gospel in which we are privileged to live, we have
a better hope, a better surety, and a better covenant. We have
a covenant of pure free grace, a surety who stands forever before
God as our high priest, whom God has already accepted, in
whom God has already blessed us, and the hope that makes not
a shame, the hope which gives us peace and confidence before
God. All right, read on, verse 23.
And they truly were many priests, bunch of them, bunch of them,
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
They were all sinners, and they all had to die. But this man,
the Lord Jesus, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable
priesthood. That word unchangeable, it means
immutable, it means steadfast, it means irrevocable. His priesthood
stands forever. Here is the blessed good news
of it. What does all this mean, Preacher? Wherefore, since he
is our everlasting, abiding, great High Priest, ordained and
established by the oath of God himself, surety of a better covenant,
who has brought in a better hope on the grounds of a better sacrifice,
wherefore, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come to God by him. This is how the Holy Spirit here
describes all true believers. This is what believers are. They're
folks who come to God by Christ. To whom? Coming. Not that we
have come. You see, the religious world
around us, they look at folks and say, well, I remember when
I came to the Lord. What I did yesterday or this
morning or ten minutes ago is irrelevant. Believers are folks
who are coming. They are those who come to God
by Jesus Christ. They come to God by faith, believing
on the Son of God by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He's able to save them because He lives forever. to make intercession
for them. My little children, John wrote,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, and he's the propitiation for our sins. All right, now
let's look at the last two or three verses here. For such an
high priest is just exactly what we need. Such an high priest
became us. A high priest who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heathens.
Look at verse 27. Who needeth not daily. No need
for him to offer any more sacrifice. Who needeth not daily as those
priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, he didn't
have any. And then for the people's. For this he did once. He offered
up sacrifice for our sins one time when he offered up himself.
What a word. He didn't just give his life.
He didn't just give his body. He offered up himself. A sacrifice to God. Himself. All that he is. All that he is. So Christ, we're told in chapter
9 verse 28, was once offered to bear the sins of many. And
to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. All right, now look at the last
verse of our text, verse 28, chapter 7. For the law maketh
men high priests which have infirmity. Remember in chapter 5, the law
makes those folks who have faults and failures and infirmities
high priests, because they're sinners like us. But the word
of the oath, the oath of God Almighty, which was since the
law maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. Now, let's tie that
in with one last verse. Look at verse 1 of chapter 8.
Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the son. This is what I'm trying to communicate.
We have such an high priest. one consecrated forever, one
who is the Son of God, one made by the oath of God Almighty,
who is set at the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. What a description of our priesthood.
Yonder he sits in heaven, undisturbed, serene sovereign, at the right
hand of the majesty, oh the majesty on high, who is God, our God
forevermore, because Christ is our priest after the order of
Melchizedek. All right, Lindsay, come listen
to him if you will.

Christ A High Priest After The Order of Melchizedek

What does the Bible say about Melchizedek?

Why is the priesthood of Christ important for Christians?

How do we know Christ’s priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood?

Why is Jesus described as our High Priest in the New Testament?

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Christ A High Priest After The Order of Melchizedek

What does the Bible say about Melchizedek?

Why is the priesthood of Christ important for Christians?

How do we know Christ’s priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood?

Why is Jesus described as our High Priest in the New Testament?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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