These are complicated passages so take your time! There are few questions but many scriptures. Perhaps pre-arrange for people to take part by sharing in readings. (Some people might welcome the opportunity to practice before the meeting.)
Today we will be looking at Melchisedek. (You may want to refer to the study on Genesis 14 for more background information.) But before that we will have to look at why taking oaths was so culturally important. Then we will finish with looking at Jesus and the whole system of priests, sacrifices, and the Temple itself.
Read Hebrews 6:13-15
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’ 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
We just read he waited patiently. I think if I wanted to see that this promise was being fulfilled, I would at least need a son, and then probably for him to provide me with a grandson.
How old was Abraham when he first received the promise that he was told he would become a great nation? 75 years old (Genesis 12:1-4).
How old was Abraham when his son Isaac was born? 100 (Genesis 21:5)
How much longer did Abraham have to wait until his first Grandchild was born? 60 years (Genesis 25:26).
That’s an awful lot of waiting! Why didn’t Abraham give up? Because the promise had been made by God with an oath and so could be trusted completely.
Look back at verses 13 and 14
What was the occasion when God made his promise on oath?
Abraham offering Isaac as a burnt offering (Genesis 22 especially verses 16-17).
Read Hebrews 6:16-17
16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
Some cultures accept that if you confirm what you say with an oath, it is unquestionably true. For instance in a court of law, witnesses may be required to state:
‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’
God’s word is truth. He then added an oath.
Read Hebrews 6:18-20
18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.
As we have already seen. The book of Hebrews concentrates on the role of the High Priest – the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the Temple, within the veil.
Not only has Jesus entered the Holy place, he then removed the veil so that we too may follow him. Abraham trusted God’s promise; we too have (v18 a ‘hope set before us’ (v19) ‘an anchor for the soul, firm and secure’. Signed, sealed and delivered by God.
But more than that, Jesus has now come ‘in the order of Melchizedek’ – a priest-king. Not to offer sacrifices for our sins, but to be the sacrifice.
Read Romans 3:25-26
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished 26 – he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Only through the shed blood of Jesus can we be justified – declared righteous – in the sight of God.
Now we return to Melchisedek:
Read Hebrews 7:1-3
1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means ‘king of righteousness’; then also, ‘king of Salem’ means ‘king of peace’. 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest for ever.
Here the author shows the link between Melchizedek and Jesus. To be a priest you had to be able to demonstrate a detailed genealogy – not only listing all fathers but all mothers too – tracing back to Aaron. But Jesus’ priestly ministry did not rely on any legal framework, just as Melchizedek’s priesthood did not rely on any such claims. Also as there was no record of his birth or death, he simply ‘remains a priest for ever’.
This was a direct quote from Psalm 110:4 – a prophetic psalm that had always been considered to refer to the coming Messiah.
More than that ‘the name Melchizedek means ‘king of righteousness’; then also, ‘king of Salem’ means ‘king of peace’ – ‘resembling the Son of God’.
Read Hebrews 7:4-10
4 Just think how great he was: even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! 5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people – that is, from their fellow Israelites – even though they also are descended from Abraham.
6 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. 9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, 10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.
Verse 4: ‘Just think how great he was’.
The Hebrews held Abraham in the greatest respect; greater than the whole priesthood, even the whole tribe of Levi, who were descended from him.
Yet it was Melchizedek who received the tithe from Abraham, and who blessed Abraham. In order to receive the tithe, and be able to give a blessing, he must have been greater than Abraham – even though it was to Abraham that the promises had been given.
Then Jesus must be greater still – remember Psalm 110:4 says
‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.’
Read Hebrews 7:11
11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood – and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood – why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
The whole point of a priest was to atone for the sins of the people, and to represent people to God. The priests knew, and the people knew, that however many sacrifices were offered, the people were still not made perfect – they still sinned. More than that, the priests were mortal – not able to save their own lives – much less to save the lives of the people they represented.
Now we need to remember that this letter was written to Hebrew Christians who had spent their whole lives carefully obeying the Law of Moses. The Temple worship, priests and sacrifices were a fundamental part of their character.
The author now had to steer them gently to accept that this had got to change.
Read Hebrews 7:12-17
12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. 13 He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests
15 And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is declared:
‘You are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.’
The Law had been provided to show people the standards they were required to live up to, and to demonstrate their failings. But it was powerless to actually change human nature. Priests operating under the old system were themselves flawed and would eventually die.
Jesus had said ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.’ (Matthew 5:17)
He demonstrated that he could sinlessly keep God’s law while ignoring man’s rules and regulations, and he fulfilled all the prophecies that had pointed to his coming.
Read Hebrews 7:18-28
18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest for ever.”’
22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives for ever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
26 Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect for ever.
At a stroke, the whole system of priests, sacrifices, even Temple has been made redundant – not so much abolished, but fulfilled – by Jesus.
As priest:
Because Jesus lives for ever (v24) he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them (v25).
As sacrifice:
He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself (v27).
As Temple:
This had been God’s dwelling place, where God and humans could meet. But you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
Read Hebrews 8:1-2
1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: we do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
The original Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was a shadow of the Temple that was to come. But then the Temple itself, amazing and glorious, was itself only a shadow of the true tabernacle that was to come.
Read Hebrews 8:3-6
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’ 6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
Not only were the Tabernacle and Temple mere shadows of what was to come, the entire priesthood was also a poor copy of the role of Jesus.
Only he could provide a perfect sacrifice. Only he could provide unrestricted access to God the Father. And only he could establish a new covenant which did not rely on the obedience of sinful people.
More on this next time.
