Hebrews ch 7

sermon by Dave Rose

30/4/23

Introduction

Two weeks ago Graham looked at Hebrews ch 5 and in verses 10 & 11 we read, speaking of Christ, "Called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek," of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing".

This last phrase is expressed by the NIV: "because you no longer try to understand". For the Jews of his day, Paul, (I am assuming he was the author of Hebrews, although there is debate about this) was enemy no. 1. They accused him of twisting their Scriptures and preaching disobedience to Moses. Even today, if you go on any Jewish Rabbi's website you can still see what I mean. Were, I wonder, Paul's first readers being swayed by these continuous attacks on his integrity? But I hope we will fare better this morning in our attempt to understand just who Melchizedek was and what he represented.

Who was Melchizedek?

Paul introduces this mysterious character, mentioned only twice in the Old Testament (Genesis 14:18-20 and Psalm 110:4). We can't avoid asking the question, "Who was he"?

  • First Paul states quite clearly, that he was greater than Abraham, giving two reasons. 1) Melchizedek blessed Abraham (Genesis 14:19). Paul points out in vs.7. "Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the greater". 2) Abraham brought a tenth of his plunder to him as a tithe (Gen 14: 20). Paul once again points out in vs.4. "Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils". Then he goes on to show in vs. 9 that through Abraham, even the future Levitical priests who themselves later received tithes from men, being his descendants, though yet unborn, in effect paid tithes to Melchizedek.

  • He then points out the titles given to Melchizedek in Gen 14.18:

    a) King of Righteous"

    b) "King of Salem" which means "King of Peace". Incidentally, Salem is synonymous with Jerusalem as Psalm 76:2 confirms. So it seems he was King of what we now know as Jerusalem as well.

    c) "Priest of God Most High".

    Does all this begin to sound familiar? These are all titles that could as easily be applied to Christ.

    There's one other strange detail that Paul points out in vs. 3: "Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually"

    What is Paul saying here? This one verse has caused all sorts of speculation. But here's my take: because no one living at the time really knew where he had come from, or even his family history, nor for that matter, how long he had been alive, he must have seemed almost "other worldly".

    So who was he? I think there are just two reasonable possibilities. The first being he was God the Son. Remember the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Abraham and talked with him just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, later appearing to Joshua as well, just before the Battle of Jericho. The only Angel who ever accepted worship from men. However there are problems with this view. This man clearly lived among other men whereas "The Angel of the Lord" made just a few brief appearances in the Old Testament. Also Abraham didn't worship him.

    There is one other Old Testament character who may possible fit the description: Shem, the forefather of Abraham himself, and through him, the Israelites. He was, in fact Abraham's grandfather 7 times over. If we take the genealogies found in Genesis, the numbers add up. If Melchizedek was Shem, he lived for 600 years, 500 of which were after the Flood, meaning his life would have overlapped Abraham's by approximately 150 years, finally dying just 25 years before Abraham's own death. It's even possible that Noah himself was still alive for the first few years of Abraham's childhood!

    Now I suspect Paul's Jewish readers would have heard of some or all of this because he offers very little in the way of background explanation.

    So for these reasons I think there's a really good case for identifying Melchizedek with Shem, but the truth is, we don't know for sure, and it really shouldn't matter, except only as he is used as a type of Christ. There's even a caution inserted here in the passage. Notice Paul says, "Made like the Son of God". He says only "like". Furthermore in vs.4 we read "Now consider how great this man was". (past tense). So whatever else he was or wasn't, he was only flesh and blood like you and me.

    As I've already mentioned, there is one other Old Testament reference to Melchizedek and Paul quotes it. Psalm 110:4: "The LORD has sworn And will not relent, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

    This Psalm is the bridge between Melchizedek and Christ, because Psalm 110 clearly foretells the coming Messiah, Christ in the New Testament. Both Jews and Christians alike would have agreed on that. From this, Paul then makes the connection between Melchizedek in Gen 14 and Christ as our Great High Priest in Hebrews.

    So what is the point of all this? What is Paul trying to say by introducing us to Melchizedek?

    Well, put simply: In Christ, as foreshadowed by Melchizedek we have...

  • A better Chief Priest than all Aaron's descendants.

  • A better Sacrifice than they could ever have offered.

  • A better Covenant than the one they served under.

    Most importantly, Paul had demonstrated all of this from their own Old Testament Scriptures, using the type of Melchizedek. He's saying, in effect, Christ is promised in the very Covenant you’re tempted to return to.

    A Better Priesthood

    One that supersedes Aaron's, as prefigured in the person of Melchizedek, and fulfilled in Christ.. It’s better in two important ways:

  • A perfect priest replaces imperfect priests "For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever". (vs28) So we have here a perfect, sinless priest.

  • An eternal priesthood replaces a mortal priesthood. Psalm 110 speaks of an everlasting priesthood yet to come. Since Aaron's time so many High Priests had come and gone, offering countless sacrifices for sin. But again as it says: "Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable Priesthood" (vs 23-24) So Christ provides a better priesthood, because He's both perfect and eternal.

    A Better Sacrifice

    The sinless sacrifice Christ offered up was not a lamb or goat, but Himself. And He did it once for all time. I can't help but be remember John the Baptist’s words in the first chapter of John's Gospel: "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the Sin of the World". So we find in vs. 26-27: "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself".

    Incidentally, "once for all" here doesn't mean "once for all people" but "once for all time". In the same way we still say that something is finished "once and for all". Christ's Sacrifice is indeed Perfect it because it doesn't need to be offered ever again, by virtue of the nature of the Priest and then by the nature of the sacrifice. Both being nothing less than God's Eternal and Perfect Son!

    A Better Covenant.

    Or as Paul puts it in vs. 12. "A change of Law". And this was crucial for his first Jewish readers to understand. "For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also". Now remember Paul is writing to believers born into Judaism. Part of their problem was, though they really had come to accept Christ as their Messiah and Saviour, they still couldn't quite leave the Law behind as their standard of righteousness. And it's not just Jews who have struggled with this. Even today many Christians still have the same problem. We call it Legalism. We somehow feel we’re not doing enough to deserve God's Love, or not doing enough to earn our salvation. That's because we're not, nor ever will. This is why it's called Free Grace.

    Now Paul says in Romans 12.1: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service". But this is our loving response to what Christ has already done for us. It's not some religious duty. Even in the Old Testament there were sacrifices for sin, but also freewill offerings.

    Christ Himself is the final and perfect sin offering. We can't improve on that. But we can and should, offer ourselves freely to Him in gratitude and praise.

    Paul sums up the whole of his argument in the very last verse of the chapter. "For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever".

    ■ So in Summary. Psalm 110:4 declares the coming Messiah's Everlasting Priesthood, and Gen 14 lays out His credentials to perform it through the type of Melchizedek. Despite the deep truths Paul is expressing here, the basic message is simple. Paul has shown us in this Chapter exactly the Kind of Priest we all need. And then goes on to show that in Christ we have found Him.

    Conclusion

    Paul was originally speaking to Jewish believers who missed the visible glory of the Temple and their previous experience with its centuries of tradition. Some had even experienced rejection by family. They still felt its pull. But in just four short years everything they longed to go back to would no longer exist. It would have been swept away in the destruction wrought by the Roman Legions. Both their Temple and their capital city would be razed to the the ground.

    Don't we sometimes feel that same pull? It can be very subtle, and feel so spiritual. For some it may be the outward trappings of faith: liturgies, ceremonies and feasts. For others it may be a more inward appeal: holding a certain view of the Scriptures. Reformed Theology, or the Gifts of the Spirit, maybe even certain views of the Lord's Return. None of these, of themselves, may be wrong. But the longer I'm a Christian the more I'm convinced that Christ isn't just to be central to my faith, He is all my Faith, He has to be my everything.

    Now if Satan can't destroy your faith he will still try to sidetrack you as he had these Hebrew Christians. Satan doesn't really care how spiritual or biblical he has to make you feel either. If he can just nudge Christ off the throne in your heart his work is done. We must always keep Christ and Him alone at the very centre of everything: Everything we believe in and everything we do because Christ alone died for us, and it is in Christ alone in whom our Hope is found.