CCF: Jesus the High Priest that We Need
Hebrews 7:1-28
Bro. Marco
Melchizedek’s priesthood is like Christ. (v1-10)
The first few verses of Hebrews chapter seven introduced us to who Melchizedek is. He is the King of Salem and Priest of God Most High; his name means “King of Righteousness;” King of peace (Salem means peace); he is the first priest mentioned in the Bible; Abraham recognized his priesthood is from God; and he has no record of genealogy in the Bible.
The author also points out that Melchizedek is superior to Abraham, superior to the Levitical Priests and his existence points us to the person of Christ.
The Priesthood of Christ is More Effective. (v11-19)
To show that the priesthood of Christ is more effective than the Levitical priesthood, the author listed several limitations of the Levitical priesthood such as perfection was not attainable; it was weak and useless; it was insufficient to bring us as near to God as God desired; there was no oath from God regarding this priesthood; and not permanent, prevented by death from continuing in office.
The priesthood of Christ is more effective because it gives us a better hope that brings us nearer to God.
The Priesthood of Christ is Firmly Established. (v20-22)
In this set of verses, Jesus is described as our guarantor of the new covenant on our behalf. And he did not wait for us who live now to fail Him, He paid for our failures in advance. He made himself like us to fulfill the requirements of the law in His perfect life. Jesus became not only the payment for us but also the mediator on our behalf. He became the High Priest that would offer the sacrifice by becoming a sacrifice. What He gives us is the freedom to come before God knowing that we have been fully cleansed and cleared of all wrongdoing. When we come to God in our sinfulness the Father looks to his right hand and sees Jesus sitting there.
The covenant is better because it is guaranteed by the Son of God to be eternally effective. The priesthood of Christ is firmly established by the oath of God.
Knowing that God’s plan for redemption transcends the old and new testament, the question for us is, how should we respond? May we respond to God in worship and in faith and trust God even more especially when we encounter difficult problems in our life.
The Priesthood of Christ is Eternal. (v23-25)
Jesus is the high priest that we need, an enduring priest. The Levitical priest could not accomplish the deepest desire of God for His people. We need a high priest that is radiantly holy, completely innocent, and eternally effective to bring us to be with the Father, and Jesus is that perfect high priest. Verse 25 says he is able to save forever – the more our need is, the more Christ's ability is to save us. There is not a time or a season or a second in our life that Jesus is not able to save us. His power to save is limitless. The grace of God in Christ extends further than you can imagine to the deepest most outrageous sin that you have ever committed. Never believe the lie that you are beyond saving. Satan brings guilt but Jesus saves. He lives to make intercession on our behalf – past, present, and future sins.
The priesthood of Christ is eternal. An unchanging priesthood means lasting salvation.
The Priesthood of Christ is What We Need. (v26-28)
In this set of verses, the author is drawing a comparison between the Levitical priest and Jesus. The Levitical priests – many in number, prevented by death from continuing to office, temporary, sinful, weak, and offers sacrifices daily. On the other hand, Jesus – is alone, overcame death to continue in office, permanent, sinless, perfect, and offered sacrifice once and for all.
The priesthood of Christ is exactly what we need because he is the perfect fit to represent us before God and to secure our acceptance with God.
When the author of Hebrews wrote the book, there were Christians from Jewish backgrounds who were interested in Jesus as their High Priest, but they have a significant intellectual objection to the idea because Jesus did not come from the priestly tribe of Levites. The author wanted to remove this intellectual problem that the Jewish Christians had with the gospel. These intellectual hang-ups kept them from their maturity. In the same way, maybe some of us have intellectual issues that are preventing us to mature in Christ. If we do, we should continually seek God and ask God how to resolve these issues.
Ultimately, what we believe about Jesus Christ makes a huge difference.
The most important question in the world is Jesus’ question to His disciples, and that question is, “Who do you say that I am?” Our eternal destiny hinges on our response to that question. Like the author of Hebrews, let’s seek God continually and fervently in His Word to give us a greater knowledge of the beauty and the glory of Jesus. Let us also follow the example of Apostle Paul whose life’s long quest as a believer was to count all things to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
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| Image courtesy of activechristianity.org |
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