Hebrews 7:15-28
New Living Translation
Jesus Is like Melchizedek
15 This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. 16 Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 17 And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,
“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”[c]
18 Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. 19 For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
20 This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, 21 but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,
“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
‘You are a priest forever.’”[d]
22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.
23 There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. 24 But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[e] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
26 He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.[f] 27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. 28 The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.
My thoughts and observations:
The Mosaic Law was replaced with a better system.
Jesus guarantees the better covenant.
Jesus lives forever so he can intercede for us eternally.
His intercession for us is complete. We are saved once and for all because of his eternality.
Teaching Points from https://studyhebrews.com/hebrews7-23-28.html
If perfection was through the Levitical priesthood – The author clearly teaches his audience about the inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood to wash away sin. Read Leviticus and you will see many of the rules related to this priesthood. Many of them concern sacrifices. Day after day, week after week, year after year for centuries the priests were offering sacrifices in the temple. Millions and millions of animals slaughtered. And yet, this did not take away people’s sin. It could only serve to cover it and offer a graphic illustration of the seriousness for sin and the need for a perfect sacrifice. Look at some of the most faithful people in the Old Testament like David. None of them could live up to the high standard of the law. Something different was needed. Something had to be changed.
This is where Jesus comes in – He was another priest who arose from a different order, not the order of Aaron. His coming was a clear sign that the law was lacking. If the Old Testament law and the Levitical priesthood “worked” then there would be no need for Jesus to come. Like the old saying gos “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” and “don’t reinvent the wheel.” If the Mosaic law was able to permanently and finally restore the relationship between people and God, Jesus need not come.
Yet Jesus did come. He came from a tribe which never had any priests. Priests did not come from the tribe of Judah. They came from the tribe of Levi. This is something that Moses did not speak about. Jesus came, as was prophesied, from the tribe of Judah. This was the tribe which supplied kings for the throne.
Jesus is priest not on the basis of the Mosaic law which had physical requirements for being a priest (most importantly being of the tribe of Levi.) So on what basis did Jesus became a priest? Did He break the very law He gave?
The second question first. Because Jesus is the eternal Creator of the universe He is not bound to laws which God gave to people. Certainly He is not able to go against His own character, which is the basis for many of these laws, but He is not bound to the law. For example He will not lie not because He gave this law to people but because it goes against His character to lie. He will not sin in any way because He is holy. Jesus said that He is the Lord of the Sabbath and thus implied that He is not under the rules which govern how created people live on the Sabbath. To understand in simpler terms a parent need not obey all the rules he gives to his children. For example he may give a bedtime to his children for their good, but it is not necessary for him to keep this bedtime. He tells his children to hold someone else’s hand while crossing the road, but he himself does not do it.
He is priest according to the “power of an indestructible life.” He is the Son of God. He has no beginning and no end. He is the Creator of the universe. He can do whatever He wants.
Verse 17 – You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. This statement verifies that the Messiah is a priest forever.
Verse 18 – The law has weaknesses and is useless to truly restore people to God finally and permanently. So what’s the positives and negatives of the law? See cross-references.
The law does serve a purpose or God would not have given it. The main purpose can be seen in Romans chapter 7. That is, it shows people clearly their sin. Basically the law serves as a mirror or a measuring stick. By looking at it, we can see how far we fall short. It helps us to evaluate ourselves accurately by God’s standard. Any honest person examining himself by the law will see that he falls woefully short. This should have several benefits for us.
It humbles us – By evaluating ourselves with the law we can see how far short of God’s standard we are. There is no room for pride or boasting. We see God for who He is and ourselves for who we are.
It shows us the cost of sin – In the OT law sacrifices were made for sin. It showed people that sin must be punished. This punishment was severe, ugly, and gruesome. Only because of God’s mercy was a person not punished himself. This was a daily reminder about the seriousness of sin.
It shows us that we need help. I believe that this is one of, if not the, primary reasons for the OT law. It leads people to a proper state of hopelessness in their own ability to solve the problem of sin. It leads people to God as the only source of any salvation from this inescapable pit of sin we have dug for ourselves.
The one key negative of the law is that it makes nothing perfect. It cannot bring anyone back to God. It cannot permanently solve the problem of sin. It seemed to make the gap between people and God even larger. God is infinitely holy and sinful people had no hope to bridge the gap to Him.
God’s revelation is progressive – If you study the whole Bible you will see that God did not reveal everything about Himself or His plan all at once. He did it little by little. Why? Obviously it was the best way because God is omniscient. Just imagine for example if God sent Jesus to die for humanity right after Adam and Eve sinned. While Adam and Eve may have accepted this, it is very likely that future generations would pridefully think they didn’t need it (after all they didn’t eat the foribidden fruit). By waiting for thousands of years, God proved conclusively that people could not do it on their own. People had millennia of hard data and experiences highlighting over and over again our own inability to solve this problem. A famous preacher (I believe Moody) said you have to “preach a person into a hell before you can preach them into heaven.” His point was that you have to show a person he is lost and needs help before he is willing to accept help. When you look at all of human history that is what God has already done on a grand scale!
Better hope – Thank God we have a better hope. Jesus came as the ultimate, perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sinners. He did this so that we can draw near to God. Remember that when Jesus died the veil to the holy of holies was ripped from top to bottom. This signified that people now had access to God. The gap had been bridged. Through Christ, we can be children of God. He also gives the Holy Spirit to indwell us. We have many spiritual blessings in Christ (see Ephesians 1) and for that we should be thankful. We also have the benefit of history to humble us and remind us there was no other way and we cannot save ourselves.
Verse 21 shows the finality of this covenant. MacArthur puts it like this. “The Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ is confirmed with God’s oath in Ps 110:4. God’s mind will not change on the matter.”
Verse 23 – Jewish tradition says that the number of Jewish high priests from Aaron to the destruction of the temple in AD 70 was 84. The number of total priests including all others besides the high priests would have been much higher. These would die and then another would take their place. It’s kind of wearisome when you think about it. For millennia there were groups of priests who spent almost their entire lives serving in the temple to make sacrifices for sins. On and on and on with no end in sight. From father to son, entire generations of priests worked continually to offer sacrifices to cover over the sins of their people. They only represented a small amount of the world’s population. And they surely only offered sacrifices for a small percentage of the actual sins committed. And yet still they were kept busy without any breaks or rest. That is the problem of sin and the old covenant’s way of dealing with it.
Verse 24 – Once again Jesus is contrasted with this priesthood. The Levitical priesthood was weak and inefficient. It was seriously flawed in that it could make no one perfect. It went on and on seemingly without end, but also without ever solving the problem. But (and this word in the Bible is so important), Jesus continues forever. This is really the hope that we have. Jesus is our perfect and final high priest. We need never have another one. Because He is infinite and eternal. He can do the job required to take away our sins. And He can do it perfectly and completely whereas thousands of priests working all together could never be successful before. In the modern day world many times businesses will downsize. They will evaluate different departments and dismiss employees who are inefficient, unneeded, or just not getting the job done. Imagine if a company like Microsoft, Baidu, or Google came out with the following press release: “It has been discovered that our current business model is flawed. All of our tens of thousands of employees together cannot get the job done. Mistakes and errors are commonplace. We are not fulfilling our company mission or purpose. To this point, our business history has been a failure. Therefore, every single employee will be fired effective immediately. We will replace them with one lone employee who will single-handedly right the direction of the company and perfectly fulfill our vision and goals.” What would people say? “It’s crazy!” “No one can do that!” “Impossible.” “They have lost their mind!” Who is this guy?” And so on. Well, that is what Christ did. He singlehandedly replaced the entire Levitical priesthood. He is a priest permanently. No one will ever replace Him.
He is able to save forever those who draw near to God – He is able to save. That is the good news of Christ. In the Old Testament we can see that people are hopeless on their own. No one can solve the problem of sin. The essence of the gospel is that Jesus can. Jesus can save. There is also a condition there. What is it? He will save those who draw near to God. In other words He offers the way out, but we also have responsibility to take the way out. Notice too the use of the word “forever.” This is a very important word. Why? It shows that salvation is not a temporary state. Those who are saved will be saved forever. Forever is a powerful word and it means what it sounds like. Once saved you can never be “unsaved.” This is yet another biblical verse supporting the fact that believers cannot lose their salvation. But remember all of the warnings we have read in the book of Hebrews about “not drifting away” or not “falling away.” We are still responsible to trust God and obey Him.
He always lives to make intercession for them – This phrase gives us important insight into what Jesus is doing right now. One of His current roles is interceding for the saints (something the Holy Spirit also does for us). What does this show us about Christ? It shows us that He cares for us deeply. That He loves us. Returning to heaven was not abandoning us. He is advocating for us before the highest throne in the universe. It is interesting to consider that Satan is the accuser who accuses believers before God while Jesus is the advocate who is making appeals on our behalf before the Father. What impact does this have on your life? How can this help you when you are facing trials or difficulties? What should you do knowing that He is interceding for you?
What is our high priest like? – Unfortunately in Israel’s history many high priests were not good. Even Aaron was incredibly weak and easily influenced sometimes as in the case with the golden calf. Eli’s sons were extremely corrupt and sinful. You can see from Israel’s often dark and sinful history that their high priests were often not righteous. When Jesus came the high priests had him crucified. What is our high priest like? The good news is that He is not like these wicked high priests. He is (discuss each):
Holy
Innocent
Undefiled
Separated from sinners
Exalted above the heavens
His sacrifice is once for all – This is an essential aspect of the gospel. At the same time it marks another difference with the Old Covenant. Under the old covenant, sacrifices were made for sins daily. It was ongoing and never ending. There was no final solution for sin. There was no answer. It was something like some diseases. For some diseases there is no known cure. The patient must take medicine for his whole life. This medicine can mostly treat the symptoms of the disease, but cannot actually cure it. Imagine the joy that patient would feel if on a doctor’s visit, the doctor informed him that a cure had been discovered. He could be 100% healed and not have to rely on taking medicine every day anymore. That is how we should feel (multiplied many times over) because of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
It was once-for-all. That means that He already died for all of your sins – past, present, and future. He wiped them all away. He doesn’t need to go the cross again. What impact does that have on you? We don’t need to keep going with the tedious daily sacrifices. Also, we are not saved and then unsaved and then saved again depending on whether or not we have committed a new sin. Someone said that if you sin before you die you will go to hell. But he is not taking into account these verses that show that Christ’s sacrifice is once for all. It was not only for past people, but also for future people.
Verse 28 – The law appoints men as high priests who are weak. You can see a number of examples of this in the Bible. Why? We are all weak and we are all sinners so the high priest is no exception. It is called the word of the oath because of verse 21. God swore that the Christ would be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. That was His oath and Jesus’ priesthood is based on this unchanging purpose of God.
Steve Holder 