Hebrews 7:20-22(NKJV) 20And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21(for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’”), 22by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.
Yesterday we focused on the idea that Jesus has become the minister of a better covenant based on better promises. They are both better because we do not access them because of law but because of relationship. We found from Jeremiah 31:31-34 that the New Covenant was to be on in which the laws of God were not written on tables of stone but on the hearts of those who believed.
The Old Covenant law was the channel through which the people obtained the promises. In the New Covenant, the channel for receiving the promises is our relationship with the Lord via the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a better covenant based on better promises.
Today I want to look at another reason the New Covenant and its promises are better than the Old. If a man sinned under the Old Covenant, he was out of right standing with God and could not access the promises. He had to offer sacrifices to get back into right standing. It was not lawful for the people to offer their own sacrifice. They had to come to the priests with their sacrifice and only the priest was authorized to offer them. Therefore, the priests were the mediators of the covenant and the channel for the promises.
There were good priests and there were bad priests. The most important of all the priests was the High Priest. The High Priest was the only man who could enter the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and later the temple. He brought the blood from the yearly “Day of Atonement” sacrifice into the most holy part of the temple and sprinkled the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant with it. This sacrifice validated all the other sacrifices under the law. This was a very important position.
Originally, the position of High Priest was held for life. The first one was Aaron the brother of Moses and only his descendants were to be considered for the position. Each High Priests died in his turn. As with all the priests, some were good and some were not. In Samuel the prophet’s day, Eli was high priest. His sons used his position to abuse the people. They were not channels for the promises of God; they kept those promises from the people and made themselves wealthy.
The book of Hebrews is very interesting. It is a parallel study of Jewish law and Christian relationship. It explains what the Jewish law and temple really represented. It also shows that the New Covenant required a new priest. In particular, it required a new High Priest. In today’s verse, it tells us that this new priest would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Who was this man, Melchizedek? He was a priest who received tithes from Abraham after he had won a victory against his enemies. Melchizedek predated the Mosaic Law and therefore he predated all the priests who served under the law. He was not from the priestly tribe of Levi. He was not even a descendant of Abraham and yet the Bible calls him a priest.
There is much speculation about who Melchizedek was. Some believe him to be a manifestation of the pre-existent Christ. Some believe that Jesus appeared to Abraham and he is this Melchizedek. I do not know if that is true or even important. What this verse says is that Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He was not a priest of the Law. He was a priest for the same reason Melchizedek was. Both Jesus and Melchizedek were priests because God said they were. Moreover, both had another thing in common. There is no mention of Melchizedek’s death. Some believe he did not die. That may be so, but the scripture does not say that. It says there is no record of his death. There is no record of his birth or his ascension to the priesthood.
Paul’s point here is that Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek in that the Law did not appoint him and he never dies. He is a priest forever. He will never change. The seat of priesthood is not the earth but heaven itself. He is not a minster of the earthly temple but the heavenly reality. He did not sprinkle an earthly mercy seat with the blood of animals. He took his own blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies and cleansed that temple from the stain of Adam’s sin.
Hebrews 10:12(NKJV) 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
Jesus sat down at the right hand of God because there would never need to be another sacrifice. Jesus paid the price for all sin with his blood. Now anyone who wanted to come back to relationship with God need only believe in that one sacrifice. No one had to find another priest. Jesus was the last priest and the only priest man would ever need to come to for salvation.
This is a very large topic, but how does it relate to the promises of God? Under the Old Covenant, the priests were the channels for the promises. If these priests withheld their service, those who came to them could not be forgiven. This meant that they could not receive the blessing of God. We have a high priest who will never die and never change. He is a perfect High Priest who exists only for those who come to him. He is the new channel for forgiveness of sin. He is the priest, but he is also the offering and he will never change.
In Hebrews 7:16 we read that the power of Jesus’ priesthood is an endless life. He is not a priest because of the Law. Jesus was neither from Aaron’s family nor from the priestly tribe. He is a priest because God made him one by his own oath. He remains a priest because he never dies. When we sin, we will always be able to come to this priest for forgiveness and restored access to the blessings of the promises of God.
Hebrews 7:25(NKJV) 25Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
I had a friend who used to say that Jesus saved us from the “guttermost to the uttermost.” He is able to take us from the lowest place and cause us to live in abundant life because he is always there. He is always praying for us and he is doing it in the presence of the Father.
2 Corinthians 1:20(NKJV) 20For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
All the promises of God are available to us because of the high priest who lives forever. He is the channel for the promises of God to our lives. He is the payment for everything that could keep these promises from us.
1 John 1:9(NKJV) 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we sin and block access to the promises of God, we need only come to our great high priest. He will forgive us based on his own blood and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We must come to him in faith and true repentance, but if we do, we can be assured that our access to all the promises of God will be restored. Nothing in the universe can stop that from happening because our high priests ministers from the highest place in the universe and nothing can supersede him.
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