Full Transcript

Welcome to Share the Word. We are on Hebrews chapter 7, and after editing this podcast, and I don’t want to divulge too much, I did want to say that I truly enjoyed the direction and all of the information that Pastor Paul provided throughout. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Let’s get started. Hebrews chapter 7. Identity of Mystery Man Revealed.

For some reason, I’m doubting there’s much of an overlap between the audience for Share the Word and the audience for WWE Raw, although I could be wrong. If you’re unfamiliar, WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment. WWE Raw is their regular Monday night TV show on Netflix, and it features very large men and women, too, in costume, pretending like they are insulting, challenging, and then wrestling with one another. The producers build up all kinds of storylines and rivalries to get viewers emotionally invested in these characters. You have to kind of see it to believe it, if you haven’t. Anyway, I saw a headline for a story come across my phone’s feed the other day that read, Identity of Mystery Man Revealed!

Big exclamation point. Of course, I had to click on that, thinking maybe they found JonBenét’s kidnapper or the real identity of D. B. Cooper, but it wasn’t like that. Actually, it was about a mystery character that’s been appearing out of nowhere, jumping into the ring during WWE matches to help the guys who are losing. And in case you’re curious now, the mystery man in the all-black outfit and mask was Mark Theory.

Mark who? I know, that was my response too. I hope that wasn’t a spoiler, though, for any of you who have WWE Survivor Series recorded and haven’t watched it yet. Completely different kind of story, but I thought of that headline, Identity of Mystery Man Revealed, when I was trying to come up with a good title for Hebrews chapter 7. Twice already in Hebrews, the author has mentioned, without much explanation, a person named Melchizedek. The last time, in the last lines of chapter 6, where it says, This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.

It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary, that is, the Holy of Holies. Jesus has already gone in there for us, the writer says. He has become our eternal high priest in the order of Melchizedek. In the order of Melchizedek. What does that mean? By the way, I’m getting used to the easier-to-read modern language New Living Translation for this lesson because, frankly, we need all the help we can get.

The author of Hebrews can get very attorney-like in his writing, by which I mean he sometimes uses very complex sentences and, to many of us, arcane language, unless you’re steeped in Jewish religion and history. No place is that truer than here in chapter 7. The author focuses in this section on this mystery man, Melchizedek, someone who shows up first, and only briefly then, in the book of Genesis chapter 14. There it describes an account from the life of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, who meets someone named Melchizedek after a battle. And, giant leap forward here, somehow this person becomes, for the writer of Hebrews, a key witness in his argument that Jesus and what he has done is far superior to the Old Testament religion of temple priests and sacrifices. My job today is to explain how and why.

In Genesis 14, that account, it’s about how a part of Abraham’s clan was attacked by some confederated warlords in Canaan, who made off with a lot of their stuff and kidnapped some captives too. This is long before the nation of Israel even existed, about 2,000 years before Jesus’ time. Abraham responded by putting together a force of over 300 men, pursuing and surprising the attackers and rescuing the captives and recovering all that had been taken from them, plus a lot more spoils of war from those who had attacked them. When he returned to southern Canaan, here’s what it says in Genesis 14. After Abram returned from his victory, Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. And Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: Blessed be Abraham by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.

And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you. Then Abraham gave Melchizedek, it says, a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. That’s it. That’s the whole scene. This person, Melchizedek, described as king of Salem, an early name for Jerusalem, and also described as a priest of God Most High, met Abram upon his return from battle and gave him, likely the men with him, nourishment and then pronounced a blessing on him. Then Abraham gave him a tenth of all the spoils they had won in that battle.

That all seems kind of random. Melchizedek doesn’t come up again, at least by that name, in the rest of the accounts regarding Abraham or his family. In fact, Melchizedek doesn’t come up again in the Old Testament until briefly by David a thousand years later in one of his Psalms, Psalm 104. Listen to a couple verses there. They might sound familiar. The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool for your feet.

The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. I forgot to say, please put your thinking caps on for this lesson. We’re going to need them as we piece together clues about the real identity of Melchizedek. Who is that psalm referring to? The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand.

All of the Synoptic Gospels have Jesus, when teaching in the temple once, identifying that psalm and quoting it as messianic, as about him. Matthew 22, verse 44, for example. It was Jesus who sat down at God’s right hand when he finished his redemptive work on earth. I think therein is our first clue. What? I know.

Just stick with me here. Here are some more clues. First, Melchizedek is identified as the king of ancient Jerusalem and priest of God Most High. El Elyon is the words, the God over all. He doesn’t seem to be a part of Abraham’s clan, which means there were other people at that time who knew and worshipped the one true God that Abraham also worshipped. But that title, God Most High, it’s not the name of God the people of Israel normally used.

God revealed himself to them as Yahweh. That’s the personal name of God, his covenant name to Israel. The title God Most High, in contrast, is a way of expressing God over all. Not just the God of Israel, but God over everyone and everything, the God of the universe. Melchizedek then was a priest not just for Abraham and his family, but a man who served El Elyon, the God for all people. Second, Melchizedek is described as both a king and a priest.

In Israel, those offices never overlapped. Priests did not serve as kings, and kings did not serve as priests. The priests were, as we’ve discussed before, from the tribe of Levi, and those who served at the altar at the temple or tabernacle making sacrifices, and the Levites directly descended from Aaron were the priests and the high priest. Kings of Israel, on the other hand, were to come from the tribe of Judah. Yet this Melchizedek is identified as both a king and a priest. He held both offices.

Third, I believe it’s especially significant that Melchizedek was the king of ancient Jerusalem. This is the most special place on earth to God. Part of Psalm 132 says, The Lord has chosen Jerusalem. He has desired it for His home. This is My resting place forever, He said. I will live here, for this is the home I desire.

The first few lines in Psalm 48 say, How great is the Lord and deserving of praise in the city of our God, which sits on His holy mountain. It is high and magnificent. The whole earth rejoices at seeing it. Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of our great King. Mount Zion, that’s Jerusalem. So Melchizedek was king of God’s own city, and Abraham returning from battle paid tithes to him.

Which seems odd since we know of no prior connection between these two. By that I mean Abraham was not from Jerusalem and not one of Melchizedek’s subjects, yet he gave to Melchizedek a tenth of all the spoils he brought back. Fourth, looking at the comments now from the writer of Hebrews in our chapter about this person Melchizedek, at verse 3 he writes, There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors, no beginning or ending to his life. He remains a priest, therefore, like the Son of God. Melchizedek just suddenly appears in that Genesis account like he drops in out of nowhere. Nothing is revealed about his lineage, who he is, where he came from.

It’s almost like he is a supernatural rather than natural figure, the writer is suggesting, like Jesus, the Son of God. Fifth, Melchizedek is definitely greater than Abraham, the writer argues. And remember, Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation, a very revered figure. Yet Abraham, he points out, paid tithes to Melchizedek, and it’s Melchizedek, as he points out, who gave a blessing to Abraham. Both of those things indicate that this person was greater than the patriarch Abraham, who the Jews revered above all other men. Sixth, multiple times the author says, Now Jesus was a priest in the order of Melchizedek, in the order of Melchizedek.

So he asks at verse 11, If the priesthood of Levi on which the law was based, meaning the Old Testament system, if that could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? Do you understand his question? And remember, he’s making this argument to Jews who are uncertain if they should fully embrace Christ and Christianity. He’s asking them, if the Old Testament system with its Levitical priesthood could deal with sins effectively, then why did Jesus, a different kind of priest, have to come? This is very important. This is at the very heart of his question here.

Be sure you are really clear on this. No sacrifices in Israel could be made apart from priests, and no forgiveness of sins could be had apart from sacrifices. He’s pointing out that the old order with priests from the tribe of Levi offering animal sacrifices for people’s sins at the tabernacle, or later in Jerusalem’s temples, was only ever intended to be temporary, and it’s incomplete. Their work had to be done over and over and over and over. Then at verse 23, he drives this point home. There were many priests under that system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.

But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore, he is able, once for all, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. Jesus’ one-time sacrifice of himself on the cross was completely efficacious, and so final because of who he was. Those whom his sacrifice is applied to do not need to have sacrifices made for them over and over by human priests any longer. His blood sacrifice was so valuable and so powerful, it will save all who come to God through him.

Like Melchizedek, Jesus is the King of Righteousness. At verse 27, he concludes, 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. Unlike those other priests, he doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day. They did that 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 world’s sin.

Clearly, the author of Hebrews understood this Melchizedek character to be very, very significant. He was both a king and priest, a king of Jerusalem, in fact, God’s special city, and a priest of God Most High. His priesthood predated the Levitical priesthood in Israel because Abraham met him, after all, paid homage to him long before Israel was even a nation. And his priesthood was not just in service to Israel’s covenant God, like the Jewish priests who descended from Levi and Aaron, but to El Elyon, the God Most High, the God who is over everyone and everything. Melchizedek was a greater person than Abraham, and Abraham acknowledged that fact by paying him tithes and receiving a blessing from him. In fact, Melchizedek seemed more like a divine being, like the Son of God, the author says, someone who merges the offices of king and priest, someone who is eternal.

Well, I don’t know about you, but that’s enough clues for me. I believe, and I’m reasonably sure that this Melchizedek character who appeared to Abraham was, in fact, a Christophany. What’s that? A Christophany. That’s an appearance of Christ in Old Testament times, an appearance of Christ before he came into our world as a real flesh-and-blood person born in Bethlehem. So, as we say, an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ.

Did that really happen? Yes. In fact, there are several other parent Christophanies described in the Old Testament, interactions of the second person of the Godhead with people on earth before his appearance on earth as Jesus the Messiah. Some examples of other Christophanies in the Old Testament are the commander of the armies of the Lord who appeared to Joshua. We read about that in Joshua chapter 5. The fourth man in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

We read about that in Daniel chapter 3. In fact, it seems Abraham interacted with the pre-incarnate Christ more than once, since one of the messengers from heaven who warned him about the coming destruction of Sodom in Genesis 18 is actually called there Yahweh. This is an aside, but these Old Testament appearances to Abraham were they perhaps what Jesus was talking about when he angered his religious opponents? This is found in John chapter 8 by saying, Abraham rejoiced at seeing my day, and he saw it and was glad. I don’t know, but maybe. So, yeah, I think it’s highly probable that this person called Melchizedek who came out to meet Abraham in Genesis 14, described as the king of Salem and the priest of the Most High God, was not only a supernatural being, but actually a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

But as interesting as that is to think about and try to imagine, the reason Melchizedek is in the spotlight in chapter 7 here is to press the author’s argument that Jesus is a far superior high priest to any priest who had or who still were serving in Jerusalem’s temple under the old covenant, for obvious reasons. Jesus is divine while they’re merely human. He’s eternal while their offices and terms of office were temporary. He’s perfectly righteous because they’re sinful men like the rest of us. And the sacrifice Jesus made, the sacrifice of himself, was a unique once-for-all event, while their animal sacrifices had to be offered over and over and over, year after year. Theirs could only make a temporary covering for sin.

Jesus shed blood had made a permanent solution for sin. So Jesus is a priest of a much higher order, he’s saying. His sacrifice was complete and final, and he now lives forever in heaven to intercede with God on our behalf, all of those of us who have accepted him. That’s the big idea of chapter seven, a really big idea for the author’s first Jewish audience, who were so ingrained with the idea that there is no sacrifice without priests and no forgiveness apart from sacrifice. What he’s arguing in this chapter is a very fundamental Christian concept too, that is, that because of who Jesus was, when he laid down his life as a sacrifice on Calvary, taking our guilt on himself and suffering the judgment of God in our place, that sacrifice was complete and final. It does not need to ever be repeated.

Think about this. The fact that Jesus’ sacrifice does not need to be repeated means there’s absolutely no need for priests today, men who stand between us and God. There can be pastors and teachers and leaders who are spiritual examples, who explain and apply God’s word for us and oversee churches, but they are not priests. The Old Testament system, which required human priests from some special tribe or whatever, that’s passé. That’s gone forever. That’s an old covenant concept the author is urging his readers to let go of.

Religions that teach we still need priests, and that their priests have somehow assumed the Old Testament role as intermediaries with God, and that their parishioners still need these priests for the forgiveness of their sins, are absolutely wrong. The Melchizedek Jesus order of priesthood is unique. It’s an eternal order and has exactly one member, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who finished His work, ascended back to heaven, and sat down at the Father’s right hand. Only He now makes intercession with God for His people. Come to God through prayer in Him. Confess your sins to God through Him, the New Testament writers all urge.

It follows then, if Christ’s atonement on the cross was once for all, a final payment for sin, a perfect sacrifice, that what happened on Calvary two thousand some years ago was the last real sacrifice for sin ever made. It does not in any sense need to be repeated. So Christian churches do not need altars. Altars are for sacrifices. Any religion that claims they are still making real sacrifices to God, which have efficacious value for their members, is misleading them. Hebrews 7, verse 27 declares Jesus already did that once for all when He offered Himself as the sacrifices for all our sins.

Christians celebrate what Jesus did by taking communion together as an act of remembrance, yes, but we are not somehow sacrificing Christ all over again. We are remembering. We are meditating on His great love. We are being thankful. But the sacrifice was made long ago at Calvary and was made once for all. Since the time of the early church, Christians are those who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, who have personally appropriated His amazing one-time sacrifice on the cross for their sins by placing their faith in Him.

Christians are those who recognize He is Lord and have turned their lives toward following Him. Does that describe you? If so, Jesus is not only your personal Savior and Lord, but your personal High Priest, your mediator with God Most High. Imagine you, little old you, and me, little old me, can now approach the One who is over everyone and everything, because Jesus is always there, ready to intercede for us. As the opening verse of chapter 8 says, here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. Why would we ever need or even want to settle for a religion offering us something less?

This is Paul for Share the Word. Thanks for listening. Thanks, Paul, and thanks again for joining us. As a Great Commission project, our mission is to share the good news around the world. Our model is to make sure that everything is free to listen, download, and to share. There’s no hidden agenda other than bringing you the big ideas of the New Testament chapter by chapter.

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