Feb 13, 1994 6.45p.m.

Hebrews 7

I guess we've all got our list of Biblical characters we'd like to meet and talk to in heaven; figures from the Old Testament as well as the New. In our Old testament list we've all probably got people like Noah (did it really rain for forty days?- how awful?), Abraham (what was it like to leave home for 'nowhere' when you were 75, let alone becoming a father at 100?), Moses (what was it like being spoken to out of a burning bush?), and so on. We perhaps picture all these characters having long queues waiting to talk to them. Few people would think of going to have a chin-wag with Melchizedek- what a mouthful for a start. Maybe his queue would be quite short! And yet although he only flits in and out of the pages of Genesis briefly and gets one mention in the Psalms, we see that here in Hebrews 7 he's a key figure in God's scheme of things; not so much for what he did as for what, or whom, he pointed to.

When I did my Readers; Course I had this essay to write on the theme 'Jesus our Great High Priest', and I wrote that essay in which I compared Jesus with the Levitical priesthood. It came back marked, 62% I think, with the comment "Quite Good! What about Melchlzedek?'' The writer of Hebrews has as his theme the over-riding supremacy of Jesus over all the Old Testament figures, Jesus was found worthy of greater honour than Moses (3:3)) Jesus (4:14) our great High Priest has gone through the heavens. Yet Melchizedek was the one who was superior to the priests of the Levitical order; of the Old Testament figures he was supremely the one who was a 'type' of the Lord Jesus Christ; one who was a fore-runner, who prefigured who and what Christ would be. Of Christ Psalm 110 says, “You are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.”

And to make this a good 'three-pointer' I think we day divide what the writer has to say in chapter 7 under three headings: -the superiority of Melchizedek -the replacement of the Levitical order -the place of Melchizedek as God's purpose and promise Because the latter two points merge with themes we'll be looking at in the coming weeks. I'll look at these just briefly first (not because they're unimportant) but just to see how they fit in with the first point which I will then major on 1. The replacement of the Levitcal order. V11 says, “If perfection could have been attained through the Levitcal priesthood (for on that basis the law was given to people) why was there still need for another priest to come- one in the order of Melchizedek not of Aaron.”

The shortcoming of the Levitcal priesthood is really anticipated in this verse. The law of Moses with which it was associated and for which it provided, or tried to provide could not lead people to perfection but only underline their imperfection, their weakness and their sinfulness. And the priesthood with its repeated and repetitive sacrifices could only underscore this point with a sinful and imperfect priesthood.

The law was of God; the priesthood was of God, but as Paul wrote to the Galatians (3:24)

The law was put in charge that we might be led to Christ The Old Testament points (lock, stock and barrel) to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows the inadequacy of even a God-ordained human system of law and sacrifice. He who is our eternal High Priest was not of the Levitical order but of the order of Melchizedek; which latter order has superceded that of the Levitical.

We went to Germany last April, We flew out by British Airways on a 2-for-l package, This meant that for several days we had to buy the 'Daily Espress' and cut out the coupons from the paper. With enough coupons the price of cheap travel was ours! How easily our mentality of attaining our heavenly home becomes like that. There's something free we have to 'go for': the price paid by Christ on the Cross of Calvary, but so often we regard it as cutting verses out of the Bible and then adding to them our bit. None of it!- says Hebrews. That old book-keeping system has been done away with- just as the system of priests and sacrifices has been done away with.

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect) vv 18-19

For:

We have a better hope We have it because of the place of Melchizedek as God's purpose and promise. Verses 21-22 say He (Jesus) became a priest when God said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest for ever (a priest of the order of Melchizedek) Because of this oath Jesus has the guarantee of a better covenant.” The right of a person to the Levitcal priesthood rested on the flesh; rested on proving physical descent from Aaron and from Levi. The new priesthood of Christ rests on God's covenant promise.

It's a bit like when anyone could claim, because they were born British to be Christian because Britain was a Christian country. There's a parallel to this thinking in the tragedy of South Africa. The Afrikaaners think that because they're white and the coloureds and blacks are heathen scum who will never be fit to govern let alone have any right to ownership of land.

If we need to get rid of any book-keeping out of our approach to God, still less can we approach him through our human descent. Because Jesus is our High Priest, our

approach to God rests solely and singly on the person of Jesus Christ, on God's covenanted promises through him, And. the writer of Hebrews would be saying- all this is prefigured in Melchizedek- long before Christ, long before the Levitcal order.

So we can and must shed all these other things because of the superiority of the order of Melckizedek. Melchizedek shows us what God is on about in his dealing with the human race and in salvation from sin. For Melchizedek points forward to Jesus; and because of his nature and name: his authority and his eternal priesthood, So you see point three, which be now come to breaks down into three other points! The offices of Melchizedek Verse 1 says of Melchizedek that he was king of Salem and priest of God Most High For a start Melchizedek was both priest and king in the one person, and never again would the two offices converge until the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. No Old Testament king could ever lay claim to the title of priest. They came from the tribe of Judah (except for the first king Saul, who was a Benjamite). Jesus was. humanly, 'descended from Davld; he was of the lineage of Judah, and in his final prophecy did not Jacob say, “The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff beneath his feet.” (Gen 49:10) Jesus Christ was kingly ruler; also priest for ever, Melchizedek was one who was both priest and king, "king of rtghteousness"; then also "king of Salem" means "king of peace", In Melchizedek not only priest and king come together but also righteousness and peace.

These two things are inseparably linked: we do not have peace because we are unrighteous. Right through the Scripture we see the link: Isa 32:17 “The fruit of righteousness will be peace” Psa 85:10 “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other” We live in a strife-torn world which wants peace but which wants nothing of righteousness, Can we truly pray for peace in our world without praying first that its leaders would turn to true justice; God's justice? We live in a distracted world which wants one of two things which belong one to the other.

We find the answer in Rom 5: 1 “Since we have been jusrified (declared righteous) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Melchizedek, because be was king of righteousness could rule over Salem; the city of peace. When its true king came it refused to acknowledge him because it preferred the way of sin and unrighteousness. And we read in Luke 19: 42 that when Jesus approached Jerusalem to face crucifixion he wept over the city and said, “If you , even you , had only known on this day what would bring you peace- but now it is hid from your eyes.”

Melchizedek, the Priest of the Most High God is a type of Christ; of Christ who by his Cross brings us to the right place with God. As King of Salem he actually points to that day when Salem (or Jerusalem) will achieve its final goal; when God achieves his purpose for his city.

“On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Oltves. On that day, living water will flow out of Jerusalem. . The Lord will be king over the whole earth” (Zec 14:5,8,9) The authority of Melchizedek One thing today's monarchies about a king is his authority.

A king has Power to use!

In today's monarchies that power is but nominal; one wonders what would happen if any king decided to put his power to use! But a king has authority. We see that authority in Melchizedek and it's there in Genesis 14. Abraham's cousin Lot had been taken captive after fleeing from Sodom by the armies of Kerdorlaomer. Abraham sets out with a force of 318 men and routs the armies of Kerdorlaomer (one of Seripture's many lessons of the power of our God to bring triumph in the face of seemingly insuperable odds). On his return we read The Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was Priest of God most High and blessed Abram; and v20 Abram gave him a tithe of everything.

Melchizedek as priest of God Most High had the authority to bless in God's name. God himself had blessed Abraham in the victory over Kerdorlaomer, and immediately after in Genesis 15 we read of God's blessing In the promise of a son to his old age.

Melchizedek also received a tithe of everything; in giving the tithe Abraham was acknowledging the greatness of Melchizedek- which belonged to God: again Melchizedek acts as God's representative. How much more can God's Son bless us- as we allow him to; how much more is he worthy to receive of all we have. For all authority is his. I heard it said recently that a Christian is not just one who follows Christ: he is one who lives under his authority in his kingdom.

The eternal priesthood of Melchizedek He had authority because he was (v1) priest of God Most High. Singularly he had too no recorded descent. Verse 3 says, “without father or mother, without genealogy. without beginning of days or end of life.”

Melchizedek was of course a man like any other; he was quite normally human. But the Bible doesn't bother with what was, to the Jews (and this letter of Hebrews was written to Jews) with human lineage. He was born; he did not die but Scripture makes no mention of either so he remains a priest for ever. In this he prefigures Christ. Verses 15-16 speak of another priest like Melchizedek, “one who has become a priest not on the basis of regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life”. And so verse 24 goes on Jesus lives for ever; he has a permanent parenthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them This is the point the writer wishes to press home again and again and here he's used Melchizedek to make his point.

Jesus makes us right with God, he gives us peace with God, and, because we are placed in him he becomes our righteousness. He can indeed save as none other can.

Every other religious system depends on its followers doing something. We bring only ourselves; our sin, our very nature of being flawed. We bring it all to the one place where the one sacrifice has been made: the Cross. There's no other place; no other Name given.

Jesus Christ lives for ever and ever and is able to save completely; the eternal priest of the order of Melchizedek,