Hebrews 7A (2014) So we can live with eyes for eternity. And remember why the writer launched into this warning in the first place

Transcription

1 Hebrews 7A (2014) Over the past three lessns, we ve studied the third warning in the letter t the Hebrews We can summarize the writer s warning as set yur gal n pursuing spiritual maturity thrugh the wrd f Gd Dn t fall away t the life we knew befre ur cming t faith Because ding s pses the risk that we may never return t a life f serving and pleasing Gd Instead, take hld f the hpe f resurrectin and eternal reward And always remember that Gd is faithful t keep His prmises t yu regarding these things S we can live with eyes fr eternity And remember why the writer launched int this warning in the first place He had wanted t explain the mystery f Jesus as a priest in the Order f Melchizedek But this teaching is cmplex and built upn ther truths f scripture And withut the necessary spiritual maturity, the writer questined whether his audience was ready t understand what he needed t explain Because he knew his audience t have failed in pursuit f maturity, he issued them the warning we ve been studying But nw it s time fr the writer t return t his riginal pint f Melchizedek And s we pick up with him at the end f chapter 6 as he transitins back t his prf that Christ is a greater priest than any fund in the Law Heb. 6:19 This hpe we have as an anchr f the sul, a hpe bth sure and steadfast and ne which enters within the veil, Heb. 6:20 where Jesus has entered as a frerunner fr us, having becme a high priest frever accrding t the rder f Melchizedek Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Hebrews 7A (2014) 2 f 15 Ending his cmments frm chapter 6, the writer calls ur hpe in resurrectin and rewards an anchr t ur sul The picture he s painting is easy t appreciate An anchr serves t hld a shp steady and in ne place while it flats Withut an anchr, a ship drifts and can t be sure f it s psitin If yu ve ever been n a bat withut an anchr as it drifts, perhaps while yu re fishing, then yu knw the feeling f nt being able t detect yur wn mvement Yu have n reference pint n the water Yu re likely mving away frm yur intended lcatin but yu can t tell and yu therefre yu can t crrect That s a gd analgy fr hw a Christian will live if they are nt fcus n ur anchr, the anchr f ur suls As we ve learned, that anchr is bth ur hpe f resurrectin and the expectatin f reward fr living in a manner t the Lrd When yu plant thse anchrs in yur life, yu wn t drift away frm the Lrd Yu wn t fall away, as the writer feared But if yu ever lse sight f these prmises f Gd, then yu will drift away frm Him and frm a life set n pleasing Him Yur salvatin is n less sure And t sme extent, yur inheritance is still available But yu are unnecessarily piercing yur sul with many griefs as Paul says in 1Tim 6 Then the writer adds that ur eternal hpe enters within the veil The pwer f ur hpe lies in the cnfidence that Jesus, as ur High Priest, has mved beynd the veil He has the pwer t make ur hpe real It s because Christ enters within the veil that we pssess the hpe f resurrectin and reward 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Hebrews 7A (2014) 3 f 15 He has put t an end the thing that std between us and the hpe we nw psses: ur sin The writer s mentin f the veil takes us back t the cnversatin f the priesthd The veil he s speaking abut, f curse, is that clth curtain that separated the ark f the cvenant in the Hly f Hlies frm the Hly Place f the tabernacle This veil was all imprtant in the Jewish religius experience It was a barrier separating men frm knwing and enjying the glry f Gd And it was a symbl f hw sin separates us frm the hpe f eternal life S entering beynd that veil was an all-imprtant desire fr the Jewish peple Beynd that veil was the mercy seat, the place where the glry f Gd resided and where atnement fr their sin culd happen Under the Law, the sins f Israel were remved by an applicatin f bull s bld n the mercy seat This prcedure was spelled ut under the Law f Mses Only the high priest f Israel culd enter And this man culd nly enter nce a year n a day called Ym Kippur, the day f atnement On that day, the priest sprinkled bld f a bull n the mercy seat satisfying the wrath f Gd fr the sins f the natin By this ritual, the Lrd cunted the sins the natin cvered fr anther year under the cvenant But there are bvius prblems r limitatins in this system as the Lrd designed it First, the high priest suffered frm the same weakness as the peple he served He suffered in sin like thse he served 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Hebrews 7A (2014) 4 f 15 And therefre he was under the same penalty f death as the rest S he was required t make a sacrifice fr his wn sins befre he was qualified t apply the sacrifice fr the peple And because f he was a sinful man, he died like all men, s he had t be replaced frm time t time with a new high priest Nt a very reassuring system fr thse in Israel wh depended n the intercessin f the high priest Secndly, the bld f the bulls was clearly inadequate t remve the peple s sin frever The sacrifice f Ym Kippur was repeated annually because the sin f the peple never ended There was never a pint when the peple felt relief frm their sin Fr as sn as ne sacrifice had been perfrmed by the High Priest, the cycle began again S we need a better priesthd if we re ever ging t put an end nce and fr all t this separatin S in v.20 the writer says that Jesus is that better priest because He serves in a better rder f priest, the rder f Melchizedek Nw we re beginning t sense why it s imprtant t understand this rder f priests Because it s this rder that puts t an end the prblem f sin It s this rder that slves all the limitatins f the rder f Aarn frmed under the Law S then in chapter 7, the writer launches int the full discussin f this superir rder f priesthd And the writer begins by explain the rder s namesake, that is the man Melchizedek 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Hebrews 7A (2014) 5 f 15 Heb. 7:1 Fr this Melchizedek, king f Salem, priest f the Mst High Gd, wh met Abraham as he was returning frm the slaughter f the kings and blessed him, Heb. 7:2 t whm als Abraham apprtined a tenth part f all the spils, was first f all, by the translatin f his name, king f righteusness, and then als king f Salem, which is king f peace. Heb. 7:3 Withut father, withut mther, withut genealgy, having neither beginning f days nr end f life, but made like the Sn f Gd, he remains a priest perpetually. Heb. 7:4 Nw bserve hw great this man was t whm Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth f the chicest spils. Heb. 7:5 And thse indeed f the sns f Levi wh receive the priest s ffice have cmmandment in the Law t cllect a tenth frm the peple, that is, frm their brethren, althugh these are descended frm Abraham. Heb. 7:6 But the ne whse genealgy is nt traced frm them cllected a tenth frm Abraham and blessed the ne wh had the prmises. Heb. 7:7 But withut any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. Heb. 7:8 In this case mrtal men receive tithes, but in that case ne receives them, f whm it is witnessed that he lives n. Heb. 7:9 And, s t speak, thrugh Abraham even Levi, wh received tithes, paid tithes, Heb. 7:10 fr he was still in the lins f his father when Melchizedek met him. The an named Melchizedek is a bit f an enigma in scripture He appears first in Genesis 14 in the stry f Abraham defeating the fur kings f the nrth These kings came int Canaan t defeat the five kings f the cities f Sdm, Gmrrah, Admah, Zbiim and Zar In the prcess f this battle, the fur kings f the nrth tk captive all the peple f the city f Sdm, including Abraham s nephew Lt Abraham hears f these events and acts quickly t attack the retreating kings and free his nephew In chapter 14 we read this: Gen. 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led ut his trained men, brn in his huse, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. Gen. 14:15 He divided his frces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hbah, which is nrth f Damascus Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Hebrews 7A (2014) 6 f 15 Gen. 14:16 He brught back all the gds, and als brught back his relative Lt with his pssessins, and als the wmen, and the peple. Gen. 14:17 Then after his return frm the defeat f Chedrlamer and the kings wh were with him, the king f Sdm went ut t meet him at the valley f Shaveh (that is, the King s Valley). Gen. 14:18 And Melchizedek king f Salem brught ut bread and wine; nw he was a priest f Gd Mst High. Gen. 14:19 He blessed him and said, ı Blessed be Abram f Gd Mst High, Pssessr f heaven and earth; Gen. 14:20 ı And blessed be Gd Mst High, Wh has delivered yur enemies int yur hand. He gave him a tenth f all. In v.18 Abraham is met by a man wh is a king, a man called Melchizedek This man s name is nt actually a name at all The wrd Melchizedek is a title, much like Pharah and Caesar are titles and nt names His title means My king is righteus But the writer says the name means king f righteusness in v. 2, which isn t literally crrect The writer is making a play n the name, because this man was a king f a city called Salem Salem was a Jebusite city in that day In fact, the suffix f his title zedek is a Jebusite wrd Later, David cnquers the Jebusites and takes Salem fr Israel, making it the capital and renaming it Jerusalem The wrd salem means peace, as the writer pints ut in v.2 S nt nly culd we say this man is the king f righteusness But we culd als say he is the king f peace The man is als a priest, which means he was an intercessr fr the peple befre Gd And bth Abraham and nw the writer f Hebrews testify that this man was a true priest f the Gd Mst High 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Hebrews 7A (2014) 7 f 15 He wasn t a priest t sme pagan religin And he wasn t a self-appinted priest r pretender He was actually a man appinted as a priest by Gd Himself Furthermre, Abraham recgnized this man t be a persn f authrity and wrthy f Abraham s hnr Ntice in v.2 Abraham pays a tithe t this man Nw we knw the tithe wasn t fr Melchizedek s benefit Abraham wasn t giving Melchizedek the spils because he wanted t hnr Melchizedek When men tithe, they d s t hnr Gd S if Abraham handed his tithe t Melchizedek, it means that Abraham believed that this man was an intercessr befre Gd Finally, the writer ntes in v.3 that this persn appears ut f nwhere in the narrative f Genesis Mses never spends time addressing Melchizedek s genealgy There is n mentin f his birth r parents And there is never a mentin f his death The is highly unusual cnsidering hw careful Mses is t always recrd the beginning and end f every significant persn in the stry f Israel The genealgies f Genesis are the key feature cnnecting the events f the Garden t the Messiah Wh cmes t crrect fr the mistake f Adam And yet here s the very imprtant player wh is never linked t any genealgy S the mystery f Melchizedek leaves us asking wh was this man? Remember, this man served as a priest befre there was the Law f Mses There was n tabernacle There was n sacrificial system 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Hebrews 7A (2014) 8 f 15 The priests f Aarn had nt yet been established, fr Aarn had nt yet even been brn S hw did this priest cme t be a priest? Where did is priesthd riginate? Why did Abraham view him t be his superir befre the Lrd? And finally, hw is this ancient priest related t Christ as ur High Priest? Befre we cnsider wh Melchizedek was, let s deal with ne pssibility Many have nticed that the unique characteristics f this man create a clear and bvius picture f Christ Christ is the King f Righteusness Christ is the King f Peace Christ is bth a priest and a king, smething that priests under the Law culd never d And thugh Christ was brn a man, He had n beginning since He existed frm the beginning with the Father And Christ will have n end, nw that He lives t the Father frever He is the Alpha and the Omega S clearly Melchizedek is a picture f Christ, and the writer f Hebrews is in the prcess f making the very same pint But sme have speculated that Melchizedek was mre than a picture f Christ and was actually a pre-incarnate thephany f Christ In ther wrds, sme hld that Melchizedek was nt a man at all He was Christ appearing t Abraham in the frm f a man Much like the pre-incarnate Lrd appeared t Abraham at his tent Genesis 18 But this interpretatin makes a cmmn mistake in cnfusing a picture fr the substance 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Hebrews 7A (2014) 9 f 15 Irnically, this cnfusin nly serves t prve what the writer f Hebrews was cncerned abut in the first place Cncerning Melchizedek, there is much t say and it is hard t explain And even tday, sme Bible students cntinue t miss the main pint Melchizedek was a real man wh served as a priest f Gd in Abraham s day, and befre we understand wh is truly was, let s rule ut the thery that he was a preincarnate Christ First, the writer s descriptin f Melchizedek precludes as interpretatin that this man was a thephany The writer says this man was like the Sn f Gd The term like in Greek is aphmi it means t be made in the likeness f smething S the man Melchizedek was made in the likeness f the Sn f Gd This is the ppsite situatin f a thephany A thephany is always the Sn f Gd being made in the likeness f smething else, like a burning bush r a man visiting Abraham S Melchizedek isn t a thephany; he s a shadw Furthermre, the writer says in v.8 that this mrtal man received Abraham s tithe If the writer calls Melchizedek a mrtal man, then certainly he had a beginning and an end Mrtal means he was an rdinary human being and nt a thephany Finally, we learned in Hebrews 5:1 that a priest is always taken frm amng men t represent thse in whse likeness he shares The writer explained that since men must be represented by a man, Christ tk the frm f man s that He culd becme ur High Priest 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Hebrews 7A (2014) 10 f 15 The writer says that Melchizedek was a priest t the Mst High Gd, and as a priest he represented men befre Gd Melchizedek culd nly have dne this as a true man If this were a thephany f Christ, then it came prir t Christ s incarnatin And if it predates Christ s incarnatin, then Christ was nt yet a man and therefre unable t serve as a priest befre men We culd list ther reasns why Melchizedek culd nt be a preincarnate appearance f Jesus, but the pint has been made This man was a real, histrical figure He was king ver the Jebusite city f Salem And he served as a priest f Gd t men n earth in that day Such that even Abraham sught fr him when he desired t wrship and tithe t the Living Gd S we return t ur central questin...wh was he? The first thing t remember frm a few lessns ag is that the term rder desn t mean a sciety r rganizatin, like an rder f mnks The wrd literally means a successin It refers t a handing dwn an ffice frm persn t persn thrugh a successin f ffice hlders Fr example, the ffice f High Priest in the Aarnic rder was held fr life and then handed dwn t a successr upn the death f the current ffice hlder That successin started with Aarn, s we call it the Aarnic rder But there was nly ne High Priest at any time Similarly, the rder f Melchizedek describes a successin f priests Each persn in this rder held the ffice fr life And the next ffice hlder received the ffice upn the death f the prir ffice hlder 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Hebrews 7A (2014) 11 f 15 Each man wh held the ffice inherited the title Melchizedek, but that wasn t his actual name S the name f this man was bscured by Mses, wh nly recrded his title But we find a critical clue in 2 Peter 2:4 when Peter declares that Nah was the preacher f righteusness in his day 2Pet. 2:5 and did nt spare the ancient wrld, but preserved Nah, a preacher f righteusness, with seven thers, when He brught a fld upn the wrld f the ungdly; That translatin frm the NASB Bibles is very unhelpful in that it bscures the real wrds Peter wrte A mre literal translatin f this verse taken frm Yung s Literal Translatin reads this way 2Pet. 2:5 and the ld wrld did nt spare, but the eighth persn, Nah, f righteusness a preacher, did keep, a fld n the wrld f the impius having brught, The mre literal translatin reveals that Peter was saying Nah was the eighth persn f righteus Peter wasn t saying Nah was ne f eight peple n the Ark, thugh that was true als He was calling Nah an eighth persn f righteusness As in the eighth man in an rder r successin f peple called righteus Frm Peter, we learn that Nah was the eighth persn t hld the ffice f Melchizedek And if Nah was the eighth, then it s relatively simple t fllw the successin backward t learn the previus seven men t hld the psitin Nah inherited the psitin frm his father Methuselah And Methuselah inherited it frm Jared Jared inherited it frm Mahalalel 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Hebrews 7A (2014) 12 f 15 Mahalalel inherited it frm Kenan Kenan inherited it frm Ensh Ensh inherited it frm Seth And Seth inherited it frm Adam What we re learning is that ever since the fall f Adam, the Lrd has appinted ne man t serve as His priest n earth That man was always fund in the line f the seed prmise Each man held the ffice until he died And the the ffice f Melchizedek was inherited by the next man in the seed prmise line This priesthd predates the priesthd f the Law and it cntinued n even after the Law was put in place 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

13 Hebrews 7A (2014) 13 f 15 And it s a superir priesthd, ne that by it s very name fretells its purpse, that is t bring in righteusness We ll cme back t the relatinship between the priesthd f the Law and the priesthd f Melchizedek later But fr nw we nly need understand that this priesthd is the ne that Christ belngs t S, wh was the priest that met Abraham? Well, Nah was Melchizedek, but he died shrtly befre Abraham s batt;e with the kings S it was Nah s sn, Shem, wh was the next man in the line f the seed prmise Shem inherited the ffice f righteusness and became the Melchizedek that Abraham met In fact Shem utlived Abraham, s Abraham never inherited the title Melchizedek himself It passed frm Shem t Jacb We knw Shem settled in the area f Canaan And apparently, Shem als became the king f the city f Salem Making him nt nly a priest f righteusness but als a king f righteusness And in that way, his life became a shadw f Christ, Wh was bth Priest and King We knw Abraham was a descendent f Shem Shem was Abraham s great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather S, in a patriarchal culture, Abraham naturally viewed Shem as his superir That s why the writer says in vs.4-7 that this man Melchizedek was Abraham s superir Even mre interesting, the king that Abraham had killed, Chedrlamer, was als a descendent f Shem 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

14 Hebrews 7A (2014) 14 f 15 S Abraham had killed a distant cusin, anther member f Shem s family S Shem met Abraham t restre peace in the family thrugh an ffering (bread and wine) While Abraham tithed t Shem in recgnitin f his authrity ver the family and in thanks fr the victry Even in this gesture, we find anther picture f Christ, in that He recnciles us t ur Father In vs.8-10 the writer says this analysis prves that the priesthd f Melchizedek was a greater priesthd than the ne that fllws in the Law The priest f the Law were descended frm Levi, wh himself was descended frm Abraham S just as Abraham shwed Shem respect because he was Abraham s elder, then by lgical extensin, Levi wuld have dne the same thing had he been alive And likewise, Aarn, wh was descended frm Levi, wuld have acknwledged Shem as his superir had Aarn been alive t meet him as Abraham did Therefre, the writer says that Levi and Aarn were present in Abraham s lins Meaning that this priest was superir t any rder that came later And the Melchizedek priesthd must always be cnsidered superir t the ne given in the Law This priesthd f Melchizedek is imprtant because it demnstrates that the Lrd has been at wrk since the beginning prviding an intercessr fr sinful men Lng befre Mses and the Law, the Lrd made a prvisin fr a priesthd, a priesthd called the Lrd is righteus It std dwn the generatins mving frm man t man In each generatin there std a man wh culd intercede n behalf f thse wh the Lrd s mercy And that man served until death 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

15 Hebrews 7A (2014) 15 f 15 One day this priesthd was inherited by Jesus Christ When Jesus earthly father, Jseph, died, Jesus received the ffice f Melchizedek, My Lrd is Righteus This explains why Jseph died by the time Jesus earthly ministry began - Jesus had t inherit the rder f Melchizedek during His earthly life - Since Jesus became man t serve as ur intercessr S, fr the first and last time, the rder was held by One Wh was truly Righteus - Jesus Christ But since Jesus lives frever, the rder will never pass dwn t anther persn The rder will be held frever by Jesus, wh is a priest in the rder f Melchizedek Having rightly btained it thrugh inheritance Next time, we see the writer explaining this pint fully 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.