Hebrews 7: Stanly Community Church

Transcription

1 There is no one like Jesus Christ. While many religions claim an afterlife of bliss, none can deliver because none can provide access to the true and living God. Only our holy Creator could justly deal with our sins, provide forgiveness, and bring us into His heavenly presence. And this He has accomplished through His sinless Son, Jesus. From the beginning, God has revealed His promise of redemption in Christ (Heb. 1:1-3). The writer of Hebrews identifies Jesus as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (3:1). That is, He has been sent to fulfill the promise by removing sin and reconciling us to God. We who read this letter are repeatedly urged to sincerely believe in the Jesus of Scripture as the faithful Son who bring sinners to the Father. Jesus Christ is the only sufficient High Priest to usher us into heaven. The ceremonial worship God established for Old Testament Israel sheds light on this fact. The Levitical priesthood under the Law was imperfect and, therefore, ineffective to save anyone. In fact, it is inseparably linked to the Law and only serves as a reminder of God s condemnation of sin (7:1-19). However, the sacrifices it mediated were a reminder that, although the Law condemns our failure to be righteous, God s promise of salvation is by grace through faith in Christ.! 1

2 The sufficiency of Christ as High Priest is explained in Hebrews 7: Here we are told of Jesus guarantee, His intercession, and His perfection. Our Sufficient High Priest (7:20-28) His Guarantee (vv ) God s promise of salvation came long before the Law was ever given to Israel (Gal. 3:17). Clearly the Old Covenant of Law was introduced to emphasize sin and drive sinners to trust in the Savior that was to come (Gal. 3:19-25). But God s promise establishes the New Covenant of grace with a priest that guarantees the efficacy of that covenant. Jesus Christ is the only priest in the revelation of God s redemptive plan to receive His office by an oath from God. Both Melchizedek and Aaron s descendants (v. 11) became priests without an oath. Like Jesus, they met the qualification of being called by God and being compassionate toward sinners by way of their humanity (4:15; 5:1-4). But Jesus was also appointed with an oath by [the Father] who said to Him: The LORD has sworn and will not relent, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. This quote from Psalm 110:4 is cited several times in the letter (5:5-6; 7:17; 21).! 2

3 The LORD s oath was made after the Law was given, but it distinctly identifies Jesus, like Melchizedek, as a priest associated with God s promise that predates His Law. Like Melchizedek, God s Son would be both a king and a priest (Gen. 14:18-20). However, He would be the only truly righteous King and, therefore, the only truly sufficient High Priest. Because of this oath, by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant (v. 22). That is to say, He guarantees the promise the better covenant of salvation by grace through faith in Christ as opposed to the covenant of Law. This is the New Covenant sealed (i.e. ratified) in Christ s own blood (1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:6-13). By making an oath that Christ would be a High Priest in Melchizedek s order, the heavenly Father ensured the fulfillment of His salvation promise. He cannot and will not change His mind about it ( relent v. 21). His Intercession (vv ) But Christ is also sufficient as High Priest because of His intercession. God s oath guarantees the New Covenant because it promises Christ as the One who effectively intercedes for sinners.! 3

4 Under the Old Covenant of Law, there were many priests, but they could not be effective mediators between God and man because they were themselves sinners (5:3). There were many because they were prevented by death from continuing, and the priesthood passed to the next generation. Their limited ministry reminded the people of their sins, the consequence of death, and the limitations of the Law. Even the sacrifices they offered were ineffective, being merely a foreshadowing of the truly atoning sacrifice of Christ (10:1-4). Everything about their ministry emphasized man s inability to save himself by his works and the need to trust God s promise. Unlike the many priests associated with the Law, Jesus continues forever in His role as High Priest of the New Covenant; He has an unchangeable priesthood (v. 24) because of His endless life (v. 16). Although He became sin for us on the cross, He is perfectly righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). While He died for our sins, He lives to God as the sinless Son (Rom. 6:10). And so, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him (v. 25). Unlike the Levitical priests, our Lord completely saves to perfection. The word, uttermost, is derived from the same root as the word perfect in verse 19 and elsewhere (e.g. v. 11), which speaks of the total righteousness of true salvation.! 4

5 We neither inherently possess that righteousness nor can we earn it. But Jesus is perfectly righteous according to the God s holy standards for humanity; He kept the Law for us and died the death we deserve for our unrighteousness. Having fulfilled all righteousness in Christ, the Father can credit His faithful Son s obedience to those who trust in Him and completely forgive their sins. Therefore, Jesus complete (i.e. perfect) righteousness fully reconciles us to God. And He always lives to make intercession for us, which means our salvation cannot be altered. Death cannot bring His ministry as our High Priest to an end because it has no power over His righteous life. His Perfection (vv ) This is the kind of High Priest we as sinners must have. Jesus must be righteous in every way, and He is. In His perfect righteousness as a man, He was fitting for us in several ways. First, He was holy in His relationship to God. That is, He was devout in doing God s will with all sincerity (Matt. 3:17) with all His heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk. 12:30; cf. Ex. 20:1-11). Our best religious efforts are not so pure. Secondly, He was harmless in His interaction with His fellow human beings. In other words, He truly loved His neighbor with no admixture of selfish motivation (Mk. 12:31; Jn. 8:46; cf. Ex. 20:12-17).! 5

6 Thirdly, Jesus was undefiled, which means He was absolutely unspotted by sin. As the apostle Peter wrote, our Lord was a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Pet. 1:19). This makes Him totally separate from sinners. Although He was truly man, He did not possess any sinful desire because He had no sinful nature. He faced all the temptations that we do, but He never sinned (4:15). There was no inward principle of sin in Jesus s human nature, therefore, He had no desire to act outside of God s will (Jn. 4:34). All of His natural human desires were totally yielded to the Father, so that He preferred even death over even a hint of disobedience (cf. Matt. 4:1-11; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 2:17-18). His human nature was pure, therefore, His obedience was pure. This is why the writer can say that Jesus has become higher than the heavens a reference to His ability as God s righteous Son to enter unhindered into the Father s presence in the true heavenly sanctuary (1:3; 4:14). After living a sinless life on earth and atoning for our sins on the cross, He has gone back into heaven as the Great High Priest to intercede continually for God s children. He is seated at the Father s right hand to permanently represent those who trust in Him (10:12; 12:2; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; 1 Jn. 2:1).! 6

7 The Levitical high priests (v. 27) had to minister in an earthly representation of the heavenly sanctuary. Every day they had need to offer up sacrifices, first for their own sins and then for the people s. But they could neither bring themselves nor those to whom they ministered into the heavenly reality (cf. Heb. 9:1-10). Their continual animal sacrifices only highlighted their insufficiency to truly atone for their own sins or the sins of the people. But Jesus could pass through the heavens and enter the Father s presence, and He did. Upon His arrival He once for all offered up Himself to the Father as the true sacrifice that takes away sin. He did not need to keep offering Himself, since His sacrifice actually and effectively satisfied God s wrath (2:17). So when He was seated at the Father s right hand, His work was finished, never to be repeated. While the law appoints as high priest men who have weaknesses (i.e. sin) that prevent them from being effective, the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. The Levitical priests were sinners, and their ministry emphasized sin and death under the Law with an eye toward the promise. However, the Father ensured the promise by declaring His perfect Son as the sufficient High Priest. The promise came before the Law, and the oath came after it, so it is clear that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by the Law.! 7

8 Jesus Christ is the sufficient High Priest of God. The Father s oath to make His perfect Son a priest forever guarantees the New Covenant that Jesus mediates. His priesthood never changes because He never dies, and so He is able to intercede forever by His presence in heaven to secure the believer s salvation. No one else can reconcile you to the true and living God except the perfect Son of God whom He has revealed so plainly in the Bible. Is your faith in Him as the only sufficient High Priest?! 8