Freedom For Today

“This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,

‘The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
    ‘You are a priest forever.’

Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.

There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. 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 high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this 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 people’s sins. The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.”

The Bible is often much more than it seems. In today’s passage the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 110, which we mentioned at the start of chapter 7 as one of the few passages that mentions Melchizedek. It’s not clear whether King David, the author of Psalm 110, knew that his little song was a profound and prophetic statement. It’s confusing right from the start when it says, “The Lord said to my Lord…” Why are there two Lords? How can that be? Perhaps David did realize that he was seeing something about the coming Messiah.

Because of Psalm 110, we see a bit of God’s relationship within himself — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He’s talking to Jesus and taking an oath which will be in effect for all of eternity. This captures the supernatural moment that Jesus was appointed as the eternal and perfect High Priest. He is the only one that had the power to offer himself as a sacrifice once for all.

God doesn’t forget about his promises. He doesn’t take an oath and then change his mind. Verse 22 says that Jesus is our guarantee of our covenant with God. Let’s think about it this way — when a person is trying to buy a house, they have to submit an offer. They can do that with a simple letter, or they can include an approval letter from a bank. Even better is the offer that includes proof of sufficient cash to make the entire purchase. The money is the guarantee that the offer is actually good. I could put a whole bunch of offers on million dollar homes, but I have no proof to offer that I have that money to give (because I don’t!). An offer is only as good as the proof that you can really follow through. Jesus is God’s proof that he will follow through and rescue his people — he still hasn’t given up yet!

“So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, 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? And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.

This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,

‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.’

Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”

Put yourself in the mind of a first-century Jew for a moment. Everything you have known so far is that you are part of a special people chosen by God, you have been given God’s laws to follow, and priests from the tribe of Levi mediate between you and God. We also have consider that this was a collectivist culture, not individualistic as we are in America today. So the Jewish people collectively need to seek God and be made right with God. The law was the system by which the people as a whole were made right with God and kept their end of the covenant with God.

Along comes this man that you saw grow up in Nazareth. He says seemingly blasphemous things like, “Your sins are forgiven” and refers to himself as the Son of Man and Son of God. Sure, he can do some miracles but honestly that’s creeping you out too. Maybe he’s demonic? I genuinely empathize with the Jewish religious leaders who felt this way. Jesus sure seemed like a threat to everything God had ever told them. That is, if the law was the key to relationship with God. Turns out that “if” was where they had missed God completely.

Verse 19 says, “For the law never made anything perfect.” If you believe that following all the rules will make you acceptable to God, you are sadly mistaken. God gave the law to his people to show them that there was no way they could ever possibly be good enough. They would never be perfect and the law could not make them perfect. That’s a pretty hopeless place to land if your hope had been in following a lot of rules for God. Verse 19 goes on to say, “But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” The law never brought anyone closer to God — it simply showed how far away people were from him. Our hope in Jesus is way better than hoping in the law. Relationship is the only way we will ever truly be with God, and Jesus made that possible.

“This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means ‘king of justice,’ and king of Salem means ‘king of peace.’ There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

“Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.

“The priests who collect tithes are men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.”

If you are wondering who Melchizedek is or what made him so great, I have bad news for you. We know very little about him besides what is in this passage and what we know from Genesis 14 and a brief mention in Psalm 110. Clearly the Jewish readers of this letter would have had a better understanding of him than we do. Today’s passage gives us hints. We know he was the first mentioned priest in the Bible, and it is also the first example of the concept of tithing (giving 10% to God). There are parallels drawn between him and Jesus, but the author does not seem to be saying that Melchizedek was Jesus in disguise.

Beyond the “Who is Melchizedek?” question, let’s ask ourselves what the author is getting at in bringing him up at all. It seems that today’s verses are a set up for what we will read as we continue on in the chapter. The set up uses well-known Jewish history to explore the role of priests and how this has played out over time. There’s mention of the humanity (and frailty) of human priests other than Melchizedek, and there’s mention of the power of priests to give supernatural blessing. It’s a unique role set up by God for a purpose, and we’ll find out more tomorrow about the significance of that.

If we ground ourselves in the earthly priesthood, we set ourselves to see what the Jewish readers of this letter would see: Jesus isn’t like anyone else. Humans fail. They can only do so much. Supernatural, eternal power has to come from someone greater. Remember that Jewish priests were the mechanism by which God’s people could fulfill the law. If Jewish priests are mere mortals, then what does that mean about their power to enact eternally significant change? Keep that in mind as we continue to explore.

“For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

‘I will certainly bless you,
    and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.’

Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.”

One of the things I love most about cultures with an oral history tradition is that the same familiar stories can be told and retold with rich, colorful flavor. Throughout Jewish history, stories that we read in the Bible were primarily handed down verbally (since most people could not read). The Jewish readers (and hearers!) of this letter would not need much explanation about the role of Abraham in their culture. If you are unfamiliar with his story, check out Genesis 17-22.

This passage starts with the words, “For example…,” so recall from earlier in the chapter that we’ve been talking about loving others and holding on to our faith in order to inherit all that God has promised. Today we are given reasons why we can put our hope in God’s promises. I mean, who’s to say he won’t just get sick of us and bail? Turns out God himself says he won’t bail. If there’s one thing that this Jewish audience knew, it was that God kept coming back for his people. It’s the point of every Old Testament story. God has taken an oath on his own name that he will not abandon us. It is because of his trustworthy word that we can have any sense of hope at all.

If you have decided to follow Jesus, then he’s given you an all-access pass straight into the most sacred space: the Holy of Holies. What used to be a physical room in the Temple is now inside you. We are now the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. In that old physical room in the Temple, there was a curtain blocking the entrance to the Holy of Holies. When Jesus died, that curtain tore from top to bottom and changed all of history (check it out in Matthew 27:50-52). The Holy Spirit ties us to Jesus so significantly that unless we make a deliberate choice to walk away, we are tethered for life. Anchors hold us steady when storms come. They give us our bearings. They allow us to pause for rest. God can be trusted, he’s proven that over and over to his people. You won’t regret tying your life to him.

“Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”

If you were worried about losing your salvation after reading yesterday’s passage, you will be comforted by some encouraging words today. While we need to heed the warnings about walking away from God, we don’t need to apply it to ourselves if we have been focused on doing everything we can to follow Jesus. The early Jewish Christians had clearly been an important part of developing the church, and that mattered to God. He isn’t interested in punishing you when you are doing your best to follow him. That’s pretty different from an intentional choice to walk away.

Why are you following Jesus? Most likely, it has something to do with a sense of hope. If you had no hope, why would you try? I find it fascinating that this passage holds the key to all our dreams coming true: love others. If you want all that you hope for in Jesus, love others. That’s the spiritual tool that will bring about the kingdom of God and build a new heaven and a new earth.

We have seen the destructive power of hate in our world. There is no question that hate is an invention of Satan aimed at destroying humanity. But love is more powerful. Love will literally bring about the restoration of God’s creation. However, if it were easy to love more of us would do it. Instead, we find that loving people different from ourselves is hard. As today’s passage shows us, loving requires faith and endurance. Loving others also keeps us spiritually sharp. Get on track today and go find somebody hard to love. Bring a little kingdom moment into a dark place.