The priesthood of Melchizedek pointed forward to a time of a New Covenant when every believer is a priest and Jesus is the ultimate and superior high priest. The new and better priesthood of Jesus Christ is loaded with significance and has everything to do with our salvation.

The Superior priesthood of Jesus is our only hope for drawing near to God. Heb 7:11-14

The whole purpose of Christianity is for us to draw near to God and Jesus is the New and Better high priest who helps us accomplish that goal both for now and throughout the rest of eternity.

¹¹ Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

This morning I’m not going to try to unpack every detail in these verses, but I want us to look at the big picture of what both David and the writer of Hebrews are trying to tell us about the priesthood of Jesus. Here’s the bottom line: Jesus is the superior priest who helps us draw near to God.

How does Jesus help us draw near to God? Through the forgiveness of sins. If our sins are forgiven, then God sees Christ’s perfection enveloping us and allows us to draw near to Him. Verse 11 makes it clear that perfection was not possible through the levitical priesthood. We needed a new and better priesthood.

David told us in Psalm 110:4 that the Messiah would be a priest, but he would not be a priest from the “order of Aaron” which is the tribe of Levi. One of your questions in this week’s study asks why this passage would have shocked the Jews. Here is one reason why it was big deal to the Jews:

• It was unheard of that a priest was not from the tribe of Levi. The entire Old Testament sacrificial system revolved around Levites being priests. They would have expected the Messiah to be a Levite, not a Judean… and certainly not from Bethlehem as Micah would prophesy.
• David is saying that the Messiah was not going to fit into their existing sacrificial system of priestly ministry. He is the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament.
• When the Messiah comes, He is bringing with Him a new and better covenant with God. This new covenant will be an eternal agreement so that God’s people can draw near to God… both now and for the rest of eternity
• The elaborate sacrificial system was nothing more than a sign that showed us the infinite chasm that separated us from God and our desperate need for salvation. It was a sign to help us identify the Savior when he came.

I just got back from vacation. We drove about 2.5 hours to get to a campground up in the White Mountains. Now imagine that I drove all that way, and I got to the sign for the lake and I said, “OK kids here we are. Let’s get out of the car and enjoy the sign for the next week.” How do you think that would go over? The sign is always exciting to see, because it means that we are getting closer to our destination, but it’s not the destination. As you get closer, the signs become more exciting, because you know you are getting ever closer to the final destination. However, the sign is never as exciting as the moment when you actually arrive. The sign is a poor substitute for the real thing.

The Messiah was on His way. The priestly sacrificial system was a sign that pointed to the reality that Jesus was coming. The system gave us some clues about what God is like and the need for a savior. But, it was not the Savior. Jesus is the Savior. David is telling us that when the Messiah comes on the scene, all the signs will become obsolete. There is no more need for the sign if you have the Savior. When the Savior comes, the priesthood is going to change.

¹² For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

When the priesthood changes, everything built on the priesthood changes with it. In Psalm 110, the Holy Spirit through David is making it very clear that God’s going to bring in a new and better high priest – one in the order of Melchizedek.

God’s original covenant with Israel, based on the order of Levi, was not intended to go on forever. It was designed to be temporary because perfection is what draws us closer to God and the rituals and the ceremonies and the sacrifices did not make anything perfect. The ceremonies did not grant God’s people access to God. The sacrifices did not take away sins, but only covered them.

The Old Testament Levitical system was designed to show us our desperate need for a Savior and then it was intended to point to Jesus when he finally came. Another question in your study notes next week asks why so many Jews rejected Jesus when He arrived if the Old Testament defined Him so clearly. Let me make a few suggestions:

• When the Messiah arrived, the Levitical priests would all lose their jobs. They would be replaced by an altogether different kind of priesthood. The priesthood would be occupied by priests who were not necessarily Levites. Every man who followed Jesus would be able to be a priest. 1 Peter 2:9 says that because of Jesus the New and Better High priest, “you (that is every believer) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Some Jewish leaders would have been offended because Jesus made their jobs obsolete. [So instead of changing jobs, they rejected the Savior]
• Secondly, the Jews took so much pride in their beautiful temple, but when Jesus the Superior high priest came, he made every believer the temple of the Holy Spirit. The temple was now obsolete. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you.” Some of the Jewish leadership would have been doubly offended because Jesus made their temple no longer necessary. [So instead of joining the church, they rejected the Savior]

The sacrifices and temple services would be obsolete because the Savior would bring forgiveness of sins and the ability for men to draw near to God through Him and by their own priesthood.

¹³ For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.

The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be a Judean from Bethlehem. A Judean could serve as king, but after the law of Moses had been given, they were forbidden to serve as priests… In fact King Uzziah tried to serve as a priest one day in the temple and God struck him dead with leprosy.

However, the Messiah would be different. The rules of the new covenant would trump those of the old covenant. He would be the first man since Melchizedek to serve as both King and priest….and he would be from Judea.

¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

God through Moses set up an elaborate priestly system in the Pentateuch. The whole purpose of this system was to show us God’s wrath against sin and our desperate need for a Savior. If God had not set up this system, mankind would be lost and going to hell and would have no idea that God’s wrath was about to be unleashed against them.

In this system, only Levites could serve in the role as priest. There are dozens of regulations in the Pentateuch about the qualification of a Levite priest, but they were entirely physical and not necessarily spiritual qualifications. The priesthood was passed down from one generation to the next – regardless of the spiritual qualifications of each succeeding priest.

The priest Melchizedek came before the Levites and was different from the Levitical priests. Melchizedek was made priest based on his spiritual qualifications. He was a priest because He was righteous. The name “Melchizedek” means “King of Righteousness.” The people around him made him the priest of God Most High (El Elyown) and made him King of Salem (the King of a city named Peace). What we know about Mechizedek is that he was an impressive man and other men wanted to honor and follow him….including the patriarch, Abram.

Abram was impressed by Melchizedek. There is a historical account in the book of Genesis about an encounter that Abram had with Melchizedek. In Genesis 14, five Canaanite kings rebelled against their four Mesopotamian overlords. These four overlords led a military campaign to regain their control of the area. The battle culminated in an area called the Valley of Siddim. It is just below the Dead Sea. After the battle, Abram’s Nephew Lot was captured and carried off with the Mesopotamian overlords.

When Abram heard the news, he took his 300+ man army and pursued the overlords more than 100 miles to Dan. Abram was totally victorious when he engaged them in battle. His small band of men recaptured all the treasure the overlords had taken and they freed all the people they had captured, including Lot.

When they were returning back home, they came across Melchizedek. Melchizedek gave Abrams men food. He provided bread and wine for the soldiers

As the priest of God Most High, he said a blessing over Abram. Abram was so impressed by the generosity and piety of this priest and king, that he gave 10% of all the treasure they had recaptured to Melchizedek and his people while keeping none of it for himself. Hebrews 7 highlights the massive significance of this transaction. Look at verse 1-3 in Chapter 7

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings (overlords) and blessed him, ² and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. (Salem is a name of a city that literally meant “Peace”) ³ He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

Verse 3 is saying that they did not have a record of where Melchizedek came from. They also did not have a record of his death or a record of the end of his priesthood. He was not a priest on the basis of his pedigree but on the basis of his righteousness. Like Melchizedek, Jesus was not born into a position of priesthood. He was not a priest because He was the son of Levi. He earned his standing as priest on the basis of his righteousness.

Jesus became the true and better priest based on his own merit, not on his genealogy. Heb 7:15-17

¹⁵ This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.

The writer of Hebrews now quotes our text in Ps 110…

¹⁷ For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”

Jesus is the new and better priest and the fact that He is from Judah shows that the old Levitical system is obsolete. [The levitical system was based on Levites being priests and if a Judean could be a priest then that tore away the entire foundation of a system based on priests from Levi] There were other huge problems with the old covenant

• The old system could not provide access to God.
• It was (by design) an imperfect system, based on an imperfect priesthood that was never meant to be anything more than a sign that pointed to the coming Messiah.
• The whole Levitical system has now been set aside because Jesus brings perfection in a superior priesthood.

An indestructible life points to an eternal being. Levites were moral and had to be constantly replaced. A Levite may have been ill-suited and reluctant to take the office of priest, but he was forced to take it if his pedigree was right. There was an outside force that obligated a man to take that position.

That was not true of Jesus. He had an inner compulsion. He possessed an eternal power. He could do what no priest was ever able to do… He could give every man access to God – regardless of his family of origin!

So let’s review. One of the questions in the Bible study this week asks how Jesus is similar to Melchizedek. [righteousness, peace, everlasting] Here are some things we know about Melchizedek:

• He was a priest based on his righteousness not on his ancestral line
• He was a King of peace
• There was no known end to his priesthood

Here is how that is similar to Jesus

• Jesus is a priest based on His righteousness being the standard for righteousness. He is ultimately righteous. He is also not of an ancestral priestly line, but of the Kingly line of David.
• Jesus was called the prince of peace. He came to help us make peace with God
• There is no literal end to His reign. Jesus is eternal

I’ll give you one more… Here is how Jesus and Melchizedek are similar to you and I as new covenant priests

• We are made priests based on our relationship with Jesus and not based on our ancestral line
• Through Jesus, we can have peace with God
• There is no end to our lives, but we have the promise of eternal life, ruling and reigning with Jesus our Priest and King!

The goal of Christianity is to draw near to God. That is only possible through Jesus’ better covenant. Heb 7:18-22

¹⁸ For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

The text says God is setting aside the old covenant and bringing in a new covenant so that we can have access to Him. This is all God’s idea. Why don’t we have access to God without the New Covenant? We don’t have access because we have a huge problem.

God in His holiness is obligated to pour out his wrath on sin. If God did not punish sin, He would no longer be holy. A Holy God could not let a guilty man go without judgment. Not judging a guilty man is unjust, and that would be against God’s character. God’s perfection creates a problem for us. We are in a dangerous position and we need to be saved. Specifically, we need to be saved from God’s wrath and from God’s judgment. Furthermore, there is no way that you and I can draw near to God if His wrath is burning against us. We need to be shielded from God’s wrath and Jesus provides that barrier of protection.

In order to understand both our text in Ps110 and the Book of Hebrews, it is critical to understand that Jesus is the only thing that shields us from the judgment of God. When we get that fact firmly established in our minds, we can begin to understand what Hebrews is talking about.

The main problem in the world is that everyone needs to be reconciled with God in order to escape His righteous wrath on the Day of Judgment. Without Jesus, not only would we not be near to God, but we would be heading for an eternity of separation from God.

When we understand our position before God without Jesus, it should terrify us. But, we have a hope through Jesus. The whole Goal of Christianity is make it possible for you and I to escape God’s wrath and to draw near to God as His son or daughter.

God made an oath and established the new covenant through Jesus. Jesus is the one who will personally guarantee the fulfillment of this new covenant throughout the rest of eternity. His forgiveness of sin and his covering of perfection is eternal.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, ²¹ but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”

²² This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

The whole point was this: God was making a way for us to get right with Him and for every man to have access to God. He showed us our need for a priestly intercessor by the Levitical sacrificial system in the Old Testament. And then he provided the perfect sacrifice in his Son, the final High Priest.

Ps 110 says that we need a new high priest in the order of Melchizedek. We need God to send us this new priest because He is our only hope for eternal salvation. God’s wrath does not change. He still punishes sin and will continue to punish sin for all of eternity. The only hope for sinner like you and I is to have an eternal high priest who will intercede on our behalf not just now, but for all of eternity.

We need a priest with an indestructible life who will never need to be replaced. All of the Old Testament pointed to Jesus as that priest. Jesus is the one superior priest who would be able to sacrifice himself and whose eternal forgiveness of sin and eternal intercession for the saints would be our everlasting guarantee of eternal life.

Jesus will be making intercession for His people for all of eternity. Heb 7:23-25

²³ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,

(They did not have indestructible lives)

²⁴ but he (Jesus) holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Our future salvation depends on the work of Jesus not just 2000 years ago. Jesus didn’t just die on the cross, rise from the grave and leave it at that. Our future salvation depends on Jesus’ intercession on our behalf throughout the rest of eternity. Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Jesus is able to save forever. That means that he would not be able to save us if he had not made an commitment to intercede for us on our behalf throughout the rest of eternity. Salvation is only secure if Jesus is indestructible. We needed a priest far greater than any human. We needed a God-sized priest! (That’s why the deity of Christ is a critical doctrine) The deity of Jesus secures his indestructible priesthood!

Jesus came not only as conquering King, but as eternal high priest who was willing to lay down his own life as the perfect, eternal sacrifice for our sins. Because of Jesus

• every man who draws near to God through Jesus has unlimited access to God,
• every believers is now a priest and
• every believer is himself the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Communion: Jesus made the ultimate and final sacrifice for sin when he offered Himself as Final, Perfect Payment. Heb 10:4, 11-14

At this time, I’d like for us to remember the sacrifice our King and Savior made on the cross for our sins and invite the ushers forward to pass out the communion elements. As they are passing out the elements, let me draw your attention to this video

ROLE TRUE AND BETTER

⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

¹¹ And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

There is a mistake that people often make. Some people think that Jesus the priest loves and that God the Father doesn’t. That is not the case. God the father is the one who came up with the plan to send His son to be the sacrifice that would satisfy his righteous anger toward sin. God saw our desperate need and sacrificed what was most precious to him to meet that need.

He has such a deep love for us that He crushed His own son for our salvation. Feel the weight of this statement. It was not out of control men who killed the Savior. No, Jesus’ death was part of God’s perfect unfolding plan. God was sovereign over Jesus’ death. Isaiah says that it was God’s will to crush His son.

Isaiah 53:10 “…It was the will of the Lord to crush him; He has put Him to greif.”

Why did God crush his own Son and put him to grief? He did it for us!

He did it to resolve the difference between his love for His glory and His deep love for sinners like you and I. In that same passage in Isaiah it says:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” (53:6)

The son was crushed because God-dishonoring sin could not be ignored. Sin brought upon us God’s wrath and it can’t just be swept under the rug. So God makes an agreement with his Son that will demonstrate to the world both the infinite worth of His glory and his deep love for sinners like you and me. So Jesus took upon himself the punishment that our sin deserved.

Isaiah again says, “…He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace.” (53:5) [righteousness, peace, everlasting life]

It wasn’t for his own sin that the father crushed the Son. He did it because he wanted to show us MERCY. He wanted to forgive and to heal and to save. In order to save sinners and at the same time to magnify the worth of His glory, God lays our sins upon Jesus and sends Jesus to die on a cross.

So let’s remember together this morning the deep love that God has for us and the immense value of Jesus’ death on the cross

A Reminder: Here at CANYON we serve the bread and cup together in 2 cups. Please separate the 2 cups and you will find both elements.

Luke 22 – Jesus is with his disciples the night before his crucifixion.

¹⁷And he (Jesus) took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. ¹⁸ For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

You may take the Bread

²⁰And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

You may take the Cup

Teaching Outline

The Superior priesthood of Jesus is our only hope for drawing near to God. Heb 7:11-14

Jesus became the true and better priest based on his own merit, not on his genealogy. Heb 7:15-17

The goal of Christianity is to draw near to God. That is only possible through Jesus’ better covenant. Heb 7:18-22

Jesus will be making intercession for His people for all of eternity. Heb 7:23-25

Jesus made the ultimate and final sacrifice for sin when he offered Himself as Final, Perfect Payment. Heb 10:4, 11-14