For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings 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.
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. 4
See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!
5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers,[a] though
these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.9
One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 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? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 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.17
For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
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.
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.
23
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,
24 but he 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. 26
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
There are three contrary to fact, conditional statements that we must keep in mind as we go through this text. Look again at 7:11 and then to 8:7,
“For if the first covenant had been faultless then no place would have sought for a second.” And then again at 10:1-2, “For the law having a shadow of the
good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect. For then they would not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers once purified would
have had no more consciousness of sin?
These verses clearly indicate that the readers of this letter were tempted to return to the paths of their former way of life and former hope of salvation and come
to the opposite conclusions. Namely, that perfection could come through these thigs and that perfection could be found in the sacrifices themselves.
The author is criticizing the Levitical institutions precisely for failing to provide in themselves the forgiveness of sins and the perfection of the conscience. That
is what 18-19 say as well as 9:13-14. But here is the catch: The author knows that the sacrifices etc., were never intended to do that! That is what he says in 10:3-4, “But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
It was never intended that the signs themselves, the sacrifices, be THE way whereby sins are removed. But as our Confession says, they were the types, the pictures,
the shadows of what was to be done in the Messiah. To hold to the sacrifices, the signs and then to reject the Lord Jesus, that which the signs signified, is to misunderstand the sacrifices all together! It is putting hope, trust, confidence in the actions
and not in the One to whom the actions speak. And that is exactly what his readers were tempted to do!
We must see that before Jesus, the church had sacraments, sings and seals; they were the sacrifices and Levitical ceremonies. We today have sacraments and the Confession
of Faith says, although fewer in number and outward splendor, they are nonetheless, types and pictures.
In both the OT and the NT the sacraments are to point to Christ and are only valid in our lives as we embrace them by faith. The point is that all the sacraments,
both Old and New Testament are to land us at the feet of the Messiah of God.
The readers of Hebrews viewed the ritual or were tempted to view the ritual as a way of salvation separated from the work of Jesus Christ who is the substance of the
rituals.
What is important for us to see is that the author of Hebrews discusses the institutions under his reader’s view of them, not as they really are. The Levitical cultus
is being attacked for failing to provide what it was never intended to provide but which the people had been twisting it to provide. This is a point that the godly OT saint would have well recognized. David in Psalm 51 says, “For you do not dire sacrifice,
or else I would bring it.”
In doing this the author is merely standing in the line and imitating the technique of the OT prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos and others, spoke to Israel strongly
about putting their faith in their forms and not in the Lord Himself.
In Jeremiah, the people are rebuked for crying out that they have the temple of the Lord when they were not living by faith in the Lord! (Chapter 7) And the Lord tells
His people in Amos that He, the Lord, hates their feasts and holy days…feasts and holy days that He had commanded them to observe! Why? Because they were honoring him with their lips but their hearts were far from Him.
I am convinced that the misunderstanding is when we think that the author is pitting the OT against the NT or Moses against Jesus. The contrast that is being drawn
is not between the OT saint and us and not between the fact that they were so very different and their experience of salvation totally unlike ours but rather…
…the contrast is between two ways of salvation: one by ritual performance with hope and trust in what we do, the other way of salvation by the sacrifice of and faith
placed in the One that the rituals were proclaiming, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Father, give me a resolute mind and heart that I might see clearly that all that You have blessed us with is that we might see the glory of Jesus Christ
Your Son and give You glory! I know the path will be filled with difficulty, trial and temptation, but Father, you have shown me the joy, the peace, the hope and the end of such a journey. May I put to death all sin of self-reliance and self-promotion that
I may be given fully to the pursuit of my Savior, for it is in his name I pray, Amen.
Psalm 15