One Priest Forever

Hebrews 7

The Dallas Cowboys are considered in football history to be one of the greatest teams of all time. Having grown-up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, my mind tends to quickly agree. The Cowboys have had such greats as Roger Staubach, Ed “Too Tall” Jones among many of the recent greats. In addition to those greats was one of the premier coaches in Tom Landry. He led the Cowboys to the playoffs many times and to the Super Bowl more than once. He was a great coach. Over time however something was changing within the Cowboys team. Was it the coach or the players or the management? That could be debated for a long time, but the truth is that something had changed. Due to that change and the continued lackluster performances from the Cowboys as a team Tom Landry was let go. Then comes Jimmie Johnson and a new era for the team. The first season was a disappointment with a record of 1-15. The next season gets better with a near playoff appearance. The next season is a success with a 14-2 season and a Super Bowl victory. The greatest game being the playoff victory in the playoffs at San Francisco. Yet look at the last couple of seasons and you wonder what happened, they were so good for those years? What happened? They were never perfect. If they could achieve perfection and hold on to that perfection that would be a team to be reckoned with, but we will never achieve it. Football teams will always be looking for better and find it. Then he will get old and they will have to find better again. Then they will have to find a better chemistry because they have new players. They will always be searching for better.

The priesthood of the Old Testament was never perfect. The author of Hebrews is pointing to Christ as the fulfillment and the perfection of the Old Testament. Today in Hebrews 7 we see that Christ is One Priest Forever. There was never one exactly like Him nor will there ever be another. To be a winning team forever you must be perfect. To be a priest forever, Christ is perfect.

Today we will see three attributes of Christ that make Him a perfect priest forever.

First we see that Christ is eternal. When we look at verses 1-3 we are pointed back to Genesis and the historical event of Abraham giving a tenth of his spoils of war to Melchizedek priest of the Most High God. Without going too in depth on this man, he was a real man. Some say he was a theophany, an appearance of Christ before his incarnation. I see no reason in the Genesis account to believe that. When we look at Hebrews 7 we see the author taking that account in Genesis and drawing out parallels to Christ with Melchizedek as a means to illustrate Christ. This can only be done by a biblical author under the inspiration of the Spirit. This is not a normal proper method of interpretation. This author was under the inspiration of the Spirit. This man was the king of Jerusalem at the time and was also a worshipper of the one True God and was a priest of God. Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils in gratitude to God for safety and provision during battle but also for the sanctuary received in Jerusalem. We see in Melchizedek that his name points us to Christ. Melchizedek and Melchisalem. Look at the end of verse 2, “was first of all by translation, king righteousness and then also king of salem, which is king of peace.” Who is the king of righteousness? Christ. Who is the king of peace? Christ. Who has made it possible for the sinful to become righteous? Christ. Who has made it possible that in the midst of turmoil in your life that you can still be at peace? Christ. Who has defeated sin and death that we may have eternal life in peace? Christ. The author of Hebrews wants the people who receive this letter to see that Christ is better. He is a better priest because he is eternal. In verse 3 he says that Melchizedek was without mother or father without any genealogy. We do not know his ancestral heritage, the genesis account does not tell us. Where did he learn about God? Where did he come from? When and where was he born? The text does not tell us. We will never know and we do not need to know. The point is that he points us to Christ. Who is Jesus’ father? God. What is Jesus’ ancestral heritage? God. Who created Jesus? No one. Not even God. He is God therefore he has always been. He has no beginning and no end. Look at Melchizedek. He has no end. We are never told of his death. He did die because he was a man, but Jesus did also die but rose from the dead in the power of God. Christ is a better priest because he is eternal.

The land of Persia was once ruled by a wise and beloved Shah who cared greatly for his people and desired only what was best for them. One day he disguised himself as a poor man and went to visit the public baths. The water for the baths was heated by a furnace in the cellar, so the Shah made his way to the dark place to sit with the man who tended the fire. The two men shared the coarse food, and the Shah befriended him in his loneliness. Day after day the ruler went to visit the man. The worker became attached to this stranger because " he came where he was". One day the Shah revealed his true identity, and he expected the man to ask him for a GIFT. Instead, he looked long into his leader's face and with love and wonder in his voice said, "You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat my coarse food, and to care about what happens to me. On others you may bestow rich GIFTS, but to ME you have given YOURSELF!"
There is an even GREATER King - The King of kings - 'who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness" (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus, the Son of God, left His heavenly palace to come and sit with us, to share OUR human existence, to experience life as WE know it, to show us that He cares.
But then, the King of kings condescended to a far greater depth than that beloved Shah: "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to DEATH -- even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8). Jesus understood that our greatest problem is SIN. He looked past our many FAILURES and saw our great NEED! And as His body hung there upon that cross, He lovingly paid sin's HIGH price so that we might be forgiven. He didn't just give OF Himself; He gave HIMSELF for us! "He gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father" (Galatians 1:4).
When Jesus laid aside His royal garments and clothed Himself in human flesh, He became what WE ARE so that we might become what HE IS: a child of God.
To become a child of God you must be born again! You experience the new birth when you: place your faith in Jesus (Acts 16:31), repent of your sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) in order to have our sins washed away (Acts 2:38; 22:16). Once you become a child of God....if you will CONTINUE to walk in the light of God's Word, the blood of Jesus will CONTINUE to wash away your sins (1 John 1:7).
He who resides in Heaven, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, willingly descended into OUR world. He became one of us! He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows, and died for our sins. He was Immanuel -" GOD WITH US" - so that we might be with Him for an eternity...
"Out of the ivory palaces, into a world of woe. ONLY His great eternal love, made my Savior go." (Harry Barraclough)

John 1:1-5: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came into being through Him. Without Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. At the very end of verse 2, “but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.” If Melchizedek is a priest perpetually made like Christ, then Christ is a priest forever. He is eternal.

Because Christ is eternal then all that He accomplishes and works on our behalf is also eternal. Your salvation is forever sealed because he reigns as the King of kings and conqueror of death. He is eternal and through the Spirit you are being remade and that work is eternal. You will for eternity be perfectly righteous as Christ is eternally righteous and your Lord.

Second we see that Christ is a priest by appointment. In verse 4-10, the author is making the case that Levi, through Abraham, paid tithes to one who pictured Christ. If Melchizedek is a representation of Christ, then Levi gave him tithes. So the levitical priesthood is second to Christ. Make sense? In Abraham the father of the Jews, Levi gave a tithe to Christ through Melchizedek. The Levitical priesthood is not supreme in comparison to Christ the eternal. Then in verse 11, the question is raised, if the priesthood was perfect what was the need for Christ to arise according to the priesthood of Melchizedek? If Aaron and his descendants were a perfect priesthood then why did Christ have to come? If the Cowboys were perfect, then why did they need Terrell Owens or need a new coach? If the church is perfect why is the average tenure of a pastor nationwide less than 2 years? Remember Melchizedek is a representation of Christ and he blesses Abraham, the recipient of the promises of God. Who would bless whom in a family? The father would give a blessing to the children. The greater to the lesser. And here Abraham is receiving the blessing. Christ is greater. The one who has no genealogy. Christ has no father on earth. Christ has no line that leads back to the Levites. Christ was of the tribe of Judah. Then how could he be a priest? He was a priest by appointment. God appointed him as priest. He was priest before Aaron was born. He blessed Aaron. Christ is a better priest because he is not in the traditional lineage but because he is qualified by his character and attributes. He is priest because God the Father has called him to be a priest. He has no beginning and no end. The levitical priesthood has a constant turnover of priests because of death. Christ is a priest forever according to Melchizedek. Psalm 110.

The President’s cabinet is made up of people who are chosen by the President. They are people that he sees qualified for the position and would best work to fulfill the desired agenda for that administration. Imagine for a moment that the position of Attorney General was open. As the president begins the process of finding a person qualified for that position. Would he likely go to the federal prison and begin interviewing there? Or what about Camp X-Ray there in Guantanamo Bay Cuba? What about the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan? He will look for someone who is knowledgeable of the laws of the land and experienced in legal matters. Will he pick someone because they are related to him? Hopefully not just because they are related to him. He will be looking for someone who fulfills the list of qualifications for the position.

When it comes to the position of priest, Jesus meets the qualifications required to completely fulfill the position of priest. Psalm 110:4- The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. By the Lord’s will Christ is a priest. It is by his design and desire.

What does it really matter to you that Christ is a priest appointed to the position? Remember he is a priest appointed outside of the line of priests. He was not from the tradition but to fulfill the position. Often times we follow what has always been done only to find it is broken. Christ came and gave us eternal life. The King of Righteousness came that we might be righteous. The King of Peace came that we might have peace. He died for the church not the way we do church or the traditions we follow in our lives. He came to fulfill in us all that God desires from us. Christ came to fulfill our ability to experience the fullness of life now. Barna did some research and found that a majority of professed born again believers were not satisfied with their church experience. They felt that they could be a better Christian without the church. Not good. That is a sad verdict on the church. Now what these people desired was to simply have a great spiritual life and experience with God. I think often times we make our spiritual walk more complex than it really ought to be. How difficult is it to not attach our spiritual well-being with our feelings? Christ fulfilled in us through the office of priest the ability to come to God. You can simply now wake up and commune with God. No goat, sheep, bulls or any other animals required. There is no special language or code words required. You don’t have to speak Greek, Hebrew or Latin.

Third we see that Christ is our Intercessor. A priest is one who intercedes on behalf of man. In the Catholic church you can go to your priest and confess your sins. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the priest would sacrifice on your behalf. On the day of Atonement the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people. Yet all of these people doing these things must first confess their sins and make payment for them. The High Priest on the Day of Atonement was required to be clean before entering the Holy of Holies. There was need for their being completely clean. Yet today, verse 26 tells us, that we have a high priest who is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. Our high priest is completely and utterly pure. There has never been a single sin in his life. He is perfect without blemish. Verse 27, he does not need daily to offer sacrifices for his own sins. Nor does he need to pay for our sins again. He has already paid for our sins once and for all. Verse 28, the Law appointed priests who were weak. They were ineffective at making complete amends for sin. They had to do it daily. But in God’s promise, or oath, there came one who was strong. He was able to make complete amends for sin. The payment has been made perfectly. The Law is completely and perfectly fulfilled. Now he daily stands before the Father on our behalf. He stands before the Father as one who has made our payment. He is the one who stands before the Father and says, They are clean they belong to me.

When I worked for Wal-Mart in one of their distribution centers, I became concerned about a policy that was causing me some trouble. If you missed the goal of 99.98% accuracy within a week you were given a write-up. After so many write-ups you received a warning. After 4 warnings you were fired. In order to make the goal you could only make 2 errors for every 20,000 cases you handled. In talking with my manager, I expressed concern about this policy because I tried hard but would keep missing the goal. My manager assured me that if I were to reach the point of possible termination there would be significant evidence that would keep me from losing my job. There were others that they were eagerly waiting for to lose their job and would have no grounds to keep them. I had an advocate, one standing between me and the Building Manager who speak on my behalf.

Who stands on your behalf before God is a significant issue. Christ came in order to be our perfect advocate. Our perfect intercessor. If you trust your works for your salvation, you have a weak and ineffective intercessor. If you trust your goodness and love, you have a weak and ineffective intercessor. If you trust Christ, you have a strong and perfect intercessor. Who do you trust to stand before God on your behalf?