Hebrews #5: No objection to what Jesus has done for you
Hebrews #5 : No objection to what Jesus has done for you
Man and God?
Our faith in Christ made us admit, rightly, that He was unique.
For example,
male
And God
at the same time.
There are other questions…
Priest and king?
How come he is both priest and king?
At first glance, it doesn’t matter much to us.
Of Judah or Levi?
How come Jesus is a priest when the priests come from the tribe of Levi and Jesus is from the tribe of Judah?
Why is Jesus priest important?
And in the very first place, why dwell so much on the fact that Jesus is a priest?
The function of priest of Jesus is capital
This function of Jesus is crucial.
It is this action that makes the link between God and us.
Exactly the same idea of bonds made by the priests who officiated in the tabernacle or in the temple.
Another line of priests expected
Last time and again the writer of the epistle dwells on the fact that another line of priests was expected.
All the priests of the Old Testament were from the tribe of Levi and yet someone was expected from another line: that of Melchizedek.
We see it in a Psalm of David, 1000 years before the coming of Jesus:
Psalm 110. 4
4 The Lord hath sworn,
and it will not retract:
“You are a priest forever
like Melchizedek.”
What does it change ?
King & Priest
This Melchizedek is
king of peace
and priest,
it’s not in the order of things.
Example :
God sanctions this attitude.
Number 12. 2
Following this, the royal line changes family to that of David.
All the offices of people’s responsibilities could not be held by a fallen man.
On the other hand, for someone extraordinary and pure, it could be possible (cf. Jesus).
Melchizedek is truly different
With this Melchizedek, we have an identity of someone different.
Just like God, he goes out to meet people.
Just like God, he blesses.
Just like God, he receives the tithe.
Just like God, he has no lineage, filiation, genealogy; does that mean he comes from elsewhere?
Just like God, there is a notion of « forever », it is said that he is
« Priest Forever »
(Wouldn’t it have an end)?
Melchizedek conclusion
The author concludes with the illumination of the Holy Spirit that Melchizedek is made like the Son, a sort of example of anticipation, well in advance to show what God will do!
Not Jesus of the OT
We cannot say that Melchizedek is Jesus because Jesus has a human lineage, he is truly man and God…
let’s move on to something else
If Jesus is really from another category of priests, that means that the other category of priests, the one who is in the OT, is obsolete!
Jesus opens up a new moment in humanity where the OT law and priesthood which have shown their helplessness and uselessness are abolished. But it has gigantic consequences for our sins, we no longer need to make sacrifices for example and renew them with each failure.
That of Christ is completely sufficient forever and opens up a better hope.
Hebrews 6.13 – 7.28
God had promised Abraham that, sworn to it with a promise of eternal blessing.
How can all nations be blessed in the line of Abraham which is fulfilled in Jesus?
13 When God made the promise to Abraham, as he could not swear by greater than himself, he swore by himself 14 saying:
Surely I will shower you with blessings and multiply your offspring.
Genesis 12. 3 (I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a source of blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you, and all the families of the earth will be blessed in you. »)
Genesis 22:18 (18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring)
15 Thus, after patient waiting, Abraham obtained what had been promised to him.
16 Now men swear by greater than themselves, and the oath is a guarantee that puts an end to all dispute.
17 Therefore God,
wishing to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the irrevocable nature of his decision,
intervened by oath.
18 So,
by two irrevocable acts (the promise and the oath) in which it is impossible for God to lie,
we are strongly encouraged,
us whose only refuge has been to seize the hope that was offered to us.
God has powerfully kept his word
19 This hope we possess as a solid and sure anchor of the soul; it penetrates behind the veil,
20 where Jesus, established high priest forever after the manner of Melchizedek, entered for us as a forerunner.
This is where we are going to have the outlines of this character which were all masterfully done in Jesus.
Hebrews – Chapter 7
1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God.
He went to meet Abraham as he returned from the defeat inflicted on the kings;
he blessed him
2 and Abraham gave him a tithe of everything.
According to the meaning of his name,
Melchizedek is first king of righteousness;
then he is king of Salem, that is to say, king of peace.
3 Neither father nor mother nor genealogy is known to him,
neither beginning of days nor end of life, but, made like the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
4 Notice how tall this figure is,
since the patriarch Abraham gave him [even] the tenth of his spoils.
This slightly more complex passage shows that the line of ancient priests was less important than Melchizedek, since Abraham their ancestor (a little as if it were these priests, whom Abraham represented) paid the tithe to him and we pay the tithe to someone greater…
Moreover Melchizedek blessed Abraham and there it is the one who is greater who does it for the one who is less important!
5 According to the law, those of the descendants of Levi who serve as priests are commanded to collect tithes from the people,
that is to say on their brothers,
which are nevertheless descended from Abraham.
6 But Melchizedek,
although not listed in their genealogy,
took the tithe from Abraham,
and he blessed him who had the promises.
7 Now, unquestionably,
it is the lower that is blessed by the higher.
8 Moreover, in the case of the descendants of Levi, those who collect the tithe are mortal men,
while in the case of Melchizedek it is one who is attested to be alive.
9 In addition, Levi, who collects the tithe, has, so to speak, also paid it through Abraham.
10 He was indeed still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek went to meet Abraham.
So we moved on:
another priest and
the end of the law.
11 If, then, perfection had been possible through the ministry of the Levitical priests – for it is indeed on him that the law given to the people rests –
was it still necessary for another priest to arise,
established after the manner of Melchizedek,
and that it be presented as not being established in the manner of Aaron?
12 Since the ministry of priest has been changed, there is necessarily also a change of law.
13 Indeed, the one referred to in the quoted passages belongs to
another tribe,
no member of which served the altar.
14 In fact, it is perfectly clear that our Lord came from Judah,
tribe of which Moses absolutely did not speak concerning the office of priest.
15 This is even more evident when this other priest who arises is like Melchizedek, 16 established not according to a principle of sonship prescribed by law,
but from the power of an imperishable life.
17 In fact, this testimony is rendered to him:
You are a priest forever like Melchizedek.
18 There is thus an abolition of the preceding rule because of its impotence and uselessness,
19 since the law has brought nothing to perfection.
But on the other hand there is the introduction of a better hope,
by which we approach God.
20 This was not done without an oath.
21 Indeed,
if the Levites became priests without taking an oath,
Jesus became so through the oath taken by God who said to him:
The Lord has sworn it, and he will not recant:
‘You are a priest forever [in the manner of Melchizedek].’
22 This is why Jesus is the guarantor of a much better covenant.
23 Moreover, there were quite a number of Levitical priests, because death prevented them from remaining in office;
24 but him,
because he remains forever,
possesses the office of priest which is not transmitted.
Levitical priests condemn Jesus
I am impressed to see that at the time of Jesus’ trial,
Matthew 26 , many times, it is quoted that it is the chief priests and the high priest who intervene at the time of the trial of Jesus!
End of a cycle for that of Jesus
As if it was a bit of a swan song for the Levitical lineage and that the moment when only Jesus would be a priest was opening.
best hope
So now there is a better hope for us.
This hope is illustrated as if an anchor was planted in the eternity of God by Jesus when one gives oneself to Him, it is on this aspect that the reading continues.
Hebrews 7
25 Therefore,
he can also perfectly save those who approach God through him,
since he is still alive to intercede on their behalf.
See « Meek and Humble of Heart », Dane Ortlund, cruciform, chapter 8
Jesus constantly intercedes for us, His action does not stop at the cross, it continues.
Currently, Jesus is interceding for his children by reminding God that He has
carried our failings to the cross
and that He overcame it by His resurrection.
And the Father rejoices each time at this intercession on our behalf!
26 It was such a high priest that we needed:
Holy,
irreproachable,
undefiled,
separated from sinners
and higher than the sky.
27 He does not need to offer sacrifices every day like the other high priests,
first for his own sins,
then for those of the people,
for he has performed this service once for all by offering himself in sacrifice.
28 Indeed,
the law establishes as high priests men subject to weakness,
while the word of the oath taken after the establishment of the law establishes the Son,
which is perfect for eternity.
Jesus and his salvation exceptional even in the details
Admittedly, these texts are a little difficult and technical, especially for our fairly distant culture, but they show that salvation is as beautiful in its entirety as in the details: Jesus corresponds perfectly to many details that have escaped us.
Nurtures the strength of faith
It’s important because it helps us see the strength of our faith in Jesus.
The problem is not what He did but our perception.