Did you ever listen to someone that seemed to say in 10 minutes what could possibly be said in 1? Perhaps, as the author takes these four chapters to cover one issue, the priesthood of Christ we might be tempted to say, “When will he finish?” But this issue is so central to the Christian faith if we truly come to grasp the significance of it we might ask, “Why didn’t he take more time?” But one thing we must recognize in this section is that the author, in his introduction of the priesthood of Jesus, becomes a little cerebral. He uses arguments that require some deeper thought. I hope you normally do this anyway when we meet each Sunday but you need to put on your thinking cap and be prepared to ingest some higher level of material today.
The author’s description of the similarities between Jesus and Melchizedek gives us a glimpse of the importance of Christ over the Old Testament Levitical priesthood. And this connection needs to be made first if we are to grasp the rest of his argument.
I. The Connection between Melchizedek and Christ
First, in this passage, we notice the connection between Melchizedek and Christ. Look at his description in verses 1-3. “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.” There are three items the author brings into focus to cause us to see the connection between Melchizedek and Christ.
A. Their dual roles
The first item the author brings into focus to cause us to see the connection between Melchizedek and Christ is their dual roles. Here Melchizedek is noted as being both king and priest. Verse 1 describes him as both king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. In the nation of Israel the two offices were never to be commingled. But here the dual office is described.
If you remember from early on in the history of the Kings of Israel, Saul attempted to combine the two offices. In 1 Samuel 13 the army of Israel was facing the Philistines and the description of the enemy was that they were as the sand of the seashore while the Israelites numbered only several thousand. As the people saw their predicament they began to slip away while Saul waited for Samuel the priest to come and sacrifice and ask for God’s favor. But when Samuel didn’t come exactly when he was supposed to Saul offered the sacrifice himself to prevent more of his men from deserting.
But immediately after Saul offers the sacrifice Samuel arrives. And the story picks up in verse 11 like this: “But Samuel said, ‘What have you done?’ And Saul said, ‘Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, “Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.” So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.’ Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure.” The penalty for indiscriminately mixing the office of priest and king was severe. Saul lost his kingdom because of it.
But here is a man in whom God purposely mixed the role of priest and king. And he is seen to be one who foreshadows Jesus Christ who will be THE priest king.
B. Their eternal nature
The second item the author brings into focus to cause us to see the connection between Melchizedek and Christ is their eternal nature. He describes this in verse 3. He says of Melchizedek he was “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.”
To make his point the author uses a different kind of argument from Scripture than we are used to. He argues from the silence of Scripture. The silence of Scripture, what it does not say, the author insists can give us some insight into doctrine as well. Here this silence of Scripture is found to be quite eloquent. The author uses the portion of Scripture in Genesis 14 as well as the passage we mentioned last week from Psalm 110, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” to teach us about this man and how he is related to Jesus Christ.
Now we must be careful as non-inspired readers of Scripture that we do not begin to catalogue doctrines by what the Scripture does not say. But now that the author has revealed this to us we can see what it is he sees. In Scripture a king’s lineage is denoted by who his father or mother were. And even if they were not a king they were usually denoted as the son of somebody. And look at the importance of the genealogy in the Hebrew world. In the early chapters of Genesis you have an extensive genealogy of Noah’s sons. And so the author keys in on this fact and makes Melchizedek appear as a mysterious character. There was no mention of his father or mother, his beginning or his end. He walks on scene at the end of a battle inexplicably. He was not one of the combatants. How did he know to come and greet Abraham and bring him bread and wine and receive a tithe from him and bless him? He steps into the biblical account and steps out without any further word. There is an air of mystery to this man. And the author plays upon this silence concerning Melchizedek because of this mystery. But not just because of this. If this was the only mention of him we might have dismissed this character, however, suddenly and again out of the blue he shows up in the middle of the songbook of Israel. In the very middle of the Psalms king David mentions this man, Melchizedek. Here was a man who had lived back in the time of Abraham almost 1,300 years earlier. And now again he pops into the Scripture and pops out just as fast. So the author, rightfully so, takes us through that eloquent silence of Scripture to bring to us someone who can introduce the priesthood of Christ because of some striking similarities. And one of those is the eternality of him or at least his priesthood.
It is not so much he wants us to think Melchizedek lives on but that his priesthood lives on. And in such a priesthood there must be one who can fill the position in order for it to be an eternal priesthood. As we are going to see later there are things on earth God uses as a shadow for the things in heaven. Jesus’ priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is the real priesthood. The priesthood Melchizedek held was merely the shadow or the foreshadow, if you will, of a priesthood existing in heaven. The author gives us an earthly foundation for the heavenly worship that will be presided over not by a priest according to the order of Levi but will be according to another order. And he finds in this Melchizedekian priesthood enough “silence” to connect Jesus with it as an eternal priest. For truly if Melchizedek had continued forever then what need would there be for Jesus to pick it up. Then we might be persuaded to say Melchizedek is Jesus Christ. But the author makes it clear that he is not. He doesn’t say Melchizedek is the Son of God but only made like the Son of God. Nor does he describe him as truly eternal as Jesus. No, the author expresses that the silence of Scripture gives the opportunity to link Melchizedek and the Son of God.
His point is to show that Jesus could be a legitimate priest even though He didn’t come from the tribe of Levi. And he wants us to know there is a priesthood not based on the law, which could make nothing perfect, but a single priesthood through which God would truly carry out reconciliation between God and man.
C. Their description of character
The third item the author brings into focus to cause us to see the connection between Melchizedek and Christ is their description of character. We see this in the middle of verse 2. He was “first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.” Now the author links Melchizedek with Christ not by the silence of Scripture as we just mentioned but by a clear description of the titles or names of this man found in Genesis 14. So we can see in this there is an obvious link with Jesus. And to do so there is probably no clearer messianic passage in the Old Testament that describes Jesus in these terms than Isaiah 9:6-7. You are probably all familiar with this passage but let’s read it. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.”
Two of the main characteristics of Jesus’ kingdom will be righteousness and peace. He will uphold His kingdom with righteousness. And He will bring righteousness to His people. Nothing wrong or unrighteous will be allowed to stay in His kingdom. And this means you and I need to be completely righteous in order to enter His kingdom. We will need to be without spot, blameless before God. And without it we will be cast out of Christ’s kingdom into a place of complete darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
How could we ever hope to enter His kingdom seeing that we have time and time again offended God? People often point to forgiveness as their hope for entering God’s kingdom. They believe God is good and will therefore forgive their sin and allow them into the kingdom of heaven. But it is precisely the fact of God’s goodness that will keep most people out of heaven. Because God is good He cannot and will not allow anything imperfect into heaven (which refers to every single person in their natural condition). Since every person has sinned, God must cast them out and justly so. God’s goodness shall be the cause for their ejection from heaven not their entrance into heaven. For the standard by which God will judge us is the absolute perfection of God. If you don’t measure up to that then God as the good judge will not receive you.
Then how can we receive perfect righteousness seeing there is no possible way we could receive it by our own effort? It must come from the King of righteousness. Not Melchizedek but Jesus Christ who lived a life of righteousness and then died for us. And the Scripture says He will impart His righteousness as a free gift to all who believe. Jesus Christ took the penalty of the wrath of God for us upon the cross. He suffered the eternal torment you deserved in a matter of hours on the cross. For someone willing to turn from their sin and embrace Jesus as their sin-bearer God will wipe out the certificate of debt against them by putting it upon the cross and in turn place upon that individual His perfect righteousness. Not by our merit, not by our baptism, not by our effort but by our trust in the work of Jesus upon the cross on our behalf.
And this righteousness then in turn brings to us the next characteristic of His kingdom and that is peace. Why does righteousness bring peace? In Isaiah, Jesus is described as the Prince of Peace. He is the only One who can bring true peace to a person. And His kingdom will be characterized by it. But a person who has received the righteousness of God as a gift from Him will then experience peace. This is what the apostle Paul describes in Romans 5. He says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When a person has been given the gift of God’s righteousness and been justified through faith in Jesus Christ they now have a peace of which they could have never known before. When someone is seeking to find an answer to their sin problem there is no real peace in their heart. But when a person has assurance of being able to stand before God acquitted of their sin there is a peace that floods a person’s soul. And this peace is a peace that brings wholeness. It is a peace that brings satisfaction to an individual who had been longing to solve this dilemma between God and themselves. But let me ask you; have you found the righteousness and peace only God can give? Don’t put off the repentance and faith that bring them.
Righteousness and peace are two key characteristics of Christ and His kingdom. And the author uses these titles given to Melchizedek to show his link between them.
II. The Superiority of Melchizedek’s Priesthood over the Levitcal Priesthood according to the Law
Secondly, in this passage we see the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood over the Levitical priesthood given through the law. It is here the author’s argument may become a little difficult to follow. The author notes two ways in which the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood is demonstrated.
A. It was revealed by what he received from Abraham
The first way the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood is demonstrated is it was revealed by what he received from Abraham.
He discusses his argument in verses 4-5 and vv. 9-10. In vv 4-5 he says, “Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.”
The privilege of collecting offerings for the living God was ascribed to the tribe of Levi under the law. However, before the law, Abraham, the father of Levi, was found to be giving tithes of what he had to another.
In verse 4 the author stresses how great Melchizedek was in comparison to Abraham. He does this by placing Abraham’s title of patriarch at the end of the verse to emphasize it. Literally it says, “to whom Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils, the patriarch.” Here Abraham, the progenitor of the Jewish people, THE PATRIARCH was giving his tithe away to another, yes someone greater. You have to understand how highly Abraham was esteemed by the Jewish people. This is our father Abraham. You can here the gasp when a Jew would read this passage from Hebrews. OH! Someone greater than Abraham? This gave shock value and the author emphasizes it.
Abraham paid tithes. And not only did Abraham pay tithes but Levi paid tithes (by proxy) to Melchizedek also since He was still in the loins of His great grandfather while Abraham paid them. Therefore, the author’s argument goes, Levi who normally had the privilege under the law of receiving tithes paid them to someone greater. This is how Melchizedek’s priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood because both Abraham and Levi paid tithes to him.
B. It was revealed by what he gave to Abraham
The second way the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood is demonstrated is it was revealed by what he gave to Abraham. In verses 6-7 the author says, “But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.
The author reminds his readers that Abraham who had the promises, he mentioned last chapter, was given a blessing. Though Abraham had had this special relationship with God and was called the friend of God yet one greater than him gave him a blessing. Not only did Melchizedek receive tithes from Abraham showing his subordinate position to him but also he received a blessing from Melchizedek. In this, one is reminded of the priestly blessing given by Aaron to the Jewish people. It describes the authority Aaron had over the people. And yet one who was not from Aaron’s line was now giving a blessing to the head of the Jewish family.
Now the reason why the author takes this time to describe the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood over Levi’s will become a little clearer in the coming passages. But if following his argument has been a little hard for you, like it was for me when I memorized the first 10 chapters of Hebrews several years ago, then there are some lessons you can derive from this passage. This brings us to the last section and it is the application to the modern Christian.
III. The Application to the Modern Christian
What can we learn from a passage like this? If reading this passage in your devotions doesn’t cause you to get more excited about the work of Christ then there are two applications to this passage you can put into practice.
A. We need to know the Old Testament
The first application that can receive from this passage is we need to know the Old Testament. Why is this? The Old Testament is the foundation of the New Testament. There is so much groundwork of the Old in the New that it will astound you to hear the statistics. In the New Testament there are at least 244 direct quotations from the Old Testament. And there are over 2,100 references and verbal parallels.
To put this in perspective let’s use the book of Revelation as an example. In the 404 verses of Revelation about 265 verses contain 550 references to Old Testament passages. Think about this for a minute. You have about two-thirds of the verses in Revelation referring to at least one Old Testament event and in all there are more Old Testament references than there are verses in the book. I think this says something as to the importance of how to understand the New Testament. If we don’t get a grasp of the Old Testament we will have that much shallower view of the New Testament.
How many of us have actually come across an Old Testament quotation in the New Testament and have looked at the context of that quotation where it is found in the Old Testament?
We miss several things when we are not steeped in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is our foundation for the New. Think about our building project for a moment. Do you think we would want a contractor who would skip over the foundation and go right to the building? “We’ll finish it faster if we don’t take the time to put down the foundation. After all, isn’t it what’s above the ground that people look at? But what will happen when a storm blows through? The building will crash. The same thing will happen if we do not deepen our own roots with a knowledge of the Old Testament. Oh it will be some work before you see the fruit of your labors. After all you’ll be plowing through lists of who begat who and seemingly trivial commands such as “build a parapet around your roof when you construct a house.” There will be a lot of sweat and labor in grasping the Old Testament but it will be work well worth it.
There is a real dearth in much of Christianity for the lack of the knowledge of our Jewish roots. Many are ignorant of the deep roots we have in the Judaism of the Old Testament. There is so much we miss when we fail to scour the Old Testament as we should. What are some of the things we miss?
We miss the heart of the teaching of eschatology. Don’t be frightened off by the word eschatology. It refers to the study of the end times. Now everyone is interested in the end times but how many bother to look at the rich material found in the Old Testament concerning the end times. Many people have misconceptions about the kingdom of God because they have no background in the Old Testament. And so when they hear Jesus saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” they try to figure out what the kingdom is by looking at a few obscure parables Jesus gives instead of all the preparatory work God had done in laying out thousands of verses about the kingdom in the Old Testament. Jesus didn’t preach in a vacuum. When He mentions the Kingdom of God the people to whom He is preaching already have a knowledge of what He is trying to say. And WE MISS IT! We have no idea about the glory of the coming kingdom because we don’t know the Old Testament. That is why we spent a year and a half speaking about the kingdom on Wednesday evenings. This material is the background to what we see here in the New Testament. And we need this foundation or we will miss the wonders of what is yet to come in God’s program.
Secondly, we miss the heart of the purpose of the Jewish nation in God’s current work in the church. If we fail to understand the Old Testament in its beautiful context we will miss what God has done with His Old Testament people. And the Apostle Paul explains what He is doing with the Jews now in Romans 9-11. But His arguments are filled the Old Testament. He makes reference and quotation from the Old Testament in those three chapters almost 30 times. And in those three short chapters he quotes from and alludes to Isaiah, the Psalms, Hosea, Genesis, Joel, and Deuteronomy, Malachi, Exodus, Ezekiel and 1 Kings!!! How poor we are if we cannot interact with the apostle on the level of the New Testament. We miss the amazing work of God through His people Israel and what He is going to do with them in the future. He is not yet done with them.
Thirdly, we miss the richness of the teaching of Christ in the Old Testament. The glories of Christ are replete in the Old Testament. Peter, in his first letter, says this very thing. He notes, “As to this salvation (what salvation? The New Testament salvation provided through Christ) the [Old Testament] prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” The prophets had a great privilege of seeing glimpses of the Messiah. And if they sought diligently for those things that were not serving themselves but us, how much more diligently should we be looking into these things, the people upon whom the end of times has come?!!!!! We miss the glories of Christ if we are not nourished in the Old Testament.
Finally, we miss the significance of the Lord’s Supper (borne out of the Passover). If we are not settled in the Old Testament we miss much of the significance of the Lord’s Supper. We fail to realize all that was taught in the Passover concerning Jesus’ work on our behalf. When Paul says that Christ is our Passover what does that mean to you? How can you revel in a statement like that in the New Testament if you haven’t taken the time to meditate for some hours on Exodus chapters 11-13? Oh friends, we have a wonderful deliverance from our enslavement to sin and yet its foundation is found in the Passover celebration. The bitterness of this slavery and the glory of its defeat are clearly portrayed there. So let us drink our fill of the New Testament after we have filled our bellies with the bread of the Old Testament.
Let me challenge you. Next time you encounter an Old Testament quotation in the New Testament turn to it. Look at its context and see how it fits the author’s purpose. What did the author quote? What did he leave out? Why? Chew on it and find the meat within the Old Testament.
B. We need to set our minds to love God
The first application of this passage is we need to know the Old Testament. This brings us to the second application. We need to set our minds to love God. Love and think? Can those two go together? The world would not have us think so. But the whole cerebral argument the author has given us in this passage cries out if you are going to know God and love God you have to set your mind to think. Some see thinking as a great way to cloud the emotion of loving God. But I tell you that you cannot really love God unless you think and unless you think deeply. Jesus said it clearly in Mark 12 that we ought to love the Lord our God with all our mind. Yes we need to love Him with our heart too. We need to show zeal in our worship of God. But we must do it according to the knowledge of Him.
What is the down side of trying to love God without thinking deeply of Him? We become like the Jews who of Paul’s day would not take the time to think upon the Scripture in loving God. What was Paul’s word about them? “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.” We will be frothing at the mouth in our in our service toward God but have no idea of who this God is. We will be like Paul who was caught up in killing Christians in his zealous but uninformed service for God.
We cannot be people who are so busy, so caught up in doing, that we neglect time for meditation upon the Word of God. This is real thinking upon who God is. Let us not substitute real time with God for service to God so we do not become a mile wide but 1 inch deep. We need to set our minds to love God.
The goal of this is that we do not need to just know the Old Testament but also to take the time to know the God who lives there. The goal of our study of the Word of God is to develop a deep and lasting love relationship with the God who created for the purpose of knowing Him. So when the trials and troubles of life bear down upon us they will not separate us from God who has carefully revealed Himself to us in His Word. Let us know and love Him.