Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 3 – January 1991

 

You Are A Priest Forever According To The Order Of Melchizedek

 

Sermon by Rev. P. Stok on Hebrews 7:17

 

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ

Most people – both young and old – love a mystery.  That is why some people burrow into Agatha Christie mystery books, book after book.  They want to find out ‘Who done it?’ – the butler, the handsome young man, or the mean old lady?  Other people love to watch mystery films where at the end of the film the mystery is revealed.  The trick is to try to work out the clues before the end of the film.  Others like to watch the mysteries revealed in ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not’ and to wonder at the weird world in which we live.

But we have a mystery in Scripture which rivals all these other mysteries.  However, this is not a ‘who done it?’, but rather a ‘who is it?’

Who is Melchizedek?  He is only mentioned in a few places in Scripture, but he has an importance that is far greater than the few verses that mention him.  Scripture tells us a few things: his name means King of Righteousness; he came from Salem (which means peace); and Hebrews tells us the rather strange fact that he was without father or mother, without genealogy that is, a family line – and without beginning of days or end of life.

Armed with these clues, many theologians have tried to solve this ‘who is it?’, but with very little success.  Many believe it may have been Christ Himself because of the way Abraham reverently treated Him.  Sceptics think that it may have been in Abraham’s imagination.  Others just give up and pretend it is not there.

But equipped with these few bits of information, together with the view of the New Testament, we have before us a most beautiful truth.

1.  Firstly, we are confronted with an Old Testament promise.  That promise is that one day there will be a perfect priest.  This was even before the Levites were appointed to be Israel’s tribe of priests.  This mysterious figure, Melchizedek, was appointed beyond the nation of Israel to the New Testament.  He would be a priest who would fill all the needs of God’s people.

But before this priest came, a temporary order of priests (only there for a limited period) was established – the Levites.

Have you ever thought what temporary things humans really are?  Think of what has come and gone in your lifetime.  You drive through the country and you see a derelict farm-house.  The windows are broken or even non-existent, the roof is rusting and falling in, the boards are falling off, and yet 10, 20 or 30 years ago this had been someone’s home.  Laughing, crying, shouting and talking were heard through these walls – and now nothing exists except a shattered ruin.  It is the same with humans.  We live our average three score and ten years, some more and some less, but finally old age, disease or accident takes us all.  Man and man’s creations are temporary.

This was also true of the Levitical priests.  They were a temporary human order.  They died, they needed to be replaced by their sons, and finally even this order of priesthood was replaced by an eternal order.  Like all human life, their work was only transitory, temporary and incomplete.

Moreover, their work and their sacrifices were imperfect and incomplete.  Day after day and week after week they had to repeat the sacrifices.  There was no one who could offer the complete sacrifice that would do away with their need to offer up sacrifices repeatedly.  Thousands of animals died – but none paid for sin.

Also, their sacrifices were external.  They were an obedient response to God’s will, but in and by themselves they could not save Israel from its sins.  They still needed a perfect priest.  They still needed that priest who didn’t come from the Levites, but one from the order of Melchizedek.  The priesthood was only a pointer to a perfect priest to come.

And yet we should not become disappointed or depressed, because the whole Old Testament points to hope.  It points to something greater to come.  The Levites were weak, earthly examples of something perfect to come.

2.  So if we just briefly look at what the Levites did, we can understand what the perfect priest was going to do.

The Old Testament priests point to a very real need that man has, namely, to be released from his burden of sin.  Man must acknowledge and recognize that he is a sinner, and so in turn a way needs to be found to remove this burden.  So a way needs to be found to make payment for this sin.  Restitution must be made.  And then, of course, God and man can once again be brought together.  That barrier of sin will be gone.  Once that barrier is gone, then man can once again approach God as Adam did before the fall into sin.

The priests approached God on Israel’s behalf.  Whereas the prophets spoke on God’s behalf, and the king ruled on God’s behalf, the priests, although appointed by God, approached God on behalf of Israel.  So just as a judge speaks on behalf of the court, the lawyer/barrister speaks on behalf of his client.  The priest is man’s representative.  In the Old Testament this meant approaching God through the means he had set out that is, through ritual sacrifices.

This meant approaching a God who hates sin.  He is approaching a just and righteous God.  And still He is a God who gave His children a path by which they could draw near to Him.  And so the Israelites approached God through their priests, who performed ritual cleansings and sacrifices.

3.  But finally the time came in the New Testament when the shadows of the Old Testament, the Levitical priesthood, would be done away with.  A new priest would come; a priest from the eternal, perfect and godly order of Melchizedek.  By shadows we mean all those Old Testament sign-posts that pointed to something perfect to come.  Such as the Promised Land pointing to eternal life, or Joshua the saviour of Israel, pointing to Jesus the Saviour of all God’s children.  This doesn’t mean that we do away with the Old Testament, but rather the Old Testament provides for us background to the fulfilment of God’s promises in the New.  Just like a well selected picture frame helps bring out the beauty of a painting, so also the Old Testament gives as a frame which brings out the magnificence of Christ.

The Old Testament helps us appreciate the true importance of Christ.

But for the Jews of the day, Jesus could not have been a priest, for one simple reason He was not from the tribe of Levi.  Jesus was not a Levite.  Levites were the only people who could be priests.  So how could Jesus be the perfect and complete priest?  This is part of our mystery.  As we know from the present argument in the media as to how ‘kosher’ or ceremonially clean meat is to be slaughtered, the Jews are very strict with regard to these ceremonial laws.  There was a legal problem.  Only Levites could be priests, and Jesus came from the tribe of Judah from the kingly seed of David.

This is where the writer to the Hebrews plays his trump card.  He solves the mystery.  He uses his knowledge of the Old Testament, the history of Genesis, and the prophecy of Psalm 110, to show that there was an even greater priesthood than the Levites.  The perfect and eternal order of priests was the order of Melchizedek.

This means that Christ is the perfect priest.  There is none greater.  There is no-one who can replace Him.  In fact, He has put the Levites out of a job.  His sacrifice on the cross was the perfect offering, so now no more offering were required.

Let us just consider why Christ is the perfect priest.

Firstly, Christ was pure.  He was without sin.  Only Christ could be the acceptable sacrifice to a just God who demanded that sin be paid for.  No human being, sharing in Adam’s fall could take that burden.  The Levites were sinful.  They had to sacrifice for their own sins before they could sacrifice for Israel’s sin.

Secondly, Christ is divine.  Only He could conquer Satan and his demonic power.  Only He has direct access to God the Father.  Only Christ could stand before the Father without fear of condemnation.  The Levites were human and could only approach God through continuous sacrifices.  Even then the High Priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year.

Thirdly, Christ is eternal.  This is of course in stark contrast to fragile mankind.  The priesthood of Christ is indestructible.  Christ has won the victory over Satan and sin.  He won a battle that man himself could never win.  For the Christian there is nothing left to wait for as far as a priest is concerned for the perfect priest has come.  Right now He is interceding for us before the throne of God and nothing can take Him away.

But whereas many Jews were angry at Christ’s claims to be the perfect priest, we should actually rejoice.  For now the child of God, united with Christ, has direct access to God the Father continually.  Christ, the perfect priest, presents us perfect and whole before the Father.  Because of the sacrifice there is now no condemnation on our shoulders.  So the question is: Why should we even want to go back to the old Levitical priesthood?  Why should we want to cling to a sign-post rather than to be at the destination?  The Levites only pointed to Christ.  Christ is that perfect destination.

Conclusion

But the question you may be asking yourself is: What does this mean to me?  What does this mean to me as I go to work for another week?  What does it mean as I wash nappies, go to school, weed the garden, drive my car?  Is this knowledge that Christ is the perfect priest going to affect my day to day living?

The one word answer is ‘yes’.  For without Christ, a person lives without hope.  If Christ is not your eternal priest and we represent ourselves before God, then we stand condemned.  The only way we can live life with the comfort and assurance that, whatever happens, a life of glory awaits us, is by knowing that Christ is our perfect priest.

Without Christ, it is as if we went into a nuclear reactor without lead lined clothing.  Nothing protects us from the deadly nuclear rays.  Death is the result.

Without Christ covering our sin, nothing protects us from God’s anger against sin.  Eternal condemnation is the only result.  How could we live an assured, joyful and worthwhile life knowing that this hung over our heads?  We couldn’t!

Once again recently while visiting a person in hospital I was struck by the confidence with which a Christian can face even the severest trial.  A Christian knows that his or her heavenly High Priest is taking care of all our needs.

Our knowledge of the high Priest also reminds us of the futility of trying to earn our salvation.  What a difference it must make to our lives if we are either doing good works out of fear or if we are living our lives in joyful gratitude for what Christ has already done for us.  The difference in our living is enormous.

So as we leave church this Sunday, we can go into a brand new week once again assured of the comfort of knowing that our sin and guilt is no longer counted against us.  The hateful thought against your neighbour, the memory of that person you didn’t help, that tension you are causing in the church, has been covered by Christ.

You leave being reminded that you have constant access to God.  There is no moment when you are out of God’s sight or His earshot.  Our prayers are heard and our needs are presented to Him.  We are continually in God’s presence in Christ.  In a very real way you are in heaven now because we are there in Christ.  We are already participating in eternal life.  We are never on our own.

But what if you leave this church this Sunday without having repented and believed?  Without being covered by Christ?  Well, you must hope that you will not die, for then all hope is lost.  As you leave, you leave without any comfort of assurance.  Your sin is seen openly before God.  You have no representative at the throne of God.  But you need not leave in this depressed state, without hope.  By repenting of your sin that is confessing your own inability to save yourself and by calling upon the perfect High Priest to cover your sins, you too can leave with the confidence and assurance of the child of God.

Brothers and Sisters, today once again we have celebrated in worship the good news of the gospel.  For the Christian, the mystery of eternal life has been solved.  All the clues point to only one source of hope.  And it is with that hope that we can live our lives praising God as we go.

AMEN