GOD'S SON,OUR PRIEST

“GOD’S SON, OUR PRIEST”
Hebrews part 8 (7:1-28)
Rev. Grady Davidson 111311


Let’s begin with four scenarios.
(1) Let’s think about when you wake up tomorrow morning, and for the sake of argument let’s assume that in fact you do begin your day with some kind of personal prayer or worship. Picture yourself there in your chosen place for personal devotions, your Bible open before you, your prayer list in your lap and a steaming cup of freshly-brewed coffee is held in your hand: you are ready to meet with God.
Question: Why is it that the Living God who is holy, majestic, perfect in all His ways and supremely busy with running his universe, will stop what He’s doing to listen to you and hear your morning prayers? Is He going to hear you? Are you certain? If so, why?
(2) Picture a second scene, and this time picture the worst. There’s been an accident and Tuesday afternoon you find yourself sitting on a vinyl-covered couch in the waiting area for the families of trauma patients at Erlanger Hospital because your loved one was torn up pretty badly. Between loudspeaker announcements when they’re calling out the names of families, you’re silently breathing out cries to God for Him to be merciful to your loved one who is headed for emergency surgery. Is He hearing You? Does He care? How do you know?
(3) Picture a third scene. This time, you’ve really blown it. Maybe you’ve gotten caught up in an affair at work, or cheating on a test, or something illegal that at the time didn’t seem to be a big deal has now caught up with you. Waves of guilt and shame and regret are sweeping over you. Somebody asks you if you’ve prayed about it. You haven’t prayed; in fact, you haven’t dared to pray about it… because you’re afraid that God is going to lose his cool with you, after what you’ve done. What are you going to do about the guilt? How will you handle it?
(4) Picture a fourth scene. You’ve lived a long and reasonably good life, and slipped into eternity “old and full of years.” You awaken on the other side to the glorious presence of your Creator, and the first words to come from that burning, unapproachable light that is God, is the question, “Why should I let you into my heaven?”
Think about these four scenarios. This is really the issue for you and me behind Hebrews the 7th chapter. It’s the issue of verse 19, when the author speaks of “a better hope…by which we draw near to God.” How can sinful people like ourselves get close enough to God that He’ll hear our prayers, and be kindly disposed to us? How can we relate to him in such a way that He will forgive our sin? How can we in this life draw near enough to Him that when we enter eternity He will welcome us into His presence as his own sons and daughters?
To point out another focal point in our text, look at v. 25, which speaks of the One through whom we “come to God.” The answer to all four questions is right here, isn’t it! We come to God through Jesus Christ, to whom God has given a permanent priesthood. Coming to God through Jesus, God loves us, absolves us of all our sin and welcomes us into His glorious presence.
The Hebrew Christians, raised as “Old Testament people,” schooled in the religion of Judaism understood in a way that most 21st century Americans do not understand, that sinful people like us just don’t have the right to go barging into God’s presence. They understand that we do not have a blanket endorsement to claim anything from God! He is Holy, and we are not. He will not tolerate the presence of sin. The OT saints understood that with a clarity that we have forgotten.
But even in the Old Covenant, God graciously provided a special class of people, the priests of the Tribe of Levi, descended from Aaron the brother of Moses. (It was by grace: He didn’t have to do that!) Those priests were appointed as mediators between man and God… appointed to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people, to intercede in prayer for the people… in short the priests were “appointed to represent {men} in matters related to God, and to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (5:1). If you asked the average Old Testament saint the question, “What are you going to do about the sin on your conscience? How are you going to present your urgent worry and concern to God?” he would say, “I’m going to take my offering to the priest, and he will present it to God on my behalf... God will receive me through the mediation and intercession of the priest.”
In the Epistle to the Hebrews up to this point, the author has already been telling us that Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest (2:17, 3:1, 4:14, 4:15, 5:10). He is the one whom God has chosen and appointed to represent us to God. He’s been telling us that for 6 chapters; now in chapter 7 the author takes time to flesh it out.
And writing to these Hebrew believers who had experienced priests descended from Aaron of the Tribe of Levi for all their lives, the author makes a curious point… this is the only place in the Bible where this point is made. He says to them: If you really want to understand what kind of priest Jesus is, quit looking back in your national history to Aaron. Instead, take a closer look at that shadowy Old Testament character of Melchizedek… because Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, not of Aaron.
So let me tell you the story of Melchizedek. He is a minor OT character. Pops up out of nowhere in Genesis 14, and then later his name is mentioned in Psalm 110.
Back in the days of Father Abraham, a confederation of four kings from the east marched against a confederation of five kings from Canaan, where Abraham lived. In the process Abraham’s nephew Lot, who lived in the city of Sodom, was taken as a captive of war. Abraham, who was an armed Bedouin prince himself, assembled a small army and chased after the invaders, staged an attack by night, put the invaders to flight, rescued his nephew Lot and recovered all the spoils of war that the invaders were making off with. Abraham returned with the rescued hostages and the retrieved wealth of the five cities…
(review Genesis 14:18-20).
Melchizedek is “king of Salem” (we would say Jerusalem). He’s not only king, but also a priest of God Most High, the God of Abraham. He refreshed Abraham and Abraham’s men with bread and wine. He spoke a prayer of blessing over Abraham, and Abraham tithed to Melchizedek from the spoils of war. In the historical books of the Bible, that’s the only mentioning of Melchizedek – those 3 verses.
But then King David, writing many years later in the Book of Psalms, spoke of Melchizedek once again in a prophecy of the Promised Messiah to come (review Psalm 110:4).
Jesus is a High Priest like Melchizedek…
1) His name – “King of Righteousness and King of Peace”
2) Not by inherited birthright, but by God’s divine appointment
3) No record in the OT of Melchizedek’s death to terminate his priesthood… in a similar way, Jesus overcame death and is priest forever as He serves even this moment in God’s presence in the Heavenly tabernacle.
Now let’s loop back around to us and our world and our concerns. When it’s your loved one in the hospital bed, when it’s your urgent plea, when it’s your guilt and transgression and sin, what kind of person do you want representing you to God? (Do you want ME? I hope not.) What qualities would you look for in a High Priest who would be qualified to represent you and your concerns to God?
1. You want someone who actually has access to God, don’t you? You want someone who is like you enough that he understands your situation, and he’s sympathetic with your problem; but at the same time someone who has access to God that you don’t have.
2. You want someone who isn’t just “here today, gone tomorrow.” Did you ever do business with a company so that they got some of your money; then you went back six months later and the doors were chained and padlocked? God (by definition) is eternal, and you need someone with eternal qualities to represent you to God.
3. You want someone who can actually do something about your sin. It’s not enough to have a priest who says to you, “Straighten up, clean up your act!” You need someone who can present a valid plea to God in which God’s justice is honored, but you’re relieved of guilt.
Where are you going to find a priest like that? To whom will you go? The Word of God tells us that Jesus is that High Priest, qualified to serve, willing and able to represent us to God.
Let me highlight some of the superior qualities of our Lord’s service as our Great High Priest.
v. 19 – “a better hope… by which we draw near to God” The OT saints under the Priests of the Tribe of Levi weren’t “hopeless,” but the hope that Jesus gives us is a “better” hope that throws open the doors so that we can come to God!
v. 22 – “a better covenant” of which Jesus is guarantee. The covenant is God’s promise that we will be his people and that He will be our God. Jesus is the guarantee of a better covenant, ratified in His own blood and confirmed by God’s own oath. Jesus places himself under legal obligation to ensure the salvation of all his people!
v. 24, a better tenure – He has a permanent priesthood! We don’t have to worry about a change in priests, fearing that a priest might come into office who thinks differently about us.
v. 25—a better Intercessor. Jesus lives eternally to pray for His people! Jesus stands before God the Father, representing you in a personal way!
v. 27-28—a better Sacrifice – having no sin of his own, he did not have to sacrifice anything for his own sake…but Jesus offered up himself as the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for all who would be believe in Him.
Let’s go back to our four scenarios.
1) When you go to have your quiet time tomorrow morning, why should God hear you? Because God’s Son, the “guarantee of a better covenant” (v. 22) will not let His Father forget that you are a child of that covenant, purchased with the blood offering of your Great High Priest.
2) Likewise, if this week tragedy should strike you or those you love, and you should find yourself breathing out urgent prayers between your sobs, then lift up your eyes to heaven, because there you have a “high priest who meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted in the heavens” (v. 26).
3) Sin has over taken you. He sacrificed even for that sin once for all when he offered himself. You cannot out sin the blood of our faithful High Priest Jesus Christ.
4) The Lord calls you home this week, and God asks you who you are and why you belong in heaven. I promise that somewhere nearby you’ll see Jesus, who is able to save completely those who come to God through Him (v. 25).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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