Jesus, the Priest in the Order of Melchizedek

Several years ago, I was a pastor in Orlando, Florida, and I developed a friendship with a guy by the name of Jeff. And Jeff was a world renowned magician. Like not just like pull a rabbit out of a hat kind of guy, like legit did shows in Vegas, traveled. He's kinda this really well known illusionist, lived in Orlando. We got to be friends through kind of a unique circumstance set of events. And he ended up attending our church regularly, even though he was not a Christian. And so I got to know Jeff and I knew him for about a year and a half, and he had been attending church services every Sunday pretty much regularly for a year and a half, even though he did not profess to be a Christian. It was mostly related to a girl, not a total surprise. I'd have conversations with Jeff.

I remember one day we were sitting at Chipotle in Winter Garden, Florida. We'd had some gospel conversations over the course of our friendship. And I decided that today was the day I was gonna push the envelope. I was gonna really push and go like, today's the day Jeff's gonna become a Christian. Like, that was what I decided in my mind. And, so we started pushing and I started having conversation. We ended up having this really long conversation, probably almost two hours at Chipotle one day. And he was giving me a lot of really good insights. And he really is like, I'm an atheist, I'm not even sure, maybe I'm an agnostic at best, but I've really tried to believe. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I was like, why? Why do you keep coming? I'm just curious. And he's like, boy, I really like the friends I've made. I like the community I've built there. I I think there's a lot of good things. I get a lot out of the sermons actually. I think there's really a lot of good stuff said. Like, I didn't realize the Bible had so many good slogans. I'm like, oh, it's slogans. That's what he said. I think that's interesting. And he's like, you know, I really get a lot out of it. I feel like there's a lot of wisdom on like how to be a better man, how to be a better husband one day if I'm ever a husband or a father. And you know I feel like there's a lot of just good life lessons.

You know, it's like a supercharged Ted talk. It's interesting. And then he said to me, there is one thing that really bothers me though. I was like, what's that? And he kinda had a back and forth and he said, it's just what really annoys me is that like, I know you really believe in the Jesus thing, so I don't wanna offend you, but like every sermon just keeps coming back to Jesus. Like, I just feel like sometimes you guys kind of overdo it on the old Jesus thing. Like it's a little overboard. Like the sermon is going really good. There's a lot of like good stuff in it. And then it's just like, bam, right hook every time. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And it's just I feel like if you guys just did a little less Jesus. You know, like it'd be better conversation. Went on for a few more minutes after that. And I just, at one point I said to him, Jeff, I'm gonna be honest with you. You know why our sermons keep coming back to Jesus. You know why we have one simple thing? Cause I have nothing else to offer you of any value other than Jesus. In fact, all of those good things that you like about our sermons that you think you're getting out of them, none of them are of any value if they're disconnected from Jesus.

He didn't quite like that answer. But I kept going. I say, listen, we recognize that the only way for people to stay close to Jesus is if they love Jesus. And the only way people will love Jesus is if they are continually reintroduced to the goodness of Jesus. That's what we do. So every week we want to remind people how good Jesus is, so they will continue to love him and continue to stick to the Christian faith. And he just looked at me and said, I just think that's weird.

Maybe that was, maybe that's weird, but I believe it to be true. And we at Cities Church, we take a very similar approach than my church in Florida did. And that is our number one goal over and over again around here, is to reintroduce you to Jesus, to remind you of the goodness of Jesus. That's it. I've got nothing else to offer you that's of any value other than Jesus. And I want you to stick close to Jesus. I want no one in this church to ever walk away from the faith. And I know to ensure that no one walks away from the faith. You have to love Jesus. People don't walk away from things they love and to ensure that you love Jesus, we talk about Jesus. So if you ever feel like man the sermons at Cities Church, they just kind of say the same thing over and over again. Like, Jesus is great. Jesus is the best. Jesus is awesome. We love Jesus. If that's what you think about us, I take that as a compliment.

This is why the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter two, listen closely to what you've heard about Jesus. He has the same philosophy. The writer of Hebrews wants his audience to stay firm, to not walk away from the Christian faith, but he knows in order for that to be a reality, they've gotta love Jesus. And in order for them to love Jesus, he has to continually remind them that Jesus is better. The writer of Hebrews is constantly reminding his readers, who Jesus is, more than a dozen times throughout this letter, he tells them, consider Jesus or look to Jesus. That's it. And as we look to Jesus, we will be strengthened and inspired. We'll be inspired to love him more and will be strengthened to stick with the faith even in the midst of difficulties.

That's what the writer of Hebrews is all about. He's like, here's my goal. Over and over again in this letter, I'm just gonna tell you about Jesus in every different way I could possibly think of. He comes up with multiple different ways to talk about Jesus. And here in chapter seven of Hebrews, he does it again, and he does it in a unique fashion. He, in this case, leverages a unique character from the Old Testament. This man by the name of Melchizedek is this interesting character that appears in the book of Genesis. And he was very well known to the first century audience. There was actually a bunch of different theories kind of running rampant in the first century.

Melchizedek was kind of a hot topic. We don't really know precisely why this was, but there's kind of a resurgence.

It's kind of a buzz in pop culture to talk about the guy, Melchizedek and there are all sorts of weird and wacky theories about who Melchizedek is. There's a bunch of them floating around the first century. And the writer of Hebrews knows that his audience knows about these weird things. There’s a bunch of weird ones. The one that's the weirdest is that, Melchizedek was born and that within a few minutes of being born, he became a fully grown teenage boy. There’s other ones, but that's probably the weirdest one of the bunch. And so the writer of Hebrews is kind of like, you guys have buried the lead. You guys are all into these obscure details, but who is Melchizedek?

Melchizedek shows us something about Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews is going to use the account of milk in Genesis to make a clear point that Jesus is better. So that's what we're gonna look at. Quick caveat before we look at the passage together.

This sermon will be lighter on application. You know, some passages sort of lend themselves to more clear application. I think this passage kinda lends itself to less application. So there'll be less sorts of specific things that you can apply and more just one overarching exhortation and reminder this morning. And, the reminder this morning is simply this, Jesus is better. Jesus is better. And if you believe that, that will hold you close to the Christian faith. Would you pray with me and then we'll look at Hebrews chapter seven together.

Father in heaven, you are so kind. Holy is your name. You are merciful. You are great. You are slow to anger abounding in steadfast love. You are faithful to us. And I praise you for that. I adore you, God. And now I ask, Lord, you would bless our time together this morning. Would you use your word this morning to shape us, to mold us, to make us to be more like Jesus, to be the Christians that we ought to be.

God, thank you for sending your son Jesus. And would you help us? God, would you help us continually look to Jesus when we are weak, when we're floundering, when we're failing, Lord, when we are doubting, would you help us, remind us to look to Jesus as Lord, as we consider Jesus, may that be the source of our strength. God, I also pray for my friend Jeff, would you open his heart? Would you grant him the gift of repentance? And I pray for anyone here this morning who does not know you. I pray this morning, would you open their hearts and cause them to believe. I ask if there's anyone here that does not know you may today be the day they be born again, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, the writer of Hebrews feels the need to do what he's about to do, and that is to prop up the new covenant and make sure everyone knows that the new covenant is better than the old covenant.

The reason why he feels the need to do this is in all likelihood, because there are many people who have been a part of the church, who have now left the church and have gone back to Judaism, right?

It it seems like there's a group of people who were Jewish by ethnicity, and they joined the church. They seem to be genuine believers. They seem to profess their faith in Christ. And then at some point there's some significant persecution that happens. And many of these people walk away from the faith. They leave the new covenant of Jesus and they go back to the old covenant of Judaism. They go back to the sacrificial system. And the writer of Hebrews wants them to know, listen, hey, if you're going to leave, if you're gonna abandon the new covenant and go back to the old covenant, I want you to know very clearly that you're going back to a lesser covenant.

I want you to know that very clearly. That you're going back to a covenant that has been rendered obsolete by a newer, better covenant. So if you're gonna go back to it, fine. But I want you to know you're going back and you're putting your soul in jeopardy. And he uses Melchizedek as the primary means to make this point here.

Now, this isn't the first time we've talked about Melchizedek in a Sunday morning service here at Cities Church. In fact, several years ago we were going through the book of Genesis. On September 17th, 2017, pastor Jonathan preached from Genesis 14. That's the chapter from which Melchizedek is mentioned. Pastor Jonathan preached that sermon. I went back and listened to it this week, brother, great sermon. And so I actually remember it. I remember, remember it live.

I had been a part of Cities church for about four or five weeks at that point. But I was great to go back and listen to it. So if you want, you can go find that on our website and go back and listen to Genesis 14. But if you weren't there, you don't remember. Let me give you the context of Genesis 14.

Genesis 14: the picture here is the region that we would call Palestine or the land of Canaan. And in this region there are a bunch of cities and Abraham is living in this region. And Abraham's nephew Lot is living in this region in one of the cities in this region. He's living in the wicked city known as Sodom. Now by Genesis 14, Sodom has already been alluded to as a wicked city, but we don't know how disgusting this city is quite yet at this stage in Genesis 14, that comes up later.

But in Genesis 14, we learn that there's four cities from the north. They ban together and they raid the south. And there's five cities in the south. They get raided and attacked. And the, the cities in the north end up having tremendous success in battle against the cities in the south. And they plunder, they destroy a bunch of stuff. They take a bunch of resources and possessions and supplies, and they take slaves. They take people captive and they drag them off, back up to the north. One of the people who are taken captive is Abraham's nephew lot. And Abraham gets wind of this. So Abraham gets his entourage together. He's got a large entourage. Hundreds of people are a part of his estate, and he gets more than 300 men.

He puts together kinda this mini militia of sorts. And then he goes north more than 120 miles, and he wages war against the cities and he's victorious because God is with him. And so then he brings the captives back and he takes a bunch of the supplies that had been taken and he plunders the north and he brings it back down with him. Genesis 14, verse 16 says this, then Abraham brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsman lot with his possessions and the women and the people. So Abraham is coming back with the captives and he's going through this region known as the Kings Valley. And in the Kings Valley, he is connecting with the king of Sodom. The king of Sodom says, listen, you can keep all the possessions, all the stuff you got, just give me back my people.

And then Abraham basically says to him, actually, I'm gonna give you back all your supplies. I don't want anything to do with you. That's kinda the sense you get from Abraham here. Abraham's like, I don't want anyone in the world thinking that I got rich off of you. I don't want anyone in the world thinking I'm associated with you. He thinks it's a very hard stance to not be associated with the wickedness of Sodom. Side note, I think we would be wise in our lives to take that sort of stance to not be associated or try to get rich off of wickedness.

After he meets Sodom, another man comes out by the name of Melchizedek. And when Abraham meets Melchizedek, you get the sense that there's some familiarity here. This is probably not the first time they met.

They probably know each other to some extent. And the writer of Hebrews here in Hebrews chapter seven, leverages this encounter between Abraham and Melchizedek ultimately to make a point about Jesus. Right? So this encounter in Genesis 14 is being quoted or cited by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter seven.

Look with me at Hebrews chapter seven, verse one. It says this, it says, Melchizedek was the king of Salem, priest of the most high God. So this Canaanite king, this man named Melchizedek is both a king and a priest. He's the priest of the most high God. He worships the one true God that Abraham worships. And we should not assume that Abraham was the only one who worshiped the one true God. There are others, right? Another example would be job, job lived in this region around this time period. Job also worshiped the one true God, right? There are other people in the region worshiping the one true God.

There are some people in church history that have said that this moment, this guy named Melchizedek is what we call a Christophany. Christophany is an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament before the incarnation. And there's a lot of people that I respect that hold to that position. However, I don't think that's the best interpretation of the biblical data.

It appears to me when I'm reading this, it appears that Melchizedek is a real human living in this city called Salem. If it's a Christophany, that means that Jesus shows up on the scene, becomes the king of a city and functions as the priest for a long period of time. And that just doesn't make sense in light of what we know about Jesus, and it doesn't fit the pattern elsewhere. In addition, the only other place in the Old Testament where Melchizedek is mentioned is in Psalm 110, and we've already seen that quoted in Hebrews, it's a messianic psalm.

David seems to have a clear distinction between the Messiah and Melchizedek in Psalm 110 when you read that. So I think the biblical data points me to think that Melchizedek is not a Christophany. He's actually a normal human king who happens to live in the region Abraham's living in, and he happens to be a priest as well as a king. And he happens to be the priest of the one true, most high God, the same God that Abraham worships. Alright, let's continue. Look at the second half of chapter seven, verse one with me. Second half of verse one. It says,

“Melchizedek met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. And to him, Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything.”

So Abraham slaughtered these kings. I love that language by the way. He slaughtered these kings.

He makes his way back. He meets Melchizedek and Melchizedek blesses Abraham, and Abraham gives him a tenth or a tithe in return later. In this passage in verse seven, the writer of Hebrews says that the superior person is the one that blesses the inferior. So we have this very clear picture that Abraham shows up and the one being blessed is Abraham because he's inferior. And the one doing the blessing is Melchizedek because he is superior. He's a superior one, and Abraham knows this, which is why he gives a tithe. He gives 10% of all of the supplies that he had that he had gotten in the battle, and he gives it to Melchizedek. Look at the second part of verse two with me. He says, this is speaking of Melchizedek.

He is first by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also King of Salem. That is king of peace.

So the writer of Hebrews here is saying, listen, I'm gonna give you the definition of this guy's names and they matter. His name is Melchizedek, which means king of righteousness. Or, you could think about that as he is the king that points us to the way of righteousness. And he is the king of the city, Salem. And the word Salem there means peace. Say he is the king that will point us to the way of peace.

We read in the New Testament that we as humans by nature, are actually enemies of God. We are not at peace with God. Melchizedek is a high priest that points us to the way to have peace with God. He's the king of righteousness. He's the one that can point us to how to be in right standing, how to be righteous. And he's the one that mediates the covenant that leads us to peace with God. The writer of Hebrews is using these names to make a point. Now look at verse three with me. He says this, he is without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the son of God. He continues a priest forever.

He's pointing out that he has no genealogy. And that's actually unique in the Book of Genesis. There are a few characters in the Book of Genesis that don't have any genealogy, but they don't bother to be important. So the only ones that are important, any person who has any major role in any narrative in the book of Genesis, has a genealogy. We know who their father was. We know when they were born. We know when they died, all of them.

Melchizedek is the only one that does not. And the writer of Hebrews here is pointing that out, saying, this guy Melchizedek doesn't have a genealogy. There's no mentioning of his mother and father here. This is really, really important. Then he says, he resembles the son of God. So when you look at Melchizedek, you get the sense that the writer of Hebrews is saying, if you wanna understand Jesus better look at Melchizedek because he points to Jesus, right?

That's the sense we're getting here. Then he says this in verse four, see how great this man was? To whom Abraham, the patriarch gave a tenth of spoils. Skip the verse six. He says this, he's speaking of Melchizedek who does not have his dissent from them, received from them, who received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises saying, this guy Melchizedek, he's not descendant from the tribe of the Levites, the ones that receive the tithes.

He receives tithes because he is superior to Abraham. I mean, how great must you be to get tithes from Abraham, right? I mean, Abraham is the one, he's the main character in the story of Israel. He's the founder of the Jewish faith, the founder of the Christian faith.

He is the one that God says through you, I will bless all the nations, but Melchizedek is greater than he is. And so Abraham gives tithes to Melchizedek and points forward to Jesus. He points forward to Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews is starting to make the point. There's a sacrificial system in the Old Testament, in the old covenant, and there was one of the tribes that received tithes, but there was someone greater than them. That's Melchizedek. And Jesus does not fall in line with the protocols of the Levites. He's actually more like Melchizedek. And since Melchizedek is superior to the old, Jesus is superior to the old, Melchizedek is superior to the old way. Therefore, all that Melchizedek points to is superior to the old way, namely Jesus. He begins to unpack this a little more.

The writer of Hebrews says this. Now, if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood for under it that people receive the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise?

If you could have reached perfection through the old covenant, there would be no need for a new covenant. If the old priestly system could give you perfection, there'd be no need for another priest to arise. But the old one could not give you perfection. So there was a need for a new one because a new one can indeed give you perfection. The word perfection here in the Greek alludes to wholeness or completion, like the task is done. The sentiment that the writer of Hebrews is saying here is that there was a job that needed to be accomplished. They needed to be completed, and the old covenant wasn't sufficient to complete the job.

So God sent a new covenant with a new priest to accomplish that which could not have been accomplished. The old system was weak in that it could not save us. The old system could not redeem us. Therefore, it was weak or useless when it came to the redemption of souls.

Quick side note, I think sometimes people read these passages and they assume that means that the Old Testament is of no value. It's useless, we just throw it out. We completely ignore it. That is not the way the New Testament authors or orthodox Christians throughout church history have thought about the Old Testament. It's not how we do it. In fact, around here, we love the Old Testament. Pastor Jonathan mentioned this a few weeks ago. We've probably preached more sermons from the Old Testament than the New Testament.

We spent a significant chunk of the last few years going through Exodus and Leviticus. We love the Old Testament. We love God's law. We think there's tremendous value in studying God's law. However, we want to follow the writer of Hebrews in saying, when it comes to redemption, when it comes to purchasing your salvation for eternity, the old covenant could not accomplish that. It was weak in that way, the old covenant could not complete the job. Look at the second half of verse 11. This begins to explain who the priest will be like. It's speaking of Jesus, that he will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, meaning he will be a priest that is superior to the old way of doing things.

So listen, if you're gonna go back to the old covenant, that's not ideal. I can't stop you. You just know you're going back to something that's already been rendered obsolete by something that is better and greater: Jesus.

In verse 16, he says that Jesus became a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily dissent. Jesus did not become a priest because he's descendant from the tribe of Levi, okay?

But by the power of an indestructible life, the reason why Jesus is the better priest is because he has at work with him the power of indestructible life. The word indestructible here can also be translated unending life. And this is the parallel being drawn by the writer of Hebrews between Melchizedek and Jesus. The writer of Hebrews is saying in Genesis, we never see when Melchizedek dies. We never see that in the same way. We will never see when the priesthood of Jesus comes to an end because it will never come to an end. It will go on forever and ever and ever. Then the writer of Hebrews here quotes from Psalm 110. It's very important, messianic Psalm in verse 17, he quotes from Psalm 110, speaking of Jesus, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek in the previous chapter in Hebrews chapter six, verse 19, the writer of Hebrews says, because this goes on forever and ever. That's the implication. He says in chapter six, verse 19, the fact that we know that Jesus' priesthood goes on forever and ever, like Melchizedek is a sure and steadfast anchor.

He mentions that in chapter six, and he's foreshadowing, what is to come at chapter seven, which what we're seeing now. So chapter seven is the fulfillment of what we saw in chapter six. The thing that would be our sure and steadfast anchor, the sure and steadfast anchor of your soul is the fact that the priesthood of Jesus will go on forever and ever. And ever.

You can build your life on that truth. You can stake your eternity. You can stake your soul on that. The Old Testament priests, they were not capable of doing that because they died. And we can read in the Old Testament, when they died. They were not capable of doing what Jesus could do. So, Jesus is better.

A Better Hope

The last verse we'll look at is verse 19. This is what Jesus accomplished. All the work that the the priesthood of Jesus accomplishes. This thing right here we see in verse 19, the writer of Hebrew says that Jesus gives us a better hope. A better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God. There's an old covenant that attempted to bring us near to God, but it could not accomplish the job. So God established a new covenant with a better priest. Jesus himself, the priest of this new covenant, and Jesus ensures that this covenant will draw us near to God. It's a better hope than the last one because we are confident that this one accomplishes the job and it goes on forever and ever and ever. People sometimes ask, how do we know that in the future age we won't fall away?

How do we know that we won't be able to lose our salvation in the future ages to come because your salvation is tied to the priesthood of Jesus and your salvation will not be lost until the priesthood of Jesus comes to an end, which is never. It is not based on your efforts or your ability to white knuckle it and stick with it. No, your salvation remains strong. It is a anchor for your soul because of what Christ accomplished on your behalf, because of the covenant he established that he mediates. That will go on forever and ever and ever.

So the writer of Hebrews would say to his audience, if you're tempted to go back to that old system, don't do it because this new system, it's better because it's got the better priest. And I would say to you this morning, Cities Church, I don't know what systems you've come from. I don't know what you previously trusted in for salvation before you came to faith in Christ. I don't know what you were dabbling with or what you believed or what you previously staked your soul upon, but now that you are a Christian, I say to you, do not ever go back to that old system. It's useless, it's weak, it cannot save. Stick with the covenant that will last forever mediated by the priest who will be a priest forever. Don't go back. Pay close attention to what you've heard about Jesus.

The Table

Last thing I'll mention this morning, it's something from Genesis chapter 14 that I think is worth highlighting that the writer of Hebrews actually doesn't feel the need to mention in chapter seven of Hebrews. In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek meets Abraham in the Kings Valley and it says that Melchizedek goes out to Abraham with bread and wine. He goes out to meet Abraham and he sets a table for them to enjoy a meal together, and Melchizedek points to Jesus. So just as Melchizedek drew near to Abraham and offered him bread and wine, also, Jesus draws near to us and he offers us bread and wine at this table that we come to every single week. Melchizedek said to Abraham, I'm gonna come to you and I want you to enjoy fellowship with me. And that is a model of what Jesus does for us.

Jesus comes to us and he says, I want you to enjoy fellowship with me. Jesus invites us to a meal every single week at this table and every single week we accept his invitation. Every single week we come to this table to remember that there is a better covenant mediated by a better priest, a priest who will be a priest forever. We come to this table to remember that Jesus, our great high priest, is in the order of Melchizedek. In just a moment, the pastors are gonna come. We're gonna serve the bread and the wine, and we invite you to participate. If you are a believer in Jesus, if you are someone who has put your trust in the great high priest, I encourage you to participate with us and allow this moment to be a moment where you draw near to Jesus.

When we come to the table each week, allow this moment to be a corporate activity that ushers us into the presence and intimacy with our great high priest.