New Salem Baptist Church

The Priesthood

Read Hebrews, chapter 7.

This man, Melchizedek, is both mysterious and great. In verse 7 the author states that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. God had called Abraham out of a wicked place and he travelled very far to get to the land of Canaan. But when he got there, here was a man who was a servant of the true God who was greater than Abraham.

We highly esteem Abraham, as we ought. He is the father of our faith in that he is an example and forerunner of all those who would have faith in God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He trusted God and he is the first one called by God out of a fallen race to become the first chosen one. Yet, here was Melchizedek who was serving God before Abraham was.

He is mysterious in that we know nothing about him except those very few verses in Genesis and what the author of Hebrews tells us here.

 ³ 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. ^[1]

When it says he is without father or mother, this doesn’t mean literally. It means that his father and mother are never identified, as they are for all other important persons in the Bible. Some think that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, but this cannot be because it says that he resembled the Son of God, not that he was the Son of God. Further, he was an earthly king, meaning he had a long sojourn in the city where he was the king. The times when Christ seemed to have appeared in the OT were very brief. He wouldn’t be living on the earth in physical form for long periods of time.

When it says that Melchizedek did not have beginning of days nor end of days this, again, does not mean literally. Only that neither his beginning nor his death are ever recorded. In this way he resembles the Son of God in his divinity, since he had no beginning and will never have an end.

When we come to verse 11 we see that the priesthood under the Mosaic covenant, that is, the Levitical priesthood, made no one perfect or made no one complete in the eyes of God. This is further emphasized in verse 18:

¹⁸ For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. ^[2]

The “former commandment” is the one establishing the Levitical priesthood. In a sense this commandment was useless because it was unable to make anyone perfect or complete as a person of God. It’s not that God’s law is defective. Paul says elsewhere that the law is holy, righteous, and good.[3] But, because of the weakness of the flesh the law is impotent to change us.

See that the commandment to have a Levitical priesthood is set aside. It is gone! There is no longer a priesthood like the Levites.

Verses 11 and 12 state that there has been a change in the priesthood. The Levitical priesthood is done away and a new priesthood is ushered in: that of Melchizedek. Whereas the very first priesthood consisted of only one man, Melchizedek, the new on also consists of only one man, Jesus (vs. 22).

He is the only one qualified to be in this priesthood because he is the only one who is holy, innocent, and unstained (vs. 26).

This chapter in God’s holy word shows that there are only two priesthoods. Now let me ask a question. The Roman Catholic Church has a priesthood. Which priesthood is it? Is it the Levitical priesthood? It seems as if they are trying to be. Their so-called priests:

• wear special garments as did the Levites.
• They function in sanctuaries as did the Levites.
• They carry on rituals as did the Levites (although the rituals are somewhat different).
• They pronounce forgiveness of sins as did the Levites.

But, we just read that the Levitical priesthood has been done away.

Neither can they be priests according to Melchizedek because this priesthood consists of only one Person and the priests of Roman Catholicism consists of many thousands of priests.

There is no separate priesthood in the new covenant. The New Testament allows for no separate class of priests and does not even permit a clergy of any kind.[4] The establishment of a separate priesthood is not only without authority from God but is in opposition to the principles of the new covenant. There is only the priesthood of every believer and we will return to this revelation soon.

We read this in verses 24 and 25:

²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. ^[5]

Christ is a priest permanently because he lives forever! Because he is a priest now and forever, “he is able to save to the uttermost!”

Do you find this expression consoling? I do! It brings me great peace and comfort to read these words! He is able to save to the uttermost! And he does!

In our Sunday night book study, one of the men shared how shame for his sins weighed so heavily upon him and was a great burden. He was only sharing his own experiences, but most Christians have this experience. I do believe that we can arrive at a place of great sanctification where sin becomes an uncommon thing. We walk with the Lord in sweet fellowship every day. Usually, this is not until much later in our life. For most disciples of the Lord, they struggle with sins.  The author would go on to write in chapter 12: “⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”^[6]

When we are overcome by a sin we sometimes feel as if we have sinned to the uttermost and may lose hope. But, even if we have sinned to the uttermost, Jesus saves to the uttermost!

How does he save to the uttermost? Back in chapter two we were told that Jesus is the propitiation for our sin (2:17). By the sacrifice of his life he has taken away our sins and taken away the displeasure of God! Here in 7:25 the author states that, as we draw near to God through him, he lives to make intercession for us!

Jesus is alive and is in the heavens praying for you before the Father! This is so wonderful! This is the very reason that we can draw near to God in spite of our failures and sins! Because he is talking to God on our behalf! This is so good and will cause us to not shrink away. Rather, it causes us to have boldness in drawing near to God!

Earlier, we saw that there is no distinguishable priesthood in the new covenant era. Any so-called Christian group that establishes one does so without authority from God. A separate priesthood actually paralyzes the body of Christ, meaning his people. They are paralyzed because they believe that the priests are closer to God and function as intermediaries between them and God. They do the work of God and are paid to do so. The average follower in such groups does little, if anything, because they have priests doing it for them. More, they think they cannot come to God on their own but need a priest to be an intermediary for them. They think this because it is what they are taught.

The New Testament, however, reveals that every believer should function as a priest. Under the old covenant the priest interceded for others. Under the new covenant we can go directly to God in prayer interceding for ourselves and for others.

Priests taught the people of God. We saw two weeks ago that every follower of Christ ought to be teaching. So, there is no need to cover that again.

Under the old covenant the priest made sacrifices. Of course, animal sacrifices no longer need to be made because Christ is our once-for-all-time sacrifice. Yet, under the new covenant every disciple can and ought to offer up spiritual sacrifices:

⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ^[7]

What kind of sacrifices ought we to offer? We should offer a sacrifice of praise:

¹⁵ Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.^[8]

I think it is called a sacrifice because we may not always feel like praising him. My experience has been that, even though I may not feel like it, once I praise him, I do feel like it! Our spirits and mouths are connected!

Another sacrifice is sharing our wherewithal, i.e., money, with those who ask. The author says this in the next verse in chapter 13:

¹⁶ Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. ^[9]

We also present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). This means avoiding sins of the body but also serving God when we don’t feel like.

[Conclusion and Application] What have we learned today? We learned two things from chapter seven.

[1] We saw that Jesus has been ordained by God to be our Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This means that he sacrificed for us (his own body!), he intercedes for us always…continually! So, he saves us…he saves you…to the uttermost!

[2] We learned that there is no separate priesthood in the new covenant. Rather, every follower of Christ is a priest, from the brand new one to one who has been following Christ for 60 years.

Three practices of priests are interceding, teaching, and sacrificing. We ought to be practicing these very things.

• We can intercede for ourselves and for others.
• We ought to be teaching someone, every one of us (5:12), right now.
• We can and should offer sacrifices: sacrifices of praise, of our means, and of our bodies.

How do we do these things? First, we can do them because our great Melchizedek priest, Jesus, is living within us and these are things that he naturally and mightily does. He enlivens us and empowers us to do these good things. He doesn’t just leave it up to us.

All we must do is carry out what is already in us. Good intentions don’t do anything. If you heard me speak it once you heard me a thousand times: you must schedule! Schedule your prayer time (your time for intercession). I combine my prayer time and my study time, but these can be separate times of the day. You need to schedule your instruction to your children or to those younger in the faith. If you don’t schedule, it likely won’t happen.

Sacrificing in praise is more spontaneous. As can be the giving of our means. Sometimes we do not know of a need among the other members until they tell us or someone else brings it to our attention. When we learn we ought to be willing to help as much as we are able.

Let us exercise our priesthood! You are a holy priesthood. Don’t wait for someone else. Be the man or woman of God that you have been called to be!