This morning. Are you ready? We continue our study of the book of Hebrews. So let’s get it going here. The theme of the book is this, and you can say it with me again, Church.
The theme of the book is Jesus is better. I do want to thank Eddie for warning us last week about the threat of falling away from chapter five and in chapter six. And we do have some deep waters to explore today in Hebrews. So let’s go ahead. We’re going to dive in headfirst right away.
I do want to give credit. A great resource for me, especially for today’s lesson, has been a podcast entitled Exploring My Strange Bible by Tim Mackey, borrowing many of his ideas today. You have other resources on the handout that we have. Of course, that handout is just a small part of a resource link that we have for you, a resource folder of a lot of study that we’ve done on Hebrews. So I hope that’s helping you as well today.
But that handout, it’s good to just have a piece of paper in your hand because today’s topic is dense. All right, here we go. We began where we left off two weeks ago, and we’re going to get there right now. It’s at the end of Hebrews six. We’ll start in verse 19.
The Bible says we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek. So if you’re like me here, you’re very inspired by the front end of verse 19, our hearts get warm and fuzzy. We studied this out a couple of weeks ago. Jesus is the anchor for our soul. But then as we start to move into verse 20, it probably doesn’t hit the same way.
We have curtains, we have high priests. And then for the third time now in Hebrews, the writer mentions a mysterious priest named Melchizedek. So who is this strange dude? And that really gets us started today with that question, who is Melchizedek? And I personally was never taught about Melchizedek in children’s Church learned a lot about Abraham and Moses and Noah.
And the list goes on and on. No Melchizedek. And by the way, why does the priesthood even matter to us here in the 21st century? And I will give you a spoiler alert on this one. The core meaning of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus hinges on your ability to fully embrace Jesus as your priest.
And specifically in our study today, a priest in the Order of Melchizedek. And I acknowledge most of you probably did not wake up this morning thinking about the priesthood of Melchizedek. Some of you maybe, I don’t know, but probably not. But here we go. This is a core teaching, and it’s really the heart of the sermon in Hebrews.
And when we talk about priests in Hebrews, immediately I think we’re in a disadvantage in 2022. Unlike us today, the priesthood, this was deeply embedded in Jewish culture for centuries. All right? At the time that Hebrews was written, the temple was still standing and coming in contact with a priest, that was really part of the rhythm of daily life in Jewish society. And really as well, pagan religions had priests as well to help them get to a deity. But today, most of us never really deal with priests. So it’s important we get some of the backstory here, and we’re going to spend some time on that today, because this is not abstract biblical history. If being a priest is a core part of the identity of Jesus and we claim to follow Jesus, we need to understand what this means.
So let’s start here. We’re going to go back to Hebrews chapter five. We’re going to go back a few chapters here to chapter five. And here we can find a definition for the priest. Hebrews five, verse one, for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Now, he can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. So, in other words, the high priest serves as this special chosen mediator between humans and God. All right? And what this implies here is that there is a breach in the relationship between humans and their creator.
And we want to take this for granted. But if you think about it, for many, many people, this is scandalous. The implications of this are scandalous. This is offensive today. This is unacceptable.
Here’s what I mean, number one. So you’re telling me my sin has separated me from God. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I grew up with. You don’t know my experiences.
You don’t know my life. That’s so mean. That’s ignorant. That’s judgmental, right? Or number two, so you’re telling me I can’t fix myself?
You’re telling me I don’t have access to a higher power when I want to? I’m a spiritual person when I want to be and need to be. I need some priest to save me? I’m not helpless. So you’re trying to save me?
You saying this person needs to save me? I’ll find my own way. I’ll jump the gap and get to a higher power. I’ve got Wi Fi. I can just DIY this problem. I don’t need a priest telling me what to do.
But here it is. Whether you believe this or not or whether you’re offended or not by it, it doesn’t make it any less true. There is a breach between human beings and their creator. And this is really the overarching theme of the entirety of the Bible and the role of a high priest is to bridge this gap for broken people like you and me. Now, I will say this, even though we’ve become an increasingly do it yourself culture, you and I are not completely unfamiliar or even opposed to the concept of meeting the mediator between us and something or someone else. And here’s what I’m saying by this. I’ll show you a picture. This is the engine of my Toyota Corolla. Be amazed. 2004. Older than all my kids, nearly 200,000 miles, and it’s just getting broken in.
We’re just getting started.
When I’m driving, I’m never thinking about the engine when I’m driving around. All right, as long as it’s working.
But when my car is not working properly, I’m suddenly very aware of the engine. And then I’m forced to get out of the car, and I open up the hood when I can figure out how to do it. No trunk. That’s the hood. Okay, here we go.
The hoods open up. And because I’m a man, I pretend I know what I’m looking at. And then I get completely overwhelmed and confused. I’m like, okay, that’s the battery. I think I’ve changed that before I jump started that before. That’s where I put the windshield Wiper fluid in there. If you give me about five or 6 hours, I think I can change the tire. But when I look at this engine and something’s wrong, I’m lost. I’m simply not qualified to fix the engine or even tinker with it. If I mess with it, I can make it even worse.
And so I am more than willing to pay an expert who is qualified to fix the engine for me because I’m not qualified to do it. I can’t fix it myself, and I don’t want to. So I take my car to the shop, or I take it to an auto repair temple, if you will.
And these are sacred spaces, you know, the auto repair shop, it’s a sacred space. It’s set apart for a particular purpose. They’re there to repair broken automobiles. I don’t go there to have lunch with a friend or to hang out. It’s set apart for this purpose to fix my engine.
And at these auto repair shops, there is a priesthood of sorts, individuals called mechanics. Thank God for them. And they are uniquely trained. They are qualified to repair the car. And most of them even have a special uniform.
They have this adult onesie, you know, they’re set apart when you see them there, right? But their sole purpose is to utilize their unique skills and training to do one job. They repair cars. And so when I open the hood of my car and there’s a problem, I need someone to bridge the gap. I need someone to be a mediator between the car and me.
I need someone to do what I cannot do for myself. I need a mediator. I need someone to fix my broken car so I can drive it again. So it’s a crude parallel, but in a similar way that’s the concept of priesthood in the Bible, something has broken, something has been morally compromised, something’s been distorted in our relationship with the Creator, in our relationship with our fellow human beings, it’s broken and we don’t have the capacity to fix it.
We look under the hood of humanity and it’s a mess. We’re stuck. We don’t have the skills, we don’t have the qualifications, we don’t have the expertise to fix this. And whether we admit it or not, we desperately need someone who is qualified to do something about this. So in the story of Israel, that group of people were called priests.
And these priests, what they would do is they would represent broken, compromised people before the justice and Holiness of God. And they would do this with specific animal sacrifices prescribed by God so that sins could be forgiven both for the priest and the people. Now, next question here to contemplate is, could anyone in Israel become a high priest? Could anyone just say, hey, I want to be a high priest? Okay, done.
No, let’s look at a scripture on that Hebrews five, verse four. Can anyone become a priest in Israel? No. It says no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. All right, so in Israel, you had twelve tribes or the twelve sons of Jacob, and only one tribe of the twelve was selected by God to be priests. That’s the tribe of Levi.
And among that tribe, only the family of Aaron could be high priests, and they become the go betweens the mediators, and they had special uniforms for that as well, all right? And so in addition to Levi, all the tribes had a unique role in Israel. And to give you a sneak peek ahead, it’s relevant to what we’re talking about today is starting with David, only one tribe could provide the King, and that’s the tribe of Judah. So back to our original point.
You could only become a priest if you belonged to the tribe of Levi, and you were from the family of Aaron. So with this in mind, now just imagine you’re living in the first century, you’re in a Jewish village, you live in a Jewish village, you’re steeped in the priesthood for centuries, you’re in this village, and all of a sudden, there’s this new preacher that comes to town. He’s a preacher, he’s a Prophet, he’s a Rabbi, and his name is Jesus. He comes to your town and he heals a paralytic. And we see this in Mark, chapter two.
He heals the paralytic and then he sees the faith of this man and he boldly says to him, Son, your sins are now forgiven.
And today we hear this and we hear the story many times. For some of us, it’s a very familiar story we’re thinking, well, what’s the big deal? What’s wrong with these people? Because their reaction wasn’t so good. Some people got angry at this.
They were upset. There go the Pharisees again, there are those stubborn people that are just so stubborn and stiff necked.
But I have to tell you, we can think what’s wrong with those people. But back then, if you and I live back then, we may have had a very different reaction than we do today because of the priesthood, because this is shocking what Jesus says here. It’s rebellious. It seems that way. You can see all the negative reactions in Mark, chapter two.
They’re steaming with anger. You just don’t do this sort of thing. There’s only one group of people who’ve been called by God to forgive sins. Only priests are uniquely qualified to pass along forgiveness.
You look at the story like, who is this guy waltzing around from town to town acting like he’s a priest? And on what authority? Let’s find out about that authority. Hebrews, chapter five, verse five.
So also, Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son today I’ve begotten you. And he says, also in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. So there’s our answer. Jesus did not exalt himself to be a high priest, but God chose him.
Are you with me? Wheels spinning here? All right, so I wanted to rework our slide from earlier, and we see it in the scripture we just read. Jesus was destined to become both King and high priests forever.
And this is where the Old Testament gunslinger, the writer of Hebrews, begins to spell this out for us with messianic prophecy. From Psalm two, verse seven and Psalm 110, verse four. He’s telling us, yeah, this is it. This is a prophecy fulfilled. The Messiah would be a King from the family of David, the lion of Judah, and he would be a high priest, not from Levi, but from the order of Melchizedek.
Okay, so this now takes us to chapter seven. And I would say many of us know who King David is, right? We’ve heard of him. But who in the wide world of sports is Melchizedek? And why would Psalm 110 forecast the Messiah to have the priesthood of Melchizedek?
What’s all this about? And Melchizedek I’ll share with you, I believe he’s a historic figure. He’s in this narrative. And when I say historic figure, in my opinion, he’s not an angel, he’s not a ghost. He’s a real human being.
But the most important thing is to understand here for the purpose of what the author of Hebrews and the Holy Spirit wants us to see is this, Melchizidek is an Old Testament type of Christ. It’s a deliberate foreshadowing of Christ, so we can understand better who we have in Jesus and what he is for us. Now, Melchizedek, we don’t know much about him. We have a grand total of four verses on Melchizedek before Hebrews. But here’s the catch. Everything that we do know about him has massive symbolic importance.
And thank God for the writer of Hebrews. Man here, she pulls it all together for us. And you can see here in the timeline, if you were a Jew growing up and passing on these teachings over centuries, you’re like, what in the world? We love Abraham. But who’s this guy Melchizedek? And what happened here?
We want some answers. You see Melchizedek, he first shows up in Genesis and we’ll cover that in a few minutes. Then 800 years later, we have one verse of prophecy about him in the Psalms. And then finally, a thousand years later, the Hebrew writer finally explains the prophecy. Are you with me?
All right, here we go. Let’s go to Hebrew seven, verse one. We’re going to learn more. Let’s read Hebrew seven, verse one. And we’ll start right there. For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, Prince of the most High God, met Abraham.
All right, so what the writer is doing here? He’s recapping the narrative from Genesis 14. So he met Abraham. And Melchizedek met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings. And he blessed him.
And to him Abraham appointed a 10th of everything. He is first by translation of his name, King of righteousness. And then he is also King of Salem, that is King of peace. 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 as a priest forever.
So to recap this, Genesis 14, there’s this big war. A coalition of Kings capture Abraham’s nephew, Lot. Lot is always getting in trouble, right? And so Lot gets captured in this war. Abraham gets together a band of soldiers.
He defeats the bad Kings, rescues Lot. And one of the Kings that Abraham fights for on the good side is a King named Melchizedek. And you’ll start to see some of these pieces if you get a little lost. I’m lost too. Just go to your handout and to follow along.
This is very dense material, but yeah, Abraham fights for a King named Melchizidek who shows up on the scene three verses in Genesis about him. Melchizedek is the King of Salem. I’m not sure if you caught this, but that city would later become Jerusalem. Same place. Okay, God’s doing something here and it’s fun, at least for us later.
It wasn’t so fun for the Jews, like 800 years, 1000 years, Where’s this all going? And then Salem. Follow me on. This is another word for Shalom. So what then? Ok, well, Melchizidek is the King of Shalom.
He is the King of peace.
Alright. And then the actual name Melchizedek means righteousness. So he’s also the King of righteousness. And you put all this together. Not only is Melchizedek a King, but he’s also priest of God most high.
So he’s both King and priest. This is different. It’s bizarre.
So I think you see where the writer is going here with this is Psalm 110. That one verse. It starts to take shape. Melchizidek was both King and priest at the same time. And I think we need to understand that’s unheard of no other figure in the Bible held both offices.
I think a lot of you would be familiar with King Saul, the first King of Israel. Right? And he’s about to go to battle, but he’s sitting there and he’s waiting because they need to make a sacrifice before they go to battle. And Where’s Samuel, the priest? He needs to come in and do this.
And Samuel’s late. We don’t know where Sami’s up to what he’s doing, what’s going on? We need him to come in here and make the sacrifice. And so Saul gets impatient and he makes the sacrifice. And then, of course, as you would see in the story, then Samuel comes right in that same moment like, what are you doing, man?
I’m the priest. You’re the King. Separate offices. God’s not happy. They always were separate offices.
That always happened in the Bible. That is, until Jesus.
And I love this because Jesus not only saves us as a priest, but he also cares for us and protects us as a King.
This is so rich, and we’re not going to be able to cover it all today. But you also see in verses one and two that Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek as his priest. And it was Melchizedek that gave Abraham his blessing, not the other way around. That’s big. I know our minds are just like, well, I’m trying.
Okay, here we go. But that’s really, really big. And look at this. The Hebrew writer preaches this to us. This needs to be emphasized.
He says in verse four, if you haven’t gotten this already, see how great this man Melchizidek was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a 10th of the spoils. So think about this. I mean, we have to go back in time and imagine ourselves entrenched in Jewish culture and religion. Think about how incredible this would be if you grew up around the priesthood. The dots would start connecting here.
Puzzle pieces coming together. The Levites, now, you know about them, right? They didn’t receive land when they went to the promised land. The Levites didn’t get any land.
They were going to be ministers. All right? The go betweens, as we’ve learned. And so instead of getting land, they were paid with tith es, right? They didn’t work the land.
They just got money from the other tribes. That’s how it worked. But with Melchizedek. Follow me on this. The Levites were not receiving a tithe, but instead they were paying a tithe through their great grandfather Abraham.
Tell me that ain’t cool. All right, that’s pretty cool. You can’t make this stuff up so how are we doing? Head spinning? All right, here we go.
That’s okay. Study it out deeper. Take your time. But the point the author is making here is this. And it’s with great symbolism that only God could work out through the Holy Spirit.
Great symbolism, theatrical irony. The priesthood of Jesus is better.
And then you skip ahead of verse seven. It said it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. So the author here reinforces that it’s not only he who receives the tithes, but it’s also you got to pay attention to who is giving the blessing. And in that culture for thousands of years, the one who gives the blessing is obviously an authority over the one who receives the blessing. So Melchizedek is greater than Abraham.
Therefore, Jesus is far greater than Abraham.
And you see up here on the screen the second scripture I have. I believe this truth is exactly why Jesus was almost stoned to death by the people in John chapter eight. This is a big deal because there’s this big go back and forth they’re trying to work through. They believed in Jesus somewhat, but as the conversation kept going and kept getting more intense and wasn’t going so well. And finally they said that Jesus in John 8:53, so are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? Is that what you’re saying Jesus? Who do you make yourself out to be? And Jesus said to them in verse 58, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was, I am.
So in other words, yes, I’m greater than Abraham. And to be honest, that’s because I’m eternal.
So what we’re talking about here is an eternal priesthood. If you want a title for the lesson today, it’s the Un, or shall I say it this way? The indestructible priesthood. And this cannot be stated enough regarding the priesthood of Jesus. Let’s read again verse three, verse three.
I’ll get it up there for you. So, seven, verse three, Melchizedek 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 without father or mother or genealogy. So what is that all about? And I personally don’t think this doesn’t mean Melchizedek is not human.
I think what it means here and what the author of Hebrews wants to see is that his ancestry had nothing to do with his priesthood.
Now, if you’re looking for some really great bedtime reading tonight, go to 1 Chronicles six. It’s a genealogy of priests.
But that was important to them, right? It meant everything in that society if you wanted to be a priest. So if you couldn’t trace your name to 1 Chronicles six, you could not become a priest. But you see, with Melchizedek, and this would have gotten the original audience attention. Wow.
And I hope it gets our attention today as we understand the backstory better. Melchizedek had no genealogy to validate his priesthood, yet he was.
We don’t find it in Genesis 14. He predates the Levitical priesthood. So here’s the big point that Hebrew author is making here. Melchizedek’s priesthood is not based on the lineage of his family. And in this way, he resembles the Son of God.
Jesus had no human biological father. In Isaiah 53 eight tells us Jesus had no descendants because he was what, cut off from the land of the living. But Melchizedek and Jesus both were chosen by God to be priests. Again, the point is not because of their ancestry, but because of their righteousness.
Then it goes on to say they both had neither beginning of days nor end of life. This is important. It’s highlighted in red. For thousands of years, Israel kept replacing their high priests. Why? They kept dying.
They were mortally weak. They were mortal, corrupt humans representing fellow simple, broken humans before God.
And in contrast, we don’t hear anything about the death of Melchizedek. And I think the Bible intentionally leaves this out. So in a way, his priesthood and his legacy lives on, right until we can learn about Jesus. And that goes back to the prophecy about Jesus in Psalm 110. Jesus is always our priest.
Yes, Jesus died, but Jesus was raised from the dead and still lives. So verse three ends by saying this of Melchizedek and Jesus. He continues as a priest forever. So a better translation here could be this unique priesthood is perpetual. The priesthood of Jesus in the order of Melchizedek is ongoing.
That’s why it’s relevant for you and me today. Let’s keep reading in verse 13 about this ongoing priesthood of Jesus. Hebrews seven, verse 13. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, another tribe other than Levi, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah.
And in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily dissent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So there it is.
If you don’t know now, you know. It’s right there in red in verse 16. And I really believe it’s one of the best verses in all the Bible. It’s the knockout punch. Jesus is uniquely qualified as a priest on behalf of sinful, broken, immortal people. How?
By the power of an indestructible life. Jesus is your indestructible priest.
And you’ll hear me say this a lot. It’s one of my favorite things to talk about. I’ll make this statement at the top of Jesus resume. These words are written, indestructible life. Those are his qualifications to be a priest forever.
I’m with that. In the Greek this word literally means unstoppable.
I’d say to our brothers and sisters in Christ here today, to friends, family, if you’re visiting with us. Jesus is unstoppable.
Jesus conquers death.
The primary credentials Jesus brings to the table as a priest is that he is the author of life.
Jesus ascended from the grave and he’s taken his rightful place as high priest forever.
So let’s read the exclamation point the author gives us on this in verse 23.
It says in Hebrew seven, verse 23. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, now listen to this, all right? He who has ears let him hear this.
Consequently, Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. Jesus is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest. And I love this description. It’s fitting that we have such a high priest because Jesus is Holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
He has no need, like those other high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. Since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law, appoints men and their weakness as high priests. But the word, the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.
Today I’m preaching and just trying to make it through the day. My heart is really hurting. A good friend of mine, Art Coulson, passed away last Sunday, and as his friend and just going through all that, I’m personally emotionally exhausted and drained. I’m hurting. Art and I have known each other nearly 20 years and he most recently has lived in Gainesville.
We were together many years in the Broward Church. That’s where we appointed him an elder. We’ve been good friends, our family are friends. We’re partners in the gospel. I can’t believe he’s gone.
It was just 1 minute I’m texting with him and he’s on my shortlist when I go to Gainesville, who I want to spend time with. 1 minute we’re talking and going to a football game together last fall and then he died. We had his funeral yesterday. I’m still in shock, still stunned.
But the victory is this, for Art I can confidently say it’s not goodbye. It’s see you later.
And here’s why, not because he’s some good guy. I think he is. But it’s all because he chose the right priest and he stayed faithful to that priest, that indestructible priest, until the day he died.
And we can see this in this language in verse 25. And you and I can have the same confidence. Check out the exact words the writer utilizes here. It’s emphatic. It’s meant to convince us to make the right choice with Jesus and stick with it.
It’s meant to give us confidence in our Salvation. Again, verse 25. Consequently, Jesus is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Death is an enemy. Eternity is a scary thing, but in Jesus we can always rest secure.
I rest secure. My heart is hurting, but I rest here knowing that Art has Jesus as his high priest.
It’s the same for us. If Jesus is your priest, Jesus saves you completely. There does not have to be any doubts if I’m doing this or I’m doing right, I’m doing this or following this or that. No, Jesus is the priest. We have a priest who is uniquely qualified to fix our engine in ways no priest has ever done before.
And if you remember, at the beginning of the lesson I asked, well, what does the priesthood of Melchizedek even have to do with us today? Come on. I barely even heard of this guy. But now you tell me, which priesthood would you rather have representing you?
Would you want one of the priests of the past or people in pop psychology or the latest trends out here telling us the way to live every generation and then they have to be replaced because they die off? Is that the priest you want? Or do you want a priest who lives forever to represent you before the Almighty God?
That’s exactly why this matters today.
And I’m telling you, even though we live now, in the 21st century, we all choose our priest, even if we’re not even actively choosing it. You choose by default, right? The world is going to tell you there are many ways to get to God. You can reach the higher power. You can be spiritual on your own in any number of ways.
The world is going to tell you there’s no breach between you and God. That’s too harsh. That’s too judgmental. The world is going to tell you you can just DIY it.
Your instincts will tell you you can DIY your life, DIY your spirituality, live your own truth. Find a better way that works for you. Pursue happiness. Be what you’re born to be.
That’s a lie. I’m here to tell you that’s a lie. You cannot do it yourself. You cannot save yourself. And I beg you to understand this.
I appeal to you to wake up. Stop drifting. It seeps into the Church as well. It’s a Satanic way of thinking. You see, the Levitical priesthood died out long ago, but many other religious priesthoods live on today.
In our modern, self righteous truth is relative American culture. There’s always a way to scratch our itching ears with a lesser priesthood than Jesus.
So the question is, which will you choose? Which priesthood will you obey?
Will you choose a priesthood that dies with every generation?
Or will you choose the indestructible priesthood of Jesus. Jesus is the only one qualified to fix us, heal us, and restore our relationship with God.
Living water challenges. Let’s water these seeds from the scriptures that we’ve read today. Let’s do something with this.
First of all, maybe you’re here today. And I know all of us could be in different places. Maybe you’re here today and the world has influenced you in such a way where you think, well, I don’t even know that I need a priest. I’m good or my parents are good. So maybe I’m good.
You know what I mean? Are you even wrestling with the idea that you need someone to bridge this gap for you? You need to sit and wrestle with that hard truth.
And then some of us, we could be sitting here in guilt today. And all of this that we’re studying needs to become good news to you again.
Maybe you need wisdom and you’re going through a very challenging or confusing season in your life. I appeal to you. Remember verse 25, this priest is always available. Jesus cares more about your life than you do.
Meet with Jesus, meet with Jesus today. Come to Jesus today. If God feels distant and I know a lot of times we say this, I can feel this like, well, God feels distant to me right now. Or if you don’t feel close to God today or doubting God’s decisions, you actually could be relying on the wrong priest. And that’s why that gap is there.
You need to come to Jesus.
Jesus is a perpetual priest? Jesus is alive? Jesus is here today to meet you in your brokenness? Jesus wants to heal you? The promise still stands?
Jesus is our indestructible priest?
I’d like to highlight verse 27 Because I think it’s fitting. As we prepare to share Communion together, verse 27 introduces a very important idea about this superior high priest.
See, Jesus is not only a priest that just offers just any everyday sacrifice, right, Jesus. There are many priests. They all offer sacrifices. But in this case, Jesus himself is the sacrifice. He’s the priest that sacrifices all of himself.
He’s the perfect sacrifice once and for all. And you think about all the other priests, the biblical priests, you think about all those that are telling you how to live your spiritual life today in the present. All of those so called priests in the future, they have very little skin in the game with their sacrifices. None of them died for you.
But in the case of Jesus, we have something better. Jesus paid the ultimate price when he offered himself up for you and for me. So with this in mind, let’s celebrate Jesus at this time. We share Communion as we do each week. To remember his death, to remember his blood, to remember his body.
Jesus the indestructible high priest.