Sermon
The Priesthood of Christ - Part 2
April 17, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask that all of you have your notes available. You remember last Lord's day we used our Bible 90% of the sermon. Now I'm going to stay very, very close to my notes today. The message today is quite detailed and technical in a sense, but we'll work our way through it, and if you have notes it will be helpful for you.

Back in January we chose as our theme for the next number of weeks the subject of Jesus, and it came about as one evening as I was singing to myself up in my office, as I often do, I was singing an old song I learned as little boy when I was five years of age, 'let's talk about Jesus the King of Kings is He, the Lord of lords supreme throughout eternity', and those words kept ringing through my heart and I decided for the next number of weeks we are going to talk about Jesus. So we started, of course, on Christmas talking about His birth and we've covered a great number of aspects of the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we're often led to the great teachings of Christ. From the Sermon on the Mount, we've learned about His parables. Each Lord's day we're brought to the cross, and we think about His death there on the cross for us. But possibly not frequently enough do we focus our thoughts on the priesthood of Christ. What is Jesus doing now in heaven that relates to me? And how does that affect my relationship to Him and my Christianity? And thus, that brings us to the subject of the priesthood of Christ.

And in our notes our lesson begins from a passage taken from the book of Hebrews. It's Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16: "Seeing then that we have a Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

That's our invitation. We have a Great High Priest who sympathizes with us in the heavens. Here's our lesson: The book of Hebrews is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is referred to as the High Priest. The first reference to His priesthood is found in chapter 2, verse 17, and we read, "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like as His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

But before becoming our Great High Priest, Christ had to leave heaven's glory and come to this earth and become a man just like us, and so the writer of Hebrews reminds us of that; Inasmuch then as we the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same. He is saying Christ came to this earth, took on human form like us, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Now Paul talks about this in his writings in Philippians, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross."

So Paul is telling us that Christ, who is eternal with His Father in glory, came to this earth, took upon human form to be our substitute and our sacrifice at Calvary, and He went to that cross for us. But death could not keep Him. On the third day after His death on the cross, Jesus rose from the dead, victorious and triumphant. And after spending forty days with His disciples, He ascended back into heaven to be seated at the right of hand of God. Receiving His eternal glory which He had with His Father before coming to this earth, He fulfilled His promise by sending His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, thus commencing His Church here on earth.

Now we talked about that. We read the Scripture verses that led up to this point last week. Now the subject that we want to discuss today is the present ministry of Christ in the heavens. Our text from Hebrews 4 states that since Christ passed through the heavens, we have a Great High Priest who ever liveth to make intercession for us.

And because this subject comes up quite frequently, in Hebrews we go to chapter 8 and here's what it says: "Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to law."

Now what he's writing...it says Christ was here on earth...because He didn't come from the line of Levi or the House of Aaron, He would not have qualified to serve as an earthly priest.

But he says, "who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant." The old covenant was forgiveness or sacrifice of the animals. He sacrificed Himself, and that is known as the new covenant, "which was established on better promises."

Now here's an observation. As we study from the Book of Hebrews today, we must keep in mind the reason for the writing of the book. Many Jewish believers, having stepped out of Judaism into Christianity, were being tempted to reverse their spiritual course and return to Judaism in order to escape persecution by their countrymen. And the writer of Hebrews, who we believe is none other than Paul, exhorts them not to go back, but to 'go on to perfection.' And his appeal is based on the superiority of Christ over the ancient Judaic system.

Christ is better than the angels. In the first chapter he talks about the important place the angels played in Judaism, but he says Christ is far greater than angels because angels worship Him. And He's better than Moses. Moses was a very important character to a Jewish person, but he said He's better than Moses because He created him. And He's better than the law, because He has mediated a new covenant, and that is with His own sacrifice.

In short, there is more to be gained in Christ than to be lost in Judaism. So Paul is urging them to press on in Christ which produces tested faith, self discipline, and visible love seen in good works.

We must always keep in mind that in Judaism, the priesthood and the High Priest were exceedingly important people in the life of the Jew. In that man was a sinner, only the priest had access to God which was accomplished through the sacrifices and rituals of the tabernacle or the temple.

Pause for a moment. Many of us come from backgrounds where we were raised in a very simple Protestant church; where we came to church sang hymns, we had our time of prayer, we listened to the sermon being preached, and for us the worship was very, very simple, and has been, much like we have here in our church.

There are others of you sitting here today who come from a worship where there was great ceremony, there was ritual, there was a tremendous array of things that surrounded you in the sanctuary and you then looked, as you came to the service, you looked there on the platform and you saw your priest and he was there doing his priestly duties. And in your background that priest who served there was very, very important to you. That is how you were trained.

Now that was true in Judaism. These folks had beautiful worship, I mean, the ceremony and the ritual was absolutely intense and the garbing of the priest and all of the things that surrounded them, it was so rich and so are ornate and so wonderful, and what Paul recognized that as soon as these Jewish people had come over into the simplicity of their Christian faith, and now their brothers are persecuting them, and it's easier just to go back and be a part of them than to stand up for their faith. And that's really at the heart of this book of Hebrews. Paul is showing them the things that were important to them in their faith in Judaism's have less significance, far less, than what is available for us in our Christian faith through faith in Jesus Christ.

So starting now at the top of page 3 - The priesthood established through Moses, under the direction of God through Aaron and his descendants, typified the priestly ministry of Christ. The analogies and the contrasts between Aaron and Christ provide one of the prominent themes in the Epistle of the Hebrews. As Priest, Jesus suffered in man's stead and satisfied divine holiness and opened the way for God to pardon and restore the guilty sinner.

And here again the writer to the Hebrews picks up the theme of the priesthood, and he said, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation." He is speaking of Christ ascending back into heaven, and heaven not made with the hands of...

"Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

He is saying under those Old Testament sacrifices they could never achieve that eternal goal of total forgiveness, only Christ could do that through the shedding of His precious blood and offering Himself as the sacrifice for your sins and mine.

But to the Jews who listened to these words, confusion filled their minds. Only descendants of Aaron were allowed to serve in Judaism and Christ was neither from the tribe of Levi, nor from the House of Aaron. So the writer to the Hebrews was presented the challenge to prove that Christianity had a far better and higher priesthood than Judaism. And to do this, he turns to an Old Testament illustration from their history. He draws the comparison between Christ and the ancient mysterious priest known as Melchizedec. Now the story is found in Genesis 14.

Briefly, the setting for this story is this: Lot was the resident in Sodom and a foreign king came to Sodom, sacked the city, and took all the people into captivity. Now we start reading from the Scriptures, Genesis chapter 14, When Abram, or Abraham, heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and he went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

So that's a long journey. He's down near the Dead Sea, near Sodom, and he moves north to the top of Palestine, goes into Syria and he chases that foreign king clear beyond Damascus.

So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.

Now we're at the top of page 4. "And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him." Now we read about that in the passage from Genesis. Then it says, "Then Melchizedec, king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.'" And he gave him, speaking of Abraham, he gave him a tithe or one tenth of all that he had."

Now that's the portion we have back in Genesis. There's only one other reference to Melchizedec in the Scripture and it is found in Psalm 110:4. Here's the way it reads, "The Lord has sworn and will not relent, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedec." Now most Bible commentators agree that this verse is a prophecy concerning Christ.

Let me explain. When you read through the Psalms you'll often find a marking at the top of the chapter and it will say messianic Psalm. And what it is is a prophetic song written concerning the Messiah who is Christ, and thus, it's called a messianic Psalm.

Let me illustrate. If you go back to Psalm 22, the opening words of that Psalm are 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' Well immediately we relate those to the words that Christ said at the cross, and when you read through that messianic Psalm, you'll see that there are various parts of that Psalm that relate to the incident of the cross where Jesus died for us. So it's known as a messianic Psalm because it foretells of Christ, the Messiah.

So most Bible commentators say that Psalm 110 is also one of those messianic Psalms, and when you read the entire Psalm you'll see what I'm saying. But in that Psalm it says that 'The Lord has sworn and will not relent, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedec.'

Now, with this as our background concerning this mysterious ancient king and priest of the city later to be known as Jerusalem, now let's follow the argument that the writer to the Hebrews develops to prove the superiority of the priesthood of Christ over the priesthood of Judaism.

If you had the joy of being in a logics class in college or university, you learn that various cultures have various ways of formulating an argument and they go at it from different points. In Hebraic logic you start with the conclusion and then you prove why you had that conclusion.

Illustration - in Psalm 73 the writer says the Lord truly is a good God, that's his conclusion, but he says for me I went through deep and trying moments of life and I wrestled with this whole issue of His goodness, but the conclusion is God is good, and then he proves the goodness of God. Now here we have Hebraic logic, and what the writer is saying, I'm going to prove from history that the priesthood of Christ is far superior than the priesthood of the Jewish people.

Look at where he starts, Hebrews 7 - I'm in the middle of page 4 - "For this Melchizedec, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings (we read that) and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth of all, first being translated "king of righteousness," and then also king of Salem, meaning "king of peace," without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually."

Now there is much conjecture about who this Melchizedec was. Some insist that he could have been an angel who took human form for a while during the time of Abraham, but the priesthood was a human not an angelic function. And others suggest that He actually was not typically, but in reality Jesus Christ Himself, who took on a preincarnate form during Abraham's time. But Melchizedec is described as made like the Son of God, not as being the Son of God.

Let's just take the story as presented in our Bible as written, and accept the fact that Melchizedec was an historical human being, whose priestly ministry typifies that of Christ, a man whom God designed to use as a picture of Jesus Christ. But we cannot be sure of the details of his identity for those remain among the secret things that belong only to the Lord.

Let's pause here for a moment. For you that have studied the Scripture over time or over years, you've come to the conclusion there are just some things that are mysterious, some things you do not understand, and I recognize that. I'm very frank to say, if somebody asks me a question - What about this? - I say, I don't know. You know I had somebody come to me recently and say, Pastor, let's discuss Genesis 6:3. Well immediately I know what he's getting into, he wants to talk about who were the sons of God who came and married the daughters of men, and where did all those giants come from. And I said, I don't know! and furthermore I don't care! Because what happens when you take the mysterious things of Scripture and then try to give your own ideas about it, you end up with a lot of heresy.

And I'm just simple enough. If the Bible says historically Abraham went and chased the captors of Lot and brought everything back, and he comes by the city of Jerusalem and he's but a man called Melchizedec, I just believe Melchizedec is as historical as Abraham who met him and I leave the story there, but there is much we don't know about this Melchizedec. He comes on the scene of history, meets Abraham, gives him some bread and wine, blesses him, accepts his tithe, and that's all we know about him.

We go to David's writings a thousand years later and David says that the Christ will be in the order of Melchizedec. You come a thousand years after David, and you have the writer of Hebrews bringing up the subject again. I leave the secret things to God and say that there's something about Melchizedec that the writer wants to tell us, so go with me to page 5 and let's see what he has to say.

The writer of Hebrews tells us five things about Melchizedec's priesthood that was superior to the priesthood of Aaron and his descendents. Now remember, Paul is presenting this argument because he's trying to convince those Jewish people, don't go back to your ancient priesthood. I'm going to present Christ who is far superior.

(1) MELCHIZEDEC'S PRIESTHOOD WAS UNIVERSAL, NOT NATIONAL.
You see, the Levitical priesthood were priests of Jehovah. The Israelites were Jehovah's people and the Levites were Jehovah's priests. The Levitical priests could minister only to Israel and only for Jehovah. Now let me paint the picture for you: as far as the Jewish people were concerned Jehovah was their God and the only people that He loved were the Israelites, and the only arrangement He had for people to come to Him was through the priesthood of Judaism. They had a very narrow nationalistic concept of God. That was how they perceived God. But look at, Melchizedec, however, was priest of the Most High God, and if we're reading the Hebrew it's Elyon, which is a more universal name for God. He represents God as possessor of heaven and earth, God above all national and dispensational distinctions. The Most High God is over both Jew and Gentile, and is first mentioned in Scripture in relation to Melchizedec.

Now the significance is this: Jesus is not just the Messiah of Israel, He is of the world, and His priesthood is universal, just as Melchizedec's. Now this was an extremely important truth for the Jews who had come to Christ, as well as those who were considering putting their trust in Christ. To them, there was no other priesthood established by the true God but the Levitical priesthood, which was restricted as far as they were concerned just for them. And here they are reminded that their father Abraham, the first Jew, offered tithes to another type of priest. This priest served the one true God, but he lived hundreds of years before the Levitical priesthood came into existence.

It is significant that, immediately after his encounter with Melchizedec, Abraham spoke to the king of Sodom about the Lord God Almighty and he combines not only the covenant but the universal names of God in talking bout God.

I'm at the top of page 6.

The indecisive Jews were told, in effect, "Even your own Scriptures recognize a priesthood not only that is completely apart from that of Aaron, but that existed long before Aaron's." Now this was a powerful argument. What a surprising announcement to Jewish people who thought only Jehovah God dealt with them, loved them, set up a priesthood for them, and all of a sudden reference is made to Melchizedec and he refers to the God of the universe, the God who is the possessor of heaven and earth, and he has this expanded cosmic concept of Almighty God, and he's the priest of Almighty God who's the God of the universe. And the logic that Paul is using here is that you have a very localized, a very nationalistic concept of priesthood, I'm talking about Melchizedec who served the God of the universe, whose God was the possessor of heaven and earth, and thus his priesthood is far superior to that with the limitations of a national priesthood.

Let's go on: MELCHIZEDEC'S PRIESTHOOD WAS ROYAL.
Melchizedec was himself a king. We've been introduced to that fact. Four times in two verses he is referred to as a king. Melchizedec's universal priesthood and his royal office beautifully typify Jesus' saviorhood and His Lordship as the perfect priest and the perfect King. Now in the passage in Psalm 110, David looks forward to the Messiah who will be both Priest and King. And because Salem was an ancient name for Jerusalem, Melchizedec ruled over God's special city, His holy city that was always close to His heart.

We are not told when God first considered Jerusalem to be His holy city, but He had a faithful king who was a faithful priest there even in the time of Abraham many centuries before Israel's priests ministered there and Israel's kings ruled there.

Pause - something very interesting in the mind of a Jewish person...they had their prophet, they had their priest, and they had their king. The prophet was the speaker for God; the priest fulfilled the role of speaking to God for the people; and the king ruled, but never did you have a crossover. A king could never do what the priest was assigned to do. That was his duty.

You remember Saul who's king and he's waiting for Nathan, and it seems like the army needs to get going and so he makes a sacrifice, and then Nathan the prophet shows up and he said, Saul, What did you do? And he had to admit that he had made the sacrifice. And what happened? Nathan highly reprimanded Saul and took away his kingdom. You don't, as a king, have the right to serve as a priest. All of a sudden the writer to the Hebrews introduces Melchizedec, who's not only the king, but he's also the priest to the Most High God. And that's why there's that comparison between Melchizedec and Christ. Christ came to this world and He was announced as the King. He preached about His kingdom, and the Bible tells us that when He comes again upon His thigh will be the words King of kings and Lord of lords, and so we recognize Christ not only as our priest, but as our king. And that's why the writer to Hebrews says Jesus fills the role of Melchizedec in the order of Melchizedec whose priesthood was royal because he was a king. No priest on earth served as a king that I can remember of, because that would not have been according to his divine assignment.

Now let's go on down quickly to number three.

(3) MELCHIZEDEC'S PRIESTHOOD WAS RIGHTEOUS AND PEACEFUL.
There was no permanent righteousness or peace related to Aaron's priesthood. Melchizedec, however, was king both of righteousness and peace. His very name means "king of righteousness." Although we have no historical record of his monarchy, we are told that he ruled righteously and peacefully. Melchizedec, though king of righteousness and of peace, could not make men righteous or give them peace. Only the Divine Priest could do that.

Paul writes, "...having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ gives us peace by giving us righteousness. And what the blood of bulls and goats could not do, the blood of Jesus Christ did. Now follow his logic. He is saying not only is His priesthood universal, but I want to talk about His priesthood of righteousness. You couldn't go into a priest...you could offer your sacrifice, but that priest could never give you the gift of righteousness nor the gift of peace. You came time and time again to the priest and you made your sacrifice and you walked away.

What Paul is saying is I want to talk about a priest that when you come to His presence He not only forgives you, but He clothes you with His righteousness and He gives you that peace that passeth all understanding. No human priest can do that.

After the seven o'clock service this morning I had a lovely lady come to me and she was weeping and said, Can I talk with you just for a minute pastor? She said for many years I've been in and out of church and I have not taken Christ seriously, and in fact I just went on my way. And she said finally my family and my marriage fell apart. And she said for the last two years I've been living in absolute hell. And she said a few days ago I just simply said, Jesus, I'm sorry the way I've treated You. And I want You to forgive me.

She realized that at that moment even though she had ignored the Great High Priest for all these years, patiently He was there to sympathize with her. She was just weeping and said now I know I'm saved. I know Jesus has forgiven me of all of my sins.

Of course she was at our service this morning and she heard the message of Jesus Christ the Great High Priest. Not only does He forgive us, but He clothes us with His righteousness, and He gives us that peace. And that is what the argument of Paul is. You can't go to a human priest that can give you righteousness, but you can go to the eternal priest who ever of liveth to make intercession for you, and you can see His forgiveness. And His heart is filled with mercy and grace, and He doesn't hit us over the head with a 2 x 4, but His heart reaches out in love, forgiveness, and mercy, and grace, and then He clothes us with His righteousness.

My time is gone, but let me go just to the last one at the bottom of page 7.

(5) MELCHIZEDEC'S PRIESTHOOD IS ETERNAL.
The priesthood under Aaron was temporal. According to regulations laid down in the book of Numbers, a priest could only be a priest after 25 years of age and he had to stop being a priest at the age of 50. He could only serve 25 years maximum. That was it. They put him out and he was often placed in a smaller village and served in religious duties there, but he did not serve as a priest in the temple - only 25 years.

So here's the logic. He said, Why go to a priesthood that just keeps changing? I mean, they're here for short time and they're gone, they're here for a short time and they're gone; they keep changing. Why not come to the Priest who ever liveth to make intercession for us? He is eternal in the heavens. Time doesn't affect Him. He's there, and whenever we come He is available.

So now we understand why the writer to the Hebrews says Jesus is like or after the order of Melchizedec. A man we know nothing about his beginnings. We have no story as to how Melchizedec's life came to an end. All we have is this picture of one who is without genealogy, without mother, without father. We have none of that information in the Scripture, but his priesthood continues and continues, thus, the priesthood of our Christ.

He has ascended into the heavens and when you and I pray today and we just lift our voice and say, Jesus. We are in His presence. There's no veil that separates us. The throne room is wide open. His heart is filled with love and mercy. And the writer says we have a Great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

We have not a high priest that cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are. So let us come boldly into His presence because He waits for us to come. Amen? Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you for being our wonderful high priest. You paid the penalty and the sacrifice of Your own body. You shed Your own precious blood for our cleansing, and now You've ascended into heaven to ever make intercession to be our great Mediator, our Advocate, our wonderful God, our wonderful Priest. We thank you Jesus. Amen. God bless you folks.