As Hebrews 5:1 tells us, a priest's role is to act on behalf of men in relation to God. To do so effectively He must be acceptable both to man and to God.
In the previous study we were concerned with His acceptability to us; in this our theme is His acceptability to God. For if He who takes up our case Himself has no acceptance with the One before Whom He pleads it, we are no better off, no matter how sympathetic He is.
Our Lord's acceptability with God is introduced at 5:10: "He has been designated by God a high priest" - as though, far from having to commend Himself to God for the priestly task, God has commended Him in it to us.
In one sense that is all that needs to be said. After that there is no argument. He is acceptable to God.
But the passage where the Lord's appointment by God to priestly office is affirmed contains a reference, an intriguing reference, to one 'Melchizedek.' By exploring that reference, our understanding of Christ's priestly worth is immeasurably enriched.
The Lord's priesthood is described on two models, that of Melchizedek, and that of Aaron. Aaron's is descriptive of His priestly work, and with that we shall be occupied in the next chapter. Melchizedek's is descriptive of His priestly worth - His person; that is what we are concerned with now.
There are three references to Melchizedek in Scripture:
1. Genesis 14:18 : where he met and blessed
Abraham.
2. Psalm 110: 4 : a Messianic psalm which Jesus emphatically referred
to Himself, Mk. 12:36.
3. Hebrews 6:20ƒ : here.
Psalm 110:4 reads, The Lord has sworn, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." It is altogether surprising to find in the Psalms, the Prayer Book of the Temple where the Aaronic priesthood was in office, even a bare mention of any other priesthood recognised by God. It suggests (Griffith Thomas, 'Dictionary of the Bible') "a consciousness, however dim, on the part of spiritually minded Jews, of something beyond and superior to the Aaronic priesthood" ... as though they sensed that the whole temple system, instituted though it had been by Moses, was somehow lacking, that there lay beyond it a reality far higher and superior to which it only pointed.
That is what our author focuses on. He finds this shadowy mysterious figure in Genesis and the Psalms ideally suited to his purpose, which is to persuade his Jewish readers to see Christ as a priest of an order higher by far than any priest of any earthly Temple.
Melchizedek is a teasing figure. The way he is referred to reminds you of a technique sometimes used in science fiction films to suggest a creature from another world: the figure is focused clearly at the centre, but blurred around the edges, suggesting mystery and otherworldliness.
No doubt, if pressed, our author would have readily admitted that the actual Melchizedek was a mortal man who lived and died in Abraham's time like any other. But the way he is mentioned in Genesis enables him to work up the silences into hints of mystery. It is skilfully done.
In the narrative Melchizedek appears out of the blue without introduction, and he disappears off stage without explanation. Like a character you meet in Episode 3 of a serial when that episode is all you have available to you, he has no traceable past and no discernible future. He is "without beginning or ending of days."
The effect is to convey the idea of a priesthood other than Aaron's, prior to it, and superior to it ... of the prototype of all priesthoods, in fact. The figure of Melchizedek suggests the essence of priesthood, shorn of all encumbering ceremonial detail. Our author is able to extract from the references to him in Genesis and the Psalms four qualities that belong ideally to priesthood as such, qualities which actual human priesthoods can only reflect like broken mirrors. Those inner realities are:
1. Royalty
2. Righteousness
3. Peace
4. Perpetuity
First He is a Royal Priest. The King is our Priest.
There is a thing here of profound significance which I must explain.
Four lines of Old Testament prophecy converge eventually on the person of our Lord.
1. The promise of a King, Messiah - to govern the world.
2. The promise of a Servant - to suffer for the world's sins.
3. The promise of a Prophet - to speak a higher truth than Moses.
We are familiar with the way these three are seen to combine in Jesus, though the Jews of old (and Jews today for that matter) never did see it. But in the references to Melchizedek our author sees a fourth ...
4. The promise of a Priest
As men looked for a King and a Prophet and a Servant to their needs such as never was on sea or land, so they looked for a priest. That instinct was reflected in the gifts the Magi brought to the infant Jesus - gold for a king, myrrh for a physician, and frankincense for a priest. There is in the human heart, of every clime and time and tribe, a dumb hunger for Someone who will not only bear rule over us and guide and serve us truly ... even suffer for us; but for Someone who will also put us in touch with God.
The history of Israel herself reflected that. The first mention of priesthood in Israel is at Mt. Sinai. It did not arise until after she had experienced deliverance, the prophetic word of Moses, and the healing experience of those early stages of their desert journey. A deliverer, a prophet and a healer they knew they had. But they needed more; they needed to realise their true relation to God and His Presence among them; and it was for that that the priesthood was instituted. Note that it rested on an already accomplished redemption.
It is interesting that the Hebrew Christians to which this epistle was first addressed were in much the same case. They knew Christ as their Redeemer, they knew Him as their Lord and King, they knew Him as their Saviour and their Healer - but still they were in danger of spiritual degeneration, as repeated passages in Hebrews show. They needed something more.
The something more they needed, which would establish them in their faith, was a realisation that Christ was also their Priest, Whose priesthood rested on the redemption already He had already accomplished. In the full understanding of that truth, our author knows, lies the secret of growth and maturity. That is why Christ's priestly ministry is the one upon which Hebrews lays emphasis. It is unique in the New Testament in doing so.
Christ is "all things unto us."
The ministry of the Prophet alone is not enough; the prophet represents God to man. That is necessary. But we need more. We need a ministry that represents man to God.
The ministry of a Saviour is not enough; for whilst a Saviour may deliver us, as Churchill may be said to have delivered Britain, we need a Governor to rule us when we have been saved, to preserve to us the safety and prosperity into which we have been delivered.
In the history of mankind the office of King (of temporal rule) and the office of priest (of spiritual rule) have always been separated. It was never safe to allow both in one man's hands, because of the weakness of human nature. Too much power corrupted.
But with Jesus it is not so. Such is His perfection that He can be trusted to exercise both sovereignties.
Kingliness belongs to His very nature because He is the Son of the King. But because He is the Son of the King who is God, He can bear responsibility for His people's spiritual well-being, as well as for our temporal well-being.
In all the world, Christ is unique in this. He takes our entire well-being upon Him as His burden and His care. He is both King and Priest. Royalty is essential to His priesthood.
But so is righteousness. The righteousness of God in the Old Testament is not exhausted by His moral perfection. It is seen in its full expression only when it is engaged in making others righteous also. So Isa. 53: "the righteous one my Servant shall make many righteous." God goes forth to save - that is righteousness in Him. Righteousness is an active quality, not a passive quality only.
This is the righteousness of which our Priest is possessed. He is not content to enjoy the fruits of His obedience in isolation; He would make them ours also.
Peace in the Bible means much more than the absence of hostilities, it means the enjoyment of well-being. molÐv - Shalom - is both personal and social.
It is the condition of persons when they are
at ease within themselves.
It is the condition of societies when their people are in harmony
with each other.|
It is the condition of the world when this good order is grounded in
the relationship that all enjoy with God.
Now the order and connection of righteousness and peace is clearly perceived in Hebrews.
Righteousness always comes first; so Isa. 32:16: "Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and peace forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest."
First comes righteousness as the content of our relationship with God, and then peace as the outcome of it in life.
There will never be peace in a family until
there is righteousness in its family life.
There will never be peace in society until there is righteousness in
it.
There will never be peace in commerce until there is righteousness in
it.
There will never be peace in industry until there is righteousness in
it.
There will never be peace among the nations until righteousness is
honoured among them.
If you have righteousness without peace law is upheld and sin punished; but if you have peace without righteousness law is ignored and sin condoned. Righteousness and peace combined both honour the law and pardon sin. That is the theme of praise in Psalm 85:10, where the resolution of the seeming incompatibility between the two is celebrated: "Mercy and truth will blend, righteousness and peace will kiss each other."
This is the peace Christ our Royal Priest has pledged Himself to achieve: a peace grounded down on righteousness.
Let this be the yardstick by which we measure all our purposes.
The lack of any reference to Melchizedek's ancestry in Gen. 14 (most unusual in the Old Testament, where the "begats" are so important!), is used in Hebrews to symbolise the perpetuity of Christ's Priesthood. As Melchizedek has "neither beginning of days nor end of life", so Christ is a priest forever, "in the power of an indissoluble life."
The old Aaronic priestly order was cursed with mortality. Its priests kept dying. But Christ, because He lives for ever, and is forever the same, holds His priesthood forever.
It is safe - it is there - this priesthood Christ has. Nothing can ever remove it, or weaken it, or alter it. Provision for our access to God can never be removed.
We must never say, "I am beyond redemption" - not because of anything that may be true of us, but because of what is true of Christ. He is "able to save to the uttermost ... all who come to God by Him."
Yield yourself to Him, to be conducted into intimate fellowship with God; it is for that that your spirit was created. It is your heritage. Sell it not for anything.
A sworn office.
God has sworn: "Thou art a priest forever."
The idea of God taking an oath is startling, even unnecessary. The only reason an oath is ever taken is to guard against doubt of a person's credibility. For God to take an oath, in His own Name, means that He is binding Himself to something so utterly unchangeable that it is woven with the very fibre of reality, and cannot change.
Whatever else in this world is uncertain, Christ's prerogative to save us, His purpose to save us, and His power to save us are all absolutely unalterable.
He is outstandingly ...
Authentic
Able
Adamant, and
Abiding
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