The Priesthood of Jesus
The Priesthood of Jesus
We think of Jesus as Lord and Savior, and it is right and good that we should do so for that He certainly is. However, scripture also teaches that He is our high priest. Our tendency to focus on His work at the cross can overshadow the magnificence of this role.
Let’s look together at Hebrews 7:11–25 (KJV 1900)
Hebrews 7:11 “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?”
To the writer of Hebrews I say, “Good question!”
The first thing I want to point out here is the word perfection. Why is perfection the goal of the priesthood? When I encounter the word perfection in the Bible my mind immediately goes to Matthew 5:48 which reads, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
This standard of perfection exists because God is perfect. If we are to relate to God, we must also be perfect. It would be easy to think that Almighty God could certainly allow us to communicate with Him and enjoy His beneficial care without us needing to be perfect. It’s true that He could, of course. However, God is love, and perfect love desires to be expressed and is made complete when it is willingly returned.
The Greek translated “perfection” here is τελείωσις, (teleosis), a completing, perfecting;
a. fulfilment, accomplishment; the event which verifies a promise (Lk. 1:45)
b. consummation, perfection, (see τελειόω, 3): (here in Heb. 7:11)
--Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
I point this out because it is the same root word used in John 19:30 when Jesus said “It is finished.”
So God desires more than simply a creator-creature relationship with us. He desires a willing love relationship. So closely does He intend us to be related with Him that He describes it in 1 Corinthians 6:17 as being made one spirit with Him. He gives us a shadow of this closeness in human marriage.
This type of closeness, spiritual union, requires that we be made compatible with Him. His plan that we become immersed in Him and He in us, requires it. Anything imperfect in union with the perfect God would necessitate either the destruction of the imperfect or the end of the perfection of God, which would mean that He would cease to be God.
We cannot qualify. We cannot make ourselves compatible with God. For this we need a great high priest. For this we need the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this finishing, this perfecting, this completion or fulfillment that the priesthood is designed to provide. When Jesus, from the cross, said, “It is finished”, it is in part this completion to which He was referring. His finished work on the cross is what made our compatibility with God possible.
Let’s read on in Hebrews 7:11 “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?”
The next phrase we encounter here is “for under [the Levitical priesthood] the people received the law.” I think this is an important detail because it’s easy for us to equate keeping the law with perfection. After all, the Hebrew scriptures say in Leviticus 18:5 (and several other places) “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in (or by) them: I am the LORD.”
Nevertheless, no one other than Jesus Christ has ever been able to keep the law. Peter knew that when in Acts 15:10 he said, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Paul agreed with him in 2 Corinthians 3:7 and 9 where he called the “letters engraved on stone” the ministry of death and condemnation. The only letters engraved on stone were the Ten Commandments handed down from God to Moses on Mount Sinai.
To deal with this problem many think that there is some subset of the ordinances of the law that must be kept and that somehow the other parts are done away with or can be overlooked. Paul disagrees. In Galatians 5:3 he said, “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.” James concurs. In James 2:10 we read that, “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” The law is a unit. It must all be kept, or it is broken.
From all this we see clearly that the law makes no one righteous. It cannot bring perfection. Scripture is clear about this. Romans 3:20 puts it this way, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Because the earthly priests could not make anyone righteous and perfect another priest was required. This priest had to be special in at least two important ways, however. Let’s look at the verse again.
Hebrews 7:11 “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?”
From the final phrase in this verse we learn that this new priest needed to be “after the order of Melchisedec” and not a Levitical priest like Aaron.
The beginning of Hebrews 7 gives us information about Melchisedec. Let’s quickly read Hebrews 7:1–3 “For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.”
Melchisedec had no beginning nor end of life. He was eternal and because he was eternal he could continue to operate as high priest eternally. Notice here that his name is King of peace and he was made like the Son of God. It doesn’t take great insight to see that this is speaking of Jesus. Melchisedec is what the scholars and theologians call a Christophany—an appearance of Christ in the Hebrew scriptures.
Still there is another important distinctive of this new high priest. The law stipulates that priests must come from the tribe of Levi. This rule was never violated. It was so important that God set up rules ensuring that the other eleven tribes would give ten percent of their produce to the Levites so that the Levites did not have to work. This allowed them to be completely dedicated to their duties as mediators between God and His people.
Jesus however, was born of the line of David who was of the tribe of Judah. Under the law, Jesus could not be a priest. That would break the law. For a member of the tribe of Judah to become a priest, a change to the law would be required. The next verses (12-14) of our passage in Hebrews 7 makes this clear. There we read, “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.”
Let’s read on now to get more of the picture in view.
Hebrews 7:15-17 (KJV) “And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
That sentence about “a carnal commandment” is a little difficult to understand, so I want to read it out of a different translation.
Here I am using the NIV because it communicates the idea most clearly.
Hebrews 7:15–17 (NIV) “And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’”
So profound is the change that the only way it could be done was by God. Since the law came from God, only God could change the law.
This high priest, we read, came about by the power of an endless life. The only eternal life that exists is the life of God. He alone has the ability to give life. John 5:26 puts it this way, “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” It is this power of God that makes possible this complete change in the law. Only God Himself could institute this change because the wages of sin is death. Only a perfect sacrifice could pay those wages. Only a perfect priest could make the people perfect and therefore compatible with God. Only God could change the law He handed down.
Now in verses 18 and 19 we find one of the most powerful statements in all of scripture about the law and our compatibility with God that makes personal relationship possible.
Hebrews 7:18-19 “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.”
Notice first that there is a disannulling of “the commandment going before.” The Greek here reads, “the setting aside of a former command comes to pass.” The NET Bible, (Biblical Studies Press, 2005).
The law was set aside. It was disannulled. The reason for this was that it was unable to make anyone perfect. Later, in Hebrews 10:1, we find this, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
What that means is that the law could not make anyone compatible with God. It could not make anyone righteous. It could not do what was necessary for anyone to have a relationship with God.
The tremendously good news is that while the law made nothing perfect, the bringing of a better hope did, and by that better hope (His name is Jesus) we are able to draw near to God.
Do you see it?
It is not through any law. It’s not through rules rites, rituals, or religion that we are able to have a relationship with God. It is through this better hope. It is through the Lord Jesus Christ, just as He told us in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Remember that this change was not made by us, it was made by God. Picking up reading Hebrews 7:20-22 we find, “And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.”
The Levitical priests got their office by the ordinances of the law and no oath was involved. Jesus is different. An oath was involved. It was an oath sworn between God and God. As we just read, it was an oath “by Him that said unto Him” that He was to be a priest forever. This quotes Psalm 110:4 “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek.”
Parenthetically, Psalm 110 is an excellent read that gives great insight into the promise of God about Jesus Christ.
God the Father swore an oath to God the Son. In Hebrews 6:17–18 we see this in greater clarity. There we read, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”
These two immutable (unchangeable) things are God the Father and God the Son. Father graciously swore this oath when changing the law. It was a huge and profound change in the way mankind relates to Him and He knew that we would find it hard to believe.
He swore this oath so that we would have strong proof that this hope He had presented was trustworthy. It is an anchor for our souls. When we find ourselves tempted by doubt, we can rest in the certainty that God cannot lie and that He has sworn an oath with Himself guaranteeing that His promise is fulfilled.
Picking up our study at Hebrews 7:23, let’s read through verse 25.
Hebrews 7:23-25 “And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
From these verses we learn a very important role that Jesus as our high priest plays. He makes intercession for us and His intercession on our behalf is eternal. Because of this, He saves us “to the uttermost.” Friends, we are saved completely. There is no vacillation over us in Christ Jesus.
There is never a time when we are partly saved, or out of Father’s good graces. We are 100-percent grade A pure, righteous, and blameless before God because this great High Priest has perfected for all time those who are sanctified, or set apart for Him. Hebrews 10:14 tells us this in so many words, “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”
The passage says that Jesus remains alive to intercede for us. This can seem contradictory to the idea that our salvation and righteousness before God is permanent and unchangeable. We do well to remember that while we live in a temporal environment governed by time, God is eternal. From this vantage point He sees all of time, past, present, and future.
The intercession of Jesus on our behalf is the same. It is natural for us to view this as Jesus stepping in on our behalf every time our attitudes and actions are, shall we just say, less than perfect. I think that perhaps there is a better way to think about this. The work Jesus did for us at the cross was the ultimate intercession. He said it Himself, “It is finished.” Jesus interceded for us in eternity, or as Hebrews put it in 10:14 that we read earlier, “by one offering he hath perfected forever.”
To us there is a lot of “when” to God there is simply “is.” He calls Himself “I AM.” And He calls things that are not as though they were. (see Romans 4:17) That is what is true in eternity. All we see is the temporal, so for us, Jesus always makes intercession.
