Chapter
7 Chapter 6 of Hebrews begins by saying: "Let us go on to perfection" and ends
by telling us that Jesus has already entered into that which is within the veil,
as a forerunner for us, made an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Thus
we get an introduction to this powerful chapter 7, in which Melchisedec is mentioned
by name 6 times, more than all the rest of the Bible put together. This is truly
the chapter of eternal priesthood of the Christ.
This man is mentioned
three times in chapters 5 and 6, but all that is said about him is simply that
Jesus was made an high priest forever "after the order of Melchisedec". Now in
the first 3 verses of chapter 7 we learn a great deal more about the man himself.
First of all, it says he was king of Salem, which is regarded as the original
site of Jerusalem. As a king, he was a man of authority. "Where the word of a
king is, there is power" (Ecclesiastes 8:4). And as it reads in the Amplified
translation: "For the word of a king is authority and power, and who can say to
him, What are you doing?" But he was not just an ordinary king. Abraham had just
defeated 4 kings in battle and rescued his nephew Lot when he met this king of
Salem. Hebrews 7:4 says: "Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even
the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils."
"Shem, Son of Noah?"
A question that has troubled the minds of many scholars is, just who was
this man, so great and yet mentioned only twice in the Old Testament? One thing
we know for sure, he was a man, not an angel, not a manifestation of God in human
form. He was a priest. Angels are not priests, men are priests.
The book
of Jasher is mentioned twice in the scriptures, Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18.
The word "jasher" is not a man's name, but a word which means "the upright and
righteous record". This is a historical book, not regarded in the same light as
scripture. I have a copy of this book and in chapter 16:11, in speaking of Abraham
meeting (Melchisedec) this king of Salem, it says "the same was Shem". In checking
this out with scripture, I found that it was entirely possible, for Shem, the
son of Noah was still living at this time. In fact, he was then the oldest living
man, Noah having died some years previous. Being the oldest patriarch alive, thus
the federal head of the human race and the priest of the most high God to the
family of God on the earth, he was the only man we know of alive at that time,
who was greater than Abraham. "The less is blessed of the greater", and Shem was
the only man alive qualified to bestow a blessing on Abraham. So is this Melchisedec
was a man, there is a strong possibility that he was Shem. Shem had come from
the other side of the flood. He was the only man alive who had not been born in
the age following the flood, and he outlived Abraham by many years. His great-grandfather,
Methuselah, was contemporary with Adam. So Shem was not far removed from the mysteries
of God in Eden.
The name Shem, like Jesus, speaks of his humanity or being
a son of man. But "Melchisedec" means "King of Righteousness", and as such, he
is made like unto the Son of God. This speaks of his eternal quality, his undying
priesthood. We have no proof that the man Melchisedec (or Shem) is still alive.
As a man he is dead. But the "order of Melchisedec" is still God's order of priesthood,
and it is an eternal order. Of the 11 times his name appears in the Bible, 7 times
it says: "after the order of Melchisedec", and once "after the similitude of Melchisedec".
So it is not the man God is telling us about, but the order of his priesthood.
With that firmly in mind, let us examine this 7th chapter and see what is in store
for us in this order of priesthood behind the veil.
Jesus Alone?
There
is a great deal said in this chapter regarding the difference between the Levitical
priesthood, which was passing away, and the priesthood of Christ. The reason for
the writing of this book of Hebrews was that many of the Jewish Christians were
still going through the ritual of the law of Moses, blood sacrifices, etc. The
priests who were believers and filled with the Holy Ghost, still felt they had
a ministry under the law, in the Levitical priesthood. "And the number of the
disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith." (Acts 6:7). "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands
of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law." (Acts 21:20).
This allegiance to the Levitical law had to be smashed. They had to be shown a
greater priesthood, one in which the believers were involved.
But what
about this Melchisedec order? It is obvious that when it speaks of this priesthood,
it refers to the Lord Jesus, the son of God. Where does that leave us? In Him!
For in Hebrews 10 he says: "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body
hast thou prepared me." Yes, God gave Jesus a physical body to offer up, once
and for all, as atonement for all our sins. But more than that, He makes it plain
to us that the body of Christ is not just one man, but many (1 Corinthians 12:12).
The Many Membered Son
"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone". (John 12:24). But Jesus did not intend to abide alone.
That is why He died at Calvary. To pour His life, His blood, into this earth.
Thus a way was made for the sons of Adam to be cleansed from their carnal nature,
and to become a part of the body of Christ. It is that body of Christ, in it's
fulness, with Jesus as the Head, that makes up the many-membered son of God. Hebrews
2:10 says He is "brining many sons unto glory".
The life of Adam can never
enter this kingdom. It is only that which was eternally pre-existent in God, that
returns back to God. There is a false doctrine which teaches a conscious pre-existence
for all the sons of God before the world began. This is not what the Bible teaches.
The true teaching is given here in Hebrews 7.
Abraham was Levi's great-grandfather.
At the time Abraham met Melchisedec, Levi's grandfather Isaac had not even been
born. Yet the Bible says that Levi was in Abraham's loins, and thus Levi was given
credit as paying tithes to Melchisedec. Verses 9 and 10 say "Levi also, who receiveth
tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when
Melchisedec met him."
The blood that flowed in Abraham's veins contained
the life that would one day produce Isaac, and through him, Jacob and Levi. Levi
was not a conscious entity. But he was alive, as it were, in the bloodstream of
Abraham. As I tell my children: "When your dad was a paratrooper, and made twelve
parachute jumps, you were all there and jumped with him, for you were at that
time in his bloodstream". But only through union with my dear wife could that
life become real sons and daughters. Do you see what I'm getting at? The sons
of God leaped for joy and the foundations of the world, for He leaped for the
joy that was set before Him, and we were in His bloodstream. His life produced
us as real sons and daughters. And it is so important that we recognize that Jesus
was virgin-born, that He did not get His blood from Adam. His blood came from
God the Father, and this is why His life is eternal. It is this eternal life that
He came to give us. That is why His blood had to be poured out upon the earth.
Not because God is a blood-thirsty tyrant insisting on a blood sacrifice. But
because only through union with mother earth could He bring forth sons and produce
out of that which is earthly, a divine company in His own image. Adam's blood,
life, nature has to go. It cannot enter the kingdom of God. Our life from Him
is eternal.
An Indestructible Life
Verses 11 through 15 tell us
that we cannot be perfected by the Levitical priesthood, therefore another order
of priesthood must arise. Jesus is the high priest of this new order. Therefore,
since the priesthood is changed, there is also of necessity a change of the law.
The old law did not get priests from the tribe of Judah. That law is changed.
So therefore in this new order it does not matter what tribe, nationality, or
race you belong to. Only that you belong to Christ. And in Christ there is neither
Jew or Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female. So here is a spiritual order of
priesthood that does not eliminate the women, as did Moses' law. Then in verses
15 and 16 the glorious statement is made that another priest arises after the
similitude of Melchisedec who is made "after the power of an endless life". In
the RSV translation it says he has become a priest "not according to a legal requirement
concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life." In the
Phillips translation we find the statement: "From the power of indestructible
life within." And the New English Bible states: "the new priest who arises is
one like Melchisedec, owing his priesthood not to a system of earthbound rules
but to the power of a life that cannot be destroyed". And the Amplified Bible
says he "has been constituted a Priest, not on the basis of a bodily legal requirement--an
externally imposed command concerning His physical ancestry but on the basis of
the power of an endless and indestructible Life." Glory to God for life that cannot
be destroyed!
Is it Jesus alone who has this indestructible life, or does
He share this with His body? He said in John 17:22, "And the glory which thou
(Father) gavest me I have given them." Now doesn't the Bible say somewhere that
God will not give His glory to another? Yes, in Isaiah 48:11 where He is speaking
about idolatry and Babylon. But beloved, you are not "another". You are bone of
His bones, and flesh of His flesh. You are His body, His beloved. And He has given
His glory and His eternal life to you. Bless His name!
Aaron's Rod that
Budded
After the judgment upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Numbers 16,
we find the Lord God settling the matter as to who constitutes His priesthood.
In chapter 17 we find the Lord instructing the prince of every tribe to bring
his rod to the Tabernacle of witness. Every prince has his name written upon his
rod. These rods were representative of their ministry, their authority. Every
one of them were dead dry sticks that once had been part of a living green tree.
On the morning, every rod was still a dead dry stick, except Aaron's rod. Verse
8 says that: "the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth
buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." "And the Lord said unto Moses,
Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the
rebels." Over in Ezekiel 10:37-38 we read: "And I will cause you to pass under
the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; And I will purge
out from among you the rebels."
Now that rod was kept in the Ark of the
Covenant in the tabernacle of Moses. But when the temple was built, the permanent
resting place for the Ark, the manna and the rod were not to be found. 2 Chronicles
5:10 says there was nothing in the Ark save the 2 tables of stone. What happens
to this rod of priesthood, the one that speaks of resurrection life, when God's
eternal house is finished? Revelation 2:26-27 lets us know that it is given into
the hand of the Overcomer, that great body of saints who have come into the likeness
of Christ. They rule and reign with Him. And their ministry is a priesthood brought
forth in the power of an indestructible life.
Jesus is the Guarantee
How
do we know for sure that the body of Christ will come into all that we have been
talking about? We have a guarantee. We read in Hebrews 7:22 (Amplified): "In keeping
with the oath's greater strength and force, Jesus has become the guarantee of
a better (stronger) agreement--a more excellent and more advantageous covenant."
As a forerunner, He has entered into all that He has promised for us. The Phillips
translation says: "And he is, by virtue of this fact, himself the living guarantee
of a 'better' agreement".
Look at Him! Behold the son of God! "As He is,
so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17). He is the head of the body, the pioneer,
the captain of our salvation, the author and the finisher of our faith. He is
the pattern Son. It is strange to me that no one seems to mind admitting that
they are like their father Adam. But very few want to talk about being like the
Son of God, conformed to His image. They seem to think that either this is impossible
with God, or that He does not desire it for us. But I say to you by the word of
the Lord, that He has declared this to be His purpose for us, His body. And nothing
is impossible with Him!
Bread and Wine
As we look in Genesis 14
at the first mention of this ministry, we find him bringing forth bread and wine
as he blessed Abraham. These are the elements that speak of the body and blood
of Jesus Christ, the very things He gave His disciples at the last supper. "This
is my body, take eat. this is my blood, drink ye all of it." These things were
never brought forth during the 3 ½ years earthly ministry of Jesus. Only
at the time of Calvary were these elements ministered to the disciples. This tells
us that this ministry of Melchisedec will be ministering the life of the crucified
and resurrected Christ.
Jesus could not bring forth sons of God in His
own image until after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. For until
He ascended, He could not pour out His Spirit upon them. "For the Holy Ghost was
not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). "But you
have received the Spirit of adoption--the Spirit producing sonship" (Romans 8:15,
Amplified). You see, everything brings forth after it's own kind. Cattle bring
forth more cattle, birds bring only more birds, vegetables produce vegetables
and Adam can only bring his own nature into being upon the earth. So Jesus came
to bring into being a new race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar
people. He was "the beginning of the creation of God". "If any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation." But He did not choose to have this race in the image of
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of man in his limited humanity. He chose to wait until
after His glorification before pouring His Spirit upon us to produce sons. Thus
he brings "many sons into glory". But these are "sons of God", conformed to the
image of the Son of God. Sons of His resurrection, of His eternal glorified state!
In Revelation 21:7 Jesus says that "He that overcometh shall inherit all things,
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son". Son of God! Who? He that overcometh!
"The Rod of Thy Strength"
Except for the Genesis account, the only
other place in the Old Testament that Melchisedec is mentioned is in Psalms 110:
"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou
in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,
the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy
youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, THOU ART A PRIEST FOREVER AFTER
THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings
in the day of his wrath."
Notice in this beautiful passage all the words
relating to the end-time. "Until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (see Hebrews
10:13). "Thy strength out of Zion" (Psalms 102:21 with Hebrews 2:12 show us that
Zion speaks of the sons of God). "Rule thou", "in the day of thy power", and "in
the day of his wrath". All these in the passage concerning Melchizedek.
The
sons of God, in the image of the pattern son, become the rod of His strength.
Just as Jesus was, in His ministry here on the earth. They shall rule, with Him,
in the midst of their enemies until every enemy has been put under their feet.
"Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Yes, the will of God will
be done on this earth as it is in Heaven. And the Kingdom of God shall come to
this earth. Of this there can be no doubt, no argument.
"The Lord strike
through kings in the day of his wrath". This is not speaking of earthly kings,
prime ministers, presidents, mayors, etc. It is speaking of the rulers of the
age of darkness, the principalities that shall be smitten and destroyed. The strong
man of this age shall be bound, and his house shall be spoiled.
The King-Priest
Ministry
"There is authority in the word of a king". In the Levitical order,
kings could not intrude into the priest's office, and priests could not sit on
the throne. Levi produced the priests, and Judah produced the kings. But a new
order has arisen in Jesus Christ. He is a king-priest. And He has made us a kingdom
of priests, a "royal priesthood". Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 tell us that he hath
made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. He is
king of kings. Glory to His name!
There were times in Israel when the priests
saw the need, but because of a wicked king, they could not minister in the temple
of God. So the doors were shut, and filth accumulated in the holy place. They
saw the need, had the desire, but did not have the authority. So it has been with
so many ministries. But not so with the Melchisedec order. They have the ministry
of the priest of compassion, and the authority of the king. What a glorious time
of restoration for the earth! All things will be set in order. By the church will
be seen the eternal wisdom and glory of our God! All creation shall rejoice, because
they shall be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God, delivered
from the bondage of death and corruption.
The balance of chapter 7, from
verses 23 through 28 goes to prove the eternal quality of the priesthood of Christ.
No use to depend on the Jewish temple anymore, no more sacrifices of bulls and
goats to offer. Christ has replace all other orders, and God will no longer recognize
any other sacrifice as valid or effective. You are wasting your time, Jewish Christian,
dabbling with the law of Moses. It is dead. Only in Christ is there life, and
forgiveness of sin. Only through Him can this life and eternal ministry be shared
with humanity. For "you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might
be rich."
Press on, sons of God! Press on to the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. Ye are called to be a royal priesthood, a king-priest company of
the Melchisedec order. As we go on to chapter 8, we sum up what God has been saying
about a better priesthood, a better tabernacles, and a better covenant. Our God
is great, and His plan is generous, rich and magnificent! Hallelujah!
Bill
Britton Hebrews the book of better things