Monthly Archives: December 2021

A BETTER SANCTUARY

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A BETTER SANCTUARY

Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being. Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If He were on earth, He would not be a priest for there were already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. (Heb. 8: 1-4).

Having established by a careful argument, that Jesus is a superior high priest to the Levitical priests by virtue of His sinless nature and His indestructible life, the writer now moves to the work of this high priest. He does not serve in the earthly tabernacle which is only a picture of the true tabernacle in heaven but in the heavenly sanctuary.

The phrase, “He sat down” has far more significance than that Jesus merely sat next to His Father. The work of the Levitical priesthood was never complete. There were no chairs in the tabernacle. When priests had finished ministering in the Holy Place, tending the lamp, offering incense on the golden altar and replacing the bread once a week on the altar of Showbread, they left the tabernacle because there was no place for them to rest.

Likewise in the outer court there were no chairs. Their work of offering sacrifices was never complete. They had to offer the morning and evening sacrifices as well as those prescribed for every person and situation in the camp. There was no time or occasion to rest. Only when the high priest had sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement and had returned to the outer court did he sit down, signifying that God had accepted the sacrifice offered for the sin of the people for another year.

Jesus sat down at the right hand of God in heaven by invitation and because His work was complete.

The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’ (Psa. 110:1).

There was special significance in sitting at the right hand of the one who had high rank.  The “right hand” is traditionally the strong hand.  To sit at the right hand of a king was to be given equal authority, equal dignity and equal honour with the reigning monarch.  

“The term “God’s right hand” in prophecy refers to the Messiah who is given power and authority to subdue His enemies (Psa. 110: 1; Psa. 118: 16). . . The fact that Jesus Christ is at “the right hand Of God” was a sign to the disciples that Jesus had indeed gone to heaven.”  http://www.gotquestions.org/right-hand-God.html

After the Lord had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God (Mark 16: 19).

To sit down at God’s right hand meant that Jesus was the Messiah as He claimed; His once-for-all sacrifice for sin had been accepted; His work was complete; He was given equal authority with God to reign over His enemies. He was, therefore, the true, legitimate and permanent high priest over the house of Israel.

But, as high priest, He had to have a sacrifice to offer. Since His priesthood was superior to that of the Levitical priests, His sacrifice had to be a better sacrifice than those of the Levitical priests. In what way? Better than the blood of animals which could only cover but not remove sin. Better than the blood of animals because they had to be offered over and over again.

His sacrifice had to be the blood of a sinless man and therefore able to remove sin once for all. Did Jesus qualify? Since He was not a priest in the order of Levi but in the order of Melchizedek, He did not offer animal blood in an earthly sanctuary but He offered His own blood in the heavenly tabernacle. Hence even the sacrifice He offered was superior to that of the earthly priests.

Everything Jesus did to deal with and do away with sin took place on a higher level than on earth. What happened on earth was nothing more than a picture of the real thing.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A PERFECT HIGH PRIEST

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A PERFECT HIGH PRIEST

Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sin, and then for the sins of the people. He was sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever (Heb. 7: 26-28).

What confidence we can have in our high priest!

Unlike the Levitical priests who went before Him, He does not have to offer another sacrifice, not for Himself or anyone else – “It is finished!” No one will ever succeed Him as high priest – He lives forever. No one is more qualified than He – He is the Son of God, no less. He is a perfect high priest in every way – holy, blameless, pure set apart from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

How can a Levitical high priest ever come anywhere near Him in fitness for their office?

When we consider Jesus, who He was, how He lived, what He did, what He said, how He treated people, how He loved and obeyed the Father, how He stood for and upheld the truth, how He suffered and died without resistance, how He rose from the dead, it is difficult to understand why His own people did not recognise who He was. Both then and now, how can they ignore the evidence? How can they reject Him, and refuse to acknowledge that He is both Son of God and their Messiah?

There can be only one reason – prejudice. They have been deceived. Prejudice and blind unbelief caused the religious leaders to reject Him and to crucify Him. They refused to examine the evidence. Today we have a world of people who would rather believe the lies that are being propagated about Him as a substitute for the truth and the unsubstantiated claims that are made about Jesus and His word, than search for the truth for themselves.

Take the claim from the Muslim world, for example that the Bible has been corrupted. On what grounds can such as statement be made and where is the evidence? It does not become true because someone said it. What about those who deny that Jesus is God? When the religious leaders rejected Jesus’ claim, He pointed them to the evidence.

For this reason they tried all the more to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5: 18).

This was His defence:

If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favour, and I know that His testimony about me is true. You have sent to John and He testified to the truth . . . I have testimony weightier that that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish – the very works that I am doing – testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning me . . . You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me (John 5:31-33; 36-37a; 39).

On what grounds, then, can we have absolute confidence in the high priest God has appointed on oath to stand before Him for us? Our confidence lies in the evidence and witness of who He is. Whatever people may say about Him, based on their refusal to believe the truth, Jesus is, in every way, a perfect high priest, both the Son of God and representative of the Father and the Son of Man and representative of humanity.

Unlike the Levitical priests who all died and were replaced, Jesus died and rose again, and lives forever in an indestructible body as both sacrifice and firstfuits of the resurrection. We have every reason to trust Him. His blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. He ever lives to make intercession for us.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A BETTER COVENANT

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A BETTER COVENANT

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but He became a priest with an oath when God said to Him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: You are a priest forever.’ Because of this oath, Jesus became the guarantor of a better covenant (Heb. 7: 18-22).

Why was the old covenant weak and useless? It had no power to effect what it required. There was nothing wrong with what God asked them to do. In fact, the law was a reflection of God’s character. He not only asked, He required that they obey His teachings because there was no other way to live that would satisfy His holiness. The problem did not lie in the measure or standard God set for His people but in their inability to carry it out.

Then there was a second problem – the priests who represented the people to God were just as unable to measure up to God’s standard as the people were. They were as sinful, rebellious and corrupt as the people they represented. God’s requirements were just and righteous. What He demanded of them was exactly according to who He was, but the whole system fell flat because of the corruption of the people’s hearts. They had no desire or power to do what God required.

God’s intention was never to accept them on the basis of their perfect obedience to the law because they couldn’t do it. The priesthood was His special gift of grace to show them His solution for their sinfulness. He provided blood sacrifices to atone for their sin, and a priesthood which would mediate for them so that God would accept their sacrifices.

All this was just a picture of what He had already done for them. Before He even put breath into the first human being, He had already provided His sacrifice – Jesus, the perfect lamb sacrificed before the creation of the world. He was the only acceptable solution to the problem of man’s sin. Every time an animal was killed and its blood sprinkled on the altar, the offerer was supposed to be trusting in God for the forgiveness of his sins because God’s lamb was the real sacrifice of which the animal was a picture.

So deeply was the nature of man corrupted that the people used their sacrifices as an excuse for sinning since they thought that, no matter what they did or how wicked they were, they could always offer sacrifices for their forgiveness. They thought that it did not matter how much they sinned. They could always offer a sacrifice and be forgiven.

Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning (Hos. 8: 11).

If the system was intended to provide a solution for the corruption of the people’s hearts, it was doomed to failure from the beginning. It could tell them what to do but it could never enable them to obey. It could only show up the depth of their sinfulness and bring the judgment of God down on them, priests and people alike.

God’s solution was already written into His book before man ever fell from his state of perfection. He had prepared another priesthood – not taken from among the people by reason of their ancestry, but one whom He sent from heaven to be a man, to uphold and live by His standards to perfection and then to die in their place as a sacrifice for sin. This priest would be raised to life again by reason of His sinlessness and become forever the high priest His people needed.

Why was Jesus, in the order of Melchizedek, the perfect replacement for the Aaronic priesthood?

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office but, because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Heb. 7: 23-26).

He is the high priest we need, and He is always in the presence of the Father to represent us before Him. Not only does He present His blood as the perfect sacrifice but He also provides the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts. We are no longer rebels but beloved sons and daughters, at home and at peace with the Father.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

AN IMPERFECT PRIESTHOOD

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AN IMPERFECT PRIESTHOOD

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood – and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood – why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests (Heb. 7: 11-14).

God established the Aaronic priesthood, according to the Law of Moses but, just like the sacrificial system of the Mosaic covenant, it served its purpose only for as long as the Mosaic covenant was in place. Our writer to the Hebrews indicated that, just like every other part of this covenant, it was temporary and would be superseded by a superior priesthood in the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’  (Psa. 110: 4).

The Aaronic priesthood was of the tribe of Levi. God took this tribe to serve Him in the temple in the place of the firstborn sons of Israel because it was this tribe that stood with Moses when the Israelites worshipped the golden calf at Mount Sinai.

The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, ‘You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and He has blessed you this day (Ex. 32: 28-29).

The Levitical priesthood was inferior to the order of Melchizedek for two important reasons.

1. They were part of a system that could only tell the people what God required of them but it could not enable them to obey. They were sinful and were required to offer sacrifices for their own sin first before they could minister to the people. The high priest was appointed from among them – he shared their weakness.

2. There was no continuing priesthood because every priest and high priest’s office was terminated by death.

God has already decreed that the Levitical priesthood would be replaced by another order, the order of Melchizedek which was a permanent priesthood. Jesus succeeded Melchizedek, and continues forever as our high priest because His priesthood would not be interrupted by death. God took Him right out of the Levitical priestly line and into the kingly tribe of Judah from which David descended.

In this rather obscure argument, the writer set out to show that Jesus is a superior high priest to theLevitical priesthood in every way. The Hebrew people looked to Moses as their authority for everything. It was time to move beyond Moses. Jesus is the fulfilment of everything Moses wrote about. He is the embodiment of the Torah, God’s instructions on how to live. He is the face of the Father. To see the Father, we look at Him.

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.’ (Heb. 7: 15-17).

Jesus is a perfect high priest and He is a perpetual high priest, not because He was descended from Aaron, but because He was appointed by God’s decree in the order of Melchizedek.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

GREATER THAN LEVI

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GREATER THAN LEVI

Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch, Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests, to collect a tenth from the people – that is, from their fellow Israelites – even though they also are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater (Heb. 7: 4-7).

Undoubtedly, the priesthood of Melchizedek is a higher office than the priesthood of Levi. Here’s the argument:

Levitical priests received tithes from the Israelites because they were the ordained priests of Israel, yet Abraham, who was the grandfather of Levi, gave a tenth of the spoils of war to Melchizedek. Instead of receiving tithes, Levi, in Abraham, was paying a tithe. That would make Melchizedek’s high priesthood of a higher order than Levi’s.

If Jesus’s high priesthood was in the order of Melchizedek and not Levi, of necessity that would make Him a superior high priest to Levi. That, coupled with the fact that He was no longer subject to death because He conquered death and rose from the dead, would make Him a high priest forever. He need never be replaced because He will never die again.

On top of that, He went through everything that human beings go through as part of this fallen world. He is able to support those who come to Him because He is always at the Father’s right hand, in the place of authority and power, to intervene on our behalf. He is, in every way, the high priest we need.

Those believers who were tempted to return to Judaism to avoid persecution ought, by now, to have realised that to go back to their old religion would not only be a backward step but also cause them to forfeit all the benefits of being in union with Jesus. They would have to return to all their unfulfilled desires with no hope of ever experiencing the fulfilment of everything their religion promised. If they rejected Jesus as their promised Messiah, there would never be another to fulfil all the prophecies that pointed to Him.

In the one case, the tenth was collected by people who die, but in the other case, by Him who is declared to be living. One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor (Heb. 7: 8-10).

The writer rounded off his argument that Melchizedek’s high priesthood was superior to Levi’s by pointing out that Levi did not receive but paid a tithe to Melchizedek when he was still in the body of Abraham. Therefore, Melchizedek was greater than Levi.

Why this lengthy discussion? The high priest played a significant role in the lives of Jewish people. Their approach to and acceptance by God was centred in the high priest. Without his ministry and intervention, they had no hope of contact with God because the high priest was the mediator – the go between. The Levitical priests offered sacrifices on their behalf so that they could have the assurance that their sins were forgiven and that they were acceptable to God. Without the Levitical priesthood and the high priest, they were cut off from God.

To have a high priest who would never need to be replaced because of death, and to have one who offered, not animal blood as a temporary measure to be repeated over and over again, but His own blood to remove sin once and for all, was far superior to what the Levitical priests could do. On top of that, Jesus was both God and man. He represented man to God and God to man. He was the perfect high priest in every way, sinless and deathless.

We Gentiles, who did not live under the system of the Old Covenant, might find it difficult to appreciate what this meant to Jewish people. Why is there such a longing to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem? Is it not so that they can re-establish the sacrificial system? Temple and sacrifices go together. Since they have, in the main, rejected Jesus as their Messiah, they need the animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin. And yet, because they have rejected God’s Lamb, there is no forgiveness for them since the sacrificial system has been fulfilled and replaced by Jesus.

To reject Jesus is to reject the only way to the Father. He is the way and there is no other way.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.