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Bro. Otis Fisher
The rest of this epistle to the Hebrews deals with the Living Christ, who is at this moment at God's right hand, having inherited that seat. He's a subject that in reality the Church has not talked much about.
They talk a great deal about his death and resurrection, but we need to move on to the Living Christ. The writer to the Hebrews is going to make a comparison and contrast of the priesthood of Melchizedek and the priesthood of Aaron.
We're in the seventh chapter, in case you didn't get it, but will someone make a record of that? You and I are living in the day of Jesus' priesthood, Genesis 14, 18, 19, and 20, is the only place that we find this man mentioned, Melchizedek.
He played an extremely important role. First verse, chapter 7, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him.
The little word for, that's the cement that holds everything together. It ties what he has said to what he's going to say. That Melchizedek was a character of exceeding dignity, not only from the statements in Genesis, but this chapter.
Now there's been a lot of speculation, many people have written many books on the personality of Melchizedek, and I'm here to tell you no man has lifted that veil. Nobody knows. He just comes on stage, does his part, and then disappears.
He is a priest king, king of Salem, which the archaeologists have proved that this is Jerusalem. Second verse, To whom also Abraham gave a tenth of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
Now the very interesting thing is that when Melchizedek came out, he brought with him bread and wine. I believe that these Old Testament saints observed the Lord's Supper 2 ,000 years, 2 ,500 years before Christ was born.
There's no mention of it anyplace else, but I believe that's what they did. They were looking forward to the coming of Christ 2 ,000 years before he came. Today you and I meet and partake of the bread and wine, looking back to the coming of Christ who 2 ,000 years ago came as a baby.
They celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Don't ask me to explain it now. I can't. I'll just call your attention to it. This is something before which we stand in profound wonder and worship. This is where faith treads on the high places.
Yes. Yes. That's right, and he came to prove another point, that all of the priests were descended from Aaron. Here's one that is not descended from Aaron. This is what Jesus Christ had in mind. He did not descend from Aaron.
He could not have been an earthly priest. I don't think so. Let's just make him a man. He come on and he went off. We don't know anything about his lineage, his mother and father. We don't know anything about his death.
All we know is he came, ministered Abraham, and then left. But it established that there is a priest, king, prophet coming that's not of the line of Aaron. Three, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like, and notice that word like, he's not the son of God, but was made like unto the son of God, abiding a priest continually.
There's been many writers think that this was sham. That's not true. The inspired record takes no notice of any of the things of his life. This was designed by the Holy Spirit that his priesthood might so typify the priesthood of Jesus the Christ in a double way.
First, as to the Lord's human nature, as being a priest of another order, who must always be able to show their descent from Aaron. All of the priests could establish their descent from Aaron. Secondly, as to his divine nature, as being in the highest sense without any of these limitations.
We know nothing about Melchizedek. But Christ is coming like him. That the apostle describes Melchizedek, the type in terms which in the full meaning hold good only of Jesus the Christ. He's the only one that everything fits.
As a priest making a real and perfect atonement for sins, stands alone in divine majesty, grandeur, and glory. All other priests were only types, emblems, and shadows of him, which when he appeared they vanished away.
Fourth verse. Now, consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of his spoils. I'm sure that Abraham, through conversation or something, must have known a little bit more about Melchizedek than is recorded.
Maybe the Holy Spirit revealed it to him. I don't know. Melchizedek in his priesthood was above Abraham. How do we know that? How do we know that Melchizedek was higher than Abraham? Greg? Right. As a rule, you can always, looking at the scripture, the higher one blesses the lower, never the other way.
Now in the world it's different than that, but in the scripture, that's the way it is. Now, a word about Abraham's tithing. God made it clear at the very early date, 2 ,500 years before the law, that his people should give him a portion of their income.
Tithing was ordained 25 years, 1 ,000 years, before the law was given. When we give to him, we are recognizing his ownership and his sovereignty. Now, his sovereignty. David, what do we mean by Christ's sovereignty?
Right. Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the king. Abraham is the father of all who believe. Now, not just the Jew, but Gentiles also. All who believe. And he gave tithes to Melchizedek. So he must give to our great high priest also.
That's Jesus. Five. And verily, they that are the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham.
The law allowed Aaron and the other priests to take tithes of the brethren that sprung from Abraham. But Melchizedek received tithes of Abraham. So he must have been higher than Abraham. He was not of the line of the Levites.
And consequently, it is evident that Christ Jesus is greater than all. Now, try to hold everything in perspective. We have Abraham. Melchizedek comes on the scene. He gives tithes to Abraham. Melchizedek is not of the line of Levi.
But he stands alone. So does Christ stand alone. Now, Melchizedek blessed Abraham. He is therefore greater than Abraham. Because he that blesses is greater than the one blessed. Six. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promise.
Melchizedek was a Gentile. Jews don't like to hear that. And he was greater than Abraham. Today, turn to 2 Timothy 4 .3, if you will, please. Greg, will you read 4 .3 and 4 for me, please? It's becoming more and more real to us.
I'm convinced that believers should give no less than one-tenth. We're not commanded to give the tithe. But he did put it on the individual before it was a national thing. We're to be led by the Holy Spirit.
Now, do you give your tithe? You pay your tithe. We can't give anything to God. But do you grudgingly pay it like you do the water bill? If so, then you'll not see the hand of God when he blesses you.
If God gave to us in the same manner that we give to him, what would we have? Our tithe should not be made just to the Church. But with the idea in mind, this is the Lord's. My tithe is the Lord's. I funnel it through the Church.
But really, it belongs to Jesus. But, Jesse, does he need the money? No. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. The less is blessed of the better. That the superior blesses the inferior is a general way of doing it.
Abraham was blessed to Melchizedek. Therefore, Melchizedek was greater than Abraham. The blessing here spoken of is not simple wishing you well and so forth. That's not what we're talking about. Eight.
And here men that die receive tithes. But there he receives them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. However much one man may be elevated above another, or however sacred the employment to which he may be called, he must die.
Man lives for a long time in cases, but they die. And with all others stand at the bar of judgment to give account of the things that they've done while in this life. Not while in the next life, but in this life.
And as I may say, Levi also. Now this is the man, Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes, in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now, here's a great truth. I touched on this once before.
Let me see how well you remember. Dennis, before you were born, your mother and father moved someplace. Did you move? He doesn't remember. Well, you moved because you were in them. Do you see that? Do you see that?
Okay. So you moved, even though you weren't here, you moved because they had you in them. Now, their grandparents moved. You moved because you were in your grandparents. Now, take a giant step backwards.
Do you see how we were all in Adam when he sinned? You can't escape it. You were in Adam. Adam carried the seed of everybody in him when he sinned. Take another giant step backwards. We're going to leave Adam over here.
We come back to the present, and we go back. Spiritually speaking, you were in Jesus when he died. Romans 6, 3,. Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Baptized means placed into. We were placed into. We didn't do it. The Holy Spirit did it, but I was in Jesus when he died. I just think that's so great. Our souls, our vessels, comforts, expectations, graces, and happiness are the precious cargo with which our vessels are loaded.
Heaven is our harbor of destination in which we shall sail. The temptations, persecutions, afflictions that we encounter are the wind and waves that threaten shipwreck, and they make us stronger. Any word from anybody up to this point?
Verse 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 Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron?
What's the reason of Melchizedek? Greg, why? Help him out, David. Why Melchizedek? Why did he come on the stage for a while and disappear? What purpose does he play? That's right. I was looking for him.
Dennis, will you come up and see that? I don't know if I have enough for everybody, but at least each family gets one of these. This is the tabernacle of which the Levitical priests were working. So, Melchizedek come on the scene, and he established the fact that there was a different order someplace.
Now, why was the law given? Why was it presented to man, Jesse? Absolutely. We don't need to go any further. That's it. To show us our sin. If the law had never been given, would you know if you sinned?
No. You wouldn't know. You don't know today that you sin against some laws because they haven't been written. If the law was not written, you would not know your sin. Well, first, for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the law also.
Now, Paul's going to explain why there had to be a change. Could the sacrifices of the Levitical priests ever forgive sin, Greg? No way. So the blood of an animal really cannot suffice. But that's all they knew.
That's what they had to do. But there is made of necessity a change also of the law because there's something greater coming. The very essence of the Levitical law consisting in its sacrificial offerings, and as these could not confer perfection, to slay a lamb or an animal even once a year, could not bring perfection to you.
Can the law today that we observe in this free country, can the law make you perfect, Greg? No. All it can do is say you shouldn't do that. It could not reconcile man to God, purify the unholy heart, nor open the kingdom of heaven to the souls of men.
Consequently, there had to be another way. It must be abolished. It had fulfilled its part according to the order of God himself, not man. God ordered and ordained the new way. For he said sacrifice and offering and burn offering and sacrifice for sin he would not.
In Hebrews 10, 5, jumping ahead, wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me, speaking of Jesus, above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hath pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
The Mosaic law and the priesthood of Aaron go together. Those two just fit like they're supposed to, but we've gone on beyond that now. For he whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the altar, Melchizedek.
We don't know anything other than that about him. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood. Judah didn't have anything to do with the priesthood.
Levi did. Our Lord came from the line of Judah. He could never, never be an earthly priest. I hope you're staying with me through this. Jesus could not be an earthly priest, yet he was a priest. And it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises another priest.
Jesus literally manifests before the eyes, is what he means, as a thing indisputable, a proof that whatever difficulties may now appear with Jesus, the genealogy of Jesus is not in question. He did not come from Levi.
He came from Judah. Sixteen, who is made? He was made. Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Now, he was made after the power of an endless life. We're getting closer and closer to his telling us he is the eternal life, not an earthly descent.
Appointed to this high office by God himself, Jesus inherited. We talked about inherited once before. You had to live. You had to live in this world. You had to die to inherit. Jesus died and inherited the high priest's office.
He sat down on the right hand of God. Was that, Greg, did he do that because of what he did or because the Lord told him to sit down? Right. Not because of what he did. You owe me this office. Not at all.
The Lord, the Father, told Jesus to sit down, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Appointed to this high office by God himself. Not succeeding one that was disabled or dead according to the law or ordinance directed to weak and perishing men who could not continue by reason of death.
Every priest that ever served died. That's why he couldn't stay in the Holy of Holies. He had to come out and die. Jesus left this earth, went into the Holy of Holies, the real Holy of Holies. Does he have to come out because he dies?
No. Does he ever have to come out? For he testifies, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This is proof that he was not appointed according to a carnal commandment. Jesus was not appointed that.
But according to the power of an endless life because he is a priest forever. One that never dies and is never disabled from performing the important functions of his office. For he be a priest forever.
He is forever. Jesus became a priest by his resurrection. He has the eternal life. It was because he was resurrected. For there is verily a dishonoring of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
The mosaic system could never give what man must have. Now, think about man for a moment. What is it that we must be before we can enter heaven? Jesse? All right. We must be born again. Can I give you a clue about that?
That that man lacked, he provided, but it was perfection. We have to be perfect. Now, can you be perfect on your own? No. I don't care who you are, how good a life you live, you're not perfect. And you have to be before you can go live with God forever.
So in Jesus we acquire that. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. By which we draw nigh unto God. It is in Jesus the Christ that we can grow nigh or near unto God.
There is no power in a law. The law simply lets you know right and wrong. It has no power. I hope you can see that. There is no power in any law, any place, any time. No time. God has taken us, the elect, out of Adam and placed us into who?
Jesus the Christ. It is because of what Jesus did, the human did. And inasmuch as not without an oath, he was made priest. Still another argument here to show the superiority of Christ's priesthood to that of Aaron and his sons.
They did not take the office with an oath. The added dignity of the oath shows the superior magnificence of the priesthood. This is what Jesus did. For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him that saith unto him, The Lord swear and will not repent.
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The reason Melchizedek is used is because it is a man that we can see and get a hold of. The Lord swear and will not repent. Hence also it appears that his is an unchangeable priesthood.
By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Jesus was made a surety or a mediator. The word covenant frequently occurs in the remaining part of the book. The original word means either a covenant or a last will and testament.
St. Paul takes it sometimes in the former, sometimes in the latter, sometimes in both. And they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of what? Death. They died. They had to get another one.
Aaron finally died. Why did he die, David? That's right. Each one died. But this man, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. He is our high priest forever. If this verse were not so, we would lose our salvation.
Jesus died once for all. If it were not for him, I'd go to hell. 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.
That verse ought to be framed. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him. Again we have this little hinge upon which a great door swings. It swings back to what has been before and ahead to what is coming.
He ever liveth. It says first of all that Jesus Christ is not dead, but he's living right now at this very moment. At this moment he's alive. A man in heaven. I can't any more than say the words of that.
But it's actual. It's true. He is in heaven. You will be saved until you don't need to be saved any longer. Those that come to God by him, you see it's by him that we come. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Everything he does is right, and he does everything righteously. We shall be saved by his life. We're going to be saved. We're in the process of it now. It's the same as ours, except we're not saved yet.
We will be saved. How wonderful to know we have a living Jesus. You're not alone, my friends. It is just baby stuff to sit down here and cry one to another. Oh, my, my. I have so many problems. I'm the only one that has these problems.
For such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. He is higher than as far as you can see. Who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins.
Did Jesus have to offer a sacrifice for his own sins first? No. And then for the people's. But this he did once, and he offered up himself. The continual sacrificing in the Old Testament must have gotten pretty old, pretty tiresome.
If you can imagine, they had many, many priests. I listened one day to two of them talk, and one says to the other, I don't care how many times you've been here today. He's at the labor washing. He's washing his hands, his feet.
Well, the other one says, I don't know. I'm sure I've been here at least a dozen times. The other would reply, well, I've been here 15 times. I've washed my hands here so many times that I've got dishpan hands.
This is what they did over and over and over and over. And look at my feet. They look like I've been standing in water all day. I'm so tired of going to that altar and offering sacrifices again and again and again and again.
I want to tell you it must have been pretty wearisome. If Aaron had overheard them, I think he would agree. He said, I agree with you that this ritual gets tiresome, but do you know what God's trying to tell us?
He's trying to tell us that someday there's one coming that will shed his own blood, offer himself as a sacrifice, and go into the Holy of Holies. We won't have to do this any longer. 28, for the law maketh men high priests.
The law made him that which hath infirmity. Every person that ever become a priest, and they picked out the very cream of the crop, but every one of them had an infirmity. First they were sinned. But the word of the oath which was sent the law maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore.
For us to observe the law or any part of it, thinking that by it we shall be saved, is blasphemy against God. Jesus kept the law for us. Jesus did not keep the law for us. He is keeping the law, not for us.
He is sitting at the right hand of God, not for us. He is interceding, not for us. Jesus does all of these things, but not for us. It's all for the Father, and it benefits us. But it's not for us, it's for the Father.
I wish I could teach that in a powerful way, that it is not for us. He did not die for me, but it benefited me. Yes, everything he has done or everything he shall do is for the Father. I'm so glad that it's for him, not for me.
But it benefited me. Anything you'd like to ask or discuss, have four minutes. Well, I take it you all will be ready for your test next week. Let's stand and then dismiss, please.