Genesis #16 - The Gospel According to Abraham #6 - "Making Sense of Melchizedek"

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preaching of God's Word. And this afternoon, we continue on in our sermon series that we've been in called
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The Gospel According to Abraham. The Gospel According to Abraham. Tiffany, would you mind grabbing my phone for me, please?
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Just in the front there. Thank you. The Gospel According to Abraham. We've been working our way, thank you so much, through this sermon series, looking at the life of Abraham and looking at the grace of God that is shown in the life of Abraham.
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And we come this afternoon to another brief detour in our series.
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I promise not to make too many of these. But as we began studying last week, we met this character called
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Melchizedek in chapter 17. And I promised that I would get into more detail about who he is, at least what the
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Bible tells us, and more importantly why he is important. So we're going to do that this afternoon.
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And so if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, take them and turn with me not to Genesis, but to the book of Hebrews.
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The book of Hebrews in chapter number seven. Hebrews chapter number seven, if you will, please.
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We will actually come back to this text later on in our message. Hebrews in chapter seven, if you grabbed one of the
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Bibles that we give away in the back, that's page 1064. Hebrews chapter seven, page 1064 in the red hardback
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Bibles we give away. Hebrews chapter seven, it'll become evident why we're reading this passage once we get started.
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So Hebrews chapter seven, and we will read the entire chapter. I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's Word as we read this portion of God's Word, as you're able.
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Hebrews chapter seven, beginning in verse one.
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Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. For this
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Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God most high, met
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Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings. And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.
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First, his name means king of righteousness. Then also king of Salem, meaning king of peace.
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Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the
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Son of God, he remains a priest forever. Now consider how great this man was.
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Even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him. The sons of Levi who collect the, who received the priestly office, excuse me, have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is from their brothers and sisters, though they have also descended from Abraham.
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But one without this lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.
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Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case,
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Scripture testifies that he lives. And in a sense, Levi himself who receives a tenth has paid a tenth through Abraham, for he was still within his ancestor while Melchizedek met him.
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Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood, from the basis of it that people receive the law, what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?
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For when there is a change in the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe.
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No one from it has served at the altar. Now it is evidence that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that concerning priests.
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And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent, but based on the power of an indestructible life.
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For it has been testified, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
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So the previous command is annulled because it is weak and unprofitable. For the law perfected nothing, but a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God.
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None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him, the
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Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever. Because of this oath,
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Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now many have become
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Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently.
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Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
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For this is the kind of high priest we need. Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and highly exalted above the heavens.
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He doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day as high priests do, first for their own sins, then for those of the people.
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He did this once for all time when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath which came after the law appoints a son who has been perfected forever.
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Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding of it. Let's pray us for the Lord's help, and we will come to the study of his word.
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Heavenly Father, we would ask that as we dig into this study, thinking about this enigmatic character, we pray that you would help us especially, that we would dig deeply into your word, we would approach it accurately, we would approach it faithfully.
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Father, guard us from unhelpful speculation. Help us to simply remain on the track of your word.
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And above all, may our appreciation for Jesus and what he has done for us grow by leaps and bounds as we learn about this faithful servant.
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We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Please be seated.
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This afternoon, we're going to talk about Melchizedek, this, like I said, enigmatic character who appears in the
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Old Testament. Show of hands, how many of you can say you've heard biblical teaching about this character called
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Melchizedek before? Okay, about half the room. All right, for the other half,
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I hope this is helpful. Now, I can imagine that someone would say, is this just a filler sermon because you didn't have time to look at the next chapter?
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No, this is not a TV show, this is not filler. This is actually important because this man, though he doesn't appear a ton in Scripture, is super important.
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Give me a moment, let me see if I can paint something of the importance of this man to you. So, for example, have you ever wondered why some
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Christians very vociferously argue for a 10 % tithe as a practice that all
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Christians must observe? If you've heard the arguments for it, one of them revolves around the story we read last week.
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People will argue, well, Abraham gave a tenth of what he received in this conquest, and so he gives a tenth to Melchizedek, that's before the law, therefore
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Christians are obligated to tithe, even though, I would argue, excuse me, the Bible teaches that Christians are not under the law of Moses in that kind of way.
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How about this? Did you know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints, they don't like being called
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Mormons these days, so I will respect them on that much, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints teaches that faithful male members over the age of 18 can hold the priesthood of Melchizedek.
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This is from their website. Those who have this priesthood lead the church and administer such ordinances as naming and blessing children, healing the sick, and giving the gift of the
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Holy Ghost to newly baptized members. So, if you are 18 and eligible in the
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Mormon church, you can become a member of the priesthood of Melchizedek.
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This might surprise some of you, I grew up around Muslims in East London, where I was born and raised, and I learned a lot about their beliefs from my more devout friends.
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Did you know that Melchizedek actually features pretty heavily in a particular form of Islam called Ismailism?
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Some of you may not know this. He is referred to as a permanent Imam, one that was given by God to give, you know, guidance to humanity, not just in the age in which he lived, but in all ages.
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Those are some of the more popular beliefs regarding this man, Melchizedek. I haven't even gotten into some of the fringe beliefs and fringe ideas involving him, and there are many.
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As New Testament scholar D .A. Carson has put it, quote, Melchizedek's importance to putting the whole
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Bible together is disproportionate to how much he appears in the
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Bible. So, he doesn't appear in the Bible a whole ton, but when he does, it's pretty important.
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So, this afternoon, we're going to do a good old -fashioned deep dive. This is ideally the kind of thing I would do in a class, maybe midweek.
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We don't have a midweek class session at the moment, so we'll do what we can. I invite you to take some notes, try and follow me as much as I can with this.
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We're going to essentially dig deep into the question of who is this man, Melchizedek?
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How can we make sense of who he is? Well, to help us in that endeavor,
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I want to consider three sets of biblical truths that should help us to make sense of Melchizedek.
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Three sets of biblical truths that should help us to make sense of Melchizedek. I'm going to move very quickly and say a lot, so I won't take too much time.
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Let's get to work. Consider with me, first of all, Melchizedek and the Bible. Let's start there, with Melchizedek and the
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Bible. What does the Bible just—before we get into any of the explanations of all of this, just what does it tell us about this man?
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Shouldn't take us too long, because he only appears in two places. First of all, he appears in the book of Genesis. We read that last week, chapter 14, verses 17 through 20.
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I'll read it to you because of time. Genesis 14, 17 to 20. After Abram returned from defeating
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Cato, Laoma, and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shava Valley, that is the king's valley.
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Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest to God Most High. He blessed him and said,
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Abram is blessed by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has handed over your enemies to you.
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And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Count them, one, two, three, four verses.
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That's how much time is devoted to Melchizedek in the Genesis narrative. But even in these short verses, we get some vital information about who this man is.
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First of all, we get some pieces just about his identity, who he is, just from looking at these verses.
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So he's called Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a Hebrew term meaning the king of righteousness. So he's the king of righteousness.
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He's identified in this text as the king of Salem. Now, some will argue that Salem wasn't a place at this point, and so this is to take him figuratively.
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No, I think there's good arguments to be made that there was actually a literal place called Salem that he was the king of.
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And later, we know this place in the Bible as Jerusalem. So his name means king of righteousness.
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He's identified as the king of Salem. He's also identified as a priest of God Most High.
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Like I said last week, this is the first time we hear of anybody being called a priest in the Bible.
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We're not told how he became a priest. We're not told how he was introduced to the
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Most High God. As you all know, I don't really like to speculate too much when I read the Bible, but I think we can safely say, based on Genesis chapter 4, remember that chapter,
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Genesis chapter 4, right at the end, it mentions that at that time, men began to call upon the name of the Lord.
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So Abraham isn't the first person who knows about the true God. There are other people who have heard the name of the
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Lord at this point. Melchizedek is one of them. But we're not told how. We're not told how he becomes a priest of God.
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But we know he is because the text tells us. But not only are we given some insight into Melchizedek's identity, we're giving some insight into what he does.
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So in Genesis 14, he brings some bread and wine. Now, some people will argue, well, this is a precursor of communion as we have it.
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I'm not so convinced by that, because the reality is, when you look at church history, very few people that we would trust actually make this point.
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So for example, John Calvin, in his commentary, says this, they, referring to his favorite enemy, the Papists, they have supposed that Melchizedek is the image of Christ because he offered bread and wine.
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For they add that Christ offered his body, which is life -giving bread, and his blood, which is spiritual drink.
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But the Apostle, while in his epistles to the Hebrews, we'll get to that later, he most accurately collects and specifically prosecutes every point of similarity between Christ and Melchizedek, says not a word concerning bread and wine.
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Matthew Henry, you all know I love his commentary. Here's what he had to say. Referring to Melchizedek, he says, he brought forth bread and wine for the refreshment of Abram and his soldiers, and in congratulation of their victory.
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This he did as a king, teaching us to do good, and to communicate, and to be given to hospitality according to our ability, and representing the spiritual provisions of strength and comfort which
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Christ has laid out for us in the covenant of grace for our refreshments when we are wearied by our spiritual conflicts.
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So here are two very old commentators, none of them say the bread and the wine are linked to communion.
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More importantly, the text of Scripture doesn't say that. Like, there's never a link made between what
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Melchizedek does and the Lord's table as we celebrate it. Usually when you read the
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Bible, the Bible will connect the Lord's table to the events of the Passover and the Exodus, and to Calvary.
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It's never connected to Melchizedek. So long and short, bread and wine here is just bread and wine.
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So he brings Abraham bread and wine, he reaffirms the promises of God, we talked about that last week, and he received a tithe from Abraham.
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We'll talk more about that when we get to Hebrews chapter 7. And that, with that, that's all the information we get about Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14.
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We will not hear about Melchizedek again till we get to the Psalms. And so if you have a
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Bible, turn with me, I want you to see this, in Psalm 110. Psalm 110.
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So the Bible goes almost radio silent on Melchizedek till we get to Psalm 110.
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Psalm 110, as you're turning there, Psalm 110 is arguably one of the most crucial and critical
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Psalms in the entire Psalter. Fun fact, anybody know the most single quoted verse in the
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New Testament? From the old, single, most single quoted Old Testament verse in the
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New Testament? Psalm 110 .1. The next closest quoted is
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Psalm 2 .7. I would argue that if you're going to understand the relationship between the
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New Testament and the Old Testament, you really need to understand what is going on in this
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Psalm. Allow me to summarize while I get to our point. Verses one through three speak of this kingly figure.
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It very clearly can't be David or David's son Solomon, because the language that is used here is very elevated.
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It's very exalted language. It's pointing you to somebody who is above and beyond any possible human ruler.
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One who would exercise undisputed rule. But verse four is where I want us to focus, because once you get to verse four, things get very interesting.
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So look at Psalm 110, verse four. Psalm 110, verse four, it says, the
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Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back. You are a priest forever, according to the pattern of Melchizedek.
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So here we have this kingly figure, but not only is he a king, the text tells us he's also a priest.
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Now, if you know your Old Testament, that's supposed to grab your attention, because in the Old Testament, you couldn't be a king and be a priest at the same time.
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Two different tribes. Israel tries to do it their own way.
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They elect Saul. Saul's from the wrong tribe. That alone should tell them that that doesn't quite work. Then they get the man off to God's own heart,
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David. Oh, David is from the tribe of Judah. Going all the way back to Genesis 49, the kingship is promised to come through the line of Judah.
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When we get into the wilderness, the tribe of Levi will become the priestly tribe. So if you've got a king who comes from the line of Judah, he can't be a priest, but this one,
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Psalm 110, verse four says, the Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back. You are a priest forever, according to the pattern of Melchizedek.
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So whoever this is, couldn't be David. Couldn't be David's son for that matter.
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None of them were from this line or ever functioned as priests. Also note that it says that this one who becomes a priest isn't a priest in Levi's line to begin with.
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It says that he is a priest according to the pattern, the order of Melchizedek.
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The statement is just said, and then the rest of the psalm picks up with this King Lethe. But it leaves us with a hanging question.
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I hope you appreciate this as you read those words. Okay, who is this person? No name is given to us.
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There's nothing that immediately identifies him. If it's not David, and if it's not Solomon, then who is this one who the
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Lord says and swears is a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek?
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Well I told you he appears three times in the Bible. We've looked at two texts. I think the final text is going to pull all of this together and give us an answer.
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And here we're gonna camp for a while. The text I had to start with turned me to Hebrews chapter 7. Because as we turn to Hebrews chapter 7, now we can start to think a little more clearly about, secondly, point two there in your study guide,
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Melchizedek and Jesus. It should be no surprise that I think that Jesus is the one who's spoken of here.
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I know this because Hebrews chapter 7 tells me. So for a moment, let's keep our thoughts in Hebrews chapter 7.
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And as we come to Hebrews chapter 7, we'll learn a lot about the relationship between Melchizedek and Jesus.
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Now some of you know this, but if you don't, Hebrews is hands -down my favorite book in the
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Bible. Yes, more than Psalms, and yes, even more than Romans. To me, it's unrivaled in its treatment of the superiority of Jesus to everything else.
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It's uncompromising in how it lays out the glories of the new covenant that is made in Christ.
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It's unmatched in its tone and its encouragement and exhortation.
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Essentially, this is a letter that is written to Hebrew Christians who are being tempted to go back to Judaism, to go back to that which they had left behind in coming to Christ.
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And when you come to the letter to the Hebrews, really chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 are the beating heart of this book.
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It lays out for us the priesthood of the Lord Jesus and the perfection of the new covenant that we stand in.
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And so as you come to chapter 7 that we read to begin our time together, the author to the Hebrews connects
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Jesus and Melchizedek in a very simple way. He tried to introduce us in chapter 9, chapter 5, excuse me, and then had to kind of pause and rebuke his readers for not being spiritually mature enough to handle this, but he picks that theme up in chapter 7.
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And the connection is very simple. I put it into just a single sentence so you could follow it.
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Here's the connection between Jesus and Melchizedek according to Hebrews 7. The priesthood of Jesus is better than the priesthood of Levi because Jesus is a priest in a very different way to the priests from Levi.
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Let me say that again. The priesthood of Jesus is better than the priesthood of Levi because Jesus is a priest in a very different way to the priests of Levi.
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Honestly, to do this chapter justice, I'd need a month of Sundays to preach it properly. I'm going to kind of give you some big headings and summarize as we go, but as we look at Hebrews chapter 7, we're going to learn a lot about why
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Jesus's priesthood is better, and it's intimately connected to this story with Melchizedek.
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Consider with me, first of all, what we could call the pictured priesthood. The author to the
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Hebrews begins with some types and anti -types. We may think, okay, what do we mean when we say types and anti -types?
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That word typology makes people very nervous. Here's a simple way to think about typology. I forget who said this, but there's an author
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I read a few years ago who's helpful to me in this. The principle of typology says that God writes history not merely with words, but with people and events.
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That God writes history not merely with words, but with people and events.
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That when you look at these biblical characters who were real people, they are not allegories, they are not symbols of something else.
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Nevertheless, they do point us. They're like road signs. The road sign isn't the destination, but it tells you how to get to the destination.
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Well, when you read the Old Testament, the Old Testament is rich with these, what
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Hebrews refers to as types and shadows. These preparatory events and preparatory people who clear the way for the coming of the
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Lord Jesus. And so in verses 1 through 10, the author to the Hebrews points out that Melchizedek is one such type.
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Allow me to summarize. So in verses 1 and 2, we get the summary of what we read in Genesis 14. So we don't need to read that again.
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We read Genesis 14. Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 7 are basically a summary of that. What then happens is he starts to point out some links between Melchizedek and Christ.
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So he points out that Melchizedek's name, the King of Righteousness, and his location,
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King of Peace, that those names are intended to teach us something. So again, look with me at the text when it says this.
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Verse 2. First, his name means, middle of the verse, his name means
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King of Righteousness, then also King of Salem, meaning King of Peace. So these two names are supposed to communicate something to you.
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He's a King of Righteousness and a King of Peace. He also goes on to note that Melchizedek had no father or mother.
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So again, look at it. Verse 3. Without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.
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Now, this is where some people get tripped up, because the author of the Hebrews is not meaning in a literal sense, he had no father or mother.
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He's pointing back to the Genesis event and saying, we're not told anything about his father or mother.
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Think about all the characters who appear in Genesis up to the point of Melchizedek. We're told something of who their parents are.
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There's a genealogy you can trace. There's something that ties them into real history. But with Melchizedek, he just appears and he's gone.
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That's what he means. He's not necessarily saying Melchizedek didn't actually have a father or mother or genealogy.
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But he does say that resembling the Son of God, which is very important if you're the
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Bible marking type, that word resembling, some of your translations will say, made to look like. You may want to circle that phrase.
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It says that resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
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In terms of the biblical record, all we will ever know about him is that he's a king and he's a priest. And again, the author of Hebrews is being succinct, but he wants you to make the connection between this character
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Melchizedek, who is the picture and the fulfillment, who is the Lord Jesus.
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He then digs deeper into what was happening in Genesis chapter 14 in verses 3 through 10. So you have
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Melchizedek, who is superior to Abraham, he argues in verses 4 and 5, because Melchizedek receives a tithe from Abraham.
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Abraham is the inferior in that moment, Melchizedek is the superior. He then connects it, verse 7, to the priesthood in Israel.
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In Israel, the Levites were the ones who received the tithe. But here is their father
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Abraham paying tithes to one who is greater than him. What's fascinating is what he says in verse 9, look with me, verse 9.
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He says, and in a sense, Levi himself who receives a tenth has paid a tenth through Abraham, for he was still within his ancestor.
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The literal language, the original language literally says, for he was still in the loins of his father when
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Melchizedek met him. Fascinating.
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He basically says that it was tantamount to Levi paying tithes to Melchizedek. So Levi was subservient to this one
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Melchizedek. And the picture in Genesis 14 is supposed to point you to the fact that the priesthood in the old covenant wasn't designed to be sufficient, and it wasn't designed to be superior.
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That's his point in verses 1 through 10. Just by looking at the picture that takes place in Genesis 14, you realize that Levi's priesthood was inferior.
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That's why when the authors of the Hebrews wants to make a point about Jesus's priesthood, he doesn't go back to the priesthood in the
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Old Testament. He goes to Melchizedek's priesthood. But the author moves from the facts of the story, as it were, to the theology behind it when we get to verse 11.
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So if verse 10, verses 1 to 10, excuse me, teaches us about the pictured priesthood, verses 11 through 19 teach us about the fact that Jesus's priesthood is a perfecting priesthood.
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It is a perfecting priesthood. So verse 11, he says, now if perfection, and by the way, when the
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Bible uses the term perfection, it's not the way that we as 21st century Westerners read the word perfection.
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It's the idea of completion, fullness. So you can substitute that word there.
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Now if fullness, if completeness came through the Levitical priesthood from the basis of it that people received the law, what further need was there for another priest to appear said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron.
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The priesthood in the Old Testament was not capable of delivering the completeness, the perfection, the wholeness that the people of God required.
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Only Jesus's priesthood could do that, and that's the point in verses 11 through 19.
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Since only Jesus's priesthood could do that, and now he has replaced the priesthood of Levi with a new priesthood, comes a new law.
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So look at verse 12. For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of the law as well.
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New priest, new law. And again, that raises some very fascinating questions about the place of the law in the life of the
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Christian. I've taught on that in the past, and we'll probably do so again so we can have it recorded. But for now, we can't really touch that in too much detail.
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Just note that he says, new priesthood, new law. And he points out the fact that Jesus's priesthood can't be from Levi, because verses 15 to 17,
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Jesus descended from Judah and not from Levi. He shouldn't be a priest, and yet the
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Bible says he is. But look at verses 15 through 17.
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Look what it says. And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears. So here's another point of connection between Melchizedek and Jesus, who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent.
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What's the regulation? Priests have to come from Levi. But Jesus doesn't.
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That's his point. He doesn't become a priest based on that, but based on the power of an indestructible life.
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Jesus's priesthood, the author to the Hebrews tells us, is connected to the fact that he resurrected and that he lives forever.
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If that's the case, verses 18 and 19, the priesthood of Jesus replaces the priesthood of Levi.
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And that means the covenant that was attached to the priesthood of Levi, the covenant of Moses, that law covenant, is no longer binding on the
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Christian. Verse 18 and 19, so the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable, for the law perfected, brought to completion, made full nothing.
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But a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God. Everyone still tracking with me at this point?
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I know I'm kind of saying and firing a lot, but here's the big picture. Jesus replaces the
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Levitical priesthood. He replaces it with the new covenant. Why?
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Because his priesthood isn't based on Levi's priesthood. His priesthood is based on his glorious life and his even more glorious resurrection.
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In recent years, Hebrews 7 .25 has probably become my favorite single verse in the whole
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New Testament. That because of who Jesus is, he is able to save, some of your older translations will say, to the uttermost.
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The idea here is completely right down to the bottom. He can save completely those who come to God through him.
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Can I pause for a moment? If you're a Christian and you've come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a eternal and guaranteed salvation.
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I'll be honest, that's why the more I study God's word, the less tolerance I have, and that's the word
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I'll use, the less tolerance I have for those who teach that salvation can be lost.
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My Bible tells me that my Savior is able to save everyone completely who comes to him.
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Now, either he can or he can't. If his word says he can, then I'm sorry, we have to call you a liar.
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If you say that salvation can be lost, you're saying he can't save completely. He can save for a moment.
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He can save for a season, but ultimately, you're your own Savior. You get yourself over the line.
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My Bible doesn't say that. In fact, look at the end of verse 25. Why is it that he can save completely those who come to God by him or through him?
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It says, since he always lives to intercede for them.
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We have a perfect high priest who will never die, and since he never dies, he ever lives to intercede. That's why as Protestants, we don't call our ministers priests.
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No human being could actually bear the weight of that. The only priest in the new covenant is
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Jesus. Yes, the Bible does talk about the priesthood of all believers, but that's because we're united to him.
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It's not because we bear some special office, and that's good news because a priesthood that never dies means a salvation that will never end, and if you believe that and you put that together, that should lead you to the fact that Jesus has a preeminent priesthood.
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Jesus has a preeminent priesthood. Preeminent for two reasons.
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One, it's preeminent because of its purity. So verse 26, for this is the kind of high priest we need.
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What kind of high priest do you need? Well, the order of the Hebrews tells you, this is the high priest we need.
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Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
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He is pure in every way. Even the best of priests were human.
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They sinned, and they needed to make sacrifices for themselves, much less making sacrifices for anybody else, but Jesus was sinless.
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He was perfect, never sinned. Since he is perfect,
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Jesus as both the priest and the sacrifice for his people, he trumps anything that the old covenant priesthood has to offer, and again, why is
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Hebrews written? It's written to encourage Hebrew Christians to stay in the faith and not go back to Judaism.
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Can you see why this argument would be helpful to them in staying the course?
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Why would you go back there? It would be akin to, so wife and I moved into our new home in 2020.
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It would be akin to, we buy this house, and we looked at pictures on Zillow, and then we did all the legal paperwork, and money changed hands, and all of that stuff, and then we said, or I said, you know, babe,
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I don't want to move in. I like the picture of this house. That's enough for me. You know,
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I don't need to move into the house. The picture alone is enough. If I said that, not in joke, not in jest, but in seriousness,
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I would hope some of you would say, are you okay? Do you need help?
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Because no, no logical person would choose to keep the picture when they can go move into the house, and that's the point the author to the
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Hebrews is making here. Why would you go back to the picture when you have what the picture actually represents?
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But not only is Jesus preeminent because of his purity, he's preeminent because of his sufficiency. Verse 28, for the law appoints us high priests, men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a son who has been perfected forever.
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He's sufficient. He's enough. Hard to argue with it.
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Now, I imagine that some of you who are listening to this message are like, okay, Kofi, you've not really answered the really big question with Melchizedek.
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All this is great, and good, and wonderful, but you've not really answered the biggest question we all have, which is, is
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Melchizedek Jesus or a picture of Jesus? How many of you came to this sermon expecting me to answer that question?
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Okay, I see some heads nodding. Well, I actually will answer that question as best we can. This might be a good place to do that.
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This week, I buried myself in the arguments for and against. I've read the best on both sides trying to get my head around this, and I'll be honest,
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I have come to the conclusion that Melchizedek, wonderful character as he is, and type of the Lord Jesus that he is, isn't the pre -incarnate
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Christ. Let me give you some reasons that—I should be up on screen. Let me give you one, two,
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I think I have—let me look at my notes real quick. I think I have three reasons, yes, three reasons why
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Melchizedek doesn't fit. Why isn't Jesus number one?
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The details of Genesis 14 don't fit. As I read the arguments for it this week, a lot of it hinged on the descriptions that are mentioned in Genesis 14 aren't literal.
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So Salem apparently isn't an actual place. Well, actually, we know it was.
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But to make it say it's not, you have to allegorize this passage to be merely spiritual. Nothing in Genesis 14 suggests it's an allegory.
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As one really helpful writer, I recommended him in this week's study guide, James Boland puts it in his work,
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Christ in the Old Testament, quote, If you read
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Genesis 14 and you read it closely enough, it just doesn't fit. More importantly,
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Hebrew 7 that we just read doesn't fit. So I kind of did an overview of Hebrew 7.
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Let me look at some details in particular. So verse 3 says, like I said earlier, that Melchizedek has no recorded genealogy.
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Key word there, recorded. But verse 6 says that he has a genealogy of some sort.
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So look at verse 6. It says, One without this lineage collected a tenth from Abraham.
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He doesn't say he doesn't have a lineage. He doesn't have the same lineage as Levi. Verses 20 to 22 explicitly say that Jesus is better than even
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Melchizedek. We're not taught how Melchizedek becomes a priest, but Jesus becomes a priest because he has an oath from God the
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Father. It can't work for them to both be Melchizedek and not
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Melchizedek. I told you to circle that phrase resembled or made like onto the
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Son of God. If Melchizedek is made like the Son of God, how can he be the
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Son of God? So Genesis 14 doesn't fit.
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Hebrew 7 doesn't fit. This is a slightly more technical one. None of the confirmatory markers for an appearance of Christ are here.
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When you see Christ appear in the Old Testament, more often in the form of the servant of the Lord. Well, that actually does count.
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We're talking more about the angel of the Lord. Thank you. When you see the angel of the Lord appear in the Old Testament, he's always speaking in the name of the
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Lord. He's always speaking in Yahweh's name. You don't see that in Genesis 14.
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Yes, Melchizedek blesses Abraham in the name of Yahweh, but he does not speak as though he were
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Yahweh. Compare that to when you see the angel of the Lord. Judges is a good example of this. Time and time again, when the angel of the
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Lord appears in Judges, he doesn't say the Lord says, he says, he doesn't say excuse me the angel of the
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Lord says, he says the Lord says. He speaks in the place of God. We'll see this actually in Genesis.
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When Genesis chapter 22, the angel of the Lord appears and then the text tells us right afterwards, same moment, it says the
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Lord said to him, the angel of the Lord and the Lord are made the same thing. You don't see that with Melchizedek. You put all that together,
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I think the Bible makes a clear -cut case that Melchizedek is not the pre -incarnate
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Jesus. So who was Melchizedek? Well, he was a real person. He functions as a type, a signpost pointing us to a greater reality, the
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Lord Jesus himself. But that doesn't mean that Melchizedek isn't important because actually,
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Melchizedek is not just a random person who appears and disappears. I think he's placed by God in the early narrative of the
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Word of God to set up a theme that we will see all the way through the scripture, which is the priesthood of Christ.
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It's the seed of a story that comes to full bloom in the person and the work of Jesus.
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As we conclude, I want us to think real briefly about Melchizedek and the gospel. This will be really, really short.
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Melchizedek and the gospel. As with everything in the Word of God, the man
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Melchizedek says a lot to us about the good news of salvation found in Jesus.
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And I just point out three things to you and we'll be done. First of all, Melchizedek reminds us that God's plan of salvation was not a new idea.
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The fact that the authors of the Hebrews could pull on something as early as the narrative with Melchizedek tells us that this plan of salvation was not a new idea.
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God had this planned out from the beginning. That's why you can have this type in Genesis, reaffirmed in the
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Psalms, and then brought to glorious fulfillment in the New Testament. Melchizedek reminds us that God's plan of salvation is not a new idea.
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But secondly, he also reminds us that we will always need a representative before God.
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Kofi, why don't you work that out? He's the first person who's called a priest in the entirety of the
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Word of God. That should tell you something. Priests are important because this isn't—
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Melchizedek may be the first, but he won't be the last time you hear about priests. Melchizedek is a priest of God Most High.
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He's the first one. And the Bible makes us to know that Jesus is God's great and final
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High Priest. Melchizedek reminds us that we will always need a representative before God.
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And finally, as we've seen here in Hebrews 7, Melchizedek, when you understand him rightly, reminds us that Jesus is sufficient and superior.
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He's enough. He's enough. And if he's enough, he is all that my soul and your soul and the soul of any who will come to him, he is all the soul will ever need.
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That's what we celebrate every time we come before this table. That in the Lord Jesus Christ, our souls have found a sufficient and a superior sacrifice.
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And so how important is Melchizedek? Ultimately, he's only as important as he points us to the
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Lord Jesus. And Heavenly Father, we thank you that in your Word, we are blessed with these many pointers.
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We are blessed with these many signposts that prepare us for the coming of the
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Lord Jesus. Lord, we would ask that as we, as we have taken this time to think about this mysterious servant of the
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Lord, this one who comes, who bears witness to your plan of salvation, that ultimately we would rejoice and find hope in the ultimate servant of the
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Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his sufficiency.
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We thank you for his superiority. Oh, that our souls would constantly find our rest in him.