September 3, 2023 by P. Kevin Clancey
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
All right.
The Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes. Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead their forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. You will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter heads over the wide earth. You will drink from the streams by the path, therefore, he will lift up his head.
1 The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes. 3 Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you. 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.
(Psalms 110:1-7, NRSV)
So, that psalm, by the way, that psalm is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, Psalm 110, and it kind of plays into what we were talking about tonight. That we are in a spiritual battle, God versus the gods, and he has no rival. So, let's worship the true God. When we worship the true God, when we worship King Jesus, we re-announce our loyalty to him.
We renounce past loyalties to the kingdoms of this world, and we actually do this. This is actually a way of doing battle. It's actually a way of advancing the kingdom. Poulsbo and North Kitsap County, maybe all of Kitsap County, maybe all of Washington, I don't know how far it goes, is actually a better place because you sing praise to King Jesus and come into his presence. So, let's worship him tonight. Lift his name up, stand up.
He can take bread and wine and turn it into eternal food for us. Good meal. It's a good meal. On the night that he was betrayed, he took bread, he broke it, he gave thanks to you, Father, gave it to his brothers, and he said, "This is my body which is broken for you. By his stripes, we are healed." In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, poured it out, gave thanks to you, Father. He said, "This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, of the better covenant, and it is shed for you for forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. As often as you come together, do this. Don't forget my covenant. Don't forget my sacrifice. Don't forget my love. Don't forget my victory. Don't forget that I am yours and you are mine. And that's forever. Live with courage."
So, be strengthened for the battle, dear ones. Be strengthened for the battle and come take some heavenly nourishment. Come and eat. Holy Spirit, fill these elements. And let us experience the life of Christ. We honor you at this meal. You honor us by giving us by giving us this meal. Amen.
So, he's a real person, not just an idea in a book. Great book, he wrote it. It shows us, teaches us, and draws us into him. I recommend you read it every day, believe it, act on it. But he's not the book. He's bigger than the book, he's alive, he's resurrected, he is present here tonight. So, I want you to think of your three biggest problems. I want you to think of your three biggest problems. I heard that, Chester. I thought it was gonna be Sean, Sydney, and Sophia, but no. Gotta go bigger. Those are big problems. Those are big problems.
All right. You got your three biggest problems, your three biggest things that you brought in here tonight. I want you to speak the name of Jesus. What did we sing? You reign above it all. What a powerful name. At the mention of your name, speak the name of Jesus. That's not a magical incantation. You're not saying Jesus is a magic word. What you're doing is you're inviting him right into the heart of that thing. So come, Lord Jesus, those areas of my life.
Don't give him advice on how to fix it, he doesn't need your advice. In fact, he might be giving you some advice right now. Listen. He's really smart, you know. And that, amen. All right. So we're going to talk tonight about a very familiar biblical character named Melchizedek. I'm going to read a lot of Bible to you before I start preaching. Hang on, let me get my good trusty notes out here, so I make sure I get everything right.
So, turn first to Genesis 14. All right, we're going to be in Genesis 14 first. And we're going to do Psalm 110, and then we're going to do Hebrews chapter 7. If that's where we're at, we're going through Hebrews.
So, Genesis 14, starting at verse 17. Abram was out fighting the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. This is by Sodom and Gomorrah still existed. They got captured by several, there was a war between several kings, and the lot side lost. So, Abram went out with his men and he fought against the kings who conquered lot side. He rescued Lot. Not only did he rescue Lot, he rescued those other kingdoms. And as he's coming back, after his return from the defeat of Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shavu, that is the Kings Valley. And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, "Bless be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, and bless be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And…"Abraham, or Abram, excuse me, Abraham, gave one tenth. Then, he gave him one tenth of everything. Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, 'Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.' But Abram said to the king of Sodom, 'I've sworn to the Lord God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or sandal thong of anything that is yours, so that you might not say, 'I've made Abram rich.' I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.'
17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the King’s Valley. 18 And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. 21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, 23 that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten and the share of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”
(Genesis 14:17-24, NRSV)
Then, in Psalm 110, we already read it, but I want to read again just starting at verse 4. 'The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.'
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
(Psalm 110:4, NRSV)
Alright, I think we talked about this last week. The only person who's allowed to say 'swear to God' is God. And so, God takes an oath upon himself. He takes an oath and he will not change his mind. He says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand and he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath."
Now, we will go to Hebrews chapter 7. I'm going to read to you the whole chapter, starting at verse 1. 'This king Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. To him, Abraham apportioned one-tenth of everything. His name, in the first place, means king of righteousness. Next, he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. See how great he is! Even Abraham, the patriarch, gave him a tenth of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who received their priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descendants of Abraham. This man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal, and in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.' Now, if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for the people received the law under this priesthood, what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. Now, the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of him, 'You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.' There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual, for the law made nothing perfect. There is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God. This was confirmed with an oath. For others who became priests took their office without an oath, but this one became a priest with an oath, because the one who said to him, 'The Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever.' Accordingly, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant. Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike other priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people. This he did once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.'
1 This “Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him,” 2 and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next, he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 4 See how great he is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils. 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek rather than one according to the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, 16 one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent but through the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” 18 There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope through which we approach God. 20 This was confirmed with an oath, for others have become priests without an oath, 21 but this one became a priest with an oath because of the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’ ” 22 accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 Furthermore, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests humans, who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
(Hebrews 7:1-28, NRSV)
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock, our strength, and our Redeemer. Amen. There you go. That's what the Bible says. You have it. Got it all figured out? Melchizedek. There you go. Alright.
This is just a fascinating passage to me. "I remember, as an associate pastor, I was going to preach the end of this passage. I was actually a visitor at another church. I pastored at a large Methodist Church. I was the associate pastor and all the little smaller Methodist churches around there, when their pastor would go on vacation or get sick, they would call us and say, "You got any preachers over there?" The senior pastor, probably wanting to get rid of me for a Sunday, would say, "Yeah, Kevin, go preach." No, he was actually very gracious. He knew I wanted to preach, so he would let me go preach at these other Methodist churches. That was always an exciting time for me.
I was going to preach on Hebrews chapter 7. But it's a complex argument. It's a complex passage and I was very scared as to whether or not I was up to the task. I'd prepared the sermon and I was kind of backing off at the last minute. I was thinking, "You know, you're a preacher. You got your old favorites. You got ones you can pull out if you're not a very good preacher. You always got ones you can pull out of your back pocket. All right, I got ones I can pull out of my back pocket. Give me a Psalm 103 any day. I got that one. Give me a 2 Timothy 1:7, I got that one. They're there. I'm ready to preach, pray, or die. All right, I got them."
But this one, I was a little scared of. It was the strangest thing. It was a God moment, right? I got in my car to drive to Dinuva, California from by say about a 20-minute drive. I'm getting ready to go and I never listen to Christian radio. I'm not knocking Christian radio. I'm not knocking Christian TV.
I do now. I never partook in Christian media. I do now. I watch selected YouTube's and stuff, you know. There's stuff I like and I watch it. But back then, I never did. Again, not a knock. It wasn't because it was bad or anything like that. I just didn't know it was a part of my gig.
But somehow, my car, my wife had been listening and she left the radio on. I literally turned the radio on. I was praying to God, "God, should I preach on Hebrews chapter 7?" I turn the radio on and it says, "This morning's sermon is on Hebrews chapter 7 verses 26 through 28." I thought, "There's a sign."
Then on my 20-minute drive that I knew about, I listened to that guy preach thinking, "If this is better than mine, I'll just steal it." His wasn't better than mine. So, I came in with full confidence as a guy on the radio preached a worse sermon on this than I got. So, I preached. It actually went well. It went well. So hopefully tonight'll go well. Say, "Help him, Jesus." All right, he will. He does.
So, Melchizedek is this character who appears twice in the Bible. We read both accounts in Genesis chapter 14 and then in the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, Psalm 110. And it's just this obscure figure. And it's like we're reading in Michael Heiser's book, if something's obscure, if something doesn't make sense, dig into it. There's the meat there.
And here, the meat becomes obvious in Hebrews chapter 7 because the author of Hebrews brings this character and this priesthood forward. Remember, Hebrews is all about "Jesus is better than." Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus's priesthood is better than the Levitical priesthood. Jesus's hope is better than the hope that was under the law. Jesus's covenant is a better covenant than the old covenant. Jesus's tabernacle, Jesus's life is better than the old tabernacle. Jesus's sacrifice is better than the old sacrifices. Jesus is better than. Jesus is the completion.
The Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, is a type. It is a shadow. It is a foretelling. It is drawing pictures of what is to come. And Melchizedek is one of those pictures. He is a type of Christ. Now, we believe that there are Christophanies in the Old Testament. We actually believe that there are appearances of Christ in the Old Testament.
And there's a difference between something that is a type of Christ and something that is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ. Some people will say that Melchizedek is the latter, that he is actually Christ. He's Christ in the Old Testament. Other people will say he's a type of Christ. I tend to land on type of Christ because it appears whenever Christ appears in a Christophany, he's not really a historical figure.
You know, the captain of the Lord's army just shows up. All right, and so, you know, he's not like, "Oh, the captain of the Lord's army who lived on the 32nd block over in the nearby neighborhood." But here, Melchizedek is given a location.
He's from Salem and it seems like he's an actual historical figure who was both a king of this city, Salem, and a priest of this city, Salem. And so, he serves us that as a type of Christ. As a priest and a king, he then is a ruler and he is a mediator. He's a bridge builder.
Remember, we talked about what "priest" means. Priest doesn't mean a guy who wears a funny collar, though priests do wear funny collars sometimes. But priests… I told the story, I think I have, right? About when Michael was born, I was wearing the collar. Yeah, okay, I'll repeat that one.
So anyway, you know, I was at this conference the other night and a Lutheran, or an Anglican, or a Catholic priest came in. You know, it's like, "Oh, he's got the collar." And every time I see one of those guys in the collar, I get this stranger. It's like I should start doing that. Start wearing a collar just to see if that, you know, just to see if that'll create a little buzz or something.
And, you know, I was like being called "father," you know. So anyway, but that's not what a priest is. A priest is a bridge builder and a religious bridge builder. Pagan priests, godly priests, they are the people who perform the sacrifices, who perform the rituals to bring humanity, to bring their tribe into connection with the deity.
And to either, in the case of Yahweh, to have a relationship with Yahweh, to have a covenant with Yahweh, and place in the case of the pagan kings, to try to appease the kings in such a way that they'll give you what you want. He's both a priest and a king. Christ is a priest and a king. His name means "King of Righteousness." It's a type of Christ, "King of Righteousness," and he is the Prince of Salem, Lord Salem, peace. He's the Prince of Peace. Salem would later become this location. Salem was a city on a hill that would later become, as they inherit the promised land, Yahweh Salem, Zahru Salem. That's so, he's the king and priest of Jerusalem. And he comes out, and tell me this is not a type of Christ. He comes out to Abram bringing what? Communion. It's a forerunner.
Then it says that Abram tithes to him, and the Hebrews, the author of Hebrews, makes a big point that Melchizedek blesses Abram, and he says the one who brings the tithe is the lesser, the one who blesses is the greater. Abram, Abraham is one of the great heroes of Israel, and yet Melchizedek, who only appears twice in their scriptures, is considered greater than Abraham. What does Jesus say in John chapter 8? He says, "Before Abraham was, I AM. I'm greater than Abraham. I'm greater than Moses."
58 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
(John 8:58, NRSV)
That's another "better than," by the way, in the book of Hebrews. We already talked about Jesus being better than Moses, now Jesus is better than Abraham because Abraham tithes to this type of Christ, to this Christ-type figure. And then, he makes this argument that even the Levitical priesthood, who received the tithes from Israel, they tithed to Melchizedek because the Levites didn't exist yet, right? Levi's a son of who? So Aaron, he hasn't existed yet. They're in, basically, as he says, they're in Abraham's DNA. They're in his loins. They're still waiting.
So the Levites even tithed to Melchizedek. And so, Melchizedek is a greater priesthood than the priesthood that God gave through Aaron in Levi, according to the law. Follow the logic. here's a type of Christ. He's a type of Christ for us. Yeah, oh, another one, yeah, he has no genealogy. Right, we get these… how many of us, when we read the Old Testament, one of the things we stumble upon is the genealogy. Like, "Oh my gosh. All right, we get it, people beget, people beget." You know, read the first four chapters of Chronicles.
There's a whole lot of begetting going on, and you know, people have descendants. And there's reasons that the Bible has genealogies. And Jesus, they even give Jesus's genealogy through his human descendants or his human parents. They give his genealogy in both Matthew and Luke. But Melchizedek is mentioned without genealogy, and the author of Hebrews says it's like he has no beginning. It's like he's eternal.
3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
(Hebrews 7:3, NRSV)
You know what genealogy means? You had a beginning. And so, he paints this picture as Melchizedek being a type of Christ. He's a type of Christ for us. He's a picture of that, and he says this priesthood supersedes the old priesthood. It is a superior priesthood. The Levitical priesthood is a type and a picture of something greater, and the Levitical priesthood was ineffectual. I mean, it was a system that really didn't work.
You had a high priest who had to be sinless, and then he had to offer a perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people, and they had to keep doing it over and over again. Every time a high priest had to get another high priest, and every year you had to bring in a new unblemished animal. And it was just… and then people would say, you know, Jerusalem was a river of blood with all the sacrifices that the priest continually made, not just the sacrifices for the day of atonement, but all the sacrifices that they made. And it always had to be an animal without blemish, and the priest had to be without stain, and they weren't. And they even had to have the priest offer a sacrifice for himself.
Before he could offer a sacrifice for the people, but the people who made the sacrifice, the priest offering a sacrifice for himself, wasn't sinless. And it didn't work. It worked in this way: it's getting us ready for something. It's getting us ready for something, but it didn't work in that it did not cancel sin, and it did not provide eternal atonement. It was a temporary fix. It was a band-aid on a wound that would not heal, but it's pointing to something. It's pointing to a new priesthood.
And it just gets mentioned once in passing, and I could just see, you know, we're talking about it earlier. We read these passages of scripture. "I don't know what that means. We just kind of gloss it over." And I could see that people before he was written, before Christ came, I could see what it, "Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." What does that mean? Who's that? Who's the psalmist talking about? Who's he prophesying about? "I have sworn an oath to myself." God never said, "I'll sworn oath to myself," to any Levitical priest that you are a priest forever out of the order of the Levites. They served a function, they did a job, but there's a new priesthood coming that is more effectual, that is eternal. And because it's effectual, because it works, and because it's eternal, it only has to be done once. This eternal priest is a guarantee of a better, effectual covenant. What the Old Testament pointed at but could not accomplish, Jesus accomplished. His priesthood works, and He doesn't have to do it all the time.
It's very interesting historically that at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, this whole system that was central to the life of Israel and the Jews ended. And two thousand years later, it doesn't go on. The commandments go on there. They're still conservative Jews who try to obey all the commandments, you know, who try to follow Torah. But they don't follow the Levitical laws. And when questioned about it, there's not really a good answer to why not. I've heard them say, "Well, our sacrifice now is a good moral life." Great, but that's not what's prescribed here. It's the blood that's prescribed.
And though pre-millennial Christians are really big on a temple being rebuilt, the best I understand it, Jews are not. They're not looking for this to come back. We are not looking for this to come back. We have a better answer to why this doesn't come back, why this system hasn't come back. Here's the better answer: It doesn't need to.
There are two ways people can get back into Judaism and back into the Old Testament, and one of them is really, really good, and the other one is really, really misguided.
And I see Christians doing both. The real good one is we immerse ourselves in that, we do a Seder dinner, and we study the Levitical feast because we want to see how they point to Christ and how they reveal Christ and how they kind of are these great images of the salvation we've now inherited. That's how to study the Old Testament. There's another way though that says, "Oh, we need to get back to doing this stuff because this is what really pleases God." No. No. That's like saying, "I need to get back to writing letters to Jill as if she were far away, instead of talking to her because she now lives under the roof of my house."
All right, it's just going back to a lesser thing from a greater thing. Listen, I think it's great to have a Seder meal to remember and to kind of get in touch with that and to have the Passover. And to talk about how each element of the Passover is what a pointer to Christ, and it's but the Seder meal is very complicated. It has a lot of ritual. It has a lot of different food, and this meal is just so simple. This is a better meal. This is a better meal.
Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with doing a Seder. I think it's great. It's a great learning tool. But it points to this. It points to him. And so he's our bridge builder, and because remember Melchizedek, right? No genealogy, he's eternal. So a Levitical high priest could serve you, and they'd work for a year. Kind of David's elements good for a year, right? Like your checkup, come back in a year. I just do checkup every five years, you know, you hit your 50th birthday, doctors, "I need to see you every year." All right, this affects once and for all, one sacrifice done once, and the priest intercedes for us eternally.
A lot of people, a lot of Christians make this mistake. We equate the word intercede with prayer. So we think Jesus is praying for us eternally. It's not what intercede means. There is intercessory prayer. There's a type of prayer that uses intercession, that intercedes. But intercession doesn't mean prayer, intercession means again, stand at a gap, bridge builder.
So what does it say when Jesus intercedes for us eternally? He is forever the bridge. Look at before heaven, Jesus is the way, the truth of the life. No man comes to the father but by him. In heaven, Jesus is the way, the truth of the life. No man comes to the father, but by him. He's no longer interceding because we sin, but He is forever God incarnate who saved humanity from their broken and fallen ways. He defeated sin, Satan, and death. He was raised from the dead and now, for all eternity, He is the gate, the door, the light, the bread, the resurrection – all the "I am's of John's Gospel. Dear ones, once and for all, it is finished on the cross. Good news for all you spotless lambs and bulls, you won't be required anymore. All right, unless we want to eat tri-tip, but no more sacrifices. This is a sacrifice once and for all. I'm so glad that we get to do church this way.
I can come up here and talk to you instead of having to slit the throat of some animal every week and pour out its blood. It is an effectual priesthood. It is an eternal priesthood. It is a guarantee of a better, effectual covenant. This covenant works, this covenant brings us into fellowship with God, this covenant forgives our sins. This covenant lasts forever and ever, and last I checked, that's a long time.
Jesus is the perfect priest according to the order of Melchizedek. The Levitical priesthood has served its purpose. It has been a pointer, a road sign. It points to this other priest from Judah. Where does the law say anything about the line of Judah? It doesn't, but what it does say is there's going to be a priest from this order. He is going to have victory over God's enemies. He's going to be a warrior priest, a warrior king. He will lift up his head in victory and he becomes our eternal priest. He is the perfect priest. He is without sin. That's why it's so important that He's sinless. That's why God had to send His son. To save humanity, we need someone who is fully God and fully man. He has to be a man, one of us, to be a priest.
But He has to be God because God's the only one who can do this without sin. He's like us, that's what Hebrews says when it talks about His priesthood in chapter four. He's like us in every way, yet without sin. That's why Satan worked so hard in the desert to get Him to sin. One sin would have undone everything. But He didn't, and so on that dark Friday, He could be the perfect priest and say, "Father, I offer to you this lamb without blemish." Here's the incredible thing about it: He's also the lamb without blemish. Just as there was no perfect priest, there never was a perfect sacrifice. There were good lambs and better lambs, but there's no perfect animal out there.
But here He is, what do we call Him? The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the spotless lamb. He's our perfect priest, our perfect intercessor, our perfect way, truth, and life. And He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. God says, "Abraham, when I started my salvation history, this is what I promised you. I promised you a body broken and blood shed, bread and wine, long before I created the Levitical priesthood to point back to Melchizedek, forward to Jesus." Everything in that old covenant is superseded by Jesus. It's not bad, it's good. It's helpful, it's right because it points to Him.
It's like church. We're not bad, we're good, we're helpful. Why? Because we point to Him. I went to this conference this week and there were some people that would be called great men of God. They're known names in Christian circles and they are wonderful servants. They preach the word, they have anointing to heal the sick, and I honor them and I'm blessed by them. But the biggest blessing is they all are simply garden hoses through which the river of life flows.
It is all about King Jesus. I've been coming to church since I was a baby. My family always brought me to church. There was never really a time where I wasn't pretty regular in going to a Christian church of some brand. All those churches have in common is they sing songs. Music is a great tool for worship. If anybody's watching on Rumble or YouTube, music is not worship. Worship is bigger than music. Any worship leader knows that. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. It is a great tool to step into His presence. Use it often, that's what it was created for. "
It is a great tool for worship, and in all the years I've been going to church, my whole life, we've never sang a song about Cap. It's just not about me, and as sweet as she is, we've never even sang a song about Kathleen. It's not even about her. It's not about Saint Ox or Saint Iko, the saints of Are You, the saints of Kingston, or Hansville, Hansville, the saints of Hansville, all right.
We've never sang a song about the Horse Whisperer Steven and his love for Chester and Willy. We've never sang about Jamie, and she does wonderful work organizing all these preschool moms. Talk about herding cats! And we sing a lot about Jesus, and isn't it always good when we do? "I exalt thee, I exalt thee." Man, I love that.
It's all about you, Jesus. It's all about you. He is our high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. God says this, Swear to me, I swear to me. This is my answer. And it works forever. Amen. Now you understand Hebrews 7. He probably did before.
All right. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in that peace to love and circle. Amen.
