Eighteenth
Sunday after Pentecost
September
22, 2013
Genesis
14, Psalm 110, & Hebrews 7
A Different Kind of Priest: Melchizedek
& Jesus
In
the name of Jesus.
I.
Abraham
had just fought and won a David-and-Goliath war. He'd fought to save
his nephew Lot. And then after the battle, Melchizedek showed up.
Then
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest
of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed
be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And
blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into
your
hand.” (Genesis 14:18-20)
Melchizedek
was the king of Salem, also known as Jerusalem. And he wasn't just a
king; he was also a priest, a true priest who offered sacrifices to
God Most High.
As
a priest of the true God, Melchizedek blessed Abraham with the name
of God. Earlier God Himself had come to Abraham and promised,
I
will make you into a great nation
and
I will bless you;
I
will make your name great,
and
you will be a blessing.
I
will bless those who bless you,
and
whoever curses you I will
curse;
and
all peoples on earth
will
be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
But
a lot had happened between then and now. And so Abraham needed to
hear this divine promise again. He needed to hear that his name was
still bound to the name of God Most High. He needed God to say it
again. And through His royal priest's mouth, God said it, “Yes, you
still belong to Me and you still bear My name. Though you have no son
at all, your grandchildren will number in the millions.”
“Look
up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.
So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)
Notice
that Melchizedek did not offer a sacrifice. He didn't get a goat and
kill it and burn it in sacrifice on an altar of rocks. His role was
to affirm the divine promise of the coming Jesus through words. Then
he's gone.
II.
Then
1,000 years later, another king of Salem, King David, completely out
of the blue, drops Melchizedek's name. Understand that Melchizedek
had been mentioned that one time in Genesis 14 and that was it.
Abraham's name gets mentioned all over the Old Testament. But
Melchizedek is a shadow. But a very important shadow. David wrote:
The
Lord says to my lord:
“Sit
at my right hand
until
I make your enemies
a
footstool for your feet.”
The
Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule
in the midst of your enemies!”
The
Lord has sworn
and
will not change his mind:
“You
are a priest forever,
in
the order of Melchizedek.”
He
will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
and
crushing the rulers of the whole earth. (Psalm 110:1-2,4,6)
David
is clearly describing Jesus, who would be born 1,000 years later in
Bethlehem, David's hometown. Jesus is a priest. And what kind of
priest He is, is answered later in the Bible.
III.
This
Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met
Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and
Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek
means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem”
means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without
genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the
Son of God, he remains a priest forever. (Hebrews 7:1-3)
God
tells us that Melchizedek resembles God's Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus
was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, but He
doesn't have a beginning. And He was crucified, died, and was buried,
but His life continues to this day.
And
now God explains what kind of priest Jesus is.
Just
think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth
of the plunder! Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who
become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from
their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from
Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet
he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the
promises. And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. In
the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the
other case, by him who is declared to be living. One might even say
that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham,
because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of
his ancestor. (Hebrews 7:4-10)
Remember
the father of John the Baptist? Zechariah was a son of Levi, one of
Jacob's 12 sons. Levites were the priests of the Old Testament. They
took turns making sacrifices at the Temple. (That's what Zechariah
was doing when the angel showed up and told him that his barren wife
Elizabeth was going to have a baby boy.) Zechariah was a priest of
the Old Testament, a priest of the Law. He served to uphold the
contract of obedience between God and God's people. But since God's
people ignored and mocked this good and lawful contract, God in His
grace sent a different kind of priest to rescue them. And this wasn't
Plan B; this was Plan A, the plan Adam and Eve were promised after
their sinful rebellion. Just as Abraham had rescued Lot from
physically harm, this new kind of priest was going to rescue
believers from eternal damnation.
That
Priest is Jesus.
If
perfection could have been attained through the Levitical
priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that
priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one
in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the
priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these
things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that
tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord
descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing
about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another
priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on
the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the
power of an indestructible life. For it is declared:
“You
are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
The
former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for
the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by
which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:11-19)
The
law in itself is good and perfect, but to sinners, the law was
useless because we don't come close to keeping it pure. But Jesus
promises to keep the Law perfect for us. As our Priest He obeys the
Law to the letter and keeps its spirit.
And
it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,
but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
“The
Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest forever.’”
Because
of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
(Hebrews 20-22)
How
do we know Jesus kept the Law? Because He didn't stay dead. Human
priests die and stay dead; Jesus is different.
Now
there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them
from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a
permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those
who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for
them.
Such
a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless,
pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the
other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after
day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He
sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For
the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the
oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made
perfect forever.
(Hebrews
7:23-28)
Jesus
is the Priest of the New Testament. He is the New Testament! And He
gives Himself to us in bread and wine and blesses us with His name.
In
the name of the Father
and
of the † Son
and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
