Hebrews 7:20-28

“20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’), 22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. 23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests, men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.”

Last week, we explored that we have a new permanent High priest, Jesus. He is our High Priest forever, and He has been a High Priest before God for us since the day of Abraham when we meet him in Genesis 14. He is called Melchizedek, and Abraham pays tithes to him after he comes back from a great military victory.

This week in our mid-week Bible study, we explored Numbers 28—29, and we actually tried to count out how many animals like bulls, goats, rams, and lambs had to be killed over the 1,500 years or so from the time of Moses until Jesus came and died on the cross. If you take the time, you will see that about 1,244,000 million bulls were killed over 1,500 years. I used a 360-day year, and it was at the time. I also considered only the mandatory sacrifices that God required under the priesthood. These two chapters cover the mandatory sacrifices that were needed each year as laid out by God to Moses. As you read the chapters, you can get the idea of the hundreds of thousands of animals that were required to be killed over the 1,500-year period.

• A Covenant of Death and Sin, 20-23

The first covenant was a covenant of death. We are told that the first covenant was there to remind us of sin and death; it was never designed to save us. Take a look at Hebrews 10: 1-4,

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”

No one is saved by keeping the Law. No one is saved by killing millions of sacrifices, and no one is saved under the ministry of the Levitical Priests. These rituals were there to remind us that we need to substitute, as we see in verse three; the Law was just a reminder of sin. You will recall that there were no chairs in the Tabernacle or the Temple, and the priests were not allowed to sit down. Sitting was a sign that the work had been completed, and so under the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the priest was never allowed to sit, as the work of redemption was not completed by the blood of bulls and goats. These offerings temporarily appeased God until the time of Jesus. See Hebrews 10: 11-12,

“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

• A Covenant of Life, verses 24-28

Jesus, this Melchizedek of the Old Testament, was alive forever, and in Him, we have eternal life. The old high priests like Aaron died, and God made sure that we knew that by telling us when Aaron died, Numbers 20: 27-29,

“Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.”

Aaron had to pass the mantle to his son, and that son to his son, and so on for 1,500 years. These men toiled, one after another, passing the mantle from one generation to the next but never getting to the end of the sacrifices.

But one day Jesus came, our eternal High priest and our Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the earth. He shed His blood, and when He died, he said in John 19: 28-29,

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

Look, Jesus knew ‘all things were accomplished’ (verse 28 above), and He said, ‘it is finished.’ But to further put an exclamation to that, we see Him seated at the right hand of God. Our High Priest was seated, and we are told in Hebrews 1:3, Acts 7: 55-56, and Hebrews 12:2, to name a few, that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Jesus could only sit as our High Priest because the work was done. Thus, we have a new covenant in Jesus, a New Testament, one of life eternal and not death. One that removes our sins, and they are forgotten forever and forever. But all this is done in Jesus and Jesus alone.

Are you under the old covenant or the new covenant? Too many are still trying to work their way to Heaven, and this is impossible. Jesus did ALL the work, and He is the one who intercedes for us and secures us forever. Jesus is man’s only hope; all else is simply futile.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

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Email: seangooding@mmbchurch.ca

Hebrews 7:11-19

“Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? ¹² For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. ¹³ For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. ¹⁵ And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest ¹⁶ who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.

“¹⁷ For He testifies: ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ ¹⁸ For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, ¹⁹ for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”

We got away from our direct teaching on Melchizedek for a bit last week and talked about tithing. This seemed to be a theme that kept coming up in a strange way in the churches I pastor and in our mid-week studies. But now we are back to dealing with Melchizedek once again. In this passage, we will explore the need for a new High Priest.

Currently, I am reading through the Torah, Genesis to Deuteronomy, and I recently read the parts about the installation of the Priests from the tribe of Levi and, in particular, the installation of Aaron as the High Priest. His job was to represent the people before God in the area of sins, sacrifices and forgiveness. He, the High Priest, offers blood sacrifices before God, day after day, and on the Day of Atonement, he offered an annual sacrifice for the whole nation of Israel to cover their sins collectively.

Leviticus 16: 15-16 “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus, he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities” (NASB ’95).

Aaron and the subsequent High Priests would perform the ritual year after year for the people on the tenth day of the seventh month. The High Priest was the only one allowed in the Holiest Place once a year. He, the High Priest, had to offer a sacrifice for himself and then go perform for the whole nation. But the priesthood had another lesson that we need to learn today. Sadly, some people still do not get this, and it is to their eternal detriment that they miss it.

• Salvation was not via the Priesthood, verse 11

God requires perfection for anyone to enter His presence. This is why the High Priest had to offer a sacrifice for his sins before he went to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. When he sacrificed for himself, he temporarily covered his sins with the blood of a ram or goat. Then, and only then, could he enter the presence of God on behalf of the people. God requires perfection from those that enter His presence. But we are told that perfection does not come from the Levitical priesthood. More specifically, perfection did not come by observing the law. The perfection we are speaking of here is the permanent perfection that we are offered at salvation. When you and I put our trust in Jesus as Saviour, we are permanently declared as ‘justified’ (Romans 5:1) and no longer under ‘condemnation’ (Romans 8:1). We have Jesus’ righteousness, His perfection, imputed to us.

2 Corinthians 5:2 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Isaiah 61:10 “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Aaron and the subsequent High Priests were pictures of the Priest that was to come. But this priest, this Melchizedek, was not from the tribe of Levi; he was from the tribe of Judah, the King Tribe. No salvation, no permanent eternal salvation, could come from the work of the Levitical priests. Look at how harshly the Holy Spirit led Paul to write about the old priesthood.

Verse 18: “For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness.”

Verse 19 goes on to say that through the Law, NOTHING was made perfect. Yet, God requires perfection if we are to have fellowship with Him.

• Salvation came via a particular Priest (verses 13-16).

Notice the end of verse 16, “the power of an endless life.” Unlike Jesus, Aaron died and stayed dead in the ground (Numbers 20: 27-28 “So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.” Jesus died and resurrected and lives right now; He is seated at the Right Hand of God the Father. He alone has the power and performed what was necessary to make you and me eternally perfect.

Aaron died, and any who put their hope in the law will also die. But not just die physically; they die spiritually and cannot have fellowship with God ever. They are not perfect. Romans 3:20 puts it this way,

“Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.”

This is as clear as it can be said. No one was eternally saved and made perfect by the works of the law and by the sacrifices made by Aaron and the subsequent priests. But there is another Priest, Jesus the Son of God – God in the flesh. He died once and for all; He never had to offer a sacrifice for Himself; He was and is Perfect. Thus, Jesus alone can offer eternal perfection and fellowship with God. Do you have His perfection covering your sin? Are you perfect in Jesus?

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

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