The Priesthood of Christ Heb. 7:1-28; 8:1-4
Melchizedek, King of Salem in the context of Hebrews is
Jesus or stated another way, Melchizedek was typology for Christ. The
name means King of righteousness. The name Salem has its root
meaning in Shaloam or peace. Melchizedek had no father or mother
meaning He was eternal. In another typological sense, Melchizedek was
another Adam (i.e. no father and Mother). Thus, the Priesthood of
Christ was after the line of Melchizedek or eternal. The Priesthood
of Christ was as Melchizedek, a single man compared to the dynasty
of the Levities. As opposed to the Levities who offered
sacrifices for the people, Christ offered Himself. This offering
means that the blood of Christ is constant. He offered Himself once
for all. While the Levitical Priesthood did not have what is known as
'perfection' (see verse 11) our High Priest does.
In verse 17 we have the quote from David, saying that "YHWH
has sworn that Yeshua will be a Priest forever." Since Yeshua
will be a Priest forever and Yeshua was not of the tribe of Levi, He
cannot come back to earth and reign as many believe. Only Levitical
Priests may officiate on earth (8:4).
Verse
26 tells us that Christ is the kind of Priest we need. He has special
qualities. He is holy (hagios). Holy can refer to Temple
vessels and the like but this is hosios a kind of moral
holiness.
He was/is without guile. That
could not be said for the Levitical Priesthood particularly in the
first century. In other words, there was no deception in Christ. He
was/is not defiled. Because He was not defiled He was separated
from sinners and He is a heavenly Priest carrying on His ministry in
heaven. Jesus was not a sacrifice for His own sins because He had
none. He is/was the Hapax or once for all sacrifice.
In
Chapter 8 the writer tells us that we have such a High Priest as
described in chapter 7. Christ is the true Priest and not the shadow.
God appoints Priests to offer both gifts and sacrifices (gifts are
Burnt, Meal, Peace and offerings of worship).
It
was necessary that Christ had something to offer like the Levitical
Priesthood and in His case He offered Himself (v.4).
In 7:16-18 we have the start of the new Priesthood. That came
about when Jesus presented Himself to the mob at Gethsemane.
And we find in Hebrews 10:9 that the first will or
testament must be taken out of the way in order to establish the
second testament.
In verse 5 the word shadow (skia) and
copy are defined as follows. They are something on the order of a
blueprint or likeness.
The Tabernacle was a shadow
copy of what Moses saw on the mountain. The Heavenly things are the
substance of the Tabernacle since the earthly tabernacle was only a
shadow. Thus when the reality of the shadow is on us there is no
longer any need for the shadow. We do not wear the pattern of a dress
but we wear the dress made from the pattern.
by Lane Rogers