And we do appreciate Mrs. Frame and her readiness to sing for us whenever she's called on. She did think that tonight she might have difficulty in finding a solo about Melchizedek, and she knew that that was to be the topic for this evening, but the one that she sang was more than adequate. Let's turn to Chapter Seven of Hebrews tonight, shall we? We already introduced this chapter to you last night by pointing out two phrases, this Melchizedek in verse one and this man in verse twenty four, the one being the type and the other being the fulfillment of the type. Now the way is paved for our subject. by mention of the priesthood of Melchizedek in chapter five and verse six, in chapter five and verse ten, and in chapter six and verse twenty, where we read, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now obviously that called for some explanation. And now here we are arriving at the explanation. You'll remember that we are now looking at the third picture of the Lord Jesus. We've seen him as a revelation of God. We've seen him as a savior from God. And now we're looking at him as a high priest before God. Our opening hymn last night, you'll remember, went like this. It began, our great high priest is sitting, at God's right hand above, for us his hands uplifting in sympathy and love. Whilst here below in weakness, we onward speed our way, in sorrow often sickness, we sigh and groan and pray, through manifold temptation. My soul holds on its course. Christ's mighty intercession alone is my resource. My gracious high priest's pleadings, who on the cross did bleed, bring down God's grace and blessings, help in each hour of need. We have made reference to the Lord Jesus as our High Priest, down through the years perhaps. We've sung about it, as we did last night. We've read about it. But there is so much about it that perhaps we don't understand and we certainly don't appreciate as we should to the full. But this thought of his intercession and his pleadings as our high priest in the heavenly, holiest of all, is a very precious and wonderful thing. It was always a warming thing to my heart when I would read the words of the Lord Jesus to Peter. I have prayed for this. That's a very wonderful, wonderful thing. And no less does he pray for you than he prayed for Peter. No less does he pray for me than he prayed for Peter. That's his work as our great high priest. Now you'll remember that the topic was introduced at the end of chapter four, where we had the introduction of Christ as high priest. a definite statement about that high priesthood, a qualifying experience that made him so fitted to be our high priest, and a logical expectation that what he has provided we should take advantage of. And then we looked at the supremacy of Christ as high priest. We looked at what priests were. the high priesthood particularly, and then we looked at the presentation of the great high priest. God glorified him, prayer fortified him, and suffering magnified him. Now we come after the function of Christ as high priest in chapter six to the illustration of Christ as high priest. Now Melchizedek is mentioned on three occasions in the Scriptures, twice in the Old Testament and once in the New. Now when I say once, he's mentioned several times, of course, but in this one epistle. When we read in Genesis chapter fourteen, and we're going to read it in a moment, we find his connection with history, for it was a true story about Melchizedek and Abraham. I repeat, we'll read it in a moment. In Psalm one hundred and ten, he's mentioned again in connection with prophecy. And now here, in the epistle to the Hebrews, he's mentioned in connection with doctrine. Now, I prayed that this week might be a learning week for us. I'm afraid I've almost taken you to Bible school, but I felt it might be a change of pace after the other weeks, and it's good for us to learn Bible doctrine. And that's what we are doing this week, Bible doctrines concerning the person of the Lord Jesus. Now let's read what chapter seven says first. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation, that is the interpretation of his name, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now that's the reason why we are talking about the better priesthood. And this is just another reference to it. It's a priesthood that continues constantly and carries us into the eternal future. Now after Melchizedek, this illustration of Christ as high priest, We'll go on to read, or I'm not sure whether this is what we will do. We haven't come to the practical section that I wanted to deal with on the last two nights, but we have been dealing with very practical portions in the mornings. But you know, this study on the better priesthood continues in chapter eight. and chapter nine. In our chapters here, we have the person of the priest in view. That's the reason for the story of Melchizedek. When we go to chapter eight and chapter nine, we have the work of the priest and the priesthood. That's why we are brought back to the tabernacle. That's why we are brought back to the old sacrifices. And that's not the Melchizedek priesthood. That's the Aaronic priesthood. You remember the stories about Aaron and his responsibility as high priest and his leadership of the priesthood. And you know the story of the Levites. Now in chapters eight and nine we see the better priesthood as it is compared with the old Aaronic priesthood. because that's the work. But here we have the person, and he's given to us the Lord Jesus is presented to us in type. Let's go back to Genesis fourteen and read what is said about him there, where we find him associated with history, for he was a very definite part of history. Now I think you'll remember this this part of the Old Testament, there was a king by the name of Kedileoma. You remember his name? He was a conquering king. He was a subjugating king. He was a king who subjugated many other kings and their kingdoms. Twelve long years he made so many of these kingdoms slaves to himself. that on the thirteenth year the kings who were subjugated got together and they rebelled. The subjugating king gathered three comrades with him, and four kings fought against five kings, and five kings were put to flight. But the four kings, in their winning, they took captive Lot, who was a relative of Abraham's. So Abraham gathered together his own army, and he went after the four kings, and he put them to flight. It was after that battle, after he had defeated these kings, that there is... an approach by one of the defeated kings, the king of Sodom, and he was one of the five that had been defeated by the four. He comes to Abraham. And then there's a pause. And then comes the story of Melchizedek. Now that's the background. Let's look at it and see what it says. And this is verse seventeen. The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedaleoma and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaver, which is the king's Dale. Pause. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, that is, Abraham, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he, that is Abraham, gave him, that is Melchizedek, tithes of all. The end of the pause. Back to the King of Sodom. And the King of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the King of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, that I will not take anything that is thine less thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich. There's Melchizedek in history. Now look at Psalm one hundred and ten, will you please. And verse four. And this, of course, is what is quoted in the New Testament. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way. Therefore shall he lift up the head. Now that is prophetic. And here we find Melchizedek in prophecy. And now we find him in doctrine. Now I want to speak about three things to begin with. First of all, the significance of his names. And you'll remember we read, he was made like unto the Son of God. Even way, way, way back in history, it doesn't say the Son of God was made like unto him. Although this man is a type, the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the type. And Melchizedek, it reads, was made like unto the Son of God. The significance of his names. And then I want to talk briefly about the significance of his acts. And then I want you to see the significance of his person, which is what we are leading up to here. Now, his name is Melchizedek, and his name is also King of Salem. Now, Salem is the Old Testament word for peace. And the Jewish word today, Shalom, comes from the same root. Now, I want you to notice why these names are significant. One means King of righteousness, and the other means King of peace. Now we were talking about rest this morning in the third of our insertions here in this epistle. And we reminded our hearts of the truth that is revealed here. There can be no peace without righteousness. Always in that order. Righteousness and peace. King of righteousness, king of peace. We find that elsewhere in the Scripture. We read, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. That's in Psalm eighty-five. And we read again, the work of righteousness shall be peace. That's in Isaiah chapter thirty-two. Always righteousness first and then peace. You know, the reason why many believers live lives of such turmoil, the reason why on so many occasions they pull themselves up short and say, why is my life so topsy-turvy? Why is it that somehow I never seem to make the grade, I never seem to arrive at anything that's really purposeful and worthwhile? and if they will really seek an answer, asking the Holy Spirit to show them why, he'll take them back into their lives and show them that righteousness is missing, that disobedience and sin have somewhere along the way destroyed the possibility as things are, of having real peace, or as we said this morning, rest, God's rest, complete rest. Before we get to that sabbatical rest, that is in store for us in the glory. Then His Acts, look at what the word says so briefly and yet so fully. He met Abraham, verse one. He blessed him, verse one. And then it says, further down, he received, in the sixth verse, he received from Abraham. You know, this man was a great man. He must have been, if he was the blesser of Abraham, a greater man than Abraham, and Abraham was the friend of God. It says here, consider thus for how great this man was, under whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Then if he condescended to meet Abraham, and you'll notice it doesn't say that Abraham met him, because the approach was made by Melchizedek. Now that was condescension. And what a picture of the Lord Jesus. When we were in no position to meet him, the hymn writer wrote, What condescension? Bringing us redemption that at the dead of night, not one faint hope in sight, God gracious, tender, laid aside his splendor, stooping to woo, to win. to save my soul. This was great condescension. He met Abraham. It's one of the things that makes him a type of the Lord Jesus, whose stoop was so much lower and so much costlier. And then it says he blessed Abraham. And you'll find his blessing was an intercession. because he went to God for Abraham, and he went to Abraham for God. It's right here in our reading. He blessed Abraham. Again, that's typical of the Lord Jesus, who is always blessing, going to God for us. That's his function as high priest in the heavenly. and then speaking to us for God. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And then he received from Abraham. Abraham, it says, gave the tenth of the spoil. If he gave them, the king must have received them. You know, our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. If I was in need, he writes, I wouldn't tell thee, the God of heaven, the creator of all things, the one who rules all things. the one through whom everything adheres, holds together, when we bring the little we have, receives it. That wonderful grace on the part of the Lord Jesus. I heard about a little boy whose mother heard him praying one night. She had taught him little prayers. But on this occasion she heard him saying on his knees, by his bed, with his hands together and his eyes closed, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. She didn't disturb him, waited till he got to Z. And then she opened his bedroom door as he got up from his knees and said, I don't understand that prayer. I don't know what you were praying. Why were you reciting the alphabet? He says, because all of the alphabet, all of the words are made up of the alphabet, and I don't quite know how to tell God what's in my heart, so I gave him the letters so he can put them all together. You know, I think that was precious to God. I really do. Like the other little boy I heard about, who was kneeling with his mother by the side of his bed, and... They were praying together. In the middle of his prayer, he had a paroxysm of coughing. His mother waited, and before they started again, still with his eyes closed, he said, Please forgive me, God, for coughing in your face. I think that's wonderful to God, because God receives these precious things, and little as much as God is in it. whatever we give. God receives in his grace not only so, but it's precious to him. The significance then of his acts, he met and he blessed and he received an act of homage from Abraham. You notice the mention of the tithes here. Some people say that tithing is just under law. The law wasn't even given here. We read about the Levites who were actually in the loins of their father Abraham when he gave tithes to this man Melchizedek. Certainly there was no Moses and there was no receiving of the Lord Sinai. Tithe goes back before the law. So don't let that, what people say, stop you from proportionately giving. but I better not repeat myself because we touched on that too this morning because it came into our subject. Now the significance of his person, and this is the important thing. Verse three says, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually. Now there are some people that have tried to make of this some strange biological monstrosity. A man who never had a mother and never had a father, was never born and never died. Actually, it is because you will nowhere find in the divine record any details about this man. We don't know who his father was. And God caused that deliberately. We don't know who his mother was, and God was just as deliberate about that. We don't know when he was born, and we don't know when he died. And all of these things were deliberate on God's part to make this man obscure. Now his obscurity makes him a type of Christ's continuity. because the way it reads here in our chapter is to give us a picture of the Lord Jesus who was indeed without beginning and without end. That's why the Bible very, very meticulously says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. It doesn't say unto us a son is born. because the Son is eternal. We read in the Bible about the eternal Father and we read about the everlasting Son but that word is actually eternal. There's a difference between the two you know. Something that is everlasting can begin here and never have an ending but something eternal goes back to no beginning and reaches out to no ending So this is meant to be a picture of the continuity of the Lord Jesus. He had no beginning, he will have no ending, and his priesthood will be in perpetuity. Thou art a priest forever, a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. This man's greatness, verses four to seven, was a type of Christ's authority. consider how great this man was. And that word consider means to look very intently into and to learn from the greatness of his men. But behold, a greater than Melchizedek is here. This is a type of his authority, going back to verse three, his priesthood, because it has no endings. is a type of Christ's office. True in its essence, priest of the Most High God, eternal in its character, forever a priest, after the order of Melchizedek, and this, incidentally, is the only abiding priesthood. And then finally endorsed by an oath by God himself. I don't have time in detail to point these out to you, but they are all in the reading, and you'll find them very readily. I have to come. I must come to the antitype, the fulfillment of the type. We've talked about this Melchizedek. Now let's talk about this man. Look at verse twenty-four, will you? Let's read from verse twenty-two. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. Now we're coming to the others. We've been talking about a better priesthood. Now there's mention of a better covenant. And they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. There is, that's what we've been talking about, the better priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became a who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the peoples? For this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was, since the law, make the Son, who is consecrated or perfected forevermore. Now I want you to notice in verse twenty-four the word surety. And then I want you to notice the thought in verse twenty-five of his being the Savior. And then in verses twenty-six, twenty-seven, and twenty-eight, the sacrifice. He offered up himself. Now that word surety is a word that approximates our word bail. Going, if you will, bail for us. That's really what it means. assurity. You know, it's because the Lord Jesus is our assurity that sin can never again enter heaven. I used to be troubled as an early Christian when I read about Lucifer, when I read about Satan, walking up and down amidst the stones of fire, being the anointed chair of the cover of sinning in heaven. If it happened then, why couldn't it happen again? Because Jesus has become our surety. He is guaranteed by being our eternal balesman that what we have is unchanging and eternal, never going to be besmirched, never going to be touched by that who would do it harm, neither rust, nor must can wreak havoc upon it. That's the thought of the surety in verse twenty-four, twenty-two. Verse twenty-two. Now the Savior is a threefold one in our verses, in our verse twenty-five. He's a Savior first of all from destruction. He is able to save unto the uttermost. He is able to save us from distance because as our Savior He brings us unto God. And then finally He is a Savior from displeasure because He constantly makes intercession for us. So that God is able to look at us in spite of our failures and our weaknesses and our sins through the person of His Son. and he sees us as perfect as the Lord Jesus. That's so wonderful it is impossible for us to really appreciate it, to understand it as we should. Now the sacrifice. And again let me read these verses because they are so important. Such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, one who needeth not daily as the past high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the peoples, for this he did once when he offered up himself. You know, that's why it says, while the priests stood, the Lord Jesus sitters. They stood because their work was never finished. That's not a new thought, do you? He sits today because his work is complete. Then it says, For the law make of men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since the law make of the Son who is perfected forevermore. Holy, guileless, undefiled. A beautiful trio. His holiness is a God would think. His guilelessness is a man would think. And his lack of defilement is an inward thing. Without blemish. He had to be. All of the sacrifices of the ages past for them was demanded a lamb without blemish. It was to be a picture of the Lord Jesus. And so it couldn't be otherwise when he was the sacrifice. He was without blemish. Also he was without equal, separate from sinners and higher than the highest in heaven. We sing sometimes, it's his. and his by right the highest place in heaven. Without equal, without substitute. This he did once when he offered up himself. It was enough. And what is more, there is no one who could have done it when the eye of God rode over heaven. looking for the one who should become the Savior of men and their intercession. He may well have looked in the direction of Gabriel, but his eye left Gabriel. He wasn't sufficient. Maybe Michael the Archangel, but again he looked away. There was no being in heaven and certainly not one on earth. There was only one who could do this work. You sang it when you were a child. There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. And if he did, once, when he offered up himself. And without stint, he offered up himself. He was the one who gave himself the just for the unjust. For a righteous man, the Bible says, some might even dare to die. But while we were sinners, Christ died for us. It's all meant to make our hearts marvel at the wonder of the person of the Lord Jesus pictured in this man Melchizedek and then enlarged upon as the chapter comes to an end. No wonder His priesthood is perfected forevermore. And that means it cannot be improved. And wouldn't you expect that of the Lord Jesus? Of course you would. Now in the chapter that follows and on into the ninth, we think about, we read about and we are meant to look at the better covenant. The better sanctuary, see it's referred to if you look at chapter eight, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum, we have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. There's the better sanctuary. We already read about Jesus being assuredly of the better covenant. And then we go on and we read some details about the better sacrifice which was his giving of himself. I'm not sure whether we should go on to these things tomorrow or whether we should move into those last chapters and see what God expects of us in view of all that we've been trying to learn. this week. Let's pray together, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, again we want to thank you for all that there is in this wonderful book.