McNeil, William: Studies In Hebrews 14 ~ Hebrews 7;11-19

Our study today takes us into the Epistle to the Hebrews and chapter seven, and we're going to read from verse eleven through verse nineteen. Hebrews chapter seven, verse eleven. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident, for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. And I'm sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Now, in our previous study, we looked at the first ten verses of this chapter, and we pointed out from there that the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ was a superior priesthood. That is, it was superior to any other priesthood that had preceded it. It was superior to the priesthood of Aaron, which was limited to the nation of Israel, and it was superior to the priesthood of Melchizedek, because Christ is greater than Melchizedek. But now, in the verses I have read to you, I suggest there is set before us the truth of the spiritual priesthood of Christ. So this lesson teaches that it was essential to have a change in the divine administration, because if the Son of God is ordained a priest after the order of Melchizedek, then it is obvious that the Levitical order had to be set aside. Now, verses eleven through fourteen set forth the fact that Christ is of other descent, other than the tribe of Levi. Verses fifteen through seventeen would teach us that Christ is of everlasting duration. And then verses eighteen and nineteen would tell us that Christ is of perfect design. Now, I want you to keep in mind that there are certain truths pertaining to Christianity that would be very, very difficult for a man who was brought up in Judaism to apprehend. For example, now, if a Jew was raised under the law, then he realized that he had the word of God as the foundation for his religious ceremonials. That is more than what could be said for all the religious groups that surrounded them. You do not compare Judaism with other religions when you go back to the Old Testament. Judaism stands superior and supreme, uh, to all the other religions. Judaism was unique, for it was God-given, while they were surrounded by nations who were steeped in idolatry. The nations around them bowed down to their little idols. They carved their idols out, perhaps in wood, or they molded them in silver or even in gold, and they bowed down to those dumb idols, but not so with the Jews. That nation, the nation of Israel, they worshiped the living God, and him only were they to serve. They knew something of the power of God. They knew a little concerning what God had done for their forefathers, how God preserved them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness and established them in the promised land. In the midst of their many trials and tribulations, God had preserved them. And so the people who were of the nation of Israel at the time when Christianity was introduced, it would be very difficult for them to turn their back on the religion of their fathers, which we remind you was God-given. But it was only a shadow of things to come. So why play around in the shadows when it was possible to go on to the reality? But still, in Judaism, there was something to be seen. There was a lot of materialism pertaining to Judaism. For example, when they were coming through the wilderness, they had their tabernacle with the glory cloud resting above the mercy seat, and the presence of God was in their midst. After they were in the land, and when the time came for Solomon to reign as king, he built the temple in Jerusalem, and that was their great capital city, and the temple was their religious gathering center. So you can quite understand there was something for them to see with the eyes. And then if they attended the great services, known in the Bible as the feasts of Jehovah, they would see their priest dressed up with his priestly garments. They would see him make the sacrifices at the Jewish altars, and so on. There were things to see. There were things to do, and so it was a religion of doing and seeing. But then again, when you come to Christianity, it was entirely different. In Christianity, things are spiritual. If the Lord Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest, we can't see him. We learned at the end of chapter four, he's not functioning in a building here on earth. He has passed through the heavens and he's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. And we no longer take our sacrifices to man-made altars, and we don't now offer animal sacrifices on altars. Now, I know there's a lot of people who have tried to introduce into Christianity many of the things that pertained to Judaism. They still like to have their priestly robes, and some folks still like to speak about their altar, et cetera, et cetera. But my friend, you've got nothing in the New Testament, uh, to warrant you doing these things. You're going back now to the things that pertain to the shadows found in Judaism. And so here I ex- again say it would be very difficult in the early days of Christianity to teach a Jew who had embraced the Savior and who had professed to trust Jesus Christ as Savior and had acknowledged him as the Messiah. It would be difficult for that man to turn his back on the things pertaining to Judaism. But now I want you to notice that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews does not denounce Judaism. He sets forth in this epistle the fact that there were some good things pertaining to Judaism. That is, they had things that the heathen around them didn't have. However, I want you to remember this, that while there were good things pertaining to Judaism, he sets forth the fact that there were better things pertaining to Christianity. Now, would you rather go in for the good things or for the better things? I know what your answer would be. So therefore, the writer here very graciously and very tenderly sets before these early Christians who had been Jews prior to the conversion, that while they had good things in the religion they followed before the conversion, they had better things in Christianity. If they did no longer have the material things, if they didn't have the material altar, the material temple, and the priest dressed up in his robes, nevertheless, they had spiritual things which were superior to these material things. Now, one of the outstanding things pertaining to Judaism then was their priest. To begin with, Aaron was the high priest in Israel, and his sons who made up his family, they acted as priests. So the priesthood was narrowed down to the family of Aaron, who came of the tribe of Levi. But now, this lesson here, setting forth the spiritual priesthood pertaining to Christianity, which is the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ as our great high priest, this lesson here teaches that it was essential to have a change in the divine administration, because if the Son of God is ordained a priest after the order of Melchizedek, then it is obvious the Levitical order must be set aside. So verses eleven through fourteen, Christ is of other descent. That means he did not come of the tribe of Levi. Now, it should be noted that those who functioned as priests under the Levitical order took office according to a law of physical descent. That is, no man could function as a priest unless he came of that particular family, the family of Aaron in the tribe of Levi. Aaron, you will remember, was the brother of Moses, and both Moses and Aaron were of the Levitical tribe. But now, the Lord Jesus Christ is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He couldn't come after the order of Aaron, for he was not of that family, he was not of that tribe, the tribe of Levi, for the Lord Jesus Christ came of the tribe of Judah, as we'll see in a moment or two. But he comes after the power of an indissoluble life. Under the priesthood of the Levitical order, there was dislocation and there was disruption whenever death came, as one had to pass on and the other took the office. But now, the Lord Jesus Christ comes of the tribe of Judah. That's exactly what it says here in verse fourteen. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. How could one coming from the tribe of Judah ever act as a priest? Well, the Levitical priesthood could never make anyone perfect, so it must be replaced by an order of priesthood which is different. And so now we have a priest of a different descent. He comes from the tribe of Judah. It reminds us that there was the imperfect character of the Levitical priesthood. That is, the Levitical priesthood introduced for Israel was not perfect. It was imperfect because it was carried out by imperfect men, and it was put into, uh, being by what we might term an imperfect law. While the law was perfect so far as God was concerned, imperfect so far as man was concerned. Man couldn't keep it. And so now the Lord introduces a new form of priesthood, a new order of priesthood, which was after the order of Melchizedek. I should remind my listeners of this. There is a principle in the Word of God that God never deviates from an original idea. Now you'll find in your study of the Bible that the priesthood of Melchizedek is mentioned long before the priesthood of Aaron. However, you'll also discover this, that when the priesthood of Aaron was introduced, it was limited to one nation, but the priesthood of Melchizedek was for many nations, for there were many nations in the bowels of Abraham when he paid tithes to Melchizedek and when Melchizedek ministered unto him. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ comes from the tribe of Judah. That was the royal tribe. Remember, Melchizedek was a king. King of righteousness, king of peace. You must have righteousness before you can have peace. Any form of peace without righteousness is not peace at all. However, he was king of righteousness, king of peace, and the priest of the Most High God. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ then comes of the tribe of Judah, which is the royal tribe. When Israel wanted a king, they chose a king from the tribe of Judah, but that was wrong. That was not God's choice. And the man they chose from the tribe of Benjamin reigned over them for forty years and collapsed in absolute failure. But God says, now here is my man, and God gave them his choice from the tribe of Judah. He gave them David, and David was of the royal tribe. David was God's choice. He's called a man after God's own heart. So therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ descended from the house of David, so far as his humanity was concerned, for Mary was of the house of David, and Joseph was of the house of David. So the Lord Jesus Christ came of the house of David, of the tribe of Judah. So therefore, there had to be a change in the law. And the indicated change is noted here in the order of priesthood. A priest after the order of Melchizedek indicated the necessity for a change in the law, and also the reference to Melchizedek in Psalm one hundred and ten clearly indicated God's intention to make a change in the priesthood. That is, he would revert again from the priesthood of Aaron, which was only for a nation and was a temporary arrangement. God would revert again to a priest who would be for all nations. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is the priest over the house of God. And remember, all those who have been born of the Spirit of God are members of the house of God, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. And the middle wall of partition has been broken. They've been welded together in one, and Christ is the high priest over that whole house. And so the change had to be made, a change of law. Again, I say it would be very difficult to get a Jew to see that to begin with, but the writer here is very gentle in the way he puts it over. And perhaps you're saying, what has that got to do with us today? May I suggest there's a lot of people today who have been trying to go back and introduce things again pertaining to the law. However, we ought not to go back again to material buildings and suggesting that we have altars today and vestments and so on. These things pertain to Judaism. In Christianity, what we have are things that are spiritual. Now, verses fifteen to seventeen will prove some of these things. Here, Christ is of everlasting duration, and we have some contrasts here, and it is yet far more evident, for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life, for he testifieth, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So you have the law of a carnal commandment in contrast to the power of an endless life. See, the first has to do with things pertaining to the body, to the flesh. The other has to do with that which is spiritual, that which is endless. They have the Levitical priest in contrast to our great high priest. Then there is the law. That was the pre- prescribed standard. Over against that you have power, the enabling principle. Now, you see, there was the pres- prescribed standard under the law, but tell me, who could keep that standard? Who was fit to come up to that standard? But now there is the power, the enabling principle that helps us as Christians, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, to live up to the standard that God demands. There was the commandment. It was the Mosaic economy. It was carnal, that which is physical. And because it was carnal, because it was physical, that priest could not continue. You see, when the time came for Aaron to die, his priesthood had to be passed on to another, and so his priesthood passed from the father to the son, and that continued generation after generation. It was carnal. Then during that time, there was the animals that were sacrificed, the bodies of animals burned upon the altar. As I have indicated, the priesthood went from father to son. This ministration availed only to the flesh. But now over against that, our great high priest, there is power. Here is the enabling principle. In fact, our priest, our great high priest, lives in the power of an indissoluble life. It's endless. That which abides, and it is spiritual, it is life. So therefore, Christ is of everlasting duration, and his priesthood stands over in contrast to the priesthood of the Old Testament. That that you find under the Levitical priesthood was only a shadow of the better things to come. It was only a forerunner, a foreshadowing of the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But now verses eighteen and nineteen set before us Christ in his perfect design. Now the purpose of God in connection with priesthood could never be brought to a perfect and satisfactory conclusion through the Levitical economy. But the new order demanded a change of the law governing priesthood, and with it was introduced a better hope by which we draw nigh to God. This expression denotes the approach of priests to God in the act of worship. The Levitical priesthood could not be altered or adjusted to make it fit into the new order of things, but it had to be altogether disannulled. Now try and get the picture. A man brought up in Old Testament times under the Levitical economy. Here is a Jew, and that man was permitted to go into the outer court of the tabernacle as far as the brazen altar where the sacrifices were made, but beyond that he could not go. That was his limit of approach. From there on, the priest took up the representative office and represented this man. He offered the sacrifice at the altar, then went inside the door into the holy place and represented the man there in the presence of God. And the high priest was allowed one day in the year, on the Day of Atonement, to go inside the veil, but the man himself never went beyond the brazen altar. Now, that is not the order of things today. Christ is of perfect design. He has, as it were, paid the last sacrifice, and by his one sacrifice he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. He has opened up for us a new and a living way, and no longer does the Christian simply come to the altar of sacrifice, which of course would point to Calvary. It's the shadow of the sacrifice of Christ, but we can go further than that. We can go right into the very presence of God, for that's what the scripture indicates here, by which we draw nigh unto God. In plain words, every Christian, every true believer of this present dispensation is reckoned by God to be a member of a spiritual priesthood. You've been granted that privilege, just as Aaron's sons were members of the priestly family, and their father, who was Aaron, was the high priest. But now our great high priest is the Lord Jesus Christ. We learned that at the end of chapter four and he doesn't function in any temple here on earth, but he has passed into the heavens and represents us there in the very presence of God. And since the veil has been rent in twain, we have direct access now as holy priests to come right into the very presence of God and function there as purged worshippers.