Hebrews 7 - The Source of Grace

God’s promise and oath to bless Abraham and to make him the spiritual father of God’s people is unchangeable.  It is impossible for God to lie.  God’s promise of entering His rest still stands - for you - and for me.

God has prepared and planned an eternal home for us - a new earth.  We must follow Abraham’s example of faith, endurance, courage, fear of God, and patience.  We must not disobey God as Israel did (4:11), or we will fall.  We must keep loving others as long as life lasts (6:11).  Our hope will come true.  We will enter God’s promised rest.

        Jesus Christ is the source of our salvation.  That is our hope.  That is what we hold to.  Our hope in Jesus is trustworthy; it is a strong anchor for our souls.  No matter the suffering, the raging storm, obey Jesus.  Trust Him for He goes before us.

How God acts and intervenes amongst people of all nations from all time is mysterious, but we get insight into His ways in the Bible.  Melchizedek was a real man.  A real king.  He knew God and he knows God today.  I'm confident we will see him in the eternal Kingdom.  He was an illustration of the final, eternal High Priest, the Son of God.  He resembled the Son of God; he was characterized as the ‘king of justice’ and ‘king of peace.’  I hope to meet him and to hear the rest of the story.

Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel (7:4) recognized the power God had given Melchizedek (7:7).  There are relationships between God and people in the OT that are wondrous and help us realize how little we know.  At the same time, God gives us more than enough clarity in what we need to know.

        For instance, Melchizedek (Genesis 14) was not only the king of Salem, but also a priest of God Most High (Hebrews 7:1). Interesting: a priest before the priesthood.  This was long before Moses, Aaron, Levi - and the Hebrew priesthood.  God has always yearned for a deep relationship with His prized possession.  We see that with Job and Noah.  God’s character never changes - and in this chapter, we get a glimpse of the extent of God’s love for us in His eternal plan.

God loves His children, despite our flaws.  God always provides us with the counsel, admonition, and encouragement that we need.  Abraham’s faith was that of a warrior for God (Hebrews 7:2).  Abraham, faced with what would turn most men soft and proud (that is, success and triumph), instead increased Abraham’s reverence and fear of God Most High.

        Abraham's example is one we must take to heart.  In our hour of victory, when our character is challenged by the cunning vice of praise, Jesus comes out to meet us.  At that hour we take no praise.  Instead, we give all honor to Christ our King.  We recognize all we have is from Jesus.  God always gives us just what we need to keep us humble, to remind us that we are only sojourners, and to give us confidence that our true hour of victory is yet to come.

        Please meet us today Lord Jesus.  We seek your blessing.

Abraham did not know Melchizedek - no one knew where he came from or who his parents were, but he knew God.  Yet Abraham met and received God’s blessing through Melchizedek.  Abraham honored God by honoring and giving to Melchizedek.

Of course, as we all know, Melchizedek was a type, a foreshadowing of the Holy King, the King of Kings.  “He remains a priest forever resembling the Son of God” (Hebrews 7:3). Hebrews is using the strong relationship between Abraham - the great patriarch of the Hebrews - and Melchizedek to show us, to give us a glimpse of the majesty, might, and nature of Jesus the Most High.

This aligns with what Jesus tells us, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message to the churches.  I am both the source of David and the heir to his through.  I am the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16).

Jesus is God.  Creator and author of life.  The One who had no beginning to his life nor will he have an end (7:3).

Jesus is the final High Priest.  There will be no rebuilding of the temple here on earth and no remaking of a human priesthood.  “....God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever” (7:28).  Once for all time means once - Jesus was the final sacrifice.

God’s plan for the Son to be the Rescuer, the Eternal High Priest, was the plan from the beginning.  God never changes or casts a shift in shadow.

We are under a new covenant now.  A new system.  You see legalists in the church who desperately want to go back to the old way.  Don't fall for it.  The old system of human priesthood - weak and sinful men representing other weak and sinful men in their dealings with God  - was set aside forever - because it was weak and useless (7:18).  Never try and mend back together what God has torn apart.

The problem is not God.   The problem is you and me - sinful men and women.  The Hebrew law never made anything perfect (7:19) - it only illustrates the fallenness of people.

But now we have confidence in a better hope - Jesus, our sinless God, our Saviour, our Creator.  It is through Jesus that we draw near to God.  You do not need a human priest - no one but Jesus represents you to God.  Jesus is our Eternal High Preist.

Jesus guarantees this better hope and better covenant with God.  He speaks with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit on our behalf; He intercedes for you and me because He loves us!

Jesus is holy and blameless.  He’s perfect, unstained by sin.  And He alone can cleanse us from our sins.

        Lord God Almighty, thank you for your ways.  We need just the insight that you seek to give us, but help us to year for more understanding.  Thank you for appointing Jesus Christ your Son by your promise and your oath.  Amen.

Spring flowers in Lynchburg, VA.