The Better Priest-King

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the quickest

way to explain who a person is is by comparing

them to somebody else? If I were to tell you

that this new young basketball player who's just

come into the NBA is the next Steph Curry, well

if you were a basketball fan you would immediately

begin forming in your mind a picture of to who

this player is. You would think about his size,

his shooting ability, his court vision, his leadership,

his work ethic, what he brings to the game. The

comparison tells you something important before

you really know anything else about the person.

Or if I were to say that this young politician,

this up -and -coming politician is another Abraham

Lincoln, you would instantly think of certain

things. Integrity, courage, being able to lead

during difficult times. Comparisons are a powerful

way to allow us to understand something unfamiliar

by connecting it to something else. And that's

exactly what the writer of Hebrews is going to

do in chapter 7. The readers know Jesus. They

know He is the Son of God. They know that He

died and rose again. They know that He is their

Savior, but there's one aspect of the ministry

of Jesus that the writer of Hebrews desperately

wants them to understand. He wants them to get

it. He wants them to get that Jesus is their

great high priest. The problem is, is that Jesus

was not from the priestly tribe. Jesus was from

the tribe of Judah. So how can he be our great

high priest? And to answer that question the

writer is going to reach back nearly 2 ,000 years

before Christ and he's gonna pull this mysterious

figure out of the pages of Genesis. A man who

appears for only a few verses then disappears

just as quickly only to be mentioned again a

thousand years later in one of our Psalms. Of

course, we've already encountered him a couple

times. His name is Melchizedek. Back in chapter

five, the writer mentions that Jesus was a priest

forever in the order of Melchizedek. He brings

him up again in chapter six, but each time when

you think that maybe he's going to explain to

us who Melchizedek is or why he's bringing up

Melchizedek, he just keeps stopping short. So

he brings up Melchizedek and you're like, Melchizedek,

what's going on with this? And then he just stops

and he goes to something else. And then he brings

him up again and you're like, Melchizedek, what's

going on with this? And then he starts to warn

the people. So he's been hinting at that using

this person as a comparison for Jesus all along.

And finally in chapter seven, he returns to this

mysterious figure and he reveals why he brought

him up in the first place. Now at first glance,

Melchizedek seems like a strange place to build

an argument. As I said, he's just briefly mentioned

in Genesis 14, yet the writer of Hebrews is going

to build an entire chapter, we'll do some of

it this week, Brother James will finish it next

week, Lord willing, and yet he's going to discuss

Melchizedek for an entire chapter. And the question

has to be asked, well, why? Why are you bringing

up this mysterious figure that kind of comes

out of nowhere in Genesis 14? And the reason

why he does it is not because Melchizedek is

the hero of the story. Not because we're supposed

to become so fascinated with Melchizedek. He

brings up Melchizedek because Melchizedek is

a God -given portrait of Jesus. The writer is

essentially saying, if you want to understand

how Jesus Christ is your great high priest, you

need to look at Melchizedek. And as we do that,

we are going to discover that every point that

the writer of Hebrews brings up about Melchizedek

points to Jesus. It's not about the man himself.

It is about the greatness of Jesus Christ. Does

that make sense? It's not about Melchizedek.

It is about Jesus. So let's turn to Hebrews chapter

seven. We're gonna read the first 10 verses and

then we're basically gonna look at a couple things.

What he reveals about Melchizedek and then the

proofs that he gives to show that Melchizedek

is in fact great and why he points. to Jesus.

So let's read these first 10 verses and then

we'll begin discussing the shadow of Melchizedek

pointing to Christ. For this Melchizedek, king

of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham

returning from the slaughter of the kings and

blessing. And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth

part of everything. He is first, by translation

of His name, King of Righteousness. And then

He is also King of Salem. That is, King of Peace.

He is without father or mother or genealogy,

having neither beginning of days nor end of life,

but resembling the Son of God, He continues a

priest forever. See how great this man was, to

whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of his

spoils. And those descendants of Levi who received

the priestly office have a commandment in the

law to take tithes from the people that is from

their brothers, though these also are descendants

from Abraham. But this man, who does not have

his descent from the received tithes of Abraham

and blessed him, who had the promises. It is

beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by

the superior. In one case tithes are received

by mortal men, but in the other case by one of

whom it is testified that he lives. One might

even say that Levi himself, who received tithes,

paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still

in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek

met him. Let's break down this argument. Let's

break down why he's bringing up Melchizedek.

Now, the writer begins by introducing us to this

man. But this isn't, again, this isn't merely

a history lesson. Every detail is going to highlight

and is intended to reveal us something about

Christ. The writer is identifying the ways that

this character Melchizedek resembles Jesus. Melchizedek

is not the destination. He is a portrait of the

better priest king. Here's the first thing that

we see, verse one. This character, Melchizedek,

unites two offices together. It says in verse

one, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest

of the Most High God. Notice there, king and

priest. Now that may not sound unusual to us.

We've talked about this before. It would have

been completely unusual for the Jews to have

a king -priest. Kings came from the tribe of

Judah. Priests came from the tribe of Levi. They

didn't come from the same tribe. Yet centuries

before the law was given Melchizedek appears

on the pages of Scripture holding both offices.

He was king and he was priest. Now why does that

matter? Because Melchizedek is pointing us to

Jesus. Jesus is the king who rules his people.

And he is also the priest who represents his

people before God. Think about how wonderful

that is. The one who possesses all authority

is the one who intercedes for you. If you had

a king without a priestly compassion that king

could become a tyrant. If you had a priest without

kingly authority that priest could become powerless.

But in Jesus you have perfect authority and perfect

mediation meeting together. He truly is our better

priest king. So the first reason, the first revelation

that we're getting from Melchizedek is that he

was a priest king, pointing to the better priest

king, holding both offices together. The second

thing that he reveals is that he brings righteousness.

It says first in verse two, by translation of

his name, king of righteousness. Now the name

Melchizedek literally means king of righteousness.

But the writer isn't giving us this name. He's

not just doing like a Hebrew word study for us

so that we can be smart and just think that we

know the definition of His name. He's showing

another way in which this points to Christ. Because

righteousness is at the very heart of God's kingdom.

It is at the very heart of God's kingdom. Jesus

is righteous in His character. Amen? He is righteous

in His life that He lived. He perfectly fulfilled

the law of God, and Jesus always did what was

pleasing to the Father. And through faith in

Jesus, His righteousness becomes our righteousness.

Okay? We don't have any righteousness of our

own. This is one of the greatest truths of all

of Scripture. When we stand before God in Jesus

Christ, We do not stand in our own righteousness.

That would be standing in filthy rags. It would

be pointless and it would be an abomination before

God. But instead, in Christ, we stand there with

His righteousness. We stand before God clothed

in the purity of Jesus Christ. And Melchizedek...

bore this title, King of Righteousness, and the

author of Hebrews is saying, Jesus is the real

King of Righteousness. Melchizedek just pointed

there. He bore the title, but Jesus fulfills

the reality. He's the better priest king because

he brings righteousness to his people. Then he

gives us a third revelation of this king. Verse

two, he secures peace. It says, he then, And

then he is also king of Salem. That is king of

peace. Salem means peace. So Melchizedek is both

the king of righteousness and the king of peace.

Now don't miss the order here. This order is

very important. He doesn't say first he is the

king of peace and then he is the king of righteousness.

He says no, he is the king of righteousness and

he is the king of peace. And this is very, very

important. The order is not accidental. The Bible

never teaches peace with God apart from righteousness,

ever. That's why when people say, you know, I

think I'm gonna go to heaven one day because

I'm a good person. The question is not if you're

a good person or a bad person. The question is,

are you perfectly righteous? And if the answer

is no, then you don't have peace with God. It's

impossible. Peace cannot come without righteousness.

It's impossible. God does not make peace by ignoring

sin. He doesn't make peace by sweeping sin under

the rug. God establishes righteousness first

and then peace follows, and that is exactly what

Jesus accomplished on the cross. What does Romans

5 .1 say? Therefore, since we have been justified

by faith, you remember, what is justification?

I always like to describe it in the words of

Paul George, that's a basketball player, Bob

George. Always like to describe it like he described

it the great exchange. I bring all my sin and

I give it to Jesus Jesus takes it he died for

it and then he takes all of his righteousness

and gives it to me. It is the great exchange

So to be justified is to be righteous before

God in right standing before God because of Jesus.

So in Romans 5 .1, therefore, since we have been

justified by faith, made righteous by faith,

we have peace with God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

So there's the order. We become righteous because

of Jesus' righteousness, because of the King

of righteousness, and then because He is the

King of peace, we have peace with God. Don't

get that order messed up. That is a very deep

theological truth that we cling to. Justification

then peace. Righteousness then peace. And our

better priest king secures both for us. The fourth

and final revelation from these first three verses

is that he reigns forever. Now verse three is

probably the most misunderstood verse in this

passage. The writer says of Melchizedek that

he was without father or mother or genealogy

having neither beginning of days nor end of life.

This has made some people conclude that Melchizedek

must have been some type of celestial being.

Maybe he was an angel. Others have suggested

that maybe he was a pre -incarnate appearance

of Jesus Christ. But I do not think that is what

the author is saying. The writer is describing

Melchizedek as he appears in Genesis. Follow

me here. He's not describing all the details

about Melchizedek. Did Melchizedek have a mother?

Yes. Did Melchizedek have a father? Yes. That's

a reality of Melchizedek. He was a human being.

However, what he's doing is not describing the

actual genealogy of Melchizedek. That's not the

point. What he's doing is he's using how Melchizedek

appears in Genesis to point it to Jesus. In Genesis,

Melchizedek has no father or mother. He just

shows up. And so he's grabbing a hold of that

picture and he's saying, look, he didn't have

a father or mother in Genesis, he's just there.

And so he's not, Genesis, because it records

no genealogy, there's no ancestry, there's no

birth, there's no death. He is using that portrayal

of Melchizedek to point it to Jesus. By the way,

this was Genesis 14 that we're gonna read about

in a minute, is inspired by God. Why did God

inspire Moses to write about Melchizedek and

not mention his father and mother? Because Melchizedek

was always going to be a picture of Jesus. It's

one of the great principles of one of the great

defenses of why we believe the Bible's inspired.

God is not coming to the author of Hebrews and

saying, hey, you know, I just thought of something.

That's a great idea. Let's use Melchizedek to

point to Jesus. And then the writer of Hebrews

is like, that's great, God. And then wrote it

down. This was being planned. 2000 years ago.

That's why he's not mentioned as having a father,

mother, or any kind of genealogy, or ancestry,

or death. Because Melchizedek was always going

to be written the way he was written so that

he could point to Jesus, and years later we could

use Melchizedek as a picture in a portrait. Does

that make sense? Now, let's get to the point

of not having a mother, father, or ancestry.

The Levitical priesthood, you became a priest

because of your genealogy or because of your

ancestry, correct? Now, not every Levite was

going to be a priest, but you couldn't be a priest

unless you were a Levite. So your ancestry and

genealogy was a requirement in order for you

to become a priest. And another thing that happened

to every Levitical priest is that their ministry

ended because they died. Now, in fact, I believe

they had to stop being a priest at the age of

50. So I think at 50 they would stop being a

priest and then others that they had trained

would take over. And then sometimes they would

die even before 50. So their ministry would end.

But there's no death mentioned of Melchizedek.

There's no ending of Melchizedek's priesthood,

which results in him becoming a perfect fitting

picture of Christ. Jesus does not hold the priesthood

because of his genealogy. Doesn't matter what

tribe he's from. He becomes a priest because

of who he is, not his genealogy. So being from

the tribe of Judah doesn't matter for being the

great high priest of God in the new covenant.

Because this priest is not going to be priest

because of his ancestry. Jesus holds the office

because of who he is. And unlike every priest

that comes before him, his ministry never ends.

He never dies. He never needs a successor. He

never ends in his intercession. His ministry

never ends. Right now, at this very moment, our

better priest king is seated at the right hand

of the Father praying for his people. and he'll

continue to do it forever. It's why we can trust

him. It's why we can draw near to him. It's why

he is our better priest king. John Calvin wrote,

whatever excellency was in Melchizedek, it was

just a shadow of that which was found perfectly

in Jesus Christ. So here's the first thing he

does in these first three verses. He gives us,

he reveals to us these specific points. about

Melchizedek and why Jesus is better than anything

in the Levitical priesthood, because he's a priest

in the order of Melchizedek. Also, by the way,

as a side note here, one of the main reasons

textually why I don't think Melchizedek was a

pre -incarnate Jesus Christ is because it says,

in verse three, at the end of verse three, but

resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest

forever. That word resembling, the weight of

that word means that basically he just points

to him or is like him. And so that leads me to

believe that he's not a pre -incarnate Jesus.

He's just one that God inspired to write about

so that we could point to Jesus. Then after revealing

what's been revealed in these first three verses,

the writer is now going to prove how great he

was. He even says at the beginning of verse four,

see how great this man was. And then what he's

gonna do is he's going to give us three reasons

for how great Melchizedek was. Namely, how he's

greater than Abraham and Levi. Now that's a huge

statement to Jewish people. that this man Melchizedek

was greater than Abraham and Levi. And then he's

going to give the proofs for why that's true.

In order to do this, he's going to take us all

the way back to Genesis chapter 14. We need to

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

understand Genesis 14 in order to understand

the argument. Now many of us know Abraham as

the father of faith. We know him as the man who

left Ur... the man who received all the promises

of God and believed those promises. But in Genesis

14, there's a story here leading up to Melchizedek

that pictures Abraham in a different role. And

it's really the role of a warrior. We don't think

about Abraham as a warrior. But in Genesis 14,

we actually have a story of him being a warrior.

Here's what happens in Genesis 14. Four powerful

kings come together. and they decide we are going

to attack the kings in the land of Canaan. So

these kings from the east attack Canaan. And

there's five kings that then join together to

basically create a coalition to fight off these

other four kings. So you got four kings that

create a coalition, you've got five kings in

Canaan that put together a coalition, and they

go to war with each other. Now, two of the the

kingdoms are Sodom and Gomorrah. Okay, now we

know Sodom and Gomorrah because who chose Sodom

and Gomorrah when Abraham said we can't fight

anymore, this is ridiculous, our servants are

fighting, we've gone too big, you choose where

you want to go, I'll go to the other place. Who

chooses it? Lot, his nephew. Well what happens

in Genesis 14 is that these kings from the east

who attack Canaan, they win. And they take possessions

and they take captives to be slaves. and they're

taking them back home. Well guess who is one

of the persons that gets taken and taken captive

by these Eastern kings? Lot. Abraham finds out

about it. So what has happened now is these kings

have attacked. Abraham finds out my nephew has

been taken and probably his family has been taken

in to basically slavery by these kings. So he

gathers together 318 of his highly trained soldiers.

We don't even often think about Abraham having

soldiers, but you would think, well that makes

sense. He's got to protect his crop. He's got

to protect his flock. He's got to protect his

family. He's trained these 318 soldiers and he

leads them to go get lost. And in an amazing

victory, 318 men led by Abraham go and attack

four kings and win. Now it's not described how

they won, but they win. And he gets Lot and all

the possessions back and he brings them back

to the kings. Can you imagine how this must have

looked? Here these kings with all their soldiers

and all of the resources that they have lose

to these Eastern kings. And then all of a sudden,

here comes Abraham out of nowhere, with Lot's

family and all the other people that were taking

slaves, and just tons of all the possessions,

and he comes walking back into Canaan, and they

say, hey guys, I got your stuff. How? How do

you have our stuff? Well, we went and got it.

Well, where's the rest of your army? Oh, this

is it? These guys? We have Yahweh, in case you

were wondering. And the king of Sodom is so blown

away by all of this, he tells Abraham, you can

have all the possessions. Like, you can just

have it all. You're greater than all of us. Here,

Abraham, take the possessions. Now, Abraham refuses

it. We'll talk about that in a minute, but he

refuses it. Mainly because this is the possessions

of a wicked king and a wicked city and wicked

people, and I don't want to have anything to

do with it. You can have it back. And in Genesis

14, What has happened is God has presented Abraham

as this mighty hero, right? I mean, he just comes

walking with everything that he's won and redeemed,

but he just comes walking back in, and all these

kings are like, dude, you are the greatest. Here,

have our stuff. And it's right then that Melchizedek

shows up. Why build up the story of the greatness

of Abraham to then bring Melchizedek. Why not

bring Melchizedek before? Why bring him after?

Well, I think we see in Genesis 14, why all of

this has happened. Because he's going to use

this as the foundation to give us these proves

that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. So

Abraham has just been set up in the story as

being great. And then Melchizedek shows up and

the author of Hebrews is going to say, yeah,

and Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. So here

are the proofs that he uses. First, Abraham honors

Melchizedek with his tithes, with his treasure.

Genesis 14 tells us that Abraham gave Melchizedek

a tenth of everything. So Abraham refuses the

king of Sodom and reveres the king of Salem.

That should tell us something about how Abraham

views this king. Now remember who Abraham is,

not just what he has just accomplished, but remember

who he is. This is the man that God gave the

promises to. This is the father of the covenant

people of God. This is the man through whom all

the nations of the earth are going to be blessed,

and yet Abraham tithes to Melchizedek. Why? because

Abraham recognizes Melchizedek's greatness. The

writer's point is very simple. The greater receives

honor from the lesser. Abraham's tithe was an

acknowledgement by Abraham that Melchizedek held

the position of superiority above him. Got that?

That's one of the proofs. Second proof, because

the writer's not done yet, Abraham receives a

blessing from Melchizedek. Genesis 14 tells us

that Melchizedek then blesses Abraham. And notice

the point that the author of Hebrews brings up.

He says, it is beyond dispute. The inferior is

blessed by the superior. Okay? The inferior doesn't

bless the superior. The superior blesses the

inferior. Who does the blessing in Genesis 14?

Abraham and Melchizedek. Melchizedek. Why? He's

superior. Abraham is inferior to Melchizedek.

And Abraham receives the blessing. Abraham, the

man who received all of God's promises, the patriarch,

the father of Israel, yet he stands before Melchizedek

receiving the blessing from him humbling himself

and admitting, I am inferior, you are superior.

So the writer, his argument is crystal clear.

The one who blesses is greater. The one who gets

blessed is lesser. And Abraham was the one who

received the blessing. The third proof of the

greatness of Melchizedek, probably the most surprising.

The writer argues, that Levi himself paid tithes

to Melchizedek through Abraham. Now, obviously

Levi hadn't been born yet. Isaac hadn't been

born yet. Jacob hadn't been born yet. We are

generations away from Levi. And yet the writer

says by nature of Levi being in Abraham, Levi

was paying tithes to Melchizedek as well. Abraham

was representing all of the Jewish people, including

the Levitical priesthood of Israel. The Levitical

priesthood was paying tithes to Melchizedek.

Receiving, I think it's appropriate for us to

say receiving the blessing from Melchizedek.

Admitting then what? He is superior. we are inferior.

The entire Levitical priesthood acknowledges

the superiority of Melchizedek. And that is exactly

what the writer of Hebrews wants, the conclusion

he wants us to arrive to. If Abraham honored

Melchizedek, if Abraham received Melchizedek's

blessing, if Levi acknowledges Melchizedek's

superiority, then Melchizedek's priesthood is

greater than Levi's priesthood. And if Jesus

is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, what's

the conclusion we're supposed to come to? His

priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood.

That's the conclusion that he has been working

toward and building toward. It's the reason why

he's bringing up Melchizedek It's the reason

why he's revealing who Melchizedek is and revealing

how great Melchizedek is because he's wanting

these these Jewish Christians who came out of

Judaism to come to this conclusion Jesus His

priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood

He is greater than anything that the old covenant

could ever provide. This is why John Owen said,

all the glory of the Levitical priesthood was

but a shadow of the glory of Christ's priesthood.

This brings us to my third point today, and it's

really the heart of the author of Hebrews. He

has not simply spent 10 verses scratching an

itch for the Jewish people to know more about

Melchizedek. He is not going out of his way to

go, and while we've been talking about Jesus

this whole time, let's talk about Melchizedek,

because I know you guys are confused about him

and want to know who he is. It's not what he's

doing. He has done all of this to increase their

confidence and our confidence in Jesus. Remember

the original audience. What were they being tempted

back to do? What did he just begin warning them

about in the previous chapter? Don't go back.

Don't go back. If you go back to Judaism, you're

rebelling against Christ and there's no salvation

there. If you go there, there's no salvation.

Cling to Christ, hold on to Christ. This is what

they're being tempted to do, to return to the

temple, the sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood.

For them to turn back, the temple hasn't been

destroyed yet. 70 AD hasn't happened. There's

still Levitical priesthood stuff going on while

he's writing this. And so what he's saying is,

don't go back to the Levitical priesthood. Don't

turn away from Christ. Why would you go back

to the inferior when you have the superior? This

is the argument that he's making. Why would you

go back to the shadow if you have the substance?

Why return to the temporary when you have the

eternal? And so the argument of Hebrews 7 is

not just that Jesus is a different priesthood.

It is that Jesus is superior. That he is better,

he's better than Levi, he's better than Aaron,

he's better than any priest who has ever lived.

He is the ultimate better priest king. And because

of that, he is to be embraced with everything

you are. He's to be embraced for his righteousness.

As we said, we have no righteousness of our own.

We can't stand before God based on our works.

We cannot stand before God on our own and be

accepted. But Christ brings righteousness to

His people. He lived a life we could never live.

He fulfilled the law that we could never fulfill.

And He freely gives us His righteousness. So

stop trying to establish your own righteousness

with God. You say, well, I don't do that. Yes,

we do. We do it all the time. We think God is

going to love us more if we perform better. That's

what we think. That's what we feel. It's probably

not what we think. We probably know in our mind

I'm accepted by God no matter what because of

Jesus, but we feel like we're not. And so we

come to God If we've been performing well, we

come to God thinking He's gonna love us more.

If we haven't been performing well, we might

even feel like God doesn't love us as much. He

doesn't accept us as much. And the reality is,

He doesn't love you because of anything you've

done. He loves you because the righteousness

of Jesus. And so when you come to God, I don't

care how you're feeling. Come to God based upon

this truth. My Savior is the King of righteousness.

And He gave it all to me. And I don't come to

God based upon my own works. Embrace His righteousness.

Embrace His peace. People are looking for peace.

Peace in circumstances, peace in relationships,

peace in their heart. But true peace begins and

ends with Jesus. And that peace has already been

secured through Jesus Christ. The better priest

king has removed your guilt. He has reconciled

you to God. And we do not live in fear. You know

that passage that says, That he has not given

us the spirit of fear for perfect fear or perfect

love cast out fear We think that's that's in

relationship to circumstances. It's not it's

in relationship to God When we understand that

we have been loved perfectly We no longer fear

coming to God because we have peace with him

So we haven't been given the spirit of fear we

get to come to God not with with with with Timidness

or or this idea that we may not be accepted we

know no God loves me perfectly and because he

loves me perfectly It casts out any fear that

I have of coming to him because I'm at peace

with God no matter what He is the king of peace

We do not live in condemnation we can rest in

the peace that Christ has secured for us and

then We need to embrace his eternality, the eternal

nature of his priesthood. This may be the most

comforting truth in this entire passage. The

point of Melchizedek's unusual description, appearing

in Genesis without record of beginning and end,

is not because he's eternal, but the one he pointed

to is eternal. He's pointing to the one who is

eternal. Levitical priests came and went. Our

Christ died and no one ever took His place. Why?

Because He rose again. Levitical priesthood,

generation after generation, a new one would

come, century after century. No priest remained.

No priest lasted. No priest continued forever.

But Jesus died and rose again. Jesus ascended

to the right hand of the Father. Jesus lives

forever. And what that means is, there has never

been a moment since his ascension when he has

not been your high priest praying for you. We

gotta stop right there. I'm gonna introduce this,

and then we're going to, it'll be fleshed out

over the next several chapters. But I'm gonna

introduce it right now. When Jesus died on the

cross, did he die to make you saveable? That

maybe one day you'll put your faith in Jesus

and you'll be saved or did he die to actually

save you? He died to actually save you Then he

enters into the Holy of Holies not made by human

hands before the throne of God Jesus enters in

with the blood of his sacrifice and who is this

sacrifice for all of his people and he enters

in Presenting that sacrifice to the father as

a high priest And when does God, when did Jesus

Christ begin interceding on your behalf and for

your salvation? Right then when he entered into

the Holy of Holies not made by human hands. Please

catch this. We'll flesh it out later, but please

catch this. Your salvation was not just secured

by the death of Jesus, it was secured by Him

being your high priest. When He entered into

the Holy of Holies as your high priest, He is

the sacrifice and He is the priest who brings

the sacrifice. And when He brings the sacrifice,

He begins praying for your salvation, interceding

for your salvation, mediating for your salvation.

What was the chance when Jesus died that you

would get saved, Christian? 100%. Ain't no ifs,

ands, or buts about it. 100%. He paid for your

salvation and mediated for your salvation before

you ever existed. Those he foreknew, he also

predestined to be in the image of his son. And

those he predestined, inside of time, what does

he do for them? He calls them, and he justifies

them, and he glorifies them. But it was secured

before you entered into time. There has never

been a moment, Christian, that your great high

priest king has not been praying and interceding

and mediating for you. Think of that. When you

were a rebellious, wicked, lost God -hater, Jesus

was up there mediating for your salvation that

was gonna happen inside of time. How comforting

must that be? I fleshed it out a little too much,

but it will continue to be fleshed out in the

next several chapters as we keep talking about

His priesthood. That means there's also never

been a day when Christ was unavailable to you.

Never been a crisis too great for His attention.

Never been a sin confessed by one of His children

that He did not hear. Never been a prayer offered

by one of His saints that He did not accept.

None of them escaped His notice. And at this

very moment, He's doing for you what He has been

doing for you for 2000 years. And because His

priesthood is eternal, He's been doing it for

2000 years. And guess what? He'll never stop

doing it. His promises are eternal. His salvation

is eternal. The one who saves you keeps you.

The one who called you intercedes for you. The

one who died for you will safely bring you home.

As Robert Murray Mishan once said, if I could

hear Christ praying for me in the next room,

I would not fear a million enemies. Yet it makes

no difference. He's praying for me. So we come

to Hebrews chapter 7. It's easy to be fascinated

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

by Melchizedek. One of the most mysterious figures

in all of the Old Testament. People have debated

his identity. But if all we leave with is more

information about Melchizedek, we have wasted

our time here this morning. We have missed the

points altogether. His goal is not to make us

marvel at Melchizedek. It is for us to marvel

at Christ. Melchizedek was a shadow. Jesus is

the substance. Melchizedek was a portrait. Jesus

is the reality. Melchizedek was a signpost. Jesus

is the destination. Church, there is no greater

priest king than Jesus. He is the king who rules

us, who represents us, gives us the righteousness

we could never achieve. gives us security that

we can never imagine, gives us peace. He never

dies. He never stops interceding. And because

He lives forever, all who belong to Him are eternally

secure. So why would we settle for something

lesser? That's the point. Why would we settle

for something lesser? Don't look for righteousness

anywhere else, no matter how you're feeling.

Don't look for peace somewhere else. Don't look

for acceptance with God somewhere else. Look

to Christ. Trust Christ. Draw near to Christ.

Hold fast to Christ. There is no greater priest.

There is no greater King. There is no greater

Savior. There is only Jesus Christ, our great,

better, Priest King.