Genesis 14:17-20 & Hebrews 7 -- Part 1 of 2

The Superiority of Melchizedek

As we resume our exposition of the sermon to the Hebrew Christians this morning, it would be helpful to review where we have been.

You will remember that the preacher's purpose in the sermon is to encourage these Hebrew Christians, who are undergoing severe persecution for their recent embracing of Jesus as the Messiah sent from God, [to encourage them] to keep their eyes focused on Jesus Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan for the salvation of sinners.  His primary goal can be wonderfully summed up in the words of Hebrews 12:

Hebrews 12:1-3  let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

The preacher began by arguing that God's revelation in His Son is far superior than the angelic messengers who appeared to Moses at Mt. Sinai and delivered the law to the Israelite people.  He far exceeds them because He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature.  He is God in-flesh and has walked among us to make the ultimate and complete purification of our sins and now that his work is finished he sits at the right hand of the Majesty on High on Heaven's throne and has been given a greater name than any within God's creation, including the glorious angels that tend to God's throne. 

But if Jesus is so far superior to the angels, then why was he so humbled by being made lower than the angels in his incarnation?  Doesn't that prove that Jesus was in fact inferior to the revelation given by angels to Moses?  No!  Not all.  He had to be made like us, yet without any sin that he might become our faithful and compassionate high priest to offer both the perfect sacrifice for sin and to become that atoning, propitiatory sacrifice for sinners.  He became like us and suffered so that he might be able to come to the aid of all of us who were dead in transgressions and sin.

As our High Priest, he received a heavenly commission to make you new, the house of God.  For this reason, he is even more glorious than Moses himself, who was but a servant in the house.  Jesus Christ came as the owner of the house that was built by God.  And you are all members of that house if you hold fast to the owner in faith. 

In fact, what Joshua or David could not deliver, Jesus Christ has finally and forever given you eternal Sabbath rest through His finished work.  The labor is through.  The work is complete.  There is nothing left for you to do but rest in His all sufficient work for you.  For you who have believed have entered the rest of God and you have been joined to the Great High Priest who has passed through the Heavens and sat at God's right hand.  You now have a High Priest who has both faithfully fulfilled all that God requires of you and who is equally compassionate and loving towards you that you can now and forevermore draw near to God with great boldness to His throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in your daily time of need.

In chap. 5, the preacher began unfolding the nature of Jesus' High Priestly ministry on your behalf by contrasting Jesus' work as your priest with the priesthood of the Mosaic administration.  The glorious superiority of Jesus' ministry is found, we are told, in His fulfillment of the priesthood of Melchizedek, appointed by God Himself (READ 5:5-10).  However, the preacher did not fully explain at this point what exactly he meant by this.  There his focus was on the compassionate, merciful nature of Jesus' ministry towards you in that Jesus came to show you compassion, to the full extent of his sufferings, like the Old Testament priesthood, but unlike them in that he was fully obedient to all He was sent to do for you.

Now, how can you be sure that all of this is true and that you are a recipient of a far greater salvation than Moses ever dreamed of?  Because God has not only made you a promise, but he has taken an unalterable oath to save you through the work of His Son (READ 6:17-20).  You can trust what God has promised and sworn He will do for you.  You can assuredly anchor your soul in His Word.  Your eternal life is a completed, assured work.  How can you be sure?  Because Jesus Christ, your Savior, has entered in behind the veil and there he sits with your salvation safely embraced by him and no man or nothing can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. 

In v. 20, the preacher ends with a further assurance that you have because Jesus has now become your High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

But what does he mean?  How can knowledge of this Melchizedekian priesthood possibly be an encouragement to us that we could have hope that we are saved? Well, that is the question to which the preacher now focuses our attention this morning.

The importance of Jesus being inaugurated and serving within the order of Melchizedek only makes sense when it is compared and contrasted with the Levitical priesthood under Moses.  The whole purpose of this next section of the sermon is show how Jesus came to fulfill the Melchizedekian Priesthood and how that fulfillment far exceeds and is superior to the Levitical Priestly Order. 

The larger focus here, which will be unfolded in future chapters, is that Jesus, who has come to establish and complete the New Covenant, has brought a change in God's program of redemption.  But it is not a change that was in any way new, in that it was unseen or ill-prepared by God.  Rather, it was the plan from the very beginning.  The completion of the Old Covenant under Moses, including the giving of the old law at Sinai, has always been part of God's plan of redemption.   It was never intended to be the end or even the primary focus of what God was doing.  Moses was only preparatory.  He served as the shadow, the type of the greater one to come.  Everything in Moses, written in the Old Testament, pointed to something more wonderful than Moses could have ever imagined.  And now that the fulfillment of God's plan has arrived in the person and work of Jesus Christ, our sole focus must forevermore be on Him and the excellencies of His finished work on our behalf.  The Old must now give way to the New and only now can the Old be rightly understood in light and through the fulfillment of the New.  For the Old Wineskins could never hold the New Wine of God's mercy and grace.  The New Wine has now come and the Old Wineskins must now forevermore be put away to make room for the New Wineskins that we possess in Christ.

So by saying goodbye to the Old, we are not in any way disappointed or discouraged any more than when we say goodbye to the night and greet the new day.  The Son has risen upon us and His glorious, brilliant, and warming light shines brightly casting the dew away and bringing into focus the marvelous horizon of God's glory.

So now let us turn our focus on Melchizedek and see his importance in God's plan of redemption in how he provides us with a preview of God's more glorious work in His Son.

Melchizedek is a mysterious character in God's plan but his importance is seen in his relationship to Father Abraham.  In order to understand Melchizedek, we must understand Abraham's place in the plan of redemption.

Abraham was the father of all God's elect, His chosen people through whom God was going to bring salvation to all humanity.   God chose one man through whom he would do this work and gave him an unalterable, eternal promise that through him God would bless the whole world.  So in Abraham's very loins are found all of God's people on earth.  He is the father, the representative of all God's elect to whom was given the promise.  Once Abraham was chosen by God, everything else God does for our redemption descends from Abraham.  The whole nation of Israel descended from him and has their life in him.  So when Abraham acts, he acts for the entire people of God (cf. vv. 9-10).

Now what did Abraham do to Melchizedek?  Who is Melchizedek and what is his relationship to father Abraham?

First, what did Abraham do to Melchizedek?  When Abraham returns from battle he is met by Melchizedek, the kingly-priest of Salem, which may be a reference to Jerusalem.  Abraham took from the choicest of his spoils and paid a tenth of it to Melchizedek.  But remember that Abraham is not acting alone.  He is the representative of the whole nation of Israel contained within his loins.  So when he pays the tithe to Melchizedek, he pays for the whole people.

The preacher is emphasizing the superiority of the priesthood of Melchizedek over the Mosaic Priesthood.  He sees the Mosaic Priesthood as only a shadow of the greater priesthood of Melchizedek.

Now, where is the preacher going with all of this?  (READ vv. 11-19).  The preacher is contrasting the Levitical Priesthood under Moses with the Melchizedekian Priesthood, which is eternal to show the fact that Jesus, who descended from the tribe of Judah and not Levi, was far superior is his priestly ministry than the priests of Levi.  Why?  Because He belonged to the priesthood of Melchizedek which was superior to the priesthood of Levi.  The Levitical Priesthood was only a picture, a type of the greater Priesthood of Melchizedek.  And it was this priesthood, and not the Levitical Priesthood, that Jesus came to fulfill. 

But who exactly is Melchizedek?  Melchizedek continues to be shrouded in obscurity.  We are told in v. 1 that he is the king of Salem.  But he was also a unique figure in that he served as both king and priest appointed by God Himself.  His name means "king of righteousness."  He rules over Salem, which means he is the "king of peace" (v. 2).  In v. 3 we are told that he was without father, without mother, without any genealogy, having neither a beginning nor an end and his priesthood remains forever.

The preacher does not unfold the enigma of Melchizedek any further.  But the point is clear:  Melchizedek is superior to Levi.  Why?  He gives us two reasons in the text:

First, Abraham, the patriarch paid tithes to him.  But the priests descending from Levi also receive tithes.  But the priests of Levi receive tithes "from the people" (v. 5), fellow brothers and tribesmen of the descendents of Abraham.  They are all equal with one another and the other tribes give their support to another tribe, Levi.  But Abraham was not an equal with the people.  He was the patriarch, the father of the nation.  And he paid tithes to Melchizedek and with him, the whole nation of Israel. 

So the preacher stresses the fact that one greater than Levi is here.  Even further, the Levitical Priests received tithes according to the Law of Moses (v. 5).  But Abraham paid his tithes out of the promises and blessings of God (v. 6).

The contrast here is vital to understanding the differences between Levi and Melchizedek.  Levi represents the Law of Moses, which brought only death and condemnation to Israel.  It could not provide salvation for God's people.  Levi was powerless and ineffective to produce the necessary transformation of Israel to bring redemption to God's elect.

But Melchizedek came with a blessing (cf. v. 1) for Abraham, who had received the promises of God.  Abraham paid tithes out of the gospel promises of God and not the law.  The promises were made solely on the basis of his faith in God. 

What is bring contrasted here is the radical difference between law and gospel.  The law is of works and cannot save.  The gospel is the promise of God, which alone saves.  The Law is what you do.  The gospel is what God has done for you.  Levi represents the law and Melchizedek represents the gospel promises of God, which Jesus Christ comes to fulfill.

And it is to Abraham that Melchizedek comes and blesses (cf. v. 7).  The lesser is blessed by the greater.  Abraham receives the blessing of God from Melchizedek and not Levi.  Even Levi is subordinate and inferior to Melchizedek.

Now, the second reason why Melchizedek is superior to Levi is found in vv. 8-10.  The Levitical priesthood had a genealogy.  In fact, the most important criteria for them serving as priests is that they had a genealogical dissension from Levi.  Also, the Levitical priests each had their end and needed a continual replenishing of others from the tribe to fulfill the office.  The Levitical priests were mortal men with a beginning and an end.

However, Melchizedek had no beginning or end (READ vv. 3, 6, 8).  In fact, even in the day of the preacher, he proclaims that Melchizedek lives on.  He belongs to an eternal priesthood which will have no end (v. 3 -- cf. vv. 23-25). 

There is no comparison between these two orders of priests.  Melchizedek is infinitely superior to Levi.  The gospel is infinitely superior to the Law to give to sinners the righteousness of God.  And it is to this eternal priesthood that Jesus comes as your high priest to fulfill and bring to completion.  He comes from Heaven itself, appointed by God, and He alone remains forever that you may forever draw near to God in Him.

Now, one more point needs to be made from our text.  How can we possibly say anything greater about this priest named Melchizedek than what has been said?  Yet even at the end of the day we know very little about him.  But the preacher says one more thing that is absolutely mind-boggling and it is found in v. 3.  Whoever this Melchizedek truly is, even he is inferior to the Son of God.  For the preacher writes that it is he who was made "like the Son of God" and not the Son of God was made like him. 

This one who has no father or mother, who has no beginning or end, who remains a priest forever is ultimately the servant of Jesus Christ.  Even the order of Melchizedek itself was established and found its source in Jesus Christ.  Truly one greater than Melchizedek is here.  And he truly has no beginning or end.  His priesthood remains forever and that is why you can trust him with your salvation.  You have complete hope and confidence in this Priest because He lives forever and He alone is able to save all you draw near to God in Him. 

Amen.  -SDG-