- The Incarnation and the Meaning of Christmas
- Why is the Incarnation So Important?
- The Crucifixion of Christ: To Save Us From Our Sins
- Jesus Died on the Cross for You
- What is Propitiation and Why is it Important?
- Jesus is Alive! Why the Resurrection is Important
- Jesus is Alive! Why the Resurrection is Important, Part 2
- Why is the Ascension Important?
- What Happened after Jesus Ascended?
- Is Jesus Greater Than the Storm You’re Facing?
- What Does Melchizedek Have to Do with Jesus?
- The Importance of Having a Great High Priest
- Our Great High Priest Offers Mercy and Grace
- We Have an Intercessor and Advocate in Jesus
- The Future Work of Christ: He is Coming Back
- Looking Forward to the Resurrection of Our Bodies
- Here Comes the Judge: Two Future Judgments With Different Results
- The King of the World
The Bible, especially the author of Hebrews, tells us that Jesus is now serving as our Great High Priest. That sounds important, but what does it mean?
To understand the role of Jesus as high priest, we have to go back to the Old Testament and learn more about the Jewish high priest. When God gave his law to Moses, he provided for a high priest to serve as a mediator between God and man. He represented God to the people and the people to God. The regular priests, in general, taught people the law, guarded the tabernacle, and regularly offered sacrifices for the people.
The high priest, though, was the only person who could enter the Most Holy Place, and he could only enter it one day each year on the Day of Atonement. On that day, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place and make a sacrifice first for himself (Leviticus 16). After all, he’d sinned like everyone else. He then made a sacrifice for the sins of the people, and their sins were forgiven for another year. Year after year, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place and make the sacrifices, an annual reminder to the people of the seriousness of their sins and the holiness and graciousness of their God.
The rules for all priests, including the high priest, required that they come from the tribe of Levi. That’s why sometimes Bible scholars refer to it as the Levitical priesthood. The first priest was Aaron, the brother of Moses, so it’s also sometimes called the Aaronic priesthood. Now you know. Maybe you’ll win a game of Bible Trivial Pursuit with that information.
Fast forward to Hebrews 2:17, where the author says about Jesus, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” So Jesus had to be human in addition to being God so that he could serve as our high priest. Jesus, though, was not from the tribe of Levi. He was from the tribe of Judah, so he wasn’t capable of ever being the Jewish high priest or even a priest at all. So what’s going on?
The author gives us a little more information in chapter 5. In Hebrews 5:1-4, he gives us the general qualifications and duties of a priest: he’s human, which gives him compassion for those who have gone astray. He has to offer sacrifices for his sin as well. He’s called to act on behalf of other people, and he’s appointed by God for this duty of offering gifts and sacrifices for the sins of the people.
Then, in Hebrews 5:5-10, the author applies these qualifications to Jesus. There’s lots to unpack in these verses, but for now, notice that twice in this paragraph the writer refers to Jesus as being a priest “in the order of Melchizedek.” Now the mystery deepens. Who in the world is Melchizedek, and what does he have to do with anything?
It seems that God in eternity past had chosen for the Son to come from the tribe of Judah and for the priests to come from the tribe of Levi. And since the plan also called for the Son to be our great high priest, God arranged for another order of priests, separate from the order of Levi. This was the order of Melchizedek.
Okay, hang in there with me. This Melchizedek is mentioned only twice in the Old Testament. The first is Genesis 14:17-20. A group of kings started a war and captured Abraham’s nephew Lot. They also took all his possessions, including all the women and children of the area. This didn’t sit well with Abraham, so he gathered his forces, attacked the kings, and took back Lot and everything the kings had taken.
When Abraham returned from battle, the King of Salem, Melchizedek, who was also a priest of God, came and blessed Abraham, and then Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of the loot he had taken from the other army.
There’s not much information there about Melchizedek, right?
The other passage in the Old Testament is Psalm 110:4, which is a tremendously important Messianic psalm. In the middle of it, David writes this:
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4)
David didn’t know the whole story, but he was talking about the Messiah, Jesus, and he says that God has affirmed by oath that Jesus is a priest, that his priesthood will last forever, and that he’s a priest, not in the Levitical order, but in the order of Melchizedek.
And that’s all we know. Until the author of Hebrews sits down to write.
In Hebrews 7, he lays it all out for us and shows us that Jesus is not only our high priest, but he’s the great high priest, superior in every way to any high priest in the old order of Levi. Jesus is our great high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Looking back to the Genesis 14 story, the author points out that the superior always blesses the inferior, and Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, which acknowledged the latter’s superiority. Therefore, the priesthood of Jesus, in the order of Melchizedek, is better than the old priesthood in every way.
The author also points out that Melchizedek is the king of righteousness and peace (Hebrews 7:2), perfectly foreshadowing Jesus. He states that the Bible gives no information about Melchizedek’s birth or death, which also reminds us of Jesus, who has existed from eternity past and will exist for eternity future.
According to Hebrews, God gave us the story of Melchizedek to show us that Jesus is qualified to be our great high priest because he’s from the order of Melchizedek, not Levi. This order is far better than the Levitical order, and the priesthood of Jesus is far better than any human’s. Jesus is better because:
- He is qualified to be our high priest based not on genealogy, but because he was appointed by God and established by God’s oath. (Hebrews 7:20-21)
- His priesthood is eternal. He will reign as our high priest forever (Hebrews 7:24)
- He is perfect and sinless. Jesus didn’t have to offer a sacrifice for his own sins like the old high priest did. (Hebrews 7:27)
- He made the perfect sacrifice — himself. His “once for all” sacrifice will never need to be repeated. He doesn’t have to do this each year on the Day of Atonement. His one great sacrifice of himself is sufficient for the entire world. (Hebrews 7:27)
Now we understand why God had two Old Testament writers, centuries apart, write about Melchizedek. And why, after even more centuries, God had the writer of Hebrews spell it all out for us.
Jesus is our Great High Priest.
What does this mean for us? That’s for next time.