The Superior Priest
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 29 September 2024
Hebrews was written to a group of Jews outside the area of Jerusalem. Jews who had apparently been evangelized by the apostles and early prophets. There were some of them who were saved, and committed their lives to Jesus Christ, but were still hanging on to some features of Judaism, not really making a clean break. Some of them still worshipped through the priesthood of Israel.
In addition, there were unsaved Jews who had been intellectually convinced that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. They apparently believed all of the data regarding the Gospel, but for fear of being separated from the life of their people, they had never really made a commitment to Jesus Christ. And perhaps, in the Jewish community, there were also some unsaved and unconvinced.
But to this community of Jews, primarily the saved ones still hanging on to the Judaism rituals and the intellectually convinced ones who hadn’t yet committed to Christ, the Holy Spirit writes this letter. And it is designed to present to those Jews the absolute superiority of Jesus Christ. And because He is superior, the New Testament is thus superior to the Old Testament.
And that then, becomes the heartbeat of the book of Hebrews. We read about Christ being a mediator of a better covenant, a better hope with better promises, a better sacrifice with better substance, a better country in heaven, and a better resurrection. It talks about a heavenly Christ, a heavenly calling, a heavenly gift, a heavenly country and a heavenly Jerusalem.
Now, it is on the basis of all of that that the Holy Spirit is saying to the Jews, “Put your total confidence in the New Testament; drop the Old completely.” The converted Jew who has claimed Christ as His Messiah can let go of all of the temple routines, all of the temple rituals; he can drop all of the sacrifices; he can drop all of the priesthood because Christ has supplanted it all.
In Hebrews 4, He introduced Christ as a priest. In Hebrews 5, the Holy Spirit shows how that Christ is a greater priest than Aaron. And it ends in verse 10, “Called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” As He closes Hebrews 6, He says, “Jesus, made a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” After His invitation in Hebrews 7:1, He goes right into Melchizedek.
First, it was a universal priesthood, while Aaron’s was national. Secondly, it was a royal priesthood. He was a priest king; Aaron’s was subject to kings. Thirdly, it was a righteousness and peace priesthood. Fourth, it was a personal priesthood; it was based on Melchizedek’s own character. Aaron’s was based on heredity. Fifth, it was an eternal priesthood; and Aaron’s was limited by time.
In those five ways, we saw that the priesthood of Melchizedek is a superior priesthood to that of Aaron. Now, this is the point. The Jew always felt that there was nothing superior to the Aaronic priesthood, to the Levitical ritual, to the whole ceremonial law as given to Moses. But the fact that their existed another priesthood that had superiority to Aaron’s proves that Aaron’s priesthood was limited.
And the promise that David gave in Psalm 110:4 was that when Messiah came, He would not be a priest like Aaron, he would be a priest like Melchizedek, which means that whatever kind of priest Melchizedek is, it must be better than Aaron. And David said, “When Messiah comes, He will be like Melchizedek,” showing that Aaron’s was inadequate and would be replaced.
Now, the Holy Spirit is not finished proving that Jesus is superior to Aaron. In verses 11 - 19 He continues His proof. He shows that Christ is better because David prophesied that Messiah would be of another order, which meant Aaron’s order couldn’t make it. That’s Psalm 110:4 which shows that Aaron’s would not be sufficient. As we look at it, the key phrase is in verse 19.
Drawing near to God is the goal of Christianity. This is the essence of Christianity. This is the design of God for Christians to have access to His presence. Christians look at their Christian life usually in three ways. Some see Jesus Christ only as a means to salvation and personal happiness. Other people look at their relationship to Jesus Christ, and they seek to know Christ better.
Thirdly, this is what Christianity really is, some Christians understand that Christians draw closer to God. That is the essence of Christianity. The fullest expression of our faith is to enter into the presence of God, into the Holy of Holies, and to sit on the throne with Him. That’s the fullest expression of faith. Jesus is the door to God, but many Christians never get into the Holy of Holies.
Judaism could never do this. In Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Now, Judaism never really brought a person into the presence of God. Only by His priesthood interceding at the right hand of God and only by His perfect blood sacrifice on Calvary was access to God open. And the great recurring themes in Hebrews are the New Testament, the priesthood and the sacrifice. Aaron’s sacrifices couldn’t do it, what hung between them and God was the veil.
The fact that the Messiah was the Priest after the order of Melchizedek opened up an entirely new thing. The fact that perfection was not brought till Christ offered Himself shows that imperfection was attached to the Aaronic Levitical priesthood. All their lives the Jews had been taught that the Levitical system was perfect, that it was instituted by God, and that it was sufficient and permanent.
Well, the Holy Spirit uses logic here and shows that the Levitical system was imperfect, and because it was imperfect it had to be superseded. And the reason we know it was imperfect was it couldn’t do what all God’s religion is designed to do, bring a person into the presence of God. And when Jesus came, the whole old system had to be destroyed; it had to be dropped and Judaism is defunct.
In verses 11 to 14, we’ll study the imperfection of the inferior Aaronic priesthood. Let us study those verses. Verse 11, “Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?”
You see, when God set aside Israel that was no accident. God had planned that way back in the Old Testament, even before the world began. God knew the Messiah would be a different priest. The word “perfection,” used by the apostle Paul, has to do with spiritual maturity. In Ephesians 4, he talks about perfecting the saints. In Colossians, he desires to present every person perfect.
But in Hebrews, it is a word used to refer to the goal and the aim of Christianity, access to God. In Hebrews, it does not mean spiritual maturity; it essentially has to do with salvation in Christ. Now, let’s see the goal in verse 19, “(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” That’s the synonym for perfection, do you see?
In Hebrews, perfection is access to God. It is the full goal of our faith. Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering, He has perfected forever those that are sanctified.” In other words, He has given them positionally full access to God. That’s perfection in Hebrews. Access to God. You can’t gain access to God through the repentance from dead works. It’s only through Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “No person comes to the Father but by Me.” There could be a covering of sins which the Old Testament did. But it never got rid of them; it just covered them over. So, now the meaning of verse 11 is clear. If the Levitical priesthood could have brought this perfection, which is access to God in Hebrews, and salvation, why would God have predicted another priesthood?
Verse 12, “For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well.” Now, the idea of change here means to put one thing in the place of another. You don’t add Christianity to Judaism; you take away Judaism and you put in Christianity. The priesthood of Melchizedek was not added to Aaron’s; it replaced it. Some people said, “Does this mean that the law of God is done away?”
No. Whenever you see the word “law” in any kind of a context related to the Old Testament, be sure that you understand that it can mean several things: it can mean the whole Old Testament. The entire thing is referred to as the law. It can also mean the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments of Moses. It can also have to do with the ceremonial rituals of Israel.
He is saying, “If the priesthood is to be defunct and a new one there, then there must be a changing of all of the ceremonial law, the Mosaic system of sacrifices has been set aside. Certainly there’s not a doing away of God’s moral law. He is saying to them, “You don’t need to go to the temple all the time; that’s over. And this setting aside was extremely difficult for the Jews to grasp.
Verses 13 - 14, “For the One these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. 14 Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.” For the One refers to the Messiah and our Lord, by being from Judah, fulfills the prophesy of Psalm 110 which says “Messiah shall come after the order of Melchizedek.”
The perfection of the superior priesthood is described in two ways. First a superior priest. Verse 15-16, “And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life.” It’s evident that Jesus came from Judah. Genesis 49:10 tells us Messiah would be from Judah.
Even the genealogy of Jesus says that His parents went to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, which meant they were from the tribe of Judah. Because of that, that the whole Levitical system had been set aside. The priesthood of Christ was no temporary thing; it was sufficient; it was permanent and it was abiding. So, He says, “Don’t cling to Judaism. We have a superior Priest.”
Jesus said, “I just arose a Priest by Myself.” Melchizedek is then a type of Christ, right. Now, the Holy Spirit goes further in verse 16, “Who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life.” The old standard prescribed for high priests had to do only with the physical in Leviticus 21. It didn’t matter what they were spiritually.
“The power of a indestructible life.” That’s a different kind of priest isn’t it? Nothing to do with the physical body, but to do with eternal power. That’s the kind of priest Jesus was. He was a Priest by eternal power. He had an inward priesthood. Not a physical claim, but an eternal claim. And thus, by His eternal power, He can do what no priest could ever do; He can give us access to God.
Verse 17, “For it has been testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek wasn’t a priest by any physical standard. He was a priest because of his character. And in that sense, he pictures Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ can do what Aaron couldn’t do; he takes us into the presence of God, and He anchors us there eternally. My friends, that’s ultimate power.
Verse 18-19, “So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable 19 (for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” God says, “I am setting aside the old one, and I’m bringing in a new one.” In the New Testament, you have access to God. Now “annulling” means doing away of something that is established.
The whole sacrificial system, the whole ceremonial system is annulled; it is done away with. God wipes it out. And He wiped it out for good in 70 A.D. when He destroyed the temple. The old system could reveal sin and cover sin; it could give relatively draw near to God, but not with full perfection. But the priesthood of Jesus Christ made all that Israel looked forward to a reality: access to God.
In 1 Peter 1:10 he says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.” In other words, they only saw it from a distance, but now it is finished, and we can go into God’s presence, and we can sit down, and with Paul, we can say, “Abba Father.” We are also a holy priesthood. We have access to God.
And so, the Word of God gives us the wonderful promise of what Jesus accomplished. It’s much better to be in the New Testament than to be in the Old Testament, where all you ever had was the promise, but you never had the freedom of conscience. And now, when Jesus, hanging on the cross said, “It is finished,” on this side of the cross we dwell in the riches of the one who loves us. All of our debts are paid. Let’s pray.