Monday, October 22, 2012

260 in 2012 DEVOS - Day 211 - Hebrews 7: Melchizedek & Jesus

The focus of Hebrews is the Priesthood, and chapter 7 is all about it! Melchizedek is a “Type” – A “type” which is something in the Old Testament which has a counterpart in the New Testament. For example: the “serpent on the stick” in Exodus represents the sacrificial lamb Jesus. And the NT one is always better, permanent & perfect. Does this make sense? Anyway, there are lots of “guesses” as to who Melchizedek was, none of which are certain. What we do know for certain is that he was a historical man whose priestly ministry typifies Christ! In the Levitical priesthood, all priests were Levites but not all Levites were priests. It was strictly national and strictly Jewish. Levites were set aside as first fruits to God and priestly sacrifices were not permanent but had to be repeated. You had to be born into family to be a priest and it was a temporary position (age 25-50 – Num. 8:24, 25). And you could not be king. Well, Melchizedek’s priesthood was superior to the Levitical priesthood in every way! It was for everyone (1), you could be a king (1-2), it was truly righteous & peaceful (2), it was personal, not hereditary (3), and it was eternal, not temporary since no priest could serve more than 25yrs (4-7). PS – There is no mention of Melchizedek’s death or end of his priesthood. Verses 11-28 then explain to us how Jesus is THE Superior Priest for us! The writer is again encouraging wavering Jews to break the old system and come to Christ. It was hard for a Jew to believe the system Moses gave them was temporary, inadequate and defective (7:18, 9:8-10, 10:1-4). God never in tended for the Levitical priesthood to last forever. “Perfection” in Hebrews speaks of access to God. If the Levitical priesthood could have brought “perfection”, then why would God have provided Jesus as Priest? There was a “change” of priesthood! This new priesthood provides perfection. It’s different & eternal. The “former regulation” = the old way of sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice, could reveal sin, cover sin, but not REMOVE sin! New priesthood (Jesus) can! “Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” Because He is eternal, holy & sinless! And whereas the old was based on rules & regulations, the new one is based on relationship, the essence of Christianity, by which we “draw near to God.” SO WHAT?! *Through Jesus, believer have direct access to God Himself, because of Christ’s blood! We no longer have to kill an animal every time we sin to cover things for a time. Jesus REMOVED our sin once and for all! Let’s thank Him for this today! *How “near” are you to God today? Friendship? Acquaintance? Deep & Intimate? Couldn’t pick Him out of a line up? The rest of our lives we get the privilege of drawing nearer to God. Let’s take advantage of that privilege!

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