Hebrews 7-8:2

What’s Happening?

The book of Hebrews was written to Hebrews—people of the Jewish faith. As Jews, their relationship with God depended on the work of priests. For centuries, members of the tribe of Levi were the only ones qualified to be priests for the Jewish people. Levites worked in the temple and only Levites offered sacrifices. Levites were responsible for maintaining the Jews’ right relationship with God (Numbers 18:1-32). But this is a problem for Jewish believers in Jesus. Jesus claimed to be a priest who offered a sacrifice to restore their good standing with God. But Jesus is not a Levite (Hebrews 7:14). The author wants to explain why Jesus is qualified to be a priest even though he isn’t a Levite.

Before the father of the Levites (Levi) was born, Levi’s great-grandfather Abraham met a king named Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:10). Abraham had just won a battle and, without any prompting, gave Melchizedek ten percent of his plunder (Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7:1-2, 4). According to Jewish law, priests—not kings—were entitled to tenths (Hebrews 7:5-6). Abraham’s tenth admits that there was another legitimate priesthood in addition to the one his great-grandson would one day lead (Hebrews 7:9-10). 

There is no record of Melchizedek’s birth or death, which is unusual for biblical kings. It’s as if he lives forever (Hebrews 7:3). This leads our author to conclude that there are actually two ways to qualify as a priest for God’s people: you can either be born and die a Levite or you can live forever like Melchizedek. Since Jesus has been raised from the dead, and now lives forever, he is qualified to be a priest in Melchizedek’s order. 

The author points out that if there have always been two priestly orders, that implies that God intended one would eventually overtake the other (Hebrews 7:11-13). And since Jesus has been raised from the dead, his priesthood must be better than a priesthood that’s based on succession after death (Hebrews 7:15-17). 

In addition, the order of Levi never fully solved the problem of Israel’s standing with God (Hebrews 7:18-19). In part, that’s because the Levites’ ability to repair that relationship ended the day they died (Hebrews 7:23). Then a new priest would need to be ordained, and it was never a guarantee that the new priest would be a good one (Hebrews 7:28). But if Jesus is a priest forever, God’s people can know that they will always have the best priest. Their standing with God is forever secure because Jesus will never falter between generations. 

Where is the Gospel?

Unlike Levi’s priestly order, Jesus’ priesthood will never again be interrupted by death. His priesthood is permanent, which means he is able to thoroughly, completely, and forever restore our relationship with God (Hebrews 7:23-24). But as we all know, even if we trust Jesus to be our eternal priest, we still struggle, we still sin, and we don’t always listen to God. Even after the cross there is an ongoing need for our relationship with God to be repaired. And that’s why it’s good news that Jesus can’t die again. 

Jesus lives forever and he promises that he will spend his eternity speaking to God on our behalf, repairing our relationship, and advocating for us by his prayers (Hebrews 7:25). Since Jesus never ceases from his work as a priest, he is able to restore our relationship with God perfectly. That means that no matter what you do wrong on any given day, Jesus is standing in heaven praying and pleading for your instant and complete forgiveness. As your ultimate priest he has already made the ultimate sacrifice. And now, there is nothing but instant and total forgiveness and salvation for all who trust Jesus to be their priest. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who has sworn Jesus into the order of Melchizedek. And may you see Jesus as the perfectly qualified priest who repairs your relationship with God completely and forever.