Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / May 20 - Hebrews 7

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May 20 - Hebrews 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends. It's Sean here.
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  It's a Tuesday. It's the 20th of May.
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  And I hope you're going well because today, today we are
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  going to, as promised last week, we're going to unpack a little
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  bit about this priest, this king, this man by the name of
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  Melchizedek, who we touched on last week.
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  But as we will discover a lot more next week, the author of
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  Hebrews is so good at explaining really complicated things in a
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  simple, comprehensive and easy to understand way.
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  And so today he's going to do that as he compares Jesus to
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  this high priest mentioned all those chapters ago back in
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  Genesis with Abraham. So friends, get yourselves
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  comfy. Let us listen.
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  Let us go back and hear what it is that God has to share with us
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  about who Jesus is in our life as we read together Hebrews
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  Chapter 7. This Melchizedek was king of the
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  city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High.
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  When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle
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  against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him.
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  Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and
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  gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means King
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  of justice, and King of Salem means King of peace.
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  There is no record of his father or mother or any of his
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  ancestors, no beginning or end to his life.
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  He remains a priest forever resembling the Son of God.
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  Consider, then, how great this Melchizedek was.
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  Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognised
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  this by giving him a 10th of what he had taken in battle.
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  Now the Law of Moses required that the priests who are
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  descendants of Levi must collect a tithe from the rest of the
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  people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham.
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  But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected
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  1/10 from Abraham, and Melchizedek placed a blessing
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  upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promise of
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  God. And without question, the person
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  who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one
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  who is blessed. The priests who collect tithes
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  are men who die. So Melchizedek is greater than
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  they are because we are told that he lives on.
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  In addition, we might even say that these Levites, the ones who
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  collect the tithe, paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their
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  ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him.
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  For although Levi wasn't born yet, the seed from which he came
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  was in Abraham's body when Melchizedek collected the tithe
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  from him. So if the priesthood of Levi, on
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  which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God
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  intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood
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  with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order
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  of Levi and Aaron? And if the priesthood is
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  changed, the law must also be changed to permit it, For the
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  priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe
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  whose members have never served at the altar as priests.
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  What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and
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  Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.
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  This change has been made very clear since a different priest
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  who is like Melchizedek has appeared.
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  Jesus became a priest not by meeting the physical
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  requirements of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power
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  of a life that cannot be destroyed.
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  And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied.
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  You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
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  Yes. The old requirement about the
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  priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless, for the
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  law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a
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  better hope through which we draw near to God.
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  This new system was established with a solemn oath.
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  Aaron's descendants became priests without such an oath.
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  But there was an oath regarding Jesus.
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  For God said to him, The Lord has taken an oath and will not
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  break his vow. You are a priest forever because
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  of this oath. Jesus is the one who guarantees
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  this better covenant with God. There were many priests under
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  the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in
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  office. But because Jesus lives forever,
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  his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore, he is able once and
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  forever to save those who come to God through him.
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  He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
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  He is the kind of High priest we need because he is holy and
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  blameless. Unstained by sin, He has been
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  set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of
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  honour in heaven. Unlike those other high priests,
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  He does not need to offer sacrifices every day.
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  They did this for their own sins 1st and then for the sins of the
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  people. But Jesus did this once for all
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  when He offered himself as the sacrifice for the people's sins.
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  The Law appointed high priests who were limited by human
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  weakness. But after the Law was given, God
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  appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the
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  perfect High Priest forever. Jesus, you bring a new way of
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  being. You bring a new way of
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  understanding all the things that we thought we understood.
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  They get toppled over and put on their heads and there you are,
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  making all things new, bringing us blameless before the Father.
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  And the status quo continues, continues somehow to draw us
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  back, thinking that we need to follow a set of rules, reach a
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  certain criteria of behaviour in order to be acceptable to you.
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  When Jesus, you make a different way forward.
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  It's through your sacrifice that you have taken care of all of
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  that. And yes, you call us to live a
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  different way, but ultimately, Lord, you have saved us through
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  your actions and your grace. Help us continually rest in that
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  truth, wrap our head around that truth, and not be drawn into a
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  calmer style understanding of the world where we need to earn
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  your favour through what we do. Oh, we love you and we're so
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  grateful for your grace for us. And we pray all of this through
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  your name, Jesus, Amen.