Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 7:1-10 - The Order of Melchizedek
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning there, friends and faithful listeners. My
- 0:06Speaker 1: name is Jen I am the host of the Bible
- 0:08Speaker 1: Explain podcast, and thank you so much for being here
- 0:11Speaker 1: sharing a delicious cup of coffee with me. We're gonna
- 0:13Speaker 1: be talking about Hebrews chapter seven today and the Order
- 0:17Speaker 1: of Malchisedek. Stay tuned well. I hope all of you
- 0:26Speaker 1: guys have been doing absolutely fantastically this week. Actually, something
- 0:30Speaker 1: I didn't tell you was over the weekend, my husband
- 0:33Speaker 1: and I took a short trip to Niagara Falls, Canada
- 0:38Speaker 1: for our anniversary. We celebrated eleven years on Saturday, so
- 0:42Speaker 1: we decided to do a couple nights in Niagara, Canada,
- 0:47Speaker 1: and that was a lot of fun. I never went
- 0:49Speaker 1: to the Canadian side before. I don't remember ever being
- 0:52Speaker 1: in Canada before, so it was a new experience for
- 0:54Speaker 1: me for sure. And the weather was shockingly beautiful. It
- 0:58Speaker 1: was not too cold, it was about sixty degrees and
- 1:00Speaker 1: there's a nice mist coming off of the falls, and
- 1:03Speaker 1: there was a rainbow and just it was a really
- 1:05Speaker 1: nice trip. I quite enjoyed it. We went to a
- 1:08Speaker 1: steakhouse for our anniversary dinner and just had a good
- 1:11Speaker 1: time hanging out with each other and getting away for
- 1:14Speaker 1: a couple of short nights. But it was honestly a
- 1:16Speaker 1: perfect vacation. It was not too long or too short.
- 1:19Speaker 1: It was perfect. So that was what I did over
- 1:22Speaker 1: the weekend. So tell me how you guys have been.
- 1:24Speaker 1: I love hearing about all of you as well. You
- 1:26Speaker 1: can find my contact information listed in the description of
- 1:29Speaker 1: this episode. Let's go ahead and get started with today's episode.
- 1:32Speaker 1: But first, here's a word from a sponsor. So we
- 1:36Speaker 1: are in a brand new chapter of the Bible today.
- 1:38Speaker 1: This is Hebrews seven, and we'll be talking about the
- 1:42Speaker 1: order of malchis a dec and why Jesus is part
- 1:45Speaker 1: of it, why it's important, and who the heck is
- 1:48Speaker 1: malchis a dec and why is he mentioned so much
- 1:50Speaker 1: in Hebrews. We will get into all those topics today.
- 1:53Speaker 1: So let's turn to Hebrew seven one through ten. Grab
- 1:56Speaker 1: your cup of coffee or your cup of tea and
- 1:58Speaker 1: join in reading with me. I'll be reading from the
- 2:00Speaker 1: web as usual for this Malchisedek king of Salem, priest
- 2:06Speaker 1: of God most High, who met Abraham returning from the
- 2:09Speaker 1: slaughter of the kings and blessed him to whom also
- 2:12Speaker 1: Abraham divided a tenth part of all, being first by
- 2:15Speaker 1: interpretation king of Righteousness, and then also King of Salem,
- 2:19Speaker 1: which means King of peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy,
- 2:24Speaker 1: having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
- 2:27Speaker 1: made like the son of God, remains a priest continually.
- 2:31Speaker 1: Now consider how great this man was, to whom even
- 2:34Speaker 1: Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth out of the best plunder. They, indeed,
- 2:39Speaker 1: of the sons of Levi, who received the priest's office,
- 2:42Speaker 1: have a commandment to take tithes from the people according
- 2:45Speaker 1: to the law, that is, of their own brothers. Though
- 2:47Speaker 1: these have come out of the body of Abraham. But
- 2:50Speaker 1: he whose genealogy is not counted from has accepted tithes
- 2:54Speaker 1: from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises.
- 2:57Speaker 1: But without any dispute. The lesser is blest by the greater.
- 3:01Speaker 1: Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes,
- 3:05Speaker 1: of whom it is testified that he lives. We can
- 3:08Speaker 1: say that through Abraham, even Levi, who receives tithes, has
- 3:11Speaker 1: paid tithes, for he was yet in the body of
- 3:14Speaker 1: his father when Malchisedek met him. In the last six
- 3:19Speaker 1: chapters of Hebrews, so far the author keeps mentioning that
- 3:22Speaker 1: Jesus is a priest in the order of Malchisedek, and
- 3:26Speaker 1: after diverging from the topic for some time, the author
- 3:30Speaker 1: finally gets to this point, discussing who Malchisedic is, why
- 3:35Speaker 1: Jesus is a priest in the order of malchis Dek,
- 3:38Speaker 1: and why Malchisedk was so incredibly important. But just a
- 3:42Speaker 1: little bit of backstory about Malchisedek and who he is.
- 3:46Speaker 1: He is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament, once
- 3:49Speaker 1: in Genesis fourteen, which is where the author of Hebrews
- 3:53Speaker 1: will go in just a second here, and also in
- 3:56Speaker 1: Psalm one ten. Those are the only two times Melchisedek
- 4:00Speaker 1: is mentioned, and he's barely mentioned. Like, if you go
- 4:03Speaker 1: back and read the story of Genesis fourteen, which we
- 4:05Speaker 1: will here in a second, you're gonna see he's mentioned
- 4:08Speaker 1: briefly and then never talked about again, not once. So
- 4:11Speaker 1: why is this guy so incredibly important to the author
- 4:14Speaker 1: of Hebrews. Well, it says in verse one, this Melchisedek,
- 4:18Speaker 1: king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham
- 4:22Speaker 1: returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.
- 4:25Speaker 1: So that, in a nutshell is what happens in Genesis fourteen.
- 4:29Speaker 1: So let's go over to Genesis fourteen and read the
- 4:31Speaker 1: only mention of Melchisedek in the book of Genesis, Genesis
- 4:35Speaker 1: fourteen ten through twenty. Here's what it says. Now, the
- 4:38Speaker 1: valley of Sadim was full of tar pits, and the
- 4:41Speaker 1: kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there.
- 4:45Speaker 1: Those who remained fled to the hills. They took all
- 4:48Speaker 1: the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food,
- 4:51Speaker 1: and went their way. They took Lot, Abram's brother's son,
- 4:55Speaker 1: who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. One
- 4:58Speaker 1: who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. At
- 5:01Speaker 1: that time he lived by the oaks of Mamri, the Amorite,
- 5:04Speaker 1: brother of Eshkul and brother of Ainair. They were allies
- 5:08Speaker 1: of Abram. When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive,
- 5:11Speaker 1: he led out his three hundred and eighteen trained men
- 5:14Speaker 1: born in his house and pursued as far as Dan.
- 5:17Speaker 1: He divided himself against them. By night. He and his
- 5:20Speaker 1: servants and struck them and pursued them to Hoba, which
- 5:23Speaker 1: is on the left hand of Damascus. He brought back
- 5:26Speaker 1: all the goods, and also brought back his relative lot
- 5:29Speaker 1: and his goods, and the women also, and the other people.
- 5:33Speaker 1: The king of Sodom went out to meet him after
- 5:35Speaker 1: his return from the slaughter of Cheddull chedder Laumer. I'm sorry,
- 5:41Speaker 1: I'm not going to attempt any further with that word.
- 5:45Speaker 1: And the kings who were with him at the valley
- 5:47Speaker 1: of Sheva, that is the king's valley. Melchisedek, king of Salem,
- 5:51Speaker 1: brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God
- 5:54Speaker 1: most High. He blessed him and said, blessed be Abram
- 5:58Speaker 1: of God most High, possessor of heaven and earth. Blessed
- 6:01Speaker 1: be God most High, who has delivered your enemies into
- 6:04Speaker 1: your hand. Abram gave him a tenth of all. And
- 6:09Speaker 1: that is the only mention of Melchizedek. It says right
- 6:13Speaker 1: here that he was the king of Salem and that
- 6:15Speaker 1: he was also the priest of God most High. It
- 6:20Speaker 1: turned out he was also an ally of Abram, because
- 6:23Speaker 1: when he found out that Abram was going up to
- 6:25Speaker 1: war against these kings who had kidnapped his nephew. Melchisedek
- 6:30Speaker 1: came to Abram and brought him food and supplies, bread
- 6:33Speaker 1: and wine, it says, and then he also blessed Abram.
- 6:36Speaker 1: And after Abram received this blessing from Alchizedek, it says,
- 6:40Speaker 1: Abram gave him a tenth of all now that would
- 6:43Speaker 1: be of the plunder that Abram had just taken. Now,
- 6:46Speaker 1: this was a really crazy battle actually that Abram took
- 6:49Speaker 1: part in, because he was going up against kings and armies,
- 6:53Speaker 1: and it mentions earlier that he only had one hundred
- 6:56Speaker 1: and eighteen trained men at his side. But because God
- 7:00Speaker 1: God was with Abram, Abram defeated these kings with only
- 7:04Speaker 1: one hundred and eighteen trained men, and he returned the
- 7:08Speaker 1: people from Sodom and Gomorrah, and also received a ton
- 7:12Speaker 1: of plunder that these kings had stolen. Not to mention,
- 7:15Speaker 1: he also saved the life of his nephew Lot, as
- 7:17Speaker 1: well as Lot's children and wife. So all this took place,
- 7:22Speaker 1: and Melchisedek came and visited Abram, and it mentions that
- 7:25Speaker 1: he was the king of Salem. Now Salem is an
- 7:29Speaker 1: ancient name for Jerusalem. This means that Melchisedek was the
- 7:34Speaker 1: king of the city of Jerusalem before it became Jerusalem.
- 7:39Speaker 1: And not only was Melchisedek the king of Jerusalem, but
- 7:42Speaker 1: it says that he was a high priest of God
- 7:45Speaker 1: Most High. Now, normally kings cannot become high priests. We've
- 7:50Speaker 1: talked about that a trillion times, especially now that we're
- 7:53Speaker 1: going through the history of the kings on the Old
- 7:54Speaker 1: Testament side of stuff and finishing all that up. Kings
- 7:57Speaker 1: cannot become high priests. In fact, God will punish the
- 8:01Speaker 1: kings if they attempt to become high priests because it
- 8:04Speaker 1: is not for them, it is not for them to
- 8:07Speaker 1: have absolute power. So this shows how special Malchisedek was
- 8:12Speaker 1: that God gave him the title of both priest and
- 8:15Speaker 1: also king. Now, of course this makes people wonder is
- 8:19Speaker 1: Malchisedec a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus? And there is
- 8:23Speaker 1: a possibility of that. So let's go back to Hebrews seven,
- 8:25Speaker 1: verses one through three and talk about it. It says
- 8:28Speaker 1: for this Malchisedek king, a Salem priest of God Most High,
- 8:32Speaker 1: met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and
- 8:35Speaker 1: blessed him to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part
- 8:40Speaker 1: of all being first by interpretation king of righteousness, and
- 8:43Speaker 1: then also king Asalem, which means king of peace, without father,
- 8:47Speaker 1: without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor
- 8:50Speaker 1: end of life, but made like the Son of God,
- 8:53Speaker 1: remains a priest continually. So there's a lot of arguments
- 8:56Speaker 1: you can make based upon those three verses from Hebrewugh
- 9:00Speaker 1: seven that Malchisedec is in fact a pre incarnate appearance
- 9:05Speaker 1: of Jesus. For example, it says that he was both
- 9:07Speaker 1: the king of Salem and also priest of God Most High. Obviously,
- 9:12Speaker 1: once again, we know it's a very rare occasion for
- 9:15Speaker 1: a king to become a high priest. We know that
- 9:18Speaker 1: Jesus is both our king and our high priest. So
- 9:23Speaker 1: that's a similarity that Melchisedec and Jesus share. Not to mention,
- 9:27Speaker 1: think about who Malchisedek reigned over. It says he was
- 9:31Speaker 1: the king of Salem or the King of Jerusalem. We
- 9:35Speaker 1: know that Jesus is the King of Jerusalem, so that's
- 9:37Speaker 1: another characteristic that they share. And then in verse three,
- 9:41Speaker 1: it says he was without father, without mother, without genealogy,
- 9:44Speaker 1: having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
- 9:47Speaker 1: made like the son of God and remains a priest continually.
- 9:51Speaker 1: That is another characteristic of Jesus. Jesus does not have
- 9:54Speaker 1: a beginning or an end, just like Malchisedec. We only
- 9:58Speaker 1: know about him from Genesis chapter fourteen. He has no
- 10:02Speaker 1: written beginning or written end. He just continues to remain
- 10:05Speaker 1: a priest as far as we know. So that's another
- 10:07Speaker 1: way that Melchisedek and Jesus could potentially be the same.
- 10:11Speaker 1: Now moving forward into verse four through ten, it says,
- 10:14Speaker 1: consider how great this malchisa Dek was, to whom even
- 10:19Speaker 1: Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth out of the best plunder. They, indeed,
- 10:24Speaker 1: of the sons of Levi, who receive the priest's office,
- 10:26Speaker 1: have a commandment to take tithes from the people according
- 10:29Speaker 1: to the law, that is of their brothers. Though these
- 10:32Speaker 1: have come out of the body of Abraham. But he
- 10:34Speaker 1: whose genealogy is not counted, Melchisedec has accepted tithes from
- 10:39Speaker 1: Abraham and has blessed him who has the promises. But
- 10:43Speaker 1: without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater,
- 10:46Speaker 1: so I mean, the author of Hebrews is really showing
- 10:48Speaker 1: how important this man malchisa Dek was because he received
- 10:52Speaker 1: tithes and offerings from Abraham. And also it says that
- 10:55Speaker 1: he blessed Abraham, and the author is making this point
- 10:59Speaker 1: that a blessing does not come from somebody who is lesser,
- 11:04Speaker 1: proving that Malchisedk was actually greater than Abraham himself. Now,
- 11:09Speaker 1: this probably would have been some crazy thinking for the
- 11:12Speaker 1: Israelites who this was written to, because you know, Abraham
- 11:15Speaker 1: was their patriarch, he was the man, he was the guy.
- 11:19Speaker 1: And for the author to be saying that somebody is
- 11:21Speaker 1: greater than Abraham, Melchisedek by name, that was probably something
- 11:25Speaker 1: that they didn't really consider before, or if they did,
- 11:29Speaker 1: it was not something that they equated with Jesus by
- 11:33Speaker 1: any means. But Jesus is a high priest in the
- 11:36Speaker 1: order of Malchisedek. And to stress this point further, he
- 11:39Speaker 1: says in verse nine and ten, we can say that
- 11:41Speaker 1: through Abraham, even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes,
- 11:46Speaker 1: for he was yet in the body of his father
- 11:48Speaker 1: when Melchisedek met him. So, of course this is an
- 11:52Speaker 1: allegory you know, because Levi, the patriarch of the Levites,
- 11:56Speaker 1: didn't exist yet. Levi was one of Abraham's great grand children.
- 12:01Speaker 1: But the author is saying that because Levi, who hadn't
- 12:04Speaker 1: been born yet and was still in Abraham's loins, so
- 12:08Speaker 1: to speak, even the Levites gave tithes to Malchisedek through Abraham.
- 12:14Speaker 1: And that is how great of a person Malchisedek actually was,
- 12:18Speaker 1: that he received tithes from Abraham and from all the
- 12:22Speaker 1: patriarchs because Abraham had not had any children yet. And
- 12:26Speaker 1: that's another point of how Malchisedek is similar to Jesus.
- 12:30Speaker 1: Our tithes and our offerings are the property of God.
- 12:34Speaker 1: That's what it talks about in the books of Leviticus, Numbers,
- 12:36Speaker 1: and Deuteronomy. Even the tithes that the priests were supposed
- 12:40Speaker 1: to receive in Numbers chapter eighteen, God was giving those
- 12:44Speaker 1: tithes to the Levites, so they belonged to God first,
- 12:47Speaker 1: and then God was sharing them with the Levites. That's
- 12:48Speaker 1: what it says in Numbers eighteen twenty three through twenty eight.
- 12:52Speaker 1: But the Levites shall do the service of the tene meeting,
- 12:54Speaker 1: and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a
- 12:56Speaker 1: statute forever throughout their generations. Among the children of Israel,
- 13:00Speaker 1: they shall have no inheritance for the tithe of the
- 13:03Speaker 1: children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering
- 13:05Speaker 1: to Yahweh. I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore,
- 13:11Speaker 1: I have said to them, among the children of Israel,
- 13:14Speaker 1: they shall have no inheritance. Yahways spoke to Moses, saying, moreover,
- 13:18Speaker 1: you shall speak to the Levites and tell them, when
- 13:21Speaker 1: you take of the children of Israel the tithe which
- 13:23Speaker 1: I have given you from them for your inheritance, then
- 13:27Speaker 1: you shall offer up a wave offering of it for Yahweh,
- 13:30Speaker 1: a tithe of the tithe. Your wave offering shall be
- 13:34Speaker 1: credited to you as though it were the grain of
- 13:36Speaker 1: the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.
- 13:40Speaker 1: Thus you shall offer a wave offering to Yahweh of
- 13:43Speaker 1: your tithes which you receive the children of Israel, and
- 13:46Speaker 1: of it you shall give Yahweh's wave offering to air
- 13:48Speaker 1: in the priest. So there it is twice in those verses,
- 13:52Speaker 1: God says, I have given you these tithes, These are mine.
- 13:57Speaker 1: They're from the children of Israel. To me, but I'm
- 13:59Speaker 1: going to give them to you as part of your inheritance,
- 14:02Speaker 1: because the Levites as a tribe did not get an inheritance.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Their inheritance was the call of being a priest of
- 14:11Speaker 1: God himself of the tithes of the people. But they
- 14:14Speaker 1: did not get any land like the other tribes did.
- 14:18Speaker 1: They were able to own land personally, but they didn't
- 14:21Speaker 1: get like a large chunk of land like say the
- 14:24Speaker 1: Benjamites did. The Levites had to go into all of
- 14:28Speaker 1: Israel and spread out and be priests in each of
- 14:32Speaker 1: the cities. So the Levites, as part of their inheritance,
- 14:35Speaker 1: get the tithes from God. But the author of Hebrews
- 14:39Speaker 1: is making the point that even the Levites, who received
- 14:42Speaker 1: the tithes as part of their inheritance, kind of gave
- 14:45Speaker 1: tithes to Malchisedek through Abraham because they weren't born yet.
- 14:51Speaker 1: But Abraham understood the glory I suppose of Malchisedek in
- 14:56Speaker 1: order to give him the tithes of all the spoils
- 14:59Speaker 1: that he received from that bat he won. So that
- 15:01Speaker 1: shows how much greater Malchisedek was than Abraham. And circling
- 15:05Speaker 1: back to the other point that I made Malchisedek blessed Abraham,
- 15:10Speaker 1: and blessings don't typically come from somebody who is lesser
- 15:14Speaker 1: than you. I mean, obviously you can bless somebody through
- 15:16Speaker 1: prayer or something like that, but the type of blessing
- 15:19Speaker 1: that Scripture is describing here, you receive it from somebody
- 15:22Speaker 1: who is much greater than you. In fact, if you
- 15:24Speaker 1: go back to Genesis fourteen, it talks about that. It
- 15:27Speaker 1: says that in verse eighteen, Melchisedek, king of Salem, brought
- 15:31Speaker 1: the bread and wine. He was priest of God most High.
- 15:33Speaker 1: He blessed Abram and said, blessed be Abram of God
- 15:37Speaker 1: most High, possessor of heaven and earth. So that's the
- 15:40Speaker 1: last point of how Malchisedek could be similar to Jesus,
- 15:44Speaker 1: because he was greater than Abraham. Now, all of that
- 15:47Speaker 1: being said, though, there is the counter argument that Malchisedek
- 15:51Speaker 1: is not Jesus himself, but he's just a picture of Jesus.
- 15:55Speaker 1: And if I'm being honest, that is actually where my
- 15:58Speaker 1: conviction lies. I don't I personally believe that malchis Dek
- 16:02Speaker 1: was Jesus, though there is a lot of similarities between
- 16:04Speaker 1: Malchisedek and Jesus for sure, and he could have been,
- 16:08Speaker 1: But because scripture does not specifically say that malchis Dek
- 16:11Speaker 1: was Jesus, I'm not going to say that he was either,
- 16:15Speaker 1: because the last thing I want to do is assume
- 16:18Speaker 1: that somebody is Jesus when it does not specifically mention
- 16:21Speaker 1: that that person is Jesus, because then you can kind
- 16:24Speaker 1: of get into some idolatry type of stuff, and I'd
- 16:28Speaker 1: much rather avoid that if I can. So that's why
- 16:31Speaker 1: I'm not going to say that malchised Dek is Jesus,
- 16:34Speaker 1: not to mention that there are some differences between Malchisedek
- 16:38Speaker 1: and Jesus as well, which is talked about right here
- 16:41Speaker 1: and Hebrews seven. In fact, I think Hebrews kind of
- 16:43Speaker 1: makes the point that malchis Dek was just a picture
- 16:47Speaker 1: of Jesus, not Jesus himself, because here's what it says
- 16:51Speaker 1: in verse three. Malchisedek, without father, without mother, without genealogy,
- 16:55Speaker 1: having neither beginning of days nor end of life, was
- 16:59Speaker 1: made like the son of God. But it does not
- 17:02Speaker 1: say that Malchisedek was the son of God. He was
- 17:05Speaker 1: made like the son of God, and he remains a
- 17:08Speaker 1: priest continually. And also it says in verse three that
- 17:11Speaker 1: Malchisedek doesn't have a father. We know without a shadow
- 17:16Speaker 1: of a doubt that Jesus does in fact have a father.
- 17:21Speaker 1: Jesus talked about his father all the time from the
- 17:24Speaker 1: time that he was twelve years old. He wanted to
- 17:27Speaker 1: go about his father's business. And Jesus wasn't talking about Joseph,
- 17:32Speaker 1: Mary's husband. He was talking about God the Father. So
- 17:35Speaker 1: Jesus has a father, whereas Melchisedek here is quoted as
- 17:39Speaker 1: being without father. So those are two ways that Malchisedek
- 17:43Speaker 1: differs from Jesus. But now that we've delved into who
- 17:46Speaker 1: Malchisedek is in the Old Testament, why does he matter?
- 17:51Speaker 1: What is the point of talking about any of this?
- 17:54Speaker 1: Or remember, the Book of Hebrews was written for the
- 17:57Speaker 1: Christian Israelites, the Jewish people who believed in Jesus, and
- 18:03Speaker 1: they had a lot of hang ups that they couldn't
- 18:05Speaker 1: get past. A lot of them believed that they had
- 18:08Speaker 1: to follow the Old Testament laws perfectly and also believe
- 18:11Speaker 1: in Jesus in order to be saved. But the author
- 18:14Speaker 1: is telling them, no, that is not the case. We
- 18:17Speaker 1: are no longer under the Old Testament. We are under
- 18:20Speaker 1: the New Testament. Jesus has given us a new kind
- 18:24Speaker 1: of promise, his grace, and because of this, the order
- 18:29Speaker 1: of the priesthood that is found in the Old Testament
- 18:31Speaker 1: has now changed. Jesus is our high priest, and the
- 18:37Speaker 1: reason he can be both a Judaite and also a
- 18:41Speaker 1: high priest is because he's not under the order of
- 18:44Speaker 1: the levitical priests. In the Old Testament, only people from
- 18:48Speaker 1: the tribe of Levi could become a priest, and Jesus
- 18:52Speaker 1: was not from the tribe of Levi. He was from
- 18:54Speaker 1: the tribe of Judah, which meant according to the Old Testament,
- 18:58Speaker 1: he was not eligible to become a high priest. But
- 19:01Speaker 1: because of Jesus's sacrifice, we are no longer under the
- 19:05Speaker 1: Old Testament law. Paul talks about that a ton in
- 19:09Speaker 1: the Book of Romans and also in the Book of Galatians,
- 19:13Speaker 1: how the law was beneficial for us for a time.
- 19:16Speaker 1: It was kind of like our tutor. But now that
- 19:19Speaker 1: Jesus has come to earth and paid the sacrifice for
- 19:22Speaker 1: our sins, we are no longer under a tutor. We
- 19:24Speaker 1: don't need a tutor anymore, and that's what the Old
- 19:28Speaker 1: Testament law is for us. It was our tutor and
- 19:31Speaker 1: the people of the Early Church, many of them were Jewish,
- 19:35Speaker 1: and they truly believed that the Old Testament laws would
- 19:38Speaker 1: still save them. And that's why the author stresses this
- 19:42Speaker 1: point so much. That the sacrifice of Jesus has changed
- 19:45Speaker 1: so much about the way things were done in the
- 19:47Speaker 1: Old Testament, and one of those things is that the
- 19:50Speaker 1: levitical order is no longer necessary. This was proven when
- 19:54Speaker 1: Jesus died on the cross and the curtain inside the
- 19:59Speaker 1: temple was ripped in two. Because the curtain signified the
- 20:04Speaker 1: area where God lived in the temple, you know, this big,
- 20:07Speaker 1: thick curtain would cover the most holy place. Nobody was
- 20:10Speaker 1: allowed inside the most Holy place except the high priest
- 20:13Speaker 1: only once a year. But now because of Jesus's sacrifice,
- 20:17Speaker 1: when he died on the cross, God himself actually ripped
- 20:21Speaker 1: that curtain in two to signify that he was no
- 20:25Speaker 1: longer staying in the most Holy place, but that his
- 20:28Speaker 1: spirit was going out into all the world. In fact,
- 20:32Speaker 1: the Book of First Peter talks about how Jesus is
- 20:34Speaker 1: our high priest, but anybody who accepts the Holy Spirit
- 20:38Speaker 1: becomes a priest themselves. And that's another reason why talking
- 20:42Speaker 1: about all of this is necessary. Once again, the levites
- 20:46Speaker 1: are no longer necessary because God's priesthood has changed completely,
- 20:52Speaker 1: where anybody who accepts Him and believes in him can
- 20:56Speaker 1: become a priest, not a high priest that's only reserved
- 20:59Speaker 1: for Jesus Us, but priests. That means that I am
- 21:02Speaker 1: a priest. If you believe in Jesus, that means you
- 21:05Speaker 1: are a priest. Anybody who believes in Jesus and accepts
- 21:09Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is a priest. And I find that
- 21:13Speaker 1: so interesting because in the Old Testament, only levites could
- 21:16Speaker 1: become priests. But now in this new era of grace,
- 21:19Speaker 1: with Jesus's sacrifice, anybody who accepts Jesus becomes a priest.
- 21:25Speaker 1: And that was all changed because Jesus is now in
- 21:28Speaker 1: the order of Malchisa dek, this practically unknown high priest
- 21:33Speaker 1: talked about in the Old Testament. Jesus's priesthood now follows
- 21:37Speaker 1: that order of Malchisa dec And we'll get more into
- 21:40Speaker 1: that topic on Thursday. But faithful listeners, before I say
- 21:44Speaker 1: goodbye to all of you wonderful people, please listen to
- 21:46Speaker 1: this advertisement from a sponsor. Another reason why today's portion
- 21:52Speaker 1: of Scripture is important to understand is because it's a
- 21:56Speaker 1: fulfillment of prophecy as well. Here's what Psalm one one
- 22:00Speaker 1: and also verse four says. Starting in verse one, Yahweh
- 22:05Speaker 1: says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until
- 22:08Speaker 1: I make your enemies your footstole for your feet, and
- 22:11Speaker 1: then jumping down to verse four, Yahweh has sworn and
- 22:14Speaker 1: will not change his mind. You are a priest forever
- 22:17Speaker 1: in the order of Malchisedek. So this was something that David,
- 22:22Speaker 1: who wrote this psalm, was prophesying about hundreds of years
- 22:26Speaker 1: before Jesus even existed. He was prophesying that Jesus would
- 22:29Speaker 1: change the order of the priesthood. How would David know
- 22:33Speaker 1: about something like this if it weren't prophecy being fulfilled.
- 22:37Speaker 1: And Hebrews is explaining how this prophecy has been fulfilled.
- 22:41Speaker 1: So faith listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode and
- 22:44Speaker 1: maybe learn something new. If you did learn something new,
- 22:46Speaker 1: then share it on your social media platforms, tell people
- 22:49Speaker 1: that the Bible Explain podcast exists, and also sign up
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- 23:17Speaker 1: Bible Explained and about myself, if at all that is
- 23:21Speaker 1: interesting to you. All right, faithful listeners, have a fantastic
- 23:25Speaker 1: and wonderful rest of your day, happy listening, and God
- 23:28Speaker 1: bless I just want to take a second to thank
- 23:36Speaker 1: the team at Life Audio for their partnership with me
- 23:38Speaker 1: on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you go
- 23:40Speaker 1: to life audio dot com you'll find dozens of other
- 23:43Speaker 1: faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
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