Once and For All

Introduction

I have several scars on my body as well as physical reminders of past injuries. I have a crooked nose. Broken twice playing basketball. I have a faded long scar on the inside of my right ankle. I broke my ankle and tore ligaments playing softball. I have a faint scar above my left eye. Car accident. I have a dark spot at the base of my left pinkie finger. A reminder not to bounce a sharp pencil on a desktop eraser side down when bored. I take a pill every day for blood pressure. A reminder that I am dying. Body scars and reminders of accidents, injuries, and events are not uncommon. What about scars from sin? Do they remain?

In our text, the author writes about Jesus who is the greatest and final high priest. Such language does not resonate with us because we are not Jewish. Jesus is the one who has ended the need for any other high priest. Jesus alone fulfills every work of the high priest fully, completely, perfectly. He is the last and final high priest with no weaknesses. The implications are astounding, beyond human experience, and challenge our faith. God operates on a different plane than we. He is not bound by human thought as we are. He sees in a way that we cannot see. Lift your eyes to see.

Melchizedek

Turn to Genesis 14:18–20. Abraham’s nephew Lot was taken captive along with many others. Abraham amasses a small force from his own household (318 fighting men; Abraham is extremely wealthy). He is victorious in battle and brings back all that had been taken. A high priest of God in Jerusalem comes out to greet Abraham and blesses him and Abraham gives him 10% of the spoils of war. It is from this obscure text that the Hebrew writer draws his analogy. In verses 1–10, the writer makes two clear points. The first is that Melchizedek has no genealogy. This statement is based on silence. Since there is no mention of Melchizedek’s birth and death, he is said to be without end.

No one believes Melchizedek to be infinite. He wasn’t alive at the time. He obviously had been born and he had died. But the absence of such information is taken as an opportunity to make the point that Jesus is like Melchizedek — no beginning and no end.

The second point is the fact that Abraham gave 10% of the spoils of war to Melchizedek reveals that Abraham understood that Melchizedek was greater than he. Thus, Abraham’s descendants (by the connection of blood) could be said to be in agreement that they are lesser than Melchizedek. The Aaronic priests all died but not Melchizedek. Thus, his priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood. These two points lead to the explanation that follows.

Once and For All High Priest

In verses 11–19, the writer makes four points about Jesus’ priesthood in reference to Melchizedek. First, (vss. 11–12) the old priesthood was inadequate because it could not bring about God’s intent for relationship; thus, a new priesthood was required. What did God want? Perfection means completeness. God wanted a complete relationship with his people. He used incomplete priests to try to accomplish that but it was unable to do what needed to be done. Thus, a new priesthood was needed and with that new priesthood came a new law.

Second, (vss. 13–14) Jesus came through the tribe of Judah not Levi. Thus, it is clear that Jesus as the new priest must be validated through some other means than the law which had been given through Moses. Moses wrote about the priesthood coming through Levi not Judah. Thus, the quote in verse 17 about coming through the order of Melchizedek applies to Jesus. Jesus is from a different tribe and a different order of priests.

Third, (vss. 15–17) Jesus priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood because Jesus did not become a priest through ancestry but through an indestructible life. This is a reference to his resurrection. The other priests died (vs. 8). Not so with Melchizedek and not so with Jesus. No doubt he was killed but his resurrection proves he is indestructible.

Fourth, (vss. 18–19) the Levitical priesthood is set aside because it is weak and ineffective. In its place is Jesus who is able to help us draw near to God in ways that the Levitical priesthood never could.

Implications

There are three implications to this analogy. First, (vss. 20–22) God has designated Jesus’ priesthood on oath. That is, God has established that Jesus is the final priest and his priesthood will last forever. God swore this by his name. This is our guarantee. Jesus…Only Jesus. Go back to Hebrews 6:17–18. God cannot lie and he promised and confirmed that Jesus is the final solution for our sin problem. The Levitical priests tried to bring the people into the presence of God. They offered sacrifices for themselves and then for the people. The high priest would go into the most holy place once a year carrying the blood of the sacrifice on behalf of the people. But Jesus carried his own perfect blood into the most holy place and offered himself. And God has declared on oath that he accepts that sacrifice once and for all.

Second, (vss. 23–25) Jesus’s priesthood is eternal and purposeful. The Levitical priest was mortal and imperfect and his intercession for the people was through the lens of his mortality and imperfection. But not Jesus. He is without beginning and without end. He is able to save completely, fully, perfectly, without exception those who come to God through him. STOP!! Do you believe this? Do you have enough faith to live in this victory? You think ‘what about my sin.’ Now read the rest of it. For he always lives to intercede for them. Your sin (and mine) is forever fully, completely, perfectly, without fail dealt with in Jesus. There is no sin that Jesus didn’t forgive and there is no sin that Jesus doesn’t intercede for us. STOP!! Every sin has been dealt with in Jesus. But that dealing with is not passive; it is continually active. Jesus is our high priest who continually, perfectly, completely, sitting next to God the Father conversing with God about us. This is what the word “intercede” means. It is a conversation in which a request is being made. The request is based on the promise of God that he has made Jesus the high priest forever and the fact that God made this oath and he cannot lie.

Can God forgive sin? YES. Can he forgive all sin? YES. Can he forgive heinous sin that demands some kind of recompense? YES.

ii. What kind of faith does this require? How does one move into such faith without cheapening the sacrifice of Jesus? Confined by our mortal minds and imperfect life, we assume that God thinks the way we do. We assume that he feels the way we feel.

iii. Lift your eyes and see.

The third implication is found in verses 26–28. Jesus is our security. Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice to God. As a sinless sacrifice he did not have to offer sacrifice for himself first. Instead, he took the place of all sacrifices for all time. Jesus is the only basis for our security. People come and go in our lives, but only Jesus remains faithful and continues forever.

Lift your eyes and see. See your sin for its reality and see the oath of God as greater than your sin. See Jesus who is forever perfect and eternal is the one who converses with God about our sin.

ii. God has already promised to accept Jesus’ sacrifice once and for all. We may live with the scars of our past. But the scars are reminders not reality. My nose has been broken but it isn’t broken. My ankle has been broken but it is not broken. Memories are not reality.

iii. Here is the spiritual reality. Jesus lives forever. He is perfect and complete. Our faith in him brings us into relationship with God. Our memories are real but they do not alter the reality of how God responds to our sin. The perfect high priest assures us that our sins are forgiven — forever; once and for all. Scar perhaps but burden no. Lift your eyes and see what God sees.

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