April 30, 2006
HOW GREAT THIS MAN WAS
Hebrews 7:4

 

   "Consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils" (Heb. 7:4). First among God's promises to Abraham were that He would make of him a "great nation," and that He would "make his name great" (Gen 12:2). That God has accomplished that promise is evident in that Abraham's name is revered by all Jews, Christians, and Muslims. But when we consider Melchisedec, this great Abraham paid tithes to him and from him received a blessing.
   These deeds also indicated that the Levitical priesthood of Aaron, then in Abraham's loins, was eclipsed by the priesthood of Melchizedec. We first met Melchisedec when Abraham returned victorious, as an over-comer, from the slaughter of the kings. Abraham had sworn to "the Most High God," that he would take nothing from anyone else and was greeted by Melchisedec, the priest of this same Most High God.
   The Lord Jesus Christ, "...made perfect (through sufferings) was "called by God an High Priest after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. 5:9, 2:10). Since there was no perfection through the Levitical priesthood it was necessary that "another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec."
   In like manner, "the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did," by which hope we are invited to draw near to God. The Law kept us out, but this Priest invites the believer in!
   While the first tabernacle had standing, gifts and sacrifices were offered "that could not make him who did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience...(through) carnal ordinances" (9:9), "But Christ being come an High Priest...by a greater and more perfect tabernacle...offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (9:11-14).
   "For the law...can never with those sacrifices...make the comers thereunto perfect... But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified" (10:1-14). Thus through His priesthood, God's oath constituting Him High Priest, His service in the true tabernacle, and the perfection of His one offering the believer is invited "to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (10:22).

 

Ivan L. Burgener