Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I ask for your continued prayers for me. I’m still seeking truth on an important matter and it’s being a personal struggle for me as well. Still, truth is worth seeking in all cases and I appreciate your prayers as well as the prayer that God will work in me that I will be the man I need to be. Tonight, we’re continuing our Trinitarian Commentary in the book of Hebrews. We’ll be in chapter 7 and looking at verses 23-28.
23Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
26Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
A large difference between the priesthood of Jesus and that of the other high priests. The others all died, and so a new priest would have to come and make new offerings to keep interceding for the people. Jesus, however, will never die again and can always be making intercession for the people.
Notice the description given of Jesus however and compare this to the Mormon claim with their elders who say they have the Melchizedek priesthood. First, how many Mormons can make the claim of holiness, particularly with their soteriology?
Contrast this to Jesus who asked his opponents if they could convict him of sin. Keep in mind also the Levitical statements that show up numerous times of “Be holy because I am holy.” Remember the angels worshipping YHWH in Isaiah 6 and their constant cry is that YHWH is holy.
Blameless. Can this be said of them? Yet it is said of Christ. He is without fault in all that he does. An object could be holy, but Jesus is not just an object. He is a person who lived a perfect life. He went through the human experience and came out spotless.
Pure. He was not contaminated by the world around him. He lived that life without receiving stain from them. In fact, the way he lived, he made that which was unclean to be clean, such as the story of the lady with the bleeding condition who touched him.
Set apart from sinners. Jesus cannot be included in the category of the sinful. He never has been. He has lived that life and therefore now lives a life where he is no longer walking here on Earth in the very presence of sin.
And finally, exalted above the heavens. Which Mormon missionary will claim this for himself? Yet this is claimed for Jesus as our Melchizedek priest. What can this mean about him but anything less than his status as deity? He has gone beyond the Heavens. He is exalted above them, for he is greater than them. He has the nature of YHWH himself.
Because of this, Jesus is the high priest who is able to meet our needs and he has been made perfect forever. As we said earlier, this is about vindication. It is not about a time when Jesus was not perfect, but about his righteousness revealing his perfection.
We shall continue on through this book tomorrow.
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